Max looked at me with his big, brown eyes.
"I'm sorry, Abigail," he said, and I felt like he really meant it. Not that cheating was okay, not even if I'd done it, too, but I could live with this. It felt sort of … fated.
"When you started acting all nice, huh?" I said, trying to keep my tone light. "Bringing me flowers and shit? I should've known something was up." I punched Max in the shoulder like I'd done a million times in our life, but I didn't feel anything like I did when I touched Flor. "You really are a piece of shit. I mean, I knew it, but still."
"To be fair, you're also a piece of shit," Max grumbled, looking between me and my brother and then shaking his head. He raked his fingers through his brown hair. "Jesus, I should've seen this one coming."
I looked at Flor and watched him narrow his eyes.
"The hell is that supposed to mean?"
Max shrugged, but Flor grabbed the front of his shirt, making Rhonda fidget nervously.
"Just … the way you two look at each other. I mean, ever since high school, it's been kind of obvious. I guess I just didn't want to see it." He held up his hands, palms forward, in a placating gesture. Max glanced between me and my stepbrother as I wrapped my arms over my chest to ward off the slight chill in the air. "Look, this whole thing's just kind of gotten out of control." Max paused as Flor released him and lit up another cigarette, sliding his right arm around my waist, his fingers resting on my tattoo. Warmth filled me and I had to force myself not to giggle like an idiot. Damn, this is awesome. Not sure if I'd ever get used to Flor touching me so casually. "Besides, I'm tired of cleaning the damn litter box. Come home and take care of your own cats. That big one, what's her name, she pissed all over my sheets."
Flor snorted and the tension in the air lifted – at least a little.
I looked over at Rhonda, her eyes catching on Florian for a split second. She had fucked him, and I had fucked Max, and so maybe there'd be some tension for a while, but I could live with this. I glanced at Rhonda's tattoo, the flower gleaming in the orange-yellow light from the street lamps.
"You didn't tell my parents about any of this, did you?" Flor asked and Max shook his head, grimacing slightly.
"You think I want to be around when Art finds out that you're banging his daughter? Oh, and thanks for telling him that I banged his daughter. Fucking asshole."
"Said daughter is standing right here," I said, raising my right hand. Flor pulled his cigarette from his lips and glanced down at me, those same shadows dancing behind his eyes. "And thank you, Max," I added, looking back at my ex with a small smile. Yes, the situation was awkward, but with everything that had happened, Max could've called up River and told her about Flor and me. He didn't. That had to mean something. If our friendship could survive this, it could survive anything. "And don't worry about my parents. When the time is right, we'll handle it."
"When the time is right," Flor repeated as Max and Rhonda exchanged a look. I didn't have to be a part of it to know what it meant: if there's a right time.
"I had a good time tonight," I told Flor, leaning in the doorway to my apartment. He crossed his arms over his chest and watched me with a smirk growing on his lips. Damn it, you know me too well, Florian.
"Pretending I'm not coming in to ravage you only makes it more embarrassing for you when I do," he told me, cupping a hand to his mouth to yell over my shoulder. "Addi, I'm comin' inside. In more ways than one."
"Seriously?" my friend said, popping her head out of her room to glare at us both. "Abigail, stop embarrassing yourself by pretending he's not staying the night." She disappeared again as a flush heated my cheeks, only to pop back and tack on yet another note to my board of embarrassment. "And use a fucking condom. We don't need no sister-auntie situations going on here. Babies complicate things." She slammed the door as Patrick's head appeared, cutting him off before he could add to the conversation. When I'd first met him, I'd thought 'quiet nerd', but no. Apparently, he was just as opinionated as Abi. I was slowly learning exactly how intense an at-home debate could get.
"I'm on the pill," I muttered, stepping out of the way to let Flor slide smoothly into the apartment. I could barely get the door shut and locked before he was pressing against me, turning me around to face him. Without thinking, my arms slid around his neck and my face raised to peer into his. He had that shadowy look again, and it was killing me. Must be the 'baby talk'. "Flor, don't think about it," I whispered as he leaned his forehead against mine. "I don't want you to get freaked out."
"Freaked out?" he asked, voice husky, pressing his erection into me. "How freaked out do you really think I am right now?"
"We can have kids one day, Flor. We're not related."
"I know," he said, cupping my chin and bringing my lips to his for a sweet kiss that turned my knees liquid. "I know that, but I … I spent the last several years convincing myself I couldn't have you and why. It might take me a while to get over that, Abs, but I will. I'm not playing around with you. I want this." He ground his hips against mine and I moaned, biting my lower lip as his fingers found the button on my jeans. "I want you, Abi."
I arched my hips against Flor's, letting him slide my pants down my hips, letting him go only long enough to drop them on the floor at our feet. Addi and Patrick had already walked in on us doing it out here twice already, but I couldn't seem to convince myself to stop. When Flor stood up and pressed me against the door, lifting me just enough to slide inside, I didn't protest.
I kissed him; I fucked him; I counted my blessings.
Morning sunshine streamed over my face as I struggled to grab my phone and silence the alarm. Yes, it was Sunday, but I had a ton of extra schoolwork to catch up on. Being with Florian was kind of … full time. But I also refused to let my love for him screw up my education. I would prevail.
"Shut it off," Flor groaned, his bare back stirring my body up in a way that might've been alarming if I wasn't so used to it. Seeing him naked in my bed was too exciting to put words to. I just wanted to kiss him up and down his spine and forget the rest of the world, but we'd spent the better part of so many days doing just that. "Ten more minutes."
"You have an appointment," I told him, sliding the blanket down just enough to slap his perfect ass. "You need to make money to pay for all those cats." Despite attempting to find homes for the three kittens, Flor hadn't really been successful. And I was pretty sure he'd stopped trying. I leaned over and pressed one, perfect kiss to his shoulder, to the face of one of his tattoos. I made sure to get her right on her perfectly red lips and then slid out of bed.
Getting ready with Florian around took twice as long – he always joined me in the shower – so he was running late by the time we were out and dressed. Still, we couldn't keep our hands off each other, much to Addi's disgust, as I trailed him out the front door and down the steps.
"I hope you don't have any plans tonight," Flor told me, kissing my neck, pushing my body up against the wall of the hallway.
"Why?" I gasped as his hands roamed over me, touching literally everything. His breathing sped up in time with mine as our lips made contact again and again and again, tongues tangling in an erotic dance. Shit.
"Because," he told me, pulling back just enough to speak, close enough that I could taste his words on my lips. "I'm going to fuck the shit out of you, Abigail."
"Florian."
Fuck.
The voice that spoke my beloved's name in horror was not my own. Even if I hadn't heard it, I would've known who that was based on the way Flor's face went white as a sheet. Please don't let my dad be with her, I thought as I twisted my head to the side to stare at my stepmother. Meanwhile, my stepbrother's hands were on my waist, his erection pressed against me through his jeans. The position we were in, my legs spread, his hips locked tight against mine, it wasn't easy to explain away. And that would be if she hadn't heard what he'd just said to me.
Based on her expression of horror, I was certain that she had.
"Mom," Flor squeaked out, taking a slow step back. All the places he'd been touching me went ice cold. River was alone, yes, but that didn't mean my dad wouldn't find out. They shared everything, even the little things, so I didn't even have hope that she might keep this from him for a while. In a split second, all of my fears and my shame came crashing down, culminating in that look on my stepmom's face. The moment I'd dreaded since I'd first realized my feelings for Flor was happening. Now. Here. On my doorstep.