“Lillian, I was talking about you. I don’t even know what happened yet. You’re a good person and I don’t like seeing a woman like her stalk in and hurt you.”
I was a little shocked. While I had hoped I was making friends, I hadn’t realized they would defend me against someone who was already a part of their group.
“So, did you go yell at Sean when you saw her leave?” Alex asked.
“Well, I was hoping I was wrong, so I sat in my car for a while and tried to be rational about the whole thing. I was hoping she had just stopped by. When I finally worked up the courage to go confront him, he answered the door half naked. That kind of answered my question. Still, I asked him about it, and he confirmed that he slept with her.”
Alex’s hand flew to her mouth. “I’m so sorry. I never would have thought Sean would do something like that.”
“Oh, please. Don’t be naive, Alex. Vira has had him wrapped around her finger for a year and a half. He was half in love with her and she kept dragging him along. I’m sure she said something to reel him back in again,” Harper said.
“Something like that.” I replayed my conversation with him in my head. The sadness when he realized how badly he screwed up. “The thing is, I believe that’s exactly what happened. He said that when she snuck out in the morning, he realized that she was always using him. When I was at the door, he knew he had screwed up.”
“I don’t know that she was using him,” Alex said. Harper glared at her. “What I mean is that I saw the way she looked at him. She did feel something for him. I think she just didn’t want to. That’s probably why Sean believed whatever she said. He could see it, too.”
“Well, whatever happened, he was pissed when she walked out on him. He told her he loved her and she left.”
“Ouch. So now you don’t know if you want to give him another chance,” Harper stated.
“Exactly. I don’t believe he hurt me on purpose. I think she dug her nails into him and he couldn’t resist. I just don’t know if I can trust him again. I want to, but his behavior isn’t anything I’m used to. Would you date someone that slept with another woman and tossed you aside?”
“When I was first dating Jack, he saw me talking with Luke, Anna’s husband. We were at The Pub and he had just proposed to her. She was meeting us there and I was giving him a hug. Jack stalked over and called me a slut in front of the whole bar. I was mortified. We were apart for a while and honestly, I was miserable. It’s not the same, but I understand where you’re coming from. Jack and I were pretty new at the time, so I decided that I would give him a second chance. He apologized and promised never to hurt me again.”
“Cole and I broke up because I couldn’t remember him. I had blocked out everything from the previous six months after I was attacked. I just couldn’t deal with it. I kept pushing him away because he wanted to pick up where we left off and I wasn’t ready for that. We were apart for months, but when I needed him, he was there for me.”
“Okay, but those are your situations. That’s not what Sean and I have.”
“How do you know? When we were out together, he seemed to really like you,” Harper said
“And yet he slept with another woman.”
“Touche.”
“I think you should give him another chance, but that’s me,” Alex said.
“Why?”
“Well, mostly because I don’t think you should let Vira ruin what the two of you could have had. I think Sean genuinely wants to be with you and he made a mistake. Like you said, you two weren’t committed. You move on with the understanding that you won’t tolerate that behavior and he has one chance with you.”
I thought about what Alex said and I had to admit, it made sense. A big part of me wanted to give him another chance.
“I think what we need is a girls night,” Harper said as she stood. “We’re not going to sit around here and make dinner. Let’s go out to eat!”
“Ooh! I’ll call the girls to meet us,” Alex said.
Within a half hour, all the girls had found sitters for the kids and we were on our way to Maggie’s Diner. When we walked in, I was shocked to see all the girls already sitting there, even Cece who was friends with Vira. I knew they were coming, but seeing all of them gather to cheer me up really shocked me.
“I figured that we needed to stay away from alcohol tonight,” Harper said as we took our seats among the girls
“I’d appreciate that. I’m not even sure I’ll be able to eat anything.
“Lillian, I want you to know that while I’m friends with Vira, I don’t condone what she did. She’s always been a little wild and she got me through some rough times, so it’s hard for me to be too upset with her, but I don’t like that she hurt you or Sean,” Cece said as she sat down next to me.
“Thank you. I appreciate you saying that.”
We ordered food and talked about anything and everything, except Sean. Maggie told us how she won Sebastian over after they broke up. My eyes widened with every detail of her story.
“So he let me throw the grenade out the window and I agreed to only work on research,” she said with a shrug.
“You threw an actual grenade at a moving car?” I questioned.
“Yep. It was awesome! I still go to the shooting range with Sinner, but Sebastian doesn’t like it. He wants me to stay all holed up at Reed Security, never seeing any action.”
“You want to see action?” I asked again. This baffled me. How did one go from being a reporter to wanting to blow up cars?
“I wouldn’t want to do it without Sebastian. We worked well together.”
“Don’t you miss being a reporter?” Harper asked. “I mean, I don’t think I could give up writing for anything.”
“Well, I still write the occasional story for a paper in Pittsburgh, but it’s not my main focus anymore.”
When we finished eating, we all headed outside to our cars when we heard voices coming from the alley. I glanced to see a man handing over a small baggie of something to the other man. The second man gave the first man something. I couldn’t pull my eyes away from it.
