Page 36 of Sacred Vow

TILLY

M aking my way into my apartment, I find my favorite little blowhole sprawled out on our new couch, and I can’t lie, Zeph knows how to pick out a good couch. Over the past week, Chloe and I haven’t been able to keep off it, even fighting over who gets to spend more time on it.

“Come on,” I tell her, striding straight through to my room and diving into the messy array of clothes in my closet. “We’re going out and getting fucked up.”

“Oooh, now we’re talking,” Chloe says as I hear her pulling herself up from the couch and striding into my open bedroom door. “But what’s going on? I thought you’d be spending your night playing the role of Zephyr’s slutty new step-mommy.”

A stupid grin pulls across my lips. She has no idea just how right she almost is.

“I was kinda planning on that, but then things got weird, and now Zeph knows about Caesar, and he stormed off after trying to turn the whole situation into a pissing contest. Naturally, Caesar couldn’t back down and made a point of showing Zeph that he knows how to make me come better than Zeph ever could, and it just . . . weird.”

Chloe just gapes at me, her eyes wide as her jaw hangs open. “Uhhh . . . What? I’m going to need a little more than that, because what the hell do you mean he made a point of showing him? You mean like an actual demonstration?”

I nod. “Yep. Right there in the middle of the kitchen.”

Her eyes widen even more, and the way her mouth drops open even further makes her look like one of those stupid clowns at a fair that you shovel ping-pong balls into its mouth and hope like fuck you can win one of those giant soft toys that are bigger than your whole damn body.

“Holy shit. In the kitchen? And you actually came?”

“What do you think? It’s Caesar. He could sneeze at me, and I’d come before begging for more.”

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah, my thoughts exactly, but if I’m being honest, that’s not what’s got me feeling like I need to get fucked up,” I tell her, struggling with my closet before deciding just to keep Zeph’s shirt on before pairing it with my favorite ripped jeans. They’re old, but they hug my curves just right.

“Dare I ask?”

My face scrunches as I pull my jeans up my legs. “Caesar and I were talking, and I don’t know. He was making sure I knew where the boundaries were and that I wasn’t at risk of getting emotionally attached, and there was just something about his delivery. It made me feel . . . I don’t even know.”

I let out a heavy sigh and finish pulling my pants up before working out how the hell to style Zeph’s shirt so that I don’t look like I’m wearing an oversized potato sack.

“You’re falling for him, aren’t you?”

Fuck.

My chest swells with agony, Caesar’s simple dismissal weighing so heavily on me that all I want is to crumble right here on the floor and wail like a child.

I collapse onto my bed, my face buried in my hands as I nod.

“Falling? I think I’m already well and truly there.

There’s no falling about it. I’ve already plunged right to the ground and splattered like a fucking pancake. ”

“Shit.” Chloe falls down beside me, pulling me into her arms. “Tilly falling for a dom-daddy certainly wasn’t on my bingo card for the year. I didn’t even think it was possible. Have you ever, you know, had more than a sexual relationship with anybody before?”

I shake my head, both of us in uncharted waters. “Believe me, I’m just as shocked as you are.”

“I don’t even know what to say,” she tells me. “Is this even what you want?”

“No. Of course not,” I tell her. “If Caesar knew that I’d let feelings enter the chat, he’d cut it off with me without a second thought, and I’m not ready for that.

Not getting to feel his hands on my body or the way he, you know .

. . I can’t not have that in my life. He’s like a drug to me, and I’m at the very height of my addiction. The withdrawals would surely kill me.”

“The sex is really that good?”

I nod. “Take the best sex you’ve ever had, scrunch it up and throw it out, because believe me when I tell you that it doesn’t even scratch the surface of what this man is capable of.”

“Shit. We really do need to get you fucked up.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

Twenty minutes later, Chloe and I are making our way out the door, both of us already three shots in, when Chloe turns to me, her brows furrowed. “Where are we going?”

“Uhh,” I say, pausing at our front door as I lock it up, momentarily stumped. “I have no idea.”

Chloe laughs. “No idea? You’re Tilly Bardot. You always know where the best parties are. You really are messed up right now.”

I cringe, and it becomes abundantly clear that the three shots I’ve already had aren’t even close enough to helping me forget about my current predicament, which only means that tonight is about to get messy. “Shit.”

I fall back against the door, trying to figure out our night when I find myself pulling out my phone. The moment I do, the plan starts coming together. “You know who will know?”

