Page 26 of Blackbeard
“What did you two talk about in there?” I probed.
She lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug.
“Menstruation cycles. Tampons. Mammograms. Girl stuff.”
Oh, so she wanted to play prickly and hard to get. Fine. I shoved her foot off the table. She shot me a dirty look.
“I grew up with three sisters,” I said. “I know the tampon aisle like the back of my hand. None of that shit makes me flinch. Try again.”
Baby Doll huffed and gestured at me with a forkful of pasta.
“Why do you think we talked? We’re not gal pals or anything.”
I glanced at Kingpin. He leaned back in his chair, holding his hands up in a gesture of surrender. This was between me, the woman I married, and my best friend. He wasn’t about to get tangled up in my business. I had to handle it on my own.
“Because you have a reputation for speaking your mind and pulling no punches,” I said.
“I thought you liked that about me.”
“Lillian,” I growled.
Baby Doll pretended to gag and kicked me under the table.
“Fuck, don’t call me that. You sound like my dad before he took the belt to me.”
“Then tell me what happened,” I retorted, glossing over the comment about her father. She wouldn’t want to dwell on it anyway. “Leigh seemedsubduedafter she left the kitchen. Didn’t think anyone was capable of taking the piss out of her, to be honest.”
Baby Doll rolled her eyes and tossed the container of leftovers onto the table alongside her beer.
“Leigh tried to cozy up to me. Pretended like we have to stick together—girls versus boys, cross your heart and pinkie promise. It was obviously fake, so I didn't buy it."
I squinted at Baby Doll, studying her face. My gut told me that there was more to the story she wasn’t telling. Prying it out of her wouldn’t be easy though. She had a tendency to lock down information when she didn’t want to share, and I knew from previous experience that no amount of pressure could waterboard it out of her.
“She’s toying with you,” Baby Doll added, meeting my gaze.
Just as I suspected, she wasn’t happy about this arranged marriage. None of the Blackjacks were—backed into a corner and forced to sign on the dotted line.
But Baby Doll was more than simply my club sister, she was a close friend. She wanted me to be happy, and watching me get pushed into a marriage with a woman I didn’t love—while Baby Doll could do nothing to stop it—must have been agonizing to endure.
“The thought has crossed my mind more than once, believe me,” I admitted.
Every word out of Leigh’s mouth felt like a chess match. Analyzing the board to make the most advantageous move.
“This whole situation reeks of bullshit,” Baby Doll replied. “And you’ve already ditched your common sense so your downstairs brain can take the wheel.”
I scoffed.
“Come on. Give me a little more credit than that.”
Baby Doll’s eyebrows flicked up with a look that said,you’re not a very convincing liar.
“Are you saying she isn’t hot? You don’t check out her tits in those tight, low-cut tops she wears?”
I hesitated for a fraction of a second. Baby Doll pointed at me, the tip of her finger an inch away from my face.
“Ah ha!I knew it.You got in her pants. You didn’t even last twenty-four hours.”
Spike turned around on his stool at the bar, leaning back on his elbows.
