Page 38 of CowSex

“That bothering you?”

“It’s aching, so I thought I’d give it a stretch.”

“You’ve probably drunk too much liquor now to be taking painkillers.”

“I’ll just have to stick with the bourbon then, hope that numbs the pain.”

He closes his eyes for one, two, or maybe twenty seconds as I watch.

“It doesn’t work, Gracie. Been tryin’ it for going on twenty years, so you can take my word as gospel on that.”

“Why, what pain are you trying to numb?”

I reach for a cushion, place it on my knees, and rest my arm on top.

“You really wanna hear it? How the life of Addison High’s most celebrated prom king and queen went to absolute shit?”

His voice rises a little, and I feel uncomfortable. He’s getting angry, and not knowing him beyond the last day or so, I have no idea how this might go.

“Not if you don’t wanna talk about it. I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable or angry.”

“I’ve been uncomfortable and angry about it for twenty years. Don’t think there’ll ever be a time when I won’t be.”

I’m not sure what to say, how to proceed. I’ve no clue what could have happened between him and Danielle. I don’t know if it’s bad, sad, or horrific. Did she cheat on him, die? I can’t even begin to surmise.

“We were good for a while. We didn’t have much, but we made a go of things. Her dad insisted on paying for the wedding, so she got the day she’d always dreamed of. My mom and Bill helped us out with furniture, and both of our parents helped with stuff for the baby. I hooked up with the guys from school that I’d played in the band with, and we started playing all around the area on Friday and Saturday nights, and it brought in a little extra cash.”

He turns and looks at me before asking, “Did you always wanna be a fashion designer, Essex?”

His question throws me off for a second, not the question actually, just that the focus has now suddenly switched to me.

“No. I mean I...I never set out to be a fashion designer, and that’s only really part of what I do. It just kinda happened by accident.”

“How’s that?”

“I’ve always been into fashion,” I explain. “Worked my way through school and then college where I was studying business. Then my mum got sick and died. It all happened very quickly, and I just gave up on college and went full-time at the clothes shop I’d been working in.”

I pause and have a ponder how much detail I wanna get into. How much does he really wanna know?

“You want the whole story?” I use his tact and throw the ball back in his court.

“Give it to me, Essex, all of it.” And fuck me, wouldn’t I like to. He looks and sounds so sexy sitting next to me—all the time in fact—that I just wanna climb across the sofa and sit right on his face, or dick. I’m not fussed, either’ll work I’m sure.

My toes go into curl overdrive inside my UGGs, and the cushion I’m resting my arm on moves with their motion.

“You sure you’re man enough, Cowboy?”

He gives me a genuine smile.

“Baby, you have no idea.” Oh, fuck me. My toes become double jointed and tie themselves in knots, my pelvic floor spasms, and I’m genuinely concerned he might have just got me pregnant with his words and that sexy-as-fuck smile.

And, oh wait, did he just call me ‘baby’? Why yes, yes he did. If I had a dick, it’d be so fucking hard right now. But I don’t, nor have I ever wanted one—of my own I mean. Of course, I’ve wanted dick, just not a dick that’s attached to me physically—

“You gonna tell me how you made your fortune, or you just gonna keep eye-fucking me?”

I open my mouth to protest, but it’d be pointless.

“You go first.” My mouth is so dry I’m barely able to rasp the words out.