Chloe narrows her gaze, and before I can even tell her the plan, my thumb is already swiping across the screen. Bringing up Zeph’s number, I press call and lift the phone to my ear, all while Chloe just stares at me, waiting for some kind of explanation.

Zeph’s tone comes through the phone just moments later. “Something you need?”

“Don’t use that tone with me, young man.”

“Seriously?”

I laugh before that ache starts to return in my chest. “Sorry,” I say. “Couldn’t help myself. But Chloe and I need your help.”

“Huh? I thought you were spending the night screwing my father in my kitchen. Which reminds me, you’re going to have to tell me every single surface you’ve fucked him on so I can avoid them.”

“Boy, that’s your daddy’s house. He can fuck on whatever surface he wants. Besides, it’s no worse than every surface we’ve fucked on. Only, unlike you, your daddy doesn’t seem to have a problem with it.”

“Can you stop calling him Daddy? It’s making my stomach churn.”

“Wait. Is that Zeph?” Chloe asks, cutting in, her eyes widening as she shakes her head. “Don’t invite him, he’s . . . weird.”

I grin at my best friend. She has no idea, but sooner or later, Zeph is going to turn her world upside down, and if I can potentially have a hand in that, then that’s exactly what I’m going to do, even if it means shoving them into a room together and locking the door just to watch the show.

“Wait. Rewind,” Zeph says. “That was Chloe, right? What are you guys doing?”

“That’s what we were hoping you could tell us. I need to get fucked up, and it has occurred to us that for the first time in my life, I have no idea where any good college parties are.”

Zeph laughs. “Ahhhh, and she comes running back. Look who needs me now.”

“Shut up. If anyone needs to get fucked up more than I do right now, it’s you. I saw the way you stormed out of that kitchen. Competing with your father like that couldn’t be easy. So stop acting like such a little bitch and come take us out for a wild night.”

Zeph lets out a heavy sigh. “Fine, but if we’re getting fucked up, then we’re doing it right. It’s one for one, and that goes for Chloe, too. She better be able to hold her liquor.”

I grin at my best friend. “Oh, you don’t have anything to worry about.”

“Damn it,” he groans. “I’ll be at your place in ten.”

Zeph ends the call, and I whip myself around while grinning at my best friend. “Looks like we’ve got time for one more shot.”

“Shit. So we’re going out with Zephyr?”

“We sure are,” I tell her, pushing back through our door and marching straight through to the kitchen to where we left our beloved cherry vodka chilling on the counter. “It’s gonna be great. Zeph is amazing.”

“I don’t know about that,” she mutters, kicking the door shut behind us.

“He’s weird. You made him out to be this crazy ladies’ man, a complete stud, but he’s not.

Don’t get me wrong, he’s hot as hell, but he’s so freaking weird.

He just hovers in the doorway, gaping at me while working himself into a cold sweat.

And I swear, when he was here the other day, he literally ran away.

He got your bitch-ass out of the sofa and then literally took off like Forrest Gump. ”

A grin rips across my face. Tonight is going to be better than I could have ever imagined.

Because the best way to avoid my problems is to focus on Zeph’s, and watching him squirm around Chloe is going to be like watching angels descend from the heavens.

Only these particular angels won’t be wearing halos.

They’ll be dressed as little devils, and they will sit right here on my shoulder, having the time of their lives.

Fifteen minutes later, I sit in the back of an Uber, Chloe on my right and Zeph on the left, feeling gigglier than I’ve ever been. Zeph’s knee bounces as he tries to play it cool, and the awkwardness in the back of the car is bringing me life.

“What’s the matter, Zeph? Why’s your knee bouncing like that?”

“Shut your fucking mouth, homewrecker,” he mutters under his breath, splaying his fingers on his thighs as if needing something to do with his hands.

Chloe snorts back a laugh and leans around me as she glances at Zeph.

A beaming smile cuts across her face, and fuck, the way it knocks the breath right out of his lungs is almost comical, but in reality, it’s actually really sweet.

“I don’t think homewrecker is the right term for it,” she muses.

“Cum-guzzling thunder slut seems more appropriate.”

“She does enjoy that cum-guzzling, doesn’t she?”

“Watch it,” I warn Zeph. “She’s allowed to slut-shame me because she’s my best friend and lives for my slutty conquests, but you being the recipient of said cum-guzzling means that the only shaming you’re allowed to offer must be kink related, and seeing as though I’ve upgraded to Daddy Di Rozé, there will no longer be any kink-related activities between us. ”