Page 25 of Playful Kris

So. Damn. Good.

“Okay, fine.” I hold my hand out for the jerky bag.

She digs through her bag, grabbing it and ripping the top off before handing it to me. Her smile is infectious until she reaches over for my phone, that’s sitting between my legs.

Her fingertips graze against my dick, causing both of us to look at each other. Her green eyes widen at the touch, and she yanks her hand back quickly, dropping my phone in the process.

“Sorry,” she says, looking down between us. I sit the jerky down, and grab my phone, handing it to her without the chance of any dick rubbage this time.

A few seconds later, Taylor Swift’s new album is playing. We ride in silence, listening to the lyrics of the song while I stuff my face with jerky and try really damn hard not to think about her fingers on me.

The Alchemyis a good song. I’m not the biggest Taylor Swift fan, but listening to the lyrics kind of reminds me of Kameron and I in college together.

I listen as Kameron sings along, word for word. She’s always been a Swiftie, and you can’t say a single bad thing about Taylor or she goes feral.

“Hey,” I say, getting her attention as the song slowly fades to an end. “Thanks for doing this for me.”

“I don’t know why you needed me, but it’s truly the least I could do considering you’re helping me out in a major way,” she tells me.

“We never really talked about it when we were together, but my parents and I don’t have a good relationship.”

“They’re divorced, right?” She frowns, trying to remember our conversations from college.

“Yeah, they divorced a long time ago, and our lives were hell growing up because of it.” I shake my head. “The drama, the struggles with money, it was a lot.” My defensive side comes up. “You wouldn’t understand, your family was perfect.”

“Hey,” she snaps at me. “Don’t do that.”

I just stare at her for a brief moment before looking back at the road.

“Don’t turn into a dick when I’m asking questions about a weekend you’re using me as a buffer for.”

My eyes squeeze shut for a moment before I look over at her. “I’m sorry, you’re right.”

This drive is already telling me I’m going to ruin the entire weekend for everyone.

10

KAMERON

This trip was a mistake. I never should have agreed to come with him, and honestly, do we really need stripping Santas at this event?

Couldn’t we have done something else? Anything else?

Oh no, we couldn’t have because I’m destined to live through moments of karma forever apparently.

And this is one of them.

I’ve always known there was a rift between Kris and his family; he’d told me plenty of times during our dating days that he doesn’t really speak to his family, aside from his brother. He’s just never actually told me the reason, and getting Kris to open up is like opening a jar of pickles with wet hands.

I can see the pain in his eyes though, the way he desperately wishes things were different.

That’s where the caregiver in me comes out, I always want to help people.

“I’m sorry I called you a dick,” I tell him, looking at the road in front of us.

He chuckles, It’s low and I almost don’t hear him. “I deserved it.”

“Okay.” I pause, leaning my head against the headrest. “So your family is off topic then.”

---