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“Okay, I got them.”

I walked back to him and grabbed a clean and dry washcloth to clean him up a little more, then I put the strips over his wound to hopefully hold it together.

“Thank you, baby,” he said, placing his hands on the back of my thighs and pulling me closer between his legs.

“Of course. Do you maybe wanna try and calm him? To see if he’s okay? As much as I hate him right now, I don’t want him to hurt himself.”

“He’ll be fine. He’s gonna crawl back to apologize to both of us sooner or later.”

I hoped so, or else we’d both have people in our families who were against our relationship, and truly…one person was enough.

40

I was talking to Payton while observing Della on the other side of our living room, talking to one of her friends while she looked suspiciously disgusted and annoyed.

Riggs had arrived a few minutes ago, and as he was saying hello to everyone else, it was clear that people had talked about us already, just waiting to see the real thing.

They were waiting for us to greet each other, and since this was me we were talking about, I wouldn’t hold back to rub it in their uptight faces that I’m in a relationship with Riggs.

“So us making out really worked, huh? I gotta be honest with you, Val. I did miss you after that night and was hoping you would’ve called.”

I laughed and placed my hand on her upper arm. “I’m sorry I didn’t. If my man doesn’t have anything against it, I’d love to make out with you again.”

“No.” Riggs’s dark voice made us look up at him, and although I was joking, I loved how jealous he was just hearing me talking about kissing Payton again.

I let out a happy squeal, then turned to him to kiss him in front of everyone.

I didn’t care who saw, or what they were thinking, so I deepened the kiss with his hands on my lower back and put on a show before breaking the kiss again.

“Hi,” I said, grinning up at him.

“Hey, my love. You look incredible.”

Since Della wished for a black and white themed party, I decided to put on my whitest dress with a low cut out in the back.

“Thank you, handsome.” He had on a black suit and tie, black shoes and a black shirt, making his white hair pop even more.

I loved it, and it made him so much more attractive. More than ever.

“How’s your nose?” I asked, looking at it and seeing his wound was already closing up a little.

“Much better. Still a little swollen, but it doesn’t hurt.”

I nodded, caressing his cheek before grabbing his hand and turning back to Payton. “This is Payton. Payton, this is my boyfriend Riggs.”

They shook each other’s hands, and although the kiss between Payton and I didn’t mean anything, Riggs didn’t seem too happy to see her.

“Sorry for what you saw that night. It was her idea,” she said, as if Riggs didn’t know I was the mastermind behind our make out.

“Yeah, figured. It’s all good,” he told her.

“I’ll go find my mother. I’ll see you around.”

I nodded and smiled at her before she left us, and when we were alone, I turned back to Riggs and pointed to the kitchen.

“Wanna go grab something to drink?”

He nodded, and as we walked into the kitchen, Della’s eyes followed us until we couldn’t be seen anymore.

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