It was only after that it dawned on me… I hadn’t thought of my scars once in that shower with him.

Chapter Eight

Lucky Bitch

He left me alone soon after to rinse myself off. I did it hurriedly, not wanting to miss one single moment with him.

My body was still humming from two orgasms. Two! I’d never had back to back ones before. And I certainly never had one without stimulation.

You’ve been missing out, Claire.

I turned the water off and quickly stepped out. I grabbed the towel and wrapped it around myself before scurrying down the hallway. He was probably in my room still and –

The sound of the front door slamming shut stopped me in my tracks.

Did he just leave? What the hell?

“Hey bitch, where are you?”

My shoulders immediately slumped. Shit.

It was Emily coming in. I really hated that Mom gave her a spare key to the house thinking it was a good idea because she was like “family.” You give Emily one little inch and she’ll take a mile. She used that key not every once in a while, but every bloody time she was around. And the wench was around a lot.

Her footsteps ascended the stairs and when I saw her, my heart spiked. Ben was kicking around somewhere very close. He was probably still getting dressed given how quick I’d rinsed myself after he’d left.

“What are you doing here?” I barked out, shooting her a scorching look. “Don’t you ever knock?”

She turned to me, her back to my bedroom door, and shook her keychain with the house key on it.

“Ain’t nothing you can do about it because Mama Landon loves me, bitch,” she replied with a wink. “And what’re you looking all ghostly white for? You’re just in a towel. Bet you’re naked under there too, huh? Slut.”

“You need to go! I’m really busy –”

“No,” she interrupted, taking a step closer to me. It was then I realized she was still in the same clothes as last night, and her blonde hair and make-up were botched to hell.

She looked like a crucified Barbie doll.

“What the hell happened to you?” I asked, momentarily forgetting the situation. I snickered and added, “You look like a blowfish. You’re not having a good hair day, babe.”

Her blue eyes glared into mine. “What happened,” she said slowly, “is that hot guy from the train a year ago just popped up out of nowhere last night and asked about you! I was bloody drunk, so I was all, huh? But now I realize that’s what you were talking about right before we left, right? About how something interesting might happen.

“So now you got some explaining to do! You’re a lying bitch, and that automatically means you’re sentenced to another Dare Card. But first, you gotta tell me if something interesting did happen. Because I’m hoping it did.” She grabbed my arm desperately. “Did you get laid? Of course you got laid. Was he huge? Please tell me he was huge so I can live vicariously through you and forget about my horrible experience last night with some limp dick asshole that didn’t even get me there. He was tiny. Like throwing a sausage down a hallway kind of tiny, Claire! Do you know what that was like for me? Do you know horny I am still –”

When Ben abruptly appeared at the doorway of my bedroom, I stilled and my eyes widened. He’d put his pants on, but his damp chest was still bare.

Emily stopped talking and followed my line of sight. She froze, her mouth dropping as she trailed her eyes up and down his body.

Motioning to him, I said, “This is –”

“I’m the drunk girl from last night,” she interrupted speedily. “Emily.”

Ben shot her a small smile. “Yes, you certainly are. Hi.”

Insert a moment of silence.

Well, this was awkward.

“This is Ben,” I then told her. “Um… yeah.”

“Cool,” she said, nodding heartily while she looked between the two of us. “Looks like you guys had a fun night.”

Oh, I wanted to punch her.

She grinned stupidly. “Really fun.”

Ben smirked. “Yes, it was. Anyways, do you mind if I excuse myself for a few minutes? I need to make a phone call.”

“Of course,” I replied. “Take your time. We’ll be downstairs.”

I grabbed Emily’s arm and forcefully dragged her down the stairs, otherwise she’d have stood there all day, staring at him looking like a Satan possessed doll. The girl was in desperate need of a clean-up.

The second we reached the bottom level, she stirred out of her daze and mouthed, “OH.MY.GOD!” while jumping up and down incredulously.

Clutching the towel tightly against me, I reddened. “I know, right?”

“You lucky bitch. How could you keep something like this from me?”

“I didn’t mean to.”

“How long have you been seeing him?”

I shook my head. “I haven’t. Last night was the first time since the train.”

Her eyes widened. “What? You’re Miss Cautious. How the hell did you let him get to you that fast?”

Worry emerged in me. “I shouldn’t have?”

“No, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just… it’s been so long since you’ve let go. I didn’t think you had it in you anymore.”

I looked up the stairwell to make sure he wasn’t hanging about, and then I steered her further down the hall until we were nearing the kitchen.

“There’s something about him,” I confessed in a whisper. “I don’t know what. He held me all throughout the night, Em. Held me. Can you believe that?”

She was too lost for words to respond.

“It felt good,” I continued quietly. “Really good. And you wanna know the best bit?”

She nodded eagerly. “Yes!”

“He looked me in the eyes while we did it.”

“Are you for real?”

“Yeah.”

She made a weird face. “So the books… they didn’t lie about that sort of thing?”

“Nope. It was amazing. Like the kind of connection you can’t imagine.”

She stewed on that for a few seconds. “Are you going to see him again?”

I shrugged, trying to make light of the situation. “I don’t know. I might.” Depended on whether he wanted to.