Page 129 of Secret Love

“Where are Rhodes and Elle?” Bowie asks.

“They said they were coming an hour ago. I’m not sure what happened to them, but I’ve texted to see if they’re okay,” Tru says, reaching past me to pick up her phone.

“Maybe theywerecoming…” Penn says, wiggling his eyebrows.

“In our dreams.” Calista laughs, clinking glasses with him. “Bernard has been sniffing around Elle again, and I’m so over him it’s not even funny. He wants her back and he just can’t let it go.”

When Rhodes and Elle show up about ten minutes later, the tension isthick. If there was any action going on between them earlier, it’s over now. In fact, I’m pretty sure they’re fighting, which is maybe a first in the history books.

None of us know what to do with an angry Rhodes and Elle. They’re both as easygoing as it gets. And in all the years I’ve known them, I don’t think I’ve ever seen them angry with each other.

Tru, Sadie, and Calista get up and hug Elle. I watch Tru lean toward Elle. Tru says something that makes Elle laugh and Elle’s shoulders lose some of their stiffness. Tru feels my eyes on her and smiles at me. God, I love her.

“What’s going on with you and Elle?” Weston asks Rhodes.

He sighs and runs his hand over his face. “I don’t want to talk about it. I’m so fucking worried about the game this weekend and now Elle is…” He shakes his head. “Yeah, I can’t talk about it.”

“It’s okay,” I tell him. “Tonight’s about being grateful and having fun and not being so fucking serious.”

Rhodes nods. “I can get behind that.”

The girls wander back over and find places to sit. We’re spread out in the living room, and I love having everyone together, talking and laughing. This is what life is all about, this right here.

“Hey, can I say something?” I say, clinking my water glass with my dessert fork.

Everyone turns to look at me.

“I wanted to let you all know that I couldn’t have gotten past these last couple of months without you. I’ve been a lot to deal with, but none of you have ever made me feel that way. You’ve dealt with my moods and hauled my ass to appointments and tried to fill any cravings—” That gets a laugh because they’ve all tried to think of things to feed me. “I might still have bad days, but I think I’m coming out of the tunnel. And there’s no one I’d rather do life with than all of you. You’re my safe place. Everyone in this room has become my family, and I just want all of you to know I appreciate you.”

I lift my glass and they lift theirs back to me.

“We love you,” Bowie says.

“I love you too. Every single one of you.”

When everyone’s gone home for the night, it’s just Tru and me. We hold hands as we walk to our room. After we’ve brushed our teeth, she turns on the shower and I follow her in there.

She looks at me, eyes shining so bright.

“Come here,” I tell her.

She grins and I put my arms around her.

“Thank you for an amazing day,” I say.”

She turns and points at the bench. She pushes me lightly, so that I’m sitting and then she straddles me, not putting her weight fully on me, but so her slit slides over me. I’m already aching for her and she gasps when she feels just how much.

“You like that?”

“So much,” she says.

She rubs against me, and I dip into her slick heat. She’s on birth control, so we stopped using condoms a while ago, and I love the luxury of fucking her without any barriers. It still takes my breath away when I enter her without anything between us.

I lift her off of me and set her back on the seat, grinning as I stretch my leg out and sit in front of her. Perfectly lined up with her goodness. The water pounds on my hair and I go in with everything I’ve got. Her moans get louder as I lick her. I don’t have the patience to make her wait for it tonight. I’m relentless, barely coming up for air. My fingers do some of the work along with my tongue, but when I suck her tight bud and don’t let go, I get the reward I’m after. She bucks against my face and I think I’d be happy drowning if it meant I’d go like this.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

A DIFFERENT PICTURE

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