Chapter 8
chapter eight
Summer
present day
After feeling a strange, unwelcome attraction to Dayton, I’m realizing maybe it’s been too long since I’ve had sex.
Axel and I talk on the phone a few times a week.
With his busy schedule and my tendency to withdraw from people when I’m sad, it’s never more than a fifteen-minute conversation, devoid of intimacy, emotional or otherwise.
After getting home from the birthday party, I plant my hands on my hips and survey my closet.
I brought one sheer pink teddy with me from California for the potential weekend visit from my boyfriend.
Since it looks like that may not happen for a while, I strip out of my dress and don the sexy outfit.
I’ve never had phone sex before. When my ex-husband, Andrew, would travel for his work trips, he barely stayed in touch with me.
Of course, that turned out to be because he had a thing with seducing the married women he was with while away from home.
I survey my reflection in the full-length mirror propped up in the corner of the room.
My breasts fill out the sheer fabric nicely, framed by the frilly lace.
I never wear lingerie. In a moment of boldness, I snap a photo of myself in the mirror.
I look at it, frowning at the awkward pose.
My frame looks straight and doesn’t show off the curves I know I have in a better position.
I keep trying, twisting and turning to make my boobs look their best and my ass pop out. I’m nearly breaking a sweat before I finally take a few pictures I actually like.
Axel and I were texting just a few minutes before I started the self-portrait session.
I tap on the recent message thread and add the photos to the text and quickly send them through before I lose the nerve.
I’ve never been confident in my body, especially since being cheated on by my first husband.
I chew my bottom lip for a moment before closing the screen and exhaling.
This will be fun. I have a vibrator in my nightstand. He’ll call me, tell me I look sexy and that he actually does miss me, and maybe I’ll start to miss him too.
I stare at my lock screen, wondering what’s taking him so long to respond. He just sent me a message a few minutes ago.
A loud banging on my door startles me. My heart jumps into my throat as I go to grab my silky floral bathrobe. I pull it on and tie it before glancing behind the curtains to see Dayton at my door. I groan, unlocking the dead bolt before jerking it open.
“What?” I don’t have time to roll my eyes before he shoves his big body into my home.
He rakes a shaky hand through his hair before settling his intense, wild eyes on me. “What the fuck are you doing?”
He looks more than pissed. He’s fully outraged. I rack my brain for what project happened at the house this week that he might have seen and sent him into a spiral like this.
“I don’t know what—” I stammer.
He holds his phone up. My eyes drop to the screen. My tongue suddenly feels too big, and my mouth dries up. Heat prickles my chest and cheeks when I see the sexy pictures I sent to my boyfriend in California. On Dayton’s phone.
“Did you hack into my phone?” I choke out.
My fingers clutch the edges of my robe tighter around me. Dayton’s eyes darken as his gaze trails over me. The veins in his neck are popping out. He’s barely restrained.
“You sent these to me,” he grits out.
The color completely drains from my face. I feel lightheaded as I stammer out an explanation. “I sent them to Axel.”
He licks his lips before shutting his eyes and releasing a deep exhale. “You didn’t.” His eyes open, flaring with anger. “You sent them to me.”
He’s standing so close that I can smell his musky sandalwood cologne.
I’m beyond mortified that I could make such a mistake.
I look down at my phone, tapping on my messages.
I gasp when I see that Dayton is the most recent text thread.
He must have texted me right before I sent the photos, and I was so nervous about sending them that I didn’t pause to double-check who I was texting.
Idiot!
I slowly trail my eyes back up to his. God, he is so fit. What kind of training regimen does he do to get biceps and shoulders like that?
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
His amber eyes flicker with something dark and displeased and he clenches his jaw, like he’s trying to gain the strength not to yell at me. I don’t breathe again until he turns around and stomps out of the house. The door slams shut behind him.
My hands are shaking as I scroll back through our text thread to see what he said. The pictures are so revealing. I wish I could bury myself under my comforter for the next few years. My nipples are showing and pretty much everything else. I groan from mortification and embarrassment.
Russell Dayton Copeland II (Satan)
What’s up with the lattice on the front porch? Come out here so we can talk about it.
He was messaging about the house, and I responded with scandalous, revealing pictures in lingerie. He must have thought I’d lost my mind with the way he stormed in here.
I shakily tap Axel’s name on my phone screen, and it starts ringing. I hold the phone up to my ear, nerves weighing down my stomach as I slowly sit on the bed.
“Hello?”
“Hi,” I exhale. “What are you doing?”
“Just walking down to the Sunny Shack for a bite with Brody. What about you?”
I close my eyes. “I, um … I have to tell you something.”
“What’s up?” He laughs at something Brody must’ve said, clearly distracted.
“So, I was trying to send you some naughty pictures, and … I made a mistake and texted them to someone else.” I rush out the last part.
I know I technically didn’t do anything wrong, intentionally, but after getting cheated on by my ex, I can’t fathom keeping secrets like this from my boyfriend.
It was an honest mistake, but he deserves to know.
