She wanted to argue. She needed to convince him to change his mind but when she made the first move, one step in his direction, he quickly stopped her with the words intended for someone behind her.
“Vicky, how long have you been standing there?” He painted on a crooked smile.
“Long enough to know I interrupted something you both need to reconsider.”
It was after midnight, and the girls ruled the Cartwell house. Vicky sat down beside Peyton and flipped through a magazine. “You’re going to have to think about what you’re doing here, Peyton.”
”It’s all I think about.”
“You don’t understand. You don’t know what they’ve been through or the impact their mother had on the men around here. Now, you’re doing the same thing.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Do you even know what happened to their fathers?”
“Of course, I know.”
“Do you realize they all have Cartwell blood running through their veins because they’re not only half-brothers but cousins too?”
She swallowed tightly. “No, I didn’t know about…I never thought to ask. How did you know?”
Vicky tossed the magazine on the bed. “Wanna know why my father is an alcoholic?” The question, while it appeared randomly selected, had a purpose.
Peyton studied her friend. Vicky seldom talked about her father or his drinking problem. She also never mentioned that on occasion he beat her and her mother. She just didn’t talk about it or him, at all.
“Sometimes, I think Braden is kinder to me because of what he knows his mother did to wreck my father’s life,” Vicky continued.
“What are you saying, Vicky?”
“My father and their mother had some kind of fling too. Peyton, just like you, she could have any man she wanted. Many of them were married, my father, for instance. She didn’t care. She taunted them with short skirts, low tops, promises of passion. From what I understand, she dressed up the part and played it out well. Women around here hated her.”
“She destroyed lives, though. I don’t plan on-”
“Peyton, stop it. You are doing the exact same thing she did. You aren’t making a choice so what you’re doing is giving three men hope. Three men are staying bound to you, hoping you’ll choose one over the other.”
“It’s not like that,” she said. “All of the Cartwell men were married to other women and sneaking around. It was a mess from the very beginning. I’m not anything like their mother.”
Vicky’s voice dropped when she heard five or six girls chatting it up before they ran into the room. “You’re asking for a lot of trouble here, Peyton. You have to make a choice.”
One of the girls dropped to the floor with her hand over her chest. “So help me God, if I can sneak out of your room tonight, I’m going to crawl into Kane Cartwell’s bed and do him dirty.”
Peyton glared at her friend. Everyone else giggled, and someone else popped up with more promises.
“You can have Kane. Mr. Personality doesn’t do a lot for me. I’m taking on Evan, and so help me, I’m going to find out if what they say is true!”
Peyton stared at the petite brunette. “What have you heard?” She cleared her throat. She only dared imagine.
The giggling stopped abruptly. Peyton twisted around on the bed so she was sprawled across the comforter with her stomach flat against the mattress. She bent her knees and crossed her ankles high above her bottom.
“What do you care?” Sarcasm oozed with her friend’s saucy rebuttal, and Vicky raised her eyebrows.
Peyton shrugged, “I don’t. I just like to know anything and everything I can on them. A girl never knows when she might have some use for great ammunition to fire their way. Sometimes, I’m telling you, I need an arsenal of come-backs and a whole lot of private knowledge.”
The girl lowered her voice and scooted across the carpet. Using her palms she pushed herself up from the floor. “I’ve heard he does the threesome thing.”
Peyton damn near choked on the soda she barely swallowed before her friend revealed what she knew. “Threesome?”
Vicky’s eyes were wide too, and wild with understanding. “I’m sure it’s nothing but a tall tale.”
Peyton probed for more. “As in a threesome with one girl and two guys or as in three guys or two girls and…?”
“Shoot, Peyton, I don’t know. What difference does it make?”
As if he’d been standing there the whole time, Evan stuck his head inside her door and grinned from ear to ear. “Yeah, Peyton, if it’s true-what difference does it make?”
All heads turned toward Peyton, and she refused to answer him in front of her friends. They all knew she had a silly school-girl crush on him when he was in high school. Now, it was more, far more. She slid off the bed and glanced down at her friends. “Come on. Let’s get into to some trouble.”
As she passed by Evan, she smiled, patted his cheek and then leaned in with a few words to keep him up late at night. “It makes a big difference, Evan. Ask Kane.”
She wiggled her butt, laughed out loud and chased her friends downstairs. She never looked back but she wouldn’t forget the look in his eyes, the twinkle she saw in them when he leaned in her room. Evan Cartwell wanted to know what she thought about a threesome.
Now, she only had to convince him adding one more would surely sweeten the pie then she’d talk to Braden again. She wanted her cake and wanted to put the icing on it too. Braden was the frosting. Evan, while challenging, was already waiting by the bed.
“Truth or dare?” It was Peyton’s turn. She hated these silly games. Every slumber party she attended, someone mentioned this game. She decided it was a way for one girl to hold something over another girl’s head. Yeah, she’d take the dare. After one night with Kane, she damn sure didn’t want to tell her new truths.
“Dare.” She held her breath. Vicky shook her head.
“Dare or double dare?” Freda, one of Vicky’s friends, added a new twist to an old game.
If Peyton chose the dare, then it would be a ridiculous one, no doubt. If she chose a double dare then someone else had to participate and if the dare was humiliating then she didn’t have to go down in history as the only one with flushed cheeks.
Freda wrote down the dare and passed it off to Vicky. “Dare or double dare, Peyton?” Freda asked smugly. Vicky opened the folded paper. She immediately shook her head and groaned.
“Double dare.” Peyton grabbed the bowl of popcorn and tossed a handful at Vicky.
“Great.” Freda turned around and pointed at Vicky. “Since you wanted to warn her about the dare, then you can read it, and you can join her.”
Vicky tossed the paper on the floor. “Look, I’m not doing it. Braden will have a fit.”
Peyton giggled. “Here, let me see it.” She took the paper from another girl’s hand and read it. “Give Evan a blowjob while someone watches.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
Freda shook her head. “Everyone knows he’s got it bad for you. Might as well break the ice while you have moral support!” She opened her arms wide and moved from side to side demonstrating where she’d find her support system.
“You’re funny, Freda. I bet you had this dare in mind before you were dropped off here tonight.”
Peyton and Vicky took games far too serious and everyone there realized it. The girls seldom backed away from a challenging prank.
Vicky had a reputation for giving head, and since Peyton was even considering it, she must’ve lost her mind somewhere back at the docks. Yeah, she lost it all right, and she needed someone to help her find it. By the looks of the dare in front of them, they had a worthy candidate-Evan.
Vicky smirked. She probably understood this wasn’t a dare Peyton wanted to refuse. If she declined, then she’d face three truths to tell and Vicky would still have the dare, along with someone else, any one of them who might give Evan a nice blowjob.