Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
Molly
“ H e came inside you and then ate you out until you came again?” Hallie asks. “Ben’s pretty dirty, but he’s never done that.” I giggle at Hallie’s curious expression and am now ninety-eight percent sure she’ll be sitting right down on Ben’s face tonight after he comes.
“Jeremy does it all the time.” Emma shrugs and takes a sip of her coffee. “Did it just this morning, in fact. Why do you think I was late?”
“It’s weirdly hot; I don’t know why,” Julie says, grabbing a second donut from the box in the middle of the island.
I rescue the last chocolate donut. I don’t want it yet, but I will later. I deserve a third donut after this morning’s phone call from hell. “I think it’s because it’s, like, evidence they marked us or something. It’s some caveman shit.”
“Wait, Asher too?” Hallie says, her head swiveling to stare at Julie.
Now it’s Julie’s turn to shrug. “Of course.”
“Hang the fuck on,” Hallie mutters, picking up her phone and typing furiously. She barely sets it down before it beeps. She looks at the message, a broad smile spreading over her face. “That’s what I thought.”
“Uh, we’ll be needing to see that message,” I say, holding out my hand. Hallie slaps her phone into my palm with a look of satisfaction. I put it down on the island so we can all read it together.
Hallie
Tonight, I want you to fuck me against the wall, then go down on me after you come until you make me come again. Maybe twice.
Ben
Why wait for tonight? Get that perfect pussy home, Hallie Girl, and we can do it right now. We taste amazing together.
Emma snorts out a laugh. “Report back tomorrow, Hal. We’ll be needing those details too.”
“Bet your ass I will,” Hallie says with a smug smile. Her phone beeps again, and in a weird, synchronized Pavlovian-type response, we all look down at it. Right into a picture of a very familiar hand palming a very impressive dick print in gray sweatpants.
“Fuck.” Hallie snatches up the phone and glances at the picture again, eyes gleaming, before she taps out a message and puts her phone face down on the island. “Sorry about that,” she manages before all four of us burst out laughing.
“Holy shit,” I wheeze, tears streaming down my face. “I told Gabe we were sharers, but I’m pretty sure that’s not the kind of sharing he imagined.”
Julie recovers first, wiping under her eyes. Looks like it was a no meeting day for all of us because we’re all dressed down in leggings and hoodies. These are my favorite mornings. When no one is running to an appointment and we can forget about work for a while and just be. I meant what I said to Gabe. These are my sisters, and I never would have gotten through the last ten years without them. I understand that in a much deeper way now that Gabe is back in my life.
“So,” Julie says, leaning back in her chair and crossing her legs. “Let’s switch to Molly before I think too hard about the fact that I just saw my brother’s dick print. Because, gross. We know about the plane sex and the hotel sex and the sex by the tree. And while that is an enormously impressive amount of sex, I think what we all want to know is, what does it mean? Did you figure out what you want?”
“I want him,” I say simply. “I’ve always wanted him. Even when I never thought I would see him again, I wanted him. These past four days were…god, you guys, they were magic. I don’t know how else to describe it. And they were also eye-opening. The boy I knew turned into this good man with so many different sides to him. I got to know him then, and I get to know him now, and the whole thing is just a ridiculous privilege.”
I lean forward with an elbow on the table and prop my chin in my hand. “After the gala, he took me to the dance studio. The one where I spent most of my time when we were in school, and the one we were in when he got the call telling him his parents were gone.”
“That must have been hard for you.” Emma’s eyes are steady on mine, understanding.
I nod. “It was. It’s the reason I don’t dance anymore, you know? The reason I gave it up. It was too hard to walk into a studio after that, knowing that was the moment we broke. Dance and Gabe. It was all tangled together so tightly after that night, and walking into the studio brought it all back. I was so angry. Like, oceans of rage that I had been shoving down for all the years he was gone just poured out of me and rolled straight to him. I didn’t hold anything in. I couldn’t. It was like I couldn’t take one more step forward until I got it all out.”
“And how did he take it?” Julie asks.
“He was incredible. He let me hurl a decade’s worth of fury at him, and then, when all the anger was gone, I cried for what felt like forever. He sat right down with me in the middle of the floor, custom made tux be damned. I definitely ruined his shirt with my makeup and I’m sure the snot running down my face wasn’t pretty, but he took it all. He held onto me until I cried myself dry, and I have never felt safer in my entire life. Once the tears and the anger were gone, I could see everything clearly.”
