27. Chapter 26
Arianna
“Bitch, I’m so glad you’re back. I was worried we wouldn’t have time for a back to school shopping trip.” Leyla smiled at me as she whipped the car into the mall parking lot.
Leyla drove like she was running late for a date with death and I was honestly surprised her family let her drive anywhere. Though, they couldn’t really stop her. My bestie did whatever the fuck she wanted, whenever the fuck she wanted.
I smiled as we stepped out of the car, ready for some retail therapy. “No one is happier about me being back than me.”
Even though I’d done as Tucker said and hadn’t gotten myself off last night, he still hadn’t touched me. After supper we went to bed and… slept. It was anticlimatic as fuck and my ovaries were bluer than my husbands gorgeous eyes.
“I figured you and Tuck would be so loved up right now that you’d refuse to leave his side.
But I’m actually kinda glad he hasn’t gotten you dickmatized.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, I want my BBF sexually satisfied, I just wish it wasn’t with my brother.
” She gagged, but kept going, like she’d saved all her talking this summer for when I got back.
“I want to hear all about the honeymoon, other than the dicking down, but not until I’ve caught you up. ”
We walked into the building and out of the oppressive humidity. “Shawna has gone on a campaign to ruin Bradley’s life. Social media has been blowing up with all the hate he’s getting now because of the STI he gave her.”
I chuckled. “But he didn’t give her an STI.”
Leyla just shrugged. “The world thinks otherwise. I mean, part of me thought she’d drop the whole thing once she realized she just had poison ivy, but I didn’t care because the damage would already be done. Now, though, it seems like she’s doubled down.”
That was odd. Why would she double down on something she knew was a lie?
“Part of me worried that if people thought Bradley had an STI, they’d wonder if I did. But Jack’s been texting and we went out on a date a couple nights ago.”
“How did I not know about this already?” I’d been gone a lot this summer, and out of the country for my honeymoon, but that hadn’t stopped her from texting me many times.
She just waved me off as we headed into the first store. “You were busy having to act like a grieving daughter. And besides, it probably won’t go anywhere other than bed so I didn’t think it was that big of a deal.”
I wasn’t buying it. “You always kiss and tell, Ley, so that normally wouldn’t stop you.”
Leyla rolled her eyes as she picked up a mint green crop top with puffed short sleeves and studied it like it held the answers to the universe.
“It’s not like I wasn’t going to tell you.
I told you now, afterall. And there’s nothing really to tell because even though we went on a date, he just gave me a peck of a kiss when he dropped me off at home. ”
Jack had a reputation of being a womanizer, so if he didn’t try to get in her pants, then maybe he didn’t like her? Or maybe he wanted more than a quick fuck.
Before I could voice my thoughts on the matter, we were interrupted.
“Leyla.” Shawna approached cautiously, and I really couldn’t blame her.
My bestie was a loose cannon at the best of times, and being her ride or die, I wouldn’t hesitate to jump into the fray if need be. “Can we talk for a minute?”
Leyla laid the shirt she was staring at over her arm and turned to the next rack, looking through the ripped jeans, ignoring the girl that sounded a little desperate.
“I swear, I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
I saw Leyla stiffen, a subtle sign I was sure Shawna hadn’t picked up on, but one that worried me we’d be getting kicked out of and banned from our favorite store in the mall.
My best friend turned around slowly, fire in her eyes when they met Shawna.
“You didn’t mean for what to happen? You didn’t mean to go on a date with my boyfriend?
You didn’t mean to slip and land on his dick?
Or you didn’t mean to give him an STI in the process? ”
Shawna’s eyes widened, but her nostrils flared showing she was angry, even if she wouldn’t act on that anger. She was already walking on eggshells with the Queen Bee of Crestwood Prep. “I did not give him an STI. It was the other way around.”
Leyla raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest. “Was it? Because that’s not what I’m hearing. I mean, after all, he didn’t have an STI the last time we fucked, so when did he pick it up if not from you?”
Shawna’s shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry, Leyla. I never would have gone on a date with him or slept with him if I’d known the two of you were still together. He said you guys had broken up, and you hadn’t posted anything with him in a few weeks, so I thought it was true.”
Bradley was pretty slimy, so it didn’t surprise me.
Leyla eyed the girl up and down, her tongue running across her teeth as she thought. “You didn’t think you should verify that with me before the date?”
Even I knew my bestie was being ridiculous at this point, but no matter if she was in the wrong, I’d have her back. Because that’s what ride or die meant. Something my husband needed to learn.
Shawna’s brows furrowed. “You’ve never liked me so I didn’t think reaching out and possibly rubbing salt in the wound would help. But I swear, Leyla, I wouldn’t move in on another girl's man. I’m not that kind of person.”
“Is that why you’ve kept up the ruse that he gave you an STI even after you found out what it was?
” The look on Shawna’s face as she realized the Queen Bee was why she’d gotten poison ivy was priceless.
“Tell you what, you keep up the campaign to ruin Bradley, and stay away from any guy I may be interested in, and I’ll forgive you. ”
Shawna spluttered. “Am I just not supposed to date my senior year? What about homecoming and prom?”
Leyla picked up another top and started looking over it intently. “I’ll give you Andrew.” Her eyes tipped up to the ceiling as she thought. “Theodore as well. They’re not really my type.”
There were plenty of guys Leyla would never go for at our school, but this was as much a power play as anything.
The poor girl turned to walk away, but of course, my bestie wasn’t finished.
“Cross me again, and I’ll make sure the truth comes out.
Having poison ivy on your pussy plays as cheap and desperate, willing to get fucked anywhere and not worthy of even a car to do it in.
Then, smearing poor Bradley’s name through the mud? ” Leyla smirked. “You’d be ruined.”
We spent the next couple of hours shopping, buying more clothes than we could probably wear in the next few months, but releasing our stress into the swipes of our cards.
Christian was an absolute sweetheart carrying all of our bags for us.
I was pretty sure it might hinder him from doing his job of protecting me if shit hit the fan, but since we were in Crestwood, I wasn’t too concerned.
“Snack time?” I was hungry and desperately wanted some cinnamon pretzels with icing before hitting the lingerie store. If my husband was going to hold out on me, I was going to make him just as miserable.
“Hell yeah.”
We hadn’t been sitting for long when Jack appeared, taking the seat next to Leyla.
“Hey, baby girl.” Leyla sucked her bottom lip between her teeth while grinning at him through her eyelashes.
“I’m so glad I ran into you. Benton’s having a bonfire by the lake tomorrow night and I was wondering if you’d be my date. ”
The back to school bonfire was always a big deal, and Leyla and I had gone each year since I’d moved here. This year would be different since I was married, but since I’d never used it as an excuse to get laid and make bad decisions, it probably wouldn’t be too different.
Her smile grew as she dipped a pretzel bite in icing. “Sounds good.”
Jack’s eyes flicked from hers, to her lips, to the snack in her hands, before he leaned down and took a bite, making sure to lick her finger in the process. When he pulled back, that smirk on his face was bigger than usual as he licked his lips and stood up. “Pick you up at eight.”
We waited until he was out of earshot before either one of us spoke. “Damn.” I don’t know how she wasn’t a puddle because I was wet as fuck from that exchange, and it hadn’t even happened to me.
I really needed to get laid.
“I think I definitely need some new lingerie for tomorrow night.” I nodded, completely agreeing that she did because there was no way after that interaction that he wasn’t interested in fucking her.