Page 98 of The Player Penalty
“So you still talk?” Her forehead wrinkles with confusion. “But you didn’t even visit him last year.”
“That’s because I leave him voice mails. He’s never returned one, at least not until now. He left me a message saying I was my father’s son, after all. It won’t be returned.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah. That’s the story of how I lost my family.”
“No, Julian. That’s the story of how your family lost you. You aren’t the villain.”
“Like I said, more wisdom than I ever had. Let’s stop talking about my family right now. This is our first time together in several days. You know what I need to do?”
“Are you hungry?”
“Not in the slightest. I’m buying you a new phone. Two phones.” Maybe twenty new phones, so we can’t repeat the last 24 hours.
“Why two?”
“So we don’t worry in case one gets lost.”
“You aren’t buying me two phones.”
“Yes, I am. Along with a stack of journals, and maybe even a bookstore.” I laugh at her dubious expression. “I’m rich, Lily. Let me spoil you sometimes. We both deserve it.”
“Do you know what I’m realizing?” she asks.
“What’s that?”
“We make each other better.”
She’s right. We’re both in a better place than we were a year ago, and we managed it with the other person’s support. “I love you, Lily. Like I said, you aren’t getting rid of me. If this ends, it’ll be you doing the ending.”
“It won’t end, Julian.”
“Say that again.”
“We won’t end.”
I cut off her laugh with a kiss.
35-Lily
“We finally made it to the bed.” Julian lays over me and drops kisses on my neck and shoulders. “It took us longer than I planned.”
“You had a plan?”
“To slowly take your clothes off,” he says.
“That didn’t happen.” We hurriedly pulled them off each other, letting them fall into a pile on the floor.
“Then kiss you everywhere.” Julian moves, dropping more kisses on my throat and then in the valley between my breasts.
“You’re doing that now.”
“Then slowly make love to you,” he says.
“We didn’t manage that either.” Instead, I climbed onto his lap, and we fucked. It was fast and desperate, with him pumping into me. It was sloppy kisses and rough touches.
“Well, I can’t say we didn’t try.” Julian moves, positioning his body over mine.
