Page 64 of Escaping Our Reality

Uh-oh.

“I’m sorry to barge in. I hope I didn’t interrupt anything too special.”

You did. You interrupted my life. My moment with Lulu. I shake my head. “No. We were just watching a movie.”

Her eyes slowly roam over my body. “So, do you always watch movies shirtless?” It’s not her words that concern me, buther actions. She slowly uncrosses her legs and opens them wide, flashing me a glimpse of some red satin panties.

I jump up like my ass is on fire. Wishing I had a shirt. And wishing my jeans didn’t sag slightly at the hips, flashing my black boxer briefs. I walk into the kitchen, reaching in the fridge to grab a soda. As soon as I turn back around, Kristie is in my personal space. Way too damn close for comfort. She twists her red hair around her fingertips.

Her eyes narrow, and her gaze follows the curve of my shoulders. She takes another step closer, close enough for me to smell her. Vodka. Cheap vodka was her drink of choice tonight.

“Ella is still a child. If you’re just looking for someone pure, you can have me. My cherry’s never been popped.” Her pink fingernails scrape across my belt buckle. “I can even offer a preview. A blow job doesn’t count as sex so you’d be doing nothing wrong.” Her voice lowers to a whisper, making my jaw clench in anger. “I will blow your mind.”

I grab her hand. A lot harder than I intend to. She pulls from my grasp and massages her palm. “Get your hands off me.” I walk around the kitchen island and stare at the closed hallway door. She follows me like a little puppy. “You’re supposed to be her friend, right? And you’re hitting on her boyfriend? That’s plain shitty. I’m hers. No one else’s. And she’s not a child. She’s the most mature person I’ve ever met.” I lean down to her level, growling in her face. “You were high the first time I met you. If you ever show up here high again, there will be hell to pay. You keep that shit away from my girl.”

Kristie’s mouth gapes open and she starts to drunk hiccup. I leave her standing there and walk back over to the couch, fighting the urge to let her and my sudden pissed-off mood ruin the day and night I just had with Lulu.

My tension eases a fraction when I hear Lulu open the hallway door. She shakes two aspirin from a fresh bottle intoKristie’s hand and ushers her into the bedroom. “Go lie down, Kristie. I’ll be in soon.”

I’m perched on the edge of the couch, my elbows on my knees and my hands clasped in front of my face. Squeezing around me, Lulu sits on the coffee table, between my legs.

Pulling my hands away from my face, she stares into my eyes. “What? What’s wrong?”

Kristie is a sleaze, that’s what’s wrong. “I don’t like this situation. She’s taking advantage of you. Showing up here all hours of the day and night.”

She bites her lip. “We grew up with her, Ry. What am I supposed to do? Carrie felt bad for her. Growing up without a mother, being secluded by her overprotective father.”

I reach out, running my hands up the sides of her thighs. She shivers underneath my touch. “You grew up without a mother too, Lulu.”

She chokes on her whisper. “It’s different. And you know that.”

I do know it. I grew up without a mother too.

Gripping her legs, I tug her closer to me. It doesn’t matter when I touch Lulu, where I touch Lulu, her legs are always smooth. My hands glide across her like melted butter. Bending my forehead against hers, I close my eyes.

Her breath whispers across my eyelids. “Tell me something. Something no one else knows.”

“Before I go to sleep, I read. I’m afraid of looking stupid so I read the classics. Dickens, Hemingway, Fitzgerald. I didn’t readJane Eyrefor school. It wasn’t on our required reading list. I read it for me. So, someday, when someone asks if I read it, I can say yes.”

She gently kisses my eyelids, my nose, the side of my mouth before scooting back. Grabbing the hem of my shirt, she tugs it over her head. Her own tank top catches in the material andrises above her belly button, gifting me a small glance of her bronzed skin and flat stomach.

She holds the shirt out to me, pulling it back when I reach for it. Her innocent eyes grow wide. “Ask me.”

Holy hell. Has anyone ever had so much power over someone? She holds the key to my life in her hand.

“Tell me something. Something no one else knows.”

“It makes my heart beat faster knowing that you’ll be smelling me on your ride home. Smelling me on your shirt. Thinking of me.”

This time the moan is mine.

Kiss me, Lulu. Kiss me forever.

Chapter 27

ELLA

I want to take off running, but I don’t.

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