Free Pushing the Boundaries (Picking up the Pieces #3) by Jessica Prince

and had Kenzie snap another picture then posted it to Facebook. I wasn’t the best artist in the world, but I had no doubt Trevor would be able to tell they were boobs. Even if they looked like they’d been drawn by a second-grader.
    And I felt like I could breathe again.

    “What do you mean, you aren’t coming?” my mom asked through the phone. “You have to come! The damn dinner is for y’all!”
    “I didn’t think Nana was serious about having a celebration dinner!”
    “Well, now you know, so your perky little ass better be there tonight. You know what’ll happen if you’re a no-show.”
    I couldn’t keep my eyes from rolling back in my head as I repeated the threat she’d been making since I was a teenager. “Yeah, Mom. You’ll hunt my ass down and make me wish I’d never been born.”
    Imagine what my teen years had been like.
    You sneak out of this house, I’ll hunt your ass down and make you wish you’d never been born.
    You ever do drugs, and I’ll hunt your ass down and make you wish you’d never been born.
    And my all-time favorite.
    I swear to God, Lizzy, if you get pregnant before you graduate high school, I’ll hunt your ass down and make you wish you’d never been born.
    Needless to say, I didn’t get to date all that much growing up. Having a boy come over just to be threatened by my mom while my dad stood in the background smiling and nodding in agreement like an idiot wasn’t the best way to start an evening. Second dates were nonexistent for me.
    After pulling into my driveway, I climbed from my car and headed into the house. “All right, Mom. We’ll be there. Unbunch your panties, will ya?”
    “Just for that comment, I’m smacking you when you get here.”
    Smiling, I pushed the front door open and stepped into the house. Instantly, I was knocked into the wall by the force of something massive slamming into me. I let out a garbled scream as whatever took me to the ground started attacking my face with something wet.
    “What’s going on?” My mom yelled through the phone as I yelped and fought against the humungous beast.
    “Merle, no!” I heard Trevor scold from somewhere near the living room.
    “Get it off! Get it off!” I screamed as the thing tangled my hair in its slobbery mouth. It was trying to eat my hair!
    “Lizzy? Lizzy!” Mom continued to yell over the phone while I tried to prevent the monster from snatching me bald.
    “Merle, down! Down, boy!” The heaping weight was pulled off me, allowing me to brush the matted, spit-covered strands of hair from my face.
    Turning to look at Trevor from my spot on the floor of the entryway, I saw him holding the collar of the thing that’d just attacked me.
    “What the fuck is that?!” I screeched.
    “I got us a puppy,” he responded with a smile, like he’d just told me he’d stocked the fridge with my favorite ice cream and bought out all the chocolate at H.E.B.
    “That’s not a puppy, Trevor! It’s the size of a goddamned pony. And it’s pissing on my floor!”
    “Yeah, we gotta work on that, buddy,” Trevor told the dog and he patted it’s black and white spotted head as it finished emptying it’s obviously-enormous bladder on my hardwood floors. “He’s a Great Dane,” he added, like that made this whole situation better. Huge dog meant huge shits all over my soft, clean carpet. I was going to kill him!
    I managed to get myself off the floor and hung up on my mother while she laughed hysterically across the line. I had more important things to deal with.
    All the while I was planning creative and painful ways to end Trevor’s life, he stood there staring at me with an all-too-pleased grin, the monster dog beside him wagging its tail with a stupid-ass look on its face.
    I didn’t need to think about getting an annulment. Turned out, I was going to be a widow after all.

“I don’t understand what you’re so upset about,” Trevor stated as we made our way to my Nana and Pop Pop’s house.