Chapter Twenty-Six Milo
Twenty-six
Milo
The last five days have passed in a hectic blur, my time divided between helping Nik and Aleks get the brewery ready for tonight’s opening and spending every other available second with or inside of Prue, crossing items off her list.
I’m addicted to her. The feel of her skin. The taste of her lips. The scent of her hair. The sound of her voice, her laugh, her moans. Fucking all of her.
I’ve been holding back a million dirty, filthy, depraved words from Prue while we have sex.
Coming to the thought of her wearing my ring, wearing white, letting me fill her and claim her from the inside out.
Thoughts I’d never once entertained before that now I can’t put to rest. I’m going insane.
I can only pray that when I finally get to tell her everything I feel, what my intentions are, that it’ll settle some of this storm inside of my chest.
One more day. One more day and then I’ll get to tell her everything. Then there’ll be no more holding back.
“You have slightly less than two minutes,” she warns me, her breaths shallow as she digs her heel into the space between my shoulder blades.
“I heard you on the phone earlier. Nik needed you by five,” she says, falling back against the sweater I’d laid out under her head, cushioning her from my van’s floor.
We’re checking the two final items off her list: sex in a car and being tied up.
I remove my tongue from her perfect pussy and glance up at her, arms tied above her head to the driver’s armrest. “I don’t think you’re in much of a position to tell me what to do right now, Killer.”
She stares back at me, cheeks as red and flushed as her tits. “I am not going to be the reason you’re late.”
“Trust me, I know by now how much both punctuation and punctuality mean to you….” I lean down to lick up her wet slit that’s coated by her last few orgasms. The taste is enough to make me stiffen in my jeans.
“I said I’d be gone for thirty minutes and it’s been more like forty,” she whispers, attempting to lift her hips away from me and shut her legs. “You, sir, are being cut off.”
“Just give me one more—”
“No!” she says, giggling. “Untie me!”
I do as told, but not before biting her thigh, bringing her blue silk panties back up her legs, and tugging down her tartan skirt I love so much.
“So?” I ask, untying her. “What do you think? Yes or not for you?”
She sits up underneath me, her eyes full of fire and sass. “I think I’d have more fun tying you up, actually.”
“That,” I say, kissing her once her wrists are entirely free, “can be arranged.”
“Well, that is if you don’t take off first…
” She rolls to the side, sitting up as she buttons her blouse back up.
Prue’s been doing this over the last few days, insinuating that I’m going to take off the moment the brewery opens, as I’d once made clear.
I hate that I can’t set her at ease. But I will. Soon.
“Wouldn’t miss that,” I reply, handing Prue her shoes.
“Hmm,” she says, side-eyeing me with a wry grin as she takes them from me. She slides Bertha’s side door open, tosses her loafers onto the ground below, which is dusted with red and orange leaves, and places her feet inside of them.
“I’ll see you later?” I ask, already knowing the answer. Still, my heart wants to hear it anyway.
“Wouldn’t miss it,” she teases, stepping out of Bertha and fetching her truck’s keys from her bag. “I hope flirting with the bartender gets me a few free drinks.” She twists around to smile at me, her hair blowing in the wind.
“You’re beautiful.” I tell her that every time I think it and every chance I get. So, often.
She smiles, wide and toothy. “You too.” She leans inside to kiss my cheek before walking across the driveway. “Seriously though, I want free drinks!” she shouts before getting into her truck and beginning to drive away.
“I love you,” I say to myself, watching her truck make its way down the long driveway and turn onto the main strip of road.
Five hours later, the brewery is officially opened and filled to the brim.
Nik and Aleks decided to skip the traditional ribbon-cutting ceremony and, instead, shotgunned a beer out front.
The party only got more fun from there. Tom and John play an eclectic mix of music, one might say, but the locals get a kick out of seeing them play—earning my brother major townie points.
The out-of-towners are too drunk to care what music is playing, and Lynn, who owns the local inn, is thrilled as she passes out business cards.
“Lynn who owns the inn,” I say to Aleks as he pours another flight of beers next to me. “This town is a fucking Seuss book.”
“?‘Cheryl who owns the deli’ doesn’t really have the same ring to it,” he shouts over Tom’s loud rendition of Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar on Me.”
“No, I guess not,” I say, taking the flight from him and passing it over the bar. Nik wanders round back, opening the till to put some more cash inside. “This is insane, dude!” I yell to him, my smile as proud as I feel. “You guys are killing it!”
“We’re nearly out of the IPA,” Aleks says over his shoulder, sliding a debit machine across to a customer who is giving him the eye. He’s none the wiser. “Is Nadia here yet?” he asks Nik and me.
“Yeah, she’s here somewhere,” I answer.
“There!” Nik shouts, pointing. “With Sef and Prue!”
Holy shit. I look across the crowd to find my three favorite women huddled together around a high-top table. Not only is Prue making my sister laugh at something she just said, which is a feat in and of itself, but she’s also dressed to the fucking nines.
She’s got leather boots that rise up past her knees and dark tights underneath a short brown skirt. She’s wearing a cream-colored low-cut sweater and a black leather jacket, and her hair is pulled into a loose bun resting on the top of her head.
Prue raises a hand toward me in greeting and then winks. I move to clutch my chest and hold my heart out toward her before winking back at her. She giggles, then turns her focus toward my sisters once more. “Gentlemen, hear me right fucking now…I’m going to marry that woman,” I say.
