Val
Oh she’s throwing you into the deep end. I love it.
It’s one of Aimee’s favorites too, but she’ll never actually admit it.
Our girl’s got a kinky streak
It was official—Iwas never drinking again.
Like Lukas had said, we’d ended up passing out on the couch, all piled on top of one another. My body ached and my head pounded from who knows how many bottles of wine we’d gone through last night. I’d woken up to blinding light and too many messages on my phone to even make sense of. My friend’s being out of control trolls and my biggest supporters.
Despite it all—all the pain and the anger that had been dealt with last night, I felt good. Better than I had in a long time. Except for the headache. The headache sucked, and every slight movement, every flash of light or too loud sound made me want to vomit. Eloise and Annalise weren’t in much better shape.
After Lukas had left last night, we’d drank more, and they recounted every moment of the kisses, and then spent a good hour imagining what he was like in bed.
I’d nearly died from embarrassment before finally passing out.
“So, how late did you stay up, and how much is the bar tab?” Orion asked, pitching his voice louder on purpose.
The three of us groaned and my parents couldn’t hide their shared grins behind looks of concern fast enough. I also knew full well there wasn’t a bar tab. I’d had a message from Lukas—wasn’t sure how or when he’d gotten my number, but he informed me that any bill we might have accrued, he had it covered.
“Ssshh,” Annalise whispered, waving her hand at my brother.
I glared at my brother and he just smiled.
“Let me guess, you stayed up gossiping and hitting each other with pillows.”
Eloise snorted and then groaned, Annalise smacked him and I just continued to glare, not sure if I opened my mouth if I’d throw up or not.
“One, that’s sexist. And two, we stayed up drinking and cursing Asher for being a cheating prick. Three, you wouldn’t have been invited if wehaddone a pillow fight,” Eloise said.
I wasn’t sure if my parents had seen the interview, but by the looks on their faces, they had. A shadow crossed over my brother’s face.
“If I’d know that little punk had been pulling that shit, I would have beat his face in — friend or not.”
I let the glare slide off my face.
“We spoke to the Leland’s—they had no idea. Alice is beside herself, so is Jon. They know you’re hurting, but they wanted to let you know that if you ever need anything, they’re still there for you,” Mom said.
In light of the bomb that went off yesterday, it had never even dawned on me to cut them out of my life. I’d made that mistake for two years and they weren’t to blame for Asher’s lacking commitment.
I just nodded, still not sure if the lump in my throat was vomit or emotions.
“Yeah, and then Lukas showed up,” Eloise said.
“Hey, I thought you said it was girls only, no guys allowed!” Orion dropped his fork on his plate, looking incredibly offended.
“You should have seen the way he kissed her—well the way Aimes kissed him. It was so hot.”
I stared at Eloise. It was her turn to get the full weight of my glare, but she wasn’t looking at me—but at Orion.
“I mean, panty melting, fan your face kind of hot.”
“Eloise!” I kicked my best friend under the table, and she grunted, snapping her eyes to glare at me. I mouthed at her to shut up, but she just kept talking.
I glanced at my parents—Dad looked like he was choking on whatever bite of food he’d just taken, and my mom looked like she was fighting a grin.
I got stuck on the look on my mom’s face. I couldn’t remember the last time I saw her smile—even if it was mildly at my expense. I bit back my own smile. I was still going to burn all of Eloise’s spicy romance books, and possibly bury her body where no one would find her—Val would probably have research on how to do it. But right now, I would let her make me uncomfortable if it meant that my mom would smile again.For the first time in almost two years, things felt like they were almost normal.
