Addicted After All (21 page)

She hides her eyes behind her fingers, and I turn back to Connor.

Rose has said a few words in French that I can’t understand, but Connor never replies back. I have a feeling it’s because Ryke can understand him. And then Rose huffs and switches to English, “Loren, you look scared. Maybe you should sit down.”

Her voice is nicer than usual. I eye Connor.
I look scared because your husband is domineering as hell.

She suddenly adds, “You’re an antelope and he’s a lion.” I picture a lion chasing an antelope. And killing it for food.

My shoulders tense at that truth. “Yeah?” I say to her, looking past Connor at Rose. “Are you an antelope too?”

She says, “I’m the same breed as him.”

“Toujours,” Connor tells her. I understand the French word because he says it all the time.

Always.

Right as I turn to Connor, his hand cups the back of my head.

And his lips touch mine.

My muscles solidify, and instead of just being awkwardly pressed together, he truly kisses me—with more confidence than I could ever possess.

I shut my eyes while his lips close over mine, and I try to follow his lead to the best of my ability. But Connor controls the action—and I’m grateful for that. His hand falls to my neck, and I find myself gripping his bicep. My lungs thrashing for air as I cage all oxygen elsewhere.

“Fifteen seconds,” I hear Poppy say.

I’ve never kissed a guy before, which has to be really apparent. In the last three seconds, I feel Connor grinning against my lips. I swear he’s entertained by the weirdest things.

“Time,” Poppy says.

We break apart at the same moment. My lips actually slightly sting from the force. I wonder how many guys he’s kissed before. After that, I highly doubt I’m the first. There are just too many clues for me to believe otherwise.

Connor rubs his bottom lip with his thumb, winks at me and then spins to Ryke. “We’re even.”

Ryke nods, his brows raised in surprise.

“Did anyone else think that was hot?” Daisy says with a loopy smile, past tipsy.

“It was okay,” Rose says flatly, which prompts Connor to study her with intrigue. I expected her to charge at me or him—since she hates me and she loves him and we just
kissed.

But she doesn’t care. I can’t wrap my head around those two most of the time.

“Waitwaitwait,” Lily slurs, and alarm shoots into me. My attention diverts to Lil, her fingers still shielding her eyes. “How hot was it? I need to know this!” My shoulders drop in relief that she’s okay.

“A solid eight,” Daisy declares, though she is staring only at Ryke right now. They’re giving
fuck me
eyes to each other. This is all wrong. “It’s masturbation worthy.”

I grimace. “Stop.”

“You’re stroking Connor’s ego,” Rose tells her sister.

Lily is another color entirely—solid red.
Stroking.
I’m cringing more
now
than I was during the damn thing.

“All of my sexual encounters are masturbation worthy,” Connor says. “This is nothing new.” He does, literally, have millions of people jacking off to his sex tapes with his wife.

I slow clap and Ryke joins in.

Connor smiles more.

The funny thing—other people in the club start clapping too. I can feel my smile. Fans can be really cool, despite a few hecklers here and there.

“An eight,” Lily repeats, astounded. “I can’t believe I missed it.”

I reclaim my seat on the couch. “It wasn’t like that, Lil.”

Poppy adds, “You’ll probably be able to Google it online.”

“She’s not allowed to look at porn,” Rose says.

“This wasn’t porn,” I announce to everyone.

“So I can watch it?” Lily asks, her hands still shielding her face. She’s picturing it right now. Probably further than anything that actually transpired. “Was their tongue?” she whispers to me, confirming my suspicions.

“No to both.” I pull Lil’s palm away from her eyes. And her gaze darts to my lips, as though imagining them against one of my best friend’s. It’s not a fantasy I want imbedded in her brain.

Connor sits beside Rose, and he kisses her forehead. She seems at ease.

Everyone does.

How could
that
break the tension in our group? Strain that
I
accidentally built from a dare.

And then Connor’s deep blue eyes meet mine, and he smiles at me, a genuine one that he only reserves for friends.

He can slice through arguments, lower boiling points and keep our friendship intact, not even remotely awkward after we just kissed.

And he’s a part of my life.

Thank God. 

Or rather, thank him.
Yeah
, I smile,
he’d want me to rephrase that.

