Perfectly Toxic (The Sterling Shore Series Book 9) (22 page)

Chapter 43

BELLA

I look at my phone, and I pull up the text box for Ethan as I quickly finish putting my clothes back on. Why hasn’t he sent a text back? He begged for that damn picture, and I don’t get anything in return?

As I grab my purse, I continue studying my phone.

Confused, I notice that the picture isn’t in our message box. Backing out that box, I look at my messages, because I know I sent it.

Then… Then I turn a ghostly shade of white, because I
did
send it; I just didn’t send it to Ethan.
Asshole
and
Allie’s Baby Daddy
are too close together apparently, because somehow I sent that to Wren.

No. No. No! Oh no. Oh shit!

Dropping my keys and purse to the ground, I dial Allie immediately.

“You had so better not be backing out on tonight.”

“Allie, I really fucked up.”

“Did you use aftershave after the waxing again?” she muses. “I’ve never heard anyone else scream like that in real life.”

“Worse. I think I sent Wren a picture meant for Ethan. You have to get his phone and delete it before he sees it!”

“What kind of picture?” she asks too casually.

“What kind of picture would have me freaking out?” I shout too loudly, verging on hysterical as I pull the phone back and look at the picture closely.

Thank the heavens you can’t see my nipples through that lace. That would have just sent me on to the grave. And my vagina is pretty well covered. Again, I’m thankful for that.

When you feel gratitude because your nipples and vagina are covered in a picture you accidentally sent your best friend’s fiancé, you start questioning your life choices.

She bursts out laughing like she’s just understood what I’ve been saying, and I groan while putting the phone back to my ear. “Allie, damn it. Get his phone and delete it.”

“I can’t. His phone is with him at Ethan’s house. The guys are doing poker night.”

Oh no. How could I possibly forget he’d be there? I knew poker night was going on.

“Damn it, Allie. Go get his—”

“Hang on. Wren just forwarded something to me and sent a text.”

Oh no…

Silence becomes deafening, but I miss silence when Allie suddenly loses it, laughing so hard she can’t catch her breath. She even does that weird donkey laugh thing that embarrasses the hell out of her.

“He already got it,” she says between her cackles.

“No! Make him unsee it!”

“How can I make him unsee it? Oh! That’s what he forwarded. Damn! You look really hot in this picture. Are you working out or something?”

“Damn it, Allie, this is not the time to be cute. Make it go away, please.”

She’s still laughing, and I clutch my aching head. Damn it.

“I think he was worried I’d be upset if he didn’t send it to me or let me know he got that by mistake. Aww,” Allie says, still chuckling.

“How fucking awesome of him,” I say dryly, which only prompts her to laugh harder.

“Fucking eh. I don’t ever want to talk to you again.”

“You love me and you know it,” she croons, mocking me with her tone.

“I hate your fiancé.”

Bananas runs by me, and I curse as she rubs against me. I still haven’t come to terms with my new pet. Not to mention the fact that she’s freaking evil.

Twice I woke up to her farting in my face. Yes, that’s right. The cat farts like a full-grown man who just finished off a plate of refried beans. Three times she’s attacked my hands when I was trying to shift in the bed. And she has chewed through the charging cord on my Magic Wand—that almost tempted me to see if cats really do have nine lives.

“I think he’s more embarrassed from this experience than you,” Allie says, reminding me she’s on the phone while I side-step the damn cat.

“That doesn’t make me feel better.”

She dissolves into a fit of giggles again, and I stop myself from running a hand over my face, since I spent forever on my makeup.

“At least you don’t have to see him any time soon,” she adds, slowly letting her laughter taper off.

“Really?” I groan. “He immediately shows you my mostly naked picture, but he doesn’t tell you the guys are crashing our girls’ night tonight?”

“What?” she asks, biting back more laughter. “No. He didn’t tell me.”

“Apparently Maverick wants to go. I assume it’s because he thinks it’ll be an awesome new hunting ground.”

“But it’s a gay bar,” she says slowly.

“I know that. You know that. Apparently the guys
don’t
know that.”

A small smile curves my lips.

“And you didn’t tell them?” she asks.

“I think it’s best if they learn their lesson about crashing a girls’ night.”

This time when she laughs, I laugh with her. It’s going to be an interesting night. Maybe the shock will help keep Wren from embarrassing the hell out of me.

