There were things I left out. I didn’t talk about how my father had truly died, or go into spicy details with the guys, or tell her how Clay had showed up at Bram’s house.
“I’m so sorry you’ve had to endure all of that,” she said. “All these years, you were so good at hiding it. You always seemed…”
“Perfect?” I offered.
She nodded. Then, like a switch flipping, she went from calm to angry. “Your mom is a real bitch and deserves to be punched in the vag.” She pursed her lips as if to hold back from saying more. It didn’t work. “I’m sorry, but I seriously hope she chokes on a cock.”
Bash snorted but tried to cover it up by clearing his throat.
I smiled, thinking she would get along great with Mac. “I’m not thrilled with the thought, but I get your meaning and agree.”
“And Brandon.” She shook her head. “He acts like such a good guy at school, but I always got a bad vibe from him. I hope he gets a nasty infection and his dick falls off.”
I snorted and bit my lip to stop myself from laughing. It would hurt if I did.
Lemon grimaced. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. Laughing is a good thing.” I finished off my coffee. “That was a lot of cock talk in under a minute.”
She laughed. “I guess I read too much smut.” She sighed as she calmed down. “Do you feel a little bit better after getting all that off your chest?”
I nodded. “Is there anything you want to unload?”
She leaned back in her chair as she pondered. “I think I’ll save my vent session for the next time we hang out, where there’s hopefully alcohol.” She leaned forward and set her arms on the table. “What do you say we head down the street to the bookstore? After seeing you smile when talking about Roe and his friends, I have a new romance trope I think you will thoroughly enjoy.” She grinned this little mischievous smile. “Then we can go across the street from the bookstore to the craft store. I know you like to draw and might need supplies, since you’re staying at your bio dad’s house. It’s not much, but maybe some retail therapy and being silly will help you take your mind off of things for a bit.”
That sounded like fun. “Okay.”
After a few hours of shopping with Lemon, I returned home. I thought Bash and Theo would just drive off the moment theysaw I made it home okay, but they both parked behind my G-Wagon. Bram was home; I had made them guard me longer than they were supposed to again.
As I rounded my car to get my purchases from the trunk, they hopped off their bikes and came over.
“We can carry those in for you,” Bash said as he and Theo grabbed all the bags.
“Thank you,” I said.
Theo headed in first and Bash lingered as I closed up the trunk.
“Is everything all right?” I asked.
“I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for everything you’ve been through,” he said.
I tried not to smile. “So you were eavesdropping on my conversation with Lemon.”
“We were sitting right next to you,” he pointed out. “I also want to apologize for how I’ve acted up until now. You know, cracking jokes about babysitting you and all. I’m not usually a dick. Most of the time, I’m quite the gentleman.”
“Especially with the ladies, I hear,” I teased, finally letting myself smile.
“Your guys are just threatened by how good-looking I am.” He gave me a wink. “But in all seriousness, I had the wrong impression of you at first. I thought you were some spoiled girl from the north side of the bridge who I heard threw a tantrum and took a crowbar to Bram’s bike.”
“I had reasons for doing that,” I said. “It wasn’t the best way to go about things and I felt bad after, but it worked out in the end.”
“He must really love you to let you get away with doing that to his bike.”
His words made me freeze. “What? He barely knows me.”
Bash scoffed. “That’s not how that works.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
