Chapter 8
eight
DAISY
A laugh bursts out of my mouth as I walk into the kitchen, wringing my wet hair out on a T-shirt, only to see Lenny slumped against the kitchen island—glowering at the fridge with a cup of coffee in her hands.
I showered quickly after doing the morning barn tasks, desperately needing to escape the smell of literal horse shit before talking to her again.
She jumps forward at the sound and turns to me as I ask, “Trouble in paradise? Or should I be offended that the orgasms weren’t enough to steer off the grumpiness.”
Her face turns bright red at that, though she ignores it entirely. “Your dad doesn’t have any creamer. Or anything for breakfast. I don’t think he was prepared to kidnap us.”
I smirk as I drop the T-shirt on the counter and open the cabinet to the left of the fridge. As expected, there’s a big box of coffee creamer cups—the kind you’d find at local diners—and a plethora of sugar packets. I reach for both, walk back toward Lenny, and set them down with a wink.
Lenny’s mouth pops open. “What a barbaric man. Warm creamer in the pantry?”
I snort. “We’re talking about the man who called his employees Gen-Z-ers and doesn’t know the first thing about what a ‘TikTok’ or ‘IG’ is. And yes, he really did call me to ask me that question. I’d like to assume he’s pretty much stuck in his ways.”
“You’d really think your dad was from the fifties or sixties,” she says as she starts pouring creamer after creamer into her steaming cup of coffee.
I shrug. “Yeah. He kinda shut himself off from the world entirely when Mom died. His only priority was me and… this ranch, actually. If it weren’t for those two things, I think he would have rotted away entirely.”
Lenny’s blue eyes slowly move up my form—pausing on my chest for the briefest of moments, forcing a smirk out of me—before they land on my face. “Do you miss her? I mean—you told me she died when you were young. It’s hard to miss someone when they’re gone that early. But still.”
The smirk falls instantly. Not necessarily in a bad way, though.
“I miss her,” I admit. “Or, well… the idea of her, I suppose. I missed out on a lot of things girls get to experience with their moms. Don’t get me wrong, Dad tried.
He raised me to be his, uh, ‘Birdie Princess.’” A chuckle escapes me, forcing Lenny’s mouth to tilt upwards.
“But still. You realize how much you miss out on when other people have what you don’t. ”
Her gaze moves down to her coffee again, and the air suddenly feels heavy. “Yeah. Tell me about it.”
I know she’s talking about us. She’s told me about her family issues, both sober and not. I know more about her piece-of-shit family than anyone else does probably. So, it can’t be that.
Best-friend perks—you can pretty much read their thoughts, even if you wish you couldn’t.
I lean my hip against the kitchen island and cross my arms under my chest. “You wanna talk about it?”
Her eyes snap to mine. “You gonna pull your avoidant shit and run away from me again if I do?”
I bite my lip. I deserve that. “I’ll try not to.”
Lenny raises an eyebrow in question.
A sigh leaves me. “I’m trying here, Len. Just talk, okay? Even if I were to run away, it’s not like we wouldn’t see each other in bed again tonight.”
She blushes furiously and I laugh.
I didn’t mean sexually, but I’m also not going to correct it.
This morning was the best fucking orgasm I’ve had in over a year.
Ideas are already forming in my mind.
Her voice snaps me out of the lust fog in my head. “I’m in love with you.”
“I know.”
“And you’re in love with me?”
I nod. “I am.”
She laughs. “Then why has it been fucking hell even getting you to talk to me lately? Why did it take you so long to fucking say it? You almost got married, for fuck’s sake. You’re a grown woman. Why… avoid me? Is it me?”
“No, it’s not you.” My gaze drops to the floor as I saw my bottom lip back and forth.
As much as I really fucking hate talking about my mental health out loud—thanks, Dad—I push forward.
“I think I’ve been in a really bad place for a while now, and it only just now caught up to me.
I’ve pushed everyone away. I’ve been living day-to-day, some days forgetting to even eat anything, and drinking every potentially negative thought away too. I… really haven’t been okay.”
Her expression goes sad. “Daisy…”
I keep going, knowing full well tears are about to start streaming. “I’ve always been this ray of sunshine, ya know? Always so happy. Always so light and free. And then, one day, I just woke up, and there was a dark thundercloud over my head. And it didn’t go away.”
“When Sarah happened…?” Lenny asks.
I shake my head. “Before. I honestly questioned if that’s what made her cheat, for a few weeks. Until the girl she slept with messaged me and told me they’d been fucking pretty much the whole relationship. So, it wasn’t that.”
“Why in the fuck would she message you?”
A snort leaves me then. “Sarah cheated on her too.”
