Page 127 of Second-Rate Superstar

Hannah visibly shuddered on my other side. “Okay, that’s enough. I cannotbelievewe are discussing my worst-nightmare scenarios during my bachelorette party. You guys used to be fun! What the hell happened?”

“We became moms.” Lucy shrugged.

Gesturing wildly around the room, Hannah demanded, “Look around you! The kids aren’t here! Forget about them for one freaking night! I’m begging you.”

Natalie grumbled, “Not so easy to forget them when I’ll be up half the night pumping and dumping after how much I’ve had to drink. Right, Amy?” She turned to the only redhead of the group.

Amy’s eyes shifted, and she swallowed. “Uh, yeah. Right.”

Hannah halted everything. “Wait a minute, what the hell was that?”

“Nothing?” Amy avoided her gaze.

Circling her finger in Amy’s face, she challenged, “Oh, no. It was something, all right. I’ve known you more than half your life, and you’re theworst liar I know. Which works out pretty well for you because I can count the number of times you’ve lied in all that time on one hand.” Hannah went silent for a moment, studying Amy, then her eyes flew wide, and she gasped, mouth hanging open before she recovered enough to say, “No way!”

Liv seemed as lost as me, so I asked her, “What just happened?”

She shook her head. “No clue, but I have a feeling we’re about to find out.”

Hannah placed both hands on the table to steady herself. “Are you’re telling me that strait-laced Liam is sucking the milk out of those titties tonight?”

Natalie’s head whipped to the side as she gawked at Amy. “No. Tell me that’s not true.”

Amy simply hung her head, and the rest of the girls started squealing. This might be hands down the most ridiculous bachelorette party I would ever attend, and I was loving every second of it.

There were clearly no secrets between these women; if there were, it wasn’t long before they were exposed. But at the same time, there was zero judgment. That was the best part about their dynamic.

Hannah slung an arm around my shoulder as she held a hand up, silencing the table. “Ladies, it’s only fair we defer to the expert here.”

“Who, me?” I pointed to my chest.

“Yes, you. I can only imagine in your research, you’ve uncovered all manner of fetishes and kinks that people enjoy. Does that”—she waved her hand in front of Amy’s cleavage—“really get people off?”

Folding my lips, I tried so hard to bite back a smile. With every eye trained on me, I released a breath. “No comment.”

The ladies went wild once more as Amy’s cheeks turned so pink it was noticeable even in the dimlighting.

Hannah struggled to breathe, forcing out between gasps of air, “The only thing. That would make this better. Would be if. You’ve started. Calling him. Daddy!”

That’s when I lost it, placing my forehead on the sticky table as I laughed until my sides were sore.

Lucy recovered enough to muse, “This would be so much better if you weren’t married to my brother.”

“Cheers.” Natalie’s voice reached my ears, accompanied by the sound of glasses being slammed together.

Sucking in deep breaths of air, I finally raised my head. Feeling bad for Amy, I changed the subject, raising my drink. “To Hannah! She’s getting married!”

“Hells yes!” She jumped up and down in her seat. The silver lettering of the sash she wore, reading,I’m the Bride, Bitch, caught in the overhead lighting with her movement.

All six of our glasses connected over the middle of the table as we toasted the bride-to-be.

Natalie peered at me over the edge of her cocktail. “And then there was one.”

Uh oh. Somehow, I’d found my way onto the hot seat.

She declared, “Those Slate boys know what they want. Won’t be long before it’s your turn.”

“Oh, I don’t know.” I busied myself playing with a napkin.

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