by Kat Addams
“No … no bra. Do I need to speak in caveman terms too? You, Weston. Take me, Nikki. Mud. Now,” she said.
I nodded, unable to speak.
She stuck her foot out to the side, crossed her arms, and sighed, “Do I need to dress you too?”
I kept nodding.
“Fat chance at that. Get you and Dan in your room and get dressed. I’ll meet ya downstairs.”
I shuffled my feet down the hall toward my bedroom and slipped into a pair of shorts. I rubbed my palms together, realizing that Nikki would be sitting with her legs spread behind me, hanging on to me. She would have to put her arms around me to not fall off the four-wheeler. It was required.
I hopped down the stairs two at a time, throwing my arms out in a perfect landing, right at the feet of my ma and Nikki. I walked right over to Nikki, put my arms around her, and dipped her, kissing her right on the mouth.
Her eyes flew open, but she didn’t stop me.
“Weston!” Ma shook her head. “Here. I packed you up a picnic.” She handed me a basket.
“Your mom is the best, Weston! Thank you, Ma.” Nikki hugged her before turning toward the door.
“Be back soon!” I called, grabbing Nikki’s hand.
We made it across the front yard and into the big barn before she said anything.
“You kissed me!”
“Well, you’re my bride. Of course I did!” I shrugged, stifling a laugh.
“Weston Banks! You know I’m your fake bride! You can’t go kissing a fake bride!”
“I’m sorry. I know. I was just trying to make it real. And honestly, I watched you eat breakfast, and the way you licked that frosting off your lips earlier … wowie! I can’t shake that look you gave me. Hop on.” I slapped the seat of the four-wheeler.
“It’s fine. It felt pretty good actually. It’s been a while since I’ve been touched like that. No passion or dipping my back and kissing me as you did. Most of my fun is a one and done and then get the hell out.”
“They tell you to get the hell out? That is terrible!” I said, wrestling to secure the picnic basket on the back of our ride.
“No. I tell them to get the hell out.”
I swung my leg over the four-wheeler. “So, how many of these friends do you have?”
“Enough to keep me satisfied when that craving hits but not too many that I have to deal with all their shit constantly,” she answered, straddling in behind me. The heat from between her legs rubbed up against the tip of my butt, instantly thickening my dick.
“Is that a lot?”
“Are you slut-shaming me or just curious?”
“Wondering how much competition I have, is all.”
“Oh, husband,” she sighed, putting her arms around me and laughing.
I revved the engine on the four-wheeler and took off around the property. With every bump in the yard, I felt her rub up against me. I had gotten as hard as a rock before we even made it out of the barn. She held on tight as I veered away from the chickens and toward Bessie, so I could stop and let her pet Ma’s moody cow.
“Have you ever tipped her?” Nikki narrowed her eyes down at me as she gently stroked Bessie’s back.
“Of course not! I would never do such a thing!” I gasped, patting the heifer on the rump.
I averted my eyes. I had totally tried to tip Bessie over when I was younger. I wanted to impress my friends, but cow tipping was a whole lot harder than I had thought. Somehow, I ended up on top of Bessie, racing full speed down the driveway. Riding a cow was not like riding a horse. I’d left Bessie alone after that.
“Mmhmm,” she hummed, still staring me down.
I motioned for her to hop back on our ride, quickly changing the subject. “Come on. Let’s get to the lake, creek, and mud pit. There’s a lot to see if we want to be back around lunch!”
We started back up toward the lake as I pointed out the spot for the fireworks and the field where everyone would park their cars. Already, tents were being erected and tables set up. My family didn’t know the meaning of a small gathering. Every Banks party was over the top. One time, we had even hired Santa and his reindeer for Christmas. Unfortunately, Santa had been a mean drunk, and his reindeer had had the shits, but it was memorable at least.
I circled the lake before heading toward the meadow that led to the mud pit. The tall grasses brushed past us as we bounced our way to the creek. Nikki’s boobs jostled against my back. She couldn’t see the wide, goofy grin that played across my face each time I felt a nipple bounce.
