Relinquishing Liberty by Maureen Mayer Read Free Book Online Page B

falling into place. Work had been great, and I raked in so much money in tips alone that I might’ve already had enough to cover my half of the rent next month. Brett and Maddie had become such an important part of my life. Who would’ve thought Maddie and I would become such great friends? It had taken a lot of patience on my part…A LOT…but living with her had surprisingly been a lot of fun.
    Maddie informed me yesterday that Brett was planning on throwing me a birthday party at his place tonight. Our apartment wasn’t big enough to hold a large group of people, and since Brett and Maddie were really the only people I knew here, the party would consist of all their friends. Unfortunately that meant I’d actually have to socialize, which I was so not looking forward to. This was going to require a lot of alcohol.
    Somehow Maddie worked her magic and got Bob to let all three of us have the day off. Maddie also took it upon herself to drag me to the mall to get a new outfit for tonight; she said it was her gift to me. The makeover, on the other hand, I wasn’t too thrilled about. I didn’t like to do anything crazy with my hair or wear too much makeup, but I had no control whatsoever over this. It was all in Maddie’s hands, or rather her friend Carrie’s, who worked at the salon where she made an appointment for me.
    “Here, try these on, and I’ll grab you some more!” She ran off through the store before I could protest. Maddie was like a kid in a candy store. She was clearly in her element. Staring at the options in my hand, I had no idea how I was going to pull this off. I was pretty short, but those dresses looked like they’d barely cover my ass!
    “Come out and show me when you have it on!” Maddie squealed.
    I did NOT feel comfortable in those clothes at all. Give me a pair of jeans with a tank top and hoodie, and I was set. Too bad that wasn’t going to fly with Maddie because she was determined to squeeze me into as little material as possible. I shimmied into the last dress after having tried them on for over an hour. Even if the dress looked hideous on me I was leaving the store with it. Anything to get me out that shopping nightmare!
    I exited the fitting room, pulling the dress down as much as I could without much success. It was a skintight jungle-green dress with lacey straps and a completely exposed back.
    “Ohmigod! You look so freakin’ hot girl! You have to get that one!”
    I rolled my eyes. “Seriously, Maddie, I can’t even bend over in this. I don’t want everyone staring at my ass all night.”
    “Are you kidding me? I’d kill for an ass like yours!” Maddie slapped my ass causing me to yelp. “You’re gorgeous, but sometimes guys need a little extra incentive to get their attention. You know, you’ve been here a week, and you haven’t met any guys other than my brother and his roommates. We need to change that…like now!”
    “Actually I did meet this one guy…”
    “What!? You met a guy and didn’t tell me!?” She pushed my shoulders so hard, I almost fell back into the fitting room. “Details , woman!”
    “Well…I met him on the beach by accident last week. I went for a run and got distracted. Next thing I knew, I crashed straight into him. It was so embarrassing, Maddie. Seriously, I was mortified!”
    “So let me get this straight…you met this guy last week , and I’m just hearing about it now!? What the fuck, Liberty! Okay, I should have done this the first day you moved in, but I think it’s time we went over the roommate rules. Rule number one: when you meet a hot guy, you inform your roommate within five minutes of meeting said hottie!”
    I had to cut Maddie off before she continued on with her ridiculous list of rules. “Maddie, there wasn’t much to tell you the first time I saw him.”
    “First time!? Oh girl, this is just getting worse by the second! Liberty , tell me everything or so help me—”
    “Okay, okay! We ran into each other one