Scorched (Sizzle #2) (7 page)

Molly couldn’t quite think of
anything
that could compare to the damage cheating would do to a relationship, but she
was here for Mannie.  “Then what is it, darlin’?” she queried gently.

“My man, he is ashamed of me, chicas.  He
is embarrassed to call me his own.   Humiliated to be involved with your
Armando.  Aarrrghhhh… it hurts so much to admit that.  Even to my best friends.”

“What?” the entire room erupted in
surprised unison as Molly silently noted that even her husband had straightened
at that explanation.  “Mannie, honey, that just can’t be right,” Molly
murmured, shaking her head slowly.  “Are you sure there hasn’t been some kind
of crossed wires that have caused you to misunderstand each other?”

“It’s true!” Mannie wailed pitifully. 
“His parents don’t even
know
about me!  They didn’t even know I existed
until I answered the phone.    I’m talking completely clueless.  He’s never so
much as mentioned my name to either of them.    Not the fact that we’ve worked
together for years.  Not the fact that we’ve been seriously dating
for
years.  
Not the fact that we’ve been living together
for years.  And
they certainly didn’t know that I’m engaged to be married to that lying liar
they created together!  I’m his dirty little gay secret!  His mother thought I
was playing some kind of practical joke on her.  She
laughed
, Molly. 
Or, she was laughing until I got her attention and offered to tell her in
detail what her little boy did to me last night in bed. 
That
got her
attention!  She preceded to call me a deviant and demanded that I stay away
from her son!  I live there, Mols!  How the hell am I supposed to stay away
from my own place?” he sobbed maniacally.  “And she thinks I’m a gold digger. 
Freeloading off Nicky when he’s not around.

“Oh, sweet Christ!  This can’t be
happening,” Molly heard Devil whisper violently.  Turning her head toward her
husband as she ran a soothing hand up and down Mannie’s heaving back, she noted
that he’d turned completely white, his normally tanned skin now ashen. 
Honestly, she never expected him to care so much about Armando’s sensitive
feelings, and she couldn’t help feeling a little pleased with him for being so
sensitive to their friend’s feelings. 

Well, she
was
pleased with him… right
up until she noticed that guilty glint in his eyes and the nervous way he was
now clutching the chair.  And if those weren’t clues enough that something was
amiss, he’d started to sweat.  Devil Delancy did
not
sweat.  Not when he
ran.  Not when he exercised.  Not even that one time that their daughter had
exploded from both ends. 

But he was sure the hell perspiring now.

Damn it, she knew that look!  Her husband
had something to do with this fiasco.  What, she had no idea.  But, she could
feel it in her gut that he was at least partially responsible for this debacle.

And, later, she’d make sure that he felt
her wrath in
his
balls.

For now, she had to concentrate on keeping
her heartbroken friend together and based on Sami and Viv’s identical
expressions of anger, she also would be keeping her other two friends from
committing a homicide.  Holy crap but this was a cluster of fuck if ever one
existed. 

“They’re coming here.”

Molly listened to Mannie as he cried into
one of the expensive lace throw pillows that she’d painstakingly chosen when
she’d redecorated her living room last year.  Perhaps it was awful of her, but
all she could really think about was trying to rescue her cushion from Mannie’s
tears and ever twisting anxious fingers.  She listened with only half an ear as
he continued.   

“I couldn’t stop them from coming.  I
tried to stop them, but the uppity asshole wouldn’t listen to me.  I tried to
tell tu padre that he’s not even here, but he no listen.  How the hell can I be
expected to host June and Ward fucking Cleaver?”

Exchanging confused looks with both Sami
and Viv, Molly could only shrug helplessly as she patted Armando’s back
consolingly as she tried to discretely save her cushion from further water
damage.

“Okay, hold up a minute.  I’ve got a couple
of questions here, but, first, I need a
serious
drink.  Anyone joining
me?” Sami asked, motioning for a time out in the conversation as she stood and
crossed to the liquor cabinet.

“Si! Oh, Dios Mio!!   Si!  I want a Crown
and coke in the worst way,” Mannie sniffled.  “I’m just parched.  Do you think
I could already be dehydrated?” he asked, wiping his wet cheeks.

