Screwed by Laurie Plissner Read Free Book Online

Jennifer had predicted Betsy and Brad would react badly — what else could you expect from the Cheerleaders for Chastity Belts — but even she wouldn’t have guessed that they would be so coldhearted that they would shut Grace out with a total silent treatment right when she needed them most. So much for Christian charity and the Golden Rule. Jennifer had always known they were full of shit, and it only confirmed her suspicion of religion and religious types in general.
    BATHING SUIT!? DON’T MAKE IT WORSE.
    HE’S IN THE WATER. YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO SWIM FOR IT. DON’T WORRY. YOU DON’T SHOW YET.
    After she put her phone back in her bag, Jennifer floated in the water, keeping an eye on her quarry. There was no way she was going to let Nick Salter, a.k.a. Scum of the Earth, get away with this. If Grace couldn’t talk Nick into doing the right thing, and paying for it, Jennifer was ready to castrate him with the pocketknife hanging from her key chain. Looking at her watch, she swam back to shore to meet Grace and give her a last-minute pep talk. Grace’s car was already there, under a tree at one end of the lot. When Jennifer walked up to the parked car, Grace’s forehead was resting on the steering wheel. The windows were all closed in spite of the August heat, and for a second Jennifer wondered if Grace was breathing. Frightened, she tapped frantically on the glass, and Grace lifted her head with a start.
    Opening the car door, Grace said, “I’m sorry. I was trying to psych myself up. But I think I just ended up hyperventilating.”
    “You’ll be fine once you confront him.” Jennifer didn’t believe that for a second, but what else could she say? Telling Grace this was only the beginning of her nightmare might be a more accurate assessment, but it would definitely not encourage her friend to march into the water. At the moment, Grace needed all the help she could get, which included lying.
    “I haven’t seen him since the night we ….” Grace’s voice trailed off.
    “Don’t think about that. Just give him the facts. Try not to cry. Ask him for the money. Arrange a time to get it from him, and let’s move on. The sooner you talk to him, the sooner you can get him, every little piece of him, out of your life.” At the moment, the only thing Jennifer had to offer was a confident voice and her anal-retentive organizational skills.
    “If you see me flailing around on my way out to the dock, promise me you’ll let me drown.” Grace was only half-joking.
    “As your best friend in the whole world, I promise to let you go to a watery grave.” Jennifer held out her hand, and the two girls sealed their pledge with a pinky swear. After giving Grace a light kiss on the forehead, Jennifer gently swatted her butt. “Now scoot. Get it over with.”
    Silver Lake had been Grace’s favorite place to spend summer afternoons since before she could swim, but after today she wondered if she would ever want to come back. Now the late summer sun glinting off the water was like a spotlight highlighting her mortification. There was no place to hide, and she felt certain that all the kids sunning themselves on the patch of rocky beach could see inside her to that tiny bean that was growing larger every minute, every hour. Feeling vulnerable and fat in her skintight Speedo, Grace waded into the cool, clear water. No breeze ruffled the lake, leaving the surface like a sheet of smoky glass, and Grace cut cleanly through it as she swam toward the floating dock, wishing lakes had sharks and that one would appear and bite her in half — anything to avoid what came next, which she knew was ridiculous, because how could she be afraid to talk to someone who had already seen her naked, been inside her, and how could she be afraid when the scariest thing in the world had already happened?
    Five yards short of the floating dock Grace treaded water, watching Nick and some girl wearing a bikini that consisted of a few strings and