by Rhonda James
“I’m glad we’re doing this. We need to make a point of getting out more.” I grab a handful of mix and start with the Parmesan goldfish crackers, since they’re my favorite. “Did I tell you my mom and dad are coming for a visit?”
“They are?” Skylar asks, surprised. “Scott never mentioned it.”
“Mom probably hasn’t told him yet. She only called this morning to tell me. She wants to take me dress shopping.”
My face must reveal my true feelings on the matter, because they both pick up on it right away.
“What’s wrong? This is supposed to an exciting time,” Laney questions.
“I don’t know. It’s not that I don’t want to go, it’s just… I can’t wait to marry B, but I don’t want all the fuss. Sure, when I was a little girl, I used to set up these elaborate weddings for my dolls and I would pretend that I was getting married, but that was before I met the man of my dreams. I just want to marry him. I don’t want to wait until everything is perfect.”
“What does that even mean?” Skylar scoffs. “Nothing is perfect, even with all the careful planning. That doesn’t make you any more married than a simple ceremony with friends.”
“I know, right? But this seems to be very important to Brantley. He wants to make everything perfect for me, and I want to respect that. I love him tremendously for wanting to give me this, but if I had my way, we would keep it simple and small and the sooner the better. I can’t wait to be Mrs. Brantley Cage.”
Laney leans forward and places a hand over mine. “Cassie, I completely understand your reasons for wanting it that way, but take it from someone who would give anything to experience that moment. Let your mom take you shopping for your wedding gown. Laugh. Cry. Go to lunch. Do it all. Don’t take any of it for granted. Make sure you treasure every precious second.”
As if her advice isn’t powerful enough, the tears brimming behind her big brown eyes pierce my heart in such a way I feel foolish for complaining. Here I am, lucky enough to be marrying the man of my dreams, and I have a mother who gets to share in the entire process. Laney and Skylar will never have that opportunity. Their mothers will never be able to share all the monotonous details of planning their weddings. And Laney’s mom will never get the chance to hold her precious granddaughter.
This moment makes me realize all the blessings I’ve been taking for granted. Suddenly, dress shopping seems like the simplest way I can show my appreciation.
“You’re right. I need to stop being a child about it and appreciate what I have.” I cover her hand with my free one before reaching out and inviting Skylar to join us. “I’m really sorry you both lost your mom. I know it’s not the same, but my mom simply adores you both, and I know for a fact she would be there for you if you ever need her.”
Tears spill down Laney’s cheeks, but she quickly brushes them away and mouths, ‘Thank you’ just as the waitress brings over our drinks.
“Enough of this sappy shit.” Laney raises her tequila for a toast, and we follow suit. “To us. May we never get too busy for a night out with our best friends.” She shoots us both a wink before slamming back the shot. The alcohol slides down the back of my throat, burning in the best way. “Damn, I love tequila!” Laney announces after licking her lips.
Skylar scrunches her face after the second shot and reaches for a second lemon slice. “I don’t know how you two can drink that shit without grimacing.”
“What are you talking about? If I recall, you were slamming that shit pretty hard when we were in Traverse,” I point out.
“Yeah, but that was only because I was nervous about being around your brother. If you had witnessed what I did that afternoon, you’d have been slamming them back, too.”
“Wait. What the hell are you talking about? What did you see? Spill it!” Laney grins at the prospect of juicy gossip.
Skylar takes a long sip of her margarita before continuing. “After the guys finished water skiing, Scott went upstairs, while you all went back out on the boat. I stayed behind in hopes of talking to Scott and maybe getting a start on my interview questions. Well, I followed him upstairs, and just as I was about to knock, I caught a glimpse of him through a crack in the door. He was naked and on the bed.”
I close my eyes and groan. “Oh, God, I have an idea where this is going.”
“Yeah, so do I, so stop interrupting.” Laney wiggles her brows in excitement.
“Well, I think it goes without saying what he was doing.”
