34. Graham #2
“Sorry,” he says, but he doesn’t sound like it. “It’s just—why didn’t she tell her parents? Especially her mom. Isn’t that what girls do?”
He’s waiting for me to say something, to give up some vital piece of information.
I keep my mouth shut.
My mom’s talking a mile a minute, like she always does when things get tense.
“You know, I’d almost feel bad about crashing this wedding, except they have a pickle fountain.
Like, who does that? Eat a pickle, Graham, you like pickles.
Pick me, I’m a pickle.” She shoves a sour, slightly mushy carrot slice in my mouth.
“And did you see all the desserts? Where’s my dessert plate? Frank, show him the dessert plate.”
“No thanks.”
“What kind of kid doesn’t like ice cream? Oh, where’s Kraig? They have mini almost-pizzas. They call them flatbreads, and the waiter was really ticked off when I called them pizza.”
“Your mom had a lot to drink,” Frank informs me.
“Dani had a lot to drink—whoo!” My mom laughs. “Speaking of… Frank. Drinks, snacks! Vamoose!”
Frank ambles off.
“Sorry, kid. You know he hates these things,” Mom tells me. She nods over to where Ryan’s talking to one of my brothers. “I think that’s probably not helping either.” She sighs.
It’s silent for a moment.
“So, you weren’t going to tell me about the rest of the guest list? Just gonna let me be surprised?” She’s trying to keep her tone light.
“I was hoping that you all just wouldn’t come,” I admit.
Mom looks a little hurt. “Oh, kid, I didn’t know. I thought you wanted us here.”
“I mean,” I backtrack, “I’m glad you came. I know Dani’s parents would have given her a hard time if you hadn’t.”
I watch Dani across the room. She’s got Claire, Lexi, Daisy, and my half sisters crowded around her, and she’s going on and on in excited detail about the wedding plans for her brother and Colette.
“I guess I’ve never actually seen you with them all together since…
” Mom trails off. “I just wanted to show Dani’s parents that we’re normal.
I know she’s important to you, and this is a big step in your life.
I want them to know that… that you’re a good guy.
I was—” She takes a breath. “Worried that they might think you’d hurt their daughter. But you’d never do that. Right?”
“Right.” I nod. “Of course not.” I drain the scotch in my hand. “I’m going to get a drink. I doubt Frank’s getting me one.” Frank’s making his way through the crowd, a sour look on his face.
She pats my chest. “I can already tell he did not get me enough of those cheesy bacon things. So load up. Bring your girl some, yeah?”
“You know, I think he’s taken,” a woman says to her, smiling as she walks by.
“Actually, this is my son,” Mom corrects.
I expect the usual “Oh my God, how old were you when you had him?” line of questions, and I brace myself for it. But the older woman raises her glass to Mom instead.
“Nicely done.”
Mom leans her head against my shoulder. “I love that you’re a billionaire dating the sister of the groom, but your biggest claim to fame here is an artfully posed dick pic.”
“What?” I cough out. “My what?”
“Isn’t that right, Frank?” Mom grins. “People have been showing it all over. I was in the bathroom earlier, and it’s all people were talking about—that and the fact that the special-label wine with the bride’s and groom’s faces on it maybe wasn’t the best idea. So file that away for your wedding.”
“You were looking at that picture?!” I’m horrified. “You shouldn’t have.”
“This is going to shock you, Graham, so you might need to sit down for a minute—Frank, please get him a chair—I have actually seen your penis before.”
“I don’t want to have this conversation with you, Mom.”
“And I approve of its life choices. Clearly, I did well making you drink all that whole milk.”
“Dani wanted that photo,” I explain. “She swore it wasn’t going to get passed around. It’s not like I could tell her no.”
“What did I tell you about sexting? Well, that answers that mystery, though, right, Frank?”
Frank just grunts.
“So, kid—Dani’s just got you wrapped around her little finger, huh?” Mom gives me an assessing look.
“Something like that.”
Mom laughs. “She made you! You’re like a foot taller than her!”
“Yeah. I mean, she’s just…” I look at her. There are clearly people around Dani talking about the photo, and she gives me a guilty look then makes a heart shape with her hands and grimaces.
