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Twenty-Six

One day, I’m gonna wake up and be productive. That’s probably not today.

—Searcy to Posy

SEARCY

What did one wear to a dinner party that not only were they not invited to, but also they weren’t wanted at?

Posy was no help.

Neither was Scottie, who was home for the weekend.

“Y’all are going to have to guess or something,” I said to the two girls with me. “I’m supposed to be there in four hours, and I still have to get home, do my hair, and be ready to go before six.”

Scottie and Calliope exchanged a look before Calliope said, “Simple and black would be my suggestion.”

“You have a banging body. I’d go with a short black dress. It’ll piss off the ’rents, and then you can drive my brother mad all night.” Scottie winked before searching through a rack of black dresses.

Scottie and Calliope had formed quite a pair.

I didn’t know when it happened, but at some point they’d started talking in text, and they’d continued to be friendly even when she was home.

It was the weirdest thing, seeing as I’d had to break their fight up months ago.

“This one,” Calliope declared.

I looked over to see her holding up a black dress.

“That’ll barely cover my vagina,” I retorted.

“It’ll cover everything,” she affirmed. “Try it out.”

I reluctantly grabbed the dress and hustled to the dressing room.

I shimmied my clothes off, then wiggled the dress on.

I stared at myself in the mirror for so long that the two girls knocked on the door.

“I can’t wear this,” I said when I opened the door.

Both girls stared at me, then immediately replied, “Oh, you’re wearing this one.”

By the time that I was coming out of the bathroom four hours later, my hair curled and my makeup just right, Posy was in the bedroom stripping naked to shower himself.

He saw me while standing with his hands on his belt and froze.

“Look okay?” I asked hesitantly.

He swallowed, his eyes taking me in from my hair to my toes, which were again encased with the new heels I’d purchased for the banquet, and said, “Fuck.”

My belly started to swim with butterflies as I said, “Is that a good or a bad fuck?”

“Good,” he replied gruffly. “Definitely good.”

I watched as he loosened his belt, then his pants.

He shoved both his pants and his underwear down his legs, and my mouth watered.

Fuck, the man was built.

Abs. Tan. Muscles on top of muscles. Even the mustache thing he had going on today was doing it for me.

“What’s with the mustache?” I asked as he got closer.

“Mustaches piss my mom off.” He grinned. “So I figured I’d do all the things that would anger her.”

“Is there something that I can do to piss her off?” I teased.

He stopped, his mouth coming close, and closed his mouth over the skin of my neck.

Then he sucked, and I swear to all that’s holy, my knees went weak.

He pulled away and licked his full bottom lip before saying, “That’ll piss her off.”

He pulled back, his hard cock leading the way into the bathroom.

I watched as his ass flexed as he walked into the bathroom, leaving me wanting and ready behind.

Like a string tied me to him, I followed him into the bathroom once I thought I could move without spontaneously orgasming.

He was in the shower already, which never ceased to surprise me.

Posy’s house was nice, but since he was on well water, and the water heater was ancient, it took a solid three minutes for the water to heat up completely.

Meaning, he’d gotten in before the water had been hot. Lukewarm at best.

“I don’t know how you do that,” I said as I watched him through the clear glass doors.

“Do what?” he asked, turning so that I could get a clear, full-frontal view of him.

Likely, it was only because he wanted to see me when he was talking to me. But I liked to think he knew what he did to me, and was teasing me, showing me what I had. Could have if I wanted it.

He started talking, saying something, but my mind wasn’t comprehending the words coming out of his mouth.

No, I was watching as he slowly worked the bar of soap along the length of one muscled arm.

Continued to watch as he raised his arm above his head and ran that bar along his armpit, causing soapy bubbles to slowly trail down the length of his arm, over his perfect pec, around one nipple, then farther down the length of his torso. All down the ridges of his abs, to his…

He grabbed his cock and wrapped his hand around it, soap covering his hand.

I whimpered, squeezing my thighs together in response.

He slowly worked his hand up the length of his cock, the tip of him going to a ruddy red as he fisted himself tightly. The veins along his cock were angry and pulsing.

I was panting now, watching him work himself fast and quick. Efficiently.

He growled, and I knew he was close.

I couldn’t stop myself from reaching up underneath my own skirt and…

He came, painting the glass between us with his release.

One small touch of my clit and that was all it took for me to see bright, shiny stars behind my eyelids.

I gasped, a moan escaping me.

“Holy fuck,” he growled.

I blinked open my eyes to catch his gaze.

“That was fuckin’ hot,” he growled again.

I scrunched up my nose. “I don’t know what happened.”

He chuckled, then reached behind him for the shower head.

Rinsing the glass off, he said, “Doesn’t take much when we are both head over heels for each other, does it, Princess?”

Princess.

How had I gone from loathing that nickname to craving it?

“You make me want to stay in bed all day, every day.” I grinned. “Back to the shower temperature. Do you always get in when it’s freezing?”

He grinned back . “Not usually, but you’d just showed me what you were wearing to my mom’s stupid dinner, and I thought I was about to be tortured all night. Figured a cold shower couldn’t hurt.”

I blushed. “It’s a little short.”

“Short, yes. But it’s fucking mesmerizing because it hugs all of your curves like a second skin,” he shared.

I blushed. “It’s not too much?”

“Oh, my mom will fucking hate it. She makes ‘prim and proper’ desperately annoying. She’d never be caught dead in a dress that tight.

But she also never had a body like yours to pull it off.

She’ll probably glare at you all night.” He finished his shower and got out, a wave of steam following in his wake.

