Free Beware of Boys by Kelli London Page B

flowery, kind of fruity.”
    Eden nodded. “Yes and yes. It’s all-natural, of course, and it has some botanicals and fruit. However, the main ingredients are vitamins, herbs . . . plant extracts—that’s why it’s in a dark bottle, to keep the flavors and maintain the strength of the good stuff. There’s nothing in there that isn’t from the earth. But what else would you expect from a tree-hugger?” She laughed. “Lex is vegan, you know. All the way down to his boxing gloves and boxing shoes. No leather, no animal byproducts. Nothing.”
    Charly nodded, impressed. A vegan bad boy . She really dug Lex’s lifestyle, but not enough to make it her own. “Does he really drink this?”
    Eden nodded. “Sure. In fact, his father’s family has been brewing it forever. It’s Lex’s special recipe, and one of the reasons he has so much energy in the ring.”
    The bottle rim was pressed to her lips and she was gulping the juice mixture down before she knew it. If it was natural and gave Lex energy, she knew she couldn’t do anything else but benefit from it.
    â€œHold it. Hold it!” Eden said, grabbing Charly’s hand and pulling it away from her mouth, causing the juice to spill and dribble down Charly’s chin. “It’s super strong. You’re not supposed to drink it all at once.”
    Charly wiped her chin with the back of her hand, then belched. She smiled big and wide. “Too late.”

6
    H er heart was racing. Speeding. Going one hundred and eighty miles per hour in a sixty-mile-per-hour zone. Charly grabbed the sides of her head, then put a hand on her chest, then took her index and middle fingers and laid them across the inside of her wrist. She had to check her pulse. “Whew. It’s off the meter!” she said, then grabbed her toiletry bag and cell phone and made her way into the en suite bathroom that was situated off of the fabulous bedroom she was staying in during her visit. The suite was laid out in plush fabrics and furniture that screamed expensive, and she couldn’t help but touch them. As her travels had taken her across the States, she’d bunked in some of the most luxurious hotels and grown accustomed to finer things, but she’d never before seen the richness that was throughout Lex’s guest cottage. “Handmade furnishings. Has to be,” she determined, speed walking across the wet-looking marble navy floor that mirrored the deep blue ceiling above, which she noticed had the zodiac painted in a perfect golden circle. She set her toiletry bag on the marble-topped sink, grabbed the thickest bath towel she’d ever touched from a bar on the wall, and carefully rested her phone on a nearby built-in teak shelf. Reaching in to turn on the spray, she stopped. There were nine huge circular disks with spray holes in them; one gigantic one on top, and four on either side. She laughed. The rain shower resembled an automatic car wash. Then something else caught her eye. There was a waterproof docking system on the wall, housed in an enclosure. Upon closer inspection, she realized it would fit her phone. She nodded her head in approval and grabbed her cell. She docked it, selected her favorite playlist, then safeguarded it behind the wrapped glass casing. “Voila!” she said, then turned the temperature dial to medium heat and opened the spigots. Jumping back to prevent herself from getting splashed by the massive spray she’d just unleashed, she accidentally dropped the bath towel. Reaching down to get it, she now saw the constellations that were above were also on the floor too. As she ran her finger over one, she discovered it was just a reflection from the ceiling. “Wow, as above, so below. Hermetic,” she said, then caught herself. A design reflecting wasn’t such a big deal, and she knew her over-the-top impression had probably been caused by the adrenaline