Page 26 of Sofa King Cute

“Oh shit.” All the blood drains from Troy’s face.

“You motherfucker.” Julius's voice booms so loudly a flock of birds takes off from the nearby trees.

Troy goes to run, but I stick my foot out, tripping him. He doesn’t get a chance to try and get up before Julius plucks him from the ground and cold-cocks him right back down. Troy drops his phone in the process, and I grab it.

"How did you know I was here? Is he trying to blackmail you too?" I ask as Julius once again picks Troy off the ground. Before he hits him again, he stops to answer my question.

"I tracked you, and I know this is Troy's hangout spot." He shakes Troy like he’s nothing more than a ragdoll. See, my Julius is nice and sweet until he’s not.

"Told you," Troy mutters. "Stalker."

"You stalked me?" I ask Julius, and he nods. "That's so sweet." I could melt right on the spot.

"He’s trying to blackmail you?" Julius looks at the phone in my hand.

"He took pictures of us together."

I turn the screen around to show him, and rage takes over. He slams his fist into Troy's face and then leaves him in a heap on the ground. Julius is about to go for him again, but I lay my hand on his shoulder.

"He's not worth it, and we can't cuddle if you're in the slammer."

"I can make him disappear. No one will know."

"I'm sorry," Troy chokes out, but I don’t think he’s sorry at all.

"Hush," I hiss down at him. "He's stupid, and hopefully this will teach him a lesson." I tug on Julius's shirt so he comes closer to me and I've got all his attention. "You're supposed to kiss me when we first see each other. That’s a rule."

"I was kind of busy." He gives me a lopsided smile, which I lean up to kiss.

"Troy." I sigh when I see he’s still lying on the ground. "This is your chance to run, dummy."

"Shit." He scurries to his feet before taking off toward the tree line.

"He tried to blackmail you with those?" Julius nods toward the phone I'm still holding. I know he wants to chase Troy, but I’m holding on to him as tightly as I can.

"Yeah, he said he was going to post them online and call me a whore if I didn't break up with you." I laugh, but Julius doesn't join me.

"I'll kill him."

"Forget him." I climb up Julius' body, and his hands go to my ass to keep me in place. "He's a dumbass because I'd post these myself. I don’t mind letting the whole town know you're mine. It would be better if he posted it. Then I can pretend to be all shy and embarrassed when really I'm eating it up. It would be very demure and very mindful of me."

Julius throws back his head and laughs. The sound is sexy as hell. "I love you so damn much, Liv." All the anger leaves his face, a warm smile appearing.

"I love you too, my giant stalker."

"Only for you."

As it should be.

Epilogue

JULIUS

Nine months later…

* * *

“Look what a good job you did.” I press my chest against her back and whisper in her ear, “Look how pretty you made that.”

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