I couldn’t stop myself from watching his dick as he got out, or the way his balls swayed with his movements.

He picked up a towel off the hook next to the glass doors and ran it roughly over his body, starting with his feet and ending with his hair.

Only when he was done, and standing still slightly damp in the bathroom in front of me, did he say, “Keep looking at me like that, and I’ll forget we’re supposed to be going over to my mom’s for dinner.”

I grimaced. “Any news from Apollo yet?”

“He’s found plenty of dirt,” he said. “But no obvious interactions with your mom and mine.”

“Remember what I said about the fact that I don’t care about my mom?

” I reminded him. “I don’t care about what she concocts and plans.

She’s not going to win, because when I say that I have proof of her shittiness, I’m not joking.

I kept all the receipts because I knew that one day she might try to fight me to keep the kids.

I’ve been keeping documented proof of everything since she left the kids with me that first time years and years ago. ”

I’d freaked out when Kent had gotten sick. I’d promised myself that I would always have a backup plan. And if that plan needed proof of her parenting abilities, I’d make sure to always keep the proof. Sometimes even real receipts.

I had it noted on the chart every time I took one of my siblings into the doctor who was the one that was bringing them in. I made sure that when the kids needed checkups at the dentist, they always called me.

I was primary, and Koda was secondary, on nearly every single thing the kids participated in.

Hell, I’d bet my life that when my mom took those kids to the dentist during the summer that they hadn’t had any clue who she was.

Hell, my mom hadn’t even been listed as a parent at the kids’ schools.

I went to the parent-teacher conferences. I went to the school functions. I went to the soccer practices.

Hell, the first person Anders called “Mom” was me.

For the first six years of her life, I’d had to correct her constantly.

“It might be nice, though, to know what we’re going to have to work against,” I admitted.

“Which is why I’m going to this stupid farce to begin with,” he grumbled.

Tossing his towel into the hamper, which was close to overfilled, he walked straight up to me, planted a soft kiss on my lips, then patted my ass before disappearing into his closet which was off the bathroom.

I followed him in there next, watching as he got dressed.

He put on a pair of worn jeans, a black long-sleeved t-shirt, and followed it up with a pair of black motorcycle boots before he said, “Just need some deodorant and I’m ready.”

My lips twitched. “Are you trying to piss her off, too?”

“Fuck her,” he said. “Just wait until I walk in with my cut on. She’s going to lose her shit.”

Was it bad that I couldn’t wait to hear her reaction? The way he was making it seem was that she was going to totally flip.

Then again, maybe she’d be too distracted by me to care what he was wearing.

Nerves were constant through the ride to his mom’s place.

But the long drive, which took well over an hour since it was on the opposite side of Dallas, was enough to have my nerves slightly under control again as we pulled up outside of the biggest house I’d ever seen.

“My god,” I said when he pulled to a stop and shut the bike off. “How much does a place like this cost?”

He grimaced and pulled his helmet off, staring up at the ostentatious house along with me.

“More than I make in ten years.” He chuckled. “Dad looked it up once out of curiosity at a family dinner with Scottie and my stepmom. He said the number, but at the time, money really wasn’t super important to me, so I only paid half attention.”

“I’m sad that I never got to meet your dad and stepmom,” I admitted.

“You would have adored them,” he acknowledged as he sighed, long and loud, then swung his leg over the bike to come to a stand next to me. “Let’s get this shit over with.” He paused and looked down into my eyes. “I want you to understand something.”

I blinked. “Okay.”

“My mom has this whole ‘poor, woe is me’ attitude. She’ll make you think like I kicked her puppy the entire night.

But it’s all an act. She’s perfected it over the years, and swear to God, she’s really good at it.

I’m telling you, with one hundred percent certainty, that she’s going to make you question me and my actions.

She won’t outright show you how pissed she is that you’re here…

but I’d watch your food. When she sets that plate down in front of you, pass it over to me, and I’ll pass it over to my stepsister. ”

“You have a stepsister?” I asked as he helped me to my feet.

“Yep,” he confirmed. “And she’s like Switzerland. She’s on both sides, so she’ll let me switch with her, because my mom always forgets that my sister is a vegetarian, and she’ll refuse to eat the food. But it’s okay, because she eats before she comes.”

My lips tipped up at the edges as I said, “Let’s get this over with.”

He sighed. “I’m not sure I want to.”

I caught his hand and guided it to my helmet. “Get this off of me, or I’ll take it off myself.”

His hands came to either side of my helmet as he said, “Anyone touches this helmet, even you, there’ll be hell to pay.”

I wasn’t sure why he liked doing it so much, but honestly, it kind of made me feel precious. And I’d never been precious to anyone before, so I was going to live it up.

Eventually, he’d grow tired of me and leave—most men I’d casually dated had because of my living situation—but until then, I’d definitely protect him from his mother. I’d spend every second of my day with him. I’d hang out until he saw the light and eventually left.

He pulled the helmet reverently from my head, then kissed my hair before depositing both his and my helmet onto the bike.

“One time,” he said as he reached for my hand, “my mom tried to have my bike towed. The guy gets here, then sees whose bike he would be towing, and refused to take it. He came up to the front door and apologized, then asked for some money to compensate him coming all the way out here for nothing—she was hoping by calling a farther away towing company that they’d get it, no questions asked.

I gave him a fat tip, then laid into my mother.

From that point on, I promised to stay the hell away from her. ”

“She sounds lovely,” I teased.

“She’s not,” he grumbled as he tugged me toward the door. “Good luck.”

I had a feeling I was going to need it.