Page 90 of The Bad Girl

“You have to admit, he did go a little too far.”

“He sure did.”

“I enjoyed reading about your fun night with Grady.”

“Oh, fuck. I can’t believe he’s talking about that already.”

“Your boobs look great, by the way.”

I drop my fork. “Oh…I forgot about that.”

“There’s already been a PR meeting about your boobs. They aren’t worried. If anything, it has people laughing, and a whole lot of men want your number.”

“Well, I’ll count that as a win.”

“At least this Tom guy isn’t going to mistake you for a good girl now,” he says with a wink.

I roll my eyes and take another bite of cake.

Harry’s expression softens. “How’s your mother holding up?”

“I don’t really know. This must be hard for her, but I think she’d rather grieve privately or at least not with me.”

His hand reaches out, touching my thigh. “Well, if she needs someone, I would be more than happy to help her navigate purchasing her first pair of assless chaps.”

“Assless chaps? What the hell is wrong with you?”

“It’s a timeless staple in the gay community.”

“Harry, if you don’t mind me asking, was there ever a moment you thought you were straight?”

His hand flies to his chest as a look of horror crosses his face. He emits a condescending laugh, almost mocking me. “Oh, heavens no! Never crossed my mind, though I do admit, I experimented a bit in my early twenties.”

“How’d that turn out?”

“Well, I never once vomited, but to this day, I’m haunted,” he says. “What about you?”

“I…experimented a bit in college. Of course, I practiced kissing, but one day things went beyond that.”

“It was probably the most boring lesbian experience in history.”

“Probably,” I agree.

“Mind if I turn on the tele?” Harry says, taking the remote and not even bothering to wait for my reply.

“Please, I can’t tolerate vapid reality television, not right now. I binged it and have regrets.”

“Oh, Beefy Bohemians isn’t on for another two hours, I’m just putting on some entertainment news. I love seeing candidly staged photographs.”

“Beefy Bohemians?”

“You’d love it. So, are you still going on that date with Trying-to-Hard Bad Boy?”

“Excuse me?”

“You don’t think the leather jacket over his naked torso was a bit overkill?”

“He owns a bike shop. It’s branding, I guess.”