Chapter Twenty-Nine
COBY
I lifted the heavy arm locked around my waist and exhaled quietly when it dropped like dead weight on the mattress behind me. Ocean had come in late, showered, fucked me, and then collapsed next to me with a gentle kiss goodnight before he succumbed to exhaustion.
He was traveling to the city a lot. And when he was home, Ocean was locked away in secret meetings with his father’s capteans. I knew what he was doing and why, but it didn’t make me feel any better because I knew shit was about to get real.
Ocean was preparing for war.
Our wedding was in a week, and his father would be back any day now.
I locked away thoughts of the mysterious Boss of the Fola—who would kill me the moment he discovered I was marrying his son—and slipped from the bedroom.
It was almost midnight, and I didn’t want to be late.
Two weeks ago, Ocean moved Hunter and Coco into the main house, and not a moment too soon, because the lake was permanently frozen now until spring.
The first real snow had left the thirty acres of the Kilpatrick’s estate under a thick, white blanket.
I could see the cabin from the main house—or at least the parts that weren’t covered under a white blanket—and was glad that Hunter wasn’t trapped inside.
My toes were warm against the heated floors as I tiptoed around the enormous house, but after several wrong turns, I reached my destination a few minutes before the hour turned.
Hunter stood at the kitchen island in her pale pink robe and matching house slippers.
There was a match in her hand.
Her expression was despondent until she heard me arrive. Seeing me, the look faded, and she smiled softly. “I was starting to think you forgot.”
“That would be pretty impressive since this tradition was my idea.”
“Where’s The Strap?”
“He’s sleep—Hunter…”
She smiled conspiratorially, lit the match, and brought the flame to the kindling.
One by one, twenty-six tapers ignited until the small flames danced in the dark, illuminating the blue or maybe purple cream they were embedded in.
“I’m not singing,” she warned, just as she did every year.
I smiled and moved over to the island to stand next to her. “Of course not. Someone might actually think you’re all mushy inside.”
“Happy Birthday, bestie,” Hunter whispered.
“Thank you.” I kept my gaze on the tiered cake as my lips twitched. “Two layers this year. Is this how the other side lives?”
Hunter snorted with a close-lipped smile. “You can thank your future husband for sponsoring the extra batter. We’re fancy now.”
I laughed. “What kind of frosting did you use?”
“Blueberry.” Hunter wrinkled her nose, and I sighed.
“This should be interesting.”
“Any time you want to return to the dark side, just say the word. I can have a juicy, delicious, guilt-free fat-as-fuck cow waiting for you like that.” She snapped her fingers, and it was my turn to snort.
“Ooh! It’s midnight!” Hunter said after glancing over her shoulder to check the oven for the time. “Make your wish.”
Instead of blowing out the candles, I thumbed away the white dusting on her cheek. Hunter and the kitchen were a mess of flour, sugar, and frosting.
Every birthday, there was a cake. Always homemade and never store-bought. We didn’t always have money for gifts, so we chose a tradition paid for with love and whatever ingredients we could find around the house. Or steal, in Hunter’s case.
I held her gaze and licked the flour from my thumb without thinking much about it. I didn’t realize how it might be interpreted until Hunter’s lips parted and her pupils dilated. The moment ended abruptly when we heard a door slam somewhere in the house.
Hunter cleared her throat and moved away.
“I almost forgot,” she said while I stared at the countertop. What the hell did I just do? I didn’t blink or breathe until Hunter returned and slammed a bottle of tequila and two mini tumblers down. “Shots!”
I forced a grin and snatched the bottle. “Fuck it. Let’s do it.”
“Your candles!” Hunter screeched when she noticed the wax melting into the frosting.
I’d completely forgotten. “Oh, shit. Help me.”
Together, we leaned over and blew out the candles, and then, per tradition, we skipped the formalities of knives, forks, and plates and dug in with our hands.
I was delighted to see she’d gone with a dark chocolate cake.
An hour later, we were smeared in cake and blue frosting and on our way to being drunk. We were sitting on the cold kitchen floor, shoulder to shoulder, and gossiping like we often did in our apartment when it was just us.
“Oh, my God.” I giggled and then hiccupped, which Hunter found hilarious thanks to the tequila. “Remember that guy you dated who wanted you to pretend he was a dog while you screwed him?”
“I try not to,” Hunter said with a groan. “Do you remember the guy you dated who liked to walk around bare assed all the time?”
