“By the time we fucking get there, they’ll either be caught or on their way home,” Ryke complains from the passenger side.
“Can you shut up?” I snap. “You’re going to wake the babies.” I sit beside Moffy’s car seat.
Ryke pinches his eyes. I get it. The last time Daisy came into contact with these guys, they scared her pretty badly.
Lily can’t even run. She just had our kid, so I’m worried she’s in pain or really anxious.
I don’t even blame them for hitting up the house tonight. I’ve had to convince myself more than once not to do anything in retribution. I’m honestly just surprised they snapped before Ryke, Connor, or me.
It takes one minute before we spot the house. Toilet paper drapes from nearly every tree limb, even the mail box and bushes hidden beneath layers. If I wasn’t worried, I think I might be proud.
“Fucking A.” Ryke’s voice freezes me over. I have to strain my neck to see past his headrest. The girls aren’t hiding anymore.
In the center lawn, illuminated by floodlights, stand Rose, Daisy and Lily in their pajamas, each holding their feather headbands like they’re ski-masks or something. A middle-aged woman in a white bathrobe jabs her finger in Rose’s volatile face, a volcano about to erupt.
I just hope they haven’t called the cops yet.
Connor parks the car, and he jumps out quickly with Ryke. I open my door, shoving it wide so I can have a clear view and hear the fight. But I hang back with the babies.
“You’re a grown adult,” the mother says coldly. “Act like it.”
“It’s toilet paper. We didn’t set your lawn on fire,” Rose combats. “And you’re so lucky I didn’t. I was this close.” She pinches her fingers together.
“Are you making a threat against me?” the mother sneers. Her husband walks down the porch steps with his cellphone to his ear. Jesus Christ.
“I used the past tense,” Rose snaps. “So no, I wasn’t threatening you.”
“We’re really sorry,” Daisy pipes in.
“No we aren’t,” Rose retorts. “Do you even know what your child has been doing to us?”
The mother looks disinterested in that story. It pisses me off, and I realize my hands are vibrating. Goddammit. I don’t want to drink. Even if somewhere deep, I do.
Ryke and Connor make the short trek up the lawn. I’d join but the babies—and Lily looks fine. She wavers beside her sisters with beady eyes, like a deer caught in headlights. I can tell she’d like to run away from this argument.
I shake my hands out and then cup them to my mouth. “Lily!” I try to shout in a whisper.
She whips around and relaxes at the sight of me.
“You both just had babies,” the mother suddenly snarls. No. Lily freezes cold, and Rose’s eyes flash murderously. Of course these people know about our kids. It’s everywhere.
“Don’t you dare,” Rose starts.
“You shouldn’t be here, vandalizing our property,” the woman continues. “It’s irresponsible. If you cared at all about your newborns, you’d be at home with them.”
Rose steps forward, fire in her gaze. “Who are you to say that to us—”
Connor wraps his arms around Rose’s waist, pulling her a safe distance away from the woman.
“Richard!” Rose screams, tears pricking her eyes.
“It’s okay, Rose,” Connor says in a soothing voice.
I shake out my hand for the second time and lick my lips. “Lily Calloway!” I call.
She spins around again like I startled her. This time she slowly retreats from the fight, aiming for me.
“It’s not okay,” Rose snaps. “Her son has been harassing us but she wants to file a report about toilet paper.” She sets her glassy, heated gaze on the woman. “Toilet. Paper.”
The husband interjects, “If that’s what you want to tell the police...” He still has the phone to his ear, avoiding Connor, who stands a good five or six inches taller than him.
I want to yell something. My throat aches to intervene—but from past experience, I know I’d just make the whole thing worse. I stay glued to the curb. I recognize what keeps me here, more than anything. My eyes flicker into the dark backseat, where Maximoff sleeps, his lips parted as he breathes.
I whisper, “Thanks, little guy.” You’re saving me from myself tonight.
“It won’t happen again,” Connor says, using his fake damage-control voice. “We’re sorry for waking you. If you could not press charges, we’d be extremely grateful.”
