Page 58 of Shatter

But her smile is wicked.

"And a fourth at home."

"Wow." My breath leaves me in a sigh. I can't imagine. She just leveled up in the badass department in my book.

"Take your shirt off."

Knowing it'll just be with her, even though she intimidates the shit out of me, too, with her confidence, at least she's not a man.

She talks, explaining the procedure and aftercare as she adds dots to the sides of my nipples where the bar will go with a purple marker.

She motions to the mirror. "What do you think?" I stand and turn left and right in the mirror, trying to imagine bars there.

I smile. "I like it a lot."

"Fantastic," Nikki replies happily. She opens some sort of pincher thing that brackets the tip of my nipple. "Deep breath."

I do, and the pain from the needle is sharp and sudden, but I find I like it. It dulls almost instantly and when I look down there's two cute little studs on either side of my nipple.

"Good?" Nikki asks, checking in on me.

I smile back. "Great."

She repeats the process on my other nipple, and while putting my bra back on it is a little painful, it's a dull ache more than a sharp pain. It's a reminder that I can be brave. That my breasts might be fake, but these piercings belong to me.

The absolute giddiness I feel as she's checking me out, handing her my very own debit card, has me giggling like a school girl. Nikki looks at me like I'm crazy but I can't find it in me to care.

"How was it?" Harrison asks, as he opens my door to the SUV.

"Amazing."

Chapter thirty-one

Melody

"Get dressed. We're going out."

I startle as Harrison barks at me from the doorway of his bedroom. It's still his, even though every night this week I've snuck in after he's fallen asleep. It's stupid, I know, but falling asleep together feels like it's too much too fast - like if we fall asleep together we have to acknowledge what this is. But if I sneak in after he's asleep, we don't.

I want him. I want a future with him. I want to go out on dates together. I want to hold his hand and make plans with him - birthdays and babies and a house in the suburbs.

But I'm terrified that if I bring any of that up, we'll realize we want different things.

But every morning he wakes up, seemingly startled at finding me wrapped in his arms, but all night he holds me to him like I'm something precious he's afraid to lose.

Every morning he wakes me up with slow, drugging kisses, before kissing down my body and waking me up with his mouth between my thighs.

Then we shower together, where I blow him, and then have breakfast together like we've been doing it our entire lives.

It shouldn't be this easy, should it? Aren't there stages to a relationship? Dating, future goals, priorities, seeing if you align on important things? Then moving in, meeting the parents, engagement, marriage? Kids? We skipped a shitton of steps. He already knows my parents. And he's estranged from his. But he has a sister I haven't met yet?

It's why I'm looking forward to tonight - my first official girls' night! I'm stupidly excited.

But right now, Harrison's frowning down at me, still sat on the couch in my pajamas.

"Where are we going?"

"Wear tennis shoes."