“Yes! No more words. We get it.” I swallow down a big gulp of my margarita. There’s not enough alcohol to prepare me for this.
“Listen here, missy. I’ve been sexless for a very long time. It’s been so long I’m afraid my vagina is starting to close up. I need details, and I need them now,” Laney demands, and the desperation in her voice is enough to make Skylar pick up where she left off.
“He started touching himself. I was going to walk away. I really was, but this was Scott and it had been four years since I’d even seen his…” Skylar’s eyes shoot to mine, and I smile to let her know I can handle it, even though I’m not so sure I can. I may have nightmares about it, but I’m nothing if not a supportive friend. “He looked good. Better than I even remembered, and God help me, but I just couldn’t bring myself to turn away. But the craziest thing was that as he was finishing, he whispered my name. I swear I almost came just by the sound of his sexy voice.”
I make a sound like I’m going to vomit in my mouth, and they both turn to me. “Sorry, flashback to a bad memory of barging in on him when he was seventeen.” I shiver and down my drink. “Scarred me for life.” Rather than feeling sorry for me, they howl with laughter as I pour another drink to help me erase the torturous memory. “Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up. You have no idea what it’s like having an older brother. You see things. Things that can’t be unseen.”
“Aww. Poor baby. I would have killed to have an older brother. All the sexy ass friends he would have brought home for me to ogle and try to kiss,” Laney gushes dreamily.
“Yeah, that part was pretty cool, I guess.”
Laney goes to stand but ends up swaying on her feet and grabs hold of the table, holding on for dear life. “Whoa. Guess my body’s trying to tell me to slow down on the alcohol. It’s been awhile since I’ve had anything.” She smiles sheepishly.
“But I thought you weren’t nursing? You could have had it sooner, right?” Skylar asks innocently.
“Well, I wanted to nurse, but there were a few complications and Hope never seemed to take to it. She had trouble latching on, and I wasn’t producing enough milk.”
“I didn’t think you could nurse with the piercings?”
Skylar interrupts before Laney can answer. “Piercings? Your nipples are pierced?”
“Among other things. They’re pretty amazing. The nipples, I mean. I haven’t seen the others.” I giggle.
“How did I not know this? I’ve seen you in a bathing suit.”
Laney just shakes her head and smiles. “I guess it just depends on the jewelry I’m wearing. You can’t always tell. I took them out while I was trying to nurse. I finally had to accept it wasn’t going to work, so I just had my piercer put them back in last week.”
“Ouch!” Skylar mindlessly rubs her own breast and tips her head to the side. “Wait. How have you seen her nipples?”
“Oh, it’s no biggie. We were getting ready for a party and she wanted to see what they felt like. The funniest part was when the guys walked in and caught her feeling me up.”
Skylar gasps audibly and her mouth hangs open as her head bounces back and forth between us. She goes quiet, bringing her drink to her lips to take a small sip.
I reach over and give her sleeve a yank. “Everything okay?”
“It’s just that now I’m the only one who hasn’t seen your breasts. I don’t know why it bothers me, but it does. Is that weird?”
“No,” Laney laughs. “I promise I’m not trying to hide them from you. You have
to remember, back then I was a stripper, so flashing my body wasn’t such a big deal. Derek helped change that. But if it bothers you that much, we can go home and I’ll let you sneak a peek. But just this once and only because I’m a little drunk.”
“Aww. You’d do that for me? That’s so sweet.” Skylar grins happily, and it’s clear that she’s getting a bit hammered as well. “I’ve often thought about getting my belly button pierced. I once asked Scott if he’d be willing to pierce his penis, but he just laughed at me.”
“I asked Derek, and he agreed to it.” Laney shrugs as if it’s no biggie.
“Get the fuck out! Seriously? When is he going? What’s he having done? Do the guys know?” Holy crap, this is major news.
“He had it done four months ago, and it’s an apadravya piercing and is sexy as fuck.”
