Page 110 of A Shot of Pretty Poison

“You sleep there!”

Party decor is notmy forte. I’m not good at it, nor do I have any interest to be. If it were up to me, we would’ve hired someone to come in and make this place look the way Mali used to set up the Blanchard’s backyard. But Cam quickly shot that down, telling me we have too many money issues for unnecessary expenses.

It probably doesn’t help that I’m still on fucking edge. It’s been three days of Laiken being distant. Not physically—she’s still sleeping in bed beside me—but emotionally, she’s absent. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t know why.

Hearing her say those words, it felt like I was flying. Free falling into all the things she does to me and everything she is. And I almost said them back…until I remembered what it felt like to hit the ground.

The fear that shot through my body made it impossible. My mouth physically wouldn’t say the words. I couldn’t even force them out. And now she thinks I’ve fallen out of love with her.

That couldn’t be further from the truth.

I’m standing on a bar stool, trying to tape decorations to the ceiling, when I lean out too far and go crashing to the ground. Reaching up over my head, I grab the stool and throw it across the room, slightly mollified when I hear the clattering of broken pieces. Cam comes over and stands above me, looking like he’s both amused and concerned.

“What did that stool ever do to you?”

I groan as I sit up, feeling the twinge in my back. “It’s fucking unreliable.”

Cam chuckles. “Man, really? I specifically ordered the ones with the loyalty feature on them! Those lying bitches.”

It’s meant to lighten my mood, but it doesn’t. I don’t think anything is capable of that today. Just like nothing could yesterday either. I stand up and stretch from side to side, trying to work out the newly formed kink in my back. It doesn’t fix everything, but it does enough, and I go to pick up the pieces of the broken stool.

“I thought you’d be excited for this party,” Cam says. “It wasyouridea.”

“I’m more excited to not have to listen to them whine because we’re not allowed to serve them.”

Laiken is understanding for the most part, but I can’t say the same for Mali. She’s insufferable, or at least she was until three days ago when she finally turned twenty-one. But she agreed to wait until Laiken’s birthday so they could take their first legal shots together. Before, she complained because we couldn’t serve her since she wasn’t twenty-one. Now, she complains because we won’t let her break the promise she made to Laiken.

“That’s fair,” he agrees. “But that hardly warrants throwing them a party. Unless the party is actually for us, in which case, I bought the wrong color decorations.”

“And here I thought you just liked the color pink.” I tease.

He flips me off and goes back to hanging the letters that spell out each of their names. “What the fuck is going on with you two anyway?”

Okay, one thing Camdoesn’tdo is ask about things between Laiken and me. It’s like an unspoken rule between the two of us. The Cam that’s my best friend and the Cam that’s my brother-in-law are separate like church and state. So, him asking can only mean one thing.

“Mali put you up to this, didn’t she?” I ask, watching him intently.

He folds like a house of cards. “Ugh, yes. That girl holds sex over my head like it’s the fucking key to everything.”

I can’t help but laugh. “You mean it isn’t?”

His head falls forward as he groans. “No, it is.”

Patting him on the shoulder, I shake my head. “Pocket pussies are a lot less work, dude.”

“I know, but they don’t swirl their tongue like she does.”

Okay, there are just some things I never needed to know. He may be crazy about her, but I look at Mali like I look at Devin. As far as I’m concerned, they’re nuns who have pledged to stay virgins until death. Except, Mali has no filter, so it’s hard to convince myself of that most days, but I definitely don’t need details.

“I’ll be back.”

His brows furrow. “We’re not done setting up yet. Where are you going?”

“To save your sex life,” I say simply.

“Ah,” he nods. “Thanks, man. I appreciate it.”

I grab my keys off the bar and head toward the door. “Don’t thank me. Have you seen what you’re like when you’re sexually frustrated? This is for my own good. Trust me.”

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