Page 40 of Crazy Thing

I reach into the storage under my bed and slip a perfectly egg-shaped rose quartz crystal from my small collection of self-pleasure tools. The crystal egg slides inside easily.

My breath catches in my throat and my muscles clamp down around the egg as I delicately rub circles around my pulsating clit.

That’s when my imagination really runs wild. I see Darius hovering above me. Right here on my narrow mattress. Chest bare. Deltoids flexing. Golden hair flopping over his stern forehead.

I hear his deep, sensual voice again.

“…You’re beautiful, Ziggy…”

“…You are one of a kind…”

“…You just take my breath away every single time I see you…”

Moaning out loud, I rub myself faster and my legs begin to shake. I clench down on the egg buried inside my channel and my spine arches off of the bed.

“Darius-s-s-s-s…” I hear myself shout as my chest cracks open and euphoria spills over my entire body.

My release comes in a violent, body-long wave of pleasure. I clench my core around the crystal, making the beautiful sensation last as long as possible.

When the orgasm subsides, I reach between my still-shaking thighs. With a gentle tug on the thin string, the rose quartz egg slips free, hot and slick from my release.

I collapse into my mattress and let my head fall to the side, allowing my heavy-lidded gaze to drift back to the window. Guilt falls over me. Even the stars seem to be glaring at me now.

What on earth is wrong with me these days?

I’ve managed to avoid Darius and his fake friendship for almost sixteen years. Now look at me. Not only do I have to talk to that man every single day, not only have I kissed him again. Now, I’m pleasuring myself to the thought of him?!

I’m all about exploring my body and treating my self-pleasure like a sacred art. But not while fantasizing about Darius Brighton!

This goes against everything I believe in.

“Okay, Ziggy. Stop being so hard on yourself. This was a mistake. Just a mistake. Obviously.”

A mistake I won’t make again. I will not allow myself to get hung up on Darius and that kiss.

Because kisses mean nothing if they’re given for the wrong reasons. And I definitely willneverhave sex with that man.That’s not going to happen. Never, never, never.

My va-jay-jay is a sealed chamber. And I will not be giving Darius Brighton the access code.

18

ZIGGY

“Zig—I had ‘the dream’ again.” Daphne sets a slice of birthday cake on the table and lowers into the pool chair next to me.

“The bathrobe dream?” I cringe, pulling off my sunglasses and sliding them into my cloth satchel laying at my bare feet.

Emma looks over from the folding chair nearby where she’s cleaning cake frosting out of Sparkle’s pigtails with a damp towel. “Well, that sounds juicy.”

“What’s the bathrobe dream?” Layla asks, throwing a watchful glance to the inflatable ball pit where her son, Skylar, is bouncing around with Nolan’s daughter, Stella, and a few other children.

It’s Ronan and Nolan’s birthday and Starlight Falls has been having unseasonably warm weather to mark the beginning of Libra season. So we’re all gathered around Ronan’s swimming pool for a blowout celebration. The sun is bright. The music is loud. The backyard is packed.

The Brighton siblings with their significant others, the entire Westbrook family, players from the Sin Valley Saintshockey team, employees from The North Node Tavern and pretty much all the rest of Starlight Falls.

Everybody is here. Well, except for one person.

Whenever I hear an approaching engine, my eyes dart over to the driveway. Every time my peripheral vision picks up on someone stepping into the backyard, my heart starts thudding erratically.

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