babe.”
Her blue eyes glared into mine. “What happened,” she said slowly, “is that hot guy from the train a year ago just popped up out of nowhere last night and asked about you! I was bloody drunk, so I was all, huh? But now I realize that’s what you were talking about right before we left, right? About how something interesting might happen.
“So now you got some explaining to do! You’re a lying bitch, and that automatically means you’re sentenced to another Dare Card. But first, you gotta tell me if something interesting did happen. Because I’m hoping it did.” She grabbed my arm desperately. “Did you get laid? Of course you got laid. Was he huge? Please tell me he was huge so I can live vicariously through you and forget about my horrible experience last night with some limp dick asshole that didn’t even get me there. He was tiny. Like throwing a sausage down a hallway kind of tiny, Claire! Do you know what that was like for me? Do you know horny I am still –”
When Ben abruptly appeared at the doorway of my bedroom, I stilled and my eyes widened. He’d put his pants on, but his damp chest was still bare.
Emily stopped talking and followed my line of sight. She froze, her mouth dropping as she trailed her eyes up and down his body.
Motioning to him , I said, “This is –”
“I’ m the drunk girl from last night,” she interrupted speedily. “Emily.”
Ben shot her a small smile. “ Yes, you certainly are. Hi.”
Insert a moment of silence.
Well, this was awkward.
“This is Ben,” I then told her. “Um… yeah.”
“Cool,” she said, nodding heartily while she looked between the two of us. “Looks like you guys had a fun night.”
Oh, I wanted to punch her.
She grinned stupidly. “Really fun.”
Ben smirked. “Yes, it was. Anyways, d o you mind if I excuse myself for a few minutes? I need to make a phone call.”
“ Of course,” I replied. “Take your time. We’ll be downstairs.”
I grabbed Emily’s arm and forcefully dragged her down the stairs, otherwise she’d have stood there all day, staring at him looking like a Satan possessed doll. The girl was in desperate need of a clean-up.
The second we reached the bottom level, she stirred out of her daze and mouthed, “OH.MY.GOD!” while jumping up and down incredulously.
Clutching the towel tightly against me, I reddened. “I know, right?”
“You lucky bitch. How could you keep something like this from me?”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“How long have you been seeing him?”
I shook my head. “I haven’t. Last night was the first time since the train.”
Her eyes widened. “What? You’re Miss Cautious. How the hell did you let him get to you that fast?”
Worry emerged in me. “I shouldn’t have?”
“No, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just… it’s been so long since you’ve let go. I didn’t think you had it in you anymore.”
I looked up the stairwell to make sure he wasn’t hanging about, and then I steered he r further down the hall until we were nearing the kitchen.
“There’s something about him,” I confessed in a whisper. “I don’ t know what. He held me all throughout the night, Em. Held me. Can you believe that?”
She was too lost for wor ds to respond.
“It felt good,” I continued quietly. “Really good. And you wanna know the best bit?”
She nodded eagerly. “Yes!”
“He looked me in the eyes while we did it.”
“Are you for real?”
“Yeah.”
She made a weird face. “So the books… they didn’t lie about that sort of thing?”
“Nope. It was amazing. Like the kind of connection you can’t imagine.”
She stewed on that for a few seconds. “ Are you going to see him again?”
I shrugged, trying to make light of the situation. “I don’t know. I might.” De pended on whether he wanted to.
When we heard footsteps coming down the stairs, she quickly
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