Page 39 of Lyrical

“Do you not like it?”

“Well….”

Daniel took the bottle from her. “That’s okay. You don’t have to drink it. I’ll get you something else.”

That wasn’t the final straw.Thiswas the final straw. Perry took the bottle from Daniel before I could breakherwith it. She set it under the bar and pulled me aside. “We’ll save it. For DNA and prints later,” she whispered.

“If you don’t mind, Mom, we’re going to head upstairs for a while. Cassie hasn’t had a chance to talk much with Grandma.”

Splendid. “Yes, go ahead. I’ll catch up with you later.”

“I need to go too,” Perry said, and I raised my eyebrow. “I want to spend time with my fiancé. Why else would I leave?” She gave me a smile complete with rows of sharp teeth. I was so glad I had her on my side.

She dashed up the stairs after them, and Chase came and pressed his hard body against mine, squashing it to the wall. Normally that’d be a sexual gesture, but now it felt more like a protective one. “It’ll be okay, Jillian. Trust me.”

“How can you be that sure? I….” I didn’t want to focus on this anymore. “How about we change the subject? Tell me how it went over at Michelle’s. It took a while, so you must’ve done more than just sprinkle down salt.”

He brushed strands of my hair with his fingers. “Well, I did the salt. Not just the steps but the front path too. She also asked me to take a look at her porch banister. It was coming loose. And… she asked for some of my sperm.”

“She what?!”

“She told me she had your blessing or else—”

“My blessing? What the fuck does that mean?”

“That’s what I was going to ask you.”

I tried to squirm out from him. “Is she up there right now?”

“No, I didn’t see her. I don’t think she’s here.” He stilled me. “But if she were, do you really think it’d be a good conversation to have right now?”

“Chase, like I wouldn’t pull her into a room away from everyone else.” This was fucked-up hard, even for her. How could I not question her about it? “So, what,” I said, sweltering even though I was flat against ice-cold bricks, “she came onto you?”

“God, Jillian. No. She, uh… asked if she could give me a container so I could take care of myself into it. Kinda like a sample at a clinic.”

Holy fuck. And I knew exactly what she wanted to do with it. I was horrified. And disgusted. And… I started to laugh. It was so far over the top I couldn’t see the ground anymore.

“I can’t even….” I shook my head. “Did she tell you why she wanted it?”

“No, that’s when Stephen came and said I was needed here.”

“Chase, she wanted to put it on her face. She’s convinced it takes away wrinkles.”

He blinked so hard I thought his eyes would pop out. “Seriously? Why not just ask her husband.”

“It needs to be young sperm.”

“I can’t even….” he said, copying my words. “I am never going to be able to look at her again. I hope you know that.”

“Oh, believe me, that won’t be a problem. I’m not going to let her get within ten feet of you again.” I slugged his arm. “And you thought I consented to this?”

“I didn’t think anything. My brain was pretty fried after that. Then I came back to a whole other set of issues. You throw quite the party, Jillian. Can’t wait for the next.”

He was smirking at me, trying to make light of the clusterfucked day. At least the morning was perfect—after the pencil incident—and the night would be perfect once Cassie slithered off. But the day?

All I had to show for it was a fucking broken camel and one less Spotted Cow.

Iwas going to kill him.

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