Terry ignored her. “Wright, is there a reason you felt the need to bring Gretchen over here?” He pushed past my flirty friend and plopped on the couch.
“She’s spending the night with me,” I replied, distracted. I was searching for the picks for Game 4.
“There’s no Game 4 set up yet,” Terry clarified when I asked.
“Yeah, but shouldn’t they have the list of girls by now. They had those pretty early for the other games,” I replied.
Terry shook his head. “Maybe they’re spooked. I mean, look at those scores. Well, lack of scores. Maybe they know something’s up, and they’re laying low.”
Gretchen sidled over to the couch and sat next to Terry. “I like your tats.”
I rolled my eyes.
“I like them, too,” Terry replied, then moved farther down the couch.
Terry wouldn’t talk to me for weeks after I brought Gretchen to his house for the first time. Yes, I shouldn’t have exposed him, but I trusted Gretchen, and we were on our way to the mall. It would have been really freaking inconvenient to make her wait in the car or drop her off somewhere to wait for me while I picked up new information Terry had for me. He eventually forgave me once he learned he enjoyed flirting with my friend.
“Now’s probably a good time, then, huh?” I asked.
“What, to blow the whole lid?” Terry replied.
I nodded, and he shrugged.
“I’m sorry you couldn’t get all the evidence you wanted, Brooke,” Terry said. He sounded genuinely apologetic.
“It’s all right. I can be content with this.”
“Any of those girls willing to come forward?” he asked.
“I only talked to two of them, and you’re right. It’s unfair to ask them to expose themselves with little to no evidence. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“You were thinking that those boys are assholes who deserve to be punished. There’s nothing wrong with that,” Gretchen said. “I’m proud of you, Brookey.”
I smiled. “Well, I guess I’ll get all the documents together and then figure out who I want to send them to.”
“Do you realize how huge this’ll be?” Gretchen asked. Excitement underlined her words.
“I don’t know how huge,” I admitted. “But I hope it encourages some girls to speak up.”
Terry nodded. “I just want you to be safe about it.”
“Yeah yeah,” I said, dismissing him with a wave of my hand. “You always say that, and I’m always safe.” I never did tell Terry about my terrifying pool experience with Tim.
Gretchen leaned into Terry. “So when are you asking me out on a date? It’s obvious you like me. That’s why you’re mean to me and ignore me all the time.”
“All the time?” Terry asked, amused. “I’ve hung out with you a total of four times. And you’re too young for me.”
“So you do like me!” Gretchen said, trapping Terry at the end of the couch and resting her head on his shoulder.
“I’m thirty-six,” Terry said, and I watched as he struggled with the desire to put his arm around my very pretty friend.
“I like them older,” she cooed, nuzzling his neck.
“Oh my God. I’m still in the room,” I said.
Gretchen sat up laughing. “I’m just playing around, Brooke! Jeez, I’m nineteen. Can you imagine? It’d be like that Sex and the City episode when Samantha dates that old fart. Remember? She tried to have sex with him but then she caught sight of his flabby ass in the light?”
Terry looked outraged, and I couldn’t hide my grin.
“I don’t have a flabby ass,” he snapped.
Gretchen cocked her head and smiled demurely. “You wanna do me, don’t you?”
“Stop!” I screamed. “I can’t listen to anymore of this!”
“What does Ryan think about the Fantasy Slut League?” Gretchen asked, changing the subject. It was completely unexpected and made my heart jump.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Gretchen’s eyes went wide with disbelief. “You haven’t told him any of this stuff?!”
“I didn’t know I was supposed to,” I replied.
“Brookey, he’s your boyfriend, for Christ’s sake! You’re sleeping with him.”
“Oh God,” Terry groaned.
“And you don’t tell him about this sex league?” Gretchen looked offended.
“Why should I? I didn’t want him worrying, and I didn’t want to involve him. It’s not his thing, okay?” I said.
The truth was that I didn’t want to involve Ryan in the things I knew about Cal and his friends because I liked having him separated from it. I liked that I could escape it all when I was with him, and there was no way in hell I was giving that up.
“But he could have been helping you this whole time!” Gretchen argued. “He could have spied on them or something.”
“I don’t think so,” I countered. “Cal hates his guts. Ryan wouldn’t be able to get anywhere near him.”