Page 118 of Tease Me

I avoided glancing at Needledick as I crossed the lobby, and fortunately, he didn’t talk to me either.

In my room, I had a quick shower and dressed in my cotton pajama shortsset. I made peanut butter on toast, matched that with a hot coffee in the cow mug Henry had given me and with my phone in my pocket, I carried my breakfast out to the balcony.

The simple breakfast was yummy, and I devoured it in minutes, then I picked up the phone and dialed Aunty Ann.

“Well, hello. How’s my gorgeous niece?”

“I’m excellent, Aunty Ann. How are you?”

“Same-o, same-o. Not a lot going on in my life, I’m afraid.”

“Are you going to Dad’s sixtieth?”

“Of course. I can’t wait to see you.”

“You, too. I miss you. Did you know Alexander is going?”

She sucked the air in between her teeth. “No, I didn’t. Your mom never mentioned that to me. Why would they invite that bastard?”

I pushed back and hoisted my legs up onto the other chair. “Apparently, Alexander and Dad are great friends. They go fishing together.”

“What? No! I can’t believe that.”

“That’s what I said.”

“After everything he did to you.”

“Yep. I’m so glad you’re on my side, Aunty Ann.”

“I’m going to ring your mother and give her a piece of my mind.”

I was two seconds away from objecting when I changed my mind. Maybe Mom would listen to her sister. “Thank you, but I doubt it’ll help. Hey, tell me what’s happening with Chelsea-Lea?”

“Oh, yes, you should see her. She’s the size of the Goodyear Blimp.” Aunty Ann’s coarse laughter rumbled down the phone, and I chuckledwith her. Her laugh became a rugged cough, and as I waited for her to breathe again, I tried to picture Chelsea-Lea looking like that.

Aunty Ann cleared her throat. “You know how pregnant women usually have this glorious glow?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, she doesn’t. She’sreallylet herself go. Her hair’s all frizzy, and she has a skunk stripe because she hasn’t had it colored. You won’t even recognize her.”

“I can’t wait to see what she looks like.”

“She’ll have the baby by then.”

“I know. So, do you know who the father is?”

She huffed. “Word is it could be any number of guys. Nobody wants to own responsibility yet. So, there’ll be a few paternity tests once the poor little munchkin is born.”

I whistled. “Holy cow.”

“Yep, your friend has got herself into a right mess.”

“Not my friend.”

“Thank God. She was a bitch.”

“Who got what she deserved. It’s just a shame there’s an innocent baby involved now.”

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