By the time I’m finished giving her some of the details, because there’s no chance I’m telling her everything they said, or the fact that Wes, Lev, and Sebastian walked in on us, she’s stunned silent. I have to look up and see if my friend is still with me.
“Damn.” She fans herself. “I think I need to call Brendan. I wonder if he’d be opposed to me adding some more men.”
I shake. “You know that man isn’t going to share you. There’s not a chance.”
“Ugh. You’re right. He barely wants me out of his sight.” She harrumphs, making me giggle. “Don’t laugh at my pain, bitch. Just know I’m living through you. So when arewegetting more D?”
I roll my eyes, “Absolutely not. You’re not getting me in trouble. There will be no we in this, only an I.”
“Selfishness,” she mutters before laughing. “Fine. Just know I’m docking fifteen friend points from you.”
I snort. “Whatever, ho, you love me. Now let’s finish up so we can grab Jamie and get her nails done.”
* * *
The aromaof the food in front of me makes my mouth water. Once we finished at the spa, we grabbed Jamie and went to the nail salon. Now we’re grabbing lunch at the diner.
“How’s the party planning going?” Shay asks.
Jamie’s head pops up from the food she was drooling over. “What party? Can I come?”
“This is a fundraiser. The party for Christmas is now a dinner at Wy’s house. And both are going about as well as anything can go when you have to plan it with Samantha and plebs,” I mumble, reaching for my fork to begin chowing down on my chicken, shrimp, and broccoli Alfredo. Before I take a bite, I answer Jamie’s question. “You’ll be at the dinner but not the fundraiser. That’s a black-tie, adults-only kind of event.”
Jamie’s eyes fill with excitement. “Finally. All the kids at school talk about the parties thrown in this town and how much fun they are, even for the kids.”
“She’s right. They hire a whole team of people to make sure whatever kids attend have a blast. Especially the Christmas dinner. Last year they made a winter wonderland indoor playscape that looked like walking into a snow globe,” Shay explains.
Jamie squeaks, clapping her hands together.
This is how it should be.She’s finally just being a kid, excited at the prospect of a party where she can play and be with her friends.
“Ky and Kell are going to flip when they find out about this,” she exclaims, bouncing in her seat. All thoughts of the tenders and fries gone.
“How’s school?” I ask. It’s been a while since we’ve sat down and talked.
She plucks a fry from her plate, popping it in her mouth and chewing before she answers. “Amazing, but weird. Like ever since you got picked or whatever, everyone’s tried to be my friend. But I don’t pay them any mind. They weren’t shooting with me in the gym.”
Shay chokes on her drink and quickly picks up a napkin to wipe the excess soda from her chin. “What do you know about that?”
Jamie picks up another fry and shrugs. “I’m just saying that none of them were trying to talk to me when I first moved here. I’m only hanging with my day-one friends. Not the ones who want to be my friend because my sister got picked to play some weird game.”
“How do you know what’s going on?” I probe. I haven’t mentioned anything outside of why we had to move. I didn’t want them to know about the Selection.
“I’m not an idiot, Ry. We moved into some mansion out of nowhere. Then everyone at school kept talking about the heirs picking their choices for a wife. And poof, those same heirs are always around. Especially that red-headed one.” She pauses. “I like him best, by the way. If you have to pick one, make sure it’s him and not the broody one who walks around like he has a stick up his butt.”
I wonder which one it could be. It sounds a lot like Lev or Wes.
Shay voices my question. “Which one is that? Long hair or short hair?”
“The one with the short black hair,” Jamie replies, then returns her focus to finishing her food.
Wes.I snort. He definitely is a broody asshole. Lately, however, he’s been a bit nicer. He and Lev. They both have tried talking to me, or I catch them staring, especially Lev.
The look in his eyes when Owen was inside of me is definitely what I used to get off in the shower this morning.
“Ouch!” I shout, rubbing my shin with the back of my calf. “What was that for?”
“For the look on your face. Not in front of the kid,” Shay teases.
