Page 27 of The Pursuit of Her Happiness

McKinley starts bouncing in his seat, getting antsy. “Can we talk aboutCarniceranow? Please? Pretty please with the decapitated heads of our enemies on top?”

Clay slowly swivels his head to stare at his friend. “Why are you so weird?”

“She made a human centipede using three of the guards at the women’s prison! I’m not gonna lie, her stitchwork is impeccable. Such clean lines…”

“This is why you’re single,” Adams states.

McKinley waves off his cousin’s comment. “That’s what the lobbyists are for.”

Lincoln pinches the bridge of his nose, “I’m assuming these are the men responsible for her rape and torture?”

Pierce chimes in. “Yes, and also the assault, rape, and eventual death of three other inmates in the last 5 years.”

Buck slaps the table with a grin. “Human centipede for the win!”

Quinn 14.

I yawn for the fifth time since we left karate. My right eye slits as I wince, hoping my incredibly observant son won’t noti—

“Are you tired, Quinn?” Apparently, his best friend is picking up that particular baton.

“Yeah, Sammy, I am. Had a hard time sleeping last night.” There. That sounds reasonable.

Enzo snorts, “Cuz she was up super late talking on the phone with herboyfriend.” Why do we teach our children to speak?

“Boyfriend?” Sammy asks with obvious excitement. “Who’s your boyfriend? It’s not Ford, is it?”

I glance at Sammy in the rearview, biting my lip to stop from laughing at his sour expression.

“Heck no, it ain’t Ford! Mom’s dating Polk and they are super inlove. And he’s probably going to be my stepdad and bring home dogs for us to play with.”

“Stepdad and dogs? Dude. That’s unfair!”

“Sammy!” I can’t believe he’d say that. “Lincoln is awesome. And so is your Auntie Kadisha and Uncle Carver.”

“They aren’t dogs. Or cats. Or a goat.”

I roll my eyes, flicking on my blinker to turn onto the road to the clubhouse. I’m dropping Sammy off…and if I happen to catchPolk, what a happy coincidence. “What’s with everyone and goats?”

Both boys make distinct sounds of disbelief. I’m quickly becoming uncool. I’m okay with it. “They’re goats.” Ah, yes, that explains everything.

I’ve barely parked the car in the clubhouse lot, when they throw the backdoors open and rush into the building. At a more sedate pace, I make my way into the clubhouse. I’m walking slower because I’m a grown-ass adult, a confident woman…it has nothing to do with nerves. Those murderous butterflies are back and this time they’re hopped up on cocaine. I press my hand to my stomach and breathe in deeply through my nose and out through my mouth. I wasn’t expecting Polk, wasn’t expecting such a wonderful man to want me, let alone pursue me with so much passion. The butterflies make no sense because Polk has always been around, he’s so easy to talk to.

That was before he tongue fucked your snatch on the living room couch and you inhaled his cock like a cum-slut.

Wow. My inner voice is not friendly. How rude.

I shake my hands at my side, crack my neck and brace myself as I open the door and step inside. My entire body tingles with anticipation, and it gets unbearable when Polk’s heated stare finds me from across the room. He ignores Keller, striding over to me with a confident swagger that he wears effortlessly. Gosh, he’s dreamy. I jolt as his arm loops around my waist. I whimper when his lips drop to mine. I moan when his tongue finds mine and treats us to a thorough welcome.

In the light of day, he still wants me. I wish I wasn’t surprised by that information. I wish I could accept this totally without question. But history is hard to ignore. We break apart as the clubroom erupts in hoots and hollers. I drop from my toes, feetfirmly on the ground, and eye the room bashfully. Several of the lobbyists glare at me. Well, fuck that and fuck them.

With a winning smile, I grab Polk’s hand and raise them above our heads, waving with my free hand like we’ve won a race. Polk laughs as I swing our hands down and bow.

I blow kisses to the lobbyists, then Audrey and the other ol’ ladies, “Thank you! Thank you so much! We couldn’t have done this without your support!” Polk shuts me up with his mouth on mine, his hands wrapping around me to grip my ass.

“THE FUCK?!?” I swallow Polk’s grunt, latching onto him to stop him from going after Ford. He pulls back, his brow furrowing, his lips thin, nostrils flaring.

“Polk. Don’t.”

---