Page 2 of Regrets

If fucking only it was one question. “Questions. You asked many questions, and I’m not here to talk. You want a boyfriend, run back to campus and find yourself a nice tech major.”

“You’re a dick.”

The girl stands up, slipping back into her dress and sandals, grabbing her purse before slamming the door behind her.

I’m sure an Uber will get her back to campus where she belongs.

I look at the wall my bed is pressed up against, listening to the constant thump, thump, thump, coming from the other side.

Fuck this. I pound a quick fist to the wall, annoyed and beyond pissed-off, before I pull on a pair of black sweats and walk out to the grand living room of the lake house and take a seat on the sofa.

Moments later, I see a shadowy figure slink out the front door and another I’m familiar with standing in front of me.

Penelope is wearing only a plain, black tee, thin from years of wear. And although it’s too large for her, when I lift my head, I see smooth, tanned thighs in front of me. I look up as she pulls her disheveled dark hair up into a ponytail.

“What the fuck’s your problem? You almost fucked up my orgasm with that loud banging on the wall. Scared the hell out of me.”

“Good.” I lock my cold eyes on her blue ones. “You fucked up my sure thing.”

“And how, exactly, did I do that?” She folds her arms across her chest, pulling the tee up slightly, revealing more of her shapely legs. “Sounds more like that had to do with your sparkling personality, Linc.”

I sit up, my hands gripping her ass as I pull her to me. “She asked too many fucking questions. And you and whoever-the-fuck were busy making the world’s cheesiest porno. It was a real boner killer, P.”

She doesn’t pull away from me, her hands resting on my bare shoulders. “Don’t get pissed at me because you had atalkerand I had adoer.”

I lean back against the back of the couch, taking her with me, her strong thighs straddling my lap, my hands holding onto her hips as my chin tips up to look at her. “The way I see it, you owe me an orgasm.”

Her hands move to my hair, sliding her fingers through the styled brown locks before they slide down the trimmed beard over my jaw. Her face dips down, her full, red lips hovering above my own, her blue eyes full of something sinister, something that’s been there for years, festering under the surface. “You’re right.”That’s odd. She never doesn’t fight back. Her voice is a soft whisper. “I’ll be right back.”

My hands slide under her shirt, my fingers burying into the flesh of her slender hips. “I think we have everything we need right here.”

She shakes her head, pushing my hands away as she climbs off me. “Not quite.”

She leaves the room, leaving my heart to thunder in my chest and my mind to race.What the hell could she be getting? Sexy lingerie? Toys? Lube?

She walks back into the room, having my curiosity ramped up until she tosses me a bottle of lotion and a box of tissues.What the fuck?“That should do it.” She blows me a kiss and leaves.

Bitch.

I growl, throwing the lotion and tissues away from me.

Penelope fucking Jones. It’s my fault she’s here to torture me.

Why the hell did I decide to slum it on the wrong side of the tracks all those years ago?

2

LINC

TEN YEARS AGO

“Come on, Linc. Mom’s going to be so mad at us.”

I roll my eyes at my younger brother.Why does he have to be so good all the time?It’s nauseating. “Mom will be fine.”

I climb out of the back of the car, telling our driver we’ll be right back.

The guy looks slightly nervous, knowing my parents will be furious if they find out he took us across the tracks to the far less groomed part of Kansas City. Okay, so they would be horrified.

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