I made it just in time to hear Scott slap Kenny's back and say, "Kenny's an idiot. He accidentally deleted your number and now he's agonizing over it.""I wouldn't say agonizing," said Kenny. "He would, he's in agony, because he really likes you. Despite his clumsy fingers, Kenny really is the best. If you're into it, would you mind giving him your number again? I'll save it myself this time," Scott finished. We all held our breaths for the five seconds it took Marlene to say, "Sure.""Yes," Kenny yelled, pumping his fists into the air. "I mean that's cool," he said, turning into a plank. "Please don't change your mind."Coming in with the save once again, Scott said, "He's not cool, but he's cute" and then held out Kenny's phone to Marlene, who took it with a smile. Kenny saying I was in love with Scott went round and round in my head as I watched this play out, all my anger instantly evaporating. This was the Scott women fell for. Confident, a little goofy, crazy hot and so down t
Five days, six hours and fifty three minutes. That's how long it had been since I last saw either Scott or Jenny. But this wasn't the time to think about that. I was about to surround myself with my old life and then some. Don Angelo would no doubt be coming out for this thing too. I remembered the day my mom and Jenny left home like it was just yesterday. My mother, Collette, was from a wealthy family. She ran away at a young age to be Don Angelo's wife. An event she would regret very early into her marriage. Unlike me, my mother was indifferent to what Don Angelo did for a living. If anything, she probably even liked it. The danger, the risk, the money. All of it appealed to her. Ultimately what broke my parent's marriage was the mistresses Don Angelo had. By the time the affairs started, my mother's whole life was Don Angelo. She fell into a deep depression, slitting her wrists when I was ten. "If you want to die so badly, it can be arranged," Don Angelo thundered, pulling a gun
"You are wise to try and trick me instead of threatening me. I'll give you that. But using my family to do it? Bad move. No man controls what I do or don't do. Not you, not Don Angelo, not even Scott. Whom I will fuck if I so choose. Never make the mistake of thinking you are any different to me than Don Angelo. I did Cattaneo's books for the last seven years. What can I say? Daddy was a show off. If I can feed my own father to the wolves, I can just as easily do it to you," I finished in a huff. "Did you just threaten a don in his own home?" Luca asked, his voice dangerously low. "I don't make threats, I make promises. If you wanted me dead, I would be, but like I said, you're just another Don Angelo. If you want to keep entertaining delusions of us riding off into the sunset together, that's your prerogative, but don't ever, ever come after me using my family again," I said, rising to my feet. "Always a pleasure, Luca."It took effort to walk away in a straight line. My hands shook
I started at Vogue two days ago. I wouldn't be surprised if they fired me, with the way I was performing, just going through the motions. No matter where or when I looked, Stacy wasn't at her usual hang outs. I don't know when she moved, but the super said her apartment was empty now. Finally, for the first time since she left that bar, I knew where she was going to be. Don Cattaneo's wake was today. She was probably there already. "What? Just say it and get it over with, Ken. It's bad enough that one of my best friends won't even answer a text, much less see me. Don't give me the silent treatment too, for the love of God," I begged as Kenny walked into the kitchen that morning, still looking at me like I killed his dog. I probably looked like shit. I couldn't eat or sleep. Between getting up to shower and going to work every day, I didn't even have the energy to shave."Okay, fine. What the fuck was that with Jenny the other night? How could you do that in front of Stacy? What the f
I knew hiking wasn't what she had in mind, but I couldn't think of anywhere else I wanted to take her. If she didn't want to do this, she certainly wasn't saying so. "This mountain has been my mistress and my archnemesis for months," I said, making small talk. "One of these days I'm going to—" "Take the perfect picture. I know," she said, surprising me. "What do you mean you know?" I asked. "I've been here before, a few times. I've watched you try and take the perfect photo. You want to capture the sunrise, but you've hated every picture you've taken up until now," she said, matter of factly. "Far be it for me to think you are so presumptuous, but did you follow me up here?" I asked, surprised once again. When she nodded, my mind was blown. Stacy Kendrick following me anywhere sounded crazy to me. "Why didn't you ever come out and say hi? Why didn't you tell me?" "I didn't want to seem like a stalker who is obsessed with you," she said, her voice lighter. "Don't get the wrong i