“I bet that’s a drug deal. It’s been getting worse around town. Before I moved here, I was investigating Sean because of the missing drugs,” Maggie whispered in my ear.
“Why Sean?”
“Well, he was always working a scene when drugs would go missing. I assumed it was him that was taking the drugs, but now that I know him, I know there’s no way it was him.”
“Maybe we could find out some information for him,” Harper said from behind me.
“What do you mean?” I asked. “How could we find out anything?”
“We could pose as a bunch of girls wanting a good time. Maybe score some drugs and find out where he usually deals.”
“Is that safe?” I asked.
“If we’re all together, we should be fine.”
“Let’s do it!” Maggie said excitedly.
“Okay, but I don’t think we should all go over there. I think a few of us should stay over here. Otherwise, we’ll draw too much attention.”
“What are we doing?” Anna asked.
“We’re gonna go buy drugs from that drug dealer to try and help Sean on his case.”
“Harper, Jack is gonna be so pissed.”
“Only if he finds out.”
“Really? You think there’s a chance he won’t find out about this?”
“Okay, so who’s going over there?” Cece asked.
“I’m definitely going,” Maggie said.
“I’m going too,” Harper said, raising a hand.
“If anyone is going to help Sean, it’s going to be me. Besides, these drugs are in the schools. I want to help if I can.” I said with more confidence than I had.
“Fine. Cece, Anna, Alex, and Sarah will stay over here and pretend to be waiting on us to bring back the drugs. Harper, Lillian, and I will go over and play the ditzy girls looking for a good time,” Maggie said excitedly.
“Well, you’d better get your asses over there quickly or he’s gonna leave,” Anna said. “Jack is gonna kick my ass for letting you do this.” She held up a hand to Harper. “I know. No one lets you do anything.”
Harper tugged on my hand and before I knew it, the three of us were approaching a drug dealer to buy drugs and obtain information from. What the hell had happened to my life?
“Hey. We’re looking for a good time. Do you know where we might be able to find something to give us a lift?” Maggie asked.
The man, short and scrawny looked at us warily. “What kind of lift are you looking for?”
“We’re willing to try anything.”
The man looked at us suspiciously. “I have rules for new clients. You have to try out the merchandise in front of me.”
“What?” I squeaked. Harper nudged me, letting me know I was not being cool.
“Sure. What do you have for us to try?”
“All I have on me is pot. Is it just the three of you?”
“No, my girls over there want some also.”
“Call them over. Either you all try or I’m outta here. Payment up front.”
“You got it!” Maggie pulled out a large roll of bills and handed it over. “You’d better have the good stuff or you won’t have us as repeat customers.”
Harper called the other girls over and soon we were all receiving our joints in a dirty alley next to the diner. This was such a bad idea. I had never even had a cigarette before.
“I’m not sure what to do. I’ve never done something like this before.”
Maggie took a drag off her “doobie”, as she called it. I watched in fascination and then repeated what she did. I started coughing immediately, wishing I hadn’t gone along with this crazy scheme. After everyone had taken a hit, Maggie turned back to the dealer.
“So, where can we find you next time?”
“I’ll give you my card.” He pulled it out and handed it over. “If you ever bring the cops around, you’ll be in deep shit, you understand?”
“Of course. We’re just looking for a good time. Do you have anything else we can try next time?” Harper asked.
“What are you looking for?”
The dealer eyed me with suspicion, so I took another long drag off the doobie. Gosh, I was doing drugs in an alley with a drug dealer and a bunch of girls I had just met in the last month. What was becoming of me?
I blocked out the rest of the conversation as I tried to keep my feet under me. The ground didn’t seem to be level anymore and my head felt really strange. The dealer came up to me, swirling in front of me in some weird pattern.
“Finish that off before you leave the alley. I don’t want any traces coming back to me.”
I took another drag as he stared me down, the effects really hitting me hard. I was so screwed. The distant sound of sirens made me whip around looking for lights. The dealer swore and ran down the alley. I wasn’t sure if I could run if I tried, and frankly, I wasn’t sure why he was running. What were we doing here anyway?
I looked at the girls and they were all laughing at each other, except for Alex. She seemed just as dazed as I felt.
“Oh my God! Let’s go back in the diner and get some food. I’m so hungry!”
I wasn’t sure who was talking. They all seemed to be saying things all at once.
“Police! Put your hands in the air!”
We all raised our hands, doobies held high for all to see.
“What the fuck? A bunch of women getting high in the alley. Call in backup.”
“Oh my gosh! He’s calling the police. We’re going to jail and we’ll have to wear those ugly, orange jumpsuits,” I cried.
“Some woman named Bertha’s gonna be my bitch,” Harper said.
“I think it’s the other way around. Isn’t it that you’re going to be a bitch for Bertha?” Maggie questioned.
“I told you this was a bad idea, Harper. Jack’s gonna kick your ass,” Anna said with a laugh.
“Harper? Harper Huntley? Hey, Calloway! Remember this broad? She’s the one that attacked the guy with a poster!”
“Hey! I gave him a shit load of paper cuts! I bet he thought twice before breaking into someone else’s house!”
The other police officer walked forward and got in Harper’s face. “You’re also the woman that attacked someone with a chicken.”
