Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 90448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
“What?” I tried to get the remote back. He moved it out of my reach and switched the channel to sports. I groaned with annoyance. “You have to be the only person in America to think the Wizard of Oz sucks.”
“More people hate it than you think.”
The blending stopped.
Troy whispered in my ear. “She’s been acting weird all morning. She didn’t want me to cuddle with her.”
“Gee. I wonder if that has something to do with her having a boyfriend.”
“I doubt it.” He slung his feet on the table. “She wasn’t thinking about him when I was stroking—”
“Don’t. I’m already sick.”
In the kitchen, the fridge slammed. Then water poured as the blender continued. Months ago, I’d bet Vivian fifty dollars she couldn’t be quiet in the apartment for an hour. I’d won in five minutes. It was just something in her personality that forced her to be noisy. She possessed a knack for touching things with as much racket as possible.
Troy whispered, “I think she regrets what happened.”
“Well, she sounded like she was enjoying herself, last night.” I scrunched my face in horror. “Eww, by the way. Thanks for that. I’ll be spending the rest of the month cleansing my mental rolodex of last night.”
“She hasn’t said more than two words since we woke up.”
A large part of me wanted to scream, “This is why you don’t sleep with your freaking best friend!” But, it wasn’t what he needed to hear.
And who the hell was I to judge anyone after last night’s finger-and-escape debacle with Chase?
I rubbed my eyes. “Have you asked her if everything is okay?”
“No. I already know what’s wrong.”
“You do?”
He frowned. “I’m a black ex-convict with no real future.”
“Would you stop that? You have your whole life ahead of you. If anyone believes in you, it’s Vivian.”
Why hadn’t I seen this coming?
I always thought she had a crush on him, but she’d been denying it since we were kids. Even now, she had pictures of him in her top drawer.
I’d found them last month when I was searching for her hidden Girl Scout cookie supply. She knew I had a serious addiction to Caramel Delights, so she buried them in secret spots in her room.
Obviously, I never brought up the pictures, being that I was perusing her underwear drawer. Additionally, she always wrote him when he was in juvenile centers and later in jail. I’d figured she was just being nice, but I guess it was more than that.
“Yeah. Well, she’s tripping about something.” He switched through some channels when a commercial came on. “Maybe it’s her dad. You and I know I’m a decent guy, but Benny won’t think that if she told him we were together.”
“Benny loves the hell out of you. Plus, she doesn’t care about what her dad thinks. If she did, she wouldn’t be with Noc.” I slung my own feet on top of the table next to his. “By the way, Benny loves you but he’s going to kill you if he ever finds out.”
“Yeah.” Somehow Troy discovered another sports channel and increased the TV’s volume. “It’s probably best she’s acting weird. Nothing would’ve come out of it.”
“Meanwhile, I’ve been mentally harmed in the process.”
“Whatever. We thought you were still at the office working.”
I thought about what I’d actually been doing and clamped my mouth shut.
Vivian carried two huge glasses full of brown sludge out. A rotting scent drifted from them.
“No. No. Please, no.” I shook my head. “I’m hung over and tired. I’m not running today.”
“Yes you are.” She set the glass down in front of me and avoided looking Troy’s way.
She is being weird.
I stared at the glass. It was her protein boost recipe. She blended two raw eggs, carrots, celery, collard greens, orange juice, honey, and soy milk together. The end result tasted exactly how one would think it would taste.
Disgusting!
My stomach rumbled with aversion.
My phone buzzed.
Troy picked it up and checked the screen. “Who’s Dawn?”
Oh goodness. What did Chase’s fiancée want from me?
Troy showed me my phone and I pressed the button to see my message.
Dawn: Let’s meet for lunch on Wednesday. You pick the place. My treat.
I waved the phone away. “Thanks. It’s not important. I’ll reply later.”
Troy put it back on the coffee table.
My temples ached as I considered the many polite ways to say hell no to Dawn. There was no way I could meet her anywhere.
Her fiancé’s fingers had done naughty things to me last night, things I could barely think about without shuddering. Even though he claimed they had an arrangement and it would be perfectly fine, I didn’t feel comfortable dealing with her. Lunch was out of the question.
“Who’s Dawn?” Vivian gulped her sludge. A brown liquid mustache covered the top of her lip. She wiped it away with the back of her hand.