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“Are we leaving when Jake gets here and eating in the car? Or eating here?” Frankie didn’t look at us as she asked the question, she’d poured coffee for all three of us though. I slanted a look at Archie. The last time I talked to Bubba, I told him to just show up and relax.
Archie shook his head once.
So no, he hadn’t heard from him either.
I shrugged. We couldn’t make him figure it out, we could just try to be supportive. It seemed to bug him that Frankie was keeping her distance, and maybe, just maybe, he was waking up.
We were halfway through the coffee when Jake got there. Damn, I winced for him. The bruises looked worse today. They had gone this Technicolor shade, though the angry green at the edges said they might be healing.
Out of curiosity, I watched Archie instead of Jake and Frankie when she gave him a good morning kiss. It was funny, Jake was kind of a noisy kisser. Not obnoxious, but he made no pretense about going all in. It was heavy, it was wet, and there was just the faintest hint of sucking noises. Course, the fact that Frankie let out this little moaning sigh every time he kissed her didn’t hurt.
She didn’t do that with me, it was a little different with me. The sound was more of a groaning purr. Trust me, I wasn’t complaining. She and Archie hadn’t made out in front of me. So I couldn’t really say what they sounded like, but that swollen, just fucked look she had this morning when I arrived confirmed he definitely knew what he was doing.
Head tilted, Archie watched them, coffee cup paused halfway to his mouth, and I had to grin as I took a sip of mine. When he walked in on me getting Frankie off—my birthday present to me, thank you very much—for a split second after he’d said‘Fuck,’I couldn’t lie, I’d worried.
The word had bounced around in my head like a tornado-warning siren had gone off. Were we about to be hit by a storm, or would it evaporate up into the air without ever hitting the ground? But the wonder in his eyes and his admission that it had been hot punctured the balloon of fear before it could even achieve lift off.
And if his current expression was any indication, then he found Frankie kissing Jake to be every bit as hot as I did, and I was more than okay with that.
“Yo, Jake,” I called, giving Archie a beat to get it together ‘cause his shorts were not the best for disguising the fact he had a hard-on. Hell, I had one, but mine wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
My hand was not enough anymore, and that was okay. I wanted Frankie. Bubba was right about one real facet of his hesitation and idiocy. We had been pushing her a lot the last three—four weeks? Hell had it really only been that long?
I’d loved Frankie Curtis since the day she knocked me on my ass in kindergarten.
No, four weeks was nothing compared to thirteen years.
“I’m busy,” Jake grunted as Frankie laughed, and then he kissed the sound right out of her. Yep. Noisy damn kisser. Still, I was grinning.
“I can see that, but Frankie needs to eat, and to eat, she has to breathe. If you keep that up, we’re all going to have to do another round of morning kisses and we’re never getting out of here.”
For his part, Jake just flipped me off and dragged Frankie closer. Bruises and a busted lip weren’t slowing him down any. Archie chose that moment to crack up. Shoulders shaking, he seemed to stare into his coffee cup, but the chuckling snorts kept coming.
Dragging his head upward, Jake stared at him and Frankie twisted. My near smile died a rapid death, because for one fragile moment, genuine fear flashed in Frankie’s eyes, and then she relaxed when Archie looked at them, still chuckling.
“Yeah, okay—new rule. If we have to go somewhere, no making out for anyone that leaves us all with painful boners.”
Looping his arms around Frankie, Jake dragged her back against his chest. Not that it was a fight. She leaned right into him. “Yeah, I’m going to go with a big fat negative on that, Arch. We don’t get to do kisses at school, that means when we’re somewhere we can, we do. Capiche?”
At her giggles and flushed cheeks, I relaxed. “Agreed, also, come on, share her. Birthday boy here.”
“Fine,” Jake grumbled, but he flashed me a grin. “Happy birthday.”
“Thanks.” I chuckled, but Frankie gave me a playful look before she wrapped her arms around me. “I already got the best present right here.”
“Damn. Definitely beats my car,” Archie said almost sorrowfully.
Then we were all laughing again. Frankie’s lips were definitely swollen and getting a work out today, so I gave her a bare brush of a kiss and murmured, “Go eat. We should get on the road soon.”
“Yes,” Jake said. “And we need a plan.”
Archie made more coffee while we divvied out the donuts, and Jake brought up the map on his phone. That we were taking his SUV was a foregone conclusion. It was just bigger. Course, it was just the four of us, so we could probably take my Lexus.
Seriously, if that just didn’t make me grin. Take my car. Granted, it had been a gift, and I hadn’t earned it. I wanted to pay Archie for it, and he’d flat out told me no when he handed me the notice of the pink slip being transferred into my name.
“It’s a gift. Pure and simple.”
“It’s a reallyexpensivegift.”