“Faster! Ándale!” she shouted behind me, cracking a fake whip.
“Think you can handle it?” I shouted back.
“Ha! Do you even know me?”
I pushed the pedal down even further and took us flying across the fields. Nikki’s arms tightly death-gripped around me, causing me to have trouble breathing. She could probably outmuscle me.
“Is this fast enough?” I croaked.
“That’s more like it! Woohoo!” she screamed.
I threw in a few wild turns, made some doughnuts with my tires, and tried my best to drift into a shaded parking spot but failed miserably. My attempt at showing off only crashed us into a tree.
“Are you okay?” I panicked, turning around and patting her all over, making sure she was still in one piece.
“What the hell are you doing? Yes! I’m fine. Don’t quit your day job to become a race car driver though.” Nikki brushed off her shoulders and reached for the basket.
“Here, I got a blanket.” I opened the back compartment and pulled out an old quilt.
“Do you do this often? Picnic and blanket?”
“My parents do. Why do you think my dad suggested the four-wheeler? My parents are freaks!”
“No way! Your mom seems like the sweetest, most innocent woman ever. I don’t even know what you were worried about, bringing me here.”
I fluffed out the quilt, laying it down under the shade tree I’d crashed into.
“They’re ridiculously kinky. I once found a box in their closet when I went snooping for my Christmas presents. Let’s just say, I never snooped again.” I shuddered.
“What did you find?” Nikki sat down on the blanket and began unpacking the basket.
My mom had loaded it with sweets, fruits, olives, cheeses, and sparkling cider.
“Some kind of dinosaur dildo. Or wait, it was a dragon one, I think! Yeah! It was like a huge dragon claw that vibrated. There were three of them! And all sorts of porn stuff. Nipple clamps too! And lots of stripper-type lingerie and heels!”
“Wow! You really went through all of that stuff?”
“I was a kid. Of course! It was burned into my brain forever! It makes me ill to think about it.” I grabbed a plate and loaded it with food. I still felt full from breakfast, but I wasn’t about to pass up a picnic with one of the most beautiful women I’d ever laid eyes on.
“That sounds horrifying. But moms need love too. Speaking of love, I think I’m in love—”
My heart skipped a beat as I started to cough, choking on an olive.
“With your mom,” Nikki finished, curiously eyeing me.
“Really? But she makes us sleep in separate bedrooms and doesn’t pack us wine! Look!” I held the sparkling cider up and poured it into plastic cups.
“And?”
“She is overbearing as fuck! You’ve met her! She wants me to do this and that and have babies and be a good boy and blah. It’s overwhelming!”
“I see a mom who bakes cookies for her favorite son. I mean, she basically said you were her favorite earlier. And she does all the fun mom stuff. She takes care of you. She loves you. She’s there for you. She’s pushing you to have grandbabies because she will be an amazing grandma. Just think, yes, it’s stressful, but she won’t be here forever. Might as well soak up all the love and family life you can now. People can disappear out of your life without a moment’s notice.”
“I’m sorry, Nikki. You’re right. I don’t know
what it’s like to not have a family. I shouldn’t complain.” I shrank into the blanket, realizing that maybe I was coming off as a douche bag.
“Not everyone gets to have a caring family. I sure didn’t, and the kids I work with at the cottage rarely even see their parents. Sometimes, they don’t even come home. And these are children! Most of them are teens, but some of the kids are as little as six years old and foraging their bare pantries for days before their mamas show up. Dads? Forget it. It’s very rare for a dad to be in the picture at all.”
“Jeez. Fuck. Six years old?” My brows pulled together, and shame bubbled up in my chest.
“Hey. It’s okay. You haven’t had experience with that side of life. Good for you. Really, I’m not trying to be snarky. That’s great. You’re privileged, is all. I’ll bring you to the cottage sometime, so maybe you can understand my perspective on your ‘overbearing family,’ ” she said, making air quotes.
Privileged. I’m privileged. Fuck!
