“Miss,” I say as the waitress walks by. “Could I ask you a favor?”
Without letting me get another word out, Austin interrupts me. “My wife here, she’s got really bad morning sickness, and it lasts all day for some reason. She’s about to lose her lunch momentarily. Could you rush our order and pack it up in a doggy bag?” The only thing I’m thankful for at the moment is Austin’s volume control. God help us all if Mom heard what he just said. In any case, I deserve that.
“Oh, goodness gracious! I’ll do that right away, you poor thing. You certainly are glowing though.” The waitress leans over to me and cups her hand around my ear. “Honey, your breasts are seriously amazing. Gotta love what pregnancy does to a woman. Am I right? So jealous!”
“Ha, yeah, right?” I reply.
“You’re in so much trouble right now,” Austin says.
All I can do is smile because this wasn’t what I planned. “Don’t be mad. I really didn’t mean to mess this up.”
“I’m not mad,” he says before clearing his throat.
“Yes, you are.”
“Scarlett. Your mother is here with Jack. You were under the table giving me a blowjob with curiously strong mints, might I add. Oh, and you handcuffed me, and lost the key! I’m just glad you didn’t handcuff me to the goddamn table.”
“Yes, but none of that except the handcuffed blowjob was planned. How was I supposed to know my mom would be here tonight?”
“Here you go, guys. I hope you’re able to keep this down tonight. Feel better,” the waitress says, handing me the bag.
“You’re so sweet. Thank you.”
“Scarlett, you need to go distract your mother so I can get the hell out of here without anyone seeing my hands in cuffs.”
“Got it. I’m on it,” I tell him.
“Let me have your sweater,” he says.
With a bit of confusion as to why he would make such an odd request at a time like this, I remove the thin layer I was wearing as an accessory to my outfit, and hand it to him. When he doesn’t reach for it, I realize why he wants it. “Oh.” I drape it over his hands. “There, now no one will see.” I smile and pat his hands before rushing over toward Mom and Jack’s table. I lean over Mom’s shoulder and whisper, “My stomach isn’t feeling too well, so I think we’re going to take off.”
“Oh, honey, I’m sorry. Have a little bit of peppermint. It will calm your stomach a bit. Maybe some ginger tea would may be good too?”
“Yup, I got it. Thank you. Have fun, you two crazy kids,” I tell them.
“See you two later,” Austin says, leaning over Mom’s shoulder and giving her a quick peck on the cheek. “Come on, Scarlett, let’s get you home.”
Austin runs ahead for the door. “I think he’s the one who needs to use the bathroom,” I hear Jack say as I follow Austin outside.
“Who does this?” he asks.
“Me?” I offer, sheepishly.
We manage to make it back to Austin’s house without running into anyone, and I immediately locate the other set of keys in the bottom of my overnight bag. “Got it,” I tell him.
He holds his wrists out to me and I unlock them. I unlink both cuffs and they slide down his hands, but he grabs ahold of them.
I’m laughing so hard, my stomach does actually hurt now. I can’t believe I did that.
“You think this is funny?” he asks.
“I do.”
“There is a time and place, Scarlett.”
“Yeah, but I don’t like those times or places.” I smile, but Austin is in the mood for revenge. That much I can see on his face. He ducks down and slides his shoulder under my stomach, flipping me over his back.
“You know how you complain about how slow I like to go sometimes?”
