Page 140 of Pucking Wild

“What do I need to say or do for this to never be mentioned again?” I say, gripping her arm.

Baby Josh reaches out a chubby hand, putting it on my wrist.

Shelby considers for a moment, her caramel brown eyes searching my face. “You can sing ‘Careless Whisper.’ Now. Open the show.”

Oh my god. Of all the possible punishments, she has to pick this one? I’m an only-sings-in-the-shower kind of girl for a reason. I can’t carry a tune to save my life. “Pick something else,” I plead. “Anything else.”

Her eyes narrow as she surveys me. “No.”

I drop my hands away from her. “You’re a monster.”

She doesn’t back down. “And you fucked a Ray on my baby’s stuffed animals while dressed as the literal devil. So…”

I bite my lip, tears of mirth stinging my eyes. Oh, this is going to be god-awful. And she’ll have only herself to blame. “Fine. Any other requests?”

She considers. “Yeah, actually, I’d love it if you could throw a little Shania in there too.”

“Late ‘90s or early 2000s?”

She puts a finger under her chin, bobbing the squirmy baby on her hip. “Hmm…late ‘90s, I think.”

“Consider it done,” I reply. Then I lean in. “And then we areneverdiscussing this again.”

Smiling, she nods and walks past me to go find her seat.

Well…fuck. What happens when you get booed off a karaoke stage? Do you have to leave the establishment? Does your name go up on a wall of offenders inside the restaurant?

“Hey, gorgeous.”

Ryan comes up behind me, his hands brushing my shoulders. Leaning in, he kisses the back of my head, and I fight the urge to lean into him. Remembering where we are, I go stiff and pull away, turning in his arms to break our connection.

“Ryan…”

He sighs, dropping his hands away. “Seriously? Are we still pretending to be just friends? Babe, the team doesn’t care—”

“Wearejust friends,” I reply. “Friends who fuck to feel good. That was the rule. That wasyourrule,” I add, giving him a firm look.

I don’t know why I’m trying to pick a fight with him. This just feels too public. And everything is still too unsettled.I’munsettled. I haven’t heard a word from Troy in days, but I know he’s still having me followed. I’ve had the feeling of being watched when I walk in to work, when I go to the coffee shop down the street from the bungalow. There’s a grayish-black SUV that I see around all the time.

And the last thing I want to do is hurt Ryan or involve him any deeper in my mess. He doesn’t even know about the shredded documents hiding in my closet. He doesn’t know about the harassment or the stalking. I don’t want him to know. I want us to stay in our shiny pink bubble of privacy and orgasms and feeling good.

Which is probably about to pop anyway once he hears me sing.

He searches my face, actively fighting the urge to reach out and touch me. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

I do what I do best and deflect. “The camera records. Shelby knows what we did.”

“Oh…shit.” He lets out a little laugh and glances over his shoulder to where Shelby and Josh have just taken their seats. “Umm, well, I’ll talk to them—”

“No need,” I reply with a weak smile. “She already exacted her revenge on me. It’s done.”

“Wait—revenge?” His eyes go wide. “Tess, what—”

“I have to go.”

“Tess—”

“Go find your seat,” I say, giving his hand a squeeze. “You wanted something to record to take with you to your away games, right? Well, this is as good as you’re gonna get.”

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