Velvet Kisses(59)
Baya snatches it from me and pulls out the soft cuffs with a look of carnal delight.
“That’s an invasion of privacy! I should place you under citizen’s arrest,” I yelp taking back my purse.
“Look at me, I’m Marley!” Her voice rides high. She dances the cuffs in front of her in a perverted puppet show fashion. “I am not in love with Wyatt James!” She knocks the cuffs in my direction as if they’re admonishing me. “I’m a super nasty girl, living in a fantasy world!”
“Stop.” I touch my hands to my mouth and close my eyes a moment. Who are these women, and why am I sitting with them again? “That was a bad impersonation by the way. Identity theft does not become you.”
“So this is what you’re planning to do to Wyatt?” Izzy runs her finger over one of the fuzzy bracelets. “Citizen’s arrest never sounded so kinky.”
“Yes, well, kink makes the world go round. Or so they say—and, for the sake of research, I’m about to find out.” I try to snatch them away from Baya, but she pulls them just out of my grasp.
“Hey, can I borrow these?” She holds them up in broad daylight for all the student population to see.
My fingers gingerly take them back. “Only after I’ve had a chance to break them in. I had originally bought them to use with Will. Thank God up in heaven that catastrophe never took place. These have Wyatt written all over them. Of course, I’m sort of hoping I’ll be the one in chains. A girl can dream.”
“Wow.” Baya bounces back in her seat. “You are in so deep—you don’t even realize it, do you?”
The three of them shake their heads in tandem as if they genuinely felt sorry for me.
“Is there something I should know? Is Wyatt sleeping with the cheer squad behind my back? Does Alpha Chi have him on call? Because, I swear, that man has moves that an entire army of women would kill for. I’m talking knock down drag out fist fights would break out over his services. Hair extensions would be in peril.”
Izzy and Annie share a laugh, but Baya continues to shake her head as if she can’t believe it.
“You are toast, Marley. Face it”—Baya gives a long blink—“Wyatt has you wrapped around his magical penis.”
“Eww,” Izzy swats her. “That’s disgusting.”
“It’s true,” Annie muses.
If Annie thinks so, it must be true. Crap.
“What are you saying?” I want to hear it point blank.
“You’re in love with the guy.” Baya says it matter of fact, but the words feel like a sharp slap in the face. “You’re already submerged. You’ve been under for so long you don’t even realize you’ve already drowned. Case closed—Marley Jackson, has been sentenced to a lifetime of l-o-v-e.”
“I’d prefer hard labor.” The idea that I’ve become some prisoner to love is laughable.
Izzy gawks at Baya. “Are you through? And please don’t consider a career in motivational speaking.”
“She’s still right.” Annie shrugs as if she were sorry. “Forget about that stupid memoir, Marley. You’re in love with the guy. Own up to your feelings.” She gives a smug look of satisfaction. “I’m willing to bet the bar we’ll be sister-in-laws one day.”
“Gah!” I roar in frustration. Before I know it, I’ve hoisted my laptop onto the table. “Too late. I’m starting that memoir right this minute. Subject one—”
“Make that Will,” Baya insists. “Don’t waste a single drop of—”
“Men,” Izzy interjects rather sharply. I swear she still thinks I’m thirteen.
“Boy—Will is a boy,” I correct. “Wyatt is a man.”
My fingers start typing as fast as they can.
“Sex and the Modern Woman: What’s love got to do with it? Or how about, My Life in Men?” I whisper as my brain thunders a mile a minute. “I like the sound of that because usually it’s the man inside the woman. The irony is rich and empowering from a feminist point of view.”
Izzy groans at my mock dissertation. “Personally, I think you’re setting feminism back not forward. Sleeping around isn’t some progressive movement it’s”—she closes her eyes and takes a measured breath—“slutty. And exactly how many men do you plan on exploiting this way?”
“Exploiting?” I gag on the word. “Men have been literally screwing around for centuries, as soon as a woman decides to have a little fun, she’s slutty and exploitive? Really, Izzy?”
I continue on with my endeavor.