Spiked by Love (Bellevue Bullies #6) - Toni Aleo Page 0,95

of this, I brought my sisters to help me pick out something for Ally.

I want tonight to be special. I don’t know if it was talking to my dad or what, but I want her to know I really care for her. Hell, I might even love her if she loved me. But just thinking that has me breaking out in a sweat. It may freak me out, but letting her go, or losing her, freaks me out even more. I need to figure this shit out. I need a little more time.

I pull into a spot and turn off the car. I glance over at Stella, watching her slowly let go of the side of the car like a damn frightened cat with its claws attached to something. “You all right there?”

She isn’t all right. “I don’t like how low this car is or how you drive.”

Emery pops her head in between us. “I thought it was awesome. Can I have this car when you get a new one?”

I give her a look. “I just got this one.”

“Yeah, but you’ll upgrade by the time I’m sixteen. So, I can have it, right?”

I blink. I could argue that it’s only a year and God help anyone on the road with her, but I just nod. “Yup.”

“Cool,” she gushes as she wiggles her shoulders. “So, what are we doing?”

Stella slowly grabs for her purse, and I ask, “I have a question.” They both look at me, and I’m nervous all of a sudden. Maybe I should have brought Aiden? But he isn’t here, so that’s the reason I didn’t call him. Also, he makes huge gestures to make girls feel good, like singing to them and shit. While I’m not about that life, I do want to do something for Ally. “Um, do girls like when you send them songs?”

“Send them songs? Like a mixtape?” Stella asks, her brow cocked.

“You do know it’s not the nineties, right?” Emery asks. “We send nudes on Snapchat.”

I blink as Stella snorts. “If I find out you’ve sent nudes, Emery, I will kill you.”

She grins. “You’ll never know,” she singsongs, and Stella rolls her eyes.

“She’s just messing with you,” she reassures me, and I believe it to be true with the way Emery is now laughing. “To answer your question, though, yeah, girls like it. I had a guy send me a song on Spotify once, and we totally hooked up.”

“Guys don’t talk to me,” Emery says with a shrug. “But if they did, I’d demand all the songs. I love how sometimes words aren’t enough, but when you put them to music, they’re awesome.”

I look between the two of them. What the hell did I get myself into? “I have a lot of thoughts, but I can’t right now.”

They both shrug, like twins. “Okay.”

“I’m having second thoughts.”

Stella has apparently recovered from her near-death experience because she smacks me playfully. “Come on, let us help you. Are you into someone?”

Emery snorts. “Duh.”

“How do you know?” she snarks at Emery, who grins.

“I heard Aiden tell Dad who Asher is sleeping with.”

I gawk at her, and Stella glares. “And you didn’t tell me?”

“I was waiting for you to have something I needed, and I was planning to use the information as leverage.”

The girl is going to take over the world. Confused, I ask, “How did you hear? I heard Aiden called Dad.”

She nods. “He had it on speakerphone when he was outside pulling weeds. I listened.”

Stella holds up her hand, and they high-five like Pinky and the fucking Brain. Problem is, I don’t know which is which. “I feel violated.”

“It’s okay,” Emery says, waving me off. “But I think Ally would love a song—”

Before she can even finish, Stella is screaming, “It’s Ally? This is information I needed!”

My head hurts. I cup my face, inhaling through my hands. Emery laughs loudly. “I know, right? Isn’t it awesome?”

“So awesome! Oh my God, I called it. I knew they couldn’t keep up this charade.”

“Right! According to Aiden, though, they just recently started sleeping together.”

“No way! Surely it’s been longer.”

“Nope. She kissed him after he fought Taco.”

“Yes! That’s my girl. Oh my God, this is amazing. Y’all are, like, perfect together. Power couple. And so much better than Shelli and Aiden.”

“Yes, girl, so much better. I bet their wedding won’t be a circus.”

“Oh no, it’s gonna be all low-key and romantic. Ugh, I can’t wait.”

Meanwhile, as my sisters go back and forth, I’m slowly sliding down in my seat until