Page 103 of Slumming It

She uncrossed her arms and pointed where she'd been looking. "That wad of money in your pocket."

I looked down and was horrified to see the wad of hundreds peeking out from the front pocket of my jeans. As I stared down at the money, I felt the blood drain from my face – and not only because Vivian looked so concerned.

I was carrying over two-thousand dollars.What if I'd lost it?

Damn it.I should have been more careful. Last night, I'd tucked the money nice and deep, but this morning, I hadn't double-checked anything while getting dressed.

And now I didn't know what to say.

In a quiet voice, Vivian asked, "Didhegive you that?"

I looked up to meet her gaze. "Yes. Sort of."

"What doesthatmean?"

"Well…he did give it to me, but it wasn't a gift or anything."

She looked far from reassured. "So what was it?"

Probably, I'd said too much already. "Well…you see…we had this disagreement, and I thought he should apologize. But he didn't. So instead, we…uh…settled on cash instead."

She looked at me like I'd just been caught selling my goodies on the street corner. "And did you do anythingspecialfor this cash?"

"No. Of course not." My face was flaming now, and I shifted uneasily as I added, "Anything we did – or didn't do – was completely unrelated to the money."

She frowned. "Was it now?"

Again, the question was obviously rhetorical. But this time, I actually knew the answer. "Yes. Definitely."

In that same quiet voice, she asked, "So, you had sex with him?"

If she were anyone else, I might have replied that it was none of her business. But the truth was, Vivian and I shared all kinds of juicy details when it came to dating and what-not.

Due to my recent dry spell, I hadn't been sharing much of anything lately. But now that Ididhave something to share, I was less than eager because Vivian looked so troubled.

I was still considering my reply when she said, "You at least used protection, didn't you?"

"Of course."

"So youdidhave sex with him?"

Damn it.

Had she tricked me?It sort of felt that way. Or maybe I was just feeling under siege. "I didn't plan to have sex with him. It just sort of happened, you know?"

"I don't get it," she said. "Just a couple of days ago, you said you were done with him."

"I was. But then we went out and had a great time." I couldn't help but smile at the memories. "And he wasreallynice."

"Reese Murdock?" she scoffed. "Nice? You can't be serious."

"I’m totally serious," I said, recalling how he'd come to my rescue with Morgan and Nikki. "He even stuck up for me."

"Oh, I know," she said with a humorless laugh. "I heard all about it."

This was news tome. "Really? From who?"

"The internet."