Page 32 of Sparks
“Or, possibly a gang member. But definitely not a chef, though he might eat puppies for breakfast.”
He laughed again. “Oh, man. I can’t believe your roommate went with them and left you hanging.”
“I know.” My heart ached with betrayal. Beth could be selfish, but this was beyond low. And despite all of that, I really hoped she wasn’t in danger. I recalled how those two guys were sandwiching her at the bar and the room began to spin. Way too much vodka in a short time.
I rubbed my forehead with my fingers. “They’re probably double penetrating her right now.”
“Whoa—”
“I know. I’ve never said those words before…double penetrating.” I shivered.
“Um, would you like to say it again?”
“No, that’s so dirty.” I sat up and grabbed the blanket, hugging it and trying to get those words out of my head. Wait, what the hell had I been talking about? I regretted those shots. “Anyway, Captain, how areyou?”
“Fine. Boring compared to you. This week I’m supposed to be finding out my new duty station. If I stay here another stint, I’ll be back in the desert in two months. There’s also rumors about an international deployment which would come with an early promotion. No idea. The military does what they want with you.”
I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me. “That has to be hard. Not knowing. Will your, um, fiancé and son come with you if it’s far away?”
He was quiet for a long pause, then nonchalantly pushed out the words, “Not sure. We’ll see.” He said it too lightly, as if he didn’t care, but I knew otherwise.
“I hope they do,” I said softly. “It hurts my heart to think of you being alone.”
He let out a long breath with a small groan at the end. “Harlow…”
“Yeah?” Uh-oh. My voice was breathy. I was lying down now and wriggling on the couch with the throw blanket like a kitten. I must have let out a mewl because Shawn made a manly little growling noise too.
“Don’t make that sound.” His own voice was pained and guttural.
“I didn’t mean to. I’m a little tipsy.”
“You’re killing me.”
I giggled.
“Ugh, not the giggling.”
“You’re so cute,” I said, not able to contain more giggles.
“Cut that shit out.”
“All right,” I laughed.
“Tell me about your apartment,” he said. “Where are you now?”
“I’m on the futon couch in our living room. Random furniture all around. The only other girls here are Holly and Cheryl. They’re asleep in the big room. There’s a really small room with bunkbeds, but it’s only used when lots of us are home. It’s the overflow room because the bunks are not so comfy. And then there’s the passion pit.”
“The what?”
I loved the silly interest in his voice. It made me giggle again as I looked at the door across from me.
“The passion pit is what we call the closet that we’ve turned into the make-out room.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
“Nope. It’s got a squishy twin pad with silky blankets. We strung some fairy lights, which have to go outside of the door to be plugged in. And there’s a red mandala tapestry tacked to the wall. If any of the girls brings someone home, that’s where they get to stay. I’ve never been in there.”
“That’s…God…”
