Page 66 of Desert Heat

I laughed, taking another sip of my beer. This felt good. Normal. Like old timex excepttheyweren’t here.

“Move in with me.”

Dean’s mouth fell open. “Her not, you?geesh!”

“Really?” Brandi’s eyes were wide and excited.

“Why not? There’s plenty of room and it’s a bit lonely out here. Besides, dorm life sucks. I wouldn’t charge you rent either. You can save room and board and bank that shit. There’s no way I’m letting you go back. Ever.” I promised.

“Okay! Dean can your guys move me in tomorrow?”

“Yup. It’ll be easier on us too. I’ll even give you one of our trucks to drive to campus.”

“This is like family. My family was never like this…”

“Welcome to the good part of Club life. The part where we treat our people like gold.”

“Just to be clear I’m not shooting anybody…. Or doing any weird initiation shit.”

“So the naked hot tub party is out?”

“No. I’m down for that.”

“Get the fuck out he laughed.” But Brandi got up and started stripping as she walked over to the brand new hot tub Dean and his guys installed off the back deck. I won’t lie there was something cathartic about sitting in the hot water while snowflakes fell on your wet skin. She left her bra and panties

Maybe it was the duality if the ice and the hot; the physical mirroring the emotional. The high of love with the devastation of heartbreak.

I put my beer down, peeled off my leggings, feeling Dean’s appreciate eyes on my ass as I continued undressing.

“This feels fucking good,” I hissed as the almost urning water shocked my skin inch by inch until I was lying back into the jets. “Want another beer?” Dean asked as he began taking off his hoodie.

“Yes, and some party favors too.”

“Oh, she’s a bad girl…,”

“I always was,” I winked. He disappeared off the deck into the black night probably getting what I wanted from his truck.

“You party like that?””

“I used to in Mexico at the Clubhouse, never anything hard. Sometimes I needed something take the edge off. I started after my brother was killed. It just hurt so much.”

“Damn, I act like I’m a party girl but I’m not. I saw too much shit in North Carolina. How drugs destroys your mind from the inside out.” She reached back and unclasped her bra as she finished talking, letting her boobs bob just below the surface of the frothy water.

“You’ve got great tits.”

“Thanks,” she winked.

Dean found us both topless and giggling when he returned five minutes later.

“Here,” he handed me a joint.

“This is street legal shit. I want the good stuff.”

“No.”

“What?” My neck snapped as I shot him daggers. “You aren’t my daddy or my boyfriend and I’m sick of men telling me what to do and trying ti run my life. Now, give me the good shit.” My wet index finger poked his hard pecs. His eyes locked with mine before they lowered to my wet tits. He groaned in agony, his fists clenched as he shut his eyes.

“You are fucking killing me.”

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