“I’m such an idiot. I swear on all that is good, I wasn’t in my right mind.” She bolts to the other side of the bed for protection—a wise move on her part. “But he flashed that badge! And he was dressed head to foot in that official uniform. God knows I’ve been fifty shades afraid of blue after you had Low thrown in the pokey. All that boy had to do was look at me and I spilled every answer at his feet.Honey—I answered questions he didn’t evenask.”
“Crap,” I moan as I sit on the bed, naked and dejected after a night that my mind is desperate to replay, but I won’t letit.
“Excuse me, but did I just hear you say theCword?” She slides in about an arm’s length away. “I know for a fact that goes against Lex code.” She slips in closer and butts her shoulder to mine playfully. “How about I make us some tea and cue up an entire montage of rom-coms to erase all memories of your big bro showing up on the scene? I’ll even help you get some clothes on.” She hops up and pulls a chenille robe out of the closet and wraps me in it before pulling back the covers and helping me crawl intobed.
Raven disappears into the kitchen, and in less than ten minutes she’s back with a steaming cup of tea for the both of us, my grandmother’s china, peach and white flowers on a powder blue setting. It’s my favorite set, and I never use them, but rather than unleash my porcelain-based fury upon her, I sit up in bed and peaceably take the preciouscup.
“Don’t you worry about a thing.” She turns on the television and crawls in next to me, mounding the pillows behind us into a slouched hillside. “We’ll hang out right here, comfy cozy.” She sits so close to me our elbows touch. “After my sorority sisters would partake in the walk of shame”—she bats her lashes up at me, and I glower at her for even suggesting it—“not that what you just went through, naked, barefoot, and pantiless would qualify. Anyhow, most of them came back just the way they left, albeit a little more disheveled. But you—you’re a bona fide runaway—a sexual escapee. Heck, I don’t even know how to classify that crotch-bearing event. By the way”—she gives a sly wink—“nice move bringing back the seventies vibe.” She glances briefly to my lap. “I’m with you all the way. I hate shaving. Face it, those ingrown hairs itch like hell, and don’t you even try to tell me that curse word was not warranted. In fact, I think we should keep the momentum going. I’ll send an all pubes APB out to my old sorority sisters and we’ll get this hairy ball back in motion. Why should we have to shave for the man? You’re onto something, Lex. Girl power all the way with that one.” She offers up a knuckle bump, and I woefully accept. “You know, I think it’s time.” Those sad puppy dog eyes of hers sag as she gives a slownod.
“For MatthewMcConaughey?”
“For you to spill a few emotions all over the place. I get it. You keep a short list of friends, but Low and I care about you. We want to know what makes youtick.”
“Low isn’t here.” I turn the volume up on the television set, a cooking show—my people, my world. I wish Raven would morph into a bird like she’s supposed to so I can sit here all day and watch bacon melt in a pan instead of slicing open my body like a piñata and entertaining her with the deformed rocks that fallout.
Raven snatches the remote off the comforter, and within five hot seconds we’re in rom-comhell.
“I’ll fill her in on all the dirty deets. Now, what’s with the no cursing rule? Let’s startthere.”
“My mother cursed like a trucker.” I lean my head back and end up thumping it against the headboard. So much for pillow mountain. That’s what I get for trusting someone else to do something for me. Today is all about the hard lessons. I don’t see why I should catch a break anytime soon. “She left my family when I was just a kid. I caught her as she was taking off in the middle of the night, suitcase in hand. There was a beat-up car idling for her in the driveway. She said, ‘Take care of everyone for me, baby. You’re my special Lexy girl. I will always love you.’” A single tear singes my cheek as it burns its way down. “I never wanted to hear that name again. I never wanted to see her face. I made sure the first wish came true. She made sure the next onedid.”
A hard sniffle comes from her as Raven lands her tea down on the nightstand. “My God, girl, you’re not made of ice. You’re made ofglass.” She wraps both arms around me. “With a mother like that, it’s a wonder you survived. It’s not a big leap to figure out why you’re so cranky and nasty.” Her tears warm my neck as they trickle to my chest, and I pull back staring at her inwonder.
“Are you crying forme?”
“Of course, I’m crying for you. Who else would I be boo-hooing for? You’re a badass, Lex! Pardonnotmy French. But you are. Look at all you’ve managed to accomplish without your mother to guideyou.”
I give a hard sniff toward the television with its ridiculous meet-cute and sappy one-liners. “If this were the seventeenth century, I’d be aspinster.”
“Yeah, so?” She shakes out that dark mane, and for a moment I’m paranoid she’s about to shed all over my newly washed sheets. “And you probably wouldn’t have Strudel. You’d have like fifteencats.”
“I loathe the litter box.” I glare over at Strudel sitting like a king in the corner as if it were all his fault. “And my hovel of a home would be infested withfleas.”
“And ticks. You’d get Key Lime disease and never want to leave your houseagain.”
A horrible sadness encapsulates us both as we sag deeper into a newly inventeddepression.
A thump comes from the living room followed by a cheery voice. “Where the hell you girls at?” It’s Low, and I sag with a sigh of relief once her perky face fills the doorway. I’ve never been so thankful not to see my brother. One break-in worthy encounter is enough for the day—for alifetime.
I frown over at Low. “I came this close to accosting you with a bottle of hairspray. If you were an intruder, you’d be blind bynow.”
Raven roars with a laugh while patting a spot on the other side of me for her bestie. “And I would have sat on your face until the cops arrived—that is, if you actually had a pair, were over six feet, and had demanding blue eyes. Otherwise, I would have maced the heck out of you. Lex here was about to go easy onyou.”
“You have Mace?” Raven intrigues me just a little bit more each time she opens hermouth.
“Never mind that.” Low kicks off her heels and crawls under the comforter to my right. Low and Raven are finally proving to be the bookends I’ve always known them to be. “Why the heck wasn’t I invited to this lovefest and”—she pulls back the covers a notch before pulling them snug to her chest—“my word, that is a bush staring back at me!” She leans forward and looks to Raven intently. “Where are Lex’s panties and what have you done toher?”
Raven rolls her eyes. “Believe it or not, she came home dressed this way. She spent the nightwith—”
“Axel,” I cut her off. Tears well up in my eyes, and a knot quickens in my throat. “I lost my mind and let him have his way withme.”
Low gasps so loud you’d think I were confessing a felony. And in a way, I am. “Well—did you get to have your way withhim?”
A devilish grin percolates on my lips. “More than once, and sadly, not quite enough.” A shiver runs through me at the memory of his strong, weighted frame over mine. Axel made love to me with his whole body. He’s a master between the sheets. Not that I have anything to compare him with, but innately I know that Axel Collins is a force to be reckoned with in bed. A force I rather enjoyed reckoning with come to think ofit.
“Holy crap!” Low gives me a hard shove into Raven’s arms. “What the heck are you doing here? You should be holed up in bed with that boy, wrapped in his arms, and whatever other body parts he held you hostagewith.”
“I would have been if Raven hadn’t sent my big brother afterhim.”
