Page 56 of Lyrical

“So fucked up,” he muttered under his breath, shaking his head. “What, are you suggesting I take him down to Fifth Ave? What the hell, Perry?”

“No, not a streetwalker. That’s disgusting. No, I suggest finding him a nice girl.”

“A nice girl who’ll jump into bed with a strange man because I ask her to?”

“Okay, I can see your point. I can be reasonable. How about that visit to the strip club now? The one down by—”

“I’m not taking him to a damn strip club, and that’s fucked up too. Should I order him a lap dance? Push his face into some stripper’s tits? This is my nephew here.”

What the fuck?This was going way too far. “Excuse me?” I pointed to myself. “This is the mother right here.”

“Yes, Stephen. I think you need to tone it down a notch.”

I heard Chase chuckle softly beside me, and I took his hand under the table. He’d been very quiet during the whole dinner, but again I couldn’t blame him. And this was a bit funny, in a really screwed-up way. I started to laugh. The whole thing was so disturbing, but it was also frickin’ hilarious.

“See?” Perry said. “You’ve pushed her over the edge.”

“Can we just drop it?” I asked. “I’m not a fan of this conversation, although I completely agree with you. I don’t trust her, and now I’m even more worried that—”

“He’ll sleep with her and then fall in love? Or at least think he’s in love. First times can mess you up like that.”

Ugh. I completely lost my original train of thought. And I definitely wasn’t laughing anymore.

“How about if you just spend more time with him, Stephen? Maybe Chase too?” She glanced at Chase and he nodded, looking reluctant. He’d just told me he wanted to get to know Daniel better, but I think he was a little freaked out to hear Perry’s version of quality time. “We’ll keep the plan simple. Invite him over and just stick around the house if that’s better. I’ll make sure to leave. But the whole point is to wean him away from Cassie.”

“In other words, manipulate him into staying away from the woman you think is manipulating him,” Stephen said.

“No, silly. Just do guy things with him.” She jumped up. “Oh! Be right back.”

Stephen muttered under his breath again, refilling his plate. Then Chase did the same. I rested my head back on the chair. My dinner was barely touched. I’d have to wrap it up; I didn’t want the food to go to waste. It was then that I felt the familiar twinge in my side.

Really? Everything that was going on around me and my body decided thatnowwould be a good time to ovulate? I shifted back and forth a few times. It wasn’t painful, but there was always a weird pinching feeling for a minute.

“Are you okay?” Chase asked.

“Yes, just—”

“Cramps?” Perry clunked a cardboard box on the table. “Do you need something?”

“No, not cramps.”

Her eyes flicked up. “Right. Ovulating, then. Sorry, can’t help you there.”

Perry knew about my uncanny fertility-related ability. I was better predicting my period; I could pinpoint when that’d come a week ahead of time to within a couple hours. But with popping out an egg there was a whole day’s window, and I never knew exactly in that twenty-four hours when it was going to happen until I felt it. Like now.

“What the fuck is that?”

Come on, Stephen.Perry was on the pill, but surely he knew a little something about—what the fuck is that?

“My Box o’ Porn.” Perry had the box opened and was littering the table with DVDs. The food dishes were pushed off to the side. I picked one up:Sensual Sexcapades.

“That’s a sweet one, Jills. Now if you want something kinky….” She handed meBoning with the Babcocks.

“Where the fuck did this stuff come from, Perry?” Stephen looked extremely confused.

“I had a life before I knew you, you know.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

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