Page 65 of The Taste

“He’s lost, and do you know the scary part? He doesn’t want to find the way back, doesn’t even bother trying.”

“That’s-” Sophie began to respond, but another girl joined her on the other side. Huge boobs spilling out of a tiny triangle bikini.

“Ghosts can’t love you back,” the other girl chimed in, adjusting her hair in the mirror. “We aren’t being unkind, we are just being real-” she added, matter-of-factly, probably catching the scowl on Sophie’s face.

Before Sophie could reply, though, the first girl, the younger of the two, piped up again. “Are you… okay?” the girl asked.

Sophie frowned.

“I mean, he isn’t hurting you is he? You… aren’t you… scared?” she asked.

Sophie tilted her head. Was this the girl checking up on her?

The older, bikini clad girl piped up again. “Yeah, we were just making sure you were okay, honey. He scares us…” She trailed off, and Sophie saw a flicker of the insecure woman underneath all the slapped on, in-your-face glamor.

That was sweet of her. Unnecessary, and an abrasive way of doing it, but sweet nonetheless.

“Yeah, I’m completely fine, very happy in fact, Phantom is… very thoughtful, very generous to me…” Sophie responded.

The girl nodded. “Good, cool, I just thought I’d ask, in case no one else had-”

Sophie smiled. “That’s kind of you, yes, very happy, thank you.”

The other girl looked on a moment longer, and Sophie could tell she wasn’t sure, but then, she seemed to decide to take her at her word, as she broke out into an innocent smile.

“I’m Jessie, by the way.” She held out her hand. Sophie took it, shook it, smiling warmly.

The first girl added, “Greta,” with a more timid shake.

“Sophie.” She smiled now, warmly, understanding where these ladies were coming from; they weren’t being bitchy and mocking her, they were genuinely concerned about her.

“I know, I’ve been into your shop, we all have,” Jessie added.

Sophie’s eyebrows raised gleefully.

“I love your kale and flaxseed sorbet shot.” Jessie laughed, linking arms with Greta and Sophie as if they were sorority sisters and dragging Sophie out of the bathroom, as if she was one of them.

It was a warm-hearted gesture. Kind of the girls to check in and look out for her, to warn her. She didn’t need warning, she knew what Phantom was. But that they had thought to look out for her had touched Sophie.

The girls looped around the party, Jessie and Greta pointing out people and things that she wouldn’t have otherwise spotted, like the beautiful little resident cat, Shadow, who sat in a comfy looking bed on one of the tables, watching over everything with wise, disdainful eyes.

She tripped past a younger woman wearing tiny hot pants, laying on the top of a picnic table, who Greta and Jessie blew a kiss to and waved. The woman waved back and winked. There were three men around her, wearing their leather jackets. One poured whiskey into her belly button. Another took the shot from her belly button, while the other howled with approval. Sophie did a double take. The woman then reached for the nearest one’s trousers, unbuttoning his jeans with a snap. His dick sprang free, dark and heavy in the dusk light. The woman, still on her back on the picnic table, pulled his dick into her mouth. The man closed his eyes and purred. Sophie had to stifle a cry, she knew what that felt like, to have a huge cock thrust down your throat from that position. She liked it, too. The other man poured more whiskey all over her midriff and began to lap it up with his tongue.

She turned and she saw another man topless, wearing a police hat. Another woman wearing next to nothing straddled his lap and passed him a beer. He smiled and kissed her. She took the hat off his head and placed it onto hers. Then another woman bounced over, pushed him down so that he was lying flat now on the bench and straddled his face. Sophie opened her mouth to say something, wasn’t that the local police sergeant? Rossetti? She blinked and looked again and realized the woman on his lap wasn’t just gyrating, in a lap dance. There were no layers of clothes between them, she caught a flash of skin as he thrust into her and she grinded, tipping her head back, her mouth open. The police sergeant continued to enthusiastically feast on one woman’s pussy while keeping up a steady thrust for the other woman to grind against. Impressive.

This was wild living, she should have known a man like Phantom would come with all of this attached. He didn’t just go back home to a quiet apartment, do his laundry, cook a meal for himself and sleep eight hours a night.

The girls steered her back to Phantom and Colt and waved goodbye. Sophie smiled genuinely back at them as she unhooked herself from their embrace.

Colt raised his eyebrows but Phantom just seemed pleased to see her again. He placed a hand over her shoulder, another questioning look. He didn’t want her to judge, he didn’t want her to be put off by this. Phantom drew her in. She could see nothing else except his warm coffee chocolate eyes. She felt his warm, strong hands around her waist.

She threw her shoulders back and down and raised her chin. This wasn’t how she normally lived her life but she’d embrace it, as long as everyone was happy, she was happy. She could do wild, she thought.

A cry went up near the entrance out into the garden. A cheer. People whooped and hollered. Sophie and others turned to see what the noise was about.

“Welcome, Nix, we’ve heard so much about you.” Colt stepped forward, and clasped the right hand of the man who stood there, slightly awkwardly. The tattoos that covered him were incredible, Sophie couldn’t help but stare.

The man took his hand and shook it, looking around. He was handsome, what was it with these bikers? Their bone structure was something off a Vogue cover. He was wearing a tight black T-shirt and jeans and those tattoos. He was completely inked, both his arms, even his hands. His neck had some sort of beautiful tropical flower. Hell, even in his hairline, up the sides of his head. He had it shaved short, graduating longer into the trendy blend to longer hair on top, and that’s where she could no longer see any more tattoos. But she bet there were some there. She bet there were tattoos everywhere.

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