Page 41 of My Ex-Best Friends

“Another part is that I talk a lot with Kelly about co-parenting shit. Shit like how she would feel if it ever came to that, to you being more important in Sin’s life.” He cupped my face and searched my eyes. “If you stay here, you’re ours. You have to know that now. Do you?”

My stomach erupted in butterflies the size of small planes. That was a big question. It scared me how little I had to consider it. I nodded, too shaken to form the words.

“If you stay here, you’re mine. And what’s mine is Sin’s, B.” He pushed my hair behind my ears and kissed my forehead. “Me and Sin? We’re a package deal. If you want me, you get her. Maybe that’s something you need to think about.”

He started to pull away but I grabbed his face and pulled his mouth to mine. I controlled the kiss until he groaned and took charge. He held me tight and tipped my head back as he stroked his tongue past my lips. He tasted like cake and vanilla and fireworks went off in my head.

He slowly ended the kiss and smiled down at me. “That didn’t feel like a goodbye kiss.”

I shook my head. It wasn’t. I couldn’t say the words just yet but I felt them. I’d take anything that came with him. The fact that it was Sinclair was a giant bonus.

“Alright then. Let’s go paint my face. I feel left out and I’ve never been good about that when it comes to Colt and Logan.” He slid his hand into my back pocket and groped my ass. “Jesus, you’re killing me in this outfit, B.”

And just like that, we were back to the light, playfulness we’d been in all day.

33

***Brooke***

Instead of eating dinner at home that night, we wound up at the diner. I should’ve known better than to go where my mother and aunt had been detained by police the night before, but I was throwing caution to the wind. There was also a nervous energy in the air between me and the guys and I was being a chicken about going home so fast. I didn’t know what came next and it felt like it’d been a huge day so I just needed to breathe a little bit of air that wasn’t clogged with desire for a bit.

The second we entered the diner, the entire place went quiet. A fork clattered and a chair scraped the floor but other than that, there wasn’t a sound in the place. As painfully embarrassing as it was, I would’ve welcomed it over the voice that filled every nook and cranny of the diner.

“Well, look who came up for air!” Aunt Karlene made a siren sound with her mouth while waving her hand around. “Everyone give it up for my niece, the only woman in Beaumont that can have her horse and ride it, too, if you know what I mean!”

Colt snorted and Logan smirked. Noah just shook his head and intertwined our fingers. Me? I let my family blood get the best of me.

“I’m hardly the only woman in Beaumont who can do that, Aunt Karlene. I know all about the time you went frog giggin’ with Brent Pearson and David Howser! Mom said you were the only toad getting gigged that night.”

“You went frog giggin’ with my man?!” Brent Pearson’s wife, Karla, stood up. “David is my m-”

Brent Pearson’s head snapped around to his wife. David Howser just so happened to be sitting at the same booth with the couple. A dawning silence was better than the one we’d entered on but it was still rough to watch Brent realize his wife was two-timing him.

“Jeez. Is no woman in this town satisfied with just a single willy anymore?” Boomer Perry was closer to a hundred than he was ninety and he stood up, balanced on his cane, and grabbed a handful of the mashed dinner on his plate.

“Don’t you do it, Boomer!” Henry shouted from the kitchen but it was too late.

Boomer Perry had excellent aim for a half-blind guy. His torpedo of mashed food sailed over diners’ heads andsplat-ed right on Karla’s chest. She screamed and Boomer chuckled. “Be happy with one penis, ya floozy.”

Logan grinned. “I love this town.”

“And you!” Boomer turned his ire on me. “How many men are you doing the dirty with?”

I waited on Karla to scream again or for Brent to hit David but it looked like everyone was more interested in my answer. I was never that good under pressure. I knew I was blood red and the longer everyone looked at me, the worse it all got. I could feel the word vomit coming up and there was no way to stop it.

“Three! Three men. These three men, to be clear. I’m not sneaking around like Karla. Oh! Sorry, Karla. I’m sure you have an excellent reason for cheating on poor Brent. I was with a guy once who screwed like an eel. If Brent does that, I can sort of start to see a little bit why you’dthinkabout stepping out. Do you do it like an eel, Brent?”

Brent’s eyes were as wide as saucers. “What the hell does that mean?”

“Well, girly, show us what you mean.” Boomer tapped his cane on the ground. “We need to know how Brent screws.”

I silently begged the guys to stop me but they just watched me with laughter playing across their faces. I was going to get a blood transplant when I could afford it. I didn’t want my family’s blood in me anymore. It was too unstable. I could feel my body starting to move and even though I told myself to knock it off, it was like I was possessed.

“You know? Kind of like this?” I gyrated my hips and wiggled my body. “And then he’d finish with a dolphin squeal. It was all veryFree Willy.”

“That was a whale.” Someone called out from the back.

“Excuse me?” I stopped gyrating and put my hands on my hips. “I’ve gained a little weight since I was eighteen but I’d hardly say I’m a whale!”

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