I muttered under my breath, and pulled the front door open, catching Susan mid-knock.
She quickly folded her arms. “Oh good, you’re awake.”
I blinked at her.
“Your mother has informed me you’ll be needing a lift to her bible study group this morning. And for every other group meeting she has on Sundays.”
It had completely slipped my mind — actually, everything had slipped my mind after last night.
I was tempted to wordlessly shut the door in her face and head back to bed, but I knew better. With Antonio already pressuring me to work in the basement full-time, I didn’t need my mother lecturing me too. I was also slowly beginning to feel normal again after the deaths of Frank and Greg — still not entirely okay with it, but grateful I didn’t actually see anything.
I smiled politely at Susan as she waited for my answer, her body leaning to the left as she tried to peer into the apartment behind me. Hoping to catch a glimpse of anyone I may have snuck inside last night.
“I’ll get changed,” I said, forcing as much pleasantness into my voice before I closed the door again. Flicking the lock, I turned on the spot and pressed the heel of my palms into my eye sockets. Screaming internally with frustration before I let my hands fall and marched begrudgingly back into my bedroom.
The petty little smile, full of smugness over what she witnessed last night, hadn’t left Susan’s face as we drove on to my parent’s place in her little blue Prius. There was no doubt she already called Mom last night to fill her in on all the scandalous details. Even though Mom already knew I was seeing Dean (unaware it was fake) the thought of her also knowing of what he did to my neck left me feeling a little on edge.
It had been a light graze on my skin, like a gentle branding, but Susan probably embellished the retelling. When we arrived at the house, and the door was pulled open with so much force I thought I might come off its hinges, I realized Susan had clearly outdone herself with whatever she told Mom.
She was scathing. Lips pursed as her eyes pinned me on the front porch.
“Lily. Whitmore,” she hissed under her breath. “You are lucky I have a house full of women from the PTA because God help me, I am beyond disappointed.”
“I don’t know what Susan told you.” I looked at the nosey woman standing behind me to find her looking pretty pleased with herself. “But it wasn’t as bad as you think—”
Mom’s eyes flared. “I thought we agreed you wouldn’t see him again.”
“I never said that—”
“And instead, I got a phone call from Susan last night telling me you were—” She clutched a hand to her chest, looking up as she took a breath to compose herself. “You know what? I can’t even say it out loud.”
My next response left my mouth before I could stop myself, but I was too tired to care. Kira and I stayed up well past midnight excitedly discussing what had happened on the penthouse roof, disregarding how we would feel in the morning.
“It’s not like she caught us having sex against the building.”
Susan slapped a hand to her mouth to muffle a gasp, while Mom’s eyes shot back to me.
“Get inside. Right now.”
I fought the urge to roll my eyes as I moved past her into the house. Leading the way into the sitting room to the right of the front door, where about a dozen women were seated with cakes, tea, and coffee in their laps. Meanwhile, their bibles, which they were supposed to be studying, were on the coffee table, untouched as the women chatted amongst themselves. Their meeting hadn’t started yet.
Dad was also nowhere in sight, which eased the stress just a little.
None of the guests paid me any attention as Mom passive-aggressively forced me to sit in an armchair beside Jane, who was watching me with a knowing smile on her face from where she sat on the adjacent sofa. Once Mom and Susan joined the other women, she leaned closer to me.
“You should’ve seen how she reacted last night,” she whispered.
I kept my voice to a whisper too. “What exactly did Susan tell her?”
“That she caught you participating in some unladylike activities with a tattooed delinquent,” she said, mocking Susan before her eyes sparked with mischief. “Is it true he had his hand up your dress?”
“What? Oh my god, no.” Heat flooded my chest and face at the insinuation. “She only saw him kiss my neck before he said goodbye.”
“Your neck?” Jane giggled. “Does he have a problem with lips or something?”
I couldn’t help the smile that tugged at my lips as I slowly eased back into the seat. “Definitely not.”
“So, you did kiss him?” she whispered excitedly.
