“He threw a d-demonstration for me once,” she says, her voice far more secure than when she started. “Brought in his girlfriend and made her come by fucking her in front of me, just in case I wasn’t connecting the dots.” She hides her face in my shoulder.
“Holy fuck.” Even I’m surprised by that revelation. How inadequate can a boy possibly be? “And she was okay with that?”
“Apparently. Maybe she had a public sex bucket list to tick off or hoped for a career in s-sex education.”
There are still tears in her voice, but I can’t stop from chuckling at the job description. “If that’s the direction of sex ed, I’m sure the lessons will become a lot more popular. Was he not aware there are a multitude of porn sites that’ll achieve the same goal with much less hassle?”
Her soft laugh echoes around the room again. “Apparently, not.”
“It’s not the same mistake,” I whisper, linking my arms around her, kissing the top of her head. “I’m not completely inadequate in bed.”
“No, you’re not,” she says, and I’m pleased with her wholehearted agreement.
“I’m also not sleeping around on you.” George goes still and I hear her struggling to swallow. “It’s true. Any physical relationship that Kari and I shared, it stopped before you came on the scene.”
“Really?”
Her voice is so small and hopeful it makes my chest ache. “Really.”
She rests her cheek against my chest, closing her eyes. When I think she’s fallen back asleep she gives a tiny start,then asks, “Can you stay the night? You don’t need to get back?”
“I don’t need to be anywhere but right here.”
She gives a delightful wriggle against me, then drops straight into sleep. I lay awake, loving the weight of her body on mine, my thoughts travelling back over everything we said, hopeful that she knows history won’t repeat itself.
I might do monstrous things, have done some of them to her, but I’m not a monster. I’m not so inadequate I need to hurt someone because my own failings leave me feeling insecure.
My thoughts wind back to the strange, aborted statement that she wove in there. The one about her dad stealing the jewellery. She might be wrong about making a mistake with me but she’s right about making the same mistake with her father.
The man doesn’t deserve her trust, doesn’t warrant it, yet he uses it time and time again.
I need to act, sooner rather than later. Get him out of her hair so she can flourish.
Luckily, everything’s already set in motion.
All I have to do is press play.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
GEORGE
Lachlan is gonewhen I wake the next morning. There’s a small pulse of disappointment that he didn’t stay the night after all, but it doesn’t grow. Doesn’t turn into the same fears that tore at me yesterday.
I might still be making a mistake, but the confession last night gave me enough optimism, enough confidence in the bond me and Lachlan share, that I can’t get worked up over it.
If this is a mistake, let it be the biggest, most spectacular mistake I ever make. Let me invest too much of myself, my time, my energy, my love into him so even if it all shatters apart, at least I’ll know I gave it my all.
No use in tainting my memories with misery. Let them glow as bright as they can.
I grab my phone and a broad smile takes hold as I see the message.“Sorry to leave. My dad pinged me and you looked far too beautiful to wake. Enjoy your sleep-in.”
It was sent at four-thirty in the morning. I change my opinion to being grateful he didn’t wake me. That’s not a sensible time for mortals to be out and about.
I stumble along to the kitchen, tenderly poking at my face in between putting on a large pot of coffee. No sign of dad again. Embarrassment is probably keeping him out all night. I guess he didn’t get on enough of a winning streak to pay back the things he stole.
The thought of it sours my mood but I try to wrest it back into place. It would be terrible to waste my time with Lachlan by mooching around, being sad about my father and his determination to ruin his life.
And mine.
