A silent laugh bubbles up from my chest. “Not actively, no. But, you know, if it’s working, I’m not going to mess around with it.”
She titters. “It’s working, trust me. I just—I’m me. I come with baggage that I’m still working on.”
“That’s okay. I’m not about to ask for anything you’re not comfortable with. You’re at the helm here, captain.”
She sighs. “Thank you.”
“No need to thank me for what should be common human courtesy.”
She’s silent for a minute before she peers back up at me. “Lava, Caleb. They’re melting into molten fuckin’ lava.”
The rest of the night goes off without any other hitches—and without any other hits to the family jewels, praise be—and now I’m pulling up to her house to drop her back off. Though we shared a few morevery heatedmake out sessions while we collected seaglass, I didn’t get the impression she would have accepted if I invited her back to my placefor the night. Like she said, she has trauma she’s working with, and simply dating is all new to her.
“Do you want to come in?” she shocks me by asking, while unclipping her seatbelt.
“M-A-R-C-U-S?”
“Is inside, yes, but I am fairly certain you’re already acquainted. Literallyandbiblically.”
I roll my eyes. “Are you sure that would be a good idea? What about your son?”
“Brody is at his friend Harrison’s for the night, and I think some open communication would absolutely be a good idea.”
I sigh and kill the ignition. Guess I’m going to go tackle the world’s most fucked up case ofcome meet the familyhead on. I know I now have a better understanding of what happened all those summers ago, but… fuck, that animosity is something I’ve carried with me for nearly ten years. I’m not surehowto fully let that go. Things with us, over the past two weeks, have been a little awkward, to say the least, if not a bit terse at times. Here goes nothing, though, I guess.
“Unless you guys don’t think you can get along,” Lauren adds, hedging.
“He’s a part of your life. If I want to be a part of your life too, I need to start somewhere in accepting that, don’t I?”
She snorts, shaking her head. “You two are so fucking similar. It’s unbelievable, really, the way you can’t bury a grudge.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “He hurt me!” I remind her.
“He hurt too, Caleb. I remember the end of that last summer, and he was a sulking mess for a long time, trust me. I didn’t know why then, but it’s making a hell of a lot of sense now…”
I begrudgingly follow her up the walkway and into her house. Well,theirhouse, I guess. I have to steel myself to take into consideration thattheyhave a life together, and I’m the new guy here.
Also, my balls still hurt pretty fuckin' bad, so there's that cherry on top.
As soon as we step inside, Marcus pops out of the bathroom—toothbrush still in his mouth—wearing a strappy, silken slip nighty. The lavender hued material is trimmed with a tiny bit of scroll lacework at the bust, where the chest hair on his pecs peeks out, and drops to about midway down his dark-haired, tree-trunk thighs. The lustrous fabric clings to his body, calling my eyes to attention on his perfectly round ass.
He quickly darts back into the bathroom, and I hear him spit out the toothpaste. Over the sound of rushing water from the faucet, he yelps, “Oh, what the absolute fucking hell?! A little warning that you were bringing your boy-toy inside, Lauren?!”
“Head’s up, Marcus. Caleb’s here,” she snarks.
He pokes his head back out, plastering her with an unamused expression. “Wow. Thanks.”
Guess we’re just turning a blind eye to Marcus’ choice in apparel. This must be… commonplace, I take it? Fuck. I mean it’s hot, don’t get me wrong, but not something I ever expected seeing him stuffing his brawny ass into.
“Can you all turn around for a second so I can scoot into the bedroom to get changed?” he mutters, annoyance lacing his tone.
“Why?” Lauren asks. “We’re all grown adults here…”
“Because it’s embarrassing!” he whines, still hidden inside the bathroom.
“It’s fine,” I sign to Lauren.
“Caleb says it’s fine, babe.”
