Chapter 12
Are you sure it's okay?" I asked Marv as he handed over the keys to hisBMW.
"Don't worry about it. Just go have fun with Lizzie. Keep your phone on—specifically your location tracking." He eyedme.
I rolled my eyes. "Do you really think Grayson's mother is going to assault me in public while I'm having coffee with my friend?" I asked, sarcasm practically dripping from mytone.
"No, but you can never be too careful." Marv pressed a kiss to my forehead, turning me around with his hands on my shoulders and smacked my butt to get memoving.
Shooting him a disbelieving look over my shoulder, I sighed and headed outside. The clouds overhead churned, predicting rain in the next few hours. I got in the BMW, cranked it, and watched the expression of pure horror slide over his face as I fishtailed my way out of the driveway. Chuckling and ignoring the rapid phone call that besieged my phone, I headed off. I’d send him a text later letting him know his precious baby was okay—and the car, too, ofcourse.
Lizzie's cousin lived off I-77 in North Charleston; I took the correct exit according to the GPS and headed down a smaller side road, passing several fast food restaurants and the North Charleston mall before pulling up to a small apartment complex. Lizzie, for all her excitement, was nowhere to be seen. I texted her a quick notice, letting her know that I was there and ready. Moments later, she came bounding out of one of the first floor apartments in ripped jeans and a Nirvana t-shirt, her colorful hair tucked behind pixie-likeears.
The passenger door opened, and Lizzie flung herself inside, her slender arms wrapping around my shoulders and neck with a vise-like grip as she squeezed me. "Oh my God! I haven't seen you inforever!"
I chuckled, hugging her back—albeit a bit awkwardly with her half over the console. "It's only been a month," Ireplied.
"It's been more than a month," she denied, releasing me and scooting back to her own seat as she closed the door and buckled her seatbelt. "It's been a lifetime, and as you know, I'm neverwrong."
"You're right," I said easily as I backed out and headed back for the interstate. "I've never heard a sentence come out of your mouth that wasn't brimming withtruth."
"Glad you see it my way," she said with a pseudo-haughtysniff.
"Your wayisthe right way, afterall..."
She giggled and turned in her seat. "Okay, enough pleasantries.Spill."
"I didn't bring a drink, and it's not my car. I won't be spilling anything in here," I replied with asmile.
She huffed and smacked myarm.
"Hey! I'm driving here. Driver abuse! Driverabuse!"
"You know what I meant," she snapped. "Tell me about the guys. You and Marv? Knix? Texas? Grayson?Bellamy?"
Iblushed.
"Oh. My. God!" Her squeal practically reverberated in my skull. I winced. "Sorry," she said, quickly lowering her voice. "But you have to tell me. Who have you slept with sofar?"
"They're not notches on my bedpost," I said quickly, darting a glance her way. "So,if—"
She waved her hand at me. "Oh, I know that. You—unlike some girls—actually give a shit. No need to tell me twice. I just want to know all the juicy details. Please, Harlow, I'm dying here. Let me live vicariously throughyou."
I couldn't hold back the smile that spread across my lips. Even as the corners of my mouth turned down to fight against it, she noticed almost immediately. "So tell me," she demanded, "who has pillaged yourvillage."
"Oh, my God. Please don't say it likethat."
“Put a banana in your fruitsalad?”
“What?!”
“Put stuffin’ in yourmuffin?”
I grimaced and stared at her inhorror.
She wiggled her eyebrows. “Plowed yourfield?”
“Stop, please, God,stop!”