On the Plus Side (Chubby Girl Chronicles Book 1) Read online

  Thankfully, before I could start removing any clothing, Shannon, her roommate, came crashing through the front door. I sat up quickly, pulling Lilly up with me, neither of us able to catch a good breath. Shannon, my savior, couldn’t have come home at a better time.

  “Holy shit! I’m so freaking sorry!” she yelled out, while covering her eyes. “I’m going straight to my room, I swear.” She fumbled through the apartment with her eyes covered and knocked over a floor plant.

  I took that opportunity to make a break for it. “No, Shannon, I was actually about to leave.”

  I looked over at Lilly and gave her my best sorry look before I jumped off the couch. I’d never let it go this far with her again. Leaning down, I gave her a quick, impersonal kiss on the lips before walking toward the front door. It was the least I could do considering I was practically dry humping her less than a minute ago.

  I had to get away—she was too much for me right now. As if her glazed-over bedroom eyes weren’t enough to get me going, those luscious lips waiting for me to kiss them definitely were.

  Looking back at her before opening the front door, I couldn’t miss the confused look on her face. “I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?” I said

  I didn’t even wait for her reply; I just walked out the door.

  I was a slut. Not just an ordinary slut, I meant a dirty, nasty, get-freaky-on-the-first-date kind of slut. This was a shocking realization for me, considering I technically had my first kiss tonight, as well as almost lost my virginity. I was totally about to let him have his way with me. Actually, I was practically begging him to give it to me. I just met him a week ago for freak’s sake! Who did that? Apparently, I did!

  The sad part was that I liked being a slut, which put me on a whole other level of slutdom… a slutty slut. I blamed hormones.

  Meanwhile, I had the best night of my life. Devin was everything that I could ever dream of. I really hoped he asked me out again. That was if I didn’t scare him off with my looseness. I couldn’t even believe how I responded to him. Talk about embarrassing!

  Shannon said it was completely normal. I said I was a horn dog on the loose… a horn dog that was starving after he left. I wasn’t sure why I was afraid to eat in front of him on our date. The man could look at me and clearly see that I ate everything that wasn’t bolted down. Yeah… that was dumb of me. I should have stuffed my face. I wouldn’t want to give off false advertisement or anything.

  Now, it was time to play the waiting game. Either he’d call or not—I was sure as hell not calling him. I already looked like a crazy sex fiend. I thought adding desperate bitch to that title wasn’t the greatest idea.

  In any case, the ball was in his court on this one and every part of me, including my deprived girl parts, was praying that he played.

  I spent the day after our date replaying the whole night over and over in my head. I should’ve done this differently, I shouldn’t have said this, and I wondered if he meant this when he said that. Oh my God, talk about pure hell.

  Shannon’s been laughing at me because I’ve been stuck in Devin dreamland all damned day. I even gave in and went shopping—me… the bitch that loathed shopping, but I wanted to be prepared. I wanted to sex myself up just in case I got a chance to run into Mr. Dead Sexy again.

  Shannon picked a sexy red top that barely covered my boobs and a pair of black pants that, I had to admit, made me look two sizes smaller. Anything that made your ass shrink was a good thing when you were a solid size twenty.

  I picked out a cute pair of strappy, black shoes with a two-inch heel. Then we spent the rest of the day getting our nails and hair done. My mother would have died if she knew.

  By the time we got back home, we had bags and boxes galore, new hair, and huge smiles on our faces. We did a quick cleaning job on the apartment, threw together a quick, unhealthy dinner followed by something smothered in chocolate, and then spent the rest of the night in front of the TV.

  I spent the entire time checking my phone to make sure I had a signal or that my battery wasn’t dead. My phone was fine and yet, there was still no phone call.

  That night I barely slept.

