My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 273

Chapter 273

Gianna

“Ugh, don’t look at me. I was a literal public health hazard before the kiddos made a mother out of me,” Claire groaned, her stylus stabbing at her iPad like she was trying to draw blood, “I used to throw parties that would make a rock star check into rehab. Pure, unadulterated carnage.”

Maddie sat perfectly still, holding her porcelain cup, “I like picnics. And tea parties. The kind of events where people use napkins and nobody ends up in a holding cell. Your parties honestly scared the life out of me, Claire I thought I was witnessing the fall of Rome.”

Claire let out a dramatic wail, rolling her eyes toward the ceiling, “I am boring now, Maddie! My parties are extremely tame. It’s mostly toddlers screaming into cupcakes and me hiding in the pantry with my husband. It’s basically a convent.”

Maddie grinned, “And they are so fun. I’ve never felt more safe.”

Suddenly, Claire snapped her head toward me, her eyes narrowed, “Gianna. Settle this. Tell me you aren’t a tea party girl. Please tell me you have a pulse, or Maddie is going to successfully convert me to her cult of Nicenism. I can feel my soul turning into a lace doily.”

My mind took a nose dive into the dark. I thought of the ragers Leone used to host, the kind where the air tasted like expensive vodka and bad intentions.

I thought of the college parties I’d attended, staying just long enough before retreating to my room to study. With my dyslexia, I couldn’t afford to lose a single brain cell to a hangover.

Then there were the other parties. The ones where I wasn’t an invitee, but the entertainment. I had seen the world with its clothes off, and it wasn’t a tea party, and none of it ever scared me.

I felt a slow smile pull at my lips, my eyes locking onto Claire’s, “Sorry, Maddie,” I murmured, “But I’m with the mother of carnage on this one. If there isn’t at least a fifty-percent chance of the police showing up, is it even a party?”

Claire let out a loud laugh, nearly dropping her iPad, “Yes! Thank you! I knew there was something delightfully wrong with you!”

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