boston
It’s beena couple of weeks of trying not to think about her. She’s still the first thing I think about when I wake up and the last thing I think about before I fall asleep. More often than not, it ends up with my dick in my hand. I’m a man possessed. I think about the bathroom, the hotel room, the sink, and that fucking flight from hell on a loop. I think about every second of it, every minute of my life.
I’m about to pay a witch online to make it stop.
I have somehow managed to resist reaching out to her. I justify it by reminding myself that I will never have a girlfriend, I’ll never get married, and I don’t want kids. I can’t reach out. It would be entirely selfish, and then I’d not only be hurting Forker, but I’d be hurting her, too.
I can’t do that to her.
It gets easier with him, by the way. With Fork. I push it out of my mind when we're together, and pretending it never happened is easier when she’s not around. Which is why my heart sinks to my fucking ass when I walk onto Lowesy’s balcony with a box of cinnamon buns in hand and see Ariana Forkerro in a long, pink sundress, sipping on a martini.
I force myself not to freeze, which is what I almost do. My eyes find her instantly, like they search for her in every room and on every face. When she smiles all smug, I tear my gaze away, praying that I am able to make it through the night without doing or saying anything stupid. She’s in pink. Fucking pink.
I hand the box of pastries to Penny, whose eyes light up, and then try to quickly decipher which seat is furthest fromher.
I settle for one of the arm chairs across from the fireplace table. It’s a solo seat. There’s an empty one next to me, but one of the dogs is curled up on it. There is no way anyone will risk disturbing them. Not even Ari.
“Okay, continue. I need to hear the end of the story,” Penny says.
Lowesy chuckles under his breath.
The entire room turns to look at Ariana. My eyes follow suit. They would have even if she wasn’t the one leading the conversation.
Arden sighs, shaking her head and hiding her face, but Carter is grinning from ear-to-ear.
Ari, whose hair is down and falling in front of her chest—a gold clip pinning one side of it back, launches back into the story she must have been telling before I interrupted with a dozen cinnamon rolls and little words.
I look to the couch opposite Declan and Penny, catch Saltzy’s eye, and dip my chin in greeting. His eye is healed now. You would never know what happened at the wedding if you weren’t there.
Caulfield rubs his lips with his fingers, a smirk pulling on his mouth as he listens to the girl who turned my brain to mush.
She’s enticing that way. She talks, you listen.
“So, he moves his hand to cover his crotchasI’m telling him how small it is.”
Penny barks out a loud laugh.
I blink, whirling my attention back to her. “What?”
Ari’s eyes snap to mine, mischief twinkling there. She waves me off. “Right, you missed the beginning. That cop that loves Arden—he came up to us at a restaurant and was trying to rile up my brother.”
I glance at Forker. “Naturally.”
He smirks, shrugging a shoulder.
“And I told him that he looks like he has a little penis.”
Arden physically cringes at the memory.
Carter might be shaking his head at his sister’s antics, but he can’t hide how satisfying he finds this. He was proud of her for this particular scene. There is a little temper in Little Forkerro, too. Forkerro genetics are no joke.
“Then he goes and says hisname.” Ariana gasps, slapping her hands on her knees. She scans the room, demanding attention, and her gaze lands on Penny—she knows who is eating this up. “Peck.Peck!So, I called him Officer Little Pecker until he ran back to his table with that pecker tucked between his legs.”
I smirk, more entertained by listening to her speak than the story itself. Never a dull moment with the brightest girl in the world.
“That guy is an asshole,” Wyatt says, his grin widening. “Public humiliation was deserved.”
“Understatement.” Carter snorts.
