Page 74 of The Spider & the Storm

“It feels good to get all dressed up for once,” she replied, hints of excitement and disappointment in her tone.

Like she enjoyed channeling this part of herself.

Like she hated that her life didn't allow for it more often.

“And, hey”—she looked up to gesture toward me and my black button-down and black slacks—“you look pretty nice yourself.”

I chuckled. “I mean, honestly, I feel kinda stupid, but since you guys were getting dressed up …”

Melanie shrugged and stepped forward to loop her arm through mine, steering us toward the stairs. “Nothing wrong with pretending to be something you're not every now and then, Charlie. Makes the rest of it feel almost bearable.”

I worried my bottom lip between my teeth as we descended the stairs. It was all I could do to keep the secret I held from spilling from my mouth with the lifeblood of her relationship with my brother.

***

Jersey drove a hearse.

Its sleek black paint job and matching leather seats had been a dream come true for the past few months we’d been dating. But now, seeing it pull into the driveway of my childhood home, I wanted to puke.

Melanie and Luke were busy in the kitchen, making sure everything was ready and just right. They reminded me of how my parents had been when Luke first brought Melanie home to meet them, and to see my brother and that same girl giving me the same treatment warmed my heart, but did nothing to calm my raging nerves.

So, with an entire army of butterflies alive and well in my stomach, I slipped outside to greet my girlfriend.

Jersey climbed out of the driver’s seat, wearing a black-and-white striped dress—veryBeetlejuice-esque—and black creeper shoes. Her mile-long legs were bare, every one of her traditional-style tattoos on full display, and it took everything in my power to not forget all about dinner and demand we go back to her place. The only thing I’d like more than that dress on her—with its corseted back and strappy neckline—was for it to be lying on the floor, forgotten.

I walked slowly down the steps, keeping my hands tucked deep in my pockets. I watched her smooth out her bleached-white hair in the driver’s side mirror. She checked her blood-red lipstick, running the tip of her long fingernail around the edge of her mouth before sliding off her cat-eye sunglasses to assess her makeup.

That was when she noticed me approaching, and that was when she smiled.

God, I loved her smile.

I loved everything about her.

“Hey, babe,” she whispered breathlessly, speaking like she never thought she’d see me again, as if she hadn’t just seen me a few nights before.

“Hey.”

“You look nice.” She reached out to trace one finger down the seam along my buttoned front.

“You look …” I let my eyes roam over her hourglass figure, then back up again to her ice-princess eyes. “Wow.”

Jersey laughed, her eyes twinkling like diamonds in the setting sun. “Is that the best you can do?Wow?”

“I’ll do better later,” I mumbled, sliding my hand around her waist, pressing my palm to her lower back, and pulling her toward me.

Her hands flattened against my chest, and her head tipped back. “Why not now?”

“Because”—I lowered my mouth to hers, allowing my eyes to close before impact—“I’d rather do this first …”

Kissing Jersey was nearly as good as the sex we had, and if I hadn’t known how good the sex was, I would’ve been content to kiss her for the rest of my life.

She kissed with passion, like every moment might be the last. She held the back of my head, gripped the front of my shirt, and plunged her pierced tongue into my mouth the moment my open mouth met hers. Every tug of hair, every stroke of metal against flesh, caused an ache so deep that I throbbed with it and wished she would take that hand against my chest and lay it over the front of my pants instead.

Her body was flush against mine, and as she slipped her tongue from my mouth, she hummed with salacious delight.

“Poor baby,” she whispered, tracing my lower lip with her fingernail. “Too bad we have to go inside and have dinner with your family. Otherwise, I’d get on my knees right here and—”

“Charlie! Where the fuck did you—oh. My bad.”

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