Page 7 of Sugar Baby Mine

|Plus, you know, I’m broke as a joke

|Wait up for me, we’ll talk. I’ll be home in less than an hour

Normally Cora stays the night at Fred’s place after one of their dates, especially on a weekend night. Instead, when she gets home just after midnight, she climbs into my bed and plays with my hair like we used to when we were young.

We’re both quiet for a long while, her nails gently raking through the strands of my hair. I’m almost asleep when she finally asks:

“Did something happen tonight?”

The pain in my chest is unexpected.

“No.” But it feels like a lie when I say it. “Maybe. I don’t know.” The silence stretches, but it’s with a patient breath that I turn onto my side and curl my knees against her hip. “I think you’re right.”

“About what?”

“About wanting someone to take care of me.” I squeeze my eyes shut but already feel a little lighter with the words taking flight on my lips. “I don’twantto want that. I’ve always done everything for myself. I haven’t needed anyone except for you in a long time.”

“I know. You’ve always been little Miss Independent.” Cora’s nails scratch lightly against my scalp, smoothing through to the ends of my hair.

“Like I had any other choice.”

“Exactly. So maybe it’s time you take some time off from that? Like a vacation.”

“A dick vacation?” I can’t help the snort that breaks free.

She smirks those red lips down at me, and I clock the smear at the corner of her mouth. “Agooddick vacation. Let him spoil you with food, gifts—pleasure.Maybe you won’t want to come back.”

I roll my eyes, sinking back into the pillows and wishing I wasn’t feeling guilty over ruining her night.

“Right. Suuuure.”

“Never say never.” Cora shrugs.

I pick at the little fuzzies dotting my duvet obsessively, avoiding looking up at her. “Sorry you felt like you had to come home. We could’ve talked tomorrow.”

“Please, you didn’t make me do anything I didn’t want. Freddy was fine with it, considering the context.”

“He was?”

“Of course. His best friend might be getting his own sugar baby.” She grins, a wicked thing that has me flinching into theplush of my mattress to get away. “He was on the phone with him before I even got all the way out the door.”

I take a deep breath in, count to five, and exhale. Repeat.

“So what does this…mean exactly? What are the rules?”

Cora stops playing with my hair, and suddenly I wish I hadn’t asked. She shimmies further down in the bed to lay against the pillows beside me. There’s a beat of silence before she speaks.

“Every sugar relationship is different,” she begins, her tone shaking before it steadies out. “I’ve had several now. It’s a no-brainer that communication is key, just like a regular relationship. You’re going to want to set some rules together—like pay per meeting or an allowance, dress code, how often he wants to see you, how you’ll spend time together, your hard limits for sex—”

Good God,okay.

“—and you’ll want to get a passport, since he might want you to go with him on trips. You know I travel with Freddy a bit.”

Understatement.

Cora has been on a ton of trips with Fred since she started her relationship with him. Was that something to look forward to? I’ve barely been out of the state for vacation.

“I’ve never even been on a plane, Cor.”

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