“Gossy, did we forget about the part where I’m trying not to break my face?”
“You’re not going to break your face.” She pats my cheek.
“What about my penis? I’m not sure what the impact on the water will do to it.”
“Nothing will break. You’ll be fine.”
I eye the water.
“Unless you want to back out of the dare…”
“I don’t back out of dares,” I say, disgruntled.
She hands me the rope. “Then here you go.”
I stare her down, taking the rope with my left hand. “You’re evil.”
“Just having fun.”
She steps aside and I grip the rope with both hands now. Apologizing to my entire front half, I jump off the edge, fling my body toward the water, and then flatten like a pancake, smacking right into the water with a flop.
It feels like shards of ice pierce my skin, stabbing me all at once as I sink into the pond.
Motherfucker.
I lift out of the pond, shaking the water from my hair and eyes, only to find Renley on the ground, laughing hysterically while clutching her stomach.
Joy.
It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.
She’s chuckled here and there, maybe a laugh or two, but this is full-body hysterics, and even though the belly flop might have caused my dick to shrivel up into my balls…this right here, seeing her enjoying it, it makes everything that much better.
Chapter Thirty-Two
RENLEY
“Are you coming over to the shop today?” I ask Aunt Kitty as I pull my hair back into a loose bun on the top of my head.
“I don’t think so,” she says from her bedroom.
Disappointment hits me.
“You haven’t really seen it since I did the shelves and we started on the bathroom.”
“I’m sure it’s lovely.”
I tug two pieces of hair loose from the bun to frame my face and then I leave the bathroom to find Aunt Kitty in the upstairs hallway, putting her shoes on.
“What are you doing?”
“Going to train.”
This is going to sound very bitchy, but how can she think training for her hobby horse competition is more important than the store? When I first thought of putting in a bid, she said that she’d be there for me, that we would do it together. And sure there have been moments when I’ve asked Tilly to help mebecause Aunt Kitty can be a bit too much, but this was supposed to be her project too.
This was supposed to be something that we did together, and it hurts that she hasn’t paid much attention to it.
Instead she’s attempting to find success in a hobby that…that, frankly, not a lot of people take seriously.