  The following day, Sunday, I opened the store for Mrs. Franklin and spent the day stuck to the front counter with my phone beside me. I was getting pretty pathetic, and by the end of the day, I decided to give up on the thought that he might call. It was a fun night and that was all it would ever be. I decided to let it bounce off me and forget about him, his mind-blowing green eyes, his soft kisses, and…

  “Okay, you’re doing it again, Lilly!” I said out loud to the empty store.

  Valerie, Mrs. Franklin’s niece who comes over twice a week to go over the books, came from the back of the store.

  “Did you say something, sweetie?” she asked, confused.

  “Just talking to myself,” I said as I swiped my bangs from my eyes.

  “Gotcha… want to go grab some lunch?”

  I couldn’t even pretend like I had an appetite. “Nah, I’m good—rain check for next week?”

  I spent the rest of the day selling jewelry when and if we had a customer. If it wasn’t for me randomly buying expensive pieces of jewelry every now and again, I think Franklin’s would’ve closed months ago.

  It was worth it to me, and I was sure the children’s charities that received anonymous expensive diamond rings and necklaces were happy about it. I always sent to children’s charities. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I couldn’t have kids.

  I remember how sad I was when the doctor told me that I’d never bear children. Apparently, if you got kicked repeatedly in the lower part of your stomach by a bunch of angry teenage girls, it caused internal bleeding as well as affected your ability to reproduce. The memories of that day six years ago still stung.

  I thought I’d made some new friends when, in reality, they called me to their little meeting in the woods to let me know they didn’t like me very much. I’d never been called so many horrible names in my life and after a while, I didn’t even feel the kicking anymore. I should have known then that something was wrong.

  “I’ll sue those little bitches for everything they have!” My mom was irate when she found out what had happened.

  “Mom, they’re a bunch of teenagers… they don’t have anything at this point in their lives. Just let it go.”

  That was exactly what I did. There was no way in the world I’d let those girls know what they’d taken away from me. Instead, I switched schools and never saw any of them ever again. Yeah, it was the coward’s way out, but if I had said anything, I would’ve been hated by the entire student body for the last three years of my high school life for getting rid of half the cheerleading squad.

  It was a memory that I kept hidden in the back of my mind, but I’d always be reminded of that day every time I saw a cute little baby smiling back at me. I got sad just thinking about how lonely I was going to be when I got older. I dreamed of having a huge family with tons of kids that I could love who’d love me in return.

  The girls, and Randy, said I could always adopt. Honestly though, who in their right mind would give a single woman a child? No matter that I was a secret millionaire—a child should have a family, a mom and a dad. At least, that was the way it was in normal families. Then again, I grew up with a relatively “normal” family and look how shitty I turned out.

  The following night, we all met at McCrady’s, the Irish pub close to my house. They were having karaoke, and I tried really hard to have a good time even though all I could think about was how stupid I was to think that I stood a chance with such a good-looking guy like Devin.

  Deep down, I wished that I’d never even gone on the date in the first place. At least then, I wouldn’t be sitting around wondering if I said or did something wrong. Or worse than that, I wouldn’t be sitting around picking out all of my flaws and cursing my fat ass.

  Even with my craptastic mood, I couldn’t help but laugh hysterically when Randy g
ot on stage and sung “Like a Virgin.” Not only was it funny because, well… he was a guy singing Madonna better than Madonna sung Madonna, but Randy was so far from being a virgin that it just wasn’t even right.

  That night, I managed to get some sleep thanks to the few beers I drank while out with the girls.

  Soon, it was Tuesday, and I had pretty much forgotten about Devin. I was planning to spend my wonderful day working at the store. I had this whole “rearrange the store” day in the works. It was in need of a mini makeover, plus it was time to start putting out seasonal stuff.

  Since today was Shannon’s day off, I’d have the entire store to myself. Even though I wasn’t supposed to, I turned the radio station to something that wasn’t boring and then sang softly to myself as I decorated.