{ 19 }

LILY CALLOWAY

After the nightclub, we amble along the sidewalk, heading towards the dock so we can return to the yacht. “Spill,” Rose says to Daisy, who is being supported mostly by me and Poppy, our arms around our little sister’s waist.

Rose wants details about the sexual escapade that the guys knew before us. I kinda want more info too. All things involving blow jobs interest me, maybe a little too much.

Instead of answering, Daisy dodges Rose’s request and inhales like she’s breathing in tonight’s full moon and glittering stars. She raises her fists sloppily into the air and shouts, “HELLO, MEXICO!”

The four guys, sauntering twenty feet ahead of us, all turn their heads in unison.
Damn.
That was sexy.  I can admit that without flushing, right?

I check my arms.

Nope. Still red.

Ryke is the only one who remains spun around. He rotates fully, walking backwards with an aluminum-foiled taco in hand. Most of the guys are eating them after we passed a food stand. I chose to go with dessert and eat a churro as a late-night snack.

 Daisy focuses on her boyfriend and almost trips over her feet.

“Watch it, Calloway,” he tells her.

“You watch it,” she says, her retort not as good with her drunken state. Poppy and I hold her firmly to our sides.

“I am watching it,” Ryke says, his eyes right on hers, “and she looks like a hot fucking mess.”

“What are you going to do about it?” Daisy says in a smooth voice. Her smile radiates, but her eyelids droop.

Rose points an accusatory finger from Daisy to Ryke. “No flirting. We’re having girl time.”

Ryke ignores her and says, “I’ll show you later, sweetheart.” And then he spins around, walking with the guys. Ryke places a hand on Lo’s shoulder, and they talk amongst themselves. Laughter emanates from their huddle, and Lo’s is the loudest, the most full-bellied and jam-packed with true happiness.

My eyes sting with emotion.

Loren Hale is laughing.

It shouldn’t be a rare phrase. But it is.

I am most happy when he is happy. The same, I know, applies to him.

Poppy stares off into space before saying, “He has good lines.”

Daisy’s brows furrow. “Ryke?”

Poppy nods. “It was a cute one.” She smiles kindly at her.

“It wasn’t a line,” Daisy refutes with a deep frown. I sway, slightly shocked that she actually spoke her mind. I like this Daisy more than the one keeping the peace. It’s easier to tell when she’s having a good time and when she’s just appearing to for our sake.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Poppy says, giving her a side squeeze that unsteadies me. I gain my balance, thankfully. If I fall, so does my baby. It’s a thought that tickles my brain like a nervous spasm.

With only one free hand, I bite into my street-side churro that melts in my mouth. The long fried donut is a little phallic looking, but I try to employ the Ryke Meadows attitude of “not caring what other people think.” An audible moan even leaves my lips.
I don’t care.

My cheeks and elbows do though, burning with disgrace.

I chew slowly to prolong the next bite. Even though I crave it. I swallow way too soon.

“He came on your face,” Rose says bluntly.

Back to this. I join in. “And you didn’t even tell us.”

Poppy adds, “It’s obviously an embarrassing moment for her.”

Rose adjusts her handbag on her arm. “And if she told me when it happened, I would’ve bought her jewelry and a ‘fuck you’ dress.”

Daisy smiles. “What do those look like?”

Rose waves a finger at her. “No, no, you’re not going to distract me. I need more details than Connor.”

Daisy scrunches her nose. “That’s not possible. He was
there
.”

My eyes bug at all of this. I’ve encountered some pretty awkward moments in my life, but nothing like this. “Did you like it?” I ask the least important question, probably. I’m just curious if that’s a fantasy she’d repeat again.

“No,” Daisy says softly, actually starting to open up. Her arms like jelly, flopping by her sides. The liquor has just loosened her joints like a limp…thing. I cough on my churro.

Rose pats my back with a stiff hand. “I told you not to eat that.”

I smash the churro into her chest since the dessert is obviously not nice to me. Disgruntled, she tosses it on the sidewalk.

Poppy gapes, “Rose, you shouldn’t litter.” Our oldest sister leaves our side to pick up the churro and find a trashcan.

“I’m feeding the birds,” Rose calls after Poppy, who is already on an environmental mission.

Daisy is much harder to keep upright on my own, but I manage somewhat, resituating my clutch around her hip. Rose must see my struggle though because she replaces Poppy, hooking her arm with Daisy’s and leisurely strolling along.

