Page 46 of Accidental Abduction

“Classy,” I scoffed, knowing that he wasn’t lying. But he’d been right before. He was single and if women were into his slutty ways, he could take advantage of it.

“Just sayin’. It’s seen some things.”

Some things I was disgustingly curious about because now that my adventurous streak had been re-awoken, I might want to try some things with Charley, but ew. I didn’t need to think about Reid’s pale ass.

“You’re disgusting. You have an apartment above the shop.”

“It’s seen some things too. But I thought we agreed you weren’t going to slut shame me anymore, Mr. Masked Kidnapper.”

“Fuck,” I groaned, knowing he would use that against me at some point. I just thought he’d keep it in his pocket to bring up later.

“You’re lucky your girl got a text off to Hazel before you left. Or your weekend might not have been as enjoyable.” I hadn’t even thought about it until the next morning, but thankfullymy girlwas smart enough to know Haz would lose her shit if she couldn’t find her at the end of the night.

“Hazel is gonna kill me. She seemed weirdly calm about it when she texted me this morning, but she’s scary when she’s pissed.”

“Haz’s adorable,” he laughed.

“Keep my sister’s name out of your mouth.” I didn’t like the tone of his voice when he talked about her lately. He was like her older brother; he shouldn’t think my sister was adorable. Although Charley should be like a little sister to me, but she was definitely not after what we’d done to each other this weekend.

“She’s like a tiny kitten. With razor sharp claws that she wanted to use to eviscerate Viv on Friday when she came after Charley. But she got in one good bat barrel to the crotch that had half the bar cheering.”

“Fuck. Why won’t she just go away?” Viv was the one who didn’t want me.

“I thought you wanted her to stick around?” he joked, but I was not in the mood to remember how desperate I was last week. I’d been trying to understand how a relationship that started as a six-monthfriend with benefitssituationship had settled into me being her accessory boyfriend for years.

“Fuck you.”

“Love has made you grumpier,” he laughed, but I needed to get back to the bar so I could talk to Char. She would pull me out of this mood.

“Get the fuck out of my house. I’ve got shit to do,” I growled, only half serious.

“Are you sure you got laid this weekend? Because you’re not acting like you did.”

“Get out.” I pointed at the door again.

“Seriously dude, just tell her how you feel. You know she feels the same way. That girl has had hearts in her eyes when she looks at you for years. It just took you for-fucking-ever to figure it out.”

I wanted to deny what he said, but Charley had already told me about her crush. I just wished I’d been observant enough to notice. Not that I’d have ever acted on it.

“What did Viv do? Might as well just tell me and get it over with.”

He sighed, scratching the back of his neck. “She cornered Charley in the hallway and stabbed her with her fingernails while she insulted her because she was dressed up as the psychotic version of Harley Quinn. She accused Char of copying her. Now that I think of it, that fugly Joker costume she left on your porch makes sense. At least you dodged those bullets. I definitely would have made fun of you for that costume.”

“And what did Charley do?” I couldn’t imagine her taking that well. And I was now pissed she hadn’t told me about it. The girl’s protective streak was going to kill me.

“I stepped in between them before Charley hit her with the pink baseball bat she had to match her costume. Dragged Viv to the front door and told her to go somewhere else.”

Nodding, I was thankful I had such great friends. Because Reid saving Charley meant that she was on the dance floor moments later for me to find.

“And she came back?”

He nodded. “Like a raging case of herpes.”

I motioned for him to go on as he laughed at his own joke.

“I found her yelling at Hazel about someone stealing your car wearing a mask ten minutes later. When Haz ignored her, she grabbed her hair and tried to pull her back to tell her where you went, but your sister grabbed Charley’s bat off a table and shoved it into her crotch, telling her to get the fuck out and not come back. I helped Mikey get her out of there with a warning we’d call the police if she came back, and we had the guys at the door keep her from coming back.”

Reid had a stupid, nostalgic grin on his face, his voice filled with pride at my sister’s violence toward my ex. I wasn’t sure if he was excited because of Hazel, or that Viv got kicked out of the bar.

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