Page 86 of Laugh

“And alargemilkshake,” I groan.

Chuckling, he pulls back and brushes my hair from my face, looking me over. I see nothing but desire and need and happiness dancing in his eyes.

“Anything for you, love.”

Chapter 33

H is for Happy

Haddie

“Look,” I tell Beau, handing him my phone. When he starts reading, his face instantly hardens, and he looks pissed as hell. “She just won’t stop,” I add unhelpfully.

“This fucking woman. I swear to God, Happy, I’m going to go over there and light both of them up.” He’s absolutely seething. I love that he’s so protective of my feelings, but I don’t want him to take this burden on for me. Frankly, responding to one of the multiple text messages I’ve received from Deborah over the past three months since I walked out of their house is not his responsibility.

“I’m just going to ignore it. Again,” I say, plucking my phone from his hands.

Neither of us has crawled out of bed yet this morning. It’s Christmas Eve… well, it’s thedayof Christmas Eve if you consider that eve means evening. I think?

So, waking up to another text from Deborah attempting to guilt me into making my dad feel better sort of puts a dark snow cloud on my day.

Beau’s phone buzzes and he reaches over to grab it, reads the text, then shuts it off.

“Seriously? It’s not even eight in the morning and people are already blowing up our phones!” I grumble, feeling a little extra spiteful today.

He hurls his body quickly on top of mine, flattening me to the bed. “I need you to cheer the fuck up.” Slamming his lips on mine, he gives me a deep, urgent kiss, which quickly distracts me from our interruptions. “I’ll be right back.”

“Wait.What?You can’t do that to me! Come back here and fuck me like the goddess I am!”

Snorting at me, my boyfriend completely ignores me as he struggles into some sweatpants as quick as possible and races out of the bedroom door.

“I’m going to do it myself, then!” I yell out after him.

I grin when I hear his feet come padding back toward me and know I’ve got him when he pops his head around the doorframe. My smile falls away when he only glares at me. “Hands off the goods. I’ll touch it when I get back.”

With that order, he disappears again.

Fucking hell.

Thinking back over the text, I try my best to push away the feelings of guilt and sorrow with how I’ve had to put my foot down with my dad. It took him a few times to understand that I was serious. For a while, he kept inviting me to come over for dinner, forcing me to remind him I won’t go. We decided to meet for lunch, and he brought Deborah with him, stating that it’s not fair for me to make him exclude his wife. I, as politely as I could, told him it’s not fair to force me to spend time with someone I’m not comfortable around.

I think he finally gets it after a talk last month where I told him, ‘I need you to really hear me. Don’t ask me to reconnect with Deborah. It’s off the table and if you can’t respect that, I’m going to have to cut all ties’.

It broke his heart. Iknowit did, but he did promise to not bring it up again. And he hasn’t, which I appreciate. Our conversations now are stilted and superficial, but we’re having them. It’s better than nothing.

Looking up, Beau’s arrival back to our bedroom draws me out of my deep thoughts. Glancing at his hands, I see they’re empty, so I ask, “What’d you go running out of here for?”

Then I screech at him as he yanks the blankets off my body, letting all the cold air chill my skin. “Shower. I need to fuck you.”

“Alright, you caveman. You could have warmed up the water first.” I’m annoyed, but the prospect of getting up close and personal with Beau Hudson’s naked, wet body lessens the irritation.

Another scream leaves me when he drags me by the foot to the end of the bed, only to haul me up and over his shoulder, marching us to the bathroom.

He leaves me hanging with quite the view of his ass as he leans forward to turn on the water.I didn’t even see him take off his sweatpants.The movement makes me shriek again, grabbing onto his waist to keep me steady.

“Honestly, Happy, I’m not going to drop you.”

“Well,Idon’t know that,” I rasp out, catching my breath from the genuine fear I felt over the possibility of my head slamming into the tiled floor.

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