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“Damn, Pearce, I wonder why,” Justin ribbed him. “You probably can’t keep your hands to yourself long enough for her to tell you anything. Am I right, Alexia?”
My face heated to a thousand degrees this time. “I … I … well, maybe a little,” I stammered.
I looked at Pearce for help, but he was laughing.
Then Ava yelled out to me that I just needed to ignore the boys because they were totally obnoxious all the time.
Everyone glanced at each other when the doorbell rang. Then I heard a high-pitched voice. It reminded me of nails on a chalkboard. The room filled with dead silence as everyone’s eyes bounced around, before landing on Pearce. What was going on? It didn’t take long to figure it out. A tall, stick-thin, gorgeous redhead waltzed into the room. Dressed in high fashion from her Christian Louboutin stilettos, her Louis Vuitton handbag, and her Chanel jacket, she looked fabulous. I felt like the impoverished church mouse in comparison.
Then she headed straight for Pearce. It didn’t matter that he had his arm around me. She bulldozed into him and pushed him backward, threw her arms around him and kissed him soundly on the mouth. And not just for a second, or two or three. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, they broke apart, while he was still trying to pull me back into him by my hand. Then she screeched in that godforsaken banshee voice, “Why, Pearce, darling, it’s been far too long! I just got in from Milan. It’s just so fabulous to see you,” she cooed, or tried to anyway. Her screeching voice made cooing impossible. “You know the two of us just have to spend some time together while I’m here. I’ll be staying at my parents for the next two weeks. It’s time to rekindle our flame, darling. Remember those days? We had some good times, didn’t we?” Then the banshee had the audacity to rub herself against him.
I stood there and tapped my foot against the floor, waiting for Pearce to say something … anything … to whoever this she-devil was. If he didn’t, I was going to rip that red hair right out of her scalp.
Suddenly, an arm wrapped around me, and Justin stood there, grinning. I wished someone would tell me what was going on here.
“Why, hello, Carmody. Nice of you to bust right in here, uninvited,” Justin said, his tone sarcastic.
Banshee Carmody looked over at Justin and grinned. It was more like a grimace, and I was shocked her teeth weren’t sharp and pointy. Now that I had the chance to examine her closely, I was thinking she was looking more like a Gremlin … and I meant Stripe, not Gizmo.
“Well, hello, Justin. Is that your girlfriend?” she sneered.
“No, it’s not. As a matter of fact, it’s Pearce’s girlfriend.”
I looked at Pearce and he was trying his hardest not to laugh. There was something fishy going on here, but I still didn’t like the way Banshee Carmody-slash-Stripe was leering at my guy. She looked like she wanted to eat him for dinner, and by that greeting she gave him, she nearly did.
She looked at Pearce and then at me. Then she started to laugh. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” she exclaimed. “Why, Pearce, I always took you for a man of good taste.”
“Thank you, Carmody. I believe I do have good taste. In fact, Alexia is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
Pearce finally shrugged free of Banshee Carmody Stripe’s arm and pulled me into him.
“Thank you, Pearce. But I wish you’d stop telling me that a hundred times a day.”
“But why, sweetheart? It’s true and it’s the way I feel.” Then he ran his hand down my cheek and leaned in and whispered, “She’s a fucking bitch and I hate that she’s here. I’m sorry you had to witness that display of pure nasty. As soon as I can, I’m going to brush my teeth.”
A burst of laughter exploded out of me. Everyone glanced at us, and it was obvious by the way their lips pressed together they wanted to laugh too. Banshee woman’s cheeks reddened with anger.
“Pearce? Aren’t you going to invite me in?”
He shrugged. “Whatever.”
Then he turned to me and said, “Come on, babe,” and he tugged me away from that awful scene.
We hurried up the stairs and he pulled me into his old bedroom. True to his word, he went straight to the bathroom and scrubbed his teeth.
“Pearce, if you’re not careful, you’re going to brush the enamel off.”
“Ugh, I almost gagged when she put her mouth on mine.”
A thought popped into my head and my unfiltered mouth asked, “Did you ever sleep with her?”
He stopped dead in his tracks and his face paled.
“Yes, I did,” he admitted. “It happened a long time ago when I didn’t think she was so disgusting then. I’m sorry. It was terrible judgment on my part.”
“Don’t be sorry. It happened before us. I just wanted to know because she’ll probably throw that at me one day. At least now I’ll be prepared. Is she one of the girls you thought you might love?”
“No! Never her. We grew up together, but the older she got, the more pretentious she became. Just like her mother.”
