Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Sunday Morning Text Messages
Audrey: No note this morning.
Mason: Glad to hear it. I’ll look at the camera footage later today, just in case.
Audrey: Even though there was no note?
Mason: Someone could have stopped by, intending to leave one and seen the new camera.
Audrey: Wow, and I thought my brother was paranoid.
Mason: It’s not paranoia if they’re actually out to get you.
Audrey: That doesn’t help. You know that doesn’t help, right?
Mason: That’s why I’m going to check the feed and be paranoid for you.
Audrey: Thanks? I think?
Mason: You’re welcome.
Audrey
“My favorite part is when she’s hooked up to the milking machine, then he puts it in her butt.”
If Audrey had thought her own grandmother was outrageous, she was unprepared for Grandma’s friend Karen.
In her defense, she wasn’t sure that anyone could be prepared for Karen.
She was a tall, thin woman with thin features and long, thin silver hair that went down to her waist in a French braid, and she was wearing a pink sweatshirt with a kitten on it…
enthusiastically talking about anal sex and milking.
They were all sitting in a big circle in the middle of Grandma’s living room.
Dining room chairs had been pulled in along with the rest of the furniture to give them enough seating.
Grandma, Naomi, and Claudia were on the couch, while the other two older women present took the armchairs.
Audrey was beside Cassidy on one side of the room, while Yasmine, Jennifer, and Ashley were on the other.
“Of course it was.” Mary, Grandma’s other friend who was part of the book club, rolled her eyes. A beautiful black woman with light brown eyes, close-cropped gray curls, and a sleek, elegant style, going by her clothing, she wasn’t as enamored of the hucows as Karen and Grandma.
“Karen likes it whenever the heroine gets it in the butt,” Cassidy whispered, leaning over to make sure Audrey was the only one who could hear her.
To be honest, Audrey did, too. She wasn’t sure she’d be so willing to admit that, but she’d read a book during the past week where it didn’t happen and had found herself disappointed.
She’d always thought she didn’t like reading that much, but it turned out she just hadn’t been reading the right genres. Reading books where she knew the couple was going to get together in the end and be happy, she actually read quite quickly. And enjoyed it.
Plus, it was a nice break from putting together the bakery.
If a certain real-life man’s face kept popping up in her mind when she was reading them and picturing certain scenes… well, now that he and Yasmine weren’t together anymore, she didn’t have to feel quite so guilty. Audrey peeked over at where Yasmine was sitting between Mary and Jennifer.
The other woman didn’t look like she was heartbroken or like she’d spent the weekend mourning the end of her engagement. She looked like she had every other time Audrey had seen her. Calm. Sophisticated. Like a supermodel who didn’t have a care in the world.
“Did anyone else also read the book that inspired Mina to try the hucow stuff?” Jennifer asked. “I didn’t think I’d be into the kink, and I don’t think I’d want to do it myself, but it made me want to go read more.”
“His Favorite Hucow? Yes, that was really good.” Naomi grinned. “It made me understand why Mina wanted to try the hucow thing.”
“I read it, too. I liked that there was a real story behind it,” Claudia said.
She was lounging on the couch with Naomi and Grandma, who were to her left with Naomi in the middle.
“She did something bad, and she wanted to atone. Plus, she didn’t do anything stupid.
I hope something shitty happens to Lily, though.
That heifer has it coming. Is there a book about her where we can find out what happens to her? ”
“Unfortunately, no, but there’s always hope for the future.” Grandma sighed. “The rest of the series isn’t hucow. There’s an age play planet, a pet play planet, and a pony play planet. I’m hoping for more hucows; this one was my favorite, although the pet play planet was really good.”
Things Audrey had never thought she’d hear from her grandmother’s mouth. She didn’t know whether to be more amused or appalled.
“It was. I liked the hot puppy dog in that one,” Karen said, her expression getting even brighter somehow. “Brutus. That one was filthy.”
“And some of us haven’t read that series, so let’s refocus.” Mary made a little twirling motion with her finger. “We’re supposed to be talking about Milking Mina and Rawhide Ranch.”
“I didn’t think the kink was for me, either, but I ended up enjoying reading about it a lot more than I thought I would. I would have liked to know more about the ranch and the petting zoo,” Yasmine said. “The other characters seemed fun, too.”
“They are. You should read Rawhide Ranch if you get the chance,” Naomi told her. “There are actually two series, the Rawhide Ranch series, which is all age play and Daddy Dom and the Submissives of Rawhide series.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t read as fast as you,” Yasmine said ruefully.
“I don’t think anyone reads as fast as Naomi.” Ashley grinned, apparently unbothered by her slower reading speed. “It’s good, though, because Naomi can read all the books and then tell us about the best ones.”
“Damn right.” Naomi eyed her. “Have you read Burn for Me yet?”
“I’m just going to wait ‘til it’s your turn to choose the book.”
Naomi made a frustrated noise and looked up at the ceiling, raising her hands slightly as if she wanted to shake something. “That’s not for months still! I need to talk to someone about Mad Rogan!”
“Well, at least you’ll like my pick for this month,” Ashley told her. “It’s Daddy Dom.”
“Can’t you read both?”
“No, because unlike some people, it takes me a week or more to read a book, not a couple of hours.”
“Fine. But when it’s my turn…” Naomi pointed at all of them. “Mad Rogan. If you have time to read His Favorite Hucow, you have time to read Burn for Me.”
“That’s not true. Burn for Me is a lot longer book, and it’s the first book in a trilogy,” Grandma said, shaking her head. “I need time to read all three. You know I have to finish a series once I start.”
