Down and Out(94)

“You do,” Declan adds. “You’ve got claws, Kitten. Don’t be afraid to use them tonight.”
Their faith in me is reassuring, but unfortunately does nothing to calm my heart. It feels like a hummingbird caught in a tornado, and my stomach. . . Jesus, I think I might actually puke.
I try to nod in acknowledgment to their words, but I’m quickly stopped when Macy tugs my hair from her spot directly behind me. “Don’t move,” she says, like she’s scolding a child.
“Sorry,” I mumble, watching the corner of Marcus’s mouth kick up into a lopsided grin.
“You sure are bossy for such a little thing,” he says to her.
“No shit,” Declan mutters.
“Both of you can suck my dick,” she snaps.
I can’t see what Macy does next, but whatever it is makes the grin on Marcus’s face widen. “Such a lady,” he says, shaking his head.
Declan dips down and whispers in my ear, “I’ll be right back, okay?”
My legs bob on either side of the bench as nervous energy zips through me. I nod as he gives me a peck on the cheek and disappears from my line of sight.
“Aaaand we’re done.” Macy stands and hands me a little mirror. “What do you think?”
I think I look like Heidi. My hair’s braided and wrapped around my head in a decidedly milkmaid-looking style. This isn’t exactly what I had in mind when I told Macy my hair needed to be up and out of my face, but it’s cute in a bohemian kinda way. And hey, she gets points for creativity. Everyone else has their hair up in a bun or topknot.
Macy looks down at me, eagerly smiling as she waits for my answer, and I force a smile through my jumbled nerves. “I love it, thank you.” I stand and pull her in for a quick hug, but something over my shoulder catches her eye, making them widen in surprise. Before I can turn around and see what’s got her so spooked, she curses and pulls me around the corner to the next row of lockers.
“What the hell is he doing here? Omigod, omigod,” she quietly shrieks.
Oh, no, she looks like she’s about to hyperventilate. I haven’t seen her this worked up since she thought she saw Channing Tatum at the mall. “Macy, hon.” I try to calm her flapping hands as she fans her reddening face. “You know I can’t understand you when your voice gets all high and squeaky like that. Now what’s going on? Who’s here?”
“This is bad. This is so bad,” she murmurs to herself. I’m about to slap some sense into her when she finally meets my eyes and says, “I did something stupid a couple weeks ago.” Her brown eyes are pleading with me, begging me not to cast judgment on her.
“Okay,” I say carefully. “What’d you do?”
She sucks her bottom lip between her teeth before blurting out a single word: “Blake.”
“What?” I slap my hand over my mouth when it comes out louder than intended, and glance around to make sure no one’s looking at me funny. “You slept with Blake?” I hiss. “Oh my god, how? When?” My mouth drops open as it immediately occurs to me. “The night of that party! You guys had disappeared by the time Declan and I came back to say goodbye.”
“You guys were gone for like, ever,” she says in an accusatory tone, like it’s my fault they got tired of waiting and decided to pass the time by banging.
“Why are you just now telling me?” I can’t believe she sat on this for two whole weeks!
“Because it was the most humiliating thing that’s ever happened to me!”
My giddiness evaporates instantly. “It wasn’t any good?” I frown, wondering how that’s possible. I just kind of assumed that Blake’s confidence would carry over into the bedroom, like Declan’s.
Macy sighs miserably. “It was amazing.”
I blink. Then blink again. “What am I missing here, Mace?”
She groans and tugs on the roots of her curly, auburn hair. “I asked to see his penis, okay? His penis, Savannah! Who does that? And then I drunkenly told him how beautiful him and his f*cking disco stick were.” Macy places her hand over her face in disgust, and try as I might, I can’t stop the giggle-snort that bursts out of me.
“I’m sure he loved that.”
When she looks back at me, her eyes are shiny with burgeoning tears. “It was a pity f*ck. That’s all it was.”
“Oh, babe, no.” I wrap my arms around her and set my chin on her shoulder as she sniffles into mine. “I’m sure it wasn’t like that at all.”
She pulls back and wipes at her watery eyes. “If I’d known that night that you and Declan were gonna go and get serious about each other, then I never would’ve slept with his brother.”
“Sorry?” I don’t know what else to say.
Her eyes get all wide as she suddenly says, “If you two get married, I can’t come to the wedding, not if Blake’s going to be there.”
My mouth flops open as I helplessly splutter. “Whoa, calm down there. You’re getting a little ahead of yourself. We haven’t even talked about—”
“Oh, please, don’t act like you wouldn’t say yes if he asked.”
My first instinct is to laugh it off and tell her she’s being ridiculous, but before I can say a word, Declan peeks his head around the corner. “Time to sharpen your claws, Kitten. You’re up in ten.”
I thought happily-ever-afters didn’t exist in the real world, but that was before Declan came into my life and turned it upside down. Every day he shows me that happiness is real and it’s within my reach. Now I can’t imagine a life without him.