Page 133 of Cloudy With a Chance of Bad Decisions
“You…” I faltered. Lacey didn’tlooklike she was kidding. In fact, Lacey rarely, if ever, joked. We were similar in that way, apparently. “You really…have a club? To hate on my ex-boyfriend? All of you?” The more I acknowledged it out loud the more unbelievable it seemed.
“With meetings and everything,” Joe confirmed—as though what they were both admitting to wasn’t completely unhinged.
“And you wereawareof this?” I swiveled to look at Mom, hoping to find some semblance of sanity inside the current madness.
“Of course I was,” Mom shrugged, totally unrepentant. “I’m Vice President.”
I didn’t know how to feel about any of this. Maybe I should’ve been more offended. But the longer I mulled over my feelings the more apparent it became that the strongest of them was simply relief. As odd as this was, it was validating to learn that my family had seen what I had. And that no one blamed me for calling it quits on a relationship that had taken up so much of my adult life.
I wasn’t sure why I’d expected to be judged for it.
But it was nice to know I hadn’t been.
Apparently I was the only person that viewed leaving Brendon as failure.
“Is this the same club that’s been trying to set me up with Alex?” I inquired, though I already knew the answer. All three blond heads bobbed in sync. Flushed, mildly pleased, and mostly horrified, I wilted. “I’m guessing you’re not the only three members.” Three head shakes in reply. Varying degrees of enthusiasm. “Jesus Christ.”
“You can join if you’d like,” Mom offered.
“How magnanimous of you,” I replied dryly. “To invite me to join a clubaboutme.”
“There’s usually cookies,” Lacey gave my back a single, awkward pat, before turning back toward the door. “I’ve gotta go. I promised Mavis I’d get herready for the lake early so we could be the first ones down there.”
Right, the lake.
Because today was “lake day”.
Unbidden, memories from the night before flooded my senses.
Alex between my legs. Alex’s hot, wet, tight mouth around my dick. Alex’s hands, so big and scratchy, pinning me immobile like it was easy to do so. Alex’s words?—
“If you keep that up you’re going to have bruises on your hips and leg tomorrow. And it’s lake day. So everyone is going to see.”
“George?” Joe waved a hand in front of my face the same way Mom had a few minutes prior. I startled, jerking away from the eggs. The stove was off, Mom’s doing—when? I had no idea—and the spoon I’d been holding was missing.
“Sorry,” I shook my head, cheeks bright red. “What?”
“I asked if you were coming.”
“To the…to the lake?” Did I really have bruises on my hips? I hadn’t checked. It was a testament to how distracted I was that my first thought hadn’t been how very little I desired to get wet—fuck, maybe Alex had been onto something when he’d said I was a cat. “Why would I—I mean…”
Oh Jesus.
I probably did have bruises.
Bruises I’d need to hide.
My cock twitched at the thought.
“Lakes are lakes—” I stuttered.Lakes are lakes? What the fuck was that supposed to mean? C’mon, George.
“Mavis wants to build a sand castle,” Joe told me. He was uncharacteristically chatty now, even going so far as to tell me about the lake and the beach it had. Also wave runners? And boats—kayaks? Canoes. Something or other. But my brain was in the past, focus stolen by last night and how very lovely it had been. Only this time, I didn’t think about ex-boyfriends, or guilt, or worries—I simply let myself recall the…good.
“Okay,” I found myself agreeing.
Joe offered me a fist bump, that I returned, still dazed. “Bye.”
“Bye,” I had no idea what I had just agreed to but could only hope it wasn’t something totally terrible-awful. Mom was less mischievous as I helped her pack up drinks for the beach. She didn’t bring up our earlier conversation either, the one aboutfeelings. When we’d finally finished, I felt lighter than I had in a long time—more than ready to see the other pea in my pod.
