Rival (29 page)

I shook my head, tears pooling in my eyes and teeth cementing together.

Tate. Jared. Fallon. Madoc.

All wild.

Jaxon Trent. Wild.

The silent tears dropped, but I stayed quiet.

“K.C.?” Tate prompted when I said nothing. “The world has plans for you, whether you’re ready or not. You can either be a driver
or a passenger. Now, get yourself a hot bikini for the camping trip. Got it?”

I swallowed the Brillo Pad lodged in my throat and nodded. “Got it.”

“Now, go open the top drawer of my dresser. I left two presents in there when I was home this past weekend.”

My eyebrows pinched together as I walked. “You were just home?”

I wished I hadn’t missed her. We hadn’t seen each other in about a year and a half.

“Well, I wanted to make sure it was clean,” she answered as I headed to the opposite wall to her dresser, “and that you had food. I’m sorry I couldn’t stay to greet you, though.”

Yanking open the drawer, I immediately froze. My breathing halted, and my eyes went round.

“Tate?” My voice squeaked like a mouse’s.

“You like?” she taunted, the smirk on her face evident through the phone.

I reached in with a shaky hand and took out the purple “Jack Rabbit” vibrator still in its clear plastic packaging.

Oh, my God.

“It’s huge!” I burst out, dropping both the phone and the vibrator. “Shit!”

Scrambling, I snatched the phone off the rug and hugged myself as I laughed. “You’re crazy. You know that?”

The delighted sound of her laughter filled my ears, and I had gone from tears to laughter in no time.

There was a time when I was more experienced than Tate. Who knew she’d be buying me my first vibrator?

“I have one just like it,” she told me. “It’s getting me through Jared’s absence. And the iPod has angry rock music,” she pointed out.

Oh, that’s right
. I peered into the drawer again, seeing the iTouch already opened with earbuds wrapped around it. She must’ve already loaded music onto it.

“It will help you forget that asshole.” She was talking about Liam, and I realized that I’d barely thought of my skeezer ex-boyfriend.

“Maybe it will help me forget K. C. Carter,” I teased.

Bending down, I picked up the vibrator and kind of started to wonder what kind of batteries it took. “Thank you, Tate.” I hoped my voice sounded genuine. “If nothing else, I already feel better.”

“Use them both,” she ordered. “Today. Also, use the word motherfucker at some point. You’ll feel a lot better. Trust me.”

And then she hung up without a good-bye.

I stared at the phone, confusion shredding my smile.

I’ve said motherfucker. Just never out loud.

Copyright © Justin Courtney

PENELOPE DOUGLAS
is the author of the
New York Times
bestsellers
Bully
and
Until You
. Born in Dubuque, Iowa, she earned a bachelor’s degree in public administration and then a master’s of education at Loyola University in New Orleans before becoming a teacher. She now writes full-time and lives in Las Vegas with her husband and their daughter.