Page 131 of Wicked Dreams

“They’re dating,” Riley tells her. “After a tumultuous start.”

Claire grabs my wrist. “Really? Margo, that’s great!” She squeezes hard enough to bruise. “After all, you never shut up about him. It’s like you willed this to happen against the odds.”

I smile, pulling my wrist away. I put my hands under the table. She knows about my history with him, but her reaction isn’t quite what I thought.

“What about you?” I ask. “Any cute boys at your new school?”

“Where do you go?” Riley asks.

“Lion’s Head.” She grins. “There’re some cute guys there, Wolfe. They’re deliciously rich.”

“Is that all you care about?” I laugh.

“No, I also care about the size of their?—”

“Claire!” I squeal.

Riley chuckles. “I suppose that’s an important factor.”

“Our girl wouldn’t know,” Claire confides, leaning across the table toward Riley. “She’s never had sex.”

Riley is unfazed. “That’s not a bad thing.”

“It is if the guy you want is the hottest piece of ass in school…” Claire raises her eyebrows. “Isn’t that right, Margo?”

I pause. “What do you mean?”

“Just that… you know, I’d imagine he would be quite demanding in bed and all. And I know you aren’t really comfortable…” Claire pops a piece of gum in her mouth.

Great. That’s so nice.

“We should go.” Riley flashes me the time on her phone.

I latch on to that. “Oh, shoot.”

We stand, and Claire rises a beat later.

“It was good to see you, Claire. My foster parents mentioned I would be ungrounded soon. Hopefully that means we can get together on a weekend with Hanna.”

Claire grimaces. “My weekends are pretty packed. But Hanna would love to meet up! I’m sure you two can arrange something.” She darts around the table and wraps her arms around my waist. “Good to see you, sis.”

Riley and I leave her there. As soon as we’re out of sight, she elbows me.

She says, “You didn’t tell her about any of the bad stuff.”

“Why worry her?”

“The girl didn’t seem worried about you.”

“Because I didn’t tell her that Caleb was an epic bully?” I roll my eyes. “Some stuff is better left unsaid. Like how he and I had sex on Monday.”

She gasps so hard, she chokes. I pat her back while she coughs, and her eyes are wide when she straightens.

“Holy shit. Tell me everything.”

I do. The good, bad, and ugly. Because Riley’s the sort of friend who can handle it.

She parks, and we hurry back to the side door that we had left propped open. We end up back in the women’s locker room. It was a weird way out, I’ll admit. But it’s one of the only doors that isn’t monitored, since the gym classes usually go in and out through the gymnasium entrance.

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