“She’s just everything I always wanted.”
“We should elope,” Dani murmurs when I half carry her into my penthouse.
She has her arms around my neck, and I have my arm around her waist. My other arm is holding the bags and boxes of leftovers from the party.
“Pro tip.” Dani smiles up at me. She’s still drunk and warm and loopy. “Always order extra food for weddings. People won’t eat it, then you have leftovers, and you don’t have to cook for a few days.”
I turn my hip so I can sit her down on the island in the kitchen I never use. She nudges me with her bare foot as I start to put the food away.
“You want to get married?” I narrow my eyes at her.
Her eyes widen. She looks a little shocked. Dumb thing to say.
“You told me not to wear panties for a reason, right?” Her mouth is parted, her face flushed—not just from all the dessert wine.
“Right—fuck.”
How did I get so lulled by the false domesticity?
We don’t live together. We’re not dating. We’re not getting married. I’m not a good person, or a good boyfriend, or a good father.
Dani’s my victim. And I need to remind her of that.
She shrieks as I suddenly lunge, grabbing her by the front of the silky dress. I flip her over and push up the skirt above her hips. I roll on a condom and fuck her rough, slamming into her over and over while she makes these breathless little gasps.
“What?” I hiss at her as she takes my thick cock in that tight pussy. “You thought I was going to make love to you after you almost let my stepbrother fuck you?”
“I wasn’t,” she chokes out. “Oh God, you’re so fucking big.”
I grab those chains stringing up and down her back, holding onto them to drag her back on my cock every time I slam into her.
“Ohhh.” She makes a whiny, needy noise, her hands grasping at the edge of the marble.
“I felt your pussy. You were so fucking wet. You would have bent over like this for him, wouldn’t you? I told you.” I fuck her hard. “Told you.”
She gasps as she takes me again. I’m rough as I fuck her, letting her feel every thick inch of my cock as I fill and stretch her cunt until her body yields to me. She wiggles forward off my cock, and the delicate chains on the dress break as I wrench her back onto me.
“Told you, you’re mine. And I don’t want another man to ever touch you.”
I feel her tense up, then the orgasm rolls through her as she comes on my cock. I hammer into her until I come, spilling my load inside of her.
Diamonds spill over the floor.
I want her in my mouth; I want to kiss her, want to suck her tits, want my tongue on her clit. I reach for her, wanting to rip that dress open and bury my face in those huge tits.
I bet her nipples are hard as fuck.
But she jerks away from me.
“You don’t want me to come on your tits?”
“Um…” Her arms clutch to her chest. She looks scared. Worried.
Shit. I fucked up.
See? Monster.
“Get out of my sight.” I turn away from her. “Go shower. I can smell him on you.”
I suddenly can’t breathe. I undo its buttons then just rip off my shirt and my sweat-drenched undershirt.
Fuck. What have I done?
I slump down on the floor, my pants still unzipped, the suspenders hanging down by my thighs.
Lulu comes into the kitchen then. She’s wearing a sweater—the housekeeper must have put it on her—her nails clicking on the floor. She sees me on the floor and runs over to crawl in my lap. Until she sees a diamond on the ground.
“No, Lulu, no, don’t eat that shit. Bad dog. No. Dammit, Lulu. I’m not taking you to the vet.”
I wonder if diamonds are bad if a dog ingests them.
Lulu doesn’t seem worse for wear. She just goes after another sparkly gem.
I rush to sweep up the diamonds before she chokes on another one. Finally, I have to pick up the dog to keep her away from them.
“The wizard really didn’t give you any brains, did he?
” I kiss the dog. “You’ve got to be the most expensive doggo in New York City right now.
Here, you want a snack? Maybe you can eat a snack while I clean.
How about that? Can we make a deal? Let’s see what we have here.
I think you can eat plain shrimp. There. Carrots are always a good choice.”
“Graham?”
Dani’s standing in the doorway, wearing one of my shirts. Her hair is in wet tangles wound around her face.
She looks at me, bursts into tears, and collapses on the floor.