Page 19 of Vibes

“That’s not the way it works, babe,” Cora says sadly, and Iris’s finger slides off my button. Silence coats the room again, and I can’t even say anything about it this time. “If I could, I would. I made a mess of things because of the party.”

“No,” Iris snaps. “You made a mess of things because of the dumb drama between you and Flynn. You could’ve fixed that without dragging the rest of us in.”

Go wallflower go! Tell her how stupid this all is.

“It was a mistake,” Cora defends. She sounds a little like a broken record.

“You dragged me into this,” Iris goes on, and there’s real pain in her voice. “You know how I feel about being touched, Cora.”

“It wasn’t supposed to be a big deal—”

“A big deal?” Iris shrieks. Her finger slides across my length, pressing my button again, and I have to remember the depraved, horny half of my brain that this is not meant to be erotic. “Lachlan! Is this a big deal?”

“A big fucking deal!” I buzz angrily. I’m not sure if it comes across as angry, but it feels angry.

Cora throws both hands up, looking between us. I’m glad she’s frustrated. “I gave you the answers to fix this. Sorry you haven’t kissed and made up yet.”

“Cora—” Iris warns.

“I’m just saying, if he is forced to give you orgasms, he shouldn’t have any chance to hurt you. Use him.”

Something about her wording rubs me the wrong way. Iris releases my button again and I find myself stewing in Cora’s words as the room falls silent.

Any chance to hurt her? Why does that keep coming up?

Before I can think of anything else, I’m veering to the left then freefalling. The drop is painless, but unfortunate, because I end up sideways in Iris’s bag, hanging out dangerously close to the taser. I know it won’t hurt me right now but still.

“I don’t know why I thought you’d be on our side,” Iris says quietly, almost too softly for me to hear in here. “Why would you choose friends over vengeance?”

“Flynn deserves—”

“Flynn didn’t give a shit that you even existed until you put yourself on his radar!” Iris screams, and there’s no way Edmund up front missed that. “You fell under his spell, you couldn’t accept that you were used and thrown out after. Wrong or not, it happened. You burned in the rage because of it.”

“Iris—”

“And now,” she cuts in, her voice choking over the words, “you’re dragging us down with your sinking ship.”

We’re moving then, and I couldn’t be happier to get the hell out of here. I don’t know how to tell where we are or aren’t going, but eventually I shift and drop against something solid. A table maybe, or a seat. The sudden roar of an engine turning over tells me both are wrong, and I’m fairly certain we’re back in Iris’s car.

Instead of riding in the purse like I did on my way here, there’s shifting inside her bag and then I’m free again. I spy the windows and a visor for them, then I’m sliding into something.

“You can ride shotgun since my friend is a total lunatic,” Iris says, but her voice is kind of watery. She’s speaking to my back, and I honestly wonder if she’s able to tell the difference or not. “Well, coaster shotgun. You can’t sit on the seat without rolling away but the cup holder should do.”

Great. I have the mighty chair of a beverage, but it beats the silence and uncertainty of her bag.

“We’re going to have to talk,” Iris grumbles, and I jostle around a little bit in the cup holder. We must be moving. “A whole fucking lot.”

8 Hockey FAQ

Iris

I make a slight detour before I try to turn Lachlan back into a man. Phoning Londyn is the first thing, because if she’s dealing with the same dilemma shouldn’t we be there to support each other? All my messages go unanswered, and I know her school and work schedules pretty well so she should be free. She’s just ignoring me.

Maybe Cora elected to not share with her that I’m stuck in the same boat she is. Why would Cora tell us the whole truth about anything when she’s obviously having a better time fucking with our heads?

Leaving Lachlan on my bed until I can muster the courage to use him again feels a tad cruel, but I needed some space to myself for a bit. It’s so much harder to get in the mood now that I know there’s a literal man stuck inside my sex toy, and he must feel uneasy because this time there’s no sudden jokes or sassy comebacks when I give him back his voice.

If I didn't know better, I would honestly think it’s just a toy. The orgasm takes longer, and I have to put more work in to make it happen. My mind is elsewhere, but until Lachlan isn’t trapped inside a vibrator, I can’t properly talk to him.