"What about your lip gloss?"
She rolls her eyes. Instead of answering, she pulls my face down to hers and kisses me without restraint until I’m ready to throw her in the car, take her somewhere to do wicked things to her with my tongue.
I pull back, breathless, to calm myself. She wipes my lips with her finger, then pulls out a wet wipe from her tiny clutch. I raise an eyebrow, and she laughs. "It's a mum thing." She cleans off the remaining gloss from her lips, still a little red from our kiss, but doesn't bother to re-apply the gloss.
"So, this is what was taking you so long?" a familiar male voice calls out from behind, causing me to let out a small growl.
"What are you, my timekeeper?" Rachel asks Marcus, looking over my shoulder.
I turn around and force a smile. "Marcus." I nod my head but he just looks me up and down.
"Where's Molly?"
"Out back with my parents," he replies. Rachel crosses her arms. He stares up and down the length of her body, and I want to punch him in the face. "Come on, we hardly ever get to spend time together as a family," he says, stepping towards her.
I tense, ready to put him on his arse, when Rachel holds her hand up to stop him from getting any closer. "Marcus, Olly is standing right here. And for the record, we were never a family. Even before Molly was born, you couldn't keep your dick in your pants."
I almost want to high-five her for giving it to him straight, but I keep my mouth shut. His nostrils flare as he stares daggers at me.
"Yeah, well, that was then, and this is now. Does he know you're only using him until we get back together?"
Yep, that's all I can take. "Mate, you need to back the fuck off."
"Listen, we aren't at your crummy bar right now, so how about you mind your own business andpiss off?"
Rachel pushes Marcus away from me, and I'm grateful, but also fuming that she's touching him. How can that piece of shit be related to that sweet baby girl in there? "Marcus, stop it. You only want me when you can't have me. But I told you I don't want to be like that—and I won't."
It's not what I'd like her to have said. It makes me wonder if, deep down, she would still want to be a family if she and Molly were his priority.
"Neither do I. What I want is for you, me, and Molly to try and be a family. Won't you always wonder about how good we could have been? You won't even give it a try…"
"Seriously, man, you need to stop." I take a menacing step towards him.
Rachel grabs my arm. "Come on, Olly, let’s get this over with," she says, not entertaining what he just said.
I wrap my arm around her shoulder but not before looking back at Marcus who stands there, watching us, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face.What the fuck is he playing at?
"Olly!" I look around the sea of people until I see Molly bouncing up and down while she runs over, her flamingo hanging from her hand. She wraps her arms around my legs, looks up, and smiles. "I missed you," she says, and those three words almost bring me to my knees.
"Don't mind me, Molly. I'm just your mummy."
Molly sighs, then lets go when Rachel kneels down to pull her in for a hug. I see her breathe Molly in, and I wonder what our children would look like. I hope they'd take after their mum. I have to cough to stop from choking on my saliva. I've never thought about having children before.
"Rachel, you're tardy." I look up to see a woman walking towards us. She clicks her tongue, stopping in front of us. "And you couldn't find anything else to wear? Something more flattering?”
Rachel's mouth forms a straight line, but she doesn't respond.Fuck no."She looks perfect as she is," I say, pulling Rachel into my side. She doesn't hesitate to wrap her arm around my waist, and I'm grateful for that.
The woman looks at me head to toe and then back up again like she's just walked through dog shit. "So, this is the boy you're friends with?"
Rachel lets out a frustrated sigh. "No, this is themanI'mdating, Mum."
"Hmm. What about you and Marcus?"
"There is no ‘me and Marcus.’ You're making a scene," Rachel says, exasperated.
Her mum's eyes dart around the people mingling about, her lips forming a straight line, and then, shit you not, she raises her nose in the air. "Come, let's go find your father." Without waiting for a response, she turns on her heel and saunters off.
"I am so sorry," Rachel whispers into my ear, her fingers squeezing my hips.
