I turn to her, feeling momentarily disoriented as my perspective returns to normal. “You’re right. Seems weird you’d put your mouth on it with a condom on top.”
She shrugs and shoves the package into my little purse. “In case you get lucky with Merrick. And I’m sure somebody sucks strawberry dick. What do we know?”
“At least you’ve done it.” Here I am in grad school and still a card-carrying member of the V-club.
She puts her arm around me. “It’ll happen. And trust me, I might rather have never done it based on what I’ve had so far. Why are men so bad at it?”
I wonder if Merrick is any good. Symphony is all over his brother. She seems happy. Does being good in bed run in a family?
We head for the door but stop by a whiteboard on the wall that reads, “Leave advice for the next lovers.”
Jenna picks up the dry erase marker, which is attached with a string. “What should we say?”
I don’t have any advice. I’ve been foolishly obsessing over one man for months, and I haven’t even seen him since the last time I was here.
And on that occasion, I foolishly let it drop to Diesel that I was a virgin. I’m sure he told Merrick.
That alone might be enough to scare off the tatted-up, seriously hot owner of this bar. Maybe he saw me come in and ran to the kitchen.
Jenna taps the marker against her palm.
But then I have it. My head sizzles with the same electric excitement as the time I danced on the bar and flashed the entire Leaky Skull crowd. It’s like a wholly different Marietta takes over.
I’ve missed her. I only really feel her come over me when I’m here.
I take the marker from Jenna and write my words on the board.
“Virgin in the house. Find me and fix it.”
Jenna shakes her head, but she’s smiling. “You’re going to be trouble tonight, aren’t you?”
I laugh because I’m finally rushing with the adrenaline that Merrick’s bar always gives me. Anything seems possible. “I might!”
When we open the door to leave, a cheer goes up.
“Hope you broke it in right!” says a bearded man in a leather vest. His head is covered with a black skull bandanna.
“You wish,” Jenna says. “Just visiting for old time’s sake.”
“Merrick!” the man shouts. “It’s not working! Nobody’s so much as beat off in there!”
My whole body buzzes at Merrick’s name. That, along with the charge I got from admitting I was a virgin on the board, is a dangerously intoxicating combination.
Time seems to slow down as I turn to follow the man’s gaze. Everything sharpens, like I took a drug.
Merrick stands behind the bar, looking both the same and different from when I last saw him several months ago. His dark hair curls against his forehead. His blue eyes flash with excitement as he takes in his bar’s crowd.
But he has a new accessory.
I frown.
When did that happen?
He turns to a customer who is telling him an order. He leans in to listen.
I grip Jenna’s hand.
“What is it?” she asks.