Every nerve ending in me seemed to come alive as I kissed her. It was like what I had always imagined a first kiss was supposed to feel like. A surreal, out of body experience. Her soft lips fit so perfectly against mine. My hands roamed all over her neck, shoulders, breasts, tummy and hips. I wanted to touch her everywhere all at once. When the kisses had deepened to the point where the tip of my tongue was swiping against her lips, she welcomed me in. Nudging her thighs apart with my knee, I positioned myself in between them, eagerly tilting my head this way and that to explore every bit of her mouth. She wrapped her limbs around me, pulling me in even closer as her tongue competed with mine for dominance. My hands slid up her thighs and came to rest on her hips. I had never been so caught up in something as simple as a kiss. There was barely enough thought going into breathing, on both our parts. I felt like I was sixteen again and this was my first time making out with someone and
She was so wound up by now I actually felt her shiver. "I wasn't, I didn't… Urgh. Jackass," she complained, squirming beneath me, just as my fingers landed on her panties and I started rubbing her folds in gentle circles. "Freak," I said, looking up at her as my lips landed between her breasts, my fingers still working between us. I snuck a look up at her and the faces of perfect pleasure she was making, pleasure I was giving her. "Scott, for fuck's sake," she said, looking down at me, gaping with pleading eyes. Her hand reached out for me and I kissed her palm. She cupped my cheek with one hand, the other grabbing onto the sheets and I slipped my hand into her panties, stopping to stroke her folds and touch her wet core, before I returned to her clit, increasing the tempo. "Scottie, please," she begged. "Yes, Stace?" I asked tauntingly, encircling one of her nipples with the tip of my tongue, before sucking it into my mouth. "What do you need, baby?" I was hovering over her no
Obviously I'd had sex before, but I'd never been intimate with another woman like I was being with her. Every kiss, every touch, every thrust was filled with love the likes of which I didn't know I was capable of. In many ways, she was my first and I couldn't get enough. "Scott," she moaned, sweaty, vulnerable and dizzy with pleasure beneath me."I'm here, Stace. Anything you want," I said, still burying myself deep inside her as she raised her hips to meet every thrust. "You better not pull any weird shit this time," she said with a short laugh, before her pussy walls strangled my dick.Her orgasm rocked us both. I slowed down so I wouldn't miss a single change in expression. When I kissed her breast, she swatted me away. "Too sensitive," she said, her body still quaking beneath me. "Sorry," I said with a cheeky grin, flipping one of her nipples with the tip of my tongue to tease her. "That's what you get for going first," I said, slowly picking up speed again. I wasn't far behin
That last part was such a her thing to say. Was that really what she thought? It would explain how I apparently caught her off guard. "Please, for the love of God, let me sleep and shower first. There are dark circles under my eyes. And my make up—" What the fuck was she talking about? She was fucking flawless. Perfect in all her imperfections. "Shut up. I won the bet about Kenny and Marlene," I said, laying the phone down on the ground and starting the five minute timer. "So now Scott says shut up. You've said more than enough in the last few hours. Now just listen." She clasped her hands behind her back, swaying back and forth nervously, her eyes dropping to the timer. Words failed me. I had a whole speech and everything. Even if I didn't, I was me. I always knew what to say, except right that second I was tongue tied. "That photo's taunting me," I said, spitting out the thought in my he
By this point, she had me watching her from behind a lens. Flashes of the thousands of times she had me taking her photo went through my mind. Watching her was my favorite thing to do until she started letting me touch her. I loved every last one of them. Studied the thousands of photos frequently, especially this past week, like some junkie trying to get a fix. The sweet ones where she looked like an angel. The dirty ones where she looked like the perfect whore. The goofy ones that I made sure I was a part of. The everyday ones where she had a pencil in her hair while she read or picked something out at the grocery store. Every last photo I took of her and every memory attached to it flooded my brain. "Fucking stunning every time," I said, trying to calm my raging heart as the sun began to rise, the silhouette of her before it. Slightly trembling fingers took several photos, as the excitement of holding a camera surg
"Can't we do this another time? Surises come along every day and it's been such a long night," Stacy moped. Not this sunrise. Not this moment I wanted to give her. It was all she could do to hold onto the tripod towards the end, so I let her get on my back and gave her a piggyback ride the rest of the way up my mountain. "You knew this was coming. I warned you I'd be making you miserable by bringing you out here before the crack of dawn while we were in Fiji. Sacrifices have to be made to please your future husband, Stace," I said, enjoying the feel of her body pressed up against my back. The morning was chilly, contrasting with her body heat. Or was I sweating? Maybe she was right and this just wasn't our moment. It would come once though. The sunrise of our one year anniversary. I had this picture of how it was going to go down in my head and I just wasn't ready to give it up. "On our anniversary? We just spent two ho
