Page 121 of Beautiful Forever
“This year, I decided to give Drake the gift that keeps on giving.”
“What’s that?”
“What every man wants.”
“Beer and pizza?”
She bursts into giggles. “No. Sex toys and lingerie.”
“Drakewouldlook good in a black lace thong.”
She makes a dirty hum. “Yes, he would. But I think he’ll enjoy seeing it on me more. Scratch that. He’ll enjoy ripping it off me.”
“Make sure to leave the bedroom at least once while you’re there.”
“The flying back and forth is wreaking havoc on my sinuses. Why not just end the semester at Thanksgiving? It’s pointless having only two weeks of classes when we could take our semester exams before Thanksgiving and be done with it.”
“I completely agree.” Taking the path that will lead me home, I start jogging again. “At least you get to experience warmth and sunshine.”
“To be honest, I miss the cold and snow. It doesn’t feel like Christmas when the temps are in the upper 60s, and I’m surrounded by palm trees. When are you heading to the farm?”
After last year and what happened, and after what recently went down with Viktor, I don’t want to travel anywhere. I wish I could tell her that, but I’ve kept Raquelle out of anything to do with the Society. Not because I don’t trust her but because I don’t want it touching any part of her life. The same goes withShelby and Christian. But it really sucks having to keep secrets from my friends.
“Change of plans. We’re spending Christmas here this year. Things have been so”—I choose my next word carefully—“busy. And the guys decorated. Don’t want all their hard work to go to waste. We’ll probably head down to Virginia for New Year’s.”
“If you’re not going home, is your mom going to be able to come there?”
“She’s coming.” I check for traffic before crossing the road. “She’s so excited for Fénix’s first Christmas. I’m a little terrified because I know she’ll have bought an entire toy store worth of presents.”
“Aww, now I feel bad that I’m not there.”
A gust of arctic wind blows my ponytail into my face. “I’ll make sure to take lots of pictures and video. You won’t miss a thing. Are we still on for Christmas Eve?” We planned to have a video present exchange.
“Absolutely! Gotta celebrate my girl’s birthday.”
Sometimes, I wish my birthday didn’t fall on Christmas. I saw an old episode of “The Real Housewives of Orange County” where one of the women was in a similar situation and decided to throw herself a huge birthday party months after the actual day. I may start doing that.
A doorbell rings. “Drake is here. Ow! Dammit! I just stubbed my toe.”
“My beautiful klutz,” I hear Drake say.
“Hey, Drake!”
“Hey, Syn.”
Raquelle groans. “I broke the freaking nail! I just had a pedicure.”
“Baby, I’ll make the boo-boo all better.”
“Drake! Don’t you dare?—”
The call abruptly ends.
Waving to the inflatable T-Rex, I jog past the holiday decorations and up the porch steps to the house—and stop when I see a piece of paper with Hendrix’s neat cursive printed in red taped to the new front door.
Date night.
Put on something outrageously slutty.
