Page 71 of Brazen Deceits

He…wasn’t happy. Sorry. xxx

“Really, Jansen?” I whine. Of course he found those texts, and of course he shared it. Because he’s okay with it. Jansen’s onboard with my “all the dicks no pricks” plan. I don’t know why, but I’m not looking a gift guy in the mouth.

If I ignore Trips, he’s going to track me down. I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep up my pleasant facade if I’m faced with a full-on Trips tantrum. Something about his anger makes my own rise, the need to fight back overtaking my natural aversion to making waves.

It doesn’t hurt that he seems to like it when I fight back.

I open his message. It’s simple. Of course it is.

We need to talk

No punctuation, no explanation. Nothing to help me figure out how to deal with him. I slapped him. Not that he didn’t have it coming, but that’s a part of me I wish I’d never accessed.

Why?

Two can play at this, Trips.

His answer comes back faster than I expect.

Where ru

“For fuck’s sake,” I say, pushing my phone and Coke across the counter, making enough space to cradle my head in my arms on the pass-through. Emma finally looks up, my outburst enough to break her concentration.

“What’s up?”

I shake my head, still burrowed in my arms. “Trips wants to talk to me.”

“What about?”

Standing up, I grab my phone and Coke, curling up on the couch next to Emma. “I’m not sure, but…ugh….He probably wants to talk either about us sexting the other weekend, me slapping him, or my half-assed attempt at dating all his friends at the same time. I don’t know what I’m doing, Emma! The only thing I know for sure is that I’m making everything worse.”

Emma pops the cap onto her highlighter, her book hitting the coffee table with a thud. “Wait. Back up. You were sexting? WithTrips? I…I…what?”

I giggle, her confusion palpable. “Umm…yeah. It just kind of happened. Then I said something about including the other guys, you know, jokey like, and I guess he’s not interested in my ‘all the dicks no pricks’ plan.”

Emma’s laugh is bright bells. “First off, you named your dating plan? And second, you named it that?”

“It seemed witty and accurate.”

Emma’s laugh morphs into a cackle. “Oh my God, Clara. You’re precious! I, I don’t even know what to say. Have you told anyone else the name?”

I shake my head, a smile forced out by her laughter. It is a pretty silly name.

“I need the complete story. You were sexting and somehow it led to you slapping him? You? Clara—who are you and what have you done with my best friend?”

I cover my face with my hands. “I just lost it. He was talking about the other guys, something about how they were sniffing around me like stray dogs after a bitch in heat, and I totally lost it.”

“He said that? About you? About his best friends?”

I nod, her anger moderating my own, verifying that while my reaction might have been a bit much, the root of it wasn’t wrong.

“He deserved that slap. Has he apologized?”

I shake my head. “No. Me neither.”

Emma ties off her half-done braid, her pink ends a long tail over her shoulder. “Okay. Last thing. You’re involved with all of them now? Since when?”

“Ugh! I don’t really know. I totally made out with RJ on the dance floor in Chicago.”

---