Page 19 of Muffin Top
"Oh really?"
"Oh yes." His voice roughened. He made a sound, the phone moving. I waited, knowing our time was short.
"Sorry, babe. I gotta go. You good now?"
"Yeah," the words ‘I love you’ were on the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed them back down. "I'll see you tonight."
"Your place. I wanna fuck you under that creepy fucking witch in your living room." The witch was a new purchase and even I had to admit she was fucking creepy. Didn't mean I was going to get rid of her any time soon.
"Later, Honey."
"Bye," I hung up, findingmyselfin a better mood. All my life I'd been alone in dealing with the low expectations and subpar treatment I received from my parents. Now I had a champion on my side. It felt… nice. Warm. Fuzzy. Like someone actually gave a shit about me.
"Pies," I muttered, navigating to google recipes. "Cream pies."
Chapter Six
Tristan
My mom had driven down to spend Thanksgiving with Wolf. Our first Thanksgiving without Dad, she'd decided to spend it away from home. The memories were too fresh.
I'd offered to come, but she'd told me they'd be fine. They were going to dinner at some swanky restaurant then out to catch a movie. My brother had assured me that he'd make sure she had a good time.
I glanced for the fifteenth time in a minute at my phone, checking for SOS messages.
"Hey, eyes on the road, pal." Honey told me, her hand reaching out to squeeze my thigh. "Don't worry so much. They're both grown adults. If they need you, they'll call."
I blew out a breath. "You're right. It's just fucking hard to remember that when you're used to being the one they rely on."
She made a sympathetic sound, reading me clearly. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I mean, you're never gonna be completely fine after you lose a parent. There's this aching hole inside me which will always miss my dad." I tapped my chest. "But I gotta move on. Can't be stuck in this loop of grief forever. He wouldn’t want that for me. For us."
"I get that. But it's okay to have bad days. I'm here if you need me."
I reached over, finding her hand and lacing our fingers together. "He'd have loved you."
"Your dad?"
"Mm," I withdrew my hand, using it to hit the turn signal and cruise into her parent's street. "He liked you back in high school. Always said that you were gonna change the world."
"I… I never knew that."
I chuckled, pulling into her parent's drive. I parked, then turned to look at her in the dim light. Her face was done up, make up smoky, so she said. It made her eyes look wider, her lips cherry red and infinitely kissable.
"That slight crush? I may have talked about you ad nauseum at home." I gave her a crooked grin. "I had no chill as a teenager."
"One could say you have no chill now," she teased, shuffling over in her seat. "But I like it."
"Good," I leaned in, pressing a kiss to her mouth. "Cause you're gonna be stuck with it for a long time."
We separated and she reached up, rubbing her thumb over my lips to remove her lipstick. When satisfied, we exited the car, walking down the long drive.
I'd never be able to afford a property on this side of town. Rich, decadent, and white. Those were the words that sprung to mind when you looked at the houses around here. I didn't know if it was a rich thing or a coastal thing or maybe a designer thing, but all the damn houses were white and ostentatious.
We reached the porch and Honey stopped, pressing the bell. That struck me as strange. I'd never knocked on my parent's door. You rapped a knuckle as you swung inside, welcomed by smells of food, hugs and laughter. But Honey had warned me they were formal people.
The door swung open and a man dressed in prim black and white stood in the doorway.
