Free Unfiltered & Undressed (The Unfiltered Series) by Payge Galvin, Meg Chance Page A

she’d gotten under my skin. “I don’t know how you can eat yours like that .” I slid into the chair across from her.
    “Seriously, I’m sorry I was out all night. It won’t happen again,” I said.
    She lifted her eyebrows critically. “Except it probably will.”
    I grinned. “Yeah. It probably will. I swear, sometimes I feel like you’re the grown-up here.”
    Her eyebrows rose a little higher. “One of us has to be.”
    “Ouch,” I said, pretending to be insulted as I stabbed a mouthful of eggs with my fork.
    Tess’s mood turned serious as she pushed her food around her plate.
    “What?” I asked, knowing she was beating around the bush in her own way.
    “Camden stopped by again yesterday. While you were… out .”
    I sighed. “Tess, I’m sorry.” I reached over and squeezed her hand, wondering if I’d ever get this shit right. “I’ll take care of him. It won’t happen again.”
    “He said he’s coming back tomorrow night, and that you better be here.”
    I couldn’t stand the worry in her face. “I will be,” I told her, even though inwardly I steeled myself because I knew what I had to do. It wasn’t fair to Tess, but neither was putting her through the constant stress of facing that asshole.
    “So we’re gonna be okay?” She looked at me, trusting me, begging me to tell her the truth.
    I did, then, when I nodded. “It will be. I got it all under control.”

Chapter 10
    LAUREN
    “Drop the spoon and back away from the Haagen-Dazs.” I froze where I was, licking the chocolate-chocolate chunk from the spoon. “I’m serious, Lo. Ice cream for breakfast can only mean one thing.” Emerson raised a pointed eyebrow at me while I waited to see what she was going to say.
    I already knew what it meant. It was exactly what Em had been warning me about for years: guys were dogs . And it wasn’t like I hadn’t believed her, but I guess I’d always held out hope, too—that somewhere out there was the exception to the rule. You know, that one perfect guy who would prove her wrong— prove me wrong —by sweeping me off my feet and showing everyone he was different. Special.
    So what on Earth made me think Will might be that guy?
    Clearly, I’d been smoking crack because he’d turned out to be just as bad as the rest of them. Worse even.
    I can’t believe I almost …
    I stopped myself because it wasn’t like anything had happened between us. I hadn’t almost let him do anything.
    I’d made a simple mistake and I needed to stop beating myself up over it. Everyone was entitled to a lapse in judgment now and then. End of story.
    I put the cover back on the carton and tossed the spoon in the sink. “There—happy?” I asked.
    “Not till you get your ass dressed, and maybe run a comb through that rat’s nest of yours. You dragged me all the way to California, and now I’m takin’ you to the beach.”
    I sighed. “Fine. Whatever.”
    But Em was right again, just like she had been about the whole guys were dogs things. The beach would be good. I’d been inside the house for two days, living on nothing but ice cream and pizza delivery. Given half a chance, she was prone to moments of brilliance.
    I was done with all this feeling sorry for myself crap. Will could go screw himself as far as I was concerned. I didn’t move here to get my panties in a wad over some guy; I came to prove that I was capable of living my own life. That my dreams were just as important as my parents’ dreams.
    Except, I had no idea what those dreams were anymore.
    Even before Will had gone and quit on me, I’d been having doubts. Swimming was hard, and it had been obvious from day one I wasn’t exactly a natural. So what did that mean? Had I made a terrible mistake moving here in the first place?
    Emerson had only come because of me, but that didn’t mean she didn’t love being here. I never thought I’d say this, but maybe I needed to change my attitude and be more like Em. Find something to make me