Free Slut by Sara Wylde

caught her in a big hug. “There’s my girl.”
    “You are a bastard.”
    “Yes, I am,” he agreed.
    “I am really pissed at you.”
    “I know.”
    “Stop being so agreeable,” she grumbled.
    “You want me to fight with you?” He hauled her up over his shoulder. “You hit too hard, Rosie.”
    She laughed and he put her down on the couch, half in his lap, half off. Last night, she’d been ready to throw things at him on Claire’s behalf, now she stuck to him like a fungus.
    “Hey, no Judgy McJudgeface,” she admonished.
    I shook my head. “Nope. None of that.”
    “You got Gavin. Claire got Brant. I get one.”
    “So you’re settlin’ for me?” Kieran asked.
    “You know you’re pretty. Stop fishing for compliments.”
    “But I need them. That’s how I fill up my empty heart.” He spoke in a teasing tone, but his words were harsh.
    “You’ll not get them from me.” Rosa lifted her chin, but had draped her arm around his shoulders.
    I was pretty sure she was going to regret this later, but she seemed determined. “Should I just leave you two alone?”
    “Always more room in me lap for a pretty bird. Especially one who paid me so well.” He patted his thigh.
    No way was I climbing in his lap. I could see where this was going.
    “I’ve got this. Come on, lassie.”
    “That’s not cute.” I wrinkled my nose.
    “What?”
    “Your little accent. It’s not going to work on me.”
    “Oh, it dinna? Yer breakin’ me heart.”
    I narrowed my eyes at him. “Listen here, Lucky Charms—”
    He roared with laughter. “Maybe that should’ve been my stage name instead of Finn McCool.”
    Rosa made a face. “Don’t make him laugh. I’m getting motion sick.”
    “Somebody let you have whiskey didn’t they? You know you can only drink vodka and not get sick.”
    It seemed as if he did have some experience with her. Maybe they really were friends.
    “You got somewhere she can sleep it off?” he asked me.
    “Yeah.” I tucked my hair behind my ear. “Down the hall. Guest bedroom.”
    He swept Rosa up gently and her head lolled to the side. That hit her hard and fast.
    “She’s going to yark, isn’t she?” I sighed.
    “Probably. And she must’ve had a hard day to drink whiskey. She knows better.”
    “I can hear you talkin’ about me—” she mumbled something “— pendejo .”
    “Yeah, I guess she did,” I agreed.
    “What did Gavin do?”
    I didn’t answer him until after we put Rosa to bed and were back out in the living room. “He slept with me.”
    “I take it there wasn’t much actual sleeping?”
    “Yeah.” I shrugged. “She wanted me to.”
    “To prove what?”
    “That he’d pick her over strange pussy, I guess.” I bit my lip.
    “Women are insane. I wish I liked cock more. Men, I understand.” He shook his head.
    “Women and men aren’t all that different. I think that’s a lie they put in magazines and self-help books.”
    “Then what’s the truth?”
    “That a lot of us are fucked up. It’s not a man issue or a woman issue. It’s a pyramid of needs issue.”
    He cringed. “That sounds like bubbling crock of psychobabble shite.”
    “Just because it came out of the crock doesn’t make it any less true. Therapy helps a lot of people.”
    “But not you?” He cocked his head to the side.
    “No, I guess not me. I can speak the language. I’ve done the work. But I’m still a hot mess. Maybe even a bubbling crock of shite.” I adopted his terminology.
    “So why did you do it? Sleep with him, I mean?”
    “Because it felt good and I wanted to.”
    “Here’s to that.” He grabbed Rosa’s tumbler and finished what was left.
    “So what are you going to say to Claire?”
    “You go for the throat just like she does, you know?” He leaned back on the couch and then forward again, almost like he settled in for a long tale. “I’m going to tell her I miss her. That I love her. That I want her to be happy. I’m going to hug Brant and thank him for