Page 369 of Wicked Brutal

“Then put it back.”

She leans in and bites the pepperoni straight off his slice instead, chewing, entirely too pleased with herself.

Kaiden’s grin comes slow. “Fucking brat.”

“You love me.”

“Unfortunately.”

He catches her chin and kisses her long enough that she forgets about the pepperoni. Almost.

When he pulls back she reaches blindly for his slice again, and he starts laughing. “Jesus Christ, Kitty Cat.”

On the loveseat, Penny’s legs are draped across Xander’s lap while she scrolls her phone, his thumb tracing lazy lines along her ankle.

Then her smile spreads. “Oh. Bella hasn’t seen Frog Bitch.”

Xander’s hand stops. “No.”

Penny’s already turning the phone around. Bella takes one look and laughs — a real one, not the sharp little sound she makes right before she says something designed to draw blood. “Is that green marker on your eyebrows?”

“Delete those,” Xander says.

“Never.” Bella swipes. “He was Frog King’s loyal servant.”

“His frog bitch,” Penny corrects.

“You’re Frog Princess. Watch yourself.”

Bella’s eyes flick to Penny. “You were Frog Princess?”

“Against my will.”

“Bullshit,” Xander says. “The crown’s still beside our bed. And the Frog Princess liked riding the Frog bitch last night.”

"XANDER!"

Penny goes pink and shoves his shoulder; he catches her around the waist before she can get away, kissing her burning cheek while the room laughs.

Ally buries her face in my chest, shoulders shaking, and I fail not to laugh into her hair.

I look around and it hits me, the way it does sometimes. Not bad weird. Just — a year ago, Bella Whelan sitting in this guest house while Penny showed her pictures would’ve been impossible. A few weeks ago Penny added her to the girls’ group chat during prom shopping and Bella demanded to be removed. Nobody removed her. She didn’t leave. Now she’s barefoot in one of Cassandra’s chairs, arguing about prom dresses like she’s been doing it forever. She hasn’t. Nobody’s pretending she has. But somewhere between prom shopping and everything after, she started folding into them — slowly, carefully. And every so often I think she notices it happening. Like now, when her laugh fades because she catches a few people looking at her, and that old instinct flickers across her face. Brace. Sharpen. Strike first. Nothing happens.

Penny just turns the phone back around. “Anyway, ignore him. This is Ally’s dress.”

And Bella settles back into the chair. Just like that.

Ally shifts against me. My hand follows automatically.

Bella points at the screen. “We’re waiting to alter it.”

“For what?” Ally asks.

“You’re still growing. The dress is fitted through here.” Bella gestures at her own waist. “You’ll have more of a bump by prom. Take it in now and they’ll just have to let it back out.”

“I still can’t believe you noticed before the rest of us,” Penny says.

“You were all staring at her face. I was staring at the dress. It stopped falling correctly.” Ally laughs softly, and Bella shrugs. “I notice clothes.”