“No, but I think your fiancé is living on
borrowed time for putting all of us through this,” Sami growled, efficiently
mixing Armando’s drink and quickly carrying it to him.  “Who’s next?  Viv?”

“I’m gonna stay sober for this
conversation,” Vivian murmured with a slight shake of her head.  “You never
know.  Cooler heads might need to prevail at some later point this evening,”
she noted, jerking her chin in Sami’s direction.

“Yeah, they’d frown on it if you showed up
at the police station drunk when you drop by to bail me out later,” Sami
interjected smoothly, glancing at Molly.  “You having anything, little mama?”

Molly thought about it for a whole second
as she stared longingly at the bottle.  She’d really only had a few sips
earlier and she’d pumped plenty of milk for the baby.  “Yeah, pour me half a
glass of wine, Sami.”  She deserved a treat, damn it. 

“If you’re taking orders,” Devil began,
looking hopefully toward Samantha as she poured Molly’s favored Merlot.

“From you?” Sami asked sweetly, lifting an
eyebrow at Devil.  “You would trust little ole me to serve you?”

“Excellent point.  I’ll get it myself,”
Devil replied with a tired sigh as he rubbed his temple.  “You’d probably
poison it anyway.”

“You’re in luck, Satan.  I’m fresh out of
rat poison tonight.  What’ll you have?  Scotch?” Sami questioned in a rare
display of goodwill.  Molly could only silently assume that Samantha might need
them to pay her bail later and she’d decided it was better to stay on Dev’s
good side for the time being.  Either that, or the world was coming to an end,
Molly thought as she crossed to get her own glass of Merlot.  Given what she’d
seen already tonight, it could really go either way.

Never one to look a gift horse in the
mouth, Molly heard Devil quickly say, “There’s a 1984 MacAllan in the bottom
left cabinet.  If ever there was a call to open that bottle, I’m thinking this
is it.”

“For once, I like the way you think, Devil
Delancy,” Sami said appreciatively as she quickly reached for two heavy glass
tumblers and filled them with the expensive amber liquor.  Picking them up, she
quickly delivered one into Devil’s outstretched hand before resuming her own
seat.  Taking a long, slow sip, she hummed appreciatively as she swallowed. 
“Now, this is the kind of stuff a girl could get used to drinking.  I bet if
you served this all the time, our relationship would be much healthier,
Delancy.”

“As interesting as that is, let’s get back
to Mannie and Nick,” Vivian pleaded urgently.  “What did you mean that ‘they’re
coming’?  And where the
hell
is Nick?”

“Yeah, and why isn’t he here right now
begging
you on his bony knees not to kick his ass to the curb while I throw darts at
his perfectly coiffed hair?” Samantha asked, swilling her scotch moodily.

“Technically and more importantly, legally
speaking, it would have to be Nick evicting Mannie from the home since only
Nick’s name appears on the deed to the townhouse,” Vivian corrected
automatically.

“Ay!  Christo!  Do you think I’m going to
be homeless, Vivian?” Armando yelped, jerking upright from where he slouched
against the arm of the sofa. 

“I seriously doubt that, but even if you
were
homeless, you have a place right here in this house with me, Devil, and the
baby.  We have more than enough room.  It’ll be like a slumber party every
night.  Isn’t that right, Devil?” Molly declared with a pointed look at her
husband.  Blinking stupidly as he processed what she’d said, Molly saw the
exact moment comprehension lit his eyes.  She couldn’t have more effectively
enlisted his assistance if she’d gotten down on her knees and begged.  If there
was one thing she knew, it was how to dance with the Devil.

“By God, Nicholas
WILL
fix this,”
Devil roared, surging to his feet and taking a large gulp of his scotch.  “I’ll
kill his stick-up-her-ass mother myself if it becomes necessary.  As for the
dad,” he continued, beginning to pace, “if I can get him drunk enough, we can
convince him anything is a good idea.  It’s that she-beast, Sofia, that rules
the roost….she’s just got Gino cowed right now.  He’s terrified of the old bag.”