Aleks drops two glasses on the floor, smashing them, and the crowd momentarily turns our way before I offer them all a thumbs-up and a weak smile. “All good!” I laugh at his expense, reaching under the bar for the dustpan.
“Jesus, Mi, can you please not startle Aleks?” Nik asks, chuckling.
“I never thought I’d see the day,” Aleks says, sounding just like his grandma Bertha, god rest her soul. “Milo Kablukov is talking about marriage.”
“Have you told her how you feel yet?” Nik asks, taking the dustpan from me and bending down on one knee to sweep up the glass.
“Tomorrow,” I say, smiling at Prue as she goes back into conversation with Nads and Sef.
“What are you waiting for?” Aleks asks me.
I stare back at him blankly as Nik takes the broken glass to the back room. “Really? You of all people are going to ask that?” I look between him and my little sister, my eyebrows reaching close to my hairline. “ Seriously? ”
Aleks mumbles something under his breath before returning to the bar and helping the next person in line.
A few minutes later, a cute curly-haired brunette is waltzing up to my side of the bar with three empty beer mugs in hand. “Hello, gorgeous,” I greet her. “What can I get for you?”
Prue smiles sweetly, placing the glasses down in front of me. “What does the bartender recommend?” she asks, batting her eyelashes at me.
“Well, that’d have to be the only beer on tap we haven’t run out of yet.”
She breathes out a laugh through her nose. “Sounds perfect.”
“Having fun?” I ask, taking a glass and placing it under the beer tap to pour. Pulling the lever toward me, I watch as golden liquid begins filling the first glass.
“I am, yeah. Dad’s having the time of his life. And”—she leans in close to whisper—“Nadia seems to have warmed up to me a little.” She smiles proudly. “I think she might even like me.”
“Impossible not to,” I say, switching out the full glass under the tap for an empty one. “I love what you’re wearing tonight.”
“Yeah, I thought you might.” She bites down on her bottom lip, eyeing me in a way that makes me lose focus. The second glass begins to overflow, soaking my hand.
“Shit,” I say, laughing. Prue reaches across the bar for a rag and passes it to me.
“This is really doing something for me, I gotta say.” She gestures to me standing behind the bar with a flat palm.
“Oh, is it now?” I say, nodding with a suggestive smile as I finish filling up her third glass, watching it with a keen eye. “Well, in an outfit like that you can certainly—” I’m interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing.
“Hold that thought,” Prue says, taking her phone out of her pocket and bringing it to her ear.
“Hi, Tracy, is everything okay?” My ears perk up, turning to try and gauge Prue’s facial expressions.
Tracy, the bakery owner and the guitar player’s wife, is taking care of Mrs. Welch tonight.
“Did you check the kitchen, the cabinet above the sink?” Prue offers me a soft smile, which sets me at ease.
“Okay, yeah, no worries, I’ll be right over.
” She looks at me, rolls her eyes, but gives me a thumbs-up.
“No, it’s no problem at all…. Yeah…. See you in a minute. ”
“Everything all right?” I ask.
“Yeah, Tracy can’t find Mom’s medication. I swear I saw it laid out before I left but, yeah, I better go look.”
Nik steps up behind me at the bar, helping the next customer. “D’ya want me to come?” I glance at Nik. “These guys can spare me for a few minutes, it’s slowing down.”
Nik nods my way, looking between us. “Yeah, of course. Something happen?” he asks, pouring out two cans into glasses with ease.
“Thank you, but it’s fine,” she says to us both.
“I’ll be back before you can miss me.” Then, she turns on her heeled boots toward the door.
“Oh! Do me a favor though and give those to your sisters!” she shouts over her shoulder.
“Sorry,” she mouths toward them as she reaches the door and steps out into the dimly lit parking lot.
I take the two beers over to Sef and Nads as instructed. “She needs to check on her mom,” I explain, setting them down on their table. “She’ll be back.”
“Milo, we love her,” Sef says, grabbing my arm and squeezing it tightly.
It’s her first night out since Harper was born and she is enjoying herself, to say the least. I smile knowingly at Nadia, who’s sipping her overly full beer and tapping her fingers to Tom’s piano solo.
“Don’t we just love her, Nads?” Sef asks, slurring a bit.
“She is pretty great,” Nadia says, licking the foam off her upper lip. “I get why you’re acting like such a lovesick idiot a little bit more now.”
“I was just telling Nadia that you’re planning on”—Sef leans in to speak quietly, even though Prue is long gone—“ staying. ” She straightens her posture, smiling softly. “And that she should stay too.”
Nadia picks up her beer mug and takes a few long, heavy gulps.
“What do you say, Зайка? How about sticking around for winter?”
“I know you’re probably sick of living with us and the kids, but I bet Aleks would let you stay in his spare room.” Sef giggles maniacally. “Or you could share his—”
“Thank you, Sefina. That’s enough.” Nadia laughs, looking toward the bar before she looks back toward me. “I’ll stick around…for a bit.”
I smile at Sef first, then Nads. “Good,” I say, unable to wipe the joy off my face. “All right, well, enjoy,” I say, bowing subtly before I start walking back toward the bar.
This is going to be my new normal, I think to myself. All the people I love, who somehow manage to love me back, together in one place. Helping each other out, supporting one another, being a unit again. And for the first time in a really, really long time—I feel hopeful for what’s to come.
It’s not perfect, and there’s plenty of work to be done, but it’s family .