“Oh, damn. Really? To who?” He sounds more curious than anything.
I chew my lip. If Axel were to say anything to Dayton, I have no idea what would happen.
There’s already so much drama between me and my stepbrother.
I’d rather we bury this little situation and never speak of it again.
Nothing would ever happen between me and Dayton. He definitely hates me even more now.
“A guy who’s a part of the renovation,” I say instead. It’s not a lie. It’s just not the full truth. Guilt gnaws at me.
Axel laughs. “Ha, that’s funny. Hey, babe, I gotta go. We’re ordering. Talk to you later.”
He hangs up the phone. I sit in stunned silence, staring at the wall as my heart thunders inside my chest. I have to go out there and face Dayton at some point, but I have no idea how I’m going to work up the courage to do it.
Axel’s apathetic attitude toward the whole situation doesn’t sit right with me.
How could he not care about this?
I stand up and start robotically changing into tan bike shorts and an oversize blue Save the Turtles T-shirt.
I toss the lingerie on the ground with a shiver. Maybe I should burn it in case it has bad luck. I slide on my Birkenstocks and a pair of Ray-Bans before walking outside. It’s warmer than usual today. My limbs feel like Jell-O as I make my way around the house to the front porch.
My heart drops when I see Dayton on the porch, his phone pressed up against his ear. The sun casts shadows over him through the palm trees. My stomach muscles clench when I notice his corded forearms.
Just try not to look.
The fact that he’s seen me in such a scandalous position has poured a bucket of awkwardness all over us. He doesn’t look at me as I approach.
“Yeah, well, I’m returning the order. I don’t know who authorized it, but any decisions for this renovation are supposed to go through me. I expect a full refund within the week.” He hangs up the call and shoves the phone into his pocket.
“New lattice, huh?” His jaw flexes as he finally shifts his eyes to meet mine.
I slowly ascend the stairs, feeling the weight of his gaze everywhere I shouldn’t. Thank God he didn’t bring up the unfortunate photo incident.
“It was on sale.”
He scoffs, shaking his head. “What did you do, sweet-talk Javier into letting you order it without consulting me on it first?”
I shrug. Javier is terrified of Dayton, so he doesn’t require much convincing to go around consulting him on things. I just tell him I’ll handle it, and he gladly relents.
“This was barely an increase, especially since I negotiated free shipping.”
He glares at me. “How did you manage that?” He keeps his eyes trained on my face.
“I told them I’d send professional-grade photos of the finished product for them to use on their website.”
Dayton stands up straighter, his full height shrinking me.
His pale skin has darkened a few shades since I first saw him at the funeral, probably from spending so many weekends in Florida.
I suddenly find myself curious about whether or not he has a girlfriend back in New York.
My mom never mentioned it before, but I never wanted to hear about his life either. He could be married for all I know.
Except she didn’t come to the funeral. Oh no. If he tells her what happened, she’s going to hate my guts …
“How does your girlfriend feel about you spending so much time away from home?” I lean up against the old porch railing.
“I don’t have the time or patience for a girlfriend.” He’s typing on his phone.
“Hmm, I see.”
“And I’d never be in a relationship where dirty pictures are the extent of our sex life.”
My cheeks heat. He’s only bringing this up to humiliate me.
“Sex isn’t everything in a relationship. Some people can have a bond that’s more than physical.”
“Is that why he’s never come to see you?” he muses, still typing on his phone.
I cross my arms over my stomach. “How do you know he’s never come?”
He’s right, but it’s none of his damn business. He must be spying on me through one of the contractors. Or maybe he talked to January. I thought she and I were friends, but maybe she told Dayton I hadn’t had a visitor, not knowing how much he and I despised each other.
He doesn’t answer my question. Whatever he’s doing on his phone must be vitally important.
“Okay, so if you don’t have a girlfriend, do you sleep around? Have a regular hookup buddy?”
He smirks. “Why the sudden interest in my sex life, Cupcake?”
Wish I knew.
I shrug. “You saw me … like that. I feel like we’re uneven now. I know nothing about your personal life.”
I feel vulnerable and exposed as hell, knowing Dayton saw the photos.
My body isn’t perfect by any means. It certainly wasn’t sexy enough to keep my ex-husband’s attention, and now I’m beginning to feel like it’s not interesting or sexy enough for Axel either.
He didn’t even ask if I’d send the pictures to him, never mind the fact that we haven’t had sex in months.
I’m sure whatever women Dayton does sleep with have to be models with long legs, perfect and round boobs, and no cellulite in sight, even on their inner thighs.
And now he’s seen me in lingerie, attempting to be sexy, and I’m terrified he’s laughing to himself about how sad my life is and how my boyfriend never visits me because I’m not even hot enough to tempt him.
I am pathetic.
“Forget it.” I turn around to walk away, tail tucked between my legs with embarrassment.
“He’s an idiot, by the way. You should dump him.”
My steps falter at the sound of his gravelly voice. The worst part is, I know he’s right.