With a scowl, Brittney leaned over to pick up the blanket, taking her sweet time. With the same languid motion, she stood and draped the blanket loosely around her shoulders, covering next to nothing.
I pointed to her pelvis. "I think you missed a spot."
With a huff, she tightened the blanket around herself, leaving only her bare legs exposed. She gave me a smirk. "Prude."
I gave her a smirk right back. "Squid-fucker."
Brittney turned to Lawton. "Did you hear what she called me?"
Lawton gave her a cold look. "Like I care," he said. "Now, go on. Apologize. Chloe's waiting."
"Oh alright." Brittney blew out a breath and looked vaguely in my direction. Her voice was a bored monotone as she said, "I'm sorry about that little joke."
I stared at her. "A joke?"
She rolled her eyes. "You know. The prank. With Joey and Paul."
Joey and Paul? The guys in the ski masks? Sothatwas their names?
Lawton's voice was tight. "That was no prank."
"Aw c'mon," Brittney said. "Yes, it was. Just a little joke. No big deal." She turned to me. "Go on, tell him. You thought it was funny. Right?"
"Funny?" I said. "So let me get this straight. Two masked men try to throw me in a trunk, and you call that a fucking joke?"
She shrugged. "At leastIhave a sense of humor. Unlikesomepeople."
"Gee," I said, "maybesomepeople don't like getting dragged away in the middle of the night. Maybesomepeople are funny like that. Maybesomepeople aren't totally fucking nuts!"
"Hey, you're the one who's crazy," she said. "It wasn't the middle of the night. It was like, what, nine?" She turned to Lawton. "See? She's making it sound ten times worse than it was."
Lawton's gaze narrowed. At his side, his hands were fisted so tight that the corded muscles in his forearms looked hard as granite.
Brittney took a small step backward, but then quickly recovered. She tossed her long blonde hair over one shoulder and said, "So like I told you, it's no big deal."
"And like I toldyou," Lawton said, "itisa big deal. A very big deal. And if you were some guy, you'd be getting a lot worse than the chance to beg Chloe for forgiveness."
"Hey," she said. "No one said anything about begging." She threw back her shoulders. "Brittney Adams doesn't beg for anything."
"Not even car nookie?" I said.
She gave me a look. "It wasn't nookie." She turned to Lawton. "You believe me, right?"
"What I believe," he said, "is that you're supposed to be apologizing."
She pursed her lips and turned back to me. "Alright. IguessI'm sorry. But seriously, it's no big deal. In my sorority, we do that sort of thing all the time."
"Your sorority kidnaps people?" I said. "Seriously?"
With a little huff, Brittney turned to Lawton. "See? She's doing it again. She's making it sound worse on purpose, just to make me look bad."
Lawton gave her a murderous look. "You want to do a shitty job at this, fine." He pointed toward the door. "Get the fuck out. Now."
"But I'm trying to explain," Brittney said. "She won't let me."
He crossed his arms and spoke very slowly. "Try harder."
With an eye roll, she turned to face me. "What we do," she said, "is steal their mascots. Swipe 'em for a day or two." She gave Lawton a pleading look. "But we always return them. It's no big deal. See?"