  I was standing on the stepping stool behind the counter, putting up the fall decorations, when the little bell on the front door opened. I turned to see who it was before getting down and lost my balance when I saw Devin staring back at me.

  It had been four days since I’d talked to Lilly.

  Did I feel bad about it? Yes.

  Was it the right decision? Hell yes.

  She was a good girl, and she didn’t deserve to be manipulated. We needed that money something serious, but I didn’t have it in me to do what Mrs. Rich Bitch was asking me to do, not to Lilly. Caring about someone else’s feelings wasn’t really my thing, but doing that to her was the equivalent of kicking a kitten. I hated cats, but I wasn’t that much of a bastard.

  I finished up an oil change and then went over the books for the garage. It was bad… really bad. It wouldn’t be long before we’d be packing up everything and living on the streets.

  I sensed the evil in the room before I looked up and saw the she-devil herself standing in the middle of the garage. By her expression, you would’ve thought we were standing in a pile of dead animals and maggots. I pushed myself away from the broken-down metal desk and walked over to her.

  “What can I do for you?” I asked. I didn’t want to seem too familiar with her in case Dad popped up outside.

  “Oh, you’ve done quite well already. I’m just here to give you your first installment. A deal’s a deal, right?” She held out a check and, from afar, I could see the long line of zeros.

  I shook the bad thoughts out of my head and mentally flicked the little asshole devil from my right shoulder. “I don’t want that. I’m not doing it.”

  I saw raw anger flicker in her gaze before she quickly plastered a false smile on her thin lips that never reached her eyes. “What do you mean, you’re not doing it?”

  “She’s a nice girl, and I don’t feel right about it, okay?” I turned to walk away before the check could draw me any nearer. It was a like a tractor beam pulling on my back.

  “I talked to Mr. Schaefer the other day, you remember him, don’t you? He was the man that had you arrested. He’s agreed to help you as long as I give my word. I guess it’s true what they say… money talks.”

  “Look, lady, I said I can’t do it.”

  “You’re a little too close to losing everything to suddenly develop a conscious, don’t you think?” she growled. “Don’t be stupid. Take the deal I’m offering you. You’d be the most selfish man alive if you didn’t—your poor little sister and dad living on the streets when you could’ve prevented it. Trust me, I know my daughter. She’d approve if she knew how close you were to living in that thing you call a car.”

  Her words attacked my brain waves and then started to seep in. As much as I hated to admit it, she was right. I had to do this, for my family more than anything. Maybe she was also right about Lilly. She’d understand after she got over the hurt, right?

  “Let’s get this over with before your father gets anymore dirt on my BMW. At least, I assume that’s your father outside drowning his sorrows in that can of beer out front.”

  I looked outside and she was right, my dad was out there, running his grimy fingers down the side of her expensive car. He was definitely drunk. I guessed he was giving up just like I was, except now I refused to give up. There was no other way. I reached out my hand to her.

  “Give me the damn check,” I said dryly.

  “There’s a good boy.” She smirked before turning and walking away.

  “What a bitch,” I said out loud to myself.

  Two hours later, I was outside of Franklin’s again. I shook the tension out of my shoulders and checked my clothes. What the hell kind of excuse was I going to give her for not calling for four days? I reached out my hand and pushed the door open. Guessed I’d just have to wing it.

  I saw her standing on a stepping stool of some sort behind the counter. She was hanging fake swags of yellow and orange fall leaves and flowers. She immediately turned toward the door as I came through it. I watched as she lost her footing and fell. She disappeared behind the counter when she hit the floor. Running over to the counter, I jumped over it quickly. The bright red blood all over her leg and floor was a direct contrast to the gray carpeting behind the counter.

  “Are you okay?”

  It was a stupid question seeing that her pants and her leg were ripped open. She was most definitely not okay.

  She looked like she was fighting back tears while she reached down and very slowly rolled what was left of her pants leg up.

  “Ouch!” She jerked her hand back. “I think I caught the edge of the glass-top counter there,” she hissed. “Apparently, it’s pretty sharp.”

