Page 10 of Her Wicked Knights (Their Hallowed Queen #3)

Marley

I wake up in more pain than I went to bed in.

The Excedrin PM I took worked fast... and it worked well, apparently.

The headache started as soon as I left Tripp and Rev behind, my entire body tense with irritation, which surely set off the killer tension headache I couldn't tolerate for a second longer.

By the time I popped my fourth Excedrin PM, because the first two didn't seem to work, I was ready to lose my mind.

I got in the shower to let the water soothe some of the ache and barely made it out of the bathroom before I passed out.

I don't even remember getting dressed last night before I crashed, though I clearly did manage to do that.

Unfortunately, it feels like I didn't move a muscle from the time I laid in the bed, because while my headache is gone, my body is stiff and sore. I stretch, arching my back and letting the tension slip slowly away as I try to remember what day it is. "Morning sunshine."

I almost pee myself at the voice, which tells me I am not alone, like I thought I was. I sit up quickly and blink the last of the sleep from my eyes so that Audrey comes into clear focus.

"What are you doing here this early?" I shriek, placing a hand over my chest to still my frantic heartbeat.

"Early?" Audrey laughs. "It's almost noon. You weren't answering my texts, so I decided to come see what you were doing. Drooling into your pillow, by the looks of it." She laughs, indicating the wet spot on the bed.

I groan, rolling my neck to ease some of the stiffness. "I took Excedrin PM. Apparently, I slept like the dead."

"You always do." Audrey laughs. "The first time I stayed over, I figured that out. I could hold an entire wrestling match over your unconscious body and you'd never so much as bat an eyelash."

"What?" I laugh at the absurdity. "You're weird."

"Coming from you." She snorts, rolls her eyes, and opens my closet door before I can ask her what that's supposed to mean. "What are you wearing tonight?"

"Tonight?" I ask, still not entirely sure what day it is.

"The football game." She says it like she's offended that I've forgotten.

And to be fair, it's her first game she'll be cheering.

Which means I get to sit in the stands myself while I watch my favorite guys laying it all on the field and my best friend on the sidelines.

"I was hoping I could borrow something." She holds up a black top against her chest, angling in front of the mirror, and then throws it over her shoulder before going for another. I don't bother trying to stop a laugh.

"You want to borrow clothes from me? Won't you be in uniform?"

"Yeah, for the game." She rolls her eyes. "Not for the afterparty at the pier."

"Afterparty?" I frown, having no knowledge of any such event.

"Didn't Jake tell you?" She glances over her shoulder to appraise me. "I told him to tell you. Pierce Crawford and I planned it all in Gym Class the other day. If we win, we'll celebrate our victory. And if we lose, we'll drown our sorrows."

"At the pier? An hour away?"

"Well, you wouldn't agree to throwing a party here, so it was the best option. Unless you're having second thoughts?"

"Wait," I shake my head like that will clear the last of my confusion. "You're the one who put Jake up to asking me about a party?"

"Duh." She laughs. "I mean, has Jake North ever had a single thought of his own?"

"Audrey!" I chide, disapproving. "That's not nice."

"I'm not nice." She shrugs, unfazed, and plucks a red dress off the hanger. "This is cute!"

"Try it on." I offer, sitting back and grabbing my phone off the nightstand.

I expect she'll grab a handful of options and go to the bathroom to see what she likes best, but when I glance up, she's already shimmied out of her jeans, fixing me with a view of her ass in a G string that looks really uncomfortable. "Audrey!" I chide, lifting my hands to block the view.

"What?" She sneers, rolling her eyes like I'm being overly-dramatic. "You told me to try it on."

"Yeah, but I figured you'd use the bathroom." I laugh as she peels her top over her head and lifts her arms, as if she's questioning my alarm.

"This bra covers more than my bikini." She argues, shimmying her shoulders as if to demonstrate that her tits stay reasonably in the cups of her bra. "Besides, this is what girlfriends do."

Girl friends.

Audrey's the first one I've ever had, and I'm debating on whether I should confess that or keep it to myself when she tugs the red dress over her head.

It's a bit short, riding high up her thigh, but it looks good.

"I've never had girl friends." I admit, waiting ‘til her head pops through the opening and she gets a good look at herself.

"Obviously." She laughs, glancing back over her shoulder at me. "No offense, but I think anyone who so much as takes a look at you could figure that out." She plucks at the hem, contemplating her reflection.

"It looks really good on you. Better than it does on me."

"Because you're short." She shrugs.

"But what did you mean, that it's obvious I've never had girl friends?"

Audrey bites her lip, and in her reflection, she meets my gaze. "I don't want to offend you."

"I won't be offended," I promise, raising my hands to show her that whatever she says, I won't hold it against her.

"It's just that you're... a guys' girl. It shows in the way you dress, the way you do your hair. I mean, you barely even wear makeup. It's pretty obvious you've never had a girl friend to practice this stuff with."

