Page 174

“Can I move in?” Jeri asked as she slid into the hot tub. Seth was out of town so I invited the girls over. Roscoe was currently basking in the non-stop pets by running from human to human, his tongue hanging out. Nan, Phoebe, and Charley were already in the hot tub. Our handful of rookies were floating in the pool.

“Nope.” I took a sip from the smoothie Phoebe created.

“Why not? You have, like, a million spare bedrooms!” Jeri kept teasing me.

She knew there was zero chance I was letting anyone move in. “Because we fuck like rabbits and I’m not censoring myself because you want to live in my backyard.”

Nan choked on her smoothie, turning bright red.

“Aw, you made Nan blush!” Phoebe poked her cheeks. “You know she gets all squeamish when we use big girl words.”

“I do not!”

We all grinned at each other and started throwing out words. “Cock. Dick. Boobs. Tits!”

Nan set her drink aside and disappeared under the water.

Jeri smirked. “It’s a good thing she hid before I said pussy. Speaking of which…how is that going? Getting railed on the regular has almost put you in a good mood despite everything else going on.”

“The sex is top notch.” If not for one tiny little massive shadow hiding in the corner.

“But?”

I rolled my eyes. “There is no but.”

Jeri traded a look with Charley. “Oh, there’s a but. About a week ago you got all moody.”

Charley nodded. “You’ve been staring a lot.”

“Is it your parents?” Jeri asked.

She knew I wasn’t particularly close to them. “No. My parents are fine.”

She arched an eyebrow. “Not what I meant. I assume they weren’t too worried about you after the incident?”

The bruises had fully faded away along with the last known whereabouts of Owen Montgomery. As usual, my parents didn’t have much of a reaction to the attack. I was fine so there wasn’t anything to worry about. “Nope.”

Jeri nodded.

“Wait,” Nan said as she wiped water out of her eyes, “why aren’t your parents worried?”

Because they never worried. About anything. They were emotional robots. It took a catastrophe to evoke a reaction from them. “There are no long-term injuries and I’m fine.” I shrugged, as if that were enough of an answer.

It was not.

“But…you were attacked. And you’re not fine. And he’s out there somewhere.”

I flinched at the reminders.

“Look,” Jeri stepped in, “not all of us have stellar parents to rely on.”

That was another reason I’d fallen so hard for Seth. He was an emotional avalanche. The complete opposite of what I had growing up. I bathed in his emotions, reveled in his enthusiasm.

It was also why I was so moody. He still had this one major part of himself hidden away from me.

I hated it.

Roscoe appeared at my side. My friends might not realize it, but my pup sensed my emotional downturn. He licked my face and I scratched behind his ear to assure him I was all right.