“And what did you see?” Hallie reaches across the table and covers my free hand with hers.
“I saw us. Him and me. He waited until his sisters were both out of the house and on their own. He gave up being a part of day-to-day operations of the company he built because it was tying him to a city on the other side of the country. He built and sold a second company just as an excuse to move here to where I am. He removed every single potential obstacle. He’s a literal billionaire and can have and do anything he wants. What he wants is to settle down here, in my city, with me. To be a part of my world. And that’s all I want too. It’s always been us. We get to have our second chance, and I don’t want to miss a minute of it.”
“You love him.” Emma’s eyes are teary when she looks at me.
“I do. I always have, but it’s different now. I love who he was, and I love who he is now. It’s complicated but also not. We have a long history, but we also have a really good future to look forward to, and I want that future. All of it.”
“God, Mol.” Julie sniffles and wipes under her eyes again. “When you share, you really share.”
I grin at her. “When have you ever known me to do anything half-assed.”
Julie laughs. “It’s comforting to know that you’re still you even though you’re having your big, great love.”
I pick up my third donut and take a bite because, why the hell not. “I like me. I wouldn’t change one little thing about myself. And he likes me too.”
“So, what happens now, with your house and all the fake fiancée stuff?” Hallie asks.
I shrug. “We haven’t talked about what happens next. I’m not in a rush. I want to live here now, and I don’t want to miss a single step. My house should be ready in a week or so, but I’m not in a rush there either. I like being at Gabe’s. We’ve been apart for such a long time that actually living in the same space feels like kind of a gift. I don’t want to give that up. As for the fiancée thing, I mean, pictures of us are splashed everywhere screaming about our whirlwind courtship or whatever. And I can’t risk pissing off Harvey Randall because asshole Brad is trying to shove me straight out of the picture and keep the whole representation to himself. So, for now, when we’re in public, fake fiancés it is. It really hasn’t been that big of a deal.”
“Okay,” Emma says. “I know it’s shocking that I’m the one who’s about to suggest this, but I think we need a big, loud family dinner. All of us, Maddy, Allie, Jordan—and Jules, your parents if they want. Everyone. Now that you and Gabe are actually you and Gabe, it’s time he really sees what we’re all about. Jeremy will make tacos.”
“I think he’ll love it,” I say. “He was lonely in San Francisco. He had his sisters, but it was kind of just the three of them, and then they both left for college. He wants a family.”
Emma nods, and she has that look in her eye like I just confirmed what she already knew. “I figured as much. We have one for him. Let’s do it. Maybe next week? Give you guys some time to settle into being together.”
I smile gratefully. “That sounds perfect. I’m having dinner with Allie next Monday to go over some of the documents I’m drafting for her and Jordan. We figured if we have to talk shop, we might as well do it over drinks and good food. So any night except for Monday.”
The doorbell rings as I finish talking. “I’ll set it up,” Emma says, getting up to answer the door. Two minutes later she’s back, carrying two takeout bags, a huge grin spread over her face.
“Uh, what’s that?” I ask.
“It’s a delivery for you.”
She hands me a note while she drops the bags on the island and peers inside.
I know you said donuts go with sexy breakfast stories, but a run in with asshole Brad before nine in the morning requires something a little more comforting. Love you, Rory baby. Enjoy your time with the girls and have a good day at work. Can’t wait to get my arms back around you tonight.
Gabe
By the time I look up, my friends have unpacked what looks like every french fry in the city of Pittsburgh, personal pizzas, and at least ten containers of dips.
My comfort foods. I wrack my brain, but I’m positive I haven’t mentioned it since he’s been back which means…
“He remembered,” I say, warmth filling every part of me. I wonder if there will ever be a day that I’m not astonished by this man. I doubt it.
“He sure did,” Emma murmurs next to me, wrapping her arm around my waist and leaning her head against mine. “He’s your one, Mol.”
“I know it,” I say, tears blurring my vision again.
“Looks like we’re having an early lunch.” Julie’s voice is full of amusement, considering it’s barely ten-thirty. “Then we can all go lay on the floor of my office because we’ll need to after this. Bring your laptops. We can work from there.”
“Sounds perfect to me,” Hallie says, bumping her hip up against mine. “Tell your billionaire boyfriend he can send us lunch for breakfast any time.”
“I’ll be sure to do exactly that.” I grin at her, then settle back down at the island. Thirty seconds later, I have a pile of french fries in front of me and my best friends around me, and it’s the most perfect morning of all.