Page 155

About twenty minutes later, Temperance came bouncing out of the piercing room with a big smile splitting her face.
“I’ve wanted to do that for years and was too chickenshit to do it,” she said.
I shrugged. “The fact that you were underage until a few months ago probably didn’t help things.”
She laughed. “You’re not wrong.”
She turned to the counter and talked to Jeff quietly for a few minutes. I’d already paid and gave my artist a hefty tip, so I assumed it was her turn.
“Ready?” she asked once she was done.
I absentmindedly reached for her hand. She only hesitated for a moment before taking it. We walked out together and got in the car. The sky was beautiful. You couldn’t see the stars here quite like you could back on Crestview grounds, but it was still peaceful.
“You wanna see ‘em, don’t ya?” she said, her southern Indiana accent coming through more than usual with her excitement.
I laughed hard. “I’d be lying if I said no.”
We got in the car, and I climbed into the driver’s seat this time.
“All you have to do is ask,” she said playfully.
I blew out a breath through pursed lips. “Trying to tempt me, are you?”
She shrugged. “I can stop, if you’d prefer.”
I shook my head. “Oh, I didn’t say that.” I stared at her for a few moments. My eyes wandered down to her perfect breasts, and I could see her hard nipples through the thin fabric. She had her bra in her hand because she couldn’t wear it comfortably. “Well, I can certainly see them through your shirt.”
She laughed. “Well, like I said… if you wanna see ‘em…”
I looked into her eyes, and even in the dark, her face lit only by a streetlight, I could see she wanted me to ask.Fuck it.I wanted to ask, too.
“Will you show me? I want to see.”
She bit her lip, and my cock twitched again. Especially knowing I was about to see part of her perfect body. Carefully, she pulled up her tank top, revealing two large, perfectly teardrop shaped breasts. Each of her tan nipples were hard, and each one was adorned with little black barbell studs. I liked those. They suited her perfectly, much better than the hoops would have, I think.
“Fuck,” I breathed.
“You like?” she asked.
I groaned. “If those weren’t brand new and painful, I’d have them in my mouth.”
She gasped, a devious smile spreading across her lips. “Mmm. Well, thank you. I’m glad you like them. And, uh… Now that the two you-know-who’s aren’t a problem anymore, maybe we can make that happen.”
I smiled. “You have no idea how much I’ve been thinking about that.”
“Really?” she asked, pulling her shirt down. “I have been, too.”
“It still worries me. They could still come back into your life at any time. I know it isn’t fair of me to expect you to forget them entirely, but I just…”
“I know,” she breathed. “To be honest, it scares me, too. Part of me thinks we should never try. Because what if something were to happen? You’d think it would be simple, right? Just don’t mess around with them. But it’s not. It’s the same with you. All three of you have a piece of me, but I’m getting over them. I hate them so much right now. I’ve been pushing them away, and I feel so much better. So, the other part of me selfishly thinks I shouldn’t be lettinganypart of my life revolve around them at all. That doing so proves that I haven’t moved on, that I’m still giving them control.”
“I’ve never faulted you for wanting or even having feelings for them. I understand. Hell, I never saw you coming. Not even a little. But Iwantto be with you. And if you think you’re ready, I think I can do my best as well. Maybe we could just take it slow. Baby steps. We could go out on a date. See how that goes. No titles. No definitions. We just… date.”
Hope filled her expression, and my heart leapt. “I love that idea! It’ll give me time to continue working shit out in my head, and it’ll also allow us to figure each other out a bit.”
I nodded. “Yep. Plus, if something happens you decide you can’t do it—be withonlyme, I mean—then it’ll hurt less. Well, I hope so, anyway. This has been driving me crazy, and I’ve been dying to talk to you about it, but I didn’t want to get in the middle of your mental recovery.”
“That’s what I love about you. You’re always putting me first. It sounds conceited, but—”