Ebele’s eyes narrow.When the hell have I ever called her that?She blinks a few times, shakes her head, and then leaves, shutting the door behind her.
A tense exhale whooshes out of me as I slide my chair back, freeing Lex. I look down at her, tucked beneath my desk, mouth red and lips slightly swollen from her salacious activities. “So much for nobody ever coming into your office.” She smirks.
A relieved laugh bubbles up. “That was close.”
After letting Lex stand and righting my clothes, I press her against the office wall and seal my lips against hers in a long, languid kiss, tasting myself on her tongue. “We’ll be pickingthatback up where we left off.”
Lex’s fingertips dig into my hips as she tugs me against herself. “I wish we could FaceTime tonight, get out some toys, have some fun,” she muses, kissing me again, “but Gabe and I share a room.”
I bite my lip. “Lunch, tomorrow? We can fool around in your car?”
She nods against me. “Creative. I like it.”
After giving Lex instructions on waiting ten minutes before sneaking out while we’re all in the boardroom at the other end of the hall, I poke my head out to see if the coast is clear. Lex gives me a smart smack on the ass, and I turn to reprimand her, unable to hide the grin on my face.
After shutting my door behind me I take a moment to catch my breath, right my skirt, and wipe at my plump, just-kissed lips. Every moment with Lex is better than the last—even though things took a drastic turn at the end. Being interrupted as I’m moments away from climaxing, and from mybossno less?
That was...
Weird. But not awkward. Nope. Not even a little bit. I’m past all that.
chapter twenty-two
Create a Better Future
I make my way to the conference room. Everyone from Team Rainbow is already here, and there’s just one seat left, next to Jasleen. She’s dressed prettily in pink, her makeup expertly applied, and she’s looking at me as if she knows exactly what I was doing in my office. I find my way into my seat, plopping my loose notes haphazardly on the table and nearly tripping on my own feet as I settle into my spot, a little flustered.
Everyone looks at me expectantly.
“Are we all ready, then?” Ebele asks, obviously referring only to me.
“I was born ready!” I say, still flushed from my encounter with Lex.
Ebele clicks to the first slide of her presentation, showing a headline that reads:Trans High School Student in Critical Condition After Bathroom Altercation.
I suck in a sharp breath, my misplaced jubilation cutting deep considering the intense turn into heartbreak this meeting’s taken. Once again, everyone looks to me, as if I could haveexpected the seriousness of the topic. I turn several shades of pink and try to keep my eyes focused on Ebele’s presentation rather than at the uncomfortable glances from my peers.
Ebele clicks to the next slide, showing the picture of a young white girl wearing jeans and a purple sweater, with braces and long wavy hair. “Right here, folks. Surrey, BC. A student has been attacked at a summer camp for using the ‘incorrect’ bathroom, according to the group of young men who swarmed the restroom she was using. She’s currently in a coma, with no word on her expected recovery date, or if there will be permanent injury.”
Ebele clicks to another photo, showing the girl in the hospital with tubes and wires and gauze and bruises. My stomach twists. I look away. I have theprivilegeof looking away. That poor girl. Her poor parents. All because she had to pee. What the hell is going on in the world?
“It sounds like the young men were aided by a couple of girls, who are also being questioned. According to witnesses, the girls told the victim it was safe to go in and that they’d watch out for her, only to then notify the boys who were on the lookout for this disgusting plan of theirs.” Ebele clicks through a few more slides, but her voice becomes distant, the world around me blurring.
“Girls can be so mean,” Jasleen tuts when Ebele pauses between slides.
We all nod, the others commenting that the girls who set the victim up are as much to blame as the boys who swung their fists. Girlscanbe mean. Girlscancause so much damage in the world when they choose to make enemies instead of friends, when they throw one another under the bus rather than watch out and protect them.
Girls can cause real harm with their words and the choices they make.
Memories of the past flood through me and my stomach squeezes, threatening. Without saying anything I get up and walk as quickly as I can out of the boardroom and down the hall to the restroom. The door shuts behind me, enclosing me in silence, save for the pounding of my heart, my ragged breathing, and the white noise roaring through my skull. I hover between the sink and the toilet for a moment, closing my eyes and taking slow breaths, my skin prickling with sweat. At the sink I run cold water over my hands, then splash it on my face, but I can do nothing to escape the vile memories as they resurface.
“Oh my god, what does he see in her?” McKinley scoffed, tossing her blond hair over her shoulder as we stood in the hallway of our high school just moments after the bell had rung for lunch.
I looked over to see Chad pressing Courtney against the lockers down the hall, the two of them smiling and talking quietly to each other. A hot jab of jealousy tore through me—not just because Courtney was dating the boy I’d had a crush on since forever, but because she’d started spending all her free time with him instead of with me. Not that I’d been making much time for her since I’d been let into the group of girls who were so popular and stylish and pretty and cool it made me feel like a wet dishrag in comparison.
Sakura finished checking her braces in her palm mirror before snapping it shut and dropping it into her designer handbag. “We all know why he’s with her.”
Chad leaned down and kissed Courtney against the lockers, like I’d always dreamt he’d do to me. I couldn’t look away.
