Sex Says(60)

On top of the mechanics of how it actually happened, I was also trying to understand my fuck and get the fuck out response in the aftermath.

I had all but shoved him out the door.

Shit. Did I actually shove him? Maybe…

The whole “Reed Luca is my nemesis” mind-set didn’t exactly lay out a path toward getting naked and boning like angry, horny bunnies. I mean, most people didn’t have sex with someone they hated.

Yeah, but you don’t hate him, my mind whispered. You like him. You, like, really, really like him.

Obviously, my brain was still a little confused. Just because a man took you to Pound Town and let you ride a unicorn and find the leprechaun’s pot of gold didn’t mean you had to like him.

Although, there really was something to be said about those unicorns…

The knocks, unfortunately, didn’t take a time-out to let me finish my little mental breakdow—powwow. Whoever was on the other side of that door wasn’t going to let up anytime soon.

“Jesus,” I muttered. “Hold your horses.”

Reed chuckled softly from his cozy perch on the sofa, and my tits perked up. Literally. Like little dogs on my chest.

As I headed toward the door, I swore to the universe if there was a Reed Luca clone standing in front of my door, I would stop trying to be a good person. I’d acquire every vice out there—gambling, drugs, alcohol, sex.

I couldn’t handle two Reed Lucas.

Yeah, but you would handle sex with Reed Luca’s clone just fine, my mind taunted.

I chose to ignore that.

The wood felt heavier as I dragged it open, the possibilities of a threesome with two Reeds running through my mind and the guilty self-loathing that followed plaguing the lining of my stomach. Thankfully, all thoughts of sex in any context fled as I realized who had actually come calling—because hello, creepy.

There stood my sister and Brian, polished, pressed, and dressed to the nines, while their three kids—with backpacks, rolling suitcases, and sleeping bags in hand—ran straight into my apartment without even uttering a hello.

“Sorry, we’re a little late,” Annie greeted and pushed past me.

Brian followed her lead but stopped to give me a quick kiss on the cheek on his way in. “Hi, Lo.”

Reed stood up, and Annie stopped dead in her tracks.

Her eyes shone in amusement. “Oh, I see you have company.”

I sighed. My sister was far too excited about this.

“Are you going to introduce us, Lo?” she asked with a smile the size of Earth.

Yeah. Annie was too fucking excited. I sighed.

“Reed, this is my sister Annie, her husband Brian, and their three kids, Emma, Lucy, and Henry,” I introduced because I had been left no other option.

Brian and Annie offered the typical, friendly greetings and handshakes, while the kids ran circles around the four of us.

“Is this your boyfriend?” Henry shouted.

“Ohh! I want a boyfriend!” Emma chimed in. “I want a boyfriend just like Aunt Lola!”

“No, not boyfriend. He’s my friend,” I said, refusing to look in Reed’s direction when the word friend left my lips.

“That’s right,” he interjected. By the tone of his voice, I knew he was also getting far too much amusement out of this situation. “I’m your Aunt Lola’s friend. Her best friend,” he added for good measure. I started to feel the familiar urges toward violence prickle my fingertips.

“Friend,” I corrected through gritted teeth and quickly redirected the conversation. “A little late, Annie?” I asked, and she did her normal thing of walking around my apartment being a busybody. I followed her toward the kitchen, past the display of three kids who were now rolling around on the carpet and throwing their sleeping bags in the air. Reed and Brian stayed behind, weighing down both ends of my couch, just in case it tried to fly away.

“What exactly are you late for?”

“I know I told you seven,” she explained and grabbed a glass from the cabinet, “but I had to talk Henry out of bringing one thousand LEGOs to your place.”

“Am I supposed to know what’s happening right now?” I honestly had no idea why they were here, and more than that, why it appeared her children would be staying for an unknown length of time.

Had she finally broken and decided to drop her kids off before she and Brian ran off to Mexico?

“I sent you a text reminder on Tuesday, Lo,” Annie answered and filled the glass up underneath the tap.

“Well…considering you send me ‘text reminders’ about five times a day, it’s easy to understand why that one didn’t stick out to me,” I retorted. “What exactly am I supposed to be doing tonight?”