Lenny sets her coffee mug down and starts rubbing her temples. “That girl is a disgrace to the queer community. Can we egg her house?”
I laugh loudly at that. “In this economy? Fuck no. Toilet paper is off the table too. I’m not opposed to slashing three of her tires, though.”
Her tone is utterly confused. “Three?”
“Yeah. When you slash three of them instead of four, the insurance companies can’t give you full coverage or replacement.”
“What if they slash the fourth one themselves?”
I shrug. “They can try, but the police report generally has to point out that it was a different knife, and then it can count as insurance fraud.”
Lenny squints at me. “Do I want to know how you know this?”
I smile big. “No.”
She nods, and a silence envelops us. For once, I decide to break it myself.
Baby steps. “So, yeah. I learned what depression is for the first time, and then my fiancée had to crush me in half. Cue me figuring out that mess, cancelling everything wedding related, trying to move… all while realizing I despise my job and it’s been creating a viscous burnout cycle.
I was severely not okay the night of the bar, even if I presented otherwise.
And I’m just trying to find my way back to the sun again. ”
Lenny’s tone is sad. “Was I a revenge fuck? After you saw Sarah? I get it, if I was. Just… the thought is going to eat me alive if I don’t ask it.”
My eyes nearly pop out of my head. “What? No! No, no, no. Don’t think that.”
She chuckles darkly. “Been thinking about it for a couple months now, Birdie.”
I walk to her. She turns to me just as I grab her face and go up on my tiptoes. “You see Sarah here?”
She swallows. “No.”
“You see Sarah when you were eating me out in my sleep?”
“...No. But that was me doing it. Not y—”
“You see Sarah this morning, when you were humping my pillow and I was watching your tits bounce? When I made you come on my cock?”
Her eyes drop slightly. “No.”
I nod. “Sounds like I’m not doing a damn thing for Sarah then. Her approval or her jealousy. Sounds like I’m just finally giving in to what I want, doesn’t it?”
She watches me intently. “Why now?”
I answer her with utmost honesty. “I don’t want to be miserable anymore. I just want to be happy again. I want to give in to what I’ve wanted all along. So, if you feel the same way, then why no—”
My sentence is cut off as her mouth covers mine, silencing me with a kiss. Our tongues battle each other until my cry of pleasure breaks us apart when Lenny raises her knee and presses into the apex of my thighs.
Fuck me to tears. How can I already be horny for this woman?
Lenny speaks again. “Tell me you’re not going to run away from me again.
I’ve spent enough of my life being alone, Daisy.
If this is what you want, then I want it too, but you have to promise me that you’re going to be here tomorrow.
Because I can’t do it at all if you’re going to be wishy-washy and play with me. I’m too grown for that.”
I nod. “I’m not going to run from you. I might get scared sometimes, yeah. I still need to work through some stuff. But I don’t want to hurt you. Not anymore than I have. I promise.”
She leans down to kiss me, softer this time, then breaks away. “Hey, Daisy?”
“Yeah?”
“Will you be my girlfriend?”
A choked laugh escapes me. That feels like a juvenile question compared to our activities this morning, and our talk just now, but I know she needs to hear it. “Yes, darling girl. I’ll be yours if you’ll be mine.”
She smiles brightly.
I push her into the kitchen island. My voice takes on a husky tone. “Hey, Len?”
“Yeah?”
“Get on the fucking counter so I can taste my girl before I take her on a proper date.”
“...A date?”
I nod my head. “Mhmm. My childhood best friend, Maeve, can pick us up. I texted her this morning actually, before I fed the chickens. She’s off from the fire station today. I’m taking you out.”
Her eyes slant. “Please don’t tell me you’ve fucked her too.”
Oh my god.
A part of me wants to spank the fuck out of her for that, but I settle on rolling my eyes.
“No. She’s in love with her foster sister and has been for years.
And for the record, I’ve only slept with five people—including you, and one of them was a man who was my tester before coming out a lesbian because I had to make sure seeing a dick would make me wanna vomit, officially.
So, the options of people you can be jealous about are pretty small. ”
“Ew. You slept with a man?”
I glare at her. “No. I touched it and ran away. I still count it in my body count though, ‘cause it touched me, and ew.”
“Huh. Okay. And her foster sister? Really? Kinky.”
I shake my head and get down to my knees, pulling Lenny’s PJ shorts down in my wake. She gasps when I spread her thick thighs, squeezing them roughly, and stare up at her beautiful pussy. “What are you doing?”
I reach for her hands, only to tug her down entirely.
Taking off my wet T-shirt, I lay down on the floor and grope my own tits, knowing it’ll make her instantly wet.
“You didn’t listen to me the first time, so now, you’re going to be Mommy’s dirty little slut and ride my face before our date. Now. Come. Here.”