“Plus, everyone knows that the best way to get over one dick is to ride another,” she said with a sage nod, like some kind of horny omega life coach.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh my god, fine! I’ll go! Just shut up!”
“That’s my girl!” she cheered. “It’ll be fun—I promise!”
“Yeah, yeah..”
“Now there’s just the little problem of what you’re going to wear, it’s a costume party.”
My lip hurt as I bit it in thought. “I don’t have anything, I don’t think…”
Her face went flat, a supercilious eyebrow raising. “You’re telling me you don’t have a little plaid skirt and a white shirt you could tie up? Like that character from Kill Floor?”
She was right, Ihadworn a schoolgirl outfit last Halloween as a donation incentive. And it was shockingly like my main. “Okay, fine. I’ll find it.”
“Sick,” she smirked, leaning forward to grab the remote, surfing through the streaming app I’d already had open. “Now that’s settled, what’re we watching? I’ll have Jesse bring my costume over later so I can help you get ready.”
I blinked a little, a smile tugging at my mouth. “Sleepover?”
“How else are we going to do a makeover episode, Eva? We are going to take you from heartbroken to boy killer.”
I laughed, the dark emotions that’d been plaguing me lifting like a fog under the bright light of friendship. “From tragic to that bitch?”
“That so doesn’t rhyme,” she complained, clicking onto an old horror movie with a masked killer that I’d always had a little thing for.
“Yeah, but the message is the same… Ugh, let me grab a bag. I so can’t deal with you sitting in my garbage heap.”
“Huh, I thought you’d decorated the nest a little differently today….”
I threw a candy at her as I got up, headed for the kitchen as the doorbell rang.
“Hope you’re hungry,” I called to her, stopping off to pick up the giant paper bag of takeout.
“When am I not?”
“Yeah, okay, point taken. Pause that for a second, I don’t care if we’re eating dinner, I can’t watch a movie without popcorn.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
I slida black round-necked t-shirt on before stepping out of my room into the hall. The voices of the rest of my pack drifted up to me from downstairs, the anxious energy in the house palpable.
I could practically feel the excitement thrumming in my veins as I made my way downstairs.
It’d been a while since we’d all been out together. Marcus’ work schedule at the restaurant was always a challenge on weekends, and lately I’d been travelling what felt like weekly for investor meetings and product reviews. Plus, Indigo’s new boyfriend was taking up the bulk of their time, making it impossible to solidify plans.
They’d even taken to rescheduling our pre-set times to hang out, like our Monday night movie and Wednesday gaming sessions in favour of spending more time with him. It was…frustrating.
Still, I was happy for them, or something like it. As long as I’d known Indi, they’d wanted to be packed up with an omegaat the center of their universe. But… The change in our carefully crafted routine was draining. And I felt the loss of our time together like a physical blow.
Even if I did like Joon, he was cute—okay, fine, he washotand smelled like a fucking candy apple that I wanted to sink my teeth directly into—and sweet, with interests that at least peripherally matched the relative freakshow that left our house looking more like an oddities museum than a typical bachelor pad.
Was that a positive? Based on the cringes that usually followed a potential hookup or date, checking out my etymology collection or Indi’s dolls, I had to assumeyes.
Joon didn’t seem to mind the small army of artfully pinned butterflies against the breakfast nook wall directly behind his turned back as he sat on a stool at the kitchen island, picking at a plate of carefully prepared charcuterie from Marcus.
He smiled as I entered the room, offering a little wave and a muffled “Hi,” through a mouthful of cracker and cheese.
I offered a stiff smile and a wave, breezing past to grab a beer out of the fridge.