“I’m on my way to pick you up,” I tell Allie as I grab my forgotten things from the floor.

“I’m ready and waiting. Well, not as ready and waiting as you were in that picture, but you get the idea.”

“Bye,” I say before hanging up, completely ignoring her little barb.

Deciding I should let Ethan know about the picture-gate scandal, I quickly type out a message.

ME: You’ll never believe this, but I sort of accidentally sent Wren that pic of me, and he’s already seen it.

ETHAN: I know.

Ah shit. Why does it sound like he’s mad? Surely he’s not mad at me.

ME: You still crashing girls’ night?

ETHAN: Yeah. And fucking you in the bathroom.

Well, it’s not romantic, but it is Ethan, and he sounds more turned on than pissed. Now I’m a little excited to be seeing him.

Who am I kidding? I was sadly already excited to see him, because I’m pathetic like that.

ETHAN: Never send anymore pictures. I’ll take my own from now on.

ME: I’m good with that idea.

Obviously he doesn’t trust me to never send another dirty pic to someone else. At least it was Wren instead of Maverick… Silver lining, right?

Yeah, no. It still sucks.

Chapter 44

ETHAN

Maverick is the first through the doors, and we all follow him until we almost run him over. My eyes dart around, looking for Bella. But I notice the fact all the men are holding each other tight, and so are all the women…

It’d be too easy to laugh right now, knowing that Maverick is about to release a litany of curses, considering he had one thing on his mind when he came here. Unless he suddenly swaps sides, he’s going home solo tonight.

“Son of a motherfucking bitch!” Maverick groans, running his hand over his face, coming to the same conclusion I already have.

“Heh, have fun catching fish tonight,” Kode says, smirking as he shoulders by us and heads toward the back.

“Damn it,” Maverick grumbles as we all follow Kode and his Tria-seeking radar.

Just as Kode moves right, my eyes shift left as if I have no control, and my gaze settles on a smirking Bella who is beside Raya and waving a few fingers at me. I detach from the group, and Kade Colton follows me, reaching Raya first, who seems surprised that we’re here.

“You guys just can’t let us have a girls’ night, can you?” Raya asks as I reach Bella, but Raya doesn’t act like she’s the least bit upset when Kade starts kissing her, pushing her toward the back.

Bella starts to speak, but I’m tugging her to me and kissing her before she can. It feels like it’s been a lot longer than it has been since she was with me last. She doesn’t complain about my greeting.

Her fingers thread through my hair, and she pulls me in close as her body melds to mine.

“Hi,” I say when I finally break apart from her lips.

“Huh?” she asks, dazed as her eyes lazily open back up.

Smirking, I tug her hand in mine, and I lead her toward the others, who are already doing shots. Maverick looks utterly miserable, and Rain is wiping away tears as she laughs louder than the music that’s playing.

“Well, this is what it’s like to see Ethan Noles in a relationship,” Corbin says, grinning over at me as I take the last seat on the end. Then he snaps a picture when I tug Bella onto my lap.

“Are you really documenting this moment?” I ask, bored with them by this point. I’d rather have Bella all to myself instead of sharing her with them right now.

“Tag needs to see this,” Corbin says as though it’s rhetorical.

Bella leans against me, not seeming to give a damn that the entire group is watching us. Brin’s jaw is slack as she stares, and then she cuts her eyes toward Rye.

“How did I not know this was going on?” she demands, glaring at her boyfriend, who is grinning like a cheeky asshole.

“Guess you shouldn’t have put me in a dress.”

Her eyes widen, and she turns a funky shade of red. “You mixed my m&m’s with skittles, you asshole!”

“That’s not as bad as a dress,” I point out.

“Agreed,” everyone else says at once.

“I puked on a client’s lap after eating a handful of them,” Brin states flatly.

Laughter breaks out, but Bella is just reclined back on me, watching people dance like she’s tuned everything else out.

“You okay?” I ask against her ear.

She turns her head, and her lips find mine, kissing me like she doesn’t care that all our friends are watching. She doesn’t stop kissing me even when the catcalls and wolf whistles commence.

I have no idea why she’s kissing me like this, but I sure as hell don’t question it either. When she finally breaks away, Leo has joined us, and everyone around us has lost interest. They’re having some conversation about a random cookout at Rain’s house, but I barely even notice they’re talking at all.

