Chapter 13 – Remington
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Decisions, decisions
Remington
I knew the date as soon as I woke up this morning. May seventeenth, exactly one year since I met Minnie.
And I’m still obsessed with her.
It’s Saturday, but I went to the office for a meeting with my father this morning, and now I’m out to dinner with Phoenix and Helix. Reece is sleeping peacefully in her car seat on the chair next to me.
The server brings our food, a selection of elegant Asian dishes, and we each pile some on our plates.
“I talked to Dutton today,” Phoenix announces.
“What’s our cuz up to?” I ask, eating a bite of savory pork.
My brother widens his eyes. “You’re never going to believe this shit. You remember that girl he dated in high school, Brooke Fincher?”
“The one with the hoity-toity parents that didn’t like Dutton because he was just a cowboy?” I ask in disgust. They are the only people I’ve ever known who didn’t like Dutton Hale. The man is like a big golden retriever, sweet and loyal.
“Yep. That’s the one.” Phoenix expertly uses his chopsticks to scoop up some sticky rice. “Those people were clueless. They obviously had no idea how much the Hale ranch is worth.”
Helix grunts around a mouthful of food before swallowing.
“Dutton’s daddy could have bought and sold the entire Fincher family ten times over.
And now Dutton owns everything… all the acreage, buildings, and livestock.
If they wanted their daughter to ‘marry up,’ as they put it, they couldn’t have done better than him. ”
Phoenix nods his agreement. “Anyway, Brooke showed up at Dutton’s house last night. With a black eye and bruises on her neck.” One of his eyebrows arches upward as my jaw tightens in anger. “Apparently the very proper husband her parents insisted she marry did it.”
I set my chopsticks down before I snap them in half with my bare fingers. “That’s bullshit,” I hiss. “Those assholes moved her away to Dallas to keep her from Dutton, and then they hook her up with some abusive prick?”
“Apparently so. Dutton took her in, of course, and they’re going into town today. He’s taking her to the doctor to get her checked out and then to apply for a restraining order and start divorce proceedings.”
Helix shakes his head in disgust. “How could a man put his hands on a woman like that? Brooke was always so sweet.”
“I bet you’re a pussycat in bed, aren’t you?” I tease. “Do you leave your slutty man glasses on when you fuck?”
My brother circles his tongue inside his cheek. “Sometimes. If that’s what turns them on.”
“What about the suspenders?” Phoenix asks.
Helix rolls his eyes at our intrusive questions but answers anyway. “If it’s a quickie, I leave them on. Otherwise, they come off with the rest of my clothes.” A smirk touches his lips, and he lowers his voice. “But my fantasy is to one day tie a woman to my bed with my suspenders.”
Phoenix and I gape at him. “Wowwww,” his twin draws out. “Who knew you were a closet freak?”
He shrugs. “Don’t let the clothes fool you.”
“Speaking of clothing choices,” Phoenix says, eyeing me up and down. Dammit, I knew this was coming. “What the fuck are you wearing, Remi?”
Helix squints through his glasses, black-framed ones today. “I was wondering the same thing. Are those rhinestones on your collar?”
I stroke a hand down the neon purple dress shirt that’s a bit too shiny for my taste.
“They’re not rhinestones. Just a bit of sparkly fabric.
” They’re totally rhinestones, but I’m not going to admit that to these two.
“Serena picked it out for me. I told you she’s started a personal shopping business, and I was her first client. ”
“And her last, I hope,” Helix says critically.
“Brutal, man,” I complain. “You should hire her. Maybe she could boost your style a little.”
He pops his ever-present suspenders. “My style is just fine, thank you very much. I think that shirt is too bright for even Phoenix to wear.”
My other brother grunts his agreement around a mouthful of char siu.
Well damn. If it’s too flashy for Phoenix, it’s definitely too much for me. I knew that when Serena presented it to me, but I was trying to be supportive.
“Enough criticism of my clothing,” I grit out. “I wanted to talk to you two about what Dad asked me today.”
Phoenix’s brow furrows. “What? Is everything okay.”
I push out a breath and let the words spill like a waterfall. “The CEO of the European division is retiring, and Dad wants me to take over.”
There’s a beat of silence. “But that’s in London,” Helix announces, like we don’t already know that.
“I’d have to move there.”
My brothers look at each other, doing that twin telepathy thing they do, and Helix gives a brief nod. Phoenix swivels his face back toward me and forces a smile.
“It would be a good move career-wise.”
“It would,” I concur. “Running the business for an entire continent would give me more experience than I can get by being Dad’s right-hand man here.” I eat my last bite of Peking duck and look at Helix for his reaction.
“It would give you a chance to spread your wings and show what you can do,” he says in his thoughtful manner. “Kind of hard to turn that down.”
“I would miss you guys,” I say quietly. “And…” Before I can mention her name, the baby in the car seat beside me makes a cooing noise. I look down at her sweet, chubby face, seeing that she’s awake now. “And I’d miss so much of Reece’s life.”
Feeling emotional at the thought, I unbuckle the car seat and lift her out. Reece is five months old now and can almost sit up by herself, but I place her in my lap, my torso supporting her back. She promptly grabs my fork off my plate and tosses it onto the floor with a happy squeal.
Phoenix looks on with pride. “That’s her new trick, throwing everything she can get her hands on.”
I kiss the top of her dark curls. “My niece is super talented.” I’m aware I would miss every new trick and milestone if I went to London. That’s my one drawback from hopping on a plane and leaving now.
“We can FaceTime,” Helix says, obviously reading my thoughts. “We’ll keep you up to date on everything going on here, including with Reecie. And we have the planes, so you can come back whenever you have time.”
“We’ll come visit you too,” Phoenix adds.
