“Can you do it from my bed? It’ll give the guys something to talk about if they see your background’s changed.”
Her brow raises. “You’re not gonna try to convince me not to do the show?”
“Like you’d listen to me,” I scoff. “Besides, it’s your choice, not mine. I kinda like watching them drool over you in the chat when they keep it respectful. I feel sorry for them though. They’ll never get to have you, they’ll only get to watch you come apart around a toy.”
“You like being cucked, Maddie?” she teases, eyes alight like she’s discovered something she can use.
“Definitely not. I don’t share.” I wanna cut off that line of thinking right away. “But I don’t mind people appreciating what’s mine, as long as they’re not trying to touch.”
“Casual, remember?” she tells me, but it lacks bite.
I’m saved from answering by our food arriving at the table. Mary-Edith skips the pleasantries this time, barely checking to see if we need anything else before walking away.
We cut into our steaks, and the conversation gets lost. When it picks back up a few minutes later, what we are versus what we aren’t isn’t something that’s brought up again.
After dinner, when she slides herself across the bench seat of my pickup to wrap her lips around my cock while I’m driving us home, I don’t stop her. Sex is a weapon for Austin, a transaction. This is her way of saying thanks for buying her dinner, and if I don’t put up a fight here, maybe she’ll consider spending the weekend in my bed without seeing it as an obligation.
I thought I’d lose her after the whole thing with the condom earlier—when she took care of the mess, took care ofme,without even realizing she was doing it and then froze the second the intimacy of the moment hit her. I figured she’d make an excuse to go home, to run away from this again, but she’d taken the bait when I changed the topic and we ended up having an incredible night.
Maybe, one day, she won’t feel the need to give her body to men any time they’re nice to her. Maybe she’ll realize that she has so much more to offer than just the pleasure she can give.
But she doesn’t realize that yet, and I’ve pushed her in so many ways tonight, so I’m going to let her have this one. Besides, her mouth feels incredible and I’m not sure I could stop her even if I wanted to.
TWENTY-SEVEN
AUSTIN
Kenny and I have a much-needed girls’night the weekend after my date with her brother and she texted him to forbid him from coming over to bother us.
He immediately came over to bother us, of course.
“I know she’s the best thing that’s ever happened to this world, but you can stand to spend a weekend away frommybest friend!” Kenny argues as she tries to shove him out of her room.
I lie back on the bed and snort, scrolling through my phone. I’m nowhere near the best thing that’s ever happened to this world, even if my titsarein the running.
“Extra cheese?” I ask Kenny, not even bothering to raise my voice over their squabbling because Kenny and pizza are a match made in heaven and she’ll hear me for sure.
“Duh,” she throws over her shoulder, still trying to get her brother out of her room, but he leans against the door frame and stares at me. I ignore him until I see him move in my peripheral. My eyes flick toward him, rolling afterward when he tosses his wallet onto the bed beside me.
I don’t argue though. It’s pointless for one, and for two, if Maddox wants to pay for his little sister’s supper even thoughshe has a whole-ass job and money of her own, who am I to stop him?
Adding another two-liter of pop and some cheese sticks to the cart for good measure, I open his wallet to dig out his card. Why do old people keep so much in their fucking wallets? Does heneedto carry his insurance cards on him? Doesn’t he know he can keep all of this on his phone nowadays? And don’t they explicitly state you’re not supposed to carry your social security card on you?
A flash of gold from one of the wallet’s many slots catches my attention and makes me pause. I tug it free and fan it through the air, eyebrow raised at Maddox. “Magnum?” I mouth behind his sister’s head, trying to walk the line between ‘woman who is fucking this man’ and ‘best friend of his little sister.’
He grins wide, arms still crossed over his chest as he leans against the frame, like he intended for me to find it and give him shit for it. Kenny looks over her shoulder to see what he’s so smiley over and her face contorts. “Ugh.”
Maddox’s smile vanishes, brows furrowing as he finally looks down at his younger sister. “You said you were okay with us…”
“Fucking,” I supply the word for him.
Kenny groans again, but Maddox looks genuinely concerned that he may have overstepped with his sister. In an effort to ignore how endearing that is, I start typing his card number into the pizza app.
“I don’t care what the two of you do,” she agrees. “I’m not particularly appreciative of the implication of that particular type of condom when it came out of my brother’s wallet, though.”
“Don’t worry, it’s not that big. He’s overcompensating,” I tell her, flipping the card over to read the code on the back. I didn’t even know they made cards with the numbers on the front still. This man is positively geriatric. Incredible in bed though.
“Austin!” Kendall squeals.