“The weirdest part was that he kept his shirt and socks on.”
Hunter and I cackled at the memory of Tommy’s peeping pecker.
We continued trading dating horror stories until I made the mistake of mentioning Darius.
He wasn’t the first of our exes to try to come between Hunter and me, but he was the only one to almost succeed.
It hadn’t been while we were dating either.
It happened during the aftermath.
“I still can’t believe he said I didn’t need a man since I had you.”
“Fuck him,” Hunter snarled. “Darius didn’t know shit.”
“Yeah, but he wasn’t the only one. What about Justin? He broke up with you because he thought I was around too much.”
“Insecure little bitch. He’s lucky I didn’t shoot him when I had the chance.”
“And Levi?” I challenged. “You broke up with him because he wanted to move in.”
“It was too soon.”
“You dated for over a year.” Hunter rolled her eyes but didn’t reply. “I’m just wondering…”
“What?” she snapped.
“I’m just wondering if they had a point? Our relationships crashed and burned because we were too close. Closer than best friends should be.”
Hunter sighed. “What’s your point, Coby?”
I looked down at my hands smeared with blueberry frosting and clenched tightly around the T-shirt I’d worn to bed.
Ocean’s T-shirt.
It smelled like him, so I’d worn it to bed. His expensive cologne gave me courage even now, as if he were wrapped around me, ready to protect me from anything.
“What if we were meant for more? What if we just needed someone who wouldn’t mind having both of us around?”
Hunter leaned her head back, resting it against the side of the island as she stared at the ceiling. “Here we go,” she grumbled. “Why are you pushing this, Coby?”
“Why have you been walking funny all week?” I shot back.
Hunter’s gaze pinged around the kitchen while avoiding mine. “Abel is an asshole,” she answered after a while. “And he knows his shit. I’m learning a lot.”
“Training?” I mocked. “Is that the only reason?”
Her head swung toward me this time, and she stared me down with a furrow between her brows. But the worry in her eyes made the knot in my stomach tighten. “What other reason would there be?”
I shook my head and decided to let it go. “Forget it.”
Something big had happened between Ocean and Hunter, and they were both trying like hell to keep me from knowing. I could see it all over their faces after the three of us had dinner together for the first time.
I guess it was our bedroom now.
“Coby—”
“I said forget it.” I stood and started to leave the kitchen when Hunter grabbed my hand and forced me stop.
“Tell me what the fuck you meant by that,” she demanded.
“You want to know what I meant?” Hunter didn’t get to respond because I shoved her into the kitchen island behind her, but instead of slapping her for lying to me, I trapped her there with my body and pressed my lips against hers.
Hunter’s eyes were wide, and her lips were unmoving as I kissed her—as I broke the rules.
The boundaries we set after Darius broke up with me.
And then Hunter, desperately seeking to comfort a friend out of guilt, had thrown us into murky waters.
Later, when I tried to tell her how I felt, she made me swear we wouldn’t let it happen again.
She said we had to protect our friendship no matter the cost.
And now here I was, shattering that promise with one reckless kiss.
Finally, Hunter’s eyes lowered. I felt her lips moving under mine and my hand drifting between us to untie her robe.
She moaned into my mouth while I curved a hand around her breast, smearing her dark nipples with blueberry frosting before bending my head to lick them clean.
All I could think about was doing the same to her pussy.
I wanted it more than air. Instead, I forced myself to end the kiss and rest my forehead against hers.
“Maybe you were right, Hunter.”
She was still panting with her eyes closed when she asked, “About what?”
“If you hadn’t fucked me and then broken my heart two years ago, I never would have met Ocean. I never would’ve known what it felt like to be owned by him.” I shifted my head to kiss her again. “And neither would you.”
Moving my hand down her belly and between her thick thighs, Hunter made a sound of shock when I circled her swollen clit.
“Coby… what are you doing? You can’t.”
“Can’t I? I know your pussy is as sore as mine right now, and I know that training didn’t do it.
”Holding her gaze, I swished my fingers through her fat lips and her wetness, knowing it wasn’t just her arousal I was feeling.
“You’re hoarding my husband’s cum in your pussy.
I can do whatever I want with it.” Bringing my fingers coated in Hunter, Ocean, and blueberry frosting to my lips, I licked them clean.
“I’m sorry,” Hunter said as she watched me taste her. Taste them. “He…we—”