Tiffany -I’ve reconsidered my stance on inviting you to the next meeting. Dorma Morano will be joining us in a few short weeks. You’re welcome to be there.
Dorma Morano? She’s only the biggest women’s rights activist in the Western Hemisphere. This is huge. I can’t believe she’s coming to Whitney Briggs, let alone to speak to some trumped-up law club just this side of the Girl Scouts. I text right back.
I’d be honored to be there. You couldn’t keep me away if you tried!
Okay, perhaps that last bit was me trying to usurp her control a bit, but I’ve never been one who liked to be bridled.
And after much begging and prodding on the part of my three best friends, I agree to meet with them at Hallowed Grounds after our last classes of the day let out. I spot the three of them seated outside, already hovering over their steaming lattes, one extra for me, I assume.
“Here she is!” Cassidy pats the space next to her, and I cringe.
“It’s pretty cold out here.” I’m about to beg them to go into hiding with me, deep into the artificial forest in the back of the café, but a part of me is tired of running. The sneers from my classmates may have slightly dissipated and so have the hounding press. As far as I’m concerned, I’m yesterday’s news.
I sit with my back to the public in an attempt to circumvent anyone getting a clear shot of us together. Now that I’ve all but dubbed myself the queen of mold—as per my new expert superpower of turning any and everything I’m near to something toxic, I’d hate to turn their lives to rot and filth by simply sipping my coffee within camera range.
“You back alley wench.” Cassidy pulls me hard by the fingers before lunging at me with a firm embrace. “I’m so happy for you, I could cry.” She sniffs in my ear. “Oh heck, I have shed a river.” She pulls back with her eyes laced with crimson. “Tell us all about it. When did this start? I bet the two of you have been teasing one another from the get-go. Friday night was just an explosion in all things delicious.” She gives a friendly wink.
“Not exactly.” I take a careful sip of my coffee. “But you’re very close.” I wince because there would be no greater relief than getting the truth out to my friends. “Jet and I have actually managed to do everything ass backward—my fault completely. We were sort of hiding a mutual attraction for the entire last year.” I glance to Scarlett for a moment because that’s exactly what happened between here and Rex, only their families were at the crux of their problems, and, well, Jet and I don’t have too much family to worry about outside of Lucky. My own family is pretty much in another solar system as far as I’m concerned. I lean in, and the three of them do the same. “After one week in his house? I spent the rest of my stay in his bed.”
They take in a collective gasp so powerful and strong, I swear on all that is holy, you can feel the oxygen depleting around us.
“No shit?” Piper doesn’t mix words, and that’s always been my favorite part of her.
“Nope. Don’t get me wrong. Jet and I weren’t on speaking terms exactly. We were sort of—” I struggle a moment with my descriptors.
Scarlett knocks her knee to mine. “Enjoying one another’s sarcastic company?”
“Exactly. But most of those barbs came from me. I was too busy holding up my walls to notice he took down his once I walked through the door. Anyway, that went on night afterdeliciousnight.” I nod to Cassidy when I say the word she charged me with. “Then, once morning came, we went back to normal, or at least as close as we could get. Jet is really a good guy.” My eyes tear up at the thought of how good he’s been to me, and I blink the emotions away, save them for later. A part of me still wants my friends to think I’ve got this life thing all figured out.
Cassidy wrinkles her nose at me, that devilish gleam surfaces in her that I see regularly in her sister’s eyes. “Like really,reallygood?”
“Yes, you pervert. He’s really, really good. That’s what kept me coming back for more. Plus, he’s a prince. Most men would have run a mile right out that door had I asked them to help me free my girl power after I sealed myself shut with wax. And the fact he cared enough to purchase my books when I couldn’t cover the cost at the bookstore?” I shake my head with fondness at the memory. “So when he opened his heart up, and said those three magic words, it felt more than right to say them back.”
All three of their mouths open wide to dark gaping holes.
“Back up the train,” Piper snips. “So, the two of you went from fuck buddies to exchanging Valentines in the stretch of a few weeks?”
“Something like that,” I snarl at her. “Don’t go cheapening it either. Jet and I are the same person when it comes to relationships. We don’t do them—traditionally. But I felt something for so long for that boy. I knew we had something. And no matter how hard I fought it—we landed here, on our feet.”
“So, you guys are out of the woods? You’re good to go?” Scarlett’s emerald eyes expand. “I mean, after Rex and I got to that point, it was a little bumpy going until the dust settled.”
“We’re as out of the woods as my crazy life will allow us to be.” I take in a satisfying breath of fresh fall air as my friends shower me with their worried expressions. “Jet and I are together, and no one or nothing can change that. In a weird way, all of this insanity that’s circled my life like a pack of wild animals has brought me what I’ve craved the most,love.”
The three of them coo in approval as if I’ve just plucked a litter of puppies from thin air.
Scarlett, Piper, and Cassidy all pull me into a group hug, and I nearly fall out of my seat with the brimming affection.
After that long dry emotional season that was my childhood, I’m suddenly drowning in a sea of love.
Deep down, I’ve always suspected this was the way it should be. And now it is.
Jet has made my world the securest place it has ever been—that it ever can be.
With both him and my friends in my life, there isn’t anything I can’t live through.
That flash from the game comes back to haunt me, throwing the ghastly white skeleton of my past into my face. I still very much have the power to destroy everything I touch. Something tells me I need to tread lightly with both my friends and my new relationship with Jet. Scarlett’s words ring like a foreboding omen. If she and Rex had a bumpy ride after they exchanged theirI love yous, what makes me think I’ll be any different?
My brother’s words come back to me.Lay low and stay the hell out of trouble.
