Page 44 of Hidden Ties

“It’s kind of a package deal,” he said, distracted by his work as he continued to type away. Only when she had become silent for too long, as it was unlike her, did he finally look at her to notice she was dying to ask him another question. “You need something?”

In that moment, Valerie knew exactly what she wanted. “Wanna fuck?”

SEVENTEEN

CODE PINK

The knock on the door had Valerie sitting up naked in bed.Oh, shit.

After the two had gone from fucking on the desk in his office to fucking on the bed in his penthouse, she had completely forgotten something.

This time, the words actually left her mouth. “Oh, shit!”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s fine. Whoever it is can come back late—”

“No!” she cried, jumping out of bed to put her clothes on. “I forgot I invited your sister over for a game night.”

Sal jumped out of bed within a second to start getting dressed himself. “Now, why the hell did you do that?”

“Because she has a PlayStation, duh!” She added the last flourishing word like it was obvious.

Sal rolled his eyes heavenward. “Of course.”

While running down the steps, she smoothed down her tousled hair before opening the door, hoping the sins she had just committed with her brother wouldn’t be obvious to Kat.

“Hey, Valerie …” Kat’s smile slightly fell upon taking in her appearance. “You still wanted to have a game night, right?”

“Oh yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t I?” Her cheeks went ablaze.

“Oh, good. I just wanted to be sure because you don’t have a phone, and I tried texting Sal to confirm, but I didn’t get a respons—”

“Hey, sis!” Sal came down with awkwardness, making it all the more obvious that they had just done it. “Come on in. Sorry I missed your texts.”

“It’s not a problem,” Kat said, coming inside, but as she passed, she whispered something for only Valerie’s ears to hear. “Your shirt is inside out.”

“Thanks,” she whispered back before desperately trying to laugh it off. “I’ll be right back.”

She stepped away for a moment to go in the downstairs bathroom to freshen herself up a bit in the mirror and turn her shirt right-side out, thinking at this point,Just how more embarrassing can my life get?

When she came out of the bathroom, however, to her surprise, Sal’s living room was filled with more girls.

Valerie waved at them a bit nervously, thinking how pretty they all were. She couldn’t help but wonder how many of them Sal had slept with. They all smiled warmly at her, and she instinctively knew not a one had, except for her.

“Everyone, this is Valerie,” Katarina began the introductions. “Valerie, this is Elle …”

A girl with strawberry-blonde hair waved.

“Lake.”

The tall model-like brunette waved next.

“Adalyn.”

A short and cute-as-a-button brunette girl waved after her name was announced.

“Gianna.”

An obvious Italian woman nodded. She appeared to be the least girly one out of the bunch.