Chapter 5
Chapter Five
I’ve never been more thankful that I always travel with a small vibrator disguised to look like lipstick.
I wore that damn battery out before being forced to switch to my fingers. Harlow left me in that pantry an uncomfortably wet mess. I couldn’t lock myself in my bedroom fast enough.
Part of me is mortified at how desperately I wanted her to take me right then and there with my family in the next room, but the other half of me finds it kind of hot.
The danger—the risk—in possibly being caught at any second is something I never thought I’d be into, but I guess Harlow is introducing me to many things I never knew I’d like before.
I sigh, annoyed all over again. That asshole. She tortured me as payback? Well, now I’m pissed at her. Ugh, it’s a damn shame I’ll never see her again. With our combined attitudes, we could have so much fun together.
Now, it’s two days later, and I’m sitting in the living room watching a movie with my family when I get a text from my best friend Em.
Em:
The hell, dude?! You’re in town for days and we still haven’t hung out?? I’m beginning to question this friendship.
I smile while I text back.
Lily:
Stop being so dramatic. I’m free tonight.
Em:
Perfect! We’re going to GAYme night.
Lily:
Excuse me
Lily:
What??
Em:
Game night but for gays. You’ll love it. I’m picking you up at six.
I snort, but also—since when are there enough gays in Blue Skies to hold a dedicated gayme night?
Em, Case, and I were the only queer kids here when I was growing up.
And this is a very small town, I’d know if there were more.
But I guess with how rarely I visit Michigan, I’m not as tapped into things as I once was.
“I can’t wait for you to meet Naomi,” Em says after pulling out of my driveway.
She taps against the steering wheel anxiously.
Her sides are freshly shaven and her bounce of brown curls on top is perfectly tousled in a way that’s supposed to look effortless but is painstakingly curated.
She came inside to say hi to my family, who were all overjoyed to see her.
Mom even prepared a plate of cookies for us to bring to game night.
“I’m excited,” I say. Em has texted me nonstop about this new girl she’s crushing on. I can’t lie, I’ve been itching to meet the person who has my fuck boi best friend wanting to settle down. “She sounds amazing.”
“She is! She’s so smart and funny and gorgeous.”
I smile, loving seeing Em smitten.
“Brandon—a nurse I work with—invited me to play some board games with his husband and some friends after work. They were trying to make it a recurring thing but were struggling with people flaking out.”
“Of course they were,” I tease. “It’s a weekly game night. Nerds.”
Em rolls her eyes. She knows I’m only joking. I will fuck a bitch up in Settlers of Catan.
“And, yeah, man.” Em scratches the back of her neck nervously. “We just hit it off. It was this like instant connection that felt more than physical—I mean, obviously it was physical too.”
I laugh. “Obviously.”
It snowed heavily all afternoon. The sight of snowcapped trees has me leaning forward against the chilly glass, my head tipped slightly to the side.
I hated childhoods freezing my ass off in sub-zero temps, but I’ve always appreciated when a fresh powder leaves my home looking like it belongs in a Hallmark holiday movie.
Em pulls into a driveway. “I think you’re going to love her. And oh! There’s someone else coming tonight that I really think you’ll hit it off with.”
“Yeah?”
Despite all my self-care, I’m still painfully unsatisfied and could use a good night with someone beautiful and fun. Recently, Harlow’s been the star of all my inappropriate dreams. I need to sleep with someone new and put her behind me.
“I met her last week. She’s hot and nice and the only other person I’ve met who loves traveling as much as you,” Em says while I follow her up the driveway to the front door, adjusting my coat tighter around my body to block out the bite in the air.
She adjusts the plate of cookies in her hands to knock.
“I can take those,” I offer.
She waves me off. “Before she moved here, she was living in her van for like ever, traveling across the country. How sick is that?”
I frown. This mystery woman is setting off some alarm bells, but … no. No way. There’s no chance the girl Em is talking about is—
“Hey!” Em smiles at the woman who opens the front door.
Harlow grins. “Hey, Em …” Her voice trails off as she notices me. She stares in disbelieving shock, and shit. What are the chances this would happen to us … twice?
Fucking small towns.
“This is my best friend, Lily,” Em introduces. “Lily, this is—”
“Harlow.” I smirk. “We’ve met.”
“You have?” Em’s gaze ping pongs between us.
Warmth rises in my cheeks as I meet Harlow’s stare. Memories of her touch on my skin, the way she lit a fire inside me, and how achingly horny I’ve been since our last encounter. One I intend to get a little revenge for now that I have the chance.
