Chosen at Nightfall (Shadow Falls #5)(48)

"They're not that small," Miranda said, and gave Della a good hard look.

"Turn around!" Della growled, and used one hand and arm to cover her breasts and the other to cover her pubic hair.

"No so fast," Miranda said, and pointed a finger at her. "First you got some explaining to do, girlie!"

"Girlie? I'm not anyone's girlie. And explain what?" she asked, but she was grinning, obviously asglad to see them as they were to see her.

"It's not your little tits you should be hiding. It's that hickey below your shoulder."

Della shifted her hand up from her boobs and hid the mark right below her neck.

"It's not a hickey." Swinging around, she reached for the robe on the bed and slipped her hands in.

"Really?" Miranda asked.

"It looked like a hickey." Kylie giggled, just so darn happy that the three of them were back together again. She didn't even care if they started bickering, or threatening to rip off each other's limbs. Just being here around these two ... it was what home was supposed to feel like.

"When it looks like a hickey, and smells like a hickey, it's a hickey," Miranda demanded.

"Hickeys don't smell," Della snapped.

"You know what I mean. Besides, I know a hickey when I see a hickey." She pulled her shirt down to expose a rose-colored mark above her right breast.

Kylie laughed and then sighed. "I swear, you two are such bad examples for me. I'm not sure I can stay in the same cabin with you. You two might taint my reputation."

"Oh, please," Della said. "You've had more action than a wind-up doll on speed since you've been here."

"I have not," Kylie said.

"You've made out with three different guys since you've been at Shadow Falls."

"Three? I have not."

"You're forgetting Trey came here."

"Oh, hell, Trey doesn't count. Besides, I've never even had a hickey."

"Oh, you poor thing," Della said. "Did you know you can give yourself one with a vacuum cleaner? I gave myself my first hickey in sixth grade and told everyone an eighth grader gave it to me. It was a doozy, too."

Kylie rolled her eyes. "I can't believe you made out with a vacuum cleaner."

"Yeah, and it was better at it than my first boyfriend. He was totally hickey impaired."

Kylie and Miranda started laughing. Then Della got somber. "Gawd, it's so good to be back!" She jumped on her bed and bounced twice. Then Miranda and Kylie both dove onto the bed with her.

"So you aren't going to explain the hickey?" Miranda asked, and snatched one of Della's pillows and hugged it.

"Nope," Della said. "No hickey talk."

"At the very least tell us who gave you the hickey?" Miranda insisted.

"Okay. I'll tell you." She stopped smiling and cleared her throat. "I ran into my old vacuum cleaner.

And we took a trip down memory lane. It was so romantic," Della said, and grinned.

That grin didn't fool Kylie. She saw something in Della's eyes. A glimmer of pain. Della really didn't want to talk about this.

"Was the vacuum cleaner named Steve?" Miranda asked.

Della frowned. "Forget the hickey."

"But that's not fair, we tell each other everything," Miranda said.

"It's okay," Kylie said, enjoying the easy banter and not wanting to lose it just yet. "How about let's talk about me seeing Perry's ass?"

"You said you didn't see his ass," Miranda said."Wait. What?" Della asked, and stared at Kylie. "You saw Perry's ass?"

"Just a quick glimpse," Kylie said. "But I think everyone else got a really good long look."

"Of Perry's ass?" Della asked.

Miranda nodded and then told the story about how heroic Perry had been coming to Kylie's aid by dropping his drawers.

Della smiled ear to ear. "I knew I liked that shape-shifter."

"He is sweet, isn't he?" Miranda sighed and got that droopy-eyed look.

"So what's up with you?" Della asked Kylie. "Have you kicked Lucas's ass and decided to forgive him yet? He looks like a puppy who lost his only chew toy."

Kylie frowned. "Let's not talk about that."

Miranda bounced up and down on her butt. "You should have been at dinner. Derek and Lucas both sat with her. I swear, I thought they were going to go to fist city. And then Lucas told Kylie he loved her, right in front of everyone. It was sooo romantic."

Kylie's chest grew heavy. "It wasn't romantic. It was ... It was sad."

"Sad pretty much describes him when you left," said Miranda. "It was as if someone had reached in and yanked out his joy."

"I don't want to talk about this," Kylie said.

"So you're still mad at him?" Della asked. "I don't blame you."

Kylie cut Della a stern look. "Hey ... I respected your wishes not to talk about the hickey. Now you should respect mine."

Miranda dropped down on her belly and grunted. "This isn't fair. I tell you guys everything. I don't hold anything back."