Page 47 of Hold 'Em Tight

“Good. I’d have to burn it before we got home.”

I do my best to keep my mind in the moment. Just me, my best friend, and shopping. Normal. Safe. Fun.

Until we make our way to the baby section.

“Ugh,” Serenity groans. “They always make the cutest baby girl things,” she sighs dreamily. “I hope I have a girl some day. I’d dress her up like a doll.” She laughs. “Well, not really, but still. Look at all this.”

I stand there frozen as I look at a onesie. “Mommy’s little Princess.”

Tears sting the back of my eyes as I rip my gaze away. Turning around, I swallow down my pain and walk away.

“Wait up!” Serenity calls after me. “Sorry about that. Got distracted."

“It’s okay.” I don’t look at her, afraid she’s going to see it in my eyes that I’m not okay right now.

“Come on. Shopping clearly isn’t something you want to be doing. Let’s go grab something to eat.”

Eating isn’t something I think I have the stomach for either, but I honestly can’t remember the last time I ate. And I have a feeling, if I don’t get food soon, it’s either going to draw attention to something being wrong, or I’m going to pass out.

None of those sound like options I want, so I nod my head and follow her to the food court.

I’m still tired, drained from everything that’s happened in the past forty-eight hours. Maybe coming back here wasn’t a good idea. All I want to do is go back to Florida and relive those few weeks of fun we managed to have. I want more of that.

Not all this bullshit that reality is hitting us with.

“I can’t believe he had the balls to bring that bitch to the house,” Serenity grumbles as she shoves a fry into her mouth. “Did he think we would welcome them with open arms? Fuck,no. We already had Missi’s shit packed, just waiting for her to come get it. That's how much we all wanted her gone.”

“Really?” I laugh, trying not to think about the look in Lennox’s eyes when he saw us. The whole thing was off. Like what he was saying didn’t match up with his demeanor.

I don’t believe what he says, and I sure as fuck don’t trust the words that come out of her mouth.

Yet, he’s with her. He chose her. And fuck that hurts so damn much.

“Oh yeah.” She nods her head. “The other girls on the team can’t stand her.”

“So there won’t be any hard feelings that their queen bee is gone?" I ask, taking a spoonful of my ice cream.

So, food really isn’t something I want right now, but desserts, on the other hand, always make things better. For the most part.

“Nah. Trust me, they are all happy to see her go.”

“The guys have been working on a way to replace her,” I mention.

“I saw the email for tryouts go out.” Serenity’s eyes light up. “I’m so excited. I hope we get some good candidates. This could really boost our chances of winning Nationals this year.”

Talking about cheer gives me a little lift to my mood. “Colton wants someone good. Better than her.” I roll my eyes.

“Not going to be hard.” Serenity laughs. “Not saying she didn’t have any talent, but she was… average? There's a lot of girls out there with her level of talent, so it won't be hard to replace her.”

“Colton opened it up to people who don’t attend the school too. He got approval for a cheerleading scholarship, if whoever we pick doesn’t attend the school.”

“I thought you had the scholarship.”

I shake my head. “After talking it through with the guys, I decided to take my dad’s offer of paying my tuition. As muchas I’m still unsure about what kind of relationship I want with him, if he wants to help with my education, I’m going to let him. Normally, I don’t like using other people's money, but seeing how my mother broke her back providing for me her whole life, I’ll let him give it back.”

“Perks of having a rich daddy.” She winks. “Well, I mean, you already have a few of those.”

“Stop it.” My eyes go wide and a real, true laugh—the first one in days—bursts out of me. “Gross.”