"Nina's been calling me lately. More than usual," I told Dad. He was the only one I spoke to about Nina. Mom was biased-she was way too protective of me-and all my friends were … well, in the dark.
Dad pursed his lips, furrowing his brows. "Why not give her what she wants?"
"You mean a ton of money and to cause me the nastiest migraine in the history of headaches? She wants six hundred thousand."
Beat of silence. "Do you not want to see him?"
Eli Cole was a lawyer. A family attorney, to be exact. Cases like mine landed on his desk every single day. People like Nina dragged him in and out of court like a revolving door, so he knew exactly how messy things could get for me.
I tsked, my eyes still drifting over the crowd, looking for the person I did want to see, all the time.
"No. Yes. I don't know. What the fuck is the point, you know? He is a part of me. He is not exclusively hers. But then … why reopen a closed wound? I think we're better off without it." I pinched my eyebrows together. "I really shouldn't fucking have anything to do with him in my current state."
"Are you in a bad place?" Dad had an edge to his question. I gave the question some thought.
"Not necessarily. I just think not everyone is father material like you."
Dad nodded. "Whatever you decide to do," he said carefully, "just remember that your mom and I will support you."
"Thanks, Dad," I said.
Trent came back with Luna in his hands, and I spent the remainder of the evening making her laugh.
I crawled into Rosie's bed around midnight. Our flight was boarding the next morning, but spending the night apart wasn't an option. She was fast asleep-after fussing around Millie all day, being the perfect bridesmaid, and even running to a Target on the other side of town to get Millie flip-flops-the same necessities Rosie swore by-because she was afraid her sister's feet would blister.
Baby LeBlanc looked peaceful, tucked under a blanket with her mouth slightly agape. Her eyelids fluttered, telling me she was dreaming. She had her two inhalers, orange tube of pills, and weird vest still dumped on her nightstand. This told me she passed out before she had the chance to get ready for bed. I slipped into the space beside her and spooned her from behind, clasping her close to my chest. She still smelled of sweat and alcohol, and I couldn't help but chuckle. She didn't even take a shower when she got back home. My little savage.
"Dean," she murmured in her sleep, and I hardened against her. It sounded more like a moan, but maybe I was hearing what I wanted to hear. We hadn't had time to talk to each other all day, and I missed her like a fucking lung. Lungs. Her lungs were failing her every single day, and we were wasting days mostly apart. I wasn't sure how much longer I could live without seeing her regularly, every day, at least a few hours a day. We couldn't go back to what we were. To occasional elevator encounters, fake rent reevaluations, and light, meaningless banter that had no path anywhere worth going to.
"Dean," she said again, her ass wiggling into my groin, begging for contact. I sucked in a breath through my teeth and pressed my cock between her ass cheeks, covered by nothing but thin, short pajama bottoms. I dragged it along her slit and let out a small moan myself. This time I wasn't going to ride her without a condom. But she asked for me, so I sure as hell was going to give her what she wanted.
"Mmmm," she groaned in pleasure in her slumber, parting her thighs a little to grant me better access. She liked it, so I took it as a signal to shove her bottoms down and stick my tip between the crack of her warm ass. Fuck. This girl. I cupped one of her tits and rolled her nipple between my thumb and forefinger, pinching it.
"Missed me, baby?" I breathed into her neck, not really expecting her to answer.
"Yes," she slurred groggily, still comatose. "I told Millie about us." Her ass pressed against my shaft harder, and now half my cock was pulsating between its cheeks. "She's happy for me."
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
I wanted to grab, spin, and eat her out, which was out of the question, because not only was Rosie asleep, her whole family was snoring, too. I heard the serenade of snorts on my way to her room.
This wasn't the kind of conversation I was going to have with a sleeping girl, so I tucked my hand into her shorts and started rubbing her clit in circles, embracing her from behind and feeling my dick jumping and jerking between her ass cheeks. I wanted to slide into that hole. Bad. But anal was definitely one of those things you needed to talk about before you were doing it.
"Come on my fingers, Baby LeBlanc." I slipped one, two, three fingers into her pussy and enjoyed the slurping noises as I pushed them in and out, slow at first and then faster when her hips started chasing my hand frantically. Pressing my lips to the shell of her ear, I hissed, "Come on, Sirius. I love you."