“What do you mean?” Athena asked for both of them.
“I knew Molly back in high school too. Karl was closer to her, obviously, but she and I shared a lot of classes and ate lunch together most days. Even back then, she wasn’t the most...” Hehesitated. Dragged a hand through his dark, curly hair. Seemed to search for the right words. “She wasn’t the mostunguardedperson around. Friendly, sure. Kind, definitely. Open? No. I wouldn’t say so.”
Karl thought that over for a few seconds. “Dearborn always valued her privacy. Could be reserved sometimes. But these days, it’s not just that. She seems more... wary. Cynical.”
Or maybe... scared.
Was that what he kept sensing in her? In her reactions to him? Fear?
The teenage girl he’d known had been distant and cool on occasion, but seemed utterly unafraid of who she was or what others thought about her. Unworried about getting hurt, or at least confident she could recover from that hurt with ease.
“Matthew told me she left school abruptly, without much explanation, in the final weeks of senior year. He doesn’t recall why.” Athena’s glasses slipped down her nose as she absently picked at a cuticle. “Normally, people don’t move across the country at a time like that unless there’s an emergency. Do you know what happened?”
Her agile brain was trying to make connections. In unlikely places, Karl could argue, but whatever. He’d play along for now, because he had no idea what the hell else to do.
“If I’m remembering it right...” He frowned. Tried to think back twenty years. “She went to California with her mom. Not her dad. Even though I got the sense she and her father were pretty tight back then.”
Karl shrugged, unhappy he couldn’t tell them more. “Guess I assumed her parents were splitting up. Didn’t want to ask, though. Especially since she didn’t volunteer the information.”
Her parents weren’t together now. He knew that much, at least.
Matthew’s forehead was creased in thought. “Since she’s been back, she hasn’t explained what happened?”
Karl’s sigh hurt his chest, it was so huge. “Nope.”
Athena pushed her glasses back up to the bridge of her nose. “Has she mentioned her parents?”
“Not really.”
“And you haven’t asked.”
“Nope.” Dammit.
“Huh.” Squinting in thought, she absently straightened her crooked frames. “Interesting.”
“So that’s one part of her history you don’t understand. There could be others.” Matthew angled himself to meet Karl’s eyes directly. “Maybe the changes you’ve seen in her are just the effects of passing time and the state of the world, in addition to an ugly divorce. But you won’t know that for sure until you open up her black box and get all the crucial information.”
“Good news, everyone.” Athena snickered. “Karl was already pretty damn eager to open up her box.”
She wasn’t wrong. Karl still flipped her the bird on principle.
“You’ve clearly spent far too much time with the Nasty Wenches.” Matthew shook his head at her. “It was a metaphor, not a euphemism.”
“No reason it can’t be both. And I have a correction to issue, Vine.” She raised her finger in emphasis. “The Wenches haven’t corrupted me. If anything,I’vecorruptedthem. Before my arrival, sure, they read about butt plugs and threesomes and even a little light nipple-clamping, but they hadn’t once considered the erotic possibilities in getting kidnapped by a kangaroo with a luxurious pouch and an absolutely enormous—”
Her husband’s face disappeared into his hands. “I don’t want to know.”
“But his penis has special features, Matthew.” Her voice dripped with suggestion. “Somanyspecial features.”
His palms muffled his response. “I’m sure it does.”
Both of them? Entirely missing the crucial goddamn point.
“Trick dick or no trick dick, that kangaroo asshole’s still a kidnapper,” Karl interjected. “To me? Zero consent means zero romance. Why the group picked that book for next month’s discussion, I’ll never fucking know.”
“You really think Sadie Brazen dabbled in dubcon?” Athena—who’d pointed out consent issues herself in countless goddamn meetings, albeit never in a Brazen story—had the gall to look disappointed in him. “Come on, Karl. You’ve listened to every single one of her audiobooks. You know better than that.”
Wait. That meant— “There’s a twist?”
