Page 75 of Wicked Angel
She meant Bestie of Besties. That was what Courteney called us; I was her Bestie of Besties, she was mine.
“You realize BOB stands for battery operated boyfriend, right?”
She frowned. “Oh. Right.”
I laughed a little.
I felt bad, actually, when I thought about how much we’d kind of drifted apart from one another. Not on purpose, but when she’d gotten so tight with Xander, and they got married, and they were so often away on tour… I’d toured with them, with Flynn and my sister, sometimes. Dirty and the Players toured together a lot. But when I was home, maybe it was natural that I’d gravitated toward Shayla, my single bestie—instead of my blissfully married one. The one who was always up for a party, always game to distract me from my problems.
Until those problems became so insurmountable that they could no longer be ignored.
I watched Court perusing the shelves, trying so hard to be my winglady on this when she had no need to be here, and it made me all warm. She really was my first-ever Bestie of Besties.
She caught me watching her. “Come on. Keep having fun.” She hooked her arm through mine to urge me along.
I pulled her toward the back of the store, where the really good stuff was, eying my pretty best friend sidelong, with all her luscious blond hair and the generous boobs. I had no idea she was not that well versed in sex toys. Courteney was six years younger than me, but her husband was a fuck-hot drummer. She wasn’t innocent. “Courteney Clarke. Have you never used a vibrator?”
“I’ve never used any of these things.” She looked around us at the graphic items on the shelves. “I mean, you know Xander’s my only sexual partner, ever.” She glanced at a giant dildo on display. “I did try a dildo once…”
“And?”
“It felt weird. Rubbery. Not like skin.”
“What about skin with a condom over it? You get used to that.”
“Xander and I don’t use condoms anymore.”
“Maybe you could experiment. Try a few things, see what you like.”
“I just don’t think I’m that into them.” She shrugged, disinterested. “Xander is like a whole toy shop.”
I sighed, slightly exasperated. “Well, gee, we don’t all have a real life, man sized, rock-star-sex-god to fuck with anytime we feel like it. Some of us have intense sexual desire and want to get pounded on the daily but we don’t because we’re single. So excuse us while we try to satisfy ourselves with well-designed toys.”
Courteney’s hazel eyes widened. “Uh… sorry.”
“Shit.I know. I just overreacted.” I blew out a breath. “I’m a little tense.”
“Flynn?” she asked gently.
“No. Not exactly. Just… everything.”
“It’s a lot of change in a short time,” she said sympathetically. “You’ve never really been on your own before. Trying to keep a roof over your head and start up your career… it’s hard. There’s a lot at stake and it’s not easy, even if you’re you.”
I gave her a questioning look. “Me?”
“You know.Us.The Lil Brats. Kid sisters of rock stars.” She tossed her arm around me. “You have more doors open for you, sure. You have a leg up on getting started with your life, more so than the average girl. Maybe. But… you also have crushing expectations on your shoulders, right out of the gate. You’ll never not be Elle’s little sister, before you even walk in a room. You know I know what that’s like.”
“Your brotherisamazing…”
“I know. That’s what I mean. It took a long time to fight my way out of that shadow.”
“And now look at you. Bestselling author.”
She swiped that away, looking embarrassed, like she did whenever that particular accolade came up. “Only because I wrote a book about a famous person. Who I only knew because of my brother.”
I stopped dead and looked her in the eye. “You wrote a fabulous book, Courteney. It was a beautiful story, about a beautiful person, very well told.”
“Thank you,” she said quietly. Her eyes shone a little, like they usually did whenever Gabe, the subject of her book, came up in conversation.
