Page 96 of Ella Gets the D
If it were my ex, I would send him packing the way I did when I caught him screwing another woman. I mean, technically, I left, but I didn’t hesitate. Truth be told, our marriage was past its expiration date. I was too busy keeping our family together to smell the stench until it smacked me in the face.
Charles could screw the entire parent volunteer roster and I wouldn’t give a shit. I wouldn’t have the urge to claim him as mine, the way I do with Julian.
“El?” His smile fades, and his brows draw together. “Are you okay?”
I’m starving for something more than that damn California roll in my purse. My heart pounds in an erratic rhythm. My jealousy subsides as a sudden flush of heat spreads from my thighs outward and seizes my neck with a squeeze.
I’ve been good these last eight months—damn good, considering. I did what I needed to do to provide for my family, and I upheld my end of the separation agreement. I’ve blocked the desire to express my love for the man in front of me, who hasn’t wavered in his adoration, for as long as I could. I might toe the line, but I always play by the rules others set in place.
Tonight, I’m playing by mine.
“I’m ready to go.”
“Okay,” Julian says. He thumbs over at the double French doors. “If you have your coat check tag, I’ll get our things...” The rest tapers off in a groan at my hand on his crotch. I tighten my grip on the bulge pressing into my fingers.
With his back to the other guests, we look like we’re slow dancing. Hooded eyes study mine. Julian doesn’t say anything, but he doesn’t have to. His physical reaction says a thousand words, and the brother is locked and loaded.
I lean closer so my lips can tickle his ear. “I’m ready to go, but not home. I won’t make it.” My hand slides up to his hard chest, which quivers under my touch. “Can we get a room here?”
For a long moment, he looks at me. I would too, because who am I? Call it liquid courage or fatigue due to a lack of protein, but I want what I want, and I want it now. This is the first time I’m asking him to spend money on me, and it happens to be the only time I initiated anything beyond a kiss, nevermind the implied sex.
“Are you sure?” Huskiness lingers in his tone, and he watches me for any tells that I’ve had too much to drink or lost my mind.
Maybe I have lost my mind. Julian isn’t going anywhere, and getting a room will raise speculation, whether we unite our bodies or not. There’s no way everyone won’t think we slept together. So let them think what they want.
I nod. “Text me the floor and room number. I’ll meet you up there.”
With a deep inhale, he speed walks past the black-tie attendees hoping to get his attention and disappears into the hall.
Morgan steals another peek at the door Julian high-tailed out of on her approach. “Did he eat something bad?”
He’s about to eat something good the minute we get upstairs.
“He went to get a room.”
It doesn’t register at first, but when it does, her eyes balloon and her mouth falls open. I close it with a hand. She paces withhers on her hip in a struggle to either cuss me out like his big sister or support me like my best friend. The two converge when she folds her arms and faces me.
Tears glitter her eyes. This is more than a New Year’s Eve hookup, and she knows it. “Okay,” she says. “He can drive you to my house to get your car tomorrow, after you two…” She throws her hand over her face. “I can’t think about it.”
“I hope you don’t,” I say back with a laugh that gets her guard down. While she supports us, anything hinting at our physical intimacy gives her the bubble guts.
Her smile fades. “Be careful, El. People get curious about who he’s with. If anyone sees him get a room, that curiosity will follow you two upstairs.”
I frown. “It’s not that serious.”
“To some gossip sites, it is. They’re not paparazzi who follow him home, but when he’s out, it’s fair game.” She sighs. “On second thought, I’ll come back in the morning with your overnight bag. No one will think anything if we leave together.”
The hug we share is a testament to our friendship, an bond that’s become a sisterhood. We’ve had each other’s backs through it all—and now we’ll add me and her brother swapping fluids to the list.
“You two be safe. For once, I don’t want any details,” she says. “I might vomit in the poinsettias thinking about it.”
I smack her arm. “Don’t act like you never met one of his partners before.”
She huffs a soft laugh and motions for me to head out. “None I ever liked. In case you can’t tell, you’re different. I’ve never seen him this caring and invested in someone, the way he is with you and Jackson and Haile.”
My phone buzzes with a text from Julian that sucks the air from my lungs.
We’re doing this. Okay.
