Chapter 12 TARAN #2
Okay, on the one hand, it was really, really sad that one narcissist was holding this whole family captive with her whims. On the other, their sheer lack of fucks to give was genuinely hilarious. “So, par for the course?” I asked quietly.
“No birdie, no bogey,” Tom quipped.
“What?” Diego said.
“Golf,” I clarified. “You play?”
“Hell yeah,” Tom said. “You?”
I shook my head. “Used to with my dad sometimes. Been a while.”
“Val and I play once a month. You should join us sometime.”
“I’m more of a Top Golf guy,” I admitted. “Bucket of balls and a bucket of beers.”
“I could be into that.” Tom fist bumped me.
“God, how did two babes like me and Kelly pull two losers like you?” Diego wondered with a smirk. “Golf? Really?”
“I like sports.” I shrugged and laughed.
“It’s not even a sport.”
“Hey, golfers are athletes,” Tom protested.
“That’s like saying people who play Pokémon are athletes,” Diego said.
Kacey coughed loudly in the living room. “No, Mom, I can’t! I’m fine; I can sit up and talk!”
“She’s not coming in the fucking dining room,” Kelly said under her breath.
“This is straight-up tyranny,” I told Diego.
“You have no idea.” He handed me a glass of prosecco and downed half of his own.
Toni showed up soon after, and after she ran the hug gauntlet, we all settled at the table, waiting for Annie and Val to join us from the kitchen.
“We’re cool, right?” Toni asked as she slid into the chair on the other side of Diego.
“We’re cool,” I assured her.
Slightly muffled, Kacey yelled from the living room, “Can someone get me water?”
Kelly stood up, grinding her teeth.
“The fuck is this music?” Toni eyed the Bluetooth speaker on the sideboard.
“The boy band channel, apparently,” Diego commented.
By the time everyone was settled, the lasagna and salad were on the table and Kacey had her damn water, I was already pretty damn amused at the whole family vibe. But then Val Marsh moved to stand at the head of the table and gestured for everyone else to join him.
Diego shot me a nervous look, mouthing “Jesus Christ” silently. But we all obeyed, chairs squeaking beneath us. The music went quiet as the song shifted, and Val took a deep breath, face solemn. “Just wanted to say a quick—”
“Everyboooooddaaaaaayyyyyyyyy,” sang the next boyband on whatever godforsaken playlist they’d chosen. Loud.
I bit down on my bottom lip. Hard.
“Rock your boooooootyyyyyyyyy.”
Toni snorted, covering it with a cough and a hand over her mouth.
“A quick prayer of thanks for our family. So if you’d all bow your heads—”
“Everyboooooddaaaaaayyyyyyyyeah…”
“Father,” Val plowed ahead, raising his voice in an attempt to drown out the absolute boy band banger pouring through the speaker. “Thank you for our—”
“Rock your booootayyyy all night!”
“—family. For this chance to come together for good food, to celebrate Diego’s birthday, and to be grateful for—”
“Bangin’ boys back – all right!”
I couldn’t help it anymore. I glanced at Diego. He was already looking at me, his mouth pressed into a pale line, his cheeks puffed out with silent laughter.
“—for the health and happiness of all our—”
Kacey coughed again. Loudly and extensively.
Diego, Toni, and Kelly lost it at the exact same moment. Tom and I followed, and then even Annie couldn’t help herself. Along with the music, Diego sang dramatically, “Oh my godddd, we’re back agaaaaain!”
It was so fucking bratty, so very like the hilarious boy I’d fallen for back in school, making fun of a bigger, badder kid and making it look easy.
I experienced the most overwhelming urge to grab Diego, put him against the nearest wall, tell him he was the best, and kiss him until he believed it. Family audience or not.
Val sighed. “Alexa. Turn off the music.”
Protests broke out all over the table.
Val just shook his head and sat down, utterly defeated. “Amen. Bunch of Heathens.”
From that point on, dinner was an absolute riot.
Toni and Diego accused each other of being obsessed with British boy bands, Kelly fought for K-Pop superiority, and Annie sat at the foot of the table looking at us all with the kind of deep satisfaction only a mother who’s truly accepted the weirdness of her own family can really exhibit.
***
“Your family’s great,” I told Diego on the way back to my place.
He shot me a sideways look, then laughed again.
“Seriously. My face hurts from laughing,” I assured him.
“I can’t believe he tried that shit on my birthday. Like, he knows I’m ruled by Satan, if anyone.”
“Probably why he tried it,” I reasoned. “To save your soul.”
“And then—” Diego laughed so hard he interrupted himself, raking a hand through his hair. “And then he fucking—said thanks for our good health or whatever—ha!!”
