Page 69 of Unfriend Me
She chuckled, the vibration making my spent cock twitch to life again, which would make it damn inconvenient to stand up in front of the whole community I’d grown up with while I had a boner.
Amelia finally looked up at me and stood, wiping the corner of her bright red mouth. “I left some lipstick. Hope you don’t mind.”
I looked down and, sure enough, she’d smeared it all over my dick, painting him in technicolor. Whatever. It’s not like anyone ever saw him except for Amelia. He could barely keep up with her, it’s not like he’d be stepping out with some other woman.
Besides, I was head over heels in love with Amelia.
I’d had an engagement ring sitting in my gym bag right after her public groveling back in the fall. Amelia would have snooped in every nook and cranny of my home for no other reason than amusement these last six months, but she’d never go near a gym bag or anything else that implied purposeful physical exertion. One of the perks of knowing someone for years and years before you date them. I’d called my mom the day after Amelia and I got back together, asking her to ship my grandma’s ring, the one she’d been saving for me when the time was right. The time just hadn’t been right yet, though. Amelia was a woman who demanded first-class wooing, as every woman should, and I’d had the time of my life doing it.
But today we’d officially open for business, making Amelia’s dream come true.
And today, I’d ask her to marry me, making my dream come true.
If she said yes. Fuck, let her please say yes.
You just never knew with Amelia. I knew she loved me, knew she wanted to be with me, but there was always a wild streak in her. One that begged her to buck social norms and be the wild child. While dating her, I’d made sure she knew her wild ways were one of the best things about her. Wearing my ring wouldn’t come with restrictions. It would come with wings.
Tucking myself back inside my pants, being careful to avoid the lipstick, I grabbed her hand. “Come on. We have an entire town to welcome.”
She giggled, the distinctive sound now part of my life’s soundtrack. Her shirt was coming out of her skirt and I pointed it out before we hit the front door of the house we’d built together. She let go of my hand to tuck it back in, her cheeks turning pink. She wasn’t embarrassed to suck me off in the pantry right before our ribbon cutting ceremony, but she’d blush because her shirt was slightly untucked. The woman would forever remain a bit of a mystery.
She pulled herself up tall. “Ready to show off this gorgeous bed-and-breakfast you built with your own two hands?”
I ran my thumb along her jawline before tossing a lock of her hair behind her shoulder. “Ready to open your own business and be the badass boss bitch you were born to be?”
She grinned and laced her fingers with mine. “Only if you’re by my side.”
“Always,” I replied, opening the door to our new life.
* * *
Amelia
“And without further ado, I give every citizen of Auburn Hill, Peacock B & B.”
We’d spent almost the entirety of the last six month arguing over the name of our business. The rebel in me felt it only right that “cock” be part of the name of our B&B. Titus had objected to that, but then relented when I explained that it was the peacock fight that had brought us together and, really, didn’t we owe that crazy bird some credit for his matchmaking?
As we rehearsed, Titus yanked on the ropes at that exact moment, the tarp falling from the sign next to our new bed-and-breakfast. The logo was a colorful span of peacock feathers with a caricature of our house in the middle.
Titus and I moved to grab the huge ceremonial scissors borrowed from the city and cut the red ribbon strung between the pillars on the wraparound front porch. Family snapped pictures and even someone from the newspaper was there to run a story on our new business. Titus put the scissors down and immediately tipped me into a movie-star kiss.
The town all clapped and whistled their approval. All save for Wayne, my old boss, who remained slightly miffed I’d opened up my own place. Word on the street was his hotel had gone into disarray without me there, a rumor that made me feel smug and maybe a little guilty. But mostly smug. Even Big Foot had jumped ship and lived with us now at the Peacock.
Titus brought me back upright, the movement and the rush of realizing my dream making my head feel like it would fly off into the wispy clouds in the blue sky above. Today, anything felt possible, even pie-in-the-sky grand dreams.
“We’ve laid out some food for you, all of which you can order while staying at our fine establishment. Come on in and check us out.” I waved people in the front door and they streamed in, eager to see what we’d brought to Auburn Hill.
“Will there be any peacocks for us to see?” Poppy asked eagerly as she waited in line to get inside.
I smiled. I knew someone would ask sooner or later. “Oh no. Those things are foul.”
Poppy froze, then let out a yelp a hyena would be proud of. “Oh, you jokester.”
Little did she know, I wasn’t kidding. Charlie and Finnie had tried to get us to re-home their wild peacock as our B&B mascot, but seeing the destruction on the backside of their property, I had no interest. I’d keep the peacock on Titus’s ass and call it good.
People hugged me, high-fived Titus, and shared their well-wishes regarding our new business. Citizens, old and new, young and old, came through with smiling faces. Even my third-grade teacher was there, patting my cheek and telling me she’d known all along I’d straighten out one day. Backhanded compliment aside, I was happy to see the turnout of almost everyone in town.
Suspiciously missing was Titus’s brother, Dom. The two brothers had had a falling-out a few months back. I hated how much Dom’s behavior weighed on Titus’s mind, but there’d been a noticeable peace about Titus now that he and Dom had parted ways. Like not cleaning up after Dom any longer had freed him somehow. I wasn’t one to cheer for families splitting apart, but sometimes distance was what was needed to be healthy.