“Naomi’s been pushing for Burn for Me since we joined the club,” Cassidy whispered to Audrey. “So not very long, despite the way she’s acting. But she wanted us to read it before the club, too.”
Good to know. Audrey was enjoying watching all the dynamics between the group, even though she was sitting back and not interacting much.
Once the book discussion was over, Grandma brought out food, and the group ended up in smaller groups to talk about things.
She could hear her grandmother telling Mary and Karen about the ‘hot young thing’ she was hanging out with, and she decided she did not need to be part of that conversation.
Similarly, she wasn’t sure how she felt about talking with Yasmine—just looking at the other woman made her feel guilty.
Especially when she thought about how Mason had been at the bakery last night and the thoughts that Audrey had been having about him while he was there…
It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since he and Yasmine ended things. Sure, they were over, but it still felt wrong.
Thankfully, she ended up with Cassidy and Jennifer, while Yasmine was on the other side of the room with Naomi, Claudia, and Ashley.
And once Jennifer had asked how the grand opening of Cupcakes and Crumbs had gone, Cassidy took the opportunity to interrogate Jennifer, which meant Audrey was out of the hot seat.
“Does Richard know you went on a date with Jensen?”
“Yes. We’re not exclusive, so I didn’t have to tell him, but it felt weird not to.” Jennifer made a face, taking a sip of her water. “He pointed out that we’re not exclusive and that I shouldn’t feel bad.”
“Mmm. Is he seeing someone else?”
“Not that I know of. I feel like he would have told me, since I brought it up.” Jennifer tilted her head to the side. “Or maybe not. Maybe that’s why he told me it’s fine and I shouldn’t feel bad.”
Dating multiple people at once was something Audrey didn’t really understand. Jennifer seemed way too calm about the idea that one of the guys she was dating was seeing someone else. On the other hand, she’d be a hypocrite if she was upset.
Audrey couldn’t imagine dating two men at once.
She definitely wouldn’t want the man she was seeing to be also dating other women, either.
“So, you’re going to keep seeing both of them?”
“For now.” Jennifer made another face, then sighed.
“I’m not so sure Jensen’s really interested in me or if he just asked me out because someone else had.
It might be nothing more than competition.
So, I’m not putting all my eggs in one basket.
Plus… I really like Richard. A lot. Enough that I don’t like the idea of him dating someone else, even though I know that makes me a horrible hypocrite. ”
Okay, so scratch that about Jennifer being totally calm about sharing. That made Audrey feel a little better.
“And Richard’s kinky.”
“Yes, although we haven’t had sex yet. We’ve been to a few house parties, but we keep things platonic there.
” Jennifer looked at Audrey. “My parents are heavy into the scene, and they have a lot of friends in it. I’m way too paranoid about someone I know showing up and seeing me butt naked or worse. ”
“That’s why you don’t come to the club, right?”
“Yup. My parents are members, and I’ve got a bunch of aunties and uncles who are members.
The owners of the club were basically my aunt and uncle growing up.
” Jennifer shook her head. “I would need a whole lot of people to go on vacation at the same time for me to even be tempted to step foot in there. It’s not just about them seeing me at that point; it’s about me seeing them. ”
That made sense to Audrey. It was one thing to go to a book club where they were talking about sex with her grandmother; it would be an entirely different thing for her to walk in on her grandmother doing some of the stuff they were reading about.
“So you can scene without sex?” Audrey was fascinated by the concept, which was so different from the books she’d been reading. It seemed like all they did was have scenes that ultimately led to multiple orgasms.
“Oh, yes. It’s not like the books where all the couples have sex all the time.
They’re like that because we’re reading romances.
There are plenty of people who scene platonically,” Jennifer explained.
“Richard and I do, though, of course, there’s lots of chemistry, and he’s a lot more hands-on than the fully platonic scenes. He’s very good with his hands.”
Her eyes took on a dreamy-eyed look that Audrey envied. Cash had been fine. She’d occasionally orgasmed with him, but she’d never looked like Jennifer did right now.
Thinking about him didn’t make her get all dreamy-eyed.
The fantasies that she had about Mason, on the other hand…
Stop it. Yasmine is RIGHT THERE.
Maybe Yasmine really had been hinting at Mason and Audrey getting together, but it still felt disrespectful. It was way too soon.
“Hey, so what are we talking about over here?” Grandma elbowed her way into the circle, grinning.
“The Jennifer, Jensen, and Richard love triangle,” Cassidy said, making Jennifer huff.
“It’s not a love triangle; neither of them is in love with me.”
“I don’t know, Mick says his brother has it pretty bad for you.” Grandma grinned. “He calls your other beau ‘Dr. Dick’, did you know?”
Jennifer sighed as Audrey stifled a giggle. Poor Jennifer.
Sunday Night Text Messages
Mason: I went over the footage from today and didn’t see anything suspicious.
Audrey: #relieved—thank you for looking.
Mason: No problem. I’ll keep checking throughout the week.
Audrey: You don’t have to do that.
Mason: I think I’ll feel better if I do. Just in case.
Audrey: If you insist. Thank you.
Mason: How was book club?
Audrey: Educational. My grandmother’s friend Karen is even worse than she is.
Mason: I’m not sure that’s possible.
Audrey: You can ask Claudia about it tomorrow. Retraumatize her.
Mason: Well, now I’m scared.
Audrey: You should be. This book club is very eye-opening. I hope I’m just like them when I get to their age.
Mason: I’m sure your brother will love that.
Audrey: I need to go to bed; it’s a really early morning tomorrow.
Mason: Of course. Good night.
Audrey: Good night!