“And Kacey coughed,” I finished, now joining him.
“She couldn’t stand it. I’m gonna have to pull over. Fuck.” But eventually we got ahold of ourselves and Diego never veered into the wrong lane, thankfully.
“It was cool of them to get you a new mic,” I said. “Seriously.”
He smiled slightly. “It was, wasn’t it?”
“They’re really cool. And maybe your dad’s a little bit of a try-hard but…” I couldn’t even finish. I just started laughing again.
“At least he doesn’t get mad when we laugh at him anymore. He’s soooo fucking mellow nowadays."
"Love changed him, I guess," I said, still chuckling.
“I wouldn’t have thought it was possible. But yeah. It did. Thank god.” He glanced at me, then back to the road. “You think your dad would’ve mellowed if he’d had another decade?”
“He was already mellowing,” I admitted. “But I’m coming around to like… accepting that I’ll never know, I guess.”
“Really?”
I nodded. “Doesn’t change anything, whether he would’ve loved me or hated me. It’d still be what it is.”
Another quick look my way. “And what is it?”
With renewed sincerity, I assured him, “Anything you want, Diego.”
He licked his lips, then bit the bottom one. “I left the bitch princess plenty of water and food…”
“So you can stay?” I asked hopefully.
“I can stay,” he said with a little smirk I wanted to eat right off his face.
***
“Can I have a present?” Diego crawled into my lap and straddled it, pushing me back against the headboard.
I grabbed his ass with both hands and held on. “What present?”
“Gimme something from your list?” He leaned forward and swiped his lips over mine, the quickest kiss, then leaned our foreheads together.
“Do I get one too?”
“Mmm-hmm,” he grinned and settled his ass on my thighs. His pretty, dark cock pressed against my navel.
“It’s not your birthday yet,” I said, pulling him closer.
“You said I get the whole week!”
I laughed and lifted him up; he clutched at my neck and let me get up on my knees, then bounced down onto his back when I let him go.
I climbed on top of him, pushing between his legs, and pinned him down full-body.
“You wanna know what’s on my list?” I asked when my lips hovered an inch away from his.
“I do.” He shifted under me so our pricks were side-by-side, caught tight between our bellies. Then he arched his back, opened his mouth, and gave the sweetest little hum of pleasure.
I rocked up into his hips, rubbing off on him, and stole a kiss.
Then said, “Next time you sass someone so completely and utterly, I wanna throw you over my shoulder, take you into the nearest empty room, and make you scream my name. Too bad it couldn’t happen today.
Not the impression I was trying to make. ”
“Mmm, I could sass you now, if it’d help.”
“It might.”
“That’s kiiiiinda like something on my list…” His wet lips formed a plush smirk.
“Now we’re talking.” I rubbed my cheek against his, feeling my stubble scrape at his soft, warm skin.
He arched under me, burying one hand in my hair, grabbing my bare ass with the other. “I want, like, twelve hours where any time you get an urge like that, you just do it.”
I propped myself up with one hand, wanting to watch his face when I said, “You have my attention.”
He laughed again, biting at his bottom lip fetchingly. “Okay, so, like free use.”
“Free use,” I repeated, the phrase ringing a very far off bell. “For twelve hours.”
“Or overnight.” He batted his thick eyelashes, the skin of his neck flushing dark. “Like, that one night when we just woke up and fucked like that? Soooo hot.”
Yes, yes it had been, now he mentioned it. “So you want me to just wake you up to fuck?”
“Or… whatever. Like if we’re watching something, or playing a game, or making dinner…” His smile went so tentative, so sweet, almost shy. “Just some night when you’re really horny and can fuck the hell out of me a few times…”
“A few times?” I chuckled. “Oh, I can do that right now.”
He squirmed under me, making a sweet, hungry little noise. “But you can do anything you want. Doesn’t have to be that. Just…”
I leaned down, pressing my forehead into his, and whispered, “Say it, baby. I wanna know.”
“I want—I want to…” He huffed, like he didn’t have the breath in him to finish the thought.
“You want to what, Diego?” I asked into his ear.
“I want you to be everything, for a while,” he whispered, clinging to my ass tight, like he was afraid I’d take it away. “Make me yours. Fucking over and over again.”
He’d told me once that he always wanted me to claim him.
At the time, I’d thought he meant publicly.
Imagine my fucking surprise and excitement that he meant it privately, too.
I buried my face in his neck and breathed deep, the scent of his skincare and shampoo and mousse and a million and one products over the faint salt sweat of him.
I licked all the way up to his ear, and then said, “On your belly.”
I got to my knees, and I swear to god, I have never seen Diego move that fast in my life; he flipped over, adjusted his dick under him, and put his face into the duvet.