Page 154 of Sinful Like Us
I’ve heard those words verbatim from her lips to my ears.
She was my client.
Sheismy girlfriend.
So right now, Jane lifts her chin and eyes on my eyes, she tells me, “I’ll do it, too.”
I bite down too hard and break the toothpick in half.
31
JANE COBALT
3 Days Snowed-In
Thatcher spitsout his broken toothpick.
If he’s willing to shed his clothes and take nudes, then I surely can do the same. We’re equals.
Right?
I’m frozen. Collarbones jutted out, eyes perilously big. I imagine bracing the weather outside would feel better than my iced-over bewilderment.
Thatcher is looking at me like I’m a book he can no longer read. Missing pages and smudged font. His own confusion draws his brows together. “I must not have heard you right.”
I word-vomit. “I’m going to do it too.” Every syllable is a stab to my own heart.
“Jane—”
“I understand the consequences.”We’re equals.I can do this for him. For us. I clear my swollen throat.
Charlie has been playing obscure piano pieces, until now. He switches to Chopin, the romantic melody often accompanied with waltzes. He’s poking fun since Thatcher and I are more at odds with each other.
I want to be unconcerned about my brother, but he’ll voice his opinion—whether on my side or not. He’s just biding his time.
Thatcher never breaks my gaze. “I’d like to go over the consequences one more time before you make this decision.”
“That’s fair.” I face him more, but I’m careful of our distance. Tony is still loitering outside the parlor door. “And it’s simple really. If we both take nudes, then there’s a fraction of a chance they could be leaked online.”Easy enough, Jane.
Right?
Right.
His forehead wrinkles in heavier concern. “And…” He waits for me to keep going.
“And we’ll both have nudes online. Simply that.” I weave my arms over my body.
Confidence. I scrounge for more.
“You’re not that daft,” Charlie butts in.
“What do you want me to say, Charlie?” I question. “That men will masturbate to naked pictures of me? That people will jeer? That I will be critiqued and criticized from my areola size down to my pubic hair. Iunderstand.All of it.” Tears threaten to rise and knives wedge between my ribs. Every breath tight.
I can do this.
I can.
I can.
