Page 28 of Kiss My Crown
“Yeah, well, hopefully he stays away.” He looks back.
My hands slip around his neck. “You know, this would have been so much hotter without the costume. I was going to thank you right now, but I think I’ll need to postpone that till tonight.”
“Arrrrrr, I’ll swab your deck right now if you want me to.” He arches an eyebrow at me.
“Yep, definitely to be continued.” I let go of him, taking a couple steps back. “Well, I need to get out there before Ethan comes to find me.” I give Justin a quick kiss on the lips before I almost run away.
I pull out my phone to already see four texts.
Melanie: People found out somehow…
Melanie: You okay?
Dani: Shit finally hit the fan.
Dani: You planning to hang yourself from the castle? Should I call the hot EMTs?
Just great.
I spend the rest of the day hearing laughs as I walk by.
I am the spectacle that everyone can’t get enough of.
I climb into my car and let my head fall against the seat. “Please tell me that today was some big joke.”
“Nope, sorry, love. I mean, trust me when I say there were tons of jokes, but today really happened.” Dani pats me on the shoulder.
My phone buzzes and I look down at it to see Justin’s name. I don’t feel like talking to anyone, so I ignore it and shift my car into drive.
“Don’t you feel better now that you’re not trying to hide it from everyone?” Melanie says from the back seat.
“Nope. Not at all. I was content to be in my little bubble for at least another couple weeks. It was sure better than what’s going on now. Every time I walked past a group of people they stopped talking. That’s the universal sign for, ‘no one likes you and we’re talking about how much.’”
The girls don’t say much else about it. Even they know when I have hit my bullshit limit for the day. My phone buzzes with a text as I walk into the apartment, but I don’t even bother pulling it out of my purse. I know it’s Justin.
I really don’t want to be a bitch to him, but right now I just want to shower and pass out. I get that he was having my back today and I appreciate that to an extent. It just caused me such a shit storm that I was not ready to deal with. I had finally gotten myself back on track and now I’m a damn leper.
My shower never felt better as I let the hot water wash away all the aggravation running rampant through me. Hopefully, everything will blow over in a few days and then they will find a new scandal. I wonder how many sick days I have and if you can just take like a sick week.
The bathroom door opens and I groan. “Can’t a girl just get a peaceful shower?”
“I’d be all about that if your lover boy wasn’t sitting in our living room,” Dani says, and I freeze.
Peeking my head out of the shower, I stare at her face, trying to see if she is just messing with me. “You’re serious?”
“Yep, so you better get dressed.” She walks out, and I have never wanted to stay in the shower more.
Why can’t men take hints?
I step out of the shower and head into my room, throwing on some sweats and a comfy T-shirt. This was not a planned date, so I get to dress like a bum if I want to.
“Hey,” I say as I walk into the living room.
Justin turns around and smiles at me.
“Wanna come talk?” I ask, hoping that it will be a short one.
He gets up and says goodbye to the girls before following me. Once we get to my room I close the door. I know if I don’t that Tweedledee and Tweedledum will be listening to every word.
