Page 1 of Breach of Honor

1 Miranda

THREE LITTLE WORDS that could only meandisaster,and yet, I didn’t say no.

Lily fluttered around the apartment on a natural high. Nobody could hold a candle to her enthusiasm when she challenged someone, and today, I was the poor fool at her mercy. The pride on her face, knowing she had a gift of swaying me to do whatever her creative mind thought up, annoyed me.

“I dare you,”Lily, my best friend, sang.

My head spun, heart racing and hands sweating as I watched my plans for the night unravel.

Lily had cornered me, her rapid gibberish overwhelming. She had to have been a top-notch lawyer in a previous life, derailing the jury and defendant with her fast-talking skills.

I bet she’d won every case too.

“It’s your twenty-fifth birthday, and you want to stay at home?” She stared, confusion in her emerald eyes. “Dinner and dancing, that’s what we should do. Live life to the fullest. You only have one for goodness’ sake! In fact, I dare you to put on that red dress in your closet and fuck someone tonight.”

My jaw hit the floor, eyes bulging at the same time the beat of my heart came to a screeching halt. “Fuck someone? Are you out of your mind! No way!”

Raunchy thoughts entered my head, and my hands went clammy while my skin turned cold. This was one of those moments I had to stay on top of Lily and her persistence.

“You know you need it. You’ve been wound tight since we graduated from college.” Lily snorted as she continued her petition to go out tonight. “All because of that lying douchebag, Freddy Smith. How can you let him affect you all these years later just because he cheated on you? You’re stronger than that. And now, you’re a fucking nun who getsnone.” She brushed her blonde locks off her shoulder with attitude and flair.

Dang it if I didn’t admire her.

Notwithstanding my admiration, I rolled my eyes at her rhythmic words.

I’m not a nun.

I had regular orgasms on my own. I didn’t need a man, nor did I want the distraction of one. Our event-planning business was starting to take off after three years of blood, sweat, and a whole lot ofmytears. Now was not the time to complicate my life.

I should have just said all of that and been done with it. But I didn’t.

“Now go get dressed. I’m not taking no for an answer.” Lily disappeared into her bedroom.

What in the hell just happened?

I couldn’t move as my eyes darted around our little two-bedroom apartment, searching for the words. But all I needed wasoneword, one two-letter word to stop Lily’s madness. I had it on the tip of my tongue, ready to jump off and shut down Lily’s crazy talk.

I didn’t know what happened, but something, an all-powerful force from an unknown realm, controlled my mouth and wouldn’t letnoleave my lips.

Since our freshman year of college, Lily and I had been best friends. We were so wrong for each other that we were right. It may sound screwy, probably was screwy, but we worked. We were an unlikely match that mixed well. Chunky peanut butter and honey came to mind. Or Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton. Neither of which made any sense, but they worked.

Lily and I just worked.

Fate had thrown us together as roommates and I was eternally grateful.

Lily’s wild, live-life-by-the-seat-of-her-pants personality helped me in many ways during college. I was the safe, responsible one.Boringas she would say.

I could admit it: I was boring. I liked boring.

Lily was anything but boring. She’d filled a lonely void in my life as the sister I never had. We meshed incredibly well together. Sometimes I did follow Lily’s quirky plans for a little dose of thrill and spontaneity when my humdrum life took a leap into the pool of dull waters. And I couldn’t deny I’d been floating for some time in the lazy river of tepid waters.

Was this one of those times I should be spontaneous?

Why did she feel the need to bring up Freddy, my first and only disaster of a boyfriend? Maybe to show me I was stagnated in this thing called life—my personal life specifically.

And on my birthday no less.

It wasn’t like I’d known Freddy was a phony. He’d flashed me asafegrin, and we chatted for a long while by the pool at the Omega house. We engaged in a lively make-out session on a chaise beneath the stars, then exchanged phone numbers and started dating.

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