Page 93 of Brat Baby
A raging stampede of elephant butterflies charges around in my stomach at their words, and it is a fucking struggle to not jump up and scream for them to please keep me at the top of my lungs.
The couch shifts where my feet are resting and then my feet are raised and lowered into a lap. “Xavier was right, wasn’t he?”
Right about what?
“Yeah, I think so.”
Fuck me, would one of you please elaborate?
But before either of them can do so, a phone rings from somewhere else in the room.
My feet are placed back on the couch, and I have to work to stay relaxed.
“It’s Big D,” Darcy says, amused.
“Who the hell is Big D?” Hudson asks, shifting his entire body beneath me.
Darcy chuckles. “It’s what Emmy called Derek the other day when she answered my phone.”
The phone stops ringing, and I guess it went to voicemail because neither of them seems to have answered it.
Hudson’s chest bounces beneath my cheek as he silently laughs. “So that’s why he looked like his head was going to explode?”
“Probably. The man needs a little mess in his life.”
“He’s just worried that all our lives will be ruined. He’s in damage-control mode.”
There is an electronic ding.
“He left a voicemail. Also, there is a message here saying your delivery is about”—Darcy pauses to calculate—“thirty-five minutes away now. What did you buy? Do you need to get going?”
“It’s everything Emery purchased yesterday that wouldn’t fit in my car. It’s being delivered to her dorm. She has a few more minutes.”
“Ah, right.”
Silence falls over the room. It lasts for so long that I wonder if I should pretend to start waking up now, seeing as how I don’tthink I’m going to get any more information out of them, and I need to get back to my dorm to accept all the stuff.
Hopefully it’s only a few boxes.
“This situation is so fucked up. She is fucking perfect for the four of us.” The frustration is obvious in Darcy’s tone. “I hate how the last few weeks have gone down. Staying away for the two weeks that I did manage was painful.”
“One and a half weeks,” Hudson corrected. “And we just have to wait until Friday, then we will all be able to move on, in whichever direction that turns out to be.”
Move on? Friday night? The Obsession event is Friday night. What the hell could possibly be happening at a sex club on a Friday night that would impact whether we can be together?
“Do you have to be so fucking accurate? It felt like two weeks, so I’m claiming it.”
“You are such an artist.”
“Talented and fucking amazing?”
“Emotional and dramatic.”
I try to smother my laugh, but I know I’m caught, so I look over at Darcy. “I’m on Hudson’s side.”
Darcy pretends to act offended, hand going to his chest. “Princess, you wound me.”
I stretch out my legs and arms in front of me until my muscles feel like they are going to cramp. “Do you need a first-aid kit?”
