Page 83 of The Show

“I will, thanks Gramps.”

There was no one waiting for us by the elevators like Scott and Damon had been when we arrived. Murray pushed the button, and we all stepped in when the doors opened.

“Right, I think we all need a drink after that. Beulah, you want to call your boyfriend or shall I?” asked Murray.

“I will.” She looked at her watch before continuing, “He’ll be out of court shortly. You call Kit.”

“Deal,” Murray agreed and turned to my grandfather. “Sir, are you going to join us?”

“No, no. I need to swing by the office, then Summer and I are heading to Wyoming for the weekend.”

“So it’ll just be the five of us.”

I paused for a millisecond. It was once again on the tip of my tongue to tell someone about Lowe so she could join us, but there’d be plenty of time for that. Though I was wondering how long I legitimately needed to stay with the boys before I snuck off to see her. I might not have had any sleep in the last twenty-four hours, and I didn’t have immediate plans to catch up on it, especially given her mother’s insistence she found a boyfriend.

In case Lowe hadn’t realized, that job had already been filled.

15

Lowe

“Lowey, hurry up! What’s taking you so long? My stomach is practically melting from hunger!” Lauren hollered up the stairs in my apartment.

“I’m coming!” I hollered back, taking one final glance at my reflection then gave up. This would have to do.

I’d opted for a pair of high waisted skinny jeans that made my legs look long enough to qualify for an NBA player, and a navy blue t-shirt that brought out the pale blue of my eyes. I grabbed a pair of my favorite sneakers with little scuffed gold stars along the side, and ran down the stairs.

There was a reason I’d spent so long getting ready - and it was down to my new two-nights-in-a-row overnight guest. The one who’d been blowing my mind with his wicked tongue and dirty mouth. The one whose sister was likely riffling through my kitchen for food. The one we were about to go and meet for brunch. And the one that had given me a case of the butterflies for the past week, so much so that I’d nearly downed a bottle of Pepto-Bismol earlier to quiet them.

The look I’d been hoping to nail was ‘dress-to-impress-the guy-you-had-the-serious-hots-for-while-also-looking-casual-enough-for-a-low-key-baseball-game-and-not-arouse-suspicion-from-anyone-around-because-you-were-keeping-your-new-found-relationship-a-secret’; a task much harder than it sounded.

I found Lauren just as I suspected, sitting at my kitchen counter with a full bowl of cereal in one hand, a spoon in the other, eating like she’d never tried Cinnamon Toast Crunch before, and it was her new favorite thing.

“Finally! What took so long?” she mumbled through a mouthful.

“Sorry, I was fiddling around,” I replied, not looking her directly in the eye so she couldn’t see the avoidance of my answer and ask for more details. “We’re not in a rush though, right?”

“Yes, we are! I want a decent breakfast before we head off, and Penn won’t have any patience if we’re late and they’re all eating. He’s going to be enough of a pain in the ass today as it is, we’ll barely get time to order before he’ll make us all leave for the flight. He might like to inhale his food, but I don’t.”

She took in my raised eyebrow and slowly put down her bowl and spoon with a wry smile.

“Come on then, let’s go.”

She jumped off her stool, grabbed her bag, and was at the front door before I had time to finish tying my sneakers and grab a sweater. The butterflies kicked up in my belly as we walked out into the sunshine and down the block to the brunch spot where we were due meet the rest of the gang, including Penn.

I told him this morning it was a bad idea.

I told him we weren’t ready to be around our friends yet, but he’d promised me everything would be alright. I didn’t argue because at that precise moment, his thumb was slowly tracing along the underside of my breast, back and forth like a metronome. It was right before his mouth made contact with my nipple, at which point I’d have agreed to anything he wanted.

It was the second time my baser instincts had overruled logic. The first time was when he turned up in the middle of the night, beside himself with excitement that he’d concocted a plan for us to spend a Saturday together. His tongue was trailing down my stomach while he mumbled his idea for all the girls to join the boys for their weekend. This would involve all of us going for brunch before we left the city to go watch the White Plains Jungle Kings and find some new players.

Least I think that’s what he said, because not long after, he’d made me come so hard I’d almost lost consciousness.

After that, he’d fallen into a drunken stupor until I’d woken him up at seven a.m. so he could leave my place before Lauren swung by to collect me for our eight thirty. spin class. That was when I’d learned that waking Penn Shepherd was not an easy task, and not something one should undertake lightly. I also learned that a prematurely woken Penn Shepherd was stubborn, moody, and wanted his own way - which at seven forty-seven this morning was to not leave my bed and thatLauren was going to find out somehow, so why not now?

He’d refused to leave, and in the end, I’d had to promise to wear the red lipstick for him the next time we were together, and do exactly what I was told.

My promise was the last thing I gave him as I pushed him out the door.

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