Page 82 of Eternally Devoted

I salute her. “Got it.”

She smiles. “All right, well, I’ll talk to Ivy before she comes by the market.”

I nod. “I’d appreciate that. I’m going to head over and set up Juni’s table. She’s been up for a few nights bulk cooking. I want her to wake up rested and ready to see Bluebell.”

Dolly smirks. “How’s her back?”

My cheeks flame. “Better.”

She rubs her belly. “Hudson had a backache once.” Another belly rub. “And now we’re expecting our second son.” She winks, and disappears back into her house, leaving me pleased as pie.

The booth looks absolutely beautiful, not to toot my own horn or anything. By the time I’m done, there’s just an hour until the market starts, so I head inside to a quiet house. I kick off my boots and turn my hat backward as I pad down the hall, knocking open the bedroom door.

Juniper is still asleep, but she’s alone in the bed. The bathroom door is closed, a strip of light glowing from beneath. I don’t hear the shower, and I think if he were actually using the toilet, he’d have used the other bathroom. Cautiously, I push the door open to find a very naked Dash sitting on the edge of the tub, his phone in his hands.

He looks up and gets to his feet as I close the door behind me.

“Keanu texted me this. Look,” he says, coming to my side with his phone out for me to see. Looking down at the screen, I begin reading the text message as I reach behind me, yanking Juniper’s robe from the hook on the door. I shove it into him then take the phone, sitting on the edge of the tub to read.

TRUCK ON RAVINE: NEW DETAILS.

The abandoned truck on the ravine between Bluebell and Oakcreek finally has a story. Bluebell Police Department shared withBluebell Daily’s lead reporter, Bentley Moore, that the abandoned truck bears a more sinister story. As it turns out, the man who it is registered to, whose name is not currently being released to the public, was on the run after raping and murdering a woman, and possibly killing her dog. Investigators believe the man drove three towns over to possibly mine for gold to pawn, as his body and belongings were found in an old gold mining shaft down the ravine. It is currently theorized that the man had an accident, leaving him too injured to climb out of the mineshaft. Hisbody was recovered early this morning, and his truck has been identified by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department as the vehicle on-camera at the site of Melody McGraw’s murder some weeks prior.

I look up at Dash, now wrapped in a neon violet terry bathrobe with yellow smiley faces all over it. His eyes are wide. “He wasn’t just a dog beater,” he whispers. “He wasn’t innocent. He was really fucking guilty.”

I hand him his phone. “She sensed it.”

He pulls back the robe, exposing his erection. “That news article got me so hard.”

I lean forward and close the robe. “Quit being a tease. The market starts in an hour. We need to get breakfast going while she gets ready. And good news—I got Dolly’s blessing for us to live here and commit to Juniper.”

He nods but his face is tight. “Oh… good.”

Moving past him, I grab the door handle, but he stops me. “What’s up, D?” I ask.

“Let’s celebrate tonight.” His eyes fall to my lips. In the recent weeks, we’ve grown comfortable being affectionate with each other, without Juniper around. She’s the one that has guided us to do so. He sinks his mouth to mine, pressing his groin into me. “The move, this news, everything.”

“Mmm,” I hum, licking him from my lips. “I like that idea.”

We exit the bathroom to find Juniper on the edge of the bed, naked, legs spread, eyes wide, a jar of jam in her hand.

“You have to be out there in less than forty minutes,” I tell her.

She smiles at us. “What I have planned won’t take more than ten minutes.” Dipping a finger into the jam, she spreads it along her thigh, and repeats the action. “Time for breakfast.”

CHAPTER

TWENTY-NINE

I’M GETTING MUSHY.

Dash

The phone rings a few times but since Sterling and I take turns eating sweet jam from Juniper’s pussy, we let it ring. After we make her come, which is still so surreal to me, she cleans up in the bathroom as Sterling and I silently will our raging hard-onsto go away. He changes his shirt, tossing the sweaty one over the side of the hamper as I take a seat on the edge of the bed.

“I always liked when I was home from work before you, because I’d get to see you come home all tired and sweaty after a long day. I jerked off thinking about you in your work blues once,” I tell Sterling, watching as he slides his arm through a clean t-shirt.

Juni’s head pops out from the bathroom. “Same.”

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