Page 61 of Break Your Fall

What’s the point? You won’t last.

I keep that thought to myself as I face him again, saying instead, “She wouldn’t want that.”

“Would it matter if I do?”

“No,” I say, leaving Aspen and the pensive mood we created behind me.

“Oh, babe.” Mom startles, almost running into me outside the bathroom door, her hands catching me around the arms. She gives them a squeeze, then brings her hands to her chest with a smiley peek toward the kitchen. “He’s taking us out on aboat.”

Us.The big happy family.

She makes a silent squeal of excitement, while I’m thinking how she piled makeup onto her face, curled her fake red locks, and changed into a sleek, green dress, like she’s going to a fancy restaurant instead of out on the water.

“Wish me luck,” she says next as she struts toward her date.

Aspen invited me. My mother didn’t.

I wish the sting would stop burning me.

Bad luck, Mom,I think as I shut myself inside the bathroom.

“Don’t look at me like that,” I say to my reflection in the mirror as I strip off my dress. “She didn’t say whatkindof luck.”

I stay in the shower long enough for the hot water to turn lukewarm, lost inside my head as the spray pelts my achy body. My hands run over my skin and soon another ache builds, a lingering tension needing release.

My body flushes as my hand moves lower, my eyes falling closed as my fingers settle right where I need them.

My mind doesn’t have to drift far before I see Tommy’s face behind my lids.

My eyes snap open before squeezing shut again. An unusual shyness passes through me as if there are other eyes in the room, watching me touch myself to a thought I shouldn’t.

Oh, God, but I want to.

I submit, relaxing as my fingers continue to work me, the thought of him making this feel so good. I’m shaking as my back hits the wall, my head falling back against the tiles. My free hand caresses my skin as water runs over my body, my hands Tommy’s hands, exploring me, his gorgeous smile a sexy smirk right before he drops to his knees to taste me.

My breathing hikes, faster and faster, and I come hard, riding my orgasm until my legs are almost too weak to hold me up.

My eyes flutter open as my breathing stabilizes, the rush of the shower flooding my ears. That same shyness passes through me, a small smile attached that I hide under the spray of water.

18

Two Days

Thomas

“Dude, you’ll never believe what just happened,” Banks announces as he leaves my bathroom. “I have shit too many days in a row and my asshole is not happy about it.”

“Neither is my toilet,” I complain with a slam of the fridge door, a bottle of water in my hand.

“I need to eat better,” he continues as he stops right beside me, one hand behind his back, lifting his leg as he adjusts himself. “My asshole is stretched way too much right now.”

I stare at his face as I take a gulp of my water to avoid seeing what his hand is up to behind his back and I almost spit the drink. His nose has changed overnight. It’s … pointy.

Don’t ask.

“What’s wrong with your face? Besides the usual,” I add to feel better about my own betrayal.

“Har har,” he says, swiping the bottle from my hand.

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