Page 10 of The C*ck Down the Block

Chris finally dropped the first bombshell. “Okay, don’t look now, but reality baking show contestant number one is in passing range now.”

“What? How am I supposed to not look, and also look where?” I asked, my eyebrows almost disappearing into my hairline.

Chris leaned in closer. “You’re never gonna guess who’s been invited to the celebrity edition.”

“Wait, celeb edition? That means it’s not necessarily someone who can bake. Who? Tell me, tell me.” I was dying to know. Chris always had the best gossip.

“Johnston,” he whispered, looking like he’d won the lottery.

“No way,” I squealed, barely suppressing my laughter. “He can’t even toast bread without setting his kitchen on fire. This is going to be a disaster. A beautiful, must-watch disaster.”

Chris laughed. “Exactly. Can’t wait to see him trying to bake a cake while singing and juggling. The show’s ratings are about to go through the roof.”

We dissolved into laughter, letting the night unfold around us, a whirl of glitz and glamour, star athletes and celebs. I had way too much fun.

Which is why I woke up the next morning with a hangover and my ears ringing. No wait, that was my phone. “Lo?”

“Somebody had too much fun last night.” Lulu was definitely laughing at me.

I did not have a proper response for that. “Nergh.”

“And I’m going to say that’s why you’re late.” She didn’t sound quite as jokey now.

I pulled the blanket up over my head to block the light. “I don’t work today.”

“No, but you did say you’d be my wingman for the reunion planning committee.”

Oh no. I had promised Lulu, or rather been coerced into agreeing to help, with our ten-year reunion. I hadn’t spoken to anyone else we went to high school with pretty much since graduation. I wasn’t sad to leave the mean girls behind.

But Lu had convinced me that this reunion was just as much ours as it was theirs. Plus, there was the charity fundraiser each class did every summer. I was hoping to help the school restock the library with some material newer than 1955. Being late for the first meeting wasn’t going to help my cause.

Especially if Rachel was on the committee too, and unless she’d moved to Inner Mongolia, she would be.

I stumbled into the meeting, still half asleep and completely unprepared for the icy reception that awaited me. It wasn’t like the girls from my high school days had exactly been warm and welcoming, but I wasn’t expecting them to go full Mean Girls 2.0 either.

“Ah, there’s our late celebrity,” Amanda, captain of the golf team and perpetual thorn in my side ten years ago, cooed from her spot next to Rachel at the head of the table. Rachel just stared at me with one eyebrow raised.

The two of them hadn’t changed a bit. Their platinum blonde hairdos were perfectly styled, Rachel’s in soft waves that would make a mermaid jealous and Amanda in that same ponytail she’d worn ten years ago.

And dammit, if they didn’t still wear those smug smiles that were just as irritating as ever.A chorus of snickers echoed around the room as I took the empty chair beside Lulu.

“Sorry, I’m late,” I mumbled, trying to ignore the new pulse of my headache.

Interestingly, Queen Bee number three wasn’t here. Maybe Lacey had committed some heinous crime like being nice to someone and had been told she couldn’t sit with the cool girls anymore.

“We’re going over the budget. We want to make sure our class has the greatest fundraiser St. Ambrose has ever seen,” Rachel replied with an exaggerated sweetness that gave me a sour taste in the back of my mouth. She’d picked on me enough in high school that I recognized that tone. She was about to say or do something downright mean.

Great. This was why I didn’t want to do this. I was a full-grown adult now. I didn’t care what Rachel, Amanda, or anyone else I went to high school with thought about me anymore. I was good, great, with who I’d become.

This was precisely the type of petty high school drama I had hoped to avoid. But it was too late to back out now. I’d promised Lulu I’d be here, and I was determined not to let the queen bees rattle me.

If some of my classmates hadn’t grown, that wasn’t my problem. Now that I had that mental armor on, I could handle whatever she was about to throw at me.

“You’re our secret weapon, Bea,” Rachel continued, her lips curling into a smirk. “We’ve been inspired to have a bachelor auction for our fundraiser, and it’s all thanks to you.”

Before I could respond, Amanda reached into her bag and produced a copy of the morning newspaper. With a triumphant flourish, she slapped it onto the table. There, on the front page, was a picture of Chris and me on the red carpet from last night, looking entirely too cozy for just friends.

“That’s how you ended up with Denver’s most eligible bachelor at the event of the season last night, isn’t it? You won him or... something?” Rachel’s gaze locked onto mine, her smile predatory. She was not just implying I’d paid for a night out with Chris. “I’m sure you can give me his contact info, unless he dined and dashed away from your little date.”

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