Page 68 of Grave Curse

“I’ll make you come so hard you won’t know your own name, but you’ll be screaming mine.” He was panting hard now, and the sound of him approaching climax made my thigh and abdominal muscles clench with exquisite tension. “I can’t wait to shove my cock down your throat while I watch you play with yourself. I love your pleasure, Gingersnap, it’s like my own, so you’ll use your Mr. Happy while I fuck your face tonight. Understand?”

How could he still talk when I wasn’t sure I could? “Mm, yes. Mm-hm.”

“Good girl.” He groaned the words. “My good girl’s going to fuck herself so hard while taking me down her throat, and it’ll be goddamn…beautiful. But don’t you come until I tell you to, you hear me? I want to be inside you for that, and you’ll take all my come and make me a baby, you got that? Now’s the time Ginger. Make my baby tonight.”

“Yes, Tyr.” A small release of tension deep inside me burst when I heard him groan and groan, because I knew he was coming. Because of himself, but mainly because of me, and that was so hot my body climaxed a little while I sat there frozen and surrounded by friends. I didn’t make a sound, unlike Tyr, but my underwear was now soaked and I couldn’t wait to get home so I could change out of them and hop into the shower. I cleared my throat to unlock it as his cries of completion faded, and reached down deep to put a phony chill in my tone. “You drive a hard bargain, I’ll give you that, but you have yourself a deal. Now don’t call me again, I have a lot to do to get ready for my birthday party. And don’t even think that you’re invited.” I hung up on his low, lazy laughter and tried not to think of that delicious expression of satisfaction now carving through his usually remote expression.

Lucky girl that I was, I’d see that expression later tonight.

Chapter Eighteen

From Zombie to Zen

Walking through Costco with wet panties wasn’t nearly as much fun as it sounded.

Ultimately, though, I couldn’t help but be pleased with the epic party haul I’d amassed. Vixen’s Den would be turned into a veritable funhouse for a night, with acres of orange, black and purple streamers and twinkling lights that would blanket the ceiling. Several battery-operated cauldrons strobed with a rainbow of lights and pretend fire, and I already knew where to strategically place them for added mood lighting. The small dance floor with the stripper pole was one of the few things Tyr and Red Flag hadn’t damaged, so that was a kickass place to get a party started. Several chairs and tables were going to be delivered to the shop tomorrow so people would have plenty of seating, and Tyr had assured me that they had an extra banquet table at the clubhouse that I could borrow to put all the food on.

I also had plenty of activities to roll out, from a pub-style Halloween movie trivia contest, to a selfie wall area that Roxie and Carlo were going to manage, to streaming a line-up of horror movies on the wall-mounted TV. There would be bobbing for apples adult-style, which meant bobbing for plastic toys shaped like boobs and penises that I had found online and already had a package of said toys delivered to the shop.

Since this was a birthday party but I wasn’t into the whole birthday-gift thing, I’d asked everyone to instead bring a nonperishable food item that could be donated to a local food bank. I talked with my next-door neighbors at the brewery and found out they did parties, so now I had a couple people scheduled to serve flights of autumn-themed beers, from apumpkin ale to a deep amber lager to an earthy stout and more, plus I bought a dozen or so cases to give away as prizes. Better yet, since most of my guests would spend the night across the street at the Barracks, everyone could get as freaking hammered as they wanted without worrying about driving anywhere. And last but not least, there would be a costume contest with prizes involved. I already knew I’d vote for Ashtray and Mabel for best couples’ costumes, with Ash dressed as Batman, Mabel as the sexiest Catwoman around, and Ash’s wheelchair made to look like the Batmobile.

I finally figured out what my own costume was going to be—something Tyr would either love or roll his eyes at—but sadly I couldn’t coordinate with him like we were a regular couple. Not that he was the type who’d be in to wearing a silly Halloween costume in the first place, of course. But a girl could dream.

“Ginger? Um, could I talk to you for a second?”

Shit.

In the process of packing my car full of party stuff while a cold October wind whipped through the Costco parking lot, I turned to find Misty standing a few feet away. She scooted over as a minivan rolled by, clearly giving up on taking my spot.

“Sure, Misty,” I said, keeping it casual while trying not to squirm. My friend had gone surprisingly silent after we’d left the food court, and I hadn’t missed how she kept looking at me throughout the remainder of our shopping trip. I wasn’t sure what her damage was, but I was positive I was about to find out. “What’s up?”

“Please don’t hurt Tyr.”

I froze. Of all the things I’d expected her to say, warning me to not bring any harm to the virtually indestructible force of nature that was Tyr Colgrave wasn’t anywhere on my bingo card.

I opened my mouth and said the only appropriate thing. “Girl, what the fuck?”

“I know I have no right to poke my nose into whatever’s going on between you two, and that I should mind my own business. And I swear I will. But I think it’s only fair for you to know how things are from my perspective.”

What the fuck, times infinity. “Misty—”

“He’s so happy right now, Ginger,” she said, surprising me into silence. “You have no idea how he’s changed just this past week. I’ve worked with Tyr for years at Ride Or Die Choppers, and I thought I’d seen every single one of his moods. I thought I knew what he was like when he was in a good mood. But after seeing him this past week, I realized that I’ve never seen this man truly happy. That’s sad, but it’s also amazingly beautiful that he’s feeling it now.”

I crossed my arms to cover how touched I was. “I guess. Listen—”

“Do you know what he did for Lasso and me the other night?” she plowed on, talking over me until I gave up with a sigh. “My man and I were in my office, and Tyr overheard us talking about whether or not we should try for a third kid. He straight-up broke into our conversation to tell us he wanted us out of there. At first I thought he was firing us for talking about personal stuff while on the clock, but then he told me to use the business credit card to hire a babysitter for the night and reserve a room at a hotel of our choosing. Then he said that doubt and worry shouldn’t be the driving force behind the shaping of a family, and that if we even had a glimmer of a thought about expanding our family, the answer should always beyes.”

Honest to God, Tyr was beyond baby-bonkers.

“I guess what I’m trying to say is that the man I knew last month and the man I know today are two entirely different people. The old Tyr plodded through life like a damn zombie, and all this time no one knew it. But the new Tyr is filled with so much life he’s almost blinding, and it’s all because of you,Ginger. That’s the only explanation that makes any sense. He’s happy because ofyou.”

With everything in me I wanted to believe that, so much so my heart tried to pound its way out of my chest. “What makes you think I have anything to do with whatever’s going on with Tyr?”

Misty sighed. “Ginger, I was sitting right there.”

“Right where?”

“Right next to you while you and Tyr had phone sex and you were pretending to be rude while he called you his good girl. It’s none of my business,” she added hastily when I growled and took an automatic step toward her. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do once I reached my friend, but my man believed we needed to keep our relationship a secret, so that’s what I was going to do. “I’m sure you guys have your reasons for keeping your relationship under wraps, and it probably has something to do with the war with Hades. I wouldn’t even be saying any of this if it weren’t for the fact that I now know what’s making Tyr so freaking lighthearted, and I’m thrilled it's you.”

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