She disappeared as silently as she'd appeared.
Cadence looked at me, eyebrows raised. "Chapter seven?"
I took a sip of my fake champagne. It was surprisingly good—crisp and bubbly and tasted enough like the real thing that I could pretend. "You don’t remember, Cadence. The pool scene. With the floaty."
"Oh my God." Ro clutched her glass. "The floaty scene! Girl, I had to put the book down and take a lap around my condo after that. Diego really said, 'let me show you what this tongue can do' and proceeded to demonstrate on every surface available."
Even thinking about it made my skin warm.
The glint of sun off the water, the slick slide of skin against vinyl, the way Diego pounded his 15-inch cock into Simone.
And the wildest part?
It had been her kids’ pool party.
She’d been out there cleaning up melted popsicles and spilled sunscreen-slick chaos with the faint sound of a Disney movie playing inside where all the kids were finally corralled, safe and occupied.
Diego showed up, and she decided to do the right thing and to tell Diego they couldn’t keep seeing each other, that it was wrong, reckless, and already halfway to disaster. But there he was, shirtless, sunlight turning his skin to gold, a half-smirk daring her to finish the sentence.
That ridiculous white swan floaty was supposed to be for the kids, bobbing on the surface.
Somehow, she ended up on it, trying to keep her balance while he held her. The teasing turned into touch, the water slicking everything, sound and reason melting away. Every small movement rocked the floaty.
By the time she stopped fighting it, the swan rocked.
Inside, the movie kept playing to blare out her cries of pleasure.
Ro chuckled. “Diego and Simone was nasty for doing that to the floaty. Damn thing deflated before they could fully finish.”
Cadence frowned. “I just don’t know why the author would make his penis 15 inches. That’s ridiculous.”
“What? You want the dick to be four inches? Hell no.” Ro waved her away. “Make my book boyfriend’s dick as big as possible. And make it vibrate too. Shit. Diego could have had two dicks, and I wouldn’t have even been mad.”
Ro and I exchanged glances and devilishly laughed.
Cadence shook her head. “You two are nasty.”
We settled into our chairs, the same way we'd done at each other's houses for years, except this time the chairs were velvet and the table could seat twelve.
"I'm so glad we finally get to do this book," Cadence pulled out her worn copy of Pool Boy with sticky tabs marking at least thirty pages. "Missing last month's meeting felt wrong."
"Our girl was a little busy," Ro pointed out. "Between Scott getting arrested, the divorce speedrun, and a whole-ass wedding, I think we can forgive each other for missing a book club meeting."
I laughed, but my chest tightened. "I still can't believe it all happened so fast. Like. . .is this real? Am I really sitting here married to Dominic with Scott in prison?"
"It’s real.” Cadence nodded. "And finally you got the justice you deserved."
"Fuck Scott," Ro raised her glass. "That man is exactly where he deserves to be. I hope his ass hurts from him constantly dropping the soap—”
“Ro!” Cadence blinked.
“I’ll never forgive that man for bringing cocaine into the house. Disgusting.” Ro took a sip of her dirty martini. “Anyway, Tey, you are exactly where you deserve to be. In a mansion. With a hot, young husband who worships you. Living your best life."
"Speaking of your husband," Cadence smiled. "Where is Dominic tonight?"
"Second floor. Theater room with J and Oliver. Some superhero movie marathon. I could hear the explosions from here earlier."
Ro grinned. "That man really said, 'I'm going to dick you down, marry you, adopt your kids, put you in luxury, and even watch Marvel movies until they love me. King behavior."