“What was that for?” I ask her, running my nose along hers as she keeps her body angled toward me.

“I’m just glad you’re here,” she says before brushing her lips over mine.

As much as I’d love to sit here and continue this, the beers have caught up to me.

“I have to run to the bathroom, but we
will
continue this,” I tell her pointedly.

Her eyebrows lift, and a devilish little smile curves her lips. “Bathroom. Got it.”

No idea why she says it like that, but she stands, giving me room to stand as well. I smack her ass as I walk off, and I hear them giving her hell about it immediately.

Glancing over my shoulder, I see her flipping off everyone, and I laugh to myself before finally finding the cramped men’s room… The fucking hell?

There’s an oval ice trough in the center of the floor, and the two stalls at the back are occupied… by more than one person in each stall. Why the hell are they using ice troughs instead of urinals? Is this the eighties?

Good thing I’m not shy, considering there’s no way the other four guys taking a piss aren’t going to see my dick the way I’m seeing theirs. One guy winks at me the second I step up and start unzipping.

“Straight,” I tell him, my lips twitching when he sighs and overtly stares at my cock that is full of piercings.

“What a waste,” he retorts while looking away.

A few snickers follow that, and I shake my head. Right as I start pissing, the door opens, and we all look up.

Bella comes strutting in, but she stumbles over her own feet with wide eyes when she sees the five of us with our dicks in our hands, mid-piss. It’s not like I can cut it off right now, so I’m shooting out a steady stream, while she’s gawking and turning five shades of red.

What the hell did she think she’d find in the men’s room?

She starts backing away, but what has me utterly confused, is when she starts singing. “Shake it off. Shake it off. Shake, shake, shake it off,” she sings, moving her hand in front of her crotch like she’s shaking a phantom dick to the beat of the music in her head.

I can’t even…

With that, she darts back out the door like her ass is on fire, and I’m torn between groaning and laughing.

That’s my girl.

“That has to be the most random thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” one guy says as I finish up and zip my shit back into place. Holy shit, how long are these guys going to piss?

After washing my hands, I duck out, and I spot Bella immediately. She covers her face with her hands as I walk up, and she shakes her head while cursing.

“I could die,” she hisses, blushing furiously when she drops her hands from her face and glares up at me like it’s my fault she just serenaded five guys who were pissing into ice.

“Why the hell did you just sing?” It’s hard as hell to keep a straight face right now.

“I panicked!”

“You sing when you panic?”

She resumes glaring at me like I’ve somehow caused all this.

“The hell was that about? Did you go in the wrong bathroom?” I ask her, trying not to smile.

“No! I thought you wanted me to follow you,” she snaps.

“What gave you that impression?” I ask, still trying to hold in the internal riot.

“Your text said we were fucking in the bathroom tonight, then we got hot and heavy with that kiss,
then
you said you were going to the
bathroom
and that we
would
continue. I thought it was a ‘wink wink’ sort of thing, and you were going to clear the room out before I got in there.”

“A what? What is a ‘wink wink’ thing?”

She glowers at me, still acting like I’ve somehow done something wrong.

“You know, like a ‘hint hint’ thing…”

I do know, but I like fucking with her. “Do you just like saying words twice?”

She mutters something before pinching the bridge of her nose, and I smother the laugh that would probably get me kneed in the balls at this particular moment.

“To be fair, I was just talking shit. Never really thought you’d do public bathroom sex, but now that I know you will—”

“I am
not
going back in there,” she says loudly, pointing at the door for emphasis, as if she thinks I’ve forgotten where it is.

“Why? Because you sang while we were pissing, or because you shook an imaginary dick?” I muse.

She shoves at my chest and starts to walk off, but I snatch one of her hands and pull her back before kissing her, slowly moving her against the wall. She only resists me for a second, and then she melts against me like there’s nowhere else she’d rather be.

“We’ll do bathroom sex tomorrow at my house,” I say against her lips, smiling when she groans.

“At least it won’t be public,” she grumbles, trying to play it off, even though I know she’s still embarrassed.

“Technically, it will be. My party is tomorrow, and you’re coming.”

This time when she groans, I kiss her anyway, because I can’t get enough. She doesn’t stop me either. I’m actually looking forward to seeing how much fun my two favorite things can be when put together—wild party and Bella. Should be exhausting when Bella gets as wild as the party.

I can’t wait.