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“It was so weird. She seemed as straitlaced as they came. Kelly swore the drugs weren’t hers, but when the cops searched her bedroom at home, they found more, so there wasn’t really a way to keep claiming innocence after that. In the end, I think she had to take a plea deal to avoid going to juvie.”
jr did it
Nope. Stop that, I told myself. You’re trying to be a better human being, and homicidal thoughts like that aren’t helping you find her.
“I wish I could go back, but I can’t. Tell me what I can do to make it up to you. Beat Principal Michaels up again? Plant more drugs on Kelly?” She went so still it felt like she’d stopped breathing. “What?”
Ryan tipped their head sideways. “Is that a kink?” I met their gaze. “Literally everything is a kink if you think about it long enough.” They looked unconvinced. “Is that true?” “Absolutely,” I said. Their eyes narrowed.
Weird like, they want a video of me naked, covered in olive oil and herbs, with vegetables spread out around me,” Taylor said. “They even requested that I put an apple in my mouth and baste myself.” Ryan raised their brows. “Baste, like … baste?” Taylor shook her head. “No, not shove a baster up my hoo-hah. They want me to baste myself like a turkey.” “Oh, no,” I said, gripping her shoulder. “So it is a weird request?” she asked. “Is it a food fetish or something?” Ryan reached out to grip her other side. “No, honey. It isn’t a food fetish.” Taylor looked between us, clearly confused. I
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Soon, a slap fight broke out that roused Walter. He got between us and started barking excitedly, because Yay! Playtime! “Oh, great,” I said. “You woke the baby.”
I huffed out a breath, feeling awkward. Sometime over the past six months, this giant weirdo who never took anything seriously had wheedled his way into my life, and, yeah, fine, I guess we were friends.
“Right,” Lauren said. “The staircase.” “Great documentary,” Lauren’s other roommate chimed in. “He totally fucking did it.”
“I don’t know. There might be something to the owl theory.” She smiled and glanced at Lauren. “I like him. He can stay.” With that, she turned and flounced back into the crowd.
My mind screamed, Bad idea! but my hormones were like, Step aside, bitch.
“Let me know if you need a character witness. I would love to lie to a judge.”
definitely wasn’t a tracking device or anything. That would be crossing a line that not even Junior would … I let the thought go, recognizing it for the bullshit it was. Junior absolutely would,
Nonna shook her head and sent me a sly smile. She’d stopped giving a fuck five years ago, when Nonno died, and now spent her time living for the shock and discomfort of others. Age disgracefully was her motto. I wanted to be her when I grew up.
I loved your grandfather more than anything, but my biggest regret in life is that I wasn’t a complete skank before I met him.”
“I hope you’re sowing your oats now.” Her eyes fluttered shut, and a look of grief washed over her face. “One penis. For fifty years, Lauren.” She blinked and met my gaze. “Learn from my mistakes. Be a slut while you still can.”
A familiar, pathetic mewl came from nearby, and we turned toward it. Last month, I’d spent a gross, sweaty weekend helping Josh and Aly turn their back porch into what they were calling a catio (See? Weird.), framing the space out and then stapling heavy-duty screens in between the wood. All so Fred could sit outside and watch the birds while Josh and Aly drank their coffee. And then they’d adopted Maud, who now had all four paws dug into the screen, crying to be let out. Fred sat on the cat tree behind her, looking unimpressed by her behavior.
“Shame.” His gaze swung back to me, taking in the tattoos on my neck, the words scrawled across my knuckles. “What is it you said you do again?” “Imports,” I said. “You?” He grinned. “Finance.”
Tyler is going to be doing something suspicious i just know it
When I was done, he smiled. “That sounds like a complete shit show.” “You in?” “Fuck, yeah,” he said.
Anyone or anything could be inside—a murderer, a cannibal, thousands of tiny spiders waiting to crawl all over me. I don’t know what it said about me that the last possibility was the only one that freaked me out.
No signs of a murderer, but I didn’t let my guard down. The spiders could be anywhere.
Maybe if I hadn’t just seen him a few hours ago, I wouldn’t have been so sure, but there was no mistaking his douchey face or his smarmy grin. Finance, my ass. No wonder he’d looked so smug when I told him I ran imports. The motherfucker probably knew who I was.
called it
and I had to stop and steady myself before it dumped me into the water. Goddamn pain in the ass jungle gym fucking bullshit.
Praying I wasn’t making the biggest mistake of my life, I offered my hand to Tyler. He grinned as we shook. “This is going to be fun.” Somehow, I highly doubted that.
I wasn’t the one who started shit. Hugo was Kristen’s husband; it was his job to take her side.
With a sigh, he nodded. “I may or may not have used force.” Unease wormed its way through my stomach. “How much force?” He winced. “I took his finger off.” “You what?” His tone turned placating. “He got it reattached.” I gaped at him. “That doesn’t make it any better!”
“He has a thing about men targeting women,” Nic said. “Shouldn’t everyone?”
“You should still go to teach him a lesson,” a low voice said. We turned to see Stefan standing nearby, a bag slung over his shoulder. “We all should.”
Josh took a sip of wine and set his glass down. “He said he’s running a few minutes late and to start without him. Oh, and he’s bringing a date.” Aly’s brows rose. “Do we know who?” Josh shook his head. “No. It’s weird, I used to beg him to stop oversharing with me when we lived together, but ever since I moved out, I’ve had no idea what’s going on in his life.”