“It was a turkey, jackass!”
“I’m going to jail, aren’t I? Sean will never date me now. He won’t want to be seen with a felon. I’ll lose my job at the school!”
“Relax, you don’t go to jail for smoking a joint,” Cece said.
More sirens sounded and it wasn’t long before I heard the voice I dreaded. Although seeing his face was a little different. I was still swaying and couldn’t make out faces that well, but his voice was strong and steady.
“Lillian? What the hell is going on here?”
“These women were all smoking weed in the alley. They’re under arrest for possession.”
Before I knew what was happening, all of us were handcuffed and taken down to the police station. They put us all in a holding cell until the effects wore off. Alex and I sat on the floor holding each other’s hands, while the other girls laughed and begged the officers to bring them some food.
“I am so going to hell. Why did I agree to go along with that plan? Sean wouldn’t even look at me in the alley. He probably hates me. I’m a druggie now in his eyes!” I cried.
“Yep. A hardened criminal if I ever saw one,” Harper laughed.
“Harper! What the fuck were you thinking?” Jack roared as he walked back to the holding area.
“Hey, Jack!”
“Don’t ‘hey, Jack’ me. What were you thinking buying pot in an alley and then sticking around to smoke it?”
“I’m confused. Are you upset that I smoked pot or that I didn’t go home to smoke it?”
“Both!” He roared.
“Relax, Jack. We were trying to help Sean.”
I heard a groan and looked up to see Sean, Logan, Luke, Cole, Drew, and Sebastian all standing behind Jack looking equally pissed. Alex must have just noticed the men also because she jumped up and ran over to Cole.
“Cole! You have to get me out of here!” Cole’s face went from furious to concerned.” “I need food!”
“You’re hungry?” He asked with a confused look.
“Ooh. That sounds good. Could I get some chips and salsa?” Maggie asked.
“Maybe some Doritos!” I staggered to my feet and walked eagerly toward the bars as if the food was already there waiting.
“I want a hot dog with everything on it,” Cece piped up.
“You’ll get your hot dog alright. You’re just gonna have to wait until we get home,” Logan said with a grin.
“Ladies! What are you thinking?” Anna asked.
“Finally, a voice of reason,” Luke said.
“We need donuts!” she shouted.
We all cheered along her idea, Sarah stepping forward to speak to Sean. “You must have a lot of donuts around here.”
“And why is that?” Sean asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“Well, duh. You’re cops. Aren’t donuts cop food?”
Maggie leaned forward against the bars, pulling Sebastian closer. “Baby, you’re good friends with the chief. Can you please go get us some donuts?”
“And why would I do that?”
“Well, I’ve been a good girl.”
“Freckles, how in the hell could you see this situation as being good?”
“I didn’t bring my gun, so I couldn’t shoot anyone. I didn’t raid your stash and get any grenades, even though I now know how to use them. And when the drug dealer ran away, I didn’t chase him down like I normally would have. I’d say all in all, I’ve been excellent tonight.”
“Well, I guess you can’t argue with that logic,” Sebastian said shaking his head.
“Can we get back on point here?
How on earth did you girls think you were helping me?”
“Ooh! I’ve got the answer to that one! Call on me!” I said, jumping up and down with my hand raised.
“Lil, we’re not in school. You don’t have to raise your hand.”
“I was just making sure it was my turn to talk.”
“By all means,” he said as he gestured for me to continue.
“We overheard these guys doing a drug thingy in the alley and Harper thought we could help. Then she suggested we go over and pose as women looking for a good time and see if we could pull any information out of them.”
“And did it work?” Sean asked.
“Um. I’m not sure. That dealer was staring me down and I got nervous. I think I smoked the whole joint, so I don’t really know what happened.”
“We got his card and he told us that he usually deals around the diner during the week,” Harper said triumphantly.
“How did all of you get roped into this?” Drew asked.
“Well, he wanted us to try it first and so we called the girls over to join us,” Maggie said. “We had to make it realistic.”
“Freckles, do you ever just say to yourself, “Sebastian wouldn’t like this. I should walk away.”
“Hey, it’s not like we’re married or anything. I can still do whatever I want.”
“Jack likes to think he can control me, too,” Harper snickered.
“Logan tries, but he’s the one that ends up tied up.” Cece said casually as she examined her nails.
“Don’t remind me,” Sean groaned.
“I feel like I’m missing out on a lot of information here.” I sat down on the bench next to Cece and rested my head against her shoulder.
“Don’t worry, you have another few hours to tell each other stories while I sort out this mess.”
Sean stalked away and the guys followed, grumbling about their women and how we all needed to be put on short leashes.
“Where are you going? Are you bringing us donuts?” Maggie shouted.
✯✯✯✯✯
After getting a major scolding from the police chief, we were all released and sent home. He decided that while our actions were horrible, our intentions were well meaning and he dropped the charges based on the information we were able to obtain. Sean let me know on the way out that we really hadn’t gotten them much of anything useful and the chief was really just being nice. He also suggested that I take tomorrow off of work and get my head on straight. I got the distinct impression that he was upset with me.
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