The line clicks over, and before I can even utter a word, Abby speaks. “Deep breath, babe. It’s not as bad as it sounds.”
“Ten million dollars?” I shout. “How is that not as bad as it sounds?”
“Have you looked at your net worth lately?” she deadpans.
“That’s irrelevant. They treated me like shit for five fucking years, and I’m supposed to what? Hand over a check and thank them for it? Maybe I should let them spank me, too.”
“Nobody is saying you have to do this gracefully, but if you want to make this easy, I think we should settle.”
“What does Adam think?”
There’s a strange sound on the other end of the line before my lawyer’s voice echoes through the speaker. “We’re all on board, but the final decision is yours to make.”
“Wait, what are you two doing together?”
He clears his throat. “Team meeting.”
I frown. Abby and Adam have never had a team meeting before. At least, not in person. Maybe I’m overthinking it. “Um, ok. I’ll think about it.”
I hear what sounds like shuffling papers before Abby speaks again. “Business aside, how are you doing?”
“I’m good. It’s been nice to take a break from the limelight. God, that sounds so cliche.”
“And how's the hot single dad doing?” I can hear the smile in her voice when she says it.
I shake my head. “He’s good. Busy.”
“Busy between your thighs, I hope. We had to close down an entire tattoo parlor just to get your clit pierced; it’d be a shame if no one ever got to see it.”
“Abby!”
“What? You’re taking a break. That should include getting down and dirty with a tattooed hottie.”
I snort. “Did you also forget the part where he’s my ex-boyfriend’s brother?”
“So… you haven’t jumped his bones, then?”
“I think that’s my cue to leave,” Adam says, his voice muffled.
I bite down on my bottom lip, unsure how to respond. “Not exactly.”
“Oh my god, I knew it! Tell me everything.”
I spend the next several minutes relaying everything that happened the previous week, and Abby chimes in whenever she has an opening, mostly communicating in sighs and swoons.
“And nothing else has happened?” she asks.
“Nope.”
“Do you want something else to happen?”
I rake my hands through my hair, splitting it into three strands to form a braid. “I don’t know. I mean, it was great. Ten out of ten dick. Five-star orgasms or whatever, but it’s so complicated. There’s too much history there.”
“Not to mention you’ve been in love with him since you were a teenager.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you not remember that time you got drunk and spilled the beans about your ex’s hot older brother? You told me all about the prom, and how you wrote that song about him.”
