13. Sex Toys FriendFoe?
THIRTEEN
SEX TOYS: FRIEND OR FOE?
? Why Can’t I - Liz Phair
CLIO
“Was it like… a moan?” Quinn asks.
She’s getting way too much enjoyment out of my suffering. If I could hear Noah through the wall, that means he could probably hear me. I’m usually more discreet about my nighttime activities, but Lexi was babysitting the twins last night, and I was still a little tipsy.
“Kind of? It was more of a grunt. Almost primal. It was hot as hell, actually.”
So hot that if I hadn’t been mortified by the whole thing, I might’ve tried for another orgasm.
She fans herself. “Phew. Girl, I don’t know how you do it.”
“Do what?”
“Not climb him like a tree every chance you get. You’re engaged. Surely that’s acceptable?”
“Fake engaged. We have a contract.”
“No way. Tell me you’re not serious.”
I reach into the basket under the coffee table and pull out the notepad, setting it on her lap beside the mug of tea in her right hand.
Her eyes go wide, and she snorts. “Shut the fuck up. Is this real?”
I pull my knees up to my chest, wrapping my arms around them and curling into a ball. “It’s so stupid. I don’t know what I was thinking. I think I panicked and blacked out.”
Quinn giggles. “I get it. Having a man like that call me his fiancée would make me panic, too.” She sets the contract on the table and takes a sip from her mug. “Hear me out…”
I point my finger at her and glare. “No. Absolutely not. It’s a terrible idea.”
“Oh, come on. Let me live vicariously through you.”
“Or. You hear me out.” I smirk. “Find yourself a nice guy to go on a date with, and then you won’t have to convince me to fuck my fake fiancé. You’ll be too busy having your guts rearranged.”
She purses her lips, averting her gaze. “Honestly, I’m surprised it’s taking any convincing. You clearly want each other. The sexual chemistry is off the charts.”
“You’re delusional, Quinny.”
“You’re in denial, Cici,” she sing-songs.
The apartment door swings open and Lexi appears with Callie, each carrying one of the twins.
Annie and Alice are one-year-old miniature versions of my sister, down to the mood ring eyes that change based on their temperaments that day.
Alice makes grabby hands for me, and I take her from Callie’s arms.
She settles her head against my shoulder and pops a thumb into her mouth. Alice is a cuddler, and I don’t mind one bit. I’ll take all of the baby snuggles I can get since I won’t be having any more of my own. The scar tissue from the endometriosis made sure of that.
“How was your sleepover?” I ask.
Lexi takes a seat in the armchair, bouncing a giggling Annie on her lap. “We had so much fun, didn’t we?” she says in a baby voice, rubbing her nose against Annie’s.
Annie grabs her cheeks in her tiny palms, and my heart soars at the sight.
When I left home, I swore I’d come back for Callie.
I tried, but Rodney threatened us if I ever tried again, so I kept my distance.
I regretted it every day, and for a long time, I thought this version of my life would never exist—that I’d never be close with my sister and watch our babies grow up together. It’s a dream come true.
“Hey Quinn,” Callie says, perching herself on the arm of the couch.
“Perfect timing. Please tell your sister she should—”
I slap my hand over Quinn’s mouth and shake my head before she can get the rest of the words out.
“Let me guess,” Callie says. “She’s still in denial about this whole Noah thing?”
“Shut up. I’m not in denial.”
Lexi snorts. “You so are.”
I feign a gasp. “Wow. My daughter, the traitor.”
“Well, we know I don’t get my acting skills from you.”
No, that would be her father. He did a great job pretending he liked me just to get in my pants.
A little late-night internet stalking says he’s still living in our hometown, still working for his parents, and divorced from his second wife.
He knows Lexi exists, but he’s never wanted anything to do with us, and that’s how I like it.
“You’re all a bunch of… meddling meddlers, and I hate you.”
Quinn scoffs. “Rude.”
“Something tells me, with a man like Noah, you won’t need any acting skills,” Callie mutters, nudging me with her elbow.
Lexi grimaces. “Ok. Gross.”
My cheeks heat at the reminder of what happened last night.
“You’re blushing!” Callie steals a chocolate chip cookie from the tea tray and takes a bite. “You like him. Like… really like him.”
“And judging by last night, he likes you too,” Quinn says under her breath. She does a weird, suggestive eyebrow raise twice in quick succession.
I shake my head and motion for her to stop talking, but it’s too late.
Callie’s already poised and ready for me to spill the beans with her head propped in her hand, her eyes wide with anticipation. She pops the rest of the cookie into her mouth and swipes the crumbs off her hands. “Lexi. Out.”
Lexi rolls her eyes and sets Annie on Quinn’s lap, leaving the room.
I grab the playpen from the closet and set it up for the twins with a few toys and their favorite blankets.
Alice fusses when I put her down, but then she lies on her blanket and closes her eyes.
A few minutes later, Annie lies next to her.
When I slump back on the sofa, Callie says, “Tell me everything.”
So, I do. Once I start, I can’t seem to stop.
I tell her about my new vibrator—with the clit teaser and multiple vibration settings—I splurged on after I almost kissed Noah, and then I tell her about the way he called out my name at the end of it all, like he’d been doing exactly what I had only seconds before.
After all of that, nobody says a word.
I gape at her. “Well?”