Rose is fuming. But this is what has to happen. They’re not going to jail over this. It’s dumb. Ryke is whispering to Daisy a few feet away from the woman. And Daisy suddenly spins out of his arms and says to them, “I’ll clean it up tomorrow. Just let my sisters off the hook for this.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Rose tells Daisy. “They should clean it up for be—”
Connor covers Rose’s mouth with his hand and whispers in her ear.
“Are they here? Are they okay? Lo…” Lily practically catapults over me to peer inside the car. I grab her tightly by the hips.
“They’re fine, Lil.” I hold her face between my two hands. And her big, round green eyes meet mine.
Fear spikes her voice. “I worried about him this whole time. I didn’t forget—”
“You don’t have to convince me, love,” I breathe. “You’re a good mom.” She’s not fucking negligent. “That woman can go to hell. She doesn’t know you or me or your sisters.”
Lily lets out a deep breath.
“Okay?” I ask her.
She nods and peeks past my bicep. After a short moment, she says, “He’s so cute.”
I roll my eyes, but my shoulders drop. Glad she’s not scratching her arms, biting her nails or crossing her ankles. I’d like a drink though.
Great.
“What’s that?” Lily breathes.
I follow her gaze to a second-floor lit window. Two teenagers are peeking out of the blinds. They must see us because one drops his pants and sticks his bare ass against the glass.
I grit my teeth. Classic.
“Do you remember when you peed on the side of Todd Border’s house?” Lily says with the tilt of her head in remembrance. Her words strangely ease the tension in my muscles.
I wrap my arm around her. “He was a dick,” I say. “And I drank way too much rum that night. I had to piss somewhere.” We were fifteen.
It’s weird. Revisiting bad memories doesn’t have the same impact on me that it did a year ago. I can touch them without splintering.
As I gauge Lily’s mental state, I realize the same can be said for her. While Connor tries to calm down the parents, I pull Lily even closer to me. She rests her cheek on my chest. “Hey, little criminal,” I murmur.
“So much for my getaway car, huh?”
“Sorry about that.” I tug at the red sleeve of her Marvel PJs. “You should’ve worn black, you know.”
She smiles. “All my favorite superheroes were supposed to protect me tonight, but I suppose I forgot the best one.”
“If you say a DC character like Green Lantern, we’re no longer boyfriend-girlfriend,” I tease.
She lifts her chin up at me. “I forgot you.”
I try hard not to laugh. “That…is the most rom-com thing you’ve ever fucking said to me. Take it back.”
She gapes. “I will not.” She hugs me tighter. I love being this close to her.
I kiss her temple, and that’s about when the man’s voice escalates. “Fine, fine. If someone cleans this up, then we won’t press charges.” He begins to head back into the house, but his wife lingers.
“You’re all exactly what they say.” She motions to Ryke and Daisy. “The jackass and the daredevil.” She points an accusatory finger at Lily and me. “The alcoholic and the sex addict.” Lily stiffens against my body. And the woman just keeps going, facing Connor. “The smartass.” When she turns to Rose, I think she won’t say anything. She’s using th
e labels from Princesses of Philly, and the producers called Rose a virgin. It doesn’t apply anymore.
The whole world knows it doesn’t.
“And you,” the woman briefly pauses, “the porn star.”
Lily’s jaw unhinges and mine tightens. That’s something I wouldn’t even say to Rose, under any circumstance.
Rose has enough. She lunges this time, and Connor lifts her up in his arms, restraining her easily. “We’re leaving,” he says loudly, shutting down the fight before it reignites.
“Fuck you,” Rose adds, practically spitting at her. Connor tries hard not to smile while he gives Rose a commanding look.
Daisy starts marching towards the woman.
“Now’s not the fucking time to be a hero, Calloway,” Ryke says, grabbing Daisy around the waist.
I stare down at Lily. “You’re not moving out of my arms, Lil.”
“See, I told you you’re better than Wolverine and Spider-Man and—” she scrutinizes all the characters on her PJs “—Captain America.”
I shake my head at her, but the corners of my lips have already curved upward.