“Her mom’s been helping me at the shop,” Harlow explains. “And I spent Christmas with them.”
“Mrs. Lewis?” Em’s face lights up. “Oh, you’re in amazing hands. She’s brilliant.”
“She is,” Harlow and I say in unison.
Harlow blushes, but I only smile proudly. My mom’s a badass, and I love when her intelligence and expertise get recognized.
“Em, is that you?” A voice calls from inside the house.
Em lights up at the sound. Harlow steps back, and Em rushes inside to greet the woman she’s crushing on with an affectionate kiss.
“You look cute,” I whisper to Harlow because she really does. She’s wearing a soft gray sweater, black jeans, and fuzzy green socks with little elves on them. They’re so unexpected for her super serious personality. I can’t help but smile at how adorable she is … even if I’m still pissed at her.
“Thank you.” She quickly checks me out, her gaze catching on my chest. I didn’t know she’d be here, but my oversized tan sweater with a deep V-cut is the perfect cozy but sensual look.
The tips of Harlow’s ears turn crimson, and I promise not every outfit I own shows off my tits, but they are one of my best features, so don’t mind me flaunting them.
“You look …”
“I know.” I skip past her but still catch the heated smirk she gives me. I’d bet anything that Harlow loves when I’m cocky, because it makes it all the more rewarding when she humbles me.
Not that she will do the humbling tonight.
I add a little sway to my hips as I walk further into the living room.
The space is small but cozy with mismatched furniture and a coffee table overflowing with board games.
There’s a nice smelling white cocoa candle burning.
A short Christmas tree is in the corner.
Colorful-blinking lights wrapped around a bookshelf against the back wall with a couple old DVDs on the top shelf.
My gaze snags on 10 Things I Hate About You, and my breath catches in my throat.
I blink, and I can see us curled up under my hot pink chunky knit blanket.
We watched that movie at least fifty times—much to Landon’s exasperation since we hogged the living room TV.
My heart aches at the memory, but I’m pulled from my thoughts when a small white cat with black spots scampers out from behind the love seat and darts through a cracked door into a dark bedroom.
“That was Willow, ignore her,” a short Black woman with bright brown eyes and a cute, teasing smile says as she finally resurfaces from Em’s mouth. “Lord knows she’s going to ignore us.”
“Naomi, this is Lily,” Em introduces, arm still wrapped around Naomi’s waist. “Lily, Naomi.”
“Lily!” Naomi pulls out of Em’s embrace and throws her arms open wide. “I am so glad I get to finally meet you! Emily talks about you all the time.”
I hug her back, my mind finally regaining its composure, and laugh. “Don’t believe a thing she’s said about me.”
Naomi chuckles. “But it’s only been good things.”
I give her a questioning look, and she cracks, a loud knowing laugh escaping her. I smile. “That’s what I thought.”
“We brought cookies!” Em holds up the plate Mom made for us. “Lily’s family bakes like five hundred cookies every Christmas Eve, and I stuff my face with the leftovers for days.”
Harlow and I share a look. She took home a gallon-sized Tupperware of cookies herself. I wonder if she thinks about me every time she eats one. Then I wonder why I care if she does.
“You definitely didn’t need to bring anything, but I won’t turn these down.
” Naomi chuckles. She takes the plate to her kitchen and returns with a charcuterie board for us to snack on.
Pizza will be ready in twenty minutes, and, gah, do I not miss living in a town where delivery isn’t a readily available option.
Naomi suggests we play something called Night Werewolf—I think she said?—because it’s fast.
“It’s easy,” Em says. “We can teach you how to play in like thirty seconds.”
She wasn’t kidding that the basic game play of One Night Ultimate Werewolf isn’t complicated, but it takes longer than thirty seconds. Mostly because I have a lot of questions as I think through my strategy.
Basically, there’s two teams: The two werewolves make up a team, and everyone else is a villager.
Everyone gets a character card that they keep secret, and there are three extra cards that sit in the middle of the table.
At the start, everyone closes their eyes, and that’s when things get interesting.
The two werewolves “wake up” and get to see who the other is.
Then there’s three roles that get to do cool shit.
The Seer can look at one person’s card or two of the middle cards.
The Robber steals the identity of someone else and gets to take a peek at the new card they robbed.
Then the Troublemaker switches two people’s cards without looking at them—so messy.