When she opened her eyes, I tried to find the words. "Chloe—"
"What about her friend?" Chloe's voice was shaking. "Amber? You sleep with her too?"
I pushed a hand through my hair. That answer was complicated, too. At this point, it wasallcomplicated.
Chloe crossed her arms. "Well?"
I looked away, trying to find the words. "Yeah. Well, she was there." How in the hell did I explain it? Shit. Who was I kidding? The more I talked, the deeper I'd be digging. Lamely, I mumbled, "I don't really want to get into it."
By now, Chloe was staring up at me like I was some kind of animal – not the warm and fuzzy kind, the kind that ate babies for breakfast.
Earned or not, I didn't like it.
I reminded myself that Chloe wasn't the only one with questions. My own head pounded with them. Who had Chloe been talking to? And when? Last night? Or today?
I could see Brittney showing up on Chloe's doorstep, telling her all kinds of stories. And let's face it. A lot of those stories would be true.
Anger – at me, at Brittney, at that whole fucking party – made my voice come out too hard and too loud. "There. You happy now?"
Her voice was a monotone. "Thrilled."
Pushing down the anger, I reached for her hand. "Chloe–"
She yanked her hand away. "Well, that's really special. So here, you sleep with another girl – no, make thattwoother girls – what, an hour before I show up? And then, you get all hot and heavy with me like I was the first girl you'd seen in forever?" She shook her head. "It's messed up, you know that?" Her voice rose. "Nice people don't do that."
I felt my jaw tighten. "Yeah, well, haven't you heard? I'm not a nice person."
She looked down at the sidewalk and mumbled, "I don't believe that."
It was a lie. She did believe it. That much was obvious. I made myself shrug. "If you say so."
On the sidewalk, Chucky lunged forward, straining against his leash. I held on tight, wanting to resolve this here and now. But Chloe obviously had other ideas. With a heavy sigh, she started moving forward, trudging along the sidewalk with her head down and her arms loose at her sides.
Together, we walked in silence. I wanted to say something, but I didn't know what.
There were a million things Icouldtell her. Most of them, she wouldn't want to hear. For some messed up reason, I thought of Brittney's butterfly tattoo.
My thoughts strayed to last night. Next to me on the bed, Amber was on her hands and knees, showing me her ass. "Look," she said, wriggling it in my face, "I've got a matching butterfly."
Permanent? Or temporary?
Who knew? Who cared?
She'd been wearing a thong, so it wasn't like I'd seen everything she had to offer. I mean, she hadn't beenfullynaked. I could mention that to Chloe, see if that made a difference.
I shook my head. No. That was just another landmine, waiting to explode.
Last night, Brittney and Amber had been going for some sort of sister act – twins. Every guy's fantasy, right? Once, I'd had triplets. I mean, they weren't real triplets, but therewerethree of them, so...
Shit.
None of that mattered. Not now. Next to me, Chloe was slipping through my fingers. We'd circled around past my place and were getting dangerously close to hers. I was running out of time. If I didn't say something now, I might never have the chance.
I stopped in my tracks. Beside me, Chloe stopped, too. I turned to face her. Slowly, to avoid startling her, I reached my free hand toward hers.
I held my breath. This time, she didn't yank it away. Finally, my fingers closed gently around hers. Her hands felt small and soft, and I felt myself swallow as I tried to find the words.
"Listen," I said. "The Brittney thing. Yeah, I see why you're mad. It's messed up. I know that. But she and I, yeah, and Amber too, we see it for what it is."
