Page 30 of Secrets That Bind Us
The next few hours of my day are tedious, boring, and loud. I’m extremely overstimulated. Eli checked out the bookshop while I told him about this new idea for a book that’s out of my realm. He and I go over the blueprint plans Will and I went over and happily agreed to help me host book signings and readings for local indie authors, agreeing that being in a section outside of DFW might just generate more sales.
“I want in.”
I arched a brow at him, Eli, who looked entirely out of place in his expensive, unwrinkled tailored-to-him suit, in my small town, in my medium-sized bookshop. His phone rings and he smiles down at it. it’s all that lets me know his husband is calling. “Hello my love.”
He pops out of the shop for a few minutes and then back in, this time on FaceTime.
“What’s this about a small-town romance I’m hearing about?”
I blush. “Hey Jake.”
His smile is wide and as gorgeous as ever.
“How’s Cali? Comic-Con going okay?”
“It’s Cali. Comic-Con is huge and overstimulating and I fuckingloveit.” He laughs. He’s always loved those things. He and Zoey went to my first huge signing event as my assistants and they both thrived, buzzing around me like bees. “Just two more days and then I’ll be there with y’all before we visit my parents.”
Eli groans and whispers, “It’s so cute when he says ‘y’all.’ My little country bumpkin.”
“I heard that.” Jake sings.
“I meant you to, husband.” Eli sings back.
After Jacob moved back to New York from Japan, I had to get them to meet. Eli may be a little older, wiser and more serious than us, but Jacob makes him get out of his comfort zone. Kinda like Zoey and he do with me. I love them together so much.
“So, tell me all about this small-town romance of yours. Don’t leave anything out!”
I groan, scratch my head and shove my glasses up my nose by the corner of the frame. “It’s just an idea.”
“But you could reach more readers, a different genre for those that aren’t really into dark romance or romantasy.” Eli comments.
“So I take it you’re still too wuss-puss to talk to Dean?”
“Jake!” I deadpan, mouth open. And then I groan out a defeated, “yeahhh.”
And right when all the hammering stops, Will, and his entire crew get to hear Jake say, “I need to get home. Otherwise you’ll never get your pussy licked at this rate.”
And Idie.
Chapter Fifteen
Dean
Age Seventeen
I hate that fucker,Josh– or whatever his name is.
Especially right fucking now, that we’re in Zoey’s backyard, bonfire going. There’s music thumping in the barn. It smells like weed, a bit of puke, and trash can punch. I only came to this party because I knew Verity would be here. Zoey’s parties are the only ones she comes to because she doesn’t have any other friends.
Maybe it was my fault.
After we broke up, the bullying got worse for her, and even though I tried to stop it – the bitches were getting meaner. I stared with wide eyes the day tampons soaked full of ketchup (I hope it was ketchup) spilled out as soon as she opened her locker. I have no idea what I ever saw in Tiffany. That’s a lie – the summer before freshman year, she put her mouth on my dick and that made her tolerable.
Did I fuck Tiffany over the summer? No. I fucked her mom, and half the girls at this stupid party, since Verity broke up with me. I could say it was so I could get over Verity, but honestly? It was so I could know what I was doing. I thought an older woman could teach me new tricks, and who better than the mother of sluts herself? I wanted to rock Verity’s fucking world when she was mine again. Because she’s going to be.
Is she right to call me an idiot? Absolutely. I obviously went about it all wrong, making sure Zoey could see who I was hooking up with. A part of me thought Verity would come and chew me out, showed me she still cared somehow.
Except now I’m here at the party, sitting across the flames, watching her wriggle in Jackson’s– or whatever the fuck his name is– lap. He has abeer bottle in his hand while she drinks water from a red Solo cup. How do I know it’s water and not alcohol? Because she’s been around a rough alcoholic all her life. She’s seen the ugliness addiction can cause, and she won’t ever be the reason for it. Which is why I’m also pretending the water in my cup is a vodka soda.