Holding up her hand, Vivian called for
silence.  “Okay,” she began, looking at Devil over her shoulder for a moment. 
“Let’s put a pin in the fact that Devil seems to know an awful lot about Nick’s
parents for now.  First, I want somebody to tell me where in the world that
Italian stud is.  Not that it really matters.  Where he
should
be is
here
trying to work this out with Mannie,” she declared with another hard look at
Devil.

“He will be by morning,” Devil muttered
under his breath as he began to text on his phone.

Rising, Mannie rose to fix another drink. 
Reaching for the Crown Royale, he answered, “For now, he’s in Miami.  The Devil
over there,” he remarked, gesturing toward Molly’s husband, “couldn’t continue
to live without some tech company.  Nick went down to broker the deal.”

“I’ve already notified the company’s
pilot, Armando.  I’ll have him home by morning,” Devil informed the other man. 
“I’m sure this can all be worked out in no time.”

“You can fly him anywhere you want to,
Devil.  The wedding will still be off.  I already left him a voice mail that
said so.”

“What?” Molly shouted, shocked.  Sure,
she’d heart Mannie say it earlier, but she’d assumed he was being dramatic.

“He hid me, Molly.  He hid me from people
who matter to him.  His familia.  I can’t just forget that happened,” Mannie
stated before he took a swig directly from the bottle.  Staring at his friends,
he shook his head emphatically.  “Listen, amigas, I haven’t hid my light under
a bushel tree since I was eighteen and came out to my biological family.  They
disowned me, but I stayed true to who I was.  I can’t let anybody try to snuff
out my light again.  Not even the man I love more than life.  I can’t do it. 
And after talking to his parents…let’s just say that it’s no secret why he’s
remained in the closet where they are concerned.  But me?  In a closet?  I’d
never fit back inside one.  I wouldn’t want to try.  No, I’m gay to stay, my
lovely ladies.”

“Well, of course you are,” Molly said
decisively, “but, so is your future husband.”

“Not according to his parents,” Mannie
muttered, swinging the half full bottle of Crown back to his lips.

“What I want to know is why the little
coward hasn’t called.  You left that voice mail for him, what?  A couple of
hours ago?  Why isn’t he burning up the phone lines trying to fix this shit?”
Samantha griped caustically. 

“That’s probably my fault,” Mannie
revealed with an empty laugh, shifting the bottle of Crown from hand to hand. 
“After I called him, ten minutes later, the phone started blowing up.  Text,
calls, more texts, more calls.  I was forced to take drastic measures.”

“What drastic measures, Mannie?”

Batting his long, sooty eyelashes, Manny
bit his lip before answering.  “I might have relocated my phone to the
blender…. And turned it on puree.  For being so expensive, those iPhones really
can’t take a beating AT ALL.”

“Oh, sweet Lord,” Molly moaned, staring at
a man that just might be nuttier than her own husband.  “You didn’t think maybe
the better idea was to just turn the phone…I don’t know… off?”

“I was in the moment,” Mannie replied
blandly, lifting the liquor to his lips.  “God,” he bit out.  “You know what
this means?  I’m facing thirty and single again.  How fucked up is that?” 
Looking at Sami, he asked, “You wanna go halfsies on our room at the old folks’
home?  We could be roomies!”

“Okay, what about me?” Vivian injected,
smiling faintly at their mutual pal.

“Oh, you’ll eventually meet
The One
,
Vivian.  You’re too sweet not to find him.  But me?  I had my One and then
found out that he was a big, fat, deceitful liar.   As for our Samantha?  Let’s
just say that I haven’t met the boy with balls big enough for her not to bust. 
I don’t think he exists,” Mannie replied, slowly ambling back toward his seat
on the sofa.

“You never know… I might not find anybody
either,” Vivian returned easily.  “You could just be stuck with me.”

“Or, I could finally kill Devil and need a
place to live, too,” Molly inserted with a genuine laugh.

“Then we’d have a Three’s Company sitch on
the horizon.  Ohhhhh, that’d be fuuuuuunnnn.   I loved, loved,
loved
that show.  John Ritter was a comedic genius.  You just know that white boy is
cracking up the angelic choir up there.  ‘Come and knock on my door…’” Manny
sang, closing his eyes and bouncing his head to a beat only he seemed to hear.