“But I promised you I would be here for you and Reece,” I argue, bouncing my hand as the baby grips my finger. She pulls it into her mouth and gnaws on my fingertip. “I feel like I’d be abandoning you while you’re still trying to adjust to this single dad thing.”
He scoffs. “Dude, have you met our family?” He begins ticking off people on his fingers. “I have Mom, Helix, Dad, Rebecca, and Perri. I have more help than I know what to do with. Not to mention Lorraine, who’s the most fantastic nanny in the world.”
My brother is still on paternity leave from Hale Cosmetics, so Lorraine hasn’t officially started yet, though she stops by at least three times a week to get to know Reecie and make the transition easier when the time comes.
“You do seem to be adjusting to fatherhood extremely well.”
He smiles across the table at his little girl in my lap. “It’s the best job I’ve ever had. The benefits package includes zero pay, no insurance, and a jacked up sleep cycle, but it’s worth it. Isn’t that right, Reecie?”
She garbles out some nonsense syllables around my finger, and we all laugh at how freaking adorable she is. Phoenix digs through the diaper bag hanging on the back of his chair until he finds a bottle.
“It’s time for her to eat,” he says, but before he can come around the table to take the baby from me, I reach across and grab the bottle.
“I’ll feed her. You enjoy the rest of your meal.”
As my brothers and I chat, I find my eyes drifting down to the cherubic face of my niece every few seconds. She’s cradled in the crook of my elbow, eyelids growing heavy as she sucks greedily on the bottle. Damn, I’m going to miss this if I go to London.
When Reece is done, I prop her on my shoulder, and Phoenix tries to hand me a burp rag.
Helix stops him with a hand on his wrist. “Uh-uh, let her do us all a favor and barf on that Liberace shirt Remi’s wearing.”
I flip him off, but I can’t hold in my chuckle. I’m going to miss these assholes too.
I remove the red panties from my nightstand and bring them to my nose. Her scent no longer lingers, but I like to imagine it’s still there.
My dick is well trained and rises to the occasion as soon as I have that soft lace against my face. We’ve done this before. Multiple times.
Reaching beneath the covers, I take my length in my hand and give a long, tight stroke. My eyelids shutter closed, and I go back to that night, to the first time I put my tongue between those shapely legs.
Her words… goddamn, her words already have my cock pulsing against my hand.
I want your mouth between my legs. I want you to eat me like this is the first and last taste of pussy you’ll ever get.
I move my fist up and down my shaft, rolling my palm around the head to gather the dripping pre-ejaculate. My taste buds come to life as if Minnie is right here, riding my face like a good little slut.
“Fuck, you taste good,” I mutter into my dimly lit bedroom, removing the panties from my face and wrapping them around my cock. They’re soft and warm from my own body heat, not quite as silky as Minnie’s tight little cunt, but just knowing they had covered her there is enough.
I’m hard as stone as I begin to fuck myself with her panties, hips rising from my black satin sheets to meet my fist on every thrust. My fingers grip my dick tighter, and now I’m inside her, our eyes locked as we breathe each other’s air.
She’s so beautiful beneath me. Her lips are still swollen from sucking me off earlier, and I kiss them, tenderly, reverently, the taste of our mutual arousal mingling. The stroke of her tongue against mine drives me wild, but I fuck her slowly, feeling every inch of me inside every inch of her.
We’re one, connected like I’ve never been with another human in my life. My head spins as Minnie’s fingernails dig into my shoulders, scratching down my back until she’s gripping my ass.
Joe! Oh god, you’re making me fly.
“Me too, baby,” I cry, unable to hold back another second. I come deep inside her, no condom, just bare flesh rubbing and squeezing and throbbing together. “Fuck, I love you.”
I don’t know how long I lie there, my chest heaving from exertion before I open my eyes to…
An empty room. Exactly like that fateful morning.
The sleek white lamp beside my bed highlights the mess I’ve made of myself, my release dripping down the sides of my stomach and streaking the red panties.
“God, I’m fucking pathetic,” I curse, gritting my teeth because I swore I wasn’t going to do this again. And yet, here I am… once again covered in my own sticky fluids with her panties wrapped around my dick.
And did I really cry out that I loved her? Jesus Christ, I think that pisses me off more than my inability to control myself. There’s no way I love Minnie. She was a one-night stand who fucking ghosted me. That’s it. If anything, I hate her.
I reach for a few tissues and roughly clean the worst of the mess before standing and making my way to the en suite. I toss the tissues into the small trash can and stare at the soiled panties bunched in my fist.
“I’ve got to stop doing this,” I say aloud. Holding my hand over the trash can, I inhale deeply before releasing the garment. But a second before they land inside, my arm swoops down like it has a mind of its own and snags the panties on my fingertips.
My exhale is part relief and part annoyance at myself. Turning on my heel, I walk across the marble tile floor and close the stopper on the sink. Then I fill the basin with lukewarm water and some lingerie wash from the bottle I keep beneath the cabinet.
After carefully washing them and setting them aside to dry, I inspect myself in the mirror. There’s no lipstick smeared on my face, no love bites on my neck, no scratches down my back.
Because she’s not here. Only the remnants of memories and my fantasies.
Pressing my hands against the countertop, I hang my head and do some deep breathing. I’ve got to get over this. Over her.
In the past year, I haven’t fucked another woman. I haven’t even kissed anyone. Ample opportunities have presented themselves, but I didn’t feel even the slightest temptation.
Maybe if I get the hell out of Houston, it will be easier to move past this foolish obsession. Pushing away from the counter, I nod at my reflection in the mirror.
Decision made. I’m going to call my father tomorrow and tell him I’ll go to London.
And I’m not taking those fucking red panties with me.