Page 68 of Bad Seed
Sadie: Duh.
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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
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SADIE
I jab my french fry so deep into the cup, it breaks in half. The poor thing flops over, but I quickly gobble both halves up and keep talking. “So we’re at that cave, the one south. Off of I-88.”
“With the crystals?” Lucy asks. Ann quietly slurps down her shake while taking in the ambience of an In-N-Out at two in the afternoon.
“He says, ‘Why don’t we try panning for gold?’ Like old prospectors.” I’m damn near buzzing with excitement to tell them my date.
“Isn’t that what kids do?” Ann pipes up, her face taking on a particular hue of green.
“Shh. Keep going,” Lucy insists, on the edge of her seat.
“I’m dredging the pan, giving it a shake, finding nothing but rocks. He’s beside me, doing the same. When he’s focused on something he gets this like little v at the top of his nose. I want to kiss it, but most of the time he makes it while he’s um…ya know.”
“Pestling your mortar?” Lucy asks, and I blush. Did people hear that? I start to sink down when my back brushes against the chair. Wincing, I nearly yelp as pain and rapid itching tears across my skin.
No matter what I do, I can’t seem to shake these hives. I’ve washed all my clothes and sheets, changed my soap like fives times. I can’t trust lotion anymore and have taken to using nothing but Vasoline. They’ll start to fade, then boom, another set somewhere else. If I didn’t have a man worshiping my body damn near every night, I’d be very annoyed at it right now.
Adjusting myself so I don’t go rabid wolverine on my hives, I smile. “Anyway. I playfully splash him, he does the same back to me. Soon we’re slapping water at each other until he smacks a wave at me. Drenched, I turn away to dry off. Which is when the park ranger tells us to cut it with the monkey business.”
“Riveting,” Ann says.
“Trying to be good, we go back to panning, but when I pull mine out of the water I catch a glint of something shiny. Gold and purple gleaming from below the sand. Ecstatic, I start to wash it off, certain I found something…” I pause for dramatic effect. My dramatic effect lasts two seconds, because I can’t help myself. “It was this!”
Triumphantly, I point to the teardrop amethyst pendant dangling off a gold chain on my neck. “He hid it in my pan so I’d find it. Isn’t that so cute?” I catch the hanging purple gem and turn it to the light. I’ve worn it every day since he put it on. Some of that was waiting for someone to ask me where I got it.
“Yes,” Ann says while scratching her cheek. “He’s the perfect boyfriend.”
“Uh…” My mind jumps the tracks and Ann sits up, at last interested.
“Are you not dating?”
“We are. I mean, he’s…grinding my rosemary every night, if you get my meaning.”
Ann and Lucy both glance to each other. Lucy rests her hand on the table reaching for mine. “Sounds like a fuck buddy situation to me.”
“I’ve been to his house,” I assure her.
“Seen his cat?”
“No.” I frown. It’s like Astin’s a ghost. If not for all of the pictures Aubry has of his cat in the same kitchen he’s fucked me in I’d think he was lying. Who lies about having a cat? “But I’m sure I’ll see him in time.”
“Uh huh.” Ann’s damn near gleaming, her eyes bright as she sits back in her chair like a queen. “So what’s he like?”
“Quiet, more so in public. He can open up on occasion. He has some wild tales about the Philippines. Doesn’t talk as much about Vegas, but maybe he’s not allowed to. Everyone’s got to sign NDAs these days. Oh, and he’s got a soccer player’s thighs and ass. I could watch him walk around in his tight shorts all day long…” The restaurant goes eerily quiet just as I start talking about Aubry’s posterior. I swallow all the things I want to do to it. “But, sweet. And talented at so many things.”
“He was a bouncer, right? A bouncer that carries epipens to bars?” The way Lucy says that careens through my brain like a wild wrench.
I’d never really stopped to think why Aubry had that epipen with him that night. I supposed I’m used to always having two on me, so someone else doing it didn’t cross my mind. But why did he?
“I guess he’s just thoughtful like that.” I put on a smile, refusing to let any rainclouds dampen my mood.
