Page 97 of The Shake Off

I was pulled out of my relationship thought spiral by Max’s dulcet tones ordering us off the bus. I’d been so engrossed in Payton that I hadn’t noticed we’d arrived outside the private terminal for where the Lions’ plane had been stationed since we arrived in St Louis.

“Make sure you don’t leave anything behind!” Max hollered. “That means you too, Simpson.”

Tanner’s head shot up fromCosmowith a confused frown. “What’s he talking about? I don’t leave stuff behind.”

“Come on,” I nudged him forward. “Let’s find Parker and Lux.”

The Lions coordination team was in charge of our passports for arriving in Canada, so once we’d stepped off the bus, we headed straight across the tarmac to the plane. I’d just taken the first step up when Parker and Lux sprinted over.

“There you two are. Where did you go?”

Parker sucked in a breath. “I forgot my phone and had to run back, then Max made us get on the second bus and the social team cornered us to make TikToks.”

“Come on. Let’s go and chill out.”

“I’m going for a massage; my hamstrings are tight,” announced Tanner.

“You’ll need to wait. Stone and Boomer have already called shotgun,” replied Lux.

“Course they fucking have,” he grumbled as we entered the cabin and made our way to the back of the plane.

The stewards were handing out drinks, snacks, and menus for dinner once we were airborne, along with pillows and cozy blankets for anyone who wanted to sleep.

“Do you think they’ll make me a BLT?” asked Parker as we passed by the coaches’ seats, as well as Marnie who was already asleep on Jupiter’s shoulder. I briefly glanced around but couldn’t see Lowe and Beulah. Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen them since we’d left San Francisco.

Lux fell in his seat with a groan, stretching out his legs under the seat opposite, forcing Parker to step over him. “I’m so tired, I cannot wait to get into bed.”

“What happened with that girl last night?” I asked as the steward handed around bottles of water, protein bars, and menus.

“Do you want anything else, gentlemen?”

“I’ll take a BLT, please,” replied Parker, looking over the menu.

“Make that two,” added Lux.

“Three.”

I hadn’t thought I was hungry until my stomach rumbled, so added another BLT to the order. I leaned forward as the steward moved onto the boys sitting across the aisle. “Lux, what happened?”

He removed theCosmofrom Tanner’s hand and flicked through to the article entitled ‘The Cosmo Sex Challenge: Sixty-Nine Positions for Sixty-Nine Days’,found day forty-six – which happened to be Lux’s number – and passed it back.

“Wear her ankles as earrings,” read out Tanner.

“Yeah, it’s fucking hot,” Lux nodded. “Her ass was on my thighs so she couldn’t easily move, but I could reach her whole body and control it. She had to tell me what she liked and didn’t like, and what sheloved. I made her come twice before I did.”

“What are you rating it?

He thought for a second. “Eight out of ten. Recommend.”

Tanner folded down the page, which I had no doubt he’d be marking with a Sharpie later, while I made a mental note to try it with Payton next time I saw her. I reached around to grab my phone from my back pocket, suddenly desperate to text her.

It was midnight on a Wednesday. She told me she’d had plans with her friends, so was probably out having fun, wearing a pair of those sexy-as-fuck heels she always wore, and maybe a short little dress.

Aside from the night I’d first met her, I realized I’d never seen her in anything other than her sleep shorts, or what she wore to work, or that raincoat she’d arrived at my place in. And I wanted to. I wanted to see her on a night out. I wanted to be out with her. I wanted to take her out.

We’d start with drinks at The Polo Bar, followed by dinner at Le Bernardin, and we’d finish with a walk around this deserted little park I found off fifty-fourth street one time when I was running. I’d hold her hand the entire evening but stay half a step behind, just so I could watch her peachy ass sway as she walked.

Then I’d kiss her and kiss her and kiss her some more, until I’d have to carry her home because her legs had given way, before I fucked her into a coma.

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