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Hannah winced inwardly. She hated that she’d done this to her friends. Once they wouldn’t have hesitated to take her hand, to hug her. In fact, most of the time she initiated the contact, so they wouldn’t have even had to think about it.
Now, they stared at her like she was fragile. Like they didn’t know her.
Yep. She hated it.
So she reached out and took Mel’s hand. Her strong friend. The one that didn’t take any shit. That same friend gasped in shock and then glanced away, blinking rapidly.
“Mel,” she said in a broken voice. “I’m . . . I’m so sorry.”
She’d done this to them. She’d hurt them and their friendship. And she hated that.
“Why are you saying sorry?” Melody asked, looking bewildered. “What do you have to be sorry about?”
“Because I’ve pushed you guys away. I’ve been acting so cold. It’s not because I don’t love you guys. I do. It’s just . . . I just . . . I guess I thought I was better off on my own. And I didn’t want to tell anyone what happened, and I knew if I spent any time with you all, that you’d get it out of me.”
“Oh, Hannah,” Carlie said. “All we want is to make sure you’re all right.”
“We just want our friend. You don’t have to tell us everything,” Josie told her.
“Well, I want to know,” Melody added fiercely.
Both Carlie and Josie frowned at her.
“So I can kick her asshole-ex’s ass!” Melody scowled. “Whatever that dick did, he deserves to be castrated. I’d cut off his dick and shove it down his throat, make him choke on it while I played tennis with his balls.”
Hannah stared at Melody in shock. So did Josie and Carlie.
“Oh my God,” she said, as Josie and Carlie started giggling.
“I wasn’t trying to be funny,” Melody said with clear disgruntlement.
“Sorry. I just . . . I wish you could do that to him. I wish I could tell you it all. It’s just . . . I feel so dumb.”
“Oh, Hannah.” Carlie leaned into her, wrapping an arm around her. And for the first time since she’d gotten back, she didn’t step away from her friend’s touch.
Carlie sighed happily.
“No matter whether you tell us or not, we’re here for you,” Josie told her.
“We’re besties. Remember?” Melody said. “Us against the world. Screw everyone else.”
“What about Brye?” Josie asked.
“I suppose he’s all right,” Melody said grudgingly. “I don’t want to rip his dick off at least.”
“Lucky Brye,” Hannah said dryly. “Wait, what are you guys all doing here? Shouldn’t you be at work?”
“We took the day off,” Josie told her.
“All of you? Together?” she asked.
You cannot feel upset about that. Of course they didn’t invite you. They thought you would say no.
“Yep,” Melody said. “We were going to do an intervention.”
“An intervention? For whom? Oh my God, is Brye eating too many corn puffs again?”
“God, no!” Melody said. “He hasn’t had a corn puff in six months. Thank God. Once, he went to the store and came out with a whole shopping cart of them. A whole cart!”
They all nodded. They remembered.
“Then for who?” she asked.
Then she realized they were all staring at her.
“Wait. For me? But I don’t need an intervention.”
“We’ve been so worried, Hannah,” Josie said quietly. “You aren’t yourself. And you wouldn’t let us in. And then you fainted . . . we tried to visit and call but you don’t answer your phone and then Jake said to give you and Raid some time . . . we just . . . we . . .”
“We were gonna kidnap you,” Melody told her. “Take you somewhere and ply you with mimosas until you spilled.”
“Really?”
They all nodded.
“What were you going to do if I fought back?” she asked.
“I have a stun gun.” Josie brought it out of her handbag.
Hannah took a big step back.
“Isn’t it pretty? It’s pink. My cousin got it for me.”
“Josie, we talked about this,” Carlie warned. “Friends don’t stun gun other friends.”
Josie pouted. “I’ve never gotten to use it.”
Hannah patted her arm. “I think that’s a good thing, sweetie.”
With a sigh, Josie put the stun gun away. “I guess so. Not sure why I even bought it.”
“I could always take it,” Melody said. “I could threaten Brye with it if he ever looked at another corn puff again.”
“Brye would spank your ass if you did that,” Hannah said.
“Yeah. Can I borrow it?” Melody asked.
Josie grinned. “Haven’t been spanked in a while, huh?”
“No.” Melody took it from her. “He’s been so busy at the gym that he hasn’t even noticed all the naughty things I’ve done lately.”
“Raid is keeping a tally,” she blurted out.
They all turned to look at her.
“He’s keeping a tally so he can spank me when I . . . when I’m more comfortable with him. Like that.” Although part of her thought she was ready now.
