Kiss the Girl (Naughty Princess Club 3)

My jaw drops open and I turn around, my eyes finally landing on Eric, who is now standing in the back of the room, leaning against the wall with his arms casually crossed in front of him and that goddamn beautiful, dimpled smile on his face.

His eyes meet mine, and after not seeing him for a week, this almost brings me to my knees. He shouts back to Belle without taking his eyes off of me.

“Do what you need to do, princess; I’m all in. Let’s wrap this shit up so we can go home.”

Even though he’s answering Belle, I know . . . I know he’s talking to me. I don’t know what is happening or what this is about, but fuzzy memories from the night we got drunk at Charming’s start floating through my head. Something about Cindy and Belle and a drunk Uber ride and being kissed by an angel that sounded like Eric and smelled like Eric.

Belle smiles at Eric and then turns to face me, grabbing my hand and squeezing it hard.

“There. We have his permission. Now you know he is on board with this plan, and he will absolutely not hate you or blame you for putting a wedge between him and his mother. This bitch is going down,” she whispers before turning to face the board again.

I swallow nervously, turning around with her, even though I just want to keep looking at Eric. Belle holds her cell phone up to the microphone and taps a button, and suddenly Cindy’s voice is amplified through the sound system.

“I just puked in Ursula’s bushes! Quick, take a picture!”

“Oops, wrong spot.” Belle laughs, the rest of the room joining her as Cindy drops her head into her hands and sighs.

Belle quickly fast-forwards the recording, holding her phone back up to the microphone. This time, it’s Ursula’s voice that everyone hears.

“What in the hell are you doing on my property?”

“We’re here to talk to you about our lord and savior Jesus Christ!”

The room laughs again, and Belle gives me a sheepish look, still holding her phone up as the recording continues.

“You have five seconds to remove yourself from my front porch, or I will call the police.”

“Fuck the police! I mean, I’m sure they’re lovely people. What I meant to say is, fuck you and the high horse you rode in on! Who the hell do you think you are, trying to blackmail Ariel? Did you seriously think you could force her to break up with your son, the love of her fucking life, telling her she had to choose between him and the Naughty Princess Club?”

“It worked, didn’t it? That piece of trash showed herself out, and my son is finally free of her bad influence. But the joke is on that whore. Do you honestly think I would still allow a disgusting business such as yours to continuing polluting my town? You’re nothing but a bunch of stupid, slutty women.”

Everyone in the room gasps, including me, as I watch Ursula’s face get so red that I’m pretty sure it might explode.

“You lying McLiarson! You told Ariel all she had to do was break up with Eric, then come to the board meeting and plead our case, and you would immediately overturn the denial! Whatever, bitch. We’re still going to that board meeting, and they’ll all side with us because we’re awesome and you’re not! How dare you! How. Dare. You! Christ, I think I’m gonna puke again.”

The room laughs again as I stand watching Ursula sink down farther and farther into her seat as the rest of the board members shoot her angry looks, shaking their heads.

“Do you have any idea who I am? I am the HEAD of that board and own the largest business in this community, which brings in millions of dollars in revenue. Those pathetic people worship me and do whatever I tell them to do. You can go right ahead and show up at that board meeting, but all you’ll do is embarrass yourselves. Now, get off my property, you drunk sluts!”

“Screw you! Maybe if you acted like a drunk slut every once in a while and got laid, you wouldn’t be such an uptight judgmental bitch! PJ, take me home. This drunk slut wants to suck your—”

Cindy quickly reaches around me and smacks her hand against Belle’s phone to shut it off, and it clatters to the lectern.

“I think they’ve heard enough,” she states, nervously clearing her throat.

Everyone in the room immediately goes crazy again, shouting and screaming, demanding that Ursula be kicked off the board. Suddenly, someone in the room starts chanting “Naughty Princesses,” and the entire place joins in, making Cindy, Belle, and I laugh as we turn around in circles to see everyone smiling and cheering for us.