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“Well, let’s hope it never comes to that.” I shake my head, standing for a brief moment to grab my still full wine glass from the coffee table before sliding back down into my seat.
“Do you remember in fifth grade how bad Trenton Avers used to pick on Tess?” Court asks.
“He would pull her hair every time she would walk by, and he called her bear trap because of her braces,” I continue her thought.
“And then one day he did it in front of Court as we were lining up for the bus, and she whacked him in the face with her book bag,” Tess laughs. “Knocked him straight on his ass.”
“Told him that if he ever so much as looked at you again that she would cut off his little pee pee and feed it to her dog,” I add, smiling at the memory.
“I got in so much trouble over that,” Court chuckles. “Totally worth it, though.”
“You saved me big time.” Tess stands, disappearing into the kitchen as she continues to talk. “Trenton didn’t even look at me again for the rest of the year.” She reappears with a fresh glass of wine in one hand and a near empty bottle in her other.
“That’s what you get when you fuck with one of my girls,” Court says, matter of fact, holding her glass out to Tess who empties the remainder of the wine into it before setting the empty bottle on the table. “Please tell me that’s not the last of it,” she quickly adds as Tess reclaims her seat.
“I’m pretty sure running out isn’t going to be a problem. There are at least five bottles left in there.” Tess shakes her head.
“Please, that’s nothing.” Court swipes her hand through the air. “I’ll have that gone in two hours.”
“I have no doubt about that,” I speak up, knowing Court can handle her alcohol probably better than anyone I’ve ever seen.
I think I’ve only seen her truly drunk once, and that was after one of Sebastian’s parties where she was doing shot wars with some of the guys. I’m pretty sure she had upwards of fifteen shots that night. It’s a wonder she didn’t wind up with alcohol poisoning.
“So now that little ears are in bed and we can talk freely, can someone please tell me how in the hell Ant is so fucking hot? I’m mean, Jesus. Seriously?”
Courtney says it right as I’m taking a drink, and I end up sucking my wine down the wrong hole. It takes me several moments, coughing and sputtering, to finally get myself right again and by the time I do, both Court and Tess are looking at me funny.
“Sorry, wrong hole,” I try to explain, clearing my throat again.
“Anyway”—Court shakes her head—if this one is done choking,” she hitches her finger at me playfully. “Can we please talk about this shit for a second for real?”
“What is there to talk about?” I try to sound as casual as possible, taking another drink of my wine, this time careful to swallow it correctly.
“I need to know what I’m dealing with here.” She pulls her legs up under herself and leans forward slightly like she’s preparing for what she’s about to learn.
“That’s a broad statement. You need to be more specific,” Tess interjects.
“Okay, so Bree already told me he’s talking to someone, but they aren’t an actual couple,” she says, and I instantly feel Tess’ gaze hot on the side of my face. I ignore it and keep my eyes locked on Court. “What else do I need to know? Tell me more about this girl, about his job, family—give it all to me.”
I want to ask her why she wants to know so much, but given that I think that question might raise some suspicion about why I’m asking, I keep it to myself.
“Well, obviously you know he graduated from Boston College last summer, got a degree in Information Technology,” I start on safer ground. “He moved back to Rockfield for a while, but that didn’t work out so he decided to try things out in California.”
“Why didn’t they work out?” she interrupts before I can keep going.
“Issues with his dad,” Tess says, meeting my gaze over the rim of her wine glass.
“Oh shit. Yeah, I know he wasn’t very fond of his dad when we were dating.”
“Did he ever say anything to you about their relationship?” I can’t help but ask the question; if anyone would know anything about Ant and the abuse it would be Court, given that they were together during some of it.
“Not really. He was always really hush hush about it. I just know Ant did anything and everything he could to avoid going home most days. Why do you ask?” She arches a brow at me.
“Just curious. I wasn’t sure if they’ve always had problems.” I brush it off like it’s nothing.
“Yeah, I think they did; though, like I said, he never really talked much about it.” She pauses for a moment before picking up where she left off. “So he moved to California and was staying with Sebastian for a while, that I knew already. Then he moved here because it’s closer to his job.” Her gaze finds mine, and I do my best not to shrink beneath it. “And what does he do exactly?”
“He went to school for software development, but right now he’s working in quality assurance, testing software.”
