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Absently I wondered who wrote it. It didn’t matter. What mattered was I was dying to talk about what happened. To tell someone — anyone at all — if for no other reason than to brag a little, and to relive my night of absurdity with someone else.
I looked down at the time again, anxiously. It was almost noon. Almost three O’clock in New York — the exact time I’d promised to call Bella, to ‘tell her about my night’.
Yes, but what the hell are you gonna say?
There was no possible way I could keep last night to myself. It was just too amazing. Besides, Bella of all people deserved to know. Even if what she knew might make her insanely jealous, or cause her to look at me differently for the rest of our lives.
But was it too much? I mean hey, every girl has a slutty night or two stowed away next to the skeletons in her closet. But I’d actually answered an ad. That seemed to me like crossing a much different sort of line. Yet was what I’d done a little too raunchy, or slutty, or over-the-top crazy… even for Bella?
C’mon, you have to tell her something!
In the end I decided I’d tell her about one of them. That I’d met a guy at the bar downstairs, and we’d hit it off. That I’d had some wine, taken him back to our hotel suite, and let him rock my world.
It wasn’t exactly a lie, was it? It just wasn’t the full-blown truth. I might even tell her he did me in her bed. If I knew Bella, she’d get a kick out of that. And I certainly did know Bella…
But which guy?
I walked on a little more, unable to pick one or the other without feeling guilty. I decided the only fair way was to flip a coin. Heads, and I’d tell my friend I’d met Brody — the heartbreakingly gorgeous blond, with viking good looks and abs for days. Tails and I’d met Corey, the dark-stubbled, sexy alpha with rock-hard arms and who could fuck like a machine.
Yeah, I smiled to myself. That would work. It might actually be fun, too.
I slid my hand downward, to fish into my pocket. The very second I did it, my phone rang on its own. I picked it up… grinning like a maniac as I swiped without looking.
“What’s up you sexy bitch?”
Three seconds of dead silence were followed by the clearing of a strange throat. Then my stomach dropped out from under me, as the sound of my boss’s voice came through the phone’s speaker:
“Well hello to you, Lauren.”
Fifteen
LAUREN
I felt queasy, like I’d eaten something sour. Like I wanted to throw up but couldn’t, and had to ride out the unpleasantness.
“Oh, h—hey…” I stammered like an idiot. “Sorry Lilith, I thought you were—”
“One of your crazy friends?”
“Yeah,” I admitted. “Something like that.”
There was pause at the other end of the phone, for no reason at all. A pause designed specifically to make me feel uncomfortable.
“From what I understand, all of your friends are home by now. Is that right?”
Shit.
“Ummm… how do you know that?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“Noelle told us. She’s been here since yesterday,” Lilith paused again. “Working.”
“Uh huh.”
“It would be nice if you were working too,” my boss added strategically. “Especially with everything we have coming up. Don’t you think?”
The last three words literally dripped with guilt and condescension. But that was Lilith. Always t
alking down to you, always making you feel inferior. Making it seem like even your best is never enough.