Ryke lifts Daisy on his shoulders, like she weighs nothing. His upper-body strength is insane. Her legs dangle against his chest, and she stops fighting with him. In fact she inhales like she can breathe better up high. It’s times like this where I see how well my brother knows Daisy.
He looks over at me, and he scans my body, as though assessing how I’m doing.
I’m not shaking anymore. Thanks to Lily.
He motions with his head down the street. And I know he’s going to return to the house with Daisy on his shoulders, just like that.
I nod to him, and he heads towards our house.
“Walk, darling,” Connor says to Rose, rotating her so she’s in line with the car and not the stone mansion.
From the “safety” of her lawn, the woman keeps antagonizing Rose, “I’m sure she’d prefer you to force her to the car.” Her husband is calling her to come inside.
Connor speaks fast in French, and he ends up carrying Rose in his arms.
“Put me down, Richard,” she snaps.
“I’ll put you down if you can tell me the first twenty digits of pi,” he says casually, only about ten feet from the Escalade.
“3.14-I-fucking-hate-you,” she practically screams. I’m surprised she hasn’t bitten him yet.
“Incorrect.”
Rose huffs, “Why can’t you be angry? They called me a—”
“I’m livid,” he says, letting some of his emotion deepen that word. “You just can’t see it, and I’m not showing it in front of these people so you can go to jail.”
I speak up. “Sounds smart to me.”
Rose lets out a growl. “Don’t compliment him.”
“Well, I’m definitely not going to compliment you,” I retort. Connor sets Rose on her feet beside the passenger door.
When Rose notices the babies in the car, she swats Connor’s arm. “You woke up our daughter? Are you insane?”
“I assure you, my sanity is more intact than yours tonight.” And then they both start talking in French again, shutting us out of their conversation. Whatever. I’m used to it.
The front door to the house slams closed, cementing the fact that the girls got off the hook tonight. But Lily and I stare up at that damn window again, and the two teenagers are still there, snickering.
I flip them off.
Lily notices it and copies the gesture. With both hands. From Lil, in a Marvel onesie with a feather headband hooked around her wrist, it’s hardly threatening. But it’s goddamn adorable.
I feel like we’re seventeen again.
The best seventeen. Where every time I stared at Lily Calloway, I wanted to drop to my knees.
But I can’t ignore the chill in the air. The eerie presence of what may come after tonight. Whatever it is—I just hope we all can handle it.
{ 39 }
LOREN HALE
Almost three weeks into Lily’s celibacy period, and I’m feeling the effects. I step into the shower, expecting to do nothing else but wash. Then subconsciously, I mentally file through an image of Lily last night. She grinded against me, digging her pelvis into mine, on impulse, but she rolled over and controlled her urges on her own.
Still, I remember how she scooted her ass into my cock. And I just wanted to slip right inside her.
Christ. Standing naked underneath the shower water, my dick throbs, screaming to be rubbed out. I haven’t masturbated yet. I thought it was only fair since Lil’s not allowed (ever). I didn’t realize it would be this difficult. Going from fucking multiple times a day to nothing at all.
I feel like I’m walking a mile in Lily’s shoes.
I lean my shoulder blades against the tiled shower wall and shut my eyes. My brain has warred against me. All I see is Lily lying naked, with her legs spread open, begging for me, clutching the sheets like she may touch herself if I don’t hurry.
And when she stares at my hard cock, her pussy starts to soak. She cries and pleads.
I rest my head back, my hair wet. The longer strands stick to my forehead.
I’m torturing myself. She’d want me to jerk off. She’d feel guilty otherwise, but I’m going to feel like an ass if I do it. I just hate that she can’t touch herself but I can. Beads of water drip off my eyelashes as I think.
Screw this. She’s in the nursery right now. She won’t even know.
I grip my shaft, and the touch instantly pulls me out of my confliction. My lips part, and I stare up at the ceiling. I stroke my length, every nerve amplifying the sensations. I continue the movement, harder and determined.
I imagine Lily.
She has the “I have to come right now” expression, an urgency that always makes me push deeper. I ram between her legs, and her fingers dig into my back like she might fall.