"Is the world's greatest commitment phobe still proposing today after this shit storm?" Kenny asked me as I watched Stacy sit across from Jeff to read through her immunity deal. "You just get the champagne ready. Be on standby, Ken. Call in sick. You'll get the call soon," I said, sharing an excited smile with him before I opened the door to Jeff's office to sit down next to Stacy. "You can have your lawyer look it over before you sign. Take your time," said Jeff, waiting patiently on her. "She's her own lawyer. She's like two classes away from being one?" I boasted as I watched her brilliant mind go to work while she read. "Three," she corrected me, eyes still darting over the words on the page. "Besides, we trust you. Don't we, Scott?" That's what she said, but she carried on combing the document. In about two minutes, she'd have tons of questions for him. "Yes, we do," I said to my fath
"I will never let anyone hurt him, Ken. On my life, I will always keep him safe," she professed one more time. "I know you will, Stace. For the record, you were always my favorite best friend," he said, cautiously wrapping his arms around her as he started sobbing. "Same Ken," she said, returning his embrace readily, rubbing his back. Eyes still on me, she stuck her tongue out at me, making me chuckle as I got up to join them. "Un-fucking-believable. What am I, chopped liver?" I said, watching Kenny pull back as I shot him a nasty look. "You're okay. Tolerable. Second best. I keep you around because of her," he said, wiping away his tears with the back of his sleeves. "I can't believe you fucking told her you were proposing. What the fuck is wrong with you? How will you survive marriage?" His stupid remark had us chuckling between the three of us. We all wrapped an arm around the other an
There was that promise of forever she said I couldn't have until I asked her to marry me. It was as good as a yes to my proposal. My heart was doing flip flops in my chest. I knew it was for their benefit, maybe even just because she was nervous about talking to them instead of me, but her words were aimed directly at me. Sweeping me right off my feet. Claiming every bit of me as hers. Allowing me to let go of the tiny part of me that wondered if she really could have killed me in those woods. It wasn't just luck or the words I said to her that made her want to save me. I was happy if I gave her the strength to do what she needed to do, but I firmly believed she would have gotten there anyway. She had been doing it for eight years. From the moment we met, she had been protecting me. Even when she pushed me away. She chose me for eight years. Came back again and again, no matter how many times Don Angelo called her home, to make me fall dee
He pulled out a chair for himself, then one for me, urging me to sit next to him. With a resigned sigh, I sat down two chairs away from Kenny, as close to Stacy as I could. I gave Willow and my mom a pleading look so they would follow suite across the table. Stacy took her seat and folded her hands in front of her. Folding her hands was her tell for when she was nervous. They all looked away uncomfortably. No anger. No malice. Just sadness and fear. It was all I could do to stay seated. Not grab Stacy's hand and storm out. She asked me to let her do this though. All I could do was sit back and watch helplessly. "Marlene, you're right. We should have reached out and talked to you all about what happened. It sucked that she was the only one of you to come by and ask us what happened though. Instead of going off the news and wherever else you got your information from. Still, I'm sorry we didn't reach out either. We were trying to figure things out betwe
"No, you're not leaving," said Marlene, grabbing Kenny's arms and turning him towards Stacy and I. "Your best friends are getting engaged today. You've been brooding about this whole situation for over a week and I'm sick of it. Deal with your shit, Kenny," said Marlene, her arms folded and chin jutted out. Go Marlene. Marriage looked good on her. She surprised me more and more all the time. "Does everyone know I'm proposing today?" I asked, focusing on the wrong thing entirely. It got my nervous, half asleep girlfriend to smile though. I'd take that. "You weren't exactly trying very hard to hide it," said Stacy, momentarily caught up in my eyes. I wished I could have her look like that for the rest of the day. A light blush tainted her cheeks and her smile was enough to bring armies to their knees. The way she looked at me made me feel like we were the only two people alive. As much as I appreciated wha
"Soooo… Do you think there's more?" he asked in his most innocent voice. "I'll kill you if you try and find out today," I said, equally as breathless and sweaty as him. It took me a moment to realize I just threatened him without flinching or apologizing. I forced myself to let it go and enjoy the afterglow of the best sex of my life. The heat and sweat coming off our bodies should have been enough to get me off him, but it wasn't. Despite my threat to get off him, his arms wrapped around me gently. "No promises. I love you," he said, completely at ease as he started stroking my hair. "I expect to be told about all future… Locations and phrases." "I love you too. That's no fun. I'm not doing that," I said, out right refusing his request. "Is that right? We'll see," he said cheekily, kissing my temple. "Let me take you to lunch. I want you to enjoy your first day of freedom."