“That’s it? Mutual masturbation? Me and Jaxon do that all the time. I thought you were going to tell me you two fucked or something. I was waiting for the part of the story where he stormed into your apartment and asked you to sit on his face. Honestly, it was a bit anti-climactic.”
I open my mouth to speak, but there’s a knock at the door.
As I stride to answer it, Callie calls out, “Congrats on the orgasm, though.”
I swing the door open, and Noah appears. My eyes widen, and I go stock-still.
Don’t move. Maybe he won’t see you.
He glances past me. “Am I interrupting something?”
“What? Oh. Uh. No.”
“Hey, Noah,” Quinn calls. “You’re just in time.”
I turn and give her a warning glare, gritting my teeth and drawing a sharp line across my neck with my hand.
“In time for what?” he asks, following me farther into the apartment.
“Settle a debate. Sex toys. Friend or foe?”
My cheeks heat, and I wish I could disappear.
Noah leans against the wall between the kitchen and living room, looking effortlessly sexy in his usual jeans and tee. The sound of his gruff voice calling my name replays in my mind, and my stomach swoops.
He glances at me, then back to Quinn. “Friend. I’m not opposed to a helping hand every now and then.” Then he fucking smirks, and my panties disintegrate.
If I’m not mistaken, we’re both thinking about what happened last night.
“Not that I need it,” he adds in a sultry tone that prickles against my skin.
The man is sex on a stick, and I want to take a bite out of him.
“Anyway…” The proximity is doing unholy things to my body, so I step away, putting several feet of distance, a coffee table, and an accent chair between us. “Did you need something?”
“Yes. I was hoping I could borrow Lexi tonight. I have to get back to work, and I need someone to watch Auggie. Emma got a last-minute booking, and she had to cancel on me.”
“Lex!” I holler down the hallway.
She pops out of her room with a Twizzler hanging out of her mouth and her gaze trained on her phone. “Yeah?”
“Are you busy tonight?”
“No.” She finally looks up and yanks the candy out of her mouth. “Hey, Noah.”
“Hey kid. Wanna make some easy money?”
She shrugs. “Sure. What do you need?”
“Mind babysitting Auggie for me tonight? I should be off around one. He’ll be asleep for most of it, so you can just watch TV or do homework or whatever.”
The three of us women lock eyes, pause, then burst into raucous laughter.
“You must be new here,” Callie says. “You don’t give teen girls carte blanche to ‘do whatever.’”
I point two fingers at my eyes, then direct them at Lexi. “No boys. That’s my one rule. I’ll know if you break it.”
I’ve never had to worry about much with her.
She’s a theatre kid through and through.
Her world revolves around it. Drugs, drinking, and sex have never been a concern, but I’d be naive to think it’s out of the realm of possibility that she might want to experiment.
I sure did. It worked out for the best—it gave me Lexi—but it was a hard road to follow once I started down it.
“Give me ten minutes? I just need to grab a few things.”
Noah nods. “Meet us at my place, and I’ll show you where everything is.” He lifts his hand in a dismissive wave. “Ladies. It’s been… something.”
When the door closes behind him, I grab the pillow off the chair in front of me and toss it at Quinn’s head.
“Hey! What was that for?”
“Sex toys! You little menace.”
I pad into the kitchen wearing my favorite pink pajamas, towel drying my hair.
Refill my water bottle—check.
Take my meds—check.
Turn off the lights—check.
As I’m ticking off the last item on my imaginary nighttime routine, voices drift from the other side of the apartment door. At first, I assume it’s Noah checking on Auggie, but then I realize the voice sounds all wrong. That’s definitely not Noah, which means…
I pull open the door and plant my hands on my hips as Lexi’s attention shifts from Hayden to me. She’s standing in the doorway to Noah’s apartment, wide-eyed and guilty as fuck.
“You had one job,” I tell her.
Hayden turns, face ashen. He lifts his hand in a tentative wave. “Hi Miss… Mrs. Lexi’s mom.”
“You must be Hayden.”
He swallows and gives me a jerky nod.
“You can call me Clio after one of you explains what you’re doing here so late at night.”
“Lexi said she was hungry, and I work at the Grove.” He stammers, jutting his thumb over his shoulder. “I was just bringing her some pizza. I’m not gonna stay or anything.”
Lexi holds up the triangle takeout box and makes an X across her chest with the other hand, which is wrapped around a bottle of pop. “Cross my heart,” she says sheepishly.
I smile and roll my eyes. They’re so nervous, it’s actually kind of cute. “It’s nice to meet you, Hayden.”
He turns back to Lexi. “I should go. I’ll text you tomorrow?”
Lexi nods. “Thanks for dinner.”
An invisible force tugs at my heart as I stand in the doorway and watch Hayden leave.
I can’t help but notice the way Lexi’s eyes follow him down the stairs.
If she’s not already halfway in love with that boy, I’ll eat my hat.
It’s that first crush puppy love that gives you the warm fuzzies and ends in becoming a teen mom.
Clearly, I’m projecting.
“I swear I didn’t know he was coming. We were just texting, and I happened to mention that I thought I might order a pizza. Then he just showed up with some.”
“I believe you. He seems like a nice boy.”
“Yeah. He is.” She gets a wistful look in her eyes.
Oh boy. She’s done for.