Page 33 of Butterfly Effect

My mouth twists. It’s strange how childhood friendships evolve. One day, you’re pinky-swearing loyalty, and the next, your best friend has a husband and a dog that are both a higher priority than you. A piece of your heart is now someone else’s, while they get to keep whichever part on which they staked claim.

Me

I’m not family?

Skylar

You know that’s not what I meant.

Get over yourself, Boehner. Too needy.

Me

I know I was kidding

Me

You wanna bone, I get it.

Skylar

Hell yeah, I do! I’m ready to be used like a rag doll.

Me

Okay yuck. I was trying to gross you out but now I’m grossed out.

Skylar

Maybe next time you’ll think twice.

Skylar

How about tomorrow evening?

Me

I have a date with Gabe tomorrow

Skylar

When?

Me

5

Skylar

Perfect. I’ll head over to yours after work, around 4.

Thursday’s my only day off in the next couple of weeks, and I take full advantage. I sleep in until 6 a.m., get a decent workout in, and finish up the last chapters of Kerri Maniscalco’sKingdom of the Cursedso Fletch will leave me alone about it. But none of it—not even a forty-five-minute shower or the fifteen-minute pep talk in the mirror—quiets my nerves.

By the time Sky arrives, I’ve worn down a path in the rug spanning the bed with my pacing.

“Wade?” She calls from the foyer, hand over her eyes. “You’re not naked, are you?”

“Why, you want me to be?” I yell back.

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