“Holy shit. I can’t believe this. Did it hurt? Wait, that’s a stupid question. Of course it hurt.” By this point I’m babbling. I just can’t believe what I’m hearing. I never would have suspected it. Out of all the guys, I could maybe see Jordan having this done, but Davis? No way. I start thinking of ways to ask B if he’d have it done.
“I don’t think he told the guys, because he knew they would give him shit about it. But yeah, he said it hurt like hell. Once it healed, he claims it was totally worth it. And let me tell you, it feels amazing,” she brags.
“You want to know what the worst part of all this is?” Skylar asks, not waiting for us to respond. “Now, every time I look at him, I won’t be able to look at anything but his crotch.”
“You know something? You’re right!” I wholeheartedly agree.
We take the dance floor for a few more songs before heading home, and by sheer coincidence, James is our driver again. We wrap up girls’ night with a rousing rendition of Umbrella, while James uses the steering wheel as a makeshift drum.
We stagger inside my house, and the first thing Skylar does is ask Laney to show her a piercing, and Laney is just drunk enough to lift her shirt and reveal two blue crystals, each with a tiny letter D dangling from them.
One glance, and Skylar starts squealing. “Oh, my gosh! I love those! Cassie, let’s get ours done!”
Thanks to her squeals, we don’t hear the guys enter the house, and for a moment, it feels a lot like déjà vu.
“Christ, woman. You gotta stop flashing the goods. You’re not a stripper anymore.” Davis pulls her in for a hug to conceal her nakedness.
“Davis!” Skylar lets out a dainty giggle followed by a drunken hiccup. “Just the man I wanted to see. Drop your pants and show me your penis.”
Davis, clearly taken aback, stumbles to find his words “Excuse me?”
“What the fuck, Sky?” Scott demands, clueless.
“He has a rod through the end of his penis, and I’m curious what it looks like. Laney says it feels amazing, and I want to see it because I think you should have it done. Oh, and I want my nipples pierced.”
“No one’s sticking a giant needle through my dick or your beautiful nipples,” Scott answers firmly.
Brantley looks absolutely shocked by the news. “Dude? You pierced your dick?”
“I cannot believe you told them,” Davis groans into his hands.
“Sorry, baby, but I had tequila. A lot of tequila. You know that stuff is like truth serum for me.
I look over and my gaze connects with Brantley’s, but before I can utter a word, he silences my thought.
“Don’t even think about it.”
Damn. Probably should have gone with my dimples.
CHAPTER SEVEN
B
For the last three weeks, Cassie’s been spending a good portion of her day locked in a rehearsal studio working on a new song. During Christmas break, we were out to dinner and ran into Sebastian Miles and his wife Brooke. They were in town for their annual visit to see Brooke’s parents and had stopped by the restaurant to catch up with her former co-workers. A short conversation led to them joining us for dinner and during that time, Sebastian told Cassie he would love to hear one of her songs. In typical Cassie fashion, she didn’t want to show him one she’d already composed, so instead, she put pencil to paper and parked her butt on a piano bench.
Knowing Cassie the way I do, she would lock herself in that room 24/7 if she didn’t have someone like me to remind her that food and sleep are a necessity. Besides the fact that I worry about her being alone in the music studio late at night while I’m away at games, I also miss her like crazy on the days I’m home. I’m making good money now, so I decided I wanted to surprise her with a piano of her own.
I’m not a musician, so the first thing I did was call her dad to ask him about the piano he bought for Cassie’s sweet sixteen. He told me it was a baby grand, so on my last morning off, I went down to the piano dealer in Ann Arbor and made a purchase.
The delivery guy just called to say they are about to unload it from the truck and bring it inside. I spent most of the morning rearranging furniture in Masterson’s old bedroom. Ever since he moved out, we’ve been using it as a makeshift office, and since this room has the prettiest view of the Arb, I figured it would make a great space for her to find inspiration. Once they’ve placed the piano where I wanted it, I sign a few papers and they leave me to finish arranging everything before Cassie comes back home.
