Page 126 of Lunar Desires
“No more apologies.” I gave him another peck on the mouth, slamming the door in the face of my own feelings for now. “We’re in all of this together. The dream team. Because you’re fresh out of a dream, Drake Parish. I know I sound cheesy, but you’re what I’ve been looking for. And now I have you, through the good and the bad. I’m all in for as long as you want me.”
His smile weakened my knees as it always did. “How does forever sound?”
I threw my arms around his neck. “Perfect.”
“I like perfect.”
“Me too, Mr. Parish. Me too.”
Chapter 39
RILEY
My stepdad opened the door, the rich smell of food and the warmth of the house wafting into my face.
“Hello, you!” he bellowed, pulling me into a hug.
Peter Hall was a big man with a bush of gray hair and a bushier beard growing out of his light brown face. A jolly guy, always laughing and cracking jokes. The complete opposite of Mum, he always took my side whenever she lost her temper.
I don’t think he owned any clothes other than stripy shirts and blue jeans. Tonight, he looked like toothpaste, the stripes red, white, and blue.
He slapped me on the back, noticing the two men with me. “Who are these fine gentleman? You haven’t got two boyfriends, have you?”
Isaac snorted, handing him a bottle of red wine he’d insisted on bringing. “Hard pass for me.”
Peter’s forehead creased with confusion. “Then you’re the boyfriend?” He directed that at Drake, taking the proffered wine.
Okay, my always frayed nerves were falling to pieces. “This is Drake Parish,” I introduced him. “My boyfriend.”
“You’re letting the heat out!” Mum complained from inside the house.
My breath hitched at the sound of her voice.
Oh, God. We were really doing this.
Peter shook Drake’s hand and ushered us inside my childhood home.
“I’ll be there in a minute!” my mum called again.
The peach walls of the hallway remained unchanged from the last time they’d decorated, along with the brown carpet and pine furniture. Once a comforting place to be, now making sweat pool at the base of my spine.
I glanced at the photo frames hanging on the wall, a younger me within the white frames, along with Mum and Peter, smiling at the beach or whatever.
And where was Dad? What did you do to him?
Mum appeared, her dyed brown hair tied into a bun. She wore a glittery purple blouse, black trousers, and too much rouge on her already light pink skin. Her golden bracelets clinked against her witch bangle as she hurried toward me, pulling me down into a hug.
“It’s so lovely to see you,” she proclaimed, kissing both my cheeks.
“Hi, Mum.” I hugged her back.
“Why are you shaking?” she asked, ending our embrace.
It was then she noticed the two men behind me.
She frowned, her brown eyes darting between my brother and my boyfriend. “Why are there two?”
Okay. Here goes…