“I would love to meet your children and learn some more about what you do. I can tell you’re passionate about it.” I tried to smile at her, but all I could find in myself was a shaky pout.
I never had anyone put my life into perspective before. My life had been surrounded by mostly good things. I never lacked for much of anything, except a love life. I had more money than I needed, but I never acted like a snob about it. At least, I hadn’t thought I did until I began to think about my supportive family life versus the way Nikki had told me she had grown up. I cringed.
“It’s okay. I can see I ruined our fun mood. Cheer up. I can’t relate to you, and you can’t relate to me. But your parents are golden. Just remember that,” she said, patting my hand and popping an olive into her mouth.
She lay back onto the blanket and looked up at the sky.
“That one’s totally a penis.” She pointed to a cloud floating by.
I turned my face to the sky. “What? That is not a penis!” I laughed, lying down beside her, pushing her deep thoughts into the back of my mind. “Now, that one over there, that might be a penis.” I pointed to a sad little cloud hanging out in the distance.
Nikki laughed, forcing herself up on one elbow and looking at me. She tugged at Dan and smiled. “You’re fun, Weston. And you’re a really good man.”
“So are you, Nikki. Uh, fun, I mean. Not a man. Anyway, I’m sorry for not realizing what an ass I must sound like, complaining about an overbearing family when I have all of this.” I put my hands in the air, motioning around the property.
“Like I said, it’s okay! Forget about it. Don’t beat yourself up. We are all constantly growing and learning. You’ve just never had a trailer-trash bride to get shit real for you!” Nikki laughed, tugging at my arm. “Now, show me this creek and mud pit! Let’s wrestle this white male privilege out of you.”
“Fuck, I’m so, so sorry.” I mentally smacked my head against a wall.
“Ha-ha! I’m just fucking with you. Sort of.” We pulled each other off the blanket and walked toward the creek.
Nikki stopped at the edge, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.
“Serenity,” she whispered over the bubbling of the water. Her hand reached out to touch a stone, disrupting the current. “If I were you, this is what I would want my parents to sign. The deed to this place. Fuck Westy’s, the hotel, the diner. I would want this.”
I nodded my head, stopping long enough for once in my life to listen to the water, the birds, the wind. I never paid much attention to that sort of stuff.
“You’re about to get your feet wet. Come on, darlin’.” I held her hand as we skipped over rocks to the other side of the creek and to the top of a hill. Down below was the mud pit, as sloppy and muddy as I’d ever seen it.
“Oh my gosh!” she squealed, taking off her shoes and running toward the mud.
“Wait! Are you sure? It’s about a foot, maybe two feet deep!” I called after her, hesitating.
“It’s Mother Earth! Of course I’m sure! It’s not like you’re jumping into a frying pan! It’s mud!” She laughed, scooping up a glob of it in her hands and flinging it at me.
A fat clump of mud hit Dan before slowly dribbling off. Nikki clutched her sides, laughing and falling back on her ass, straight into the mud. She tossed her head back, gasping for breaths between laughter.
“You know you’re going to pay for that one!” I shook my head, brushing the mud out of Dan. I took off my shoes and scuffed my foot across the dirt like a bull, revving myself up. “Bombs away!” I yelled, running toward Nikki at full speed and jumping into the mud.
I pounded my feet into the cold goo, sending it flying everywhere. There was mud in her hair, her mouth, and on poor Dan.
“You little shit!” She laughed, pulling me down to her and wrestling me to the ground.
She climbed on top of my lap, facing me with wild eyes and a wicked grin. My heart raced as I contemplated her next move. She was either about to drown me or bite my head off. I winced. She took the back of my head in her hand, steadied herself with the other, and pulled me in for the dirtiest kiss I’d ever had. Mud smeared across our lips, chin, cheeks as we made out like teenagers in the middle of filth.
“How do you like that?” she panted before putting her lips back on mine.
“I love Mother Earth,” I whispered into her mouth, dazed.
My head swam with the possibility that some animal might have pooped in here, and I could have a smeared turd or slimy bug or something on my lip, but the way Nikki had kissed me had me out of fucks.
