Page 25 of A Lesson in Deceit
“We both know after Riley, I’m Beau’s favorite,” River called from the kitchen.
Beau sighed heavily as if anyone but me being his favorite was some kind of sick joke.
“Hey, Mrs. Monroe.” Both boys said in unison and my mom moved the phone so that she could look at me again.
“Hey, boys. Fun night in?”
Grayson jumped over the couch, plopping down next to me and grabbed my phone. “Well, your daughter has decided that out of the three movie options we gave her, she wanted to watch none of them and is making us watch a holiday movie in the middle of August.”
“I’m notmakingyou do anything.”
River brought the popcorn and drinks over, placing them on the coffee table. “You would just sigh in agitation the whole night if we went against your wishes, so we are doing everyone a favor.”
“Sounds like my daughter,” my mom agreed.
“I’m hanging up now. I’ll call you soon. Love you, always and always.” I laughed, pressing the end call button and throwing my phone on the table.
River found the remote and started to get the TV set up. Grayson leaned back, throwing his arms over the back of the couch. One of his fingers ghosted over the side of my neck and I couldn’t help but shiver just a tiny bit. I shifted a little closer to him, but with enough room left so that I could breath.
“I finished that book you recommended,” he said, moving one of the pillows out of the way so that River could sit on the couch.
“And what did you think?”
He scratched his jaw. “I didn’t know how I would feel about an apocalyptic story where vampires use humans as a blood supply. In the end though, I loved it. I could get into vampire romances. The undead need love just like everybody else.”
“What are you guys talking about?” River chuckled, clicking buttons on the remote to find the particular movie I wanted.
“If you read the books I told you about, you would know,” I joked, chucking a pillow in his direction.
River swatted it away. “I’m just excited every time you want to try something new because of your books. Just because I don’t want to read every single one doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate them. Please keep reading.” He smirked over at me and I squeezed my thighs together. Nothing was more attractive than a man who appreciated his partner’s love of books, even if it was just because I randomly send him passages that make me horny, so he knows what to do for later.
Grayson made a move to get up from the couch, motioning for me to switch places with him. “A Riley sandwich is a must.”
I stuck my tongue in my cheek scooting over. “I’m a sandwich now?”
“Precisely. This way we equally get you.” Grayson looked over at River who had a small smile on his face but said nothing. “Unless that’s weird. I can sit in the armchair.” He nodded towards the chair that was adjacent to the couch.
I saw that River was looking at me out of the corner of his eye as if he was trying to figure out what my response would be. The couch would seem empty without Grayson here and I liked having them both in my vicinity. “It’s not weird. River doesn’t mind sharing, do you?” It was meant to come out like a joke, but somehow my voice came off flirtier than I would have liked.
“I do not, gorgeous.” He leaned his elbow on the arm on the couch, placing a finger at this temple, narrowing his eyes at me. He placed a hand on my thigh, squeezing.
Grayson settled down next to me, his thigh brushing mine. I leaned forward to grab the popcorn bowl, the smell of butter and chocolate hitting my nostrils. We’d had these movie nights before, but for some reason there was tension in the air that I couldn’t shake. It wasn’t bad, but it had my skin growing hot. River had his hand on my thigh, but my other thigh was empty and I had half a mind to grab Grayson’s hand and place it on my body, but the opening credits of the movie stopped me.
Grayson passedout twenty minutes before the movie ended, so River threw a blanket over him and called it a night. He grabbed my hand and led me upstairs to his room. I sat on his bed, seeing a text from Corrin.
CORRIN
Goods are well taken care of in my little lab at home.
She sent me a picture of the glass shard on top of a table with bottles of multicolored liquids. A few pipettes and beakers were littered around, while what looked like an old school Bunsen burner sat in the corner.
Thank you. Let me know as soon as you have something.
CORRIN
Will do. I don’t have class tomorrow, so I’ll be working on it most of the day. I’ll update you when I can.
She sent a winky face and I sighed, wondering if letting one person in was one too many.
