Page 61 of Just Is Not Enough

“I can’t help it if you turn me on. Maybe you should get dressed in the bathroom or we’re going to be late.” At least I can be honest with him.

I receive a headshake of disbelief and a chuckle. “That sounds like a problem you need to deal with on your own.” I smile at his typical response to my flirting. He’s grown more accustomed to my bratty behavior. I’m happy to report that my little punishments have only gotten better.

The past couple months have been a whirlwind of having to speak with investigators attempting to find out everything they can about Tyler and his actions over the past year. He wound up pleading guilty to all the charges to receive a lesser sentence, knowing between all the evidence Marissa had on him once she found both burner phones he was using and the text messages he sent me, would be damning to his case. She also found on his personal phone some videos taken when he was following me. There were more than a dozen from the past year, including the night I met Luke. Knowing he was there watching us from the next stall has made me more anxious and aware that I need to take notice of my surroundings when I am out in public.

Tyler received less than a year time, which is more than we thought he would get. Any punishment is better than none, I suppose. All I want now is for him to reflect on what he did to me and I’m hoping this is enough time for him to not repeat whatever craziness was going on in his head.

Luke rushes me out the door before we get yelled at by our friends for being late, once again. It’s been a normal occurrence that we are trying to break the cycle of making.

When we arrive only a couple minutes late our smartass friends give us a standing ovation, applause, and all. Fuckers drew all the attention to us causing me to want to crawl in a hole. Thankfully, Luke pulls me into him giving me the comfort of being in his arms as always.

“Alright, assholes, you can stop with the theatrics now.” Luke’s scolding is all in fun, receiving a round of laughter.

“Awww someone is grumpy. I guess that means they’ll be sneaking around later.”

Gabe has called us out a couple times now for sneaking off for ‘alone’ time during our outings. We aren’t exactly inconspicuous about it, but we really don’t care. We enjoy our trysts in random bathrooms or parking lots, in or out of a vehicle. We haven’t exactly gotten caught yet, so until then we will have our fun.

We all fall into our usual chatter, or debates, because of course we can’t go one night without Gabe and Connor disagreeing on something. I think Connor is just a little jealous about Gabe taking up so much of Ender’s time lately. Not like he’s one to talk, but I’m not getting involved in all their business.

Faith is back to ignoring Dakota tonight, which is another chaotic situation I have stopped trying to understand. Poor guy has been through the wringer with her the past couple months, but he hasn’t given up on her yet, so I’ll give him an A+ for effort.

“Hey everyone, sorry we’re late.” Kelsey and Austin have become a part of our family here since that first night and then Austin saving me from Tyler. They have fit in with us seamlessly. Their arrival has put Gabe and Connor’s bickering to a ceasefire for the time being.

“Anyone need a beer?” Austin asks before heading off.

“I’ll come with you.” Luke and Austin have become close. I can’t count how many times Luke has thanked him for stepping in to help me.

Lanie comes to sit by me, “Having fun, butthead?”

“Always. What’s going on with you and Jackson? Haven’t heard from you much the past couple weeks.”

“I just saw you last night at dinner and game night, Kaden.”

“That’s different. The parental units were around. We can’t talk about anything private around them. You know they can’t keep a secret to save their lives.”

“Truth.” She hesitates sharing whatever is going on. “We are good. Just some things you and I should talk about. Jackson says it will be good for me to talk to you about it, so I’m trying.”

“Lanie, I don’t like the way that sounds.”

“It’s fine, I promise. We can talk tomorrow. I’ll come over for takeout and a movie.”

“I’m holding you to your word.” I give her a steely look to make sure she knows I won’t let her back out of it last minute.

“I’ll be there.” She reassures me with a side hug and kiss on the cheek.

“Hey, did I say I was sharing her tonight?” Jackson reaches out, taking Lanie’s hand and pulling her towards an area where some people are dancing.

“She was mine first!” I yell at him as they walk away, all of us falling into laughter.

I walk to the bar in search of the man I have grown to crave being in his presence. “Are you going to hog my boyfriend all night, Austin?”

“It’s the least you can give me since I saved your life.” Austin’s running joke for stealing Luke’s time away from me doesn’t miss its mark every time.

“Okay, okay, we can share him tonight.”

“Wait, who’s sharing who, now?” Bryce has once again overheard our conversations. I swear the guy has supersonic hearing like a dolphin or something.

“No one is sharing anyone, at least when it comes to Kaden and I.” Luke possessively pulls me in front of him, wrapping his arms around my waist.

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