“What if Sienna’s lying about it being mine?”
“That’s a chance you take being a bigger person. Not that I’m trying to sway you.”
“You obviously think I’m a better person who’d let the charges go,” he says.
I shrug. “If you feel like you need paternity results before you can make a decision, that makes sense. No matter how the results go, she wronged you. What she did to you was horrible and she shouldn’t just get away with that even if there is a baby involved. You’re really stuck between a rock and a hard place. I’m so sorry, Austin.”
“How do you feel about revenge?” he asks me all seriously.
“Your own happiness is the best revenge against an enemy,” I say.
“You’re not the vengeful type,” he observes. “Aiden thinks I should drop charges and get revenge some other creative way.”
“Doesn’t Confucius say that before you embark on a journey of revenge, you should dig two graves instead of one?”
“Yeah,” he says softly.
I shake my head. “Why bother? I held my father’s funeral today and I’m completely convinced that anger, spite, and being unable to let go of a grudge killed him. He had no relationship with his kids and his homelife made him feel like a failure as a husband and father. Who wants to live that way? He didn’t, even though he had a good job, hobbies, friends.”
Austin’s eyes change as he processes this. And then he pulls me closer and I drift off knowing he’s deep in thought. And I don’t sleep heavily, because like he’s been here for me for days now, I wanna be here for him, too.
58
Jada
It’s Monday morning and I’m coming, my fingers in his hair, his mouth between my legs. It’s dawn and this is how he woke me up.
As I’m falling apart, he rams his cock into me and sucks my neck hard and for a long moment.
And then he comes.
He’s catching his breath when I roll him and prop my chin in the center of his chest.
“Did you leave a hickey?” I ask.
He lifts my hair to the side and smiles. “I did.”
I laugh. “That’s my first one.”
His eyes light up. “Yeah?”
I nod.
“Can I give you one?”
He snickers. “You suck on my neck I’m gonna wind up hard again.”
“Good.” I squirm against him and put my mouth to his collar bone.
“Higher or my shirt’s gonna hide it.”
“You want people to see it?” I ask.
“Candy’s still tryin’ to flirt with me,’ he admits, “Maybe this’ll give her the message.”
I laugh and then I suckle his throat until I see I’ve left a mark.
And then I reach down and guide him back inside me.
***
It’s still crazy-early but I’ve slept a lot the last few days and I’m wide awake. I get into the shower with him and then while he’s getting dressed for work, I make us both coffee and then make up a lunch for him with deli meat and buns.
He smells good as he kisses me, looking hot in his three-piece suit while I’m wearing a robe with my hair wet and in my eyes.
“You sure you’re okay for me to go?” he asks, pulling me close.
I nod. “Definitely. Go to work. This apartment needs a good deep cleaning and you’re very distracting.”
“Am I?” He nuzzles my throat with his nose.
“Very. And then later, I’m going for coffee with Raven and Andrew.”
He smiles sheepishly and then caresses my throat with his thumb.
I gasp. “Austin Carmichael! Is that why you put a hickey on me? For Andrew’s benefit?”
He smiles wider.
“You’re so bad,” I whisper.
“Good thing you’re good. We balance one another out,” he says and kisses me again and then he grabs his lunch bag and his coffee and leaves.
I stand there smiling. He’s not remotely bad.
And then I check the bathroom and see that yep, that hickey is definitely going to stand out.
I hear my phone ding a few minutes later so check and there’s a text message.
Austin: I’m gonna find out what else you’ve never had in the bedroom before and give you that, too.
***
I’m supposed to meet for coffee with Andrew and Raven at five o’clock. She meets me but he ditched us.
He smiled when he saw me in the lobby first thing this morning when I went down to grab something a courier left, before his shift ended. I think my neck was the result of the ditching. He was warm and then went super cold and told me he had paperwork and would catch up with me some other time.
“Aren’t we meeting for coffee at five with Raven?”
He looks at my throat, and then says he can’t. He has to start work early today.
When I do meet with Raven, she pouts a little, which makes it dawn that she’s into him. I decide to do something about it to help matters.