He huffs, muttering, “What am I fucking doing?” as I lead the way into the hall, grinning at the throw blanket covering the wet stain on his bed. We managed to clean up his puddle of cum before it dried, though, he might’ve caught me tasting it. It was worth the appalled look on his face.
“Ma is gonna be so—”
“There you two are!” Lucy exclaims, breaking from a woman in a similar tennis skirt and pink polo ensemble. “We’ve been—” She cuts herself off, wide brown eyes locked on our joined hands.
Remy tries to pull free.
I tighten my grip.
An ear-shattering shriek rattles my brain.
“I knew it!” She smacks the overly tan arm of the brunette beside her. “What did I tell you? I just knew they were together! Muffin is finally off the market!”
Remy’s face scrunches in a mixture of humiliation and frustration.
I’m grinning like an idiot.
“Sure is,” I agree.
He elbows me in the ribs. My nails bite into the back of his hand.
Lucy gushes, “Oh, aren’t they just the cutest?”
“Jesus, Ma, you act like I’ve never dated before,” Remy scoffs.
She doesn't seem to hear him as she turns to the clone wrinkling her pert nose in our direction. I level a threatening glare. If she makes another foul face at myboyfriend, she’s getting drop-kicked.
“Yes and so… progressive,” the woman sneers. “Is this a new thing, Remy?”
He tenses. I angle in front of him, but to my surprise, his free hand lands on my bicep.
Remy’s mom bursts out laughing. “Lord no, Bev, these two have been head over heels for each other since high school.”
I fucking love that nutty woman.
Bev, on the other hand, can escort herself into a meat grinder.
Lips puckered like she just sucked off a lemon, her high-and-mighty glare scans me from top to bottom.
“You’re Marceline’s son.”
I squint. “Yes.”
A gloating simper replaces her disgusted scowl. “Isn’t it a bit difficult for you? You know, with so much alcohol around? It can’t be easy to attend these kinds of things.”
Remy’s fingertips dig into the muscle of my arm in subtle warning but all bets are fucking off. I’ll rip the skin off this plastic cunt—
“I know I couldn’t do it,” Remy interjects, pulling his hand free to snake around my waist. His touch stuns me enough not to tear out the bitch’s throat. “Been back about, what? A little over two months now?”
Bev is forgotten. I’m caught in his bright hazel gaze.
“Something like that.”
His smile is full of adoration. “You’re doing fucking incredible.”
The genuine pride in his eyes is enough to obliterate me. Whatever dimension I’ve entered to be on the receiving end of his praise, I never want to leave it. But the high I'm basking in vanishes at who I see materialize.
Chills sweep through me as a glossy brunette apparition saunters toward us in a tailored floral print dress. I blink and blinkbut she’s still there, getting closer, the echo of her kitten heel sandals on the wood like a death knell.
