“No, thank you, my dear.” Mum leans back in the chair, unable to keep her eyes open.
“Want to grab a coffee?” Fern glances at her watch. “I don’t have to pick Harry up for another hour.”
“Sure.” I straighten Mum’s blanket around her legs and tuck it into the sides of her chair, then stroll out of the room with a smile I just can’t contain.
Fern follows, throwing her bag over her shoulder. “Let’s go to the Lakeside cafe for a cuppa and cake.”
“You know I don’t go there. Kane would?—”
“Kane’s not here, and I thought you said things were over between you? You don’t need to avoid his enemies now you’re not together.” Her brow pinches. “Is that why you haven’t stopped grinning all morning? Has he hypnotised you with his magical dick?”
“You mean dickmatised?” I throw my head back and let out a laugh, but it’s short-lived as reality hits me. She’s right. I am dickmatised, but it’s not Kane’s. “I never said he had a magical dick.”
She stops walking and spins on her boot heel to face me. “So you did get laid last night. You’re not denying it.”
I roll my eyes as I drop into her car. “Yes, I had the best sex of my life.” My fingers trace my lips, then my cheeks, where my masked man kissed every broken capillary.
Fern stares at me from the driver’s seat, a bewildered look on her face. “Who the heck was it if not Kane?”
I drop my hand into my lap, fiddling with the rips in my jeans where my chunky flesh bulges through the frayed gaps. “I don’t know.” My teeth sink into my bottom lip, hoping she believes the lie that I have no clue who this man is who made me come so hard my pussy needs time out to recover. I’m an electrically charged mess of pulses and aftershocks with every thought from last night as the ghost of him lingers in my centre.
Our breaths fog up the interior of the car. Fern starts the engine, putting the blowers on to stop the winter chill, but she doesn’t drive. Just stares at me.
“What? Can’t a girl have a good time?” I can’t look her in the eye. The longer she stares at me, the more I shuffle in my seat and the more I shuffle, the more the seam of my jeans rubs against my core and I’m burning up at the memory of my masked shadow.
“You had a one-night stand with a stranger who you don’t know, and it was the best sex of your life?”
“You catch on fast.” I pull the seatbelt across my chest and buckle up.
She presses her foot against the accelerator, driving out of the care home car park. Fern’s right, I don’t need to worry about Kane catching me at the lakeside cafe, but as Shane’s his best friend, it still feels like a betrayal, even if they stock the best cakes around.
My mouth waters just thinking about them. Though to be fair, my mouth hasn’t stopped watering since last night. The events keep playing over and over in my head, sending tingles to my centre.
“The Black Crow’s just around the corner. Let’s go there.”
Fern gives me a sideways glance as she reluctantly indicates left.
“What? I’m sure they serve tea. It’s a bar. They serve everything.” It’s not her style. It wasn’t mine either, but I’ve grown to love the place recently.
Wind whips my hair around my face as I climb out of the car at the Black Crow country pub. The usual crowd of bikes line one side of the car park.
Fern lifts her bag onto her shoulder, checking she’s locked the car, twice. “I hate this place. I can’t believe you suggested this dive.”
“Relax. We’ll sit in the quiet side of the bar.” I push the large wooden door open and turn left through another door, leading to the quieter room with plush booths and old wooden tables.
After placing our order with Heather behind the bar, Fern and I sit down with plenty of free tables to choose from.
Heather isn’t long in placing a cup of tea in front of my sister. “I brought sugar and a biscuit for you, love.”
“Thanks, Heather,” Fern says, plastering on a smile.
She places a glass in front of me. “And a usual rum and coke for you. Let me know if you need anything else.”
“Thank you.”
Fern stirs a sachet of sugar into her tea as she sniffs the air. “Doesn’t it smell musty to you?”
I roll my eyes. “Stop whinging. It’s better than giving money to the Bennett brothers at the cafe.”
