“I could talk to my mom,” I offered. “She’s got contacts at the Justice Department…”
“No,” she barked. “Absolutely not. I knew you would try to do something. That’s who you are. But there is nothing to be done. I don’t even know if I want my father found. Can you just accept what I told you without trying to save me?”
Could I? I held my palms up. “I’m not sure if I can. It’s what I do, Beth.”
“I get it Captain America, but you’ve got other battles to fight. Focusing on finding out who is taking bets on our sisters’ virginity, for one.”
“That I already have a plan for.”
“You do?” she asked, surprised since the subject hadn’t come up all night.
“The guys and I decided it’s got to be Wick behind it. I just need to prove it.”
“I don’t know. It seems this has to be more financially driven. Why would Wick need the vig on a betting book? What’s his motivation?”
“Humiliating my sister,” I said darkly. “So he can hurt me.”
“That’s a lot of work just to humiliate your sister and hurt you. And Wick and I have always been mostly friends. It’s unlikely he holds a grudge against Kit or Lyd.”
“Friends, huh? You and Wick.” Why that bothered me I wasn’t sure.
“Friends-ish. Hey!” she exclaimed as if the idea of the century just occurred to her. “What if I get in on the action? I can bet all the money I have, anonymously of course, on the date I’ll lose my virginity and then plan accordingly.”
“In other words, sell your virginity.” I growled. Was I growling? Because it sounded like I was growling. “You know there’s a name for that right?”
“I refuse to be slut-shamed,” she said with her pointy little chin in the air.
“Fine, then why don’t we just add it to the fashion show auction? How much for this Louis Vuitton book bag? For these Manola Blahnik strappy sandals? And for Beth Bennet’s virgin pussy? What is the going rate for that?”
“Don’t saypussy,” she said, and I could see her blushing. The streetlamp in front of her house gave off plenty of illumination for me to see every reaction on her face.
“Why?”
“Because it’s crass. Like what you said the other night about cocks…and stuff.”
“You’re not ready to have sex if you can’t use the words,” I told her. “Pussy and cock. Dicks and cunts. That’s what it is. Everything else just romanticizes it like some kind of movie.”
“Oh, and I guess because you knew the words you got to have sex.”
I wasn’t going to try and explain again why I’d made the decision I did. I’m fairly sure I fucked it up last time so there didn’t seem to be a point.
“You and I both know you’re not going to have sex until it means something for you. Anything else you tell yourself is bullshit.”
“Did it mean something for you?” she asked me quietly.
“No,” I said truthfully. “It was a means to an end. I don’t regret it. I just didn’t think about it in those terms. I didn’t need my first time to bespecial.” I put rabbit ears around the wordspecial.
“Why not? Why didn’t you deserve for it to be special?”
“When I’m with the right person, it will be. And now I know I can make it good for…her. That mattered more to me.” I waited a bit. “I can hear you breathing.”
“I’m talking about sex with a guy I’m alone with in a car. My heart is going to speed up. Deal with it.”
I laughed. Beth Bennet made me laugh a lot. “So we’re not auctioning off your virginity next Sunday?”
“Apparently not,” she said sarcastically. “I can’t saypussyandcocks.”
“You did a pretty job good right there. And you know, if you ever want to…practice.”