  I ran into the employee bathroom in the back of the store and grabbed as many paper towels as I could. “Here, let me help you.” I reached down to help clean the blood.

  She jerked away quickly like she had been burned. This let me know she was seriously pissed off at me, and I couldn’t blame her. I’d be pissed, too, if I were her.

  “I got it, thanks.” Her words were clipped and not once did she look at me.

  I watched as she wiped up blood from her leg and the floor around her. She wouldn’t let me help, no matter how many times I insisted, but when she almost fell trying to get up, I reached out and held her up, regardless of her complaining. Once we got her settled into a comfortable chair, she let me move the napkins and look at the huge cut down the side of her leg, which was still pouring blood.

  “We gotta get you to a hospital. I hate to tell you this, babe, but you’re gonna need stitches.”

  She still looked like she was about to cry, but no tears ever came.

  “It’s just a scratch,” she said. “It’ll be fine—I’ll just have to put a lot of Band-Aids on it.”

  The expression on her face as she looked down at her bleeding leg let me know she knew she was going to need stitches as well. I recognized the exact moment that she resigned herself to a hospital trip. She shook her head and tried to get up from the chair.

  “I need to lock up first.”

  She stood up to get the store locked and hissed loudly at the pain from her leg.

  “I’ll do it. Just tell me what to do,” I offered.

  She talked me through locking the front door, and then I pulled down the closed sign. While I was doing that, she called the owner of the store, telling her that she needed to leave and explaining why. I heard the lady on the other end of the line going crazy with worry.

  I finally convinced her to let me take her to the hospital and, soon, we were on the way. There were no words spoken between us once we were in my car. The talkative, giddy girl from our date was nowhere in sight. With her wincing in pain every couple of minutes, I figured now wasn’t the best time to lie about why I disappeared off the face of the earth. It was going to have to be something good—something that tugged on her heartstrings.

  When we got to the hospital, they took her straight back. She didn’t say anything when I followed.

  “Mrs. Sheffield, I’m going to need you to remove your pants, so I can get a better look at this.” The ER doctor looked younger than we did.

  She peeked over in my direction
, still not looking me in the face, and then took a deep, conflicted breath. Instead of taking her pants off in front of me like the doctor asked, she reached down and ripped her pant leg off from the knee down.

  I watched as the doctor cleaned the wound and was really surprised by how big it was. It was going to leave one hell of a scar, that was for sure.

  “Yep, we’re definitely going to have to stitch you up. Let’s get you numbed up first,” he said as he pulled out a needle.

  “Don’t numb me… just stitch me up, Doc,” she hissed as she turned her leg.

  The doctor looks surprised for a second. “Are you sure, sweetie? This is going to hurt.”

  “I’m sure.”

  “Well, you may want to hold your boyfriend’s hand.”

  A soft blush covered her cheeks, and I covered a smirk.

  “He’s not my boyfriend.”

  She peeked over in my direction once more; again, her eyes never reached my face. I wanted to make her look at me.

  I watched as she flinched and gripped the sides of the hospital bed. Gritting her teeth, she made tiny hissing noises every time the needle went into her skin. She was in horrible pain, but not once did she cry—her eyes didn’t even water.

  I lost count of the many stitches she received. I was too busy trying to stay in my seat. Part of me wanted to hold her hand and be there for her, but the tiny, anti-Devin sign she was wearing kept my ass in my chair. I had the feeling I’d get bitten if I went anywhere near a wounded Lilly.

  They gave her crutches and pain medicine, and then I was helping her to my car. The ride back to her apartment seemed to take forever. I had to break the silence soon—this was crazy. I’d never had any problems talking to a female. Fixing cars aside, smooth talking the ladies was always easy for me.

  I turned the radio down. “Lilly, I’m sorry I didn’t call. I know you’re pissed off at me and…” I started.