AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What are you doing here?” I hissed at her as she crossed her ankles. “Did you even read the book?”
She pulled a worn paperback out of her designer leather bag and held it up. The spine was cracked and the pages were curling a little bit. This was a book that had been read more than a few times.
“Yes, I did,” she said, and then looked at Kendra, who was having everyone go around and introduce themselves. When the group first started, there were a lot more people. They had fallen off, but some new people would come every time.
This week, Honor was the only new person.
“Okay, so who wants to start and share your impressions of the book?” Kendra said, looking around.
Joy went first, and I was distracted by Honor just…sitting next to me. As if this was completely normal. I pulled out my phone and did something I never thought I would do.
I texted Honor.
The only reason I had her number was for emergencies. I kept it for the girl’s safety only and I’d never used it until now.
Are you trying to make me miserable? Why are you here?
I tried to listen to the rest of the group as I waited for Honor to answer the message. Her phone buzzed in her purse and I watched her pull it out. She read the message and then glanced at me before typing out a response.
Not everything is about you, Layne.
I snorted and Sydney nudged me. “What are you doing?”
I leaned over and whispered in her ear. “Honor is here, and the only reason has to be to piss me off.”
Sydney leaned back in her chair to get a look at Honor.
“Maybe she just loves this book,” she whispered back.
Okay, I wasn’t getting anywhere with Sydney. Joy would have understood, but she was on Syd’s other side, so I couldn’t talk to her. I was stuck.
I sat there and tried to participate but it wasn’t easy with Honor right there. She didn’t even participate. It wasn’t like that was mandatory, because this was a very lowkey book club, but the point of coming was to talk about the book and she wasn’t talking. That further cemented my belief that she was here to piss me off. Things were going to be interesting at the Jewel house tomorrow. I was absolutely going to ask her about this. Until then, I just seethed until it was time to get a second round of snacks. Since Joy and Sydney lived right upstairs, we’d always grab the leftovers and I’d go up and hang out with them until late. Tonight I had a lot to talk about.
Honor didn’t stick around when Kendra called for the end of the discussion. She just put her book in her bag, flipped her hair, and walked out without another word.
“So that was weird as fuck,” I said, turning to Joy and Syd.
“Did you know she was coming?” Joy asked.
“No, not at all. I didn’t know that she even knew about it.” I mean, I had seen her in here before, but it was just…weird.
She’d infiltrated my job and now my book club. What was next? The guest house?
“Very weird,” Sydney agreed as we cleaned up and put away the chairs and grabbed the rest of the food and the dregs of the wine to take upstairs.
“I just don’t know what her angle is,” I said as we walked up the narrow stairs and into the apartment. I dropped the bottles in the kitchen and grabbed a glass. Another glass of wine was definitely needed right now, in addition to some more cheese.
“Maybe she thinks getting in good with you will help her with Mark?” Joy said, popping an olive into her mouth.
“Maybe?” I said. “But I don’t know why. It’s more likely she knew this would annoy the shit out of me. It seems to be her main hobby.”
We all stood around the kitchen and speculated while Clementine the cat begged for attention.
“I don’t know,” I said when none of us could figure out any definitive answers.
“Oh my god, did I tell you about the lady who wanted my mom to make her a pottery dildo, but she was pretending it was supposed to be a vase?” Sydney said and that distracted me from thinking about Honor for a while.
* * *
