“News flash!”I scream.“I'm not a virgin!”
Complete silence.
Bo pushes himself off the floor.He stares at me, horrified.
“I’m sorry you have to hear this, Mama, and I’ll understand if you want to plug your ears, because…”I look around the room.“What the absolute fucking hot sauce Christmas cake is wrong with all you people?”
“Preach,” Declan says.
I’m panting.My heart’s thudding.Everyone’s staring at me in disbelief.Maybe that wasn’t the best way to start this conversation, but I’ve definitely succeeded in creating a distraction.
Ugh.
I haven’t had enough sleep for days on end.My filter is nonexistent at this point.And since I’ve already mucked it up, I decide to keep going.
“I haven’t been a virgin since my first year of nursing school!Which means that no one—I’m talking toyou, Jake Travis—is required to protect my virtue or start fistfights to uphold my honor, got it?I am an adult woman.I live how I choose to live.”
Jake steps back from Evander and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, blinking at me.
I point a shaking finger toward him.“You want to know what happened with Evander and me in the blizzard?You want to know if hetouchedme?Is that it?You’re asking for details about the type and frequency of any touching that might have gone on while we tried tostay alivein the worst storm this state has ever seen?”
Rick steps forward from his bathroom hiding place.“Phoebe.Sit down.You might fall.”
I wheel around and glare at him.It’s nice being taller than everyone else.I wonder if this is how Evander feels all the time.
“What thecountry-fried fuckare you doing here, dude?We broke up three months ago!”
“You invited me.”
“I invited you in September!Yes, I forgot touninviteyou, butcome on!You decide to show up at your ex-girlfriend’s family home at Christmas without even checking with her first?Seriously?Whodoesthat shit?How self-important do you have to be to decide that’s normal?”
“I was hoping I might convince you—”
“No, no, no.Don’t do this, Rick.I’m begging you.”
“Oh, heavens,” my mother says from her spot with Jamie near the window.
This has to be a hallucination because I swear I’m seeing Rick go down on one knee by the side of my hospital bed.He pulls out a little black velvet box and looks up at me in anticipation.
“Oh, goodness,” my mother says.
“Da fuq is this?”Special K asks.
Good question.
CHAPTER 55
Phoebe
“Rick.”I press my hands together as if in prayer.“Please get up.Right now.Put the box away, ‘cause this isnothappenin’.”
“Come on, Pea.Let the man state his case.”
I swing my head around to glare at Kyle, then turn to glare at Rick again.He hasn’t moved.
I want to check on Evander, but I can’t.If I look over there and see that he’s hurt or angry, I’ll lose my shit.
Maybe I already have.
