Page 42 of Full Circle

Perhaps that fact sobered me up because I couldn’t stop myself from bursting into tears.

“Whoa!” Wesley said in alarm. “What’s wrong? Did I hurt you, Celeste?!”

Traitorous tears continued to fall as I shook my head. My cheeks burned with embarrassment, but I couldn’t stop. “No,” I assured him. “I just wish my mama was here. I want to talk to her about you.”

Wesley gave me a tender smile and pulled me into his chest, tucking my head just under his chin. The hand that had just been inside me was now tracing a comforting path up and down my spine. “D’you think I would have your mama’s approval?”

A watery laugh slipped out at his question. “Mama would have loved you.”

He held me for a couple minutes more before softly whispering, “Then maybe she sent me to you.”

CHAPTER 16

A NEW NORMAL MEANS WAR

WESLEY

Once Celeste’s tears turned into low snores, I slid my arm out from under her and found a blanket to cover her. I was glad she was finally getting some real sleep after the turbulence of the past couple days, but my body was poised and ready to strike for no reason whatsoever. Too frazzled to sleep, that was for sure. I headed into my bathroom to take a shower and jerk off some of the incredible energy pulsating through my body.

What we did in there was pure magic. Instinct took over the moment I saw Celeste’s permissive smile. A small part of me felt guilty for already breaking a bit of my promise to Mr. Hendricks, but he was a teenager once, too. He couldn’t honestly expect that I was going to keep my hands off his daughter when she looked like an angel freeing me from the gates of Hell. Everything with her was so right, so natural, and I didn’t care that I sounded like a lovesick idiot when I told her I wanted all of her firsts. It was true. Most important was the fact that she agreed. Celeste Renee Hendricks loved me and we would always be together. It had to be fate because there was no doubt in my mind, even at almost sixteen years old, we were meant to be together.

Handling my father’s rage for the large hospital bills that were headed his way was microscopic in comparison. Nothing was going to bring me down right now. It didn’t even bother me that I hadn’t finished. We had our whole lives ahead of us for that. Celeste needed to know I worshipped her now, before Desiree could mess with her head and make her believe the bullshit that Celeste needed to stay away from me.

After a shower hotter than Satan’s ball sack and rubbing out the fastest jerkoff session I’ve ever had (come on, I saw Celeste’s gorgeous tits for the first time), I returned to my room as quietly as a mouse to place a change of clothes next to a fluffy robe and towel on the bedside table for Celeste to find when she woke up. There were a dozen texts from my father on my phone, but I ignored them all to set an alarm for her and left that charging on the table as well since Celeste still didn’t have a cell phone.

Stepping out into the hall, I found Mrs. Aguilar, our housekeeper, dusting in the den. She jumped when the door closed behind me and waved the rag in my direction. “Wesley, you scared me!”

“Sorry!” I held up my hands in truce before she sprayed me with the Pledge can.

She eyed me suspiciously. “Did you get kicked out of school again?”

“No! Of course not!” It probably should’ve bothered me that her automatic reaction to my presence was a school expulsion, but then again, she was always the one who had to go pick me up whenever the principal called. Mrs. Aguilar earned the right to be suspicious. “My girlfriend is in there sleeping. Her grandmother is in the guest room at the end. Her dad had a medical emergency, so I’m just trying to help them out.”

Mrs. Aguilar had been with us since I was six years old. While my father never took the time to learn my nuances, she could read me like a book. A fact I was reminded of now as she pinned me with a look that clearly said I needed to have my head examined. “Does your father know you’re here?” she asked.

I shrugged, agitated that she would ask. “Wouldn’t make a difference if he did, would it?”

She started mumbling under her breath in Spanish about how I was playing with fire as she turned her attention back to the bookcase she was dusting.

“You know I can understand you!” I sighed. “You’re the one who taught me Spanish!”

Nodding in agreement, Mrs. Aguilar continued to clean as she replied, “Yes, and I also taught you not to let your guard down with your father. He doesn’t like to be crossed!”

My jaw clenched in aggravation, mostly because I knew she was right. “I’ve got it all under control. He won’t even notice they’re here.”

She nodded in time to the strokes of the cleaning rag. “Just like he won’t notice the medical bill? I bet you took it upon yourself to pay?”

Why were all of my father’s employees so concerned with him getting the bill? He owned a billion dollar company. It wasn’t like paying for Mr. Hendricks’ medical care would break the bank.

“It’s gonna be fine, Mrs. Aguilar,” I insisted.

She folded her arms across her chest as she turned around to stare me down. “It’s just the one day?” she pressed.

The question filled me with dread. “Not exactly…” I trailed off, knowing damn well it would be a lot longer than one day.

Hunching her shoulders, Mrs. Aguilar draped the rag over her arm and grabbed the bottle of Pledge before plunking it down in the bucket of cleaning supplies at her feet. “Next time you declare war with your father, you tell me ahead of time. I’ll use my vacation days.”

As much as I hated to admit it, my housekeeper had a point. There would be a price to pay if I expected my father to hand over the funds. He never did anything for me without strings.

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