Page 99 of Gilt

“That’s very sweet of you, Miss Deckard.” Maddox softens in her presence, shifting from a hardened military man to a cuddly teddy bear. It’s simply further proof of Josie’s magic touch in the man department. He smiles down at her, but then he puffs out his chest as if to remind both of them what a big badass he is. “I have a duty, though.”

“To protect and serve the highest bidder,” I mutter under my breath. Thankfully, he’s too mesmerized by my best friend to notice.

“I’m going in,” I announce loudly in the hopes that I can convince Josie to stop playing with her new toy and come with me. There’s so much to tell her.

“You have my phone number,” Josie reminds him. She scampers into the house behind me, laughing. “You didn’t tell me he was such a pushover.”

“I’m not certain his training included warding off horny teenage girls,” I say dryly.

Josie wags her finger at me, but her lips twitch with a grin. “Hey, I resemble that remark.”

We’re still teasing each other when we walk in on Josie’s mom in the living room. Well, not just her mom, but rather her mom kissing some guy. Josie halts on the spot and gasps. I do my best to shush her, but the couple pulls apart.

“Oh girls, I didn’t expect you home so soon!” She swipes at her smeared lipstick, doing her best to straighten her bunched skirt.

“School’s out for the summer,” Josie informs her. “You’re lucky I was out.”

“I saw Emma’s notes,” she says, obviously flustered.

I shoot Josie an apologetic look. After showing up at the ass-crack of dawn the other day, I thought it would be more courteous to give Marion a heads up on when I would and wouldn’t be here.

“Hi.” I step in to try to smooth over the situation. “I’m Emma.”

Marion’s date takes my outstretched hand tentatively. I can’t decide if he’s shy or if he’s never seen a girl shake hands before. Either way, his palms are sweaty, and when no one’s looking, I wipe my own hand on my romper.

“Emma, this is Anton.” Marion smiles affectionately as she introduces the new man in her life. Anton, for his part, is as nondescript as they come except for two defining characteristics: thinning brown hair and round glasses that lean more toward spectacles than most modern eyewear.

When no one speaks again, and Josie doesn’t step forward to introduce herself, I take the initiative. “What do you do?”

“I’m an accountant.” He sighs as he tells me. “Not very exciting, I guess.”

Considering that my life could use a whole lot less excitement at the moment, I think dating an accountant sounds pretty sexy.

“Can I make you guys a snack?” Marion offers, tapping her fingernails together like a broken clock.

“We already ate,” Josie says coldly.

I don’t bother to correct her, even though I could go for a bite. If she isn’t careful, we’ll be making a pilgrimage to In-N-Out later to rectify the situation. Josie stomps down the hall and slams her bedroom door shut behind her.

When I duck into her room, Josie shuts the door softly behind me, then leans against it.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“That guy,” she whispers, and I lean in so that she can keep her conspiracy on the DL. “I dated him a few weeks ago.”

I suck in a breath and try to think of something reassuring to say. It’s pretty hard, given that I want to yell at her. I have been waiting for this to happen; a single mom, who even I have to admit is a MILF, and her teenage daughter, with a taste for older men, adds up to either a really bad sitcom or a really good V.C. Andrews novel.

“Let me have it,” she says when I stay quiet.

“Sheesh, Josie! You have to have seen this coming. I don’t know where to begin!”

“Maybe with the fact that this is all my fault,” Josie suggests. “That you knew this was going to happen, and it was only a matter of time until trouble?”

“Sounds like you have it covered. Let me know when you need me to jump in.”

Her lower lip begins to tremble, and I immediately regret what I just said. “What am I going to do?”

“Look, he can’t have known, and now that he’s seen you, he’s going to break up with her.”