“Good. I do too. Chase me, and I might let you catch me. But if you do, I want to be dipped and kissed again as you did in front of your mama. Except, this time, no one is watching.”
Nikki rose to her full height and took off running toward the creek.
“I think she is flirting with us, Dan,” I whispered, watching her ass bounce as she left.
I hurled myself to my feet, slipping once, twice in the mud before catching my footing, my bearings, and my emotions. Just kidding, my feelings were all over the place. I had already started falling for Nikki the second I watched her cream-pie the stage. And with every kiss we’d had since, I kept falling harder and harder.
I ran down the hill and into the creek, splashing toward her as she dashed away again, farther down to where the stream deepened. I trudged through the water, like a hunter tracking its prey. She turned to check how far behind I was and gasped as I launched myself at her.
“Wow! You’re like the big, bad wolf—”
I came up behind her, scooping her into my arms and kissing her like I’d seen those passionate men do it on all those Hallmark movies my ma had me watch at Christmastime.
Nikki’s body relaxed into my arms as she pulled her head away and whispered, “I didn’t think I could top that serenity and peace I’d felt earlier, but you might have just given it some competition. Because now, I’m peaceful—and horny.”
My mouth dropped open. “Oh? Oh! Well, I, um … I …” I looked around for a place to set her and give it to her good. We were both caked up to our ears in mud. “I’d say, let’s rinse you off in this creek, but then the pee fish will get to you. Can’t have that!”
“Excuse me?”
“The pee fish. If you’re naked in the water, a fish swims up your pee hole and lives in there.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“I swear, I saw that on TV one time, and I’ve never been naked in a creek since! Come on. Let’s get you home and cleaned up.” I wiggled my brows.
“Weston, I don’t think there’s pee fish in here.” She laughed. “But I’ll not take the chance. Maybe we can come back another time. I’ll just go take a cold shower and get all of this mud off of me anyway.” She wiggled down from my arms.
“Okay,” I said in a low voice.
I’d once again put my foot in my mouth and ruined another moment that could have gotten me laid by my fake fiancée, who I was falling in love with. Sh
e would have been worth all the pee fish in the world.
I sighed, “Let’s go back home. This mud is starting to dry and feel tight anyway.” I cringed, pulling at my shorts and solemnly heading back to the house, sans nooky.
SEVEN
Nikki
When we arrived back at Weston’s parents’ house, an old neon-green hippie van with flower decals painted on the sides sat parked at the front entrance.
“That’s not something I see every day,” I said, squinting my eyes to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating.
“Doesn’t have shit on the P-wagon,” Weston said, revving up the four-wheeler and pulling it around to the barn.
“Whose is it?” I asked.
“My brother’s.” Weston grew silent as he parked our ride and hopped off.
“You don’t speak of him much, but I get the feeling that you two aren’t close. Which, by your eclectic taste in vehicles, I find pretty weird. Seems like y’all would be best buds.”
“We are friendly. But a little competitive, and I think our relationship has suffered from this whole passing-on-the-business stuff.” Weston took my hand in his. “Come on. I guess you’ll have to meet him sometime.”
The sadness in his voice ever since we’d left the creek was upsetting, even for me. I wasn’t the type to get dragged down into other people’s abysses. But the way he slumped his giant shoulders and stuck his pouty bottom lip out broke my heart.
I checked in with myself and let those thoughts roll around in my head as we silently walked back toward the farmhouse.
I’m feeling for Weston. I feel for Weston. I have the feels for Weston?
My lips curled under my nose as I realized my flirtatious behavior at the mud pit wasn’t only because I’d felt like getting sexy, but also because I actually liked Weston Banks, the biggest goofus I’d ever met.
Weston stopped and lowered his voice. “Hey! Are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah. Sure. Better than okay. We’re going to rock this. I got you.” I smiled.
Get it together, bitch. Get it together.
His hand fell on my lower back, gently nudging me up the porch and back inside. The heat from his touch seared up my spine, causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end.