“I hate giving blow jobs,” Rose suddenly opens up. She rarely talks about her sex life with Connor, so my lips part in shock. Maybe she thinks it’s only fair to offer some info when she keeps prodding Daisy. “I mean…” She sighs and rolls her eyes. “The first time wasn’t awful, but it’s my least favorite thing. I’m not good at it, and Connor is huge—do
not
mention that I complimented his dick. Please.”

I am soaring with these tidbits. “My lips are zipped.” No they are not. My mouth is permanently hung open. Though I can keep a sisterly secret. Rose has entrusted me with some before.

“Do you like them?” Daisy asks me with a tipsy smile.

“Yeah,” I say without blushing. Ah-ha! Success. “I like the control and watching Lo…”
come.
I can feel my ears heating. Damn.

“I’ve never really liked them,” Daisy says honestly. “And with Ryke, I can sometimes tell that he’d rather be pleasing me instead of me pleasing him. So he usually stops me before I get him off.”

“Aww,” I say. I’ve never made this sound out loud before, but this is an
aww
moment if there ever was one in my book. Some people would call it a perverted book, but I think I’m going to rename it The Lily Calloway Sexy Times Book.

It has a nice ring to it. And it makes me feel less like a creep.

Daisy tries to hide a bigger smile. “You know the dare?” She’s going to give us details?! Rose and I listen closely, very intrigued. “I was giving Ryke a blow job for the
very
first time, and that’s when Connor walked in.” She tucks her hair behind her ear, and the crowds that follow us (yes, people are trailing us, along with our bodyguards) grow in octave, so Daisy has to raise her voice. “I heard the door open, and I jerked back the same exact moment…” she trails off.

“He ejaculated,” Rose finishes without balking.

I wince. “Do you have to use that term?”

“Yes,” Rose says with confidence. I wonder if I’m making Daisy feel more ashamed by being all ashamed myself. It’s a nasty cycle that I want to break.

“Lo has come on me before,” I state. Wow it kinda felt good.

Daisy smiles. “Really?”

“Yeah, my face too. But not that much anymore.” I frown deeply, thinking about our current stasis of being. I feel healthier, and I like that Lo has spaced out all these steps with sex over months and months. It’s better to go slow.

Fast is not the right speed for me.

Daisy looks a little lost in her head.

“What is it?” I ask.

She takes a deep breath. “Do you ever just want to run? Like strip all of your clothes and speed down a street, using all of your strength, no one stopping you but yourself?”

It sounds freeing, but I can’t say it’s a thought that’s ever crossed my mind. After two minutes of pathetically running, I’d face-plant or grow out of breath—baby or no baby.

“No,” Rose says definitively. “I don’t run. I walk quickly.” This has been her motto since she discovered high heels.

To Daisy, I say, “In theory it seems kind of nice.”

She springs on her feet like she’s ready to take off. “All theories should be tested, at least once.”

“RYKE, STOP!” Lo suddenly screams ahead of us.

My heart is in my throat. Ryke has charged some random guy wearing a surfer graphic tee and frayed shorts. Lo restrains his brother by the shoulders.

Ryke spits out nasty words…all in Spanish. We walk faster to reach the guys.

“Go!” Rose shouts at the bodyguards and motions them like she’s herding cattle. “They need your help.”

Mikey says, “We’re contracted to protect Daisy, Lily and Poppy, so we’re not leaving their sides.”

Rose glares and then mutters curses while she searches for her pepper spray in her handbag.

Poppy has fallen behind, fixated on a vendor’s booth selling porcelain sugar skulls, and Dave, her bodyguard, hovers over her. She seems highly unaware of what’s happening, and Sam is sprinting towards Poppy, leaving Connor, Loren, and Ryke alone.

“Traitor,” Rose calls at him. “Your gender needs you!”

“So does Poppy!” he shouts back.

Rose purses her lips, and I focus on the surfer tee heckler, who follows our guys for every step they take. He’s not alone. With his two buddies, they jeer in Spanish. I can tell by the way they pump out their chests, their muscles flexed and their arms gesticulating.

Three guys.
Maybe these people aren’t random. Lo said that three guys have been pestering them all day, wherever they go. Maybe they found them again.