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And I do. For hours. We never make it to dinner. Instead we eat In-N-Out in my truck and then I fuck her again after smearing my milkshake on her pussy. Best night of my life.
Do you see that girl in the bed? The one curled up against the guy in a twin bed with ninja turtle sheets?
She’s in love. So completely in love that it’s hard not to smile when the sun peeks inside his room. I curl into him, never wanting the moment to end.
I thought I understood love. I thought I could grasp it, hold onto it when I had it, but I didn’t, not really. I experienced the smugness of it. The wild and free. The eagerness of it. I didn’t realize how it would change my life once it was taken away. And now that I’ve found it again, I didn’t realize how he could change my life. How he had from a very young age.
I nudge Tiller, knowing I need to get up and check on River. She slept in Shade and Scarlet’s room, and that in itself makes me nervous. “Wake up, sleepyhead,” I whisper.
He groans and rolls, taking the covers with him, wrapping himself up in a blanket burrito. I smile. River does the same thing in the mornings.
“I’m going to go check on River. And I think you have practice today, don’t you?” That gets his attention.
“Fuck, I do.” He rolls over cautiously and pulls the covers from his head. “Why did I agree to go Vegas?”
A waft of his smell hits me. He smells so good, like cologne and soap and the warmth of his body intoxicates me. Makes me want to curl up next to him. “Because you love it.”
I leave him in the room to find River downstairs, like she’s seamlessly part of the Sawyer family. She’s seated next to Camden at the kitchen island, eating cereal and laughing with Berlin, who’s next to her, looking at River like she’s her hero.
My eyes drift to Willa and Ricky. Everyone’s here and I feel slightly out of place, but then again, in the same sense, this feels like home to me. Scarlet wraps her arm around my shoulder and hands me a coffee. It’s an iced mocha “I got this for you.”
Willa glares at Scarlet. “You did not. I did.”
“Thank you,” I tell Willa. “How’d you know I’d be here?”
“I get credit for that at least!” Scarlet announces, still hugging me to her side. Then she stares at my hair. “What’s in your hair?”
I panic and grab at it, trying to see what she’s referring to. She laughs. “Please tell me that’s not what I think it is.”
Strong arms grab me from behind and pull me back against his bare chest. “It’s milkshake, Northwest. Not my cu—”
Twisting in his arms, I slap my hand over his mouth. “There are children present.”
He nods over his shoulder to River, who’s not paying attention to us. “She doesn’t understand.”
“I’m talking about Camden.”
He kisses my cheek. “Even he doesn’t understand what it means.” Moving around me, Tiller grabs a piece of banana bread from the counter and sits next to Camden. He nods to him but doesn’t say anything. Tiller’s not a morning person.
Camden smiles. “Good night, Wild Cat?”
Tiller grunts but doesn’t say anything and reaches for the coffee pot, pouring himself coffee. He looks so completely tired that his eyes are barely open. He pours me a cup and I shake my head. “Got some already.” I sit next to him, with my coffee in hand.
He stares at the iced coffee I’m becoming addicted to, thanks to Willa. She tells me I should thank Scarlet because that’s where her obsession came from initially.
Tiller’s voice is rough with lack of sleep when he asks, “Where’d you get that?”
My cheeks burn, thinking of why he only got two hours sleep last night. I point to Willa. “Her.”
He finally notices everyone around us. “What the fuck? Is this some kind of family meeting? Why is everyone here?”
Shade speaks first. “We have practice today. Time to perfect the triple, bro.”
Ricky laughs, moving around Shade with his hands on his shoulders. “Just because you pulled it off doesn’t mean we need to be making it a nightly show.”
That gets them talking about what they’re going to do in Vegas in two days. Conversation flows through the rest of breakfast. River tells me about all her gel pen tattoos.
“Just so I know for reference,” Camden begins, looking at Tiller as a chunk of banana bread falls from his mouth. “Were you going to say cum?”