I can’t help it. I double over laughing.
“What did you do, Theo?”
Her voice isn’t mad as much as it is amused. She’s used to my bullshit.
“He ate them all.”
Tattletale, tattletale.
“That’s why we were fighting.” Gah. What is this? Confession?
“Theo!”
I sober up to roll my eyes at Cade. “I just ate a couple.” Or twenty. I lost count.
I start devouring my sandwich before she can scold me anymore.
“I’ll make more. I apologize for his lack of manners,” she tells him.
Cade grins at me. Fucker.
Anniston worries over Cade after his confession. Making sure he takes a supplement. Wipes his ass. Okay, that didn’t happen but damn! Send him to bed!
“I’m tired. I don’t need it,” he argues.
Wait. What did I miss? Anniston has her arms folded across her chest, her no-bullshit face aimed at him.
“Just for tonight,” she negotiates as she slides the dreaded blue pill across the counter.
He slides it back. “I’m okay.”
She pushes it back across the counter. “Take it.” She looks to me. “You’re next.”
Fuck me.
“I’m tired too,” I argue. If Cade gets to argue, so do I. I hate sleeping pills. Sometimes they are a necessity for someone like me who is hyper and suffers from insomnia. Anniston has figured out small behavioral changes that help and most of the time I don’t need them, but with Cade here, I haven’t been sleeping. Neither has he from what I hear.
She gives me a look, opens the bottle, removes a pill and is on me before I have a chance to stop her. Her lips press against mine. I know what’s coming, she’s done this before. Her tongue sweeps the seam of my mouth. Her hand caresses my balls. I moan. Fuck! Her tongue drives inside, tasting me. Controlling me. I’m swept away by her distinct taste when the little pill hits my tongue. Her hand tightens around my balls. Not painfully but enough to serve as a warning. I swallow. Her hand goes back to rubbing me.
“Go upstairs,” she whispers.
I nod, dizzy from her onslaught. She pushes coconut water into my hand.
Turning to head upstairs, I hear, “What’s it going to take, Gorgeous?”
It better not take what it just took for me.
“I’ll take it,” his voice is low and obedient.
I don’t stay to see what happens. I bound up the steps and hop in the bed to wait for my prize for taking the dreaded pill.
“What’s with the pissing match?”
I’m snuggled in the down comforter somewhere between dozing off and slightly conscious. The feeling is welcome after the hellish day I’ve had. My eyes rove up her firm five-foot-five frame. Her body has become slimmer, more toned. I mean, it always has been, but since she has been training Cade, it seems more defined than usual. Her pajama pants hang a little looser on her hips, her abs dipping lower into her ribs with the weight loss. She’s a work of art.
“What do you mean?” I fake ignorance. I’m not sure I want to have this discussion at the moment. My mind is fuzzy, my body humming with a chemical high.
Her lips purse in annoyance that I am taking this approach. I don’t care. If I have to talk about Cade one more fucking time, I think I might explode. It’s not that difficult to understand. I hate him. I hate him being here. I hate that she is forcing my hand.