“Lo!” she cries.
What gets me off most are her reactions, not our positions. She writhes beneath me, delicate and ravenous. She wants to be filled so deep that she can’t see straight, and it’s written all over her face.
In the shower, my strokes quicken and I let out a gruff noise. God I want to fuck her. I want to feel how wet she becomes just by looking at me. To thrust until she clenches around me. It drives me over.
“Christ,” I groan. Here in the now, I release, so rapidly that I let out a staggered breath. My hand keeps moving, milking the orgasm for all its worth. I lean my head back against the wall again, taking a moment to come down.
After I clean myself off and shut the water, I turn for my towel that hangs on the glass. I freeze, noticing a shadow by the crack of the bathroom door.
I had closed that door…
Lily.
Please, no.
The bottom of my stomach falls.
The worst thing that could happen: turning on Lily Calloway while she’s supposed to be celibate.
{ 40 }
LILY CALLOWAY
He didn’t see me. He didn’t see me.
I’m a Peeping Tom. A loser who spied on her boyfriend jerking one off in the shower. A red-like rash has spread from my forehead to my toes, and I scamper into our bedroom, away from the shower, the bathroom, him…
The spot between my legs keeps clenching for his hardness.
That hardness that I just saw. I want it. In me. Now.
I didn’t even mean to look. After I put Maximoff in his crib for a nap, I had a funny thought about panda bears or maybe superpowers. I can’t even remember what it was, but I planned to share it with Lo. And as I cracked the bathroom door, I witnessed something very hot. Maybe too hot. My body is overheating in a bunch of bad-good ways.
I could have stopped looking after the first minute but…
It’s just been so long since I’ve seen Lo masturbate. Hell, it’s been so long since I’ve seen anything remotely that sexual.
OhmyGod. Was that porn? Did I just watch a Loren Hale live porno?
Oh
no.
“Lily,” Lo calls, and I take the opportunity to dart into our closet. It’s not as big as the master, but it’s a walk-in. I act like I’m searching for something important. Anyway, I really do need to. Rose said she didn’t believe that Lo and I used handcuffs, and I told her that I’d find them for proof. We also wanted to compare which guy buys the better ones. I think it’s Lo. She thinks it’s Connor.
It’s yet to be proven.
“Lily?” Lo opens the closet.
“Huh?” My heart is exploding out of my chest. I can’t look at you. I focus on the long rows of black, red, and gray graphic tees that he wears. He’s concerned about me. My coping mechanisms have always been sex. And babies are stressful. Even if Moffy is a good baby—it can be a lot. The lack of sleep mixed with the temptations at night, especially as the soreness wears off.
Without sex, I turn into a paranoid person who browses the internet for trashy gossip sites and craves touch like an itch I can’t quite scratch. It’s all a mess.
I’m a mess.
But I’ve been doing my best. No sex. No penetration. No self-love.
It’s the longest I’ve been abstinent in years.
The moisture on my panties is not helping things. But I won’t take back what I saw…unless it really is porn. Then I kinda feel guilty. My elbows are burning.
“Please don’t play dumb with me,” Lo says. “Lily.” He grabs my arm and twists me around. His amber eyes rush over mine, reading where my head is at.
He has a towel wrapped low around his waist, and my eyes travel along his wet, glistening chest. The ridges in his abs, the cut of his biceps. I am picturing a fully naked body. His hand on his erection, rubbing and stroking and pleasing himself. It’s so hot that I think my brain will fry.
“Lil,” he says sternly, pinching my chin and lifting my gaze back to his eyes.
“Lo,” I reply in the same voice.
He licks his lips. Those pink lips… Kiss me. “Did you see me jerk off?” he asks.
“Yes.” I don’t deny it. I know I can’t.
He curses under his breath and rubs a hand on the back of his neck. His hair is damp, the sides shorter and the long top strands pushed back. He is drop-dead gorgeous. I’m a goner. “Lily, focus,” he says, his large hand holding my jaw. “Can you erase that image from your mind? Please?”
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