Jaken (The Untouchables MC 6.5)

“Text me. A lot,” I said, still feeling worried about leaving her here, even with her friend watching over them.

“I will,” she said. “Now, you try and have fun with that gorgeous boyfriend of yours.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” I mumbled, my cheeks turning bright pink.

“But he wants to be! Colleen and Jaken, sit-in in a tree,” she said in a sing-song voice. “K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”

“Ooo you stop that,” I said, my cheeks burning with embarassment. “What if he hears you?”

She giggled and danced away, clearly feeling much better. The doctor said she could resume normal activity within reason. But I still wanted her to take it easy.

“Sorry, Coll. What are you doing to wear?”

I bit my lip. I had been worried about that. I had work clothes, and hang around clothes. The work stuff was a a little dull. Formal. And everything else was kind of junk. I needed new stuff, but sadly it wasn’t in the budget.

“Want to wear one of my dresses?” Penny offered helpfully. I considered that for a moment. Her style was fun and flirty. But I felt too old for a floral halter dress. Besides, my curves were a little more… well, curvy.

“I don’t think they will fit, Pen. But thank you.”

Ding dong.

I stopped worrying about what to wear to the barbecue and started worrying about who was at the door. It was an old habit of mine from the year that it had taken me to secure guardianship of the kids. I had been constantly fearful, always afraid, that someone would come and take them away from me.

“Surprise!”

I stared at the three, ridiculously pretty women standing on my stoop. Casey, Kelly, and Claire were standing there, with luggage, and a wardrobe rack.

“Hi,” I said uncertainly. They were here.. for me?

“We thought we could all get ready for the party together,” Claire said sweetly. Kelly was beeming at me.

“That would be great,” I said with a sense of relief. “I could definitely use some help.”

“Kelly lives for this, but don’t let her steamroll you,” Casey leaned in and whispered as they walked past me. She winked at me. I shut the door behind them and showed them into my bedroom.

“I love your place,” Kelly exclaimed. She was so sweet. It was all sincere, too. I never liked it when people were ‘fake sweet’ to get something they wanted. These girls were as real as they came. And for some reason, they seemed to really like me.

“Alright, let’s see what we have…” Kelly announced and started going through the rack of clothes. It was mostly dresses. And they looked suspiciously like they were all in my size.

“Are these all yours?” I asked, in awe. She was already dressed in a white and blue polkadot dress. Cassandra and Claire were also dressed. They pulled out makeup and started applying it. I relaxed a little bit. I had started to worry that this was a pity party.

“Yes. I make a lot of them!”

“You made these?” I asked in awe. I stepped closer, looking them all over.

“Yes, or altered. I thought we might look good in the same thing…” she said almost gently. “Us curvy girls have to stick together.”

I smiled at her.

“That is a huge compliment! You are so va-va-voom. I would never have thought we had the same figure, but now that you mention it… maybe we do?”

“We do,” she said with a wink. “You, too, can be va-va-voom.”

“Here we go,” Cassandra said with a laugh. “The ‘how to dress for your body type’ lesson is about to commence.”

“I know I would have been lost without it,” Parker said, giving Cass a look. We all did. Cassandra was naturally slender with legs for days, just like Michelle, only shorter. She did not have the same issues that the rest of us did!

“You are built like a teenager,” Kelly said, arching her brow. “You don’t need any assistance in that department.”

“Oh stop, I would murder for some nice juicy hips.”

“Well, it does give a man something to hold onto,” Kelly said, sounding somewhat mollified.

“I don’t think Connor has any problems in that department,” Parker cackled.

I turned bright pink. They all noticed.

“Honey, I have to ask… but feel no need to answer if you are uncomfortable.”

I bit my lip. I knew what they were going to ask. I sighed and shook my head.

“I don’t know a thing about men. Is it that obvious?”

“That you are a babe in the woods, with the emphasis on ‘babe’?” Parker said with a sweet smile. “It’s not obvious, but we have kind of a sixth sense about that. Considering how innocent the rest of us were, too.”

“Before we met our men,” Kelly said with a bawdy laugh.

“Yes, well, before that,” Cassandra said primly. This time, we all laughed.

“There’s nothing wrong with being a virgin,” Parker added, taking my hand. “Just if you have any questions, we are here to answer them.”