Page 29 of Messing With My Brother's Best Friends

Chapter 16

Kendall

“They’re being weird,” I told Barbie down the phone line.

I was sitting in the cab of one of the guys’ vans at the back of the bakery because my shift was over.

“Weird, how? Like your panties are going missing and they’re wearing them as face masks, weird?” she asked.

“What?”

“You found crusty, white deposits on your sheets weird?”

“What, no! They came into my work—”

“How the hell did they find out which bakery you worked at?” she asked.

“They found one of my work shirts when they were snooping around, and then they demanded I give them my car keys.”

“Because they’re going to send Daisy to the big car yard in the sky, like she deserved years ago?” I could hear the smile in Barbie’s voice.

“No! No…” I didn’t want to say the next bit, but I was the one who brought up this topic, so I had to be the one to follow through. “They said the car needs fixing—”

“It does.”

“And that they weren’t going to let me keep driving it until it was fixed. They gave me one of their vans as a loaner.”

“Oh!” Her sharp retort made every muscle tense. “Ohh…” The laughter coming down the line set my teeth on edge. “Yes, yes, very weird. So very weird.”

“Shut up.” I rubbed my forehead. “I knew I shouldn’t have told you this.”

“But you did, bitch.” Another evil cackle from the woman I thought was my best friend. “So I’m assuming this is atypical behaviour from the guys?”

“Depends.” My mind started to race as the possibilities popped up, one after the other. “They could’ve been in my room for a reason. They could have short sheeted the bed, or put Vaseline on the doorknobs, or—”

“Or they could be doing something really nice for you right now.”

“No.” I shook my head sharply. “That’s not possible. You don’t know. You weren’t there. You didn’t see all the things that they did.” My breath was coming in faster and faster. “They embarrassed me so many times. My own bedroom wasn’t even safe from their bullshit, and I just moved in—”

“Kendall.” Her tone was firm. “Take a damn breath. I can’t give you a paper bag to breathe into right now.” I did that, the action taking a whole lot more effort than I would’ve thought. “OK, good, just keep breathing because I need to put a possibility to you.”

“K.”

“Look, I don’t wanna be that girl, but have you ever wondered why they were so determined to torment you all the time?”

“Don’t.”

My voice was little more than a ragged croak.

“I know you don’t want to hear it—”

“So don’t say it.”

I saw my mother’s lips moving, forming the same words Barbie’s did. My mother, their mothers, my aunts, everyone.

“But maybe it’s because they liked you.”

I threw myself back against the seat, forcing myself to keep breathing, but when I did, I sucked in lungfuls of air that were tainted with them. Their air freshener hung from the rear vision mirror smelling of synthetic pine, when each one had a much more natural, woody scent. Their spare change filled one of the little compartments in the dash. Their hands had worn spots smooth on the steering wheel cover, forcing me to pull my hand away.

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