"I had my sister." I reason, because we did spend plenty of time doing each other's hair and makeup.

I never bothered to get as good at it as Hadley, because it didn't seem to make a difference.

I didn't like the time it took to do anything fancy, and my friends all seemed to like me the same with or without it.

"Yeah, an older sister. Older sisters don't treat you the way friends do. They get mad when you borrow their clothes and worry that their boyfriend will think you're prettier and sleep with you when she passes out from too many mixed drinks at the party."

She says it so matter-of-fact that I almost wonder if I missed out on some rite of passage.

But I laugh instead. "I'm sure Hadley never once worried I was going to try and steal her boyfriend.

Not like anyone could, anyway. Axel's always been completely obsessed with her. He doesn't have eyes for anyone else."

"That's what you think." She shrugs and returns to preening before the mirror, testing the dress in every angle of her reflection. "He totally seemed into me when I handed him his card back at The Dive the other night."

"I think he was probably just being nice.

" I laugh. Axel is a nice guy. Too nice, according to my sister.

It's part of why she couldn't imagine a future with him.

She said there was no tension, that they were just best friends.

It didn't make sense to me back when she said it, because who wouldn't want to date their best friend?

But then I thought of Tripp, and I decided she was right.

As much as he still gives me butterflies when he stares at me with those gorgeous eyes of his, I can't see a world where we were together.

To be fair, I can't see a world where I'm with anyone other than Jake.

Life with Jake is easy, and part of me thinks that's because he is absolutely not my best friend.

He can annoy me with the way he talks through movies and moans like he's getting unimaginable pleasure out of eating a bag of Doritos, but then he can leave, and I can call Tripp to ask him to go see the movie with me again so that I can hear it without the commentary.

"I don't think so. He definitely looked at my tits. I might make a move for him."

I steel myself so Audrey doesn't see the way I bristle at that.

It's wrong, to feel so territorial over my sister's ex-boyfriend, but I can't imagine Audrey and Axel together.

I don't want to, when he always seemed like he had been made by the gods for my sister.

"Okay," I choke out a dry laugh. "But don't be offended if he turns you down.

He's still really heartbroken about Hadley. .."

"Lucky for me, I know the way to a man's heart. It's through his dick."

"Audrey!" I gasp, though I'm not really as shocked as I'm pretending to be. She's made it clear who she is in the months that I've known her, and who she is someone who unapologetically goes after what she wants.

"No guy has ever turned me down when I've got to my knees for them."

I feel the blush creep across my cheeks, uncomfortable at the thought of my best friend's promiscuity. She's made no qualms about being sexually liberated, and I couldn’t care less what she does as long as she does it willingly. But hearing about it? That's another thing entirely.

"Oh, come on, you prude." She laughs. "You know how empowering sex is, right? I mean, you and Jake have been together forever. Surely you've..."

She cuts off when she sees me shake my head. Forever? It’s been a few months. Of course we haven’t gotten that far yet.

"You never—?" She clears her throat and turns to face me, crossing the room in a few strides. "Marley, are you a virgin?"

"Oh my god," I mutter, dragging a pillow over my face. "I can't have this conversation."

My words are muffled, but it doesn't matter, since Audrey's not going to let it rest anyway. "Is Jake a virgin too?"

"Yes!" I squeak into the pillow moments before she pries it from my fingers and throws it across the room.

"Oh my god. You're a virgin?" She shakes her head. "I shouldn't be so surprised, but I just figured you guys had been together for a while—"

"Please, stop." I groan, pressing the backs of my hands to my burning cheeks to try and cool them a bit.

"What's the furthest you've ever gone?"

I mime zipping my lips, making it clear that I'm not going to say anything more about it. But Audrey grabs my wrists, making it clear she isn't going to let any of this go. "Oral?"

I shake my head and take a minute before meeting her wide eyes, full of shock and disbelief. "Not giving or receiving?"

I shake my head fervently. "God, no,"

"You're such a damn prude." She laughs. "Trust me, oral is life-changing. It's probably the only way you'll ever be able to orgasm— other than with a vibrator." She pauses, her eyes narrowing on me. "You do have one of those, right?"

"No!" I snap, shocked by the suggestion. Where the hell would I have got a vibrator?

"Oh my god." She deadpans, staring blankly at me as something slides into place in her head. "You've never had an orgasm."

I could sink right through the center of my bed and be swallowed up by the floorboards, as embarrassed as I am, but I shake my head a little, confirming her suspicion.

"No wonder you're so prudish! You just haven't learned yet how magical sex can be. It feels really good if you're doing it right. I mean, what does Jake do for you when you're hooking up?"

I open my mouth and promptly close it, not wanting to tell her that he doesn't really do anything for me. He does stuff to me, and it feels good, I guess, but he seems to enjoy it more than me. I thought that was just how it was for the girl.

"Oh, my sweet summer child," Audrey laughs. "You have so much to learn."