Bad Wolf (Wild Men 4)

“Shit, what did he do to you?” Ev scoots over the carpet and curls an arm around my shoulders, the flowery scent of her shampoo wrapping around me like a veil. “Bastard. He treats girls like his playthings, and I’m—”

“He didn’t.” I suck in a deep breath. “Didn’t do anything. We disagreed on something, that’s all.”

“Yeah, right.” Ev looks shocked, and Kayla unconvinced.

I should have expected that.

“Disagreed on him sleeping with you and dumping you the next day, sort of thing?” Kayla drawls.

I wince inwardly. “We haven’t slept together.”

“Technicalities.” She waves a hand back and forth. “Going down on each other, doing it on the kitchen counter, on the carpet, in the car… It counts.”

“We didn’t.” I turn and find Ev giving me an incredulous look. “What? It’s the truth.”

“Am I to believe you and Jesse have been meeting—because I know you have, his roommate Gage told me—and haven’t had hot bunny sex?”

I shrug. “Believe what you like. It’s the truth.”

“No sex, no kissing, no blowjobs, nada?”

I bite my lip and shift away from Ev, needing some space. “We kissed. Twice. And he did… touch me. But that was all. I never touched him.”

Not that way, anyway. And I wanted to, so much.

I’m vaguely aware of Kayla and Ev exchanging glances and lifting their brows.

“That’s … very unlike Jesse Lee,” Ev finally says, and I can’t even begin to guess what she’s thinking.

What does it matter? In any case, whatever it was we had—friendship? Was it that?—is over.

“I know what we need,” Kayla says brightly and jumps to her feet. “Girls’ night!”

“Didn’t know we needed something,” I grumble. The last thing I need is anything involving a social activity. “I’m fine.”

“Wait and see.” She runs out of my room to hers and returns with a pink kit. She plops back on my carpet and opens it, taking out a bunch of nail polish in all possible hues, even some I never imagined on my nails. “First, nail painting.”

“But why?” I whine as Ev claps her hands and starts sorting through the colors. “Why do we need this?”

Truth is, I’d rather curl up on the sofa with chocolate ice cream and watch reruns of Teen Wolf episodes.

“War paint,” Kayla declares, selecting a blue polish with tiny silver bits, like starbursts. “We’re taking on the world.”

“All I want is to forget about the world.” Despite myself, though, I lean forward and snag a red-purple polish. “Not take it on.”

“And then,” Kayla goes on as if I haven’t spoken, “we’ll dress up and go out.”

“No way.” I shake my bottle at her. “I hate going out, and you know it. It’s the last thing I’d do.” I glance at Ev for support. “Tell her.”

I sound like a three-year-old, and I honestly don’t care. I don’t deal well with stress, and I’ve had enough shit these past few days to last me a year.

“We could go to the movies,” Ev says, and even as I open my mouth to say no, I reconsider. “Nothing tear-inducing, I promise. We’ll find a comedy.”

“And for that we need to paint our nails?” I give my polish a suspicious look.

“Trust me, girl.” Kayla shakes hers before she starts painting her toenails. “It’s important. I saw it in the tea leaves this morning.”

Well then, if it was in the tea leaves… Looks like it was inevitable.