Perfectly Toxic (Sterling Shore 9)

BELLA

Why am I telling him this? I sound like a slutty piece of shit.

“Anyway, the last guy I got involved with ended my string of bad boys. Such as yourself,” I state, ending it with a joking note while smiling at him.

“I ran a business for my dad because he couldn’t bear to lose it. I worked an average eighteen hours a day—including weekends—just to keep that place booming, and killed myself to make sure it went to the right buyer when the time finally came that I just couldn’t continue to hand over my soul to a company.”

That surprises me, considering it seems so out of the blue.

“I’m saying I’m not your typical ‘bad boy,’ and for the record, I hate labels of any kind.”

And that makes me smile again. He’s really nothing at all like I pegged him to be.

“Sorry I labeled you,” I tell him mockingly, watching as his lips twitch.

“What happened with the guy that turned you off for good?” he prompts, reminding me this is getting deep.

“Just before I moved to Sterling Shore less than a year ago, I had an apartment with Allie and Angel in our old city. I never brought guys home, but Allie and Angel went camping for some mother/daughter bonding time. I figured why not invite my boyfriend over? I did, and the next morning Allie came home to find Angel’s piggy bank money from her birthday party was gone. Over two hundred dollars that she’d gotten from our hospital friends we’d invited to the party… It was all gone. So was Allie’s necklace. I’d gotten it for her our first Christmas as friends. It was the first present she’d ever gotten. It wasn’t worth much money, but he stole something she treasured. He stole from Angel—a little kid. And I had let him into our home.”

He sits back, and so do I. We both stare like we can’t look away for several long, silent moments.

“I guess Allie was pissed.”

“She was upset, but not at me. Allie is really emotionally mature, usually. Other than when she first found Wren. But who wouldn’t be under those circumstances? She usually always focuses her anger on the actual target and doesn’t lash out at anyone else. I deserved her anger, but she refused to be mad at me. It just made me feel worse.”

He leans up, but before he can say anything, we hear a very familiar voice from very close by.

“Sexually aggressive women are actually less likely to have sex than girls who go for shy sexy.”

Britt Sterling.

My eyes pop up, and I find her vibrant red hair behind Ethan’s head, sitting in the booth right behind us. How did I miss her come in?

Her back is to us, so she doesn’t see us as she talks to a group of people who all look about her age.

I can’t hear what someone says to her, since they’re keeping their voice lower, but Ethan cranes his neck as though he’s listening as well.

“You can’t stimulate a woman that way,” Britt tells them. “I tried it on myself. It’s just a myth.”

I choke on my milkshake, and Ethan covers his face while shaking with silent laughter.

I really love Britt. She’s so refreshingly blunt and literal.

“I have to get home for a celebration for Rain’s sister, but I’ll give you my notes on sexual stimulation if you want,” she tells a guy who is… not looking like he’s laughing with her.

My smile fades as I study all of them, and Britt stands as someone tells her they’ll happily read her notes when she gets the chance to hand them over. She walks out happily, oblivious to the fact they’re all laughing at her. There’s a huge fucking difference between laughing with someone and laughing at them.

“Is she for real?” a guy asks.

“I told you!”

They’re talking louder now that the topic isn’t about sex.

Ethan’s eyes meet mine, and something cold and calculated crosses his gaze.

“Why the hell are you hanging out with her?” a girl asks another girl, who is between the two guys.

“Because she’s Dane Sterling’s sister. And because she’s in with all the Sterlings. My father said it’s the best move on my part. But all the girl does is talk weird like that. She gave me a twenty-five minute spiel about Wonder Woman yesterday. As if I fucking care. Don’t even get me started on her longest monologue ever about the origins of science fiction films.”