A Perfect Ten (Forbidden Men #5)(25)

“But, he’s not—”

“Zoey, please.”

She sighed. “Okay...fine. Quinn can stay home.”

I fisted my hand and pumped the air. Yes! I so rule. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! Pick me up at my place, bye.”

After rushing the last few words, I hung up before she could come up with a way to back out. Zoey hated doing anything without Quinn. But I wasn’t about to let that stop her.

Half an hour later, the headlights of her car blared through the front window and swung across the walls of the living room when she pulled into the drive. I popped up from the couch where Colton had been cuddling with me, watching Goonies.

“There’s Zoey. I gotta go. See you guys tomorrow.”

Aspen lifted her face from her laptop, where she was probably still nitpicking and perfecting her already flawless resume to death. Sitting cross-legged in a side chair, she wore one of Noel’s old T-shirts and a frayed pair of shorts.

“Oh!” Surprise lit her voice as she took in my outfit. “You’re going out?” After sending Colton a reassuring smile, as if to let him know she was still here for him, she returned her attention to me. “Have fun.”

Thank God she was so much less inquisitive than Noel. She didn’t ask where I was going, who would be there, what I’d be doing, or when I’d be home. It was nice to know someone in this household could treat me like a quasi-adult and gave me a little trust.

I hopped over Brandt who was sprawled in a beanbag on the floor, where he was watching the movie. I even managed to evade his foot when he purposely kicked out his leg to trip me.

Once outside, I paused to draw in a deep breath. Was I really going to do this? Just...hang out and stalk some guy I liked? That sounded really lame and desperate. But honestly, I didn’t think much else could top my rating on the crazy scale after what I’d done last night. And the more I kept thinking about all the skanky, half-dressed sluts who’d be crawling all over the bar, trying to flirt with him, the more I just couldn’t stay at home, watching eighties movies with my sister-in-law and younger brothers.

Nodding my head with reaffirmed purpose, I strode to the car waiting on me. I really loved Zoey’s car. It was one of those nice, clean, pristine new luxury sedans. She came from money, but you couldn’t tell unless you caught sight of what she drove. I wished I had a car. I actually had some money to get one, but Noel had convinced me to only buy meaningful things with that money...like college tuition. And since he’d finally been able to get himself a rattletrap truck, meaning we had two vehicles in the household—his and Aspen’s—I usually didn’t need my own automobile.

Zoey was clicking through channels on the radio when I opened the passenger side door. She looked up as I slid in and pulled on my seat belt.

“Hi.” Her voice was too cheerful, her smile too bright. It all felt like one big, guilt-ridden inquisition. I just couldn’t take the pressure.

So I blurted, “I had sex with Oren last night,” in one, long, massive, run-on breath, only to moan in misery and slink lower in my seat as I clapped my hands to my head in defeat.

Forget Chinese water torture and thumbscrews; just have one innocent best friend smile at me, and I was spilling everything.

Damn, she was good.

But, oh, was it a relief to finally confide in someone.

“Umm...” Zoey wrapped both hands around the steering wheel as if she needed to hold on to something stable to brace herself. “If that’s code for something else, I don’t...I don’t understand.”

Glancing around to make sure no one was listening in, even though we were sitting alone in a closed car in the dark—hey, she might’ve stashed Quinn in the backseat—I leaned over the center console and confessed, “That wasn’t code. For anything. I truly, honestly had sex with him. Last night.”

“But that doesn’t...” She shook her head. “Wait. What?” Her eyes flew open wide and she slapped both hands over her mouth. “You mean, you’re Midnight Visitor?”

“Who?”

“Quinn told me... Oh good Lord, Caroline. Please don’t tell me you snuck into his room last night in the dark and...and...well, without him even knowing it was you. Did you?”

“I snuck into his dark room without him knowing it was me and had sex with him last night...twice. Well, twice for him. Four boom-booms for me.”

Zoey sucked in a breath and clutched her hands to her chest. “Holy shit,” she said, a girl who’d probably only spoken three curse words aloud in her entire life. “Oh God. Why did you tell me this?” she began in a chanting kind of voice as she spoke more to herself than to me. “You shouldn’t have told me this. I should not know this.”

“I had to tell someone,” I argued. “Because, wow, my mind is completely blown right now. It was good. Oh my God, it was sooo good, Zoey. Like...I want to build a room inside my panties and force him to live there permanently kind of good. No way in hell can I keep this to myself. And you’re my best friend. Who else could I tell?”

“But he’s my roommate,” she cried. “And Quinn’s—oh, no. Quinn. I can’t keep this from Quinn.”

“Uh, yes, you can. No way can Quinn know about this. He’ll tell Oren, or worse...Noel.”

“Noel,” Zoey gasped. “Holy shit. If Noel found out—”