Chapter Three

EMBERLY*

I couldn't believe he had yelled at me about what I wore when I walked around like this daily. What? Is he punishing me for what happened this morning? He was supposed to have gone back to sleep. How the hell was I supposed to know he would show up and watch me? I already felt terrible for my body's actions, and then he saw the whole thing and made it worse. I can't seem to win, no matter what. Man, I can't wait to graduate in two years so I can get away from him. Knowing my luck, we would get sent to the same college, and then I'd have to put my head through a wood chipper. Yes, I would dive in headfirst and be happy to wake up in Heaven. I slammed my door, put my coke and the pizza down, grabbed a pillow, and screamed into it for what seemed like forever. But it was only until I had run out of breath and had to come up for air that I stopped. All I wanted to do was sleep, but I couldn't. I had to parade around in clothes I'll never wear again to appease my mother.

I looked over at the boots with the two-inch heel and almost choked on the pizza I had taken a massive bite out of. I'm already damn near six-foot-tall. Why couldn't she give Kendra those instead and let me wear flats? The guys in my grade are just barely starting to surpass me in height. I grew to my full size by the time I was thirteen years old and pleaded for God to keep me from getting any taller. Needless to say, I've only had two boyfriends up to this point, and I'm beyond frustrated. I gulped down three pieces of pizza and then started working on pulling on the outfit my mother had picked out for me. The rest of my outfits are backstage, and I hoped they were better than this. Why the hell would she make me wear an ugly burnt orange turtleneck sweater? It makes me look like a giraffe. I began to cry once I had gotten fully dressed and looked at myself in the full-length mirror. My mom doesn't know me at all. I would never be caught dead in this.

I stuffed a few more pieces of pizza down my throat before applying my makeup. I did everything I could to make it to where people wouldn't recognize me in the magazine going out in two weeks. I was beyond embarrassed. I ate a couple more pieces of pizza and then worked on fixing my hair and putting on the jewelry my mom had picked out for me. I probably failed to mention my parents not only design clothing, but they design expensive cut jewelry as well. That is where two-thirds of the revenue comes from. I'm hoping to change that once I take over. My clothing designs are exquisite. My jewelry designs are unique, but I'm more fond of designing clothes.

I looked at my phone to see it was almost five o'clock. I was excited to see I had an hour to wallow in self-pity and possibly take a little cat nap before this long gruesome night started. I ate the last bite of pizza and was about to doze off when Derrick began yelling through the door. My first thought was to open the door and punch him in the face. He was seriously racking on my very last nerve today. Instead, tears started flowing from my eyes. Shit, now I would have to redo my eye makeup and repair the patches that would form.

I stomped to the door, thinking I would clock him one in the eye. But when I flung the door open and saw him looking like a God with no shirt on, all I could do was scream out my frustrations.

"Why does mom insist on me wearing heels? I look like a freaking giraffe. I'm not too fond of it; I hate being tall. Why can't I be like most other girls around here and be five feet of nothing? Like Kendra, why can't I be like Kendra? Five-four would be so much better than this,"

I expected him to be a complete asshole like he usually is and start spouting out obscenities. Imagine my surprise when he kissed me instead. With these boots on, I'm almost as tall as him, so no bending was required. My brain was going haywire, and I thought I might pass out. My first instinct was to pull away, but having his lips on mine was like magic. His lips felt like silk but had the perfect amount of firmness to them. This is the first kiss I've had where I didn't have to bend to reach the guy's lips, and it felt spectacular. It felt like lava was coursing through my veins down to my core, and my clit pulsed with the need for even the slightest amount of friction. When he nibbled at my bottom lip, explosions of light cascaded around us as our tongues danced the tango with each other.

As I trailed my hand along Derrick's back muscles, the tension in my core increased. I needed more; I wanted more. I got up the nerve and started fumbling with the button of his pants. Just then, my mother's ringtone started blaring. Derrick and I were brought out of the haze, and he looked at me as if I were sin on a platter. He quickly darted off to his room as I walked over to grab my phone, answering before it had gone to voicemail. She usually calls Derrick's phone; why is she calling me this time?

"Momma, isn't it two o'clock in the morning in Paris? Is something wrong?"

"No, darling, just calling to check in on you two and make sure you're going to the photo shoot. I got a call from the photographer saying you both had pushed it to a later time. This can not be put off. You all must get this done,"

"I know, Mom, we are about to head over there now; don't worry,"

"Alright, I'm going back to sleep. I love you both, have fun," she said and hung up before I could reply.

