Page 139 of Square Deal

“I’m sensitive, not soft. I will punch you while I’m crying.” Itseemed like something Isaac would laugh at and then respond withHell Yes, Ma’am.The nickname pissed me off before, and now I hated how much I missed it.

There was a knock at the door, but whoever was on the other side didn’t care that no one answered. They let themselves in.

I groaned and buried my face in the pillow.Suffocating didn’t seem like a bad way to go. It could certainly be worse.

“What did you do?” I groaned.

“Oh God,” Maddie’s voice carried through the house. “It’s worse than I thought.”

“Someone crack a window and cut the fan on,” Mel ordered, jumping straight into triage.

“Babe, why the hell didn’t you call us?” Bridget snapped. “You just ghosted us on poker night. We thought you were dead or worse.”

“What’s worse than being dead?” Maddie asked as she ripped the covers back and threw them on the floor, sending a shower of cereal crumbs flying through the air. I didn’t know if the bedding needed to be washed or burned.

“This,” Mel said, hands on her hips. “This is worse than being dead.”

Bridget clasped her hands over her mouth and shrieked in horror. “Oh God, y’all, she’s wearingleggings.”

Maddie’s eyes looked like two full moons. “She’s always carrying on about how leggings aren’t pants! Oh, this is bad.”

“I have smelling salts in my car,” Mel said.

Maddie ran into my closet, grabbed a pair of stilettos and a leather handbag, and threw them onto the bed. “Designer leather works better on her,” she said as if I wasn’t in the same damn room. She shoved Kate Spade into my face. “Deep cleansing breaths, sweetie.”

I looked over at Chase. He eyed the door, waiting for the rightmoment to escape. Our eyes locked, and something tugged on my heart.

I mouthed, “Thank you.”

He pointed at me and mouthed, “Shower,” before trudging down the stairs.

33

HANNAH JANE

“Ouch!” I squealed, lying on clean bedding as Melissa picked at the knots in my hair with the end of a comb.

Take a showerand do your laundry, they demanded. I complied, only to be betrayed with follicle torture.

“I told you I have detangling spray!”

“Yep, we tried that, and it didn’t work because the back of your head looks like a bird’s nest. Besides, you said no to WD-40,” she said as she casually ripped each individual strand of hair from my scalp. I’d be lucky if I made it out with only a handful of bald patches.

I groaned. “Yeah, I’m kind of opposed to spraying industrial lubricant in my hair.”

“Oh, good! She’s out of the shower!” Bridget said as she entered the room. “Maddie’s almost done making dinner.”

It was dinner time? I thought I still had a few hours before lunch…My sleep cycle was all cattywampus. I pawed around for my phone to check the time, but Bridget snatched it away.

“Nope. No phone for you. We’re doing a cleanse,” Bridget declared.

I wrinkled my nose. “For the love of God, please don’t make me drink green juice that’ll make me shit for a week.”

Bridget shook her head. “Not that kind of a cleanse. Maddie and I are going to go through your phone and get rid of all traces of Isaac Lawson. Pictures, texts—all of it.”

I shot off the bed with Mel’s comb still lodged in my hair. “You will do no such thing, Bridget McGrath.”

Bee grinned like the Joker and held my phone just out of reach. “Oooooh, what are we gonna find on here?” She was giddy.

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