Page 25 of Caged Bird

But my feet wouldn’t move, and my chest wouldn’t work properly. It was like it had completely forgotten how to breathe.

The bathroom door had been left wide open, the shower running over an old, chipped bathtub that had seen better days. A shower curtain kept the water from splashing all over the floor, but it wasn’t quite drawn all the way.

And on the other side, Fawn leaned against the tiled wall, her eyes closed, breasts bare and soapy, her fingers buried between her thighs.

She bit down on her bottom lip, stroking her clit, rubbing it almost viciously, before plunging her fingers into her pussy and then repeating the sequence.

My dick went hard instantly. There was no point even trying to stop it. It strained toward her, held back uncomfortably by my work pants.

Fawn’s face was filled with frustration. She worked her fingers too fast, too impatiently, clearly trying to get herself over the edge in the shortest amount of time possible and failing miserably.

It took everything in me not to rip the curtain aside and take over.

Replacing her fingers with my bigger, more patient ones. Sliding them down her thighs, massaging them until they fell apart and gave me access to what was between. Stroking her clit slowly, rubbing the little bundle of nerves until her legs trembled and she was begging for me to fill her. Only then would I press two digits up inside her, hooking them just right so they pressed her G-spot and her silky wetness would drown my hand.

I wanted to fist my cock so fucking bad I almost did it. Right there, in the middle of the second-floor landing.

I stopped myself, turning away quickly, not wanting to be a pervert, despite the fact she’d left the door wide open for anyone to see. I took a step toward Otis’s room, the old floorboard beneath my feet protesting my weight with the loudest creak I’d ever heard.

Like a deer caught in headlights, I snapped my head up, staring over at Fawn to see if she’d heard.

Her dark-brown eyes locked with mine, and she gasped, fumbling for the curtain, trying to pull it across the gap that had allowed me to watch her unknowingly.

“I’m so sorry,” I mumbled, not even sure if she could hear me above the water and the rustle of the curtain. “I’m going.”

I shot into Otis’s room and snatched up his hat, fisting it in my fingers before running back downstairs.

Eddie still slept, and I breathed a sigh of relief as I slipped outside and found Otis exactly where I’d left him.

He took my hat off his head. “Uncle Zane? I think you need this back. Your face is all pink from the sun too.”

He swapped my hat for his, pushing my baseball cap back at me.

I didn’t have the heart to tell him my face wasn’t pink from the sun, but from the awkwardness of wanting something I wasn’t allowed to have.

Istayed outside with Otis for as long as it took for Fawn to call him inside for a shower. Her gaze flickered to mine as the words fell off her tongue, and we both quickly turned away. I followed the kid back inside the house a few minutes later and was glad when he was already upstairs with his mother.

Even if that did leave Eddie and me alone.

He hadn’t moved from the armchair he’d been in all afternoon. But he looked over from his movie when I sat on the couch across from him.

He hit the pause button on the remote. “Fawn made up the spare room for you. Said she put fresh sheets and towels in there for you.”

Fuck knows I needed a shower and some sleep more than anything. But I already knew I wouldn’t be able to. “Where’s my phone?”

Eddie jerked his head toward a heavy metal safe. “Locked it up for you. You don’t need it out here anyway. No reception unless you have a satellite phone, like I do.”

“I’d like the phone back anyway.”

Eddie shook his head. “Better kept in the safe. Some people around here have sticky fingers.”

“Like who? You?”

Eddie’s eyes narrowed just a little. “Me? Because it couldn’t be Fawn now, could it? The woman who can do no wrong in your eyes.”

“She’s not a thief. You’re an ass for implying she is.”

Eddie shifted so his full attention finally landed on me. “I’m an ass for protecting my brother? That’s rich.”

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