Page 90 of For The Weekend
Text me later? I was thinking about trying to convince Sloane to take the kids out to eat for dinner. Maybe you and Mazie can come?
Yeah. We can do that.
Sunshine
By the time I slide my cell phone into my back pocket, my so-called family is all staring at me, a mix of curiosity and goofy grins across their faces.
Jaybird starts in on his bullshit. “Who was that?”
“Eloise, obviously,” Ian says, and he used to be my favorite brother, but Griffin is now.
“You two a thing?” Dante asks, head tipped to the side, and I shrug even though I basically just laid my claim on her during that text exchange.
Ian takes a seat on his rolling chair. “Never a question.”
“Like you have room to talk,” I say, and Ian bows his head, not bothering to argue or hide his growing smile. He’s the definition of pussy-whipped by the cute bookstore owner next door.
Not unlike how I’d follow the baker next door on my hands and fucking knees if she asked.
“Stepmommy’s got him by the balls,” Jay teases, and Jasper actually chimes in.
“Literally.”
That gets Ian’s attention, and he faces his eldest son. “What?”
“You scarred June for life. She found…something in the bathroom and came screaming to me about it last night.”
Ian freezes as Jay leans in. “What?”
Griffin and I trade glances. I fear whatever it is that’s about to come out might scar us all.
Jasper rubs at his forehead and blows out a pained breath. “She…” He meets his father’s gaze head on. “She found your cock ring.”
Jay slaps his hand to his chest as Dante splutters a laugh. Griffin coughs a few times while Cash turns away from us all, becoming very busy with his tattooing instruments. I drop my head, tunneling my fingers into my hair, not sure whether to laugh or cry or run for the hills.
Ian clears his throat and waits until the rest of us are all looking at him before he crosses his arms and gives us his best paternal eyebrow arch. “We’re gonna need to have a conversation?—”
“You gave us the sex talk in fourth grade,” Jay interrupts.
“And in sixth,” Cash says, presumably because he received every talk right along with Jay and Jasper.
“And you gave me a book on female pleasure in high school,” I add, which cracks his boys up.
Griffin mutters a “dear Jesus” as Dante props his hands on his hips, saying, “Man, I wish I grew up in this family.”
Ian ignores it all, focusing on Jasper, Jaybird, and Cash. “We’re gonna need to have a conversation about living arrangements soon.”
“Because with Junie still living in your apartment, you can’t fuck your girlfriend wherever you want?” Jay guesses, and Ian isn’t at all embarrassed.
“Yep.”
Jay smacks at his ear like he’s trying to rid that information from his head, while Cash appears deliberately uninterested, readying his tattoo gun for me while Jasper and Ian talk about where Juniper might move and when, though I really doubt it would ever really happen. They’re all so protective of her. Hell, so am I.
But being here, in this community, spending time with my family, is changing me. Making me care about inane things I never would have before. Like push-up contests, cock rings, and the living arrangements for my twenty-one-year-old niece.
“So,” Cash says, standing next to me with his rubber gloves on. “Where you want it?”
I check out what space is left on my arms, not really wanting to drop trou, even though I have more free skin on my legs. Instead, I hike up the sleeve of my T-shirt and point to the bit of open space on my triceps, next to my mom’s tattoo.
