Page 99

I waved to my friends huddled up together near the drink table to ward off the sudden drop in temperature. Everyone looked around for their belongings or for their dates so they could all make a mad dash to their vehicles, hoping to avoid the worst of the rain.

Taking the first step into the onslaught, I turned as it soaked my dress and hair. The rough Main Street concrete beneath my feet felt grounding, and I pulled the elastic band from the end of my braid, dragging my free hand through my wet hair, letting it loose.

Devo gasped behind me, and I turned, still holding her hand as I squinted against the whipping wind and stinging rain. “Baby, you comin’?”

There were stars in her eyes and dreams splashed across her beautiful face, etched into the tilt of her smile. “With you? Always.”

EPILOGUE

DEVO

“Murph, I don’t think Die Hard is the best movie for movie night,” I said, laughing under my breath.

He plopped into the chair in front of my desk. “Aw, man. Why not?”

“Well, ’cause your dad would probably arrest me if I let you watch it.”

“Nuh uh,” he said. “My dad’s the one who showed it to me. Besides, ’tis the season. It’s practically a Christmas movie, so November is the perfect time to watch it.”

Abey snorted. “Sound logic. And that sounds like Frank, though I’m not sure we should tell Sam. She’d probably arrest Frank.”

Murph sighed, his teenage angst on full display. “Alright, well, what movie do you wanna do?”

“I dunno,” I said as I scrolled down the search on my computer’s screen that listed every “family friendly” movie since 1980. “Somethin’ family friendly. That’s all I got. If you ask me about TV shows, I got you covered, but movies… not so much”

“Like what?” he argued. “The Lego Movie? Lame.”

“How ’bout The Goonies,” Abey offered, leaning against the door frame inside my office at Ace’s House, looking delicious in her uniform, her boobs pushed up front and center. Mm mm mmm. Gone were her days of sports bras. Now that she knew how in love with her breasts I was, she’d gone shopping. Demi cups, lace, black, strappy bras every day, all day.

Next, my hungry eyes went to the crotch of her brown pants as I remembered her kneeling naked over my mouth last night. I bit my lip when an image of her leaned over a dining chair, rolling her hips above my face as I ate her out on her living room floor threatened to make me moan.

Oh my God, the way she’d screamed as she came.

Shit. Not with the kid here. Get your mind out of the gutter, Devo! But it was such a nice gutter.

“You ever seen that one?” Abey asked Murph innocently, not having any clue to the whereabouts of my thoughts.

“Never heard of it,” Murph said, playing with the paperclips stuck to the magnetic horse on my desk.

“My mama was just talkin’ about it the other day. She used to play it for me and my brothers when we were kids. They loved it.”

“Fine,” Murph relented. “But it better be good.”

“It is,” Abey said, nudging his shoulder on his way out the door.

“See you tomorrow night,” he called behind him.

Abey looked at me, straightening from her perch against the door. “Kid’s a hard sell.”

“You ain’t lyin’.”

She unleashed the full Abey experience on me. Her smile was the stuff of legends. “You ready then?”

“Am I ready to go check out the land my girlfriend wants to build me a house on?”

“Yep. That about sums it up.”

“And you’re sure Bax has no problem with this plan? And he doesn’t mind us usin’ the land for a small CSA farm?”