Page 36 of Games We Play
“That’s how I like it.” Sloan pushed her down and wasted no time getting on top of her. Leah acquiesced so easily that Sloan almost worried that nothing about this night was real. “How’s three rounds in one night sound?”
Leah grinned and raised her head for a kiss.
Fuck you, Aaron.Thinking about that bastard made Sloan kiss her lover harder.Why do you have to be that way? Why can’t you leave me alone? Why can’t I be rid of you?
Sloan had a million reasons for wanting to stay away from a serious relationship. Sex made her feel good. Sex gave her a reason to get through her shit-fuck week and look forward to something that gave her the best endorphins of her life. It had always been that way. Sex was both a curse and a blessing.Makes my life. Ruins my life.
She didn’t regret a single partner she ever had. Not even the men of her youth.
Yet there were secrets she didn’t want Leah knowing. Ever. Secrets from Sloan’s past that had the power to ruin everything she ever worked for.
I’ve only loved one person my whole life. I’m not about to fall into that trap again.She promised herself that as she buried her face in her lover’s breasts.
Chapter 12
“When did you get these?” Karlie tapped the end of her pen against Leah’s brand-new earrings. Red clef notes, to be precise. Big enough to stick through her curly hair when she sat a certain way at the Starbucks table. Her pencil wrote the tiniest love letter to Sloan that she could muster. A love letter that would right now go unsent, because Sloan had made it clear that she was not interested inromance.
Leah touched the earrings. They jiggled against her jaw, making Karlie giggle. “Birthday present from a friend. Didn’t have a chance to wear them until I put on this outfit today.”
“I bet. Can’t wear those to the bakery, huh?” Karlie looked back at her laptop screen. A personal essay, meant to help her get into the colleges of her choice, stared back at her. “They’re cute. Which friend gave them to you? Melissa? Or was it the one from the bakery?”
“Gina.” Leah left it at that. Karlie could infer whatever she wanted. “Don’t you have an essay to finish?”
Karlie shrugged. Her hair, so like Leah’s in that it curled without effort, bounced with her movements. “I need a break. Could you get us something to snack on?”
“Like what?”
“They got that popcorn here.”
Leah fished into her purse and pulled out her gold Starbucks card. “I’ve only got like five bucks on there, so don’t go crazy.”
“Cool. Thanks.” Karlie slid out of her seat and bounded toward the register. That left Leah enough time to sigh and place her head on top of her letter.
Sloan bought me these earrings on Sunday.She had to leave early Sunday evening so she would be refreshed for a meeting on Monday morning, but Sloan had taken her lover shopping in downtown Portland before leaving.She owed me an outfit I could wear home, anyway.Sloan had kept the dirty lingerie. Knowing that made Leah snort on her frappe.
The earrings were only the tip of their shopping iceberg. Sloan had multiple credit cards, each one black or platinum. She decided which one to use based on the rewards a store offered.I never thought I would own something Kate Spade.Leah almost didn’t know what to do with her typewriter bag. No, not a bag that could hold a typewriter… but a colorful bag shaped like a typewriter, with little buttons she could push! It was so adorable that she was almost afraid to take it outside. Except she had today, because she had an impromptu day off from work and felt like dressing up in her cutest outfit.
She hadn’t only bought things for herself, however. Karlie wore her new charm bracelet, which jingled as she pushed her hair back from her face and ordered something at the register.
That’s how Leah was. She couldn’t betotallyselfish when getting spoiled. If someone offered to buy her presents, one of those gifts was bound for Karlie’s hands. It had been that way since she was a toddler.Most of my allowance during my teens went to her… toys, clothes, whatever I thought she needed.
Karlie returned with a small drink and a bag of popcorn. She popped open the bag and poured salty popcorn onto a napkin. “Help yourself! You paid for it.”
Leah rolled her eyes. “Thanks, I gu…”
“Ma’am,” an elderly woman interrupted them on her way by. “I want to say that you and your daughter are absolutely gorgeous. You two look so much like my Italian friend Francesca.”
Leah paled in horror. Karlie, meanwhile, laughed with popcorn spilling from the corners of her mouth.
“That’s my sister!” she proclaimed. “Oh my God, Leah, someone did it again! Do you really look that old?”
“My apologies.” Embarrassed, the woman shuffled away. Leah remained frozen in her seat. That wasn’t the first time someone had mistaken her for Karlie’s mother. Even when Janet was around, people often looked at the similarities between Leah and Karlie and took it for genetic truth. Only a daughter could look that much like her mother. Not even sisters were that similar.
“Can you believe that?” Karlie wiped off her fingers and went back to typing on her laptop. “People are so blind. We look nothing alike.”
“We have the same hair.” It had skipped a generation with their mother. Grandma Lola had the curliest hair in Portland. She said it came from Honduras, where she was from. “And the same nose.” They got the nose from their dad.
“Whatever. Hey, when I’m done with this essay, could you look at it?”