It was now five twenty. I had only fifteen minutes to fix my makeup so Derrick and I could leave. It was hard to concentrate after that mind-blowing kiss, but somehow I pushed through and looked better than I had before. At 5:40, Derrick appeared at my door looking like a million bucks. Handsome as all get out as usual. He looks good in anything he wears; I wish I were that lucky.

"Come on, we're going to be late," Derrick commanded and walked off.

I winced; I guess we were back to that. Derrick being his ass hole usual self as if we hadn't just made out for fifteen minutes. As if nothing had ever happened. That's just freaking peachy. I grabbed my purse and phone and made my way to the garage. I saw that Derrick had already left. I thought we might go together. I guess I was wrong. I should have followed my first instincts and pulled away from the kiss. Why had he kissed me in the first place? I jumped in my car and took off. I hoped the photo shoot would breeze by without any problems.

***

"Derrick, reign in your sister. I don't want to be here all night. I had plans before you guys screwed me over," Oliver, our photographer, barked.

Derrick grabbed my arm and pulled me backstage angrily. "Can you please get your shit together? None of us want to be here, but you seem to be on some rampage today. Stop being a Bitch. Get your shit together. Get out there and do your job. Kendra and Caden are coming to the house afterward, and I, for one, am looking forward to the blow job she has promised me," Derrick hissed and walked away. Oh, right, I had forgotten entirely that Caden and Kendra were coming over tonight.

Derrick's words from earlier this morning came back to me. "You might want to give him a little something before he breaks up with you; Caden is getting bored,"

As far as I'm concerned, everyone can fly off a bridge into a heavy riptide and kiss my ass. I stomped back out to the set and plastered the widest devilish-looking grin on my face I could. Oliver was quite pleased by this, however, even though I was doing it to annoy the crap out of him and everyone else.

We finished the second round of pictures, and all ran to the dressing rooms to change into our third set of clothes to show off.

"What's wrong with you today? You've not said one word to me? Derrick said you took off running this morning and didn't get home until four hours later. He thought he was going to need to reschedule the shoot, and you've been acting so weird," Kendra said as she tugged her boots on. Of course, he would put this all on me, like he had nothing to do with it.

"The usual crap Kendra, we got in a fight, and I blew off some steam. I ran for three hours to get away from him. Wound up in some town called Tahoka. I got a ride home, and he was still insisting on being an ass. I want to get this over with, go home and go to sleep. Did you see that shit show of an outfit I walked in here wearing? I'm ready to get as far away from this place as possible; two years can't seem to go by fast enough," I grumbled.

"Come on, ladies, we don't have all night," Oliver barked. Kendra and I were the only ones left in the dressing room then. So instead of talking anymore, we shrugged our shoulders and made our way back to the runway stage. I did my best to be as cooperative as possible, so I wouldn't have to hear Derrick or Oliver barking at me any longer.

It was ten o'clock before everything was said and done. Oliver handed out all of our checks, and we all dispersed in opposite directions, except for Kendra and Caden, who followed Derrick and me to our house.

***

"Five thousand dollars a piece, can you believe it!" Kendra shrieked as she stepped inside and jumped into Derrick's arms to kiss him. At that moment, I wanted to rip her away and tell her to back off. I mentally scolded myself for such thoughts. Why was I all of a sudden jealous of my best friend? What would I have to be jealous of? Derrick's my brother and will forever be a thorn in my side. Damn him for kissing me as he did.

Although I was tired, I decided tonight would be the night I would take things further with Caden. I had never given a blow job before. Honestly, I haven't done anything else besides kissing a guy. It was high time I learned how. So when Caden arrived, I pounced on him, grabbed his hand, and led him to my room. I looked back to see the pissed-off look Derrick was giving me and smirked at him; two could play this game.

I shut the door to my room, turned to Caden, and pushed him towards my bed.

"I want to try something. It's my first time just warning you now. So I need you to guide me, tell me what you like and don't like, and if I need to change something. Seeing it and performing it are two different things," I said as I started to pull Caden's pants down.

Caden grinned widely and nodded his head. "You'll like it, I promise. Will you let me touch you and kiss you here?" Caden asked as he put his hand to my mound over my pants.

"Yes, but no sex. I'm not ready for that. I want to graduate high school first before I go that far. If that's something that will drive you insane, let me know now because it's not something I'll be changing my mind about, and I know you're not a virgin like me," I said as I began to undress.

"I'll be fine as long as I can put my fingers and tongue inside your pussy from time to time," Caden said as he stripped himself from the rest of his clothes.

Writer's Note

Hello everyone, and thank you for reading. 🤩 Please support my writing by leaving a comment and pressing the heart ❤️. I love hearing from readers. Have a fantastic day. Hugs 🤗 Sapphirian J 🥰