Page 7 of Hidden But Not Safe

Besides, she was already lecturing him. “My ex was an asshole, but at least he suited up. Some girls lie about birth control, and birth control can fail, and then there’s all the STDs because no matter what they say, you can never know where they’ve been. And on top of all that, you should ask the girl’s preference—or the guy’s.” She shrugged, turning to scan labels. “You do you, but a lot of women get UTIs easily and don’t appreciate leaking all day.” She grimaced. “Besides, one of the social workers once told me—” She cut herself off, frowning at the condoms. She grabbed something that said ‘bare’ and ‘extra lubed’ and smacked the three-pack box into his chest. “Here. For you.”

At least it didn’t say extra-large or some shit. He stared at the small, gray box he’d fumbled to catch, holding it like it’d bite him.

Meg grabbed a large variety pack, tucking it in her curled arm. “For Julio. A girl can hope.”

When she started to head to another aisle, Naz leaned forward to hang the condoms she’d given him back up.

Meg reached past him, snatching them off the rack again and pushing them into his hand. “Seriously, buy them for yourself.”

She was pointless to argue with, but holding the condoms made him queasy. Naz tried to put them back again.

Meg pushed at his arm, frowning when it didn’t budge. The condoms were held in midair between them.

“Come on, these are good ones.” She tapped his crotch with the water bottle, making his nerves skitter. “I want it to be good for you if anyone wants to tap that. You don’t want diseased junk, do you? Besides, I might be able to fuck you once Julio isn’t so possessive.”

Naz’s nerves skittered again. He tried not to hear her words, tried to concentrate so he could say the word that was blocking his throat.

She leaned into his chest, her breasts brushing against it as she stood on her tiptoes to reach his ear. “I bet we’d fuck so good. You’re so serious. Men like you can really break free with their dick planted—”

“Stop.”

He wanted to curl up and die at the oddness of the word in his ears. His mouth hadn’t moved quite properly, so there was a lisp and a hollow inflection to it.

Meg was staring at his lips, her brow wrinkled, but at least she’d fallen back on her heels, no longer pressed against him.

“Sure,” she mumbled, taking the condoms from him and continuing to stare at his mouth. “So you can talk. I thought I heard it, but I didn’t realize…”

She didn’t finish the thought, and Naz was grateful. His eyes shifted away. She likely thought he was dumb again.

A ripping sound brought his attention back. She’d torn open the condom box they’d been fighting over, and a condom fell to the ground. So had the large multi-pack. After shoving the water bottle at him, which he clutched on instinct, she crouched down, snatching up the big box of condoms and the loose one.

“There, I’ve ruined the package now. I guess we have to buy it.” She shoved the multi-pack into his arms as well as the damaged package, his arms full of her stuff.

He didn’t expect her to reach around him and dig his wallet out of his pants, making his ass clench tight against her touch.

She flipped it open, tucking the loose condom inside. “Now you’ll have one for the next time you get laid.” She shoved the wallet back into his pocket. Then she grabbed all the condoms back, leaving him with the water bottle and pills.

Her bare feet slapped on the grungy tiles beneath them as she headed toward the front of the store.

Naz was ready to be away from her, but Julio would be pissed if they didn’t get the pill he’d sent them for. He headed after her.

She’d dumped the condoms into the top shopping basket instead of heading to checkout like he’d thought, pulling it out by the handles.

The employee sneered at her, and Meg sneered right back. “I like to fuck. Don’t judge me just because you’ve never been fucked right.”

The employee’s sneer turned into a hard line as her eyes narrowed, but Meg had already turned her back on her, approaching Naz and shifting the basket closer.

“Here, drop them in.”

Naz did, and the pills rattled. Then she was off again, turning down a different aisle.

Still nowhere near the pharmacy.

Naz followed along.

She’d spotted some clothes, zeroing in on the spare underwear, which made sense if she was as soaked as she said. Naz turned his head away, not wanting to think about that.

He spied a pair of shoes. They were cloth and basic, with ugly blue-jean and white alternating stripes, but they were the only ones he saw that weren’t open-toed—a horrible option for the warehouse—and that looked close to her size. He removed them from the rack and held them out to her.