Page 29 of The Penalty

“I’m more of a pistols girl myself,” Georgia says.

Blake holds up his hands. “I’m not getting involved in this. I’m sure either of you ladies could take me down. If it’s anything more serious than rock, paper, scissors, you can count me out.”

“Chicken.” Anna smirks at her friend, and there’s a teasing glimmer in her eyes when she looks at him.

She’s more tentative and quieter than Georgia, but I’m pretty good at getting people to open up. Look how many words Idragged out of Dev. I have got to stop letting every single thing remind me of him. It’s not happening.

“I’m going to make a suggestion before this comes to blows. How about if I show you the rooms and you three can decide if you have preferences. You never know. It might all work out with no one spilling any blood.”

Everyone traipses upstairs to check out the rooms, and after some discussion and a minor dispute between Anna and Blake, they all settle on their choices.

“I’ll let you guys unpack and settle in. I’m ordering dinner for everyone tonight. Want to make it an easy pizza night? Any vegans? Gluten-free?”

“Nope, Anna and I are pizza sluts. We’ll eat anything except for jalapenos or green peppers,” Blake says.

“The more meat, the better. I like a little sausage.” I do a double take at Georgia, not knowing her well enough to read her tone, but the smirk twisting her lips gives her away.

“Got it.” I scribble on an imaginary pad. “Extra sausage for Georgia.”

“I think I’m sleeping here tonight.” I flop back against the couch with a groan, patting my aching belly. “Unless someone can roll me up the stairs.”

“You’re not going to sleep yet. We have to get to know each other.” Georgia bounces in her seat, turning to face me. “Tell me about the best sex you’ve ever had.”

She is one surprise after another. “Way to dip your toe in the pool. We can’t start with something the tiniest bit less personal. Like, I don’t know. My favorite color or something? It’s red, by the way.”

She waves me off with her pink-tipped nails. “No way. We’re going to be living together. I’m all for diving right in. Then there are no surprises. If you need me to, I’ll go first. His name was Damon.” Her dramatic pause has me tapping my foot impatiently. “Black hair and dark brown eyes, but that’s hardly important. It was last summer. We went on a family vacation to Florida to visit my gran. He was a lifeguard. Yum. You can not imagine the muscles on him.” She closes her eyes, a dreamy smile spreading across her face. “He took me up the lifeguarding tower after it closed for the night, and I’m pretty sure several people reported hearing a banshee that night. I may never scream that loud again. Sadly.”

That was informative. “You’re lucky he didn’t murder you and throw your body out to sea,” I say.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t had a one-night stand?”

“Of course I have. In fact, my last one was only two weeks ago...” I trail off, unsure if I should share this. It’s one thing to share a story about an anonymous guy you’re never going to see again, but talking about someone that is now so close seems a little dangerous. As if I’m going to invoke his spirit or something and he’ll show up at my doorstep. Or he’ll overhear me.

“Ooh. Do tell. This sounds juicy.” Georgia is egging me on, and both Blake and Anna are leaning forward.

The couch cushion bounces under the weight of my head, and I scrub my hands down my face. The words are ready to burst out of me, but I’m still hesitant. If I put the experience out into the universe, will he know I’m talking about him? Will I be able to look him in the eyes when we run into each other? Beau typed his number into my contacts. Just in case my dear brother isn’t around to bail me out of whatever situation I end up in. As if I haven’t been living quite capably on my own for the past three years.

“I’ll share if you share.”

My eyes pop open at the softer voice, and I catch Blake glancing curiously at his friend. As if he wants to find out her secret confession. That’s enough to convince me. He’s not a ghost. I’m not going to summon him by speaking his name out loud.

“Fine. I was at the Great Lakes Con.”

“You were?” Blake asks. “Anna and I were there too. If we’d known, we totally could have hooked up with you.”

“That would have been epic.” Except... then I might not have ever met him. Although with the recent turn of events, maybe that would have been for the best.

“Shush, Blake.” Anna lands a friendly smack on his arm before turning back to me. “Go on.”

“Right. I was supposed to go with my friend, Tess, but she ended up having to bail out last minute. So, I was waiting in the registration line, and there’s this guy in front of me. Massive.” In all the right ways.

“Tall? Muscular? Like a bouncer, or more beer gut? What are we talking about?” Georgia asks.

“Like athlete. Tall, muscled. He’s a hockey player.”

“Ooh. Nice catch. Nerdy and a hockey player. Put a ring on it.”

“Um, no. It was a strictly one weekend kind of thing. We were both heading back to school. But honestly. The things he did to my body. The places... against the window, the shower. I didn’t think it was possible to come that many times in a twenty-four-hour span.”

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