Page 45 of Bad Seed
I can hear all of that in my head, her pretty face scrunching up with every sorry, her cheeks burning. I’d silently take her chin, tip her head back, then kiss her so hard she forgets her reasons for apologizing.
Fuck. I can’t do this. I can’t drag someone else into my mess.
No.
It’s best if I leave. Now. Rip that Band-Aid off and hit the road.
I start my truck up, but click on her picture and make it my wallpaper.
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CHAPTER FIFTEEN
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SADIE
I was left on read…for four days.
It’s fine. I’m fine.
I get it. He didn’t find the joke funny. Or… Oh shit, was he deeply offended? That’s it. He thought I was making fun of his beloved banana sauce, or his spaghetti, or anything that doesn’t mean he just used, then threw me into the trash.
But I don’t even care.
It was over a week ago. Ancient history, like the pyramids. My only monument to the one night fling is a gap in my underwear drawer and the finally clearing hives. Once those are gone…
So maybe last night, lying in bed watching the clock tick over to two AM, I may have, um… Pressed on my hives while my red rose sucked on my clit. It was only supposed to be a quick way to get to sleep. But the second I’d glanced over my chest, a twinge of pain become a rush of panting memories. The one orgasm turned into a dozen until I was shaking, sweaty, and too wound up to pass out.
I had slunk off to the bathroom to try a cold shower.
And I brought the toy along.
“Sadie?”
Exhausted and heartbroken…
No, no, no. Not heartbroken. This isn’t love. Pussy broken. That’s it.
In the kind of near catatonic state that somehow makes a work day both fly by and last for a century, I focus and think about nothing. Jars pass from the box, to my hand, to a shelf. I can feel them, but I only see his chest slick with the steam of a shower. His tattoo damn near glowing against his reddening skin in the heat. Leaves drape over his shoulder and across his chest while the stems travel the bumpy path of his lats before the roots unfurl over his hips. I never had the nerve to ask what it was. I got it was a plant, but what kind? And why get a tattoo of it?
“Sadie!”
And those eyes. Deep set and mysterious, always watching with a curiosity. But when he found what he wanted… I know, it can’t be real. I swear though, they turned purple.
“Miss Nair!”
“Huh?” I wrench myself out of my half dream, half memory of Aubry spooning eggs onto a plate in nothing but a pair of tight shorts.
One of the managers stands above me, arms crossed. “What are you doing?”
“I’m…” I look at the jar in my hand. It’s one of the barbecue sauces. “Stocking?”
“Stocking what?”
I lift the jar to make my point, but before a smart ass remark can escape I glance to the shelf. A mess of boxed sunglasses sit on the half when I shoved them to the side to fit the barbecue jars. “Ha ha, oops.” At top speed, I load all the jars back into the box then reach over to adjust the sunglasses.
“Oops indeed. Are you feeling well?”
