Page 57 of Affinity

Jesse came up behind her, his hands on her shoulders. He kissed her crown and it warmed her insides. They made her feel so safe and wanted and cherished as they tucked her between them. Bypassing the line of members and invited guests waiting to be let in, they walked her to the crimson portal.

The doorman noticed their approach and opened the left side for them to enter. The once-familiar strains of “Fresh Blood” by Eels immediately spilled out of the open doorway. She was tempted to sing along, but she didn’t. Chloe remembered the song about a horny werewolf from True Blood. Sookie and Alcide. She still mourned the demise of that TV series and binge-watched all seven seasons at least once a year.

Taylor held onto her right arm, Jesse her left. She stood at the threshold between two horny werewolves of her own.

Well that’s an appropriate song choice.

Then they stepped inside and the red door closed behind them.

She tried really hard not to gawk at the decadent opulence that surrounded her in the cavernous two-story greeting area of the club. Deep-plum silk. Rich mahogany. Crystal. Linnea’s description had been sorely lacking, but she could understand why that would be, because she was at a loss for words. It was almost as if they had been transported to another world once they walked through that door, and the real world she knew outside ceased to exist.

Almost.

Fuck my life! It can’t be!

But apparently it could. Because it was. And here she’d thought Karma was on her side, but there, not a dozen feet away, talking with Brendan and some Mistress of the Dark-looking chick in a hideous X-rated Elvira knock-off dress, was the asshole himself. And who was hanging onto said asshole? Brittany McCall.

The one without a penis.

Her hair was an even paler shade of platinum blonde, if that were possible. Big blue eyes framed by huge false eyelashes. Skintight bubblegum-pink dress. Danny looked pretty much the same as he did the last time she saw him at high school graduation. Athletic good looks. His tousled blond curls were slicked back and he’d filled out some—okay, a lot. They hadn’t noticed her yet and she’d rather it stayed that way.

Chloe stopped on a dime and Taylor stopped with her. Jesse didn’t seem to notice and kept going in the direction of his cousin. Taylor attempted to resume their stride but when she didn’t move his body turned into hers.

“Chloe, are you—”

Using his chest as a shield, she put her arms around his waist. Taylor pushed her hair to the side and caressed her bare shoulder. She peeked up at him. “Remember when you said that one day you wanted to hear the Brittany story?”

Taylor raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips like he didn’t have the slightest clue what she was going on about, but then he must have remembered because he began to nod. “Yes, but now, Chloe?”

“She’s here.”

Chloe subtly tilted her head toward Brendan and Jesse. And them. Taylor turned his head and glanced their way. “Oh, I see. Bubblegum Barbie?”

“That’s the one.”

Chloe quickly gave him the abridged version of the events of her junior year. Danny. Her seventeenth birthday. Prom. Puke. Karma and the traitorous bitch that she was. She left out the part where she’d cried to his poster on her bedroom wall—that was just embarrassing.

“She doesn’t hold a candle to you, love.” He hugged her close and kissed the sensitive spot below her ear. “But you don’t need me to tell you that.”

She didn’t, but it made her feel better to hear Taylor say it anyway. Danny didn’t matter to her now, but at seventeen she’d been devastated. Her first boyfriend, first love, first everything, and he’d dumped her for Bubblegum Barbie. Brittany must possess something she didn’t, because four years later he was still with her.

Whatthefuckever.

Just because she didn’t give a fuck anymore didn’t mean she cared to have the asshole who thought he’d ruin her junior prom shoved in her face. She sure hoped Brittany had learned how to handle her liquor better since then—or not. Might be fun to watch history repeat itself on that score.

“Babe. Taylor,” Jesse called out to them.

Taylor reached down and gave her asscheek a playful squeeze. “That’s our cue, darling.”

What must Taylor think of her? Freaking out over running into an old high school boyfriend who wasn’t even worthy of a moment’s thought, especially now. Now that she had him. Now that she had Jesse.

She gave his butt a playful squeeze in return and tugged on his beard. “I don’t care about him anymore or anything, I just…”

He kissed her. Maybe to shut her up. Maybe to let anyone who was watching them know she was his. She liked being his. Theirs.

“I know, little bird.”

As soon as they made their way over, Brendan swooped her up into a giant bear hug. Her feet dangled off the floor, and before he set her back down, he bent his head to whisper in her ear so only she could hear him, “I’m glad I was right. Thank you.”

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