Page 93 of Under One Roof

I defer to the twins. Gracie hops on her toes. “Yes!”

Logan shrugs, all cool. “Yeah, okay.”

So, I wave my hand out in front of me for them to lead the way, when a thought occurs to me. One I didn’t even think to ask. I grab Andi’s arm. “Wait a sec. How did you get here?”

“Flew into Philly,” she says as Dahlia rolls up her homemade poster.

“I rented a car. Hope it’s okay, but Andi said I could stay in your house.”

I toss a questioning glance to her, and she hits me with fluttering eyelashes and a big whopper of a smile, silently pleading. As if I’d say no.

“Dahlia’s like a sister to me, and I want her to get to know my family.”

I nod at Dahlia. “Of course. You can stay in Andi’s old bedroom.”

Andi bites into her bottom lip, always fighting the losing battle against her growing smile. I kiss her temple. “You ride with Dahlia. We’ll meet you there.”

“Actually…” Grace lifts her hand as if she’s in a classroom. “Can I ride with you too?”

Dahlia throws her arm around Grace’s shoulders. “Definitely.”

Logan cuts his gaze to me, a silent question that I answer with a playful roll of my eyes. “Yeah, you too.”

Logan lets himself be pulled into Andi’s side, and I follow the foursome out of the school, taking Gracie’s guitar in the truck with me. The ride to the ice cream shop isn’t long, and I park next to Dahlia’s rented Toyota, watching as Andi and Dahlia walk with linked arms as Logan talks with his hands, appearing as if to explain something about the dance that group of girls did, and it gets a round of snickers from everyone.

Inside, I pay for the ice cream even as Andi tries to fight me about it. But she goes real quiet when I slip my hand into the pocket of her jeans and squeeze her ass hard. Logan and Grace claim a big booth, and I slide in next to Andi, who’s beside Grace and opposite Dahlia and Logan.

They all talk, zigzagging from Andi having trouble writing songs in LA to the basketball camp I signed Logan up for to the next song Grace wants to learn to play to how long it takes Dahlia to dry her waist-length hair.

I sit back, taking it all in with peace and gratitude. Well, not quite peace. Not when the twins eventually start fighting because Logan told Grace she could’ve sounded better and Grace told Logan Valentina kissed Jackson Cruz, and she overheard her telling her friends she loves him.

Andi holds her hands up between them, trying and failing to get them to apologize to each other, eventually settling for them agreeing to stop kicking each other under the table.

Dahlia gestures to all of us at the table, an amused smile on her face when she asks Andi, “This is what you missed?”

She eyes each of us, Logan, Grace, then me, and turns back to her best friend. “Absolutely.”

Chapter32

Andi

Griffin clamps his hand over my mouth, his lips against my ear when he tells me, “Everyone’s awake. You need to be quiet.”

Then he nips my earlobe at the same time he tweaks my nipple. Unfair.

My moan is muffled, and he catches me around the waist as I bend over, needing to hold on to something that isn’t his forearm.

It’s been a week and a half since I crashed Grace’s talent show and had a long talk with Griffin. I explained how I need to go back to Los Angeles while Dahlia records her album, but West Chester is my home. I don’t plan on ever leaving it or him and the kids for long periods of time without a plan. He didn’t say much other than to put me on my back and go down on me for a very long time until I promised him that I’d sell my car while I was out in California. Because “that piece of shit is getting replaced ASAP.”

He made a very convincing argument.

Though I didn’t need three orgasms, it did prove exactly how much he really wanted me to get rid of my Jeep.

I’ve spent every night in our bed and every day relaxing with Dahlia, walking around downtown, introducing her to my friends, and writing songs. We even had an impromptu concert when Griffin invited his family over for a cookout. While he grilled up hot dogs and hamburgers, Dahlia and I performed our favorites, then closed with Grace and the new song she’s been working on, “Hey Lover”—the first song I ever learned to play. The one Dahlia covers at the end of every show.

It’s been exactly what I needed.

“Yeah, I got you. I know what you need,” Griffin murmurs, setting me on all fours, pushing my knees apart with his own as he rolls on a condom. “Head down on the bed, baby. Stay quiet.”

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