Page 29 of Badd Baby

"I'm not." I paused, frowning. "But actually, I do."

"No, you don't."

“Yes, I do." I tapped the side of her chin. "Look at me."

She rolled her eyes again, but did meet my eyes. “What, Duncan? He was an asshole. It's fine."

“It's not fine!” I said, my tone heated. “It was the first thing you thought of when I went to kiss you after. You still think about it now, however long it’s been since he said whatever the fuck it was he said.”

"Of course I do!" she said, not quite yelling but speaking intensely. "I was on my period, and Hayes was horny. I'm not into period sex, so I went down on him."

"Lucky motherfucker," I muttered.

She hesitated. “I did it to be nice. I cared about him." Another hesitation. "I loved him. Or I thought I did, at least.”

I sighed. "I'm already pissed off on your behalf."

She snorted. "I'm plenty pissed off on my own behalf, for that and for so many other reasons, but mainly for wasting so much of my time, attention, and love on Hayes Motherfucking Willoughby."

"So…what did he say?"

Her voice was small. Hurt. "I…you know. Gave him a B-J. Admittedly, it wasn't my best work—definitely not on par with what I just gave you, but I still did my best to make him feel good." She swallowed hard, audibly. "You have a sister, right?"

I nodded. "Two, sort of."

She frowned at me. "Sort of?"

"Well, my sister Delia's best friend, Emerson, is… well, it's complicated. She grew up with us. She had a very broken home situation, and my parents took her in as one of our own. She's always been like a sister to us. But then two Christmases ago, she took our last name, and my parents officially adopted her.”

Rune sniffled. "So unbeknownst to each other, Emerson took your family's last name, and your family adopted her?"

I nodded. "Yup."

"That's the most adorable thing I've ever heard."

"So, when I say sort of, I only mean that I have one biological sister and one adopted sister. Sunni is my sister in every way that matters."

"I thought her name was Emerson?"

I laughed. "Oh, yeah, it is. We just all call her Sunni, S-U-N-N-I. Her last name is Day, plus Emer-son…Sunni. I dunno, Delia gave her the nickname years ago and it just stuck.” I squeezed her. "You're not fooling anyone, by the way."

She gazed up at me with wide, innocent eyes. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You asked about my sisters. But we're not getting away from the real topic at hand—what Hayes Motherfucking Willoughby said to you."

She sighed, a long, angry, bitter sound. "My point in asking about your sisters wasn't to distract from the answer. Although I wouldn't mind if it did. I don't want to talk about this."

"Too damn bad," I said.

"If you have sisters, then you're probably aware of the reality of what periods are like. Men who don't grow up around girls often have no fucking clue about periods."

I nodded. "I do understand, as much as a dude can, obviously. Delia and Emerson have always been very open about it. They'll complain about their cramps and describe in way too much detail how it looks like a cat got shot in their underwear."

She cackled. "So you know a period isn't exactly fun."

"Uh, yeah. It’s a week of hell and misery every month, by all accounts."

"Right. Hell, misery, blood, and pain.” She shrugged. “I’ve always had heavy periods. Lots of blood, lots of cramps. Not a sexy thing to talk about, I know, but you insisted."