She jerked away from my grasp, and fearful of hurting her, I let go without a struggle. Too soon, she was turning away with a muttered, "I don't want your apology."
"Wait!" Brittney said.
Chloe stopped and turned around. She eyed Brittney with obvious impatience.
Brittney turned to me and said, "If she doesn'twantme to apologize, our deal still counts, right? I mean, because I tried. And she said 'no.' You saw that, right?"
Was she kidding me? WhatIsaw was a giant cluster-fuck that was going to cost me the girl I loved.
Before I could say so, Chloe's voice cut across the short distance. "On second thought, I'd just love an apology." She pushed past me and stormed into the house. She stopped in front of Brittney and crossed her arms. "And I sure hope it's a good one, because unlike some people, I've got standards."
Brittney pursed her lips. "Hey, I've got standards, too."
"Yeah," Chloe said, "except yours are too low to measure." She turned to me. "A few hours ago, wanna know what I caught her doing?" Chloe's voice rose. "Boning my boss in the back seat of his car."
I gave Brittney a sideways glance. I recalled the Lincoln Town car, the one she'd crawled out of earlier. Wasthatwhat she'd been doing in there? Screwing Chloe's boss? Talk about messed up.
Brittney was glaring at Chloe now. "Hey!" Brittney said. "We weren't boning. We were doing other stuff."
"Whatever," Chloe said, turning back to me. "So for your sake, I hope you wore a damn condom." She made a hard, scoffing sound. "You know what? On second thought, I hope you didn't. Because you deserve whatever this skank gives you."
What the hell?
Wasthatwhat Chloe thought of me? That I'd go straight from her to Brittney, in what? A few hours? I glanced toward Brittney, standing nearly naked in my own house. Shit. Of course Chloe would think that. The way it looked, she'd be stupid not to. But itwasn'tlike that. Somehow, I had to fix this.
"Baby." I moved toward her and reached for her hand. "I didn't wear anything."
She jerked her hand away. "How nice for you."
"Because," I explained, "I didn't have to. She's only here for one thing."
Chloe eyed me with disgust. "Exactly."
"Not that." I turned toward Brittney. "She's here," I said, speaking very slowly and clearly, "to tell you how very,verysorry she is."
"In her underpants?" Chloe said. "Do I look stupid to you?"
With a muttered curse, I strode to the front closet. I reached to the top shelf and pulled out a navy stadium blanket. I hurled it at Brittney. She made no move to catch it. The blanket hit her chest and slid to the floor.
I glanced at Chloe. She looked ready to bolt, not that I'd blame her. I gave Brittney a long, cold look. "Cover up. Or get out. Your choice."
Brittney looked down at the blanket, still lying on the floor. Finally, acting more like a stripper than anything else, she slowly bent over and picked it up, giving me a good, long show in the process. She finished by draping the blanket loosely over her shoulders, so it covered almost nothing – not her nipples, not her stomach, and not any part of her bushless bush.
Chloe pointed at Brittney's pelvis. "I think you missed a spot."
With a huff, Brittney wrapped the blanket around herself, leaving only her bare legs exposed. She gave Chloe a smirk. "Prude."
Chloe smiled. "Squid-fucker."
Brittney drew back with a gasp. The way it looked, the name meant something to her. Who was the squid? Chloe's boss?
Brittney whirled toward me and said, "Did you hear what she called me?"
"Like I care," I said. "Now, go on. Apologize. Chloe's waiting."
Brittney sighed. "Oh alright." She looked vaguely in Chloe's direction. In a bored monotone, she said, "I'm sorry about that little joke."
Little joke? What the hell? Maybe I should hold Brittney at knife-point, see if the joke was so funny then.
