Page 165 of Felonies are Forever

“Then what, baby?”

“I just…I just wondered. Have you ever said that to anyone else?” Sadness clouds her eyes and I want to burn down the world at the doubt I see in them. “I know that’s stupid to think about right now, but I can’t help it.”

“No.” I snap, and she swallows at the harsh sound of my words. “I’ve never even thought it before. You’re my one, Holly. The only one that has ever brought those words…no, not justwords…those feelings out in me. I love you. Not anyone else, before or after. Daddy loves you.”

She’s crying harder, but I can see in her eyes that it’s joy, not pain, and I know that no matter what happens, I’ll never let her go.

EIGHT

Eight

Holly

What a differencetwenty-four hours can make.

When I walked into the Christmas party last night, dressed in that outfit, and saw Cole with Amanda, I wanted to run crying out the front door.

Now, I’m slipping out of a bed soaked with our sex, and his cum is still slick between my legs. The morning light is warm through the bedroom casting golden light across Cole’s sleeping form.

He’s breathing deep and steady, rolled on his side, his arm still across the bed where I was laying just a moment ago. I took about five minutes slowly maneuvering out from under the weight of his massive arm, not wanting to wake him but unable to sleep and wanting to be sure my mother and father aren’t trying to track me down.

It’s Christmas Eve day, and the plan was for me to spend this evening with my dad and then go home late and wake up at Mom’s.

That’s not to say there would be much of a Christmas to wake up to there, but she has a way of guilting me into doing what works for her. Even on my meager salary at the newspaper, I managed to save enough to buy a few gifts for both of my parents. And truth is, I really do love the giving more than the receiving.

I don’t know, but deep down gifts make me uncomfortable even when they are wonderful and thoughtful and exactly what I would have wanted.

Cole says I’ve already given him the best Christmas gift of his lifetime, but I’m hoping sometime today I can slip away from the photography job and find something that will make him smile.

Only thing is, I don’t know how I will see him on Christmas. It would be weird for me to leave my mom’s and go see him, and if my dad finds out…my stomach clenches just thinking about it.

This could ruin their friendship, sure. But it also could ruin the business they’ve built and I don’t know how I could ever deal with that fallout.

I slip his white dress shirt on as I tiptoe out of the bedroom and down the hall to find my phone.

Sure enough, there are ten texts from my mother asking me to bring things from the grocery home tonight.

And the liquor store.

I’m not even old enough to drink yet. How she doesn’t know that I can’t quite wrap my head around but whatever.

I sigh and scroll down through her messages to find one text from my dad, asking when I will be over after the photography gig. He’s going to have a full dinner spread…ham and turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes…he is a great cookand my mouth waters thinking about how scrumptious it will surely be.

Then as I keep reading, my heart stops.

He said he’s also messaged Cole to see if he can come. Then, he wants to know if I need a ride to work.

Oh my God. How will I ever get through an evening with the three of us and not tip our hand?

I shoot a quick message back to them both, covering my ass by telling my dad I’m borrowing Mom’s car for the day and telling her I’m getting a lift with Dad. Then I settle at the kitchen counter after starting a pot of coffee, and rest my face in my hands, wondering when I’ll ever have the backbone to know it’s okay to want what I want, and just let everyone else deal.

What have I done?

The thought keeps playing over and over in my mind when I look out the long kitchen window and see the white snow that’s fallen during the night. It’s covering the branches of the pine tree just outside and it’s deep on the ground beneath.

As my heart beats in my ears, there’s a flash of red against the white snow and a Cardinal settles on a branch. A second later, a more subdued red lands next to the first, the female taking a spot next to him, and I wonder if it’s some sort of sign.

It’s nearly eight-thirty and I need to be at the Santa’s Village by nine-thirty to set up before they open at ten; and I sure could use a shower. Cole’s cum is flaking all over my thighs, my face, my tits… Just about everywhere he could get it, he did. I don’t know much about sex, but I thought a guy was sort of done after he came.

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