Page 75 of His Temptation
“Who’s that?” Ryan asked, nodding to my phone.
“Faith. She said she just got here.”
“You sure you aren’t banging her?” Ryan took another drink, his eyes already a little glassy. “Y’all got a little close when we were playing pool that one time.”
“How would you know?” I responded with a scoff. “You were dry humping Lexi the whole night.”
“Ssh.” Ryan touched my lips. “Don’t speak the evil’s name or it will appear.”
“She’s anitnow?” I asked against his fingers. Dude needed to move them before I bit them.
“She’s a demon, so yes.” He dropped his hand from my mouth and turned his cup upside down. “Damn, I need another drink. Be back in a few.”
Now alone, I glanced back at my phone and clicked on Emery’s and my chat box.
Me:Wish you were here. It’d be cool to watch the fireworks together.
Liam:You’ll see me tomorrow.
Before I could type back a response, he sent another text.
Liam:I wish I was with you too btw. Enjoy the night with your friends.
One week had passed since Emery and I had agreed we both wanted more. There’d been a lot of sex over the past seven days, sure, but there’d also been nights where we’d snuggled together on his couch with a large bowl of popcorn and watched a movie. Mornings where we’d gotten each other off and then showered together before having breakfast and making plans to see each other later in the day.
I didn’t know the name for what we were, but whatever it was, it felt incredible.
“Hey, stalker,” Faith said, giving me a one-armed hug.
“Glad you could make it.” I returned her hug. She smelled like cherry blossoms, probably her shampoo. “You DD tonight?”
“As always,” she answered. “I don’t mind, though. Not much of a drinker, so I don’t think I’m missing out.”
“Yeah, I don’t need to drink to have fun.”
“Ah, you got stuck as DD too again, I see.”
I grinned. “Caught me.”
“Faith!” A girl with long red hair ran up to us. “Here are my keys. Thank you again for driving.”
“You’re welcome.” Faith took the keys and put them in the small purse strapped across her torso. When the girl saw another group of people and ran toward them, Faith glanced back at me. “That was Lauren. She’s my cousin. I mentioned her, right?”
“I think so,” I responded, remembering a few of our chats. “She’s the beauty pageant queen?”
“Runner-up,” Faith corrected with an evil little smirk. “She acts like a damn princess, though, and treats me like her serving girl. She’s staying with us this summer because her parents are going through a messy divorce, and my mom wanted her away from all that. So yay for me.”
“That’s nice of your mom.”
Ryan walked up, handing me a can of Dr. Pepper. “Hey, Faith.”
“Hi.” She waved and took an awkward stance. “Where’s Lexi?”
Ryan snapped his head to the left, then looked to the right. “Oh. Fuck me. I thought you saidthere’sLexi. I was about to run for it.”
Faith scrunched up her face. “Ah, I see. Bad breakup?”
As they talked, I popped open the can and took a drink. Ken and his boyfriend shot off more bottle rockets before sharing a small kiss. I’d had no idea. Seeing them be so open about it, despite the nasty looks thrown their way, well, it gave me hope. It made me excited about one day being so open about my relationship too.
