Page 51 of Flaunt
“Hey, you,” I say, letting her go. “Where have you been?”
She glances at the door to the house. “Don’t tell Mom, okay?”
“Bethany …”
“It’s nothing bad,” she says, the tone of her voice not matching the nonchalance of the words. “I was just at my friend’s house and her parents weren’t home. I know Mom will think the absolute worst and ground me for eternity.”
“That’s not cool, you know.”
She rolls her eyes. “I know you were the black sheep of the family. I’ve heard stories about your wild days. So don’t start lecturing me.”
“Listen, I’m not lecturing you about anything. And, yeah, I’ve had some wild days. But I wasn’t having them at fourteen and neither should you.”
She looks unamused.
“Listen to your mother,” I say, going back to the boxes.What will I need for Banks’s house?A burst of excitement pulses through me. “If you ever get in trouble, you can call me. You know that, right?” I look at her over my shoulder. “Youshouldcall me.”
“I’m not going to get in trouble. Relax.”
“So you think …”
I close the box with clothes and then open the bathroom box.I doubt he has appropriate shampoo and conditioner. He probably doesn’t even have a hairdryer. What about towels?
“Did you get your new house?” Bethany asks, sitting on a tote full of kitchen equipment.
“No. Not yet. I’m staying with a friend.”
“A friend that I know?”
I laugh. “I don’t know.”
“Ashley?”
“She’s married now, remember? I told you that,” I say, plucking a few towels out of my stash.
“Okay, so … Becca?”
I shake my head. “No, Becca was going back to Texas and let her lease expire. But then she changed her mind and lives in a one-bedroom cracker box. I’d be sleeping on the floor.”
“So who then?”
I fight a smile as I close the box. “His name is Banks.”
“Oooh. Okay.Hisname, huh?”
“You’re reading too much into this, Bethany. He’s Ashley’s husband’s brother and he lives right across the street from them. He’s—”
“Frigging hot.”
I spin on my heel to face her. She holds up her phone with the Social app on the screen. Smiling back at me is a picture of Banks, sans shirt, leaning against a car.Wow.
“Youare moving in withthis guy?” she asks, dipping her chin and raising her brows. “Is that what I just heard you say?”
I can’t help but laugh. “That’s what I said.”
“Can I come over?”
My laughter grows louder. “I don’t know. Maybe, but probably not. His house is a pigsty. You could get tetanus from stubbing your toe.”
