Page 86 of Bully

“Ohmygod,Ijust about pulled my ass cheeks that night. I ran so fast from that man!” Lola cackled, slapping her hands over her face as our group laughed loudly, drawing stares from other tables.

The mimosas were bottomless at Sunday brunch, surely they expected bad behavior.

“So,” Raven drew everyone’s attention to her, but she was staring across the table at me. “Tell us about your trip.”

Tamen and I had returned to Boston on Tuesday and I had actively avoided any in-depth conversations with any of the girls since then, simply because I knew I’d cave and tell them our secret as soon as they started prying.

It wasn’t a secret, necessarily, Tamen didn’t want to keep it a secret, but it felt like he was far more interested in moving forward with our marriage than I was. Wait, that wasn’t true, I wasn’t opposed to staying married to him. I was just scared.

I was a loner. Completely self-sufficient; I had managed everything myself for years.

The idea of letting someone else have a hand in being responsible for my happiness—terrified me. Like to the point I wanted to shit my pants every time I contemplated what the future looked like with him.

Yet at the same time, the idea of going back to that same solitude I had enjoyed before meeting him scared me more.

I was so confused. Was he my biggest weakness in some way? He said I thought I couldn’t love anyone, which was right, but I’d already proven myself wrong about that. Waking up the morning after our wedding, I knew that I was in love with him. Could he truly love me in return? And all of my weird antics? Or would I drive him insane until I drove him away?

“Hello! Earth to Sloane!” Trixie snapped her fingers with a giggle, “Are you drunk already?”

“No.” I shook it off, brushing my hair over my shoulder and taking another sip of my water to prove my point. “I was just thinking about Vegas.”

“Vegas?” Valentina cried. “You went to Vegas and didn’t take me with you? Ugh! It’s my favorite place on earth. It’s a hooker’s Disney, and you left us behind. How rude!”

I chuckled and gave her a pointed glare. “You went to Miami two months ago without taking any of us.”

“Ooh, true.” Lola added, “But Miami is like the cheap knock off Six Flags edition of Disney.”

“True.” I grinned. “I had little heads up before we left, to be honest. I didn’t even know how long we were staying when we got there.”

“How does it feel being God’s chosen one?” Mya questioned with a smile. “You have an incredible job, an amazing apartment, a fearless confidence I’d literally shank a bitch for,andyou seem to have landed a good guy that spoils you with luxurious vacations. I mean, you’re literally glowing like the baby Madonna put a hand on your forehead and blessed you.”

I rolled my eyes, grabbing for my mimosa instead of water as the conversation got thicker. Val cut in with a dose of reality before I could respond.

“Well, I don’t know that I’d call Tamen Bryce a good guy necessarily.”

“You wouldn’t?” Trixie challenged, “Rich, dominant and spoils her. Oh, and did I mention maybe the sexiest man I’ve ever seen?”

The girls chuckled and agreed. But Val wouldn’t let it go.

“Yeah, and he was active with half a dozen different girls at the club the day he met her. That hardly makes him a knight in shining armor.”

I opened my mouth to shut it down, but Raven cut in. “It also doesn’t make you a virgin. Considering it was your throat he was in that first night after all.” The girls all froze and looked between me and Val, since we’ve always been friends, like they were afraid I didn’t know about it.

“Okay stop.” I held my hands up, looking from Raven, who was always down for a fight, over to Val, who was particularly prickly for a Sunday brunch date. “Tamen Bryce is far from a golden boy, I know that. But let’s give him a little credit here, we’re all hookers for fuck’s sake, we’re no better selling sex than he is for buying it. We’re all consenting adults, that’s all that should matter.” Val deflated a bit and Raven nodded in full agreement. “I don’t want the perfect boy next door, I’m actually pretty fond of Tamen’s sharp edges and everything that comes with it. So don’t worry about me, I’m doing just fine.”

Mya grinned like a cheshire cat and leaned forward on the table. “What exactly happened in Vegas?”

The other girls looked over at her, and then at me, confused.

“What do you mean?” I asked, self-consciously.

“Well, I can tell you got some sun,” she nodded to my chest over the top of my strapless top, “You have a tan line.”

Waving her off, I relaxed, my thoughts drifting back to the private balcony attached to our suite as I deciphered the direction of the conversation. “I sunbathe in the nude, toots. No tan lines here.”

“It’s not clothes I was talking about.” With a smirk, she lifted her hand, pointed at her ring finger, and then nodded toward mine, which was wrapped around my glass. “Looks like you were wearing something else while you were sunbathing.”

“Oh, my god!” Trixie gasped, grabbing my hand and staring at the faintly lighter strip around my left ring finger. “You got married!”

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