Page 21 of Double Dare

Turning her back on us, she starts the shower. “I’m tired of evading and lying, okay? I can’t tell you because he hasn’t given me permission to tell you yet. So stop asking. Stop making me lie. I won’t disrespect his privacy like that.”

“Alright. No more questions,” Jed agrees, trying to reach for her again.

She steps back and starts to undress, and I’m thinking I should leave, but I’m also a greedy fucker and don’t. “If you won’t leave, talk about something else. Anything else.”

Except I don’t talk because I’m dumb as fuck. I watch her strip, admiring her body, trying to come up with ways to comfort her while being unsure whether it’s my place or not. Her body has always drawn my attention. How small she is, her perky little tits, the tattoos and the fact that I gave her one of them, and the smoothness of her skin. Even her scars are beautiful, and I can’t stop staring. Jed’s still staring, too, trying to come up with something to say to take her mind off everything. We’re both epic failures, and when Laken steps into the shower, the fogged glass hiding her from us, I snap out of it.

“Get in there and take her mind off it,” I snap at him, reaching for the door.

“Where are you going? She needs us both.”

“I’m not standing in here while you fuck her in the shower.” I shake my head at him. This is hard for me, too, but I’m trying not to make it about me. I’ve never been in this position before, the one where I want to make her feel better but don’t know my place.

“Then I won’t fuck her,” he says. “Just…stay.”

I scoff at him. “She needs to get fucked. It’s Laken. Sex is her stress reliever.”

“I fucking know that! She’s my girlfriend.”

That does it. I’m out. I turn for the door again, but Jed grabs my arm and keeps me there at the same time his phone starts ringing. I grab it from him.

“You fuck her. I’ll get the phone.” It’s just Mom. I leave before he can say anything, stepping outside to answer his phone. “Mom?”

“Jed, honey?”

“Kade. What’s going on?”

“Is Laken okay, baby?”

Is she? I don’t know. I don’t know her signs yet. “I dunno. She’s…overwhelmed and sick of us asking her questions. Is Dom alright?”

“Yeah, he’s okay, baby.” Baby. Fuck off with that shit, Mom. “Your dad and I are going to stay with him tonight. Can you tell Bo he has to do the continental breakfast tomorrow morning?”

“I’ll do it. He’s working in the kitchen. What’s going on with Dom? Do you know?” I ask.

“I know now, thanks to Lakes. Is she there with you?”

“I…yeah, I can get her. Hang on.”

I sigh, holding the phone to my chest as I walk into the bathroom again. Jed has Laken bent over, fucking her from behind, and my eyes close, for once not wanting to watch. Maybe this is what’s changed. Awkwardness. Not knowing my place. Guilt because watching means something different now.

“Mom needs to talk to Lakes.”

Jed straightens her up, pointing the shower head at the wall to reduce noise. Asshole doesn’t even pull out.

“Rayne?” Laken shouts.

“Lake, are you there? Can’t really hear you.”

Fuck my life.

“Come closer,” Jed says.

I move to stand just inside the entrance to the shower, my feet on the stone floor, the glass at my side, and Jed and Lakes right in front of me. I hold up the phone, unsure if I want to be here or not.

“That better?” Laken asks.

“Yeah, honey. Are the boys still there?”

---