I’m still in the room when I hear the sound of her keys jingling at the door. Sitting down on the loveseat, I wait until she calls my name before I ask her to come back here.
“Babe? Where are you? I need you to come outside and help me sync my phone to the car. It stopped working again, and I can’t seem to figure it out?” she says on a groan.
“Back here, in your studio. I’ll take a look at it in a minute, but first, I need you to join me,” I beckon, hoping she’ll come without questioning my intentions.
“My studio? What are you talking about, silly? I don’t have a studi—Oh, my gosh—B?” She stands frozen in place, tears streaming down her beautiful face. “I can’t believe you bought me a piano.”
I reach out my hand, pulling her into my embrace, and we stand in silence holding each other as the reality of what’s happened sinks in.
“I want you to know I support everything you are doing. Doubling up on classes. Devoting your time and energy to this song. All of it. But I can’t lie. I worry about you working alone, especially at night. I don’t like being far away and wondering if you’re safe. I’d feel much better knowing you were at home working on your music. I hope that wasn’t me overstepping. I just love you so very much, and I miss you when you’re not home with me.”
“Oh, B.” She lifts a hand to cup my cheek, and I kiss the tip of her thumb when it brushes against my lips. “This is probably the sweetest, most amazing thing anyone has ever done for me. Thank you.” She presses up on her toes until our lips meet in a sweet kiss. We break apart, and I take her by the hand, guiding her over to the piano.
“Sit down and try it out. The guy who delivered it made sure it was properly tuned before he left.”
Cassie takes a seat and runs her hand lovingly over the wood surface.
“I was thinking maybe your mom could make you another cushion to match the one in their house. Or not; it’s totally up to you.”
Her fingers touch the keys, and a sweet sound fills the room. She runs through a few scales before playing the beginning of one of her favorite songs, and when she’s finished, she peers up at me through damp lashes and smiles.
“It’s beautiful just the way it is. I love it and I love you. So very much.”
I join her on the bench and capture her chin between my two fingers. “I think it goes without saying that I love you, too, but I’ll keep saying the words until I draw my last breath.”
She cracks another smile and presses her forehead to mine. “That’s funny, because I vaguely recall a guy who couldn’t bring himself to say them.”
“That guy was an asshole,” I growl. “Good thing your brother knocked som
e sense into him, eh?”
She throws her head back and laughs. “Ha. And here I thought it was my dimples that finally won my Superman over.”
I tickle the exposed patch of skin above the waist of her jeans until she titters again and then press a kiss to both divots. “These dimples are my kryptonite, but I love nothing more than going down as long as you’re in my arms.”
“Why, Brantley Cage, was that your cryptic way of suggesting we have sex?” she asks coyly.
“I don’t know.” I kiss my way down her neck. “Did it work?”
“Oddly enough, yes, it did,” she purrs before capturing my mouth with hers as we proceed to christen every available surface of her new studio.
CHAPTER EIGHT
CASSIE
My parents arrived earlier this afternoon and will be staying with us until Monday morning. Unfortunately, Brantley will be heading out of town Saturday afternoon and will be gone all next week, so he’ll miss out on most of their time with us.
Although we’ve made the trip to Chicago several times since we began dating, this will be the first time my parents have stayed with us. It’s not as if they don’t already know we’ve been living together for the past ten months, and of course they know we’re having sex, but this will be the first time they’ve been right in the next room. Because of this, I’ve already informed Brantley there will be no sex taking place while my parents are visiting.
He isn’t happy about it, but he’ll survive.
The bigger question is, will I?
Music Composition class ended thirty minutes ago, but Dr. Boggs called me into his office to tell me he was impressed with my piece. That piece represents weeks of my life. Weeks spent agonizing over the arrangement and lyrics. Countless hours spent away from home. Even on the nights I was home, the arrangement was always running through my head. Three days after B surprised me with a piano of my own, I was able to finish the piece, and I couldn’t be prouder of it. Dr. Boggs’ nod of approval is flattering, but I’m more excited to hear what Sebastian Miles has to say about it.