14. River #2
Margot is a senior and has started applying to colleges over the summer, and although SJ shouldn’t have said it, he’s not entirely wrong about the likelihood of Margot getting into Yale or going Ivy.
Isla comes skipping in a few moments later. She makes a beeline for me, and I scoop her up in my arms immediately. “You look better. Are you still distressed?” It seems she’s trying to whisper, but her voice comes out loud anyway.
Rowan’s eyes snap to me with a confused expression, and I can practically hear him asking what did you tell her?
“Uh-oh sounds like girl trouble. Distressed over what?” Margot asks while not looking up from her computer.
“Nothing.” I set Isla in a chair before sitting next to her. “I’m doing better, Isles.”
“What happened to that girl you went out with last week? The one from the plane.” Margot asks. I knew she knew a vague story about Sloane. Mainly, how I met her and that we had dinner in the city, but I never went into any more detail after that.
“Nothing. We went out, and… that was it.”
Margot’s brown eyes, which remind me so much of Rowan’s, briefly meet Isla's before finding mine. She raises an eyebrow at me before turning back to her computer, and I can practically hear her mm-hmm.
Thirty minutes later, we’re all sitting around their dining room table, something that they now do often.
It’s actually pretty impressive how much Ellie changed all of them because there was a time that they didn’t even all have the same dinner, let alone at the same time and at a table.
“So how’s the wedding planning going?” I ask.
Ellie and Rowan are getting married next May, and as I expected, Ellie is overly organized and on top of everything.
I’m pretty sure they’d be ready to get married tomorrow if they had to.
“Great! Did you see the email I sent you about your tux? I have it narrowed down to four, but I just want to see if you have a preference before I schedule a fitting.” I pause mid-chew because I was not expecting a follow-up question directed at me.
I turn my head to Rowan, and he shakes his head without looking up from his food.
“You started that,” he murmurs.
“Ummm, I may have seen an email?” I have not, but I also avoid my email inbox unless something looks code red. “I’ll double-check.”
“Hey, Daddy?” Isla chirps up from where she’s sitting next to me, and I’m grateful that she’s going to change the subject. “When Margot goes to college, can we finally get a dog?”
“Are you kidding? I’ve been campaigning for a dog since I was seven years old, and now you plan to get one the second I leave for college?
And now I won’t even be here?” Margot turns to Ellie and laughs.
“Good luck taking care of it by yourself.” Ellie lets out a sigh that practically screams, “Believe me, I know.”
“I did not say we were getting a dog,” Rowan speaks up. “I already said when you and your brother were a little older, and I could trust you to be responsible.”
“But I will be older!” Isla whines before taking a bite of mashed potatoes.
“Yeah, come on, Dad, please. I will be responsible!” SJ adds.
“I think a dog around the house would be cool,” I interject with a smug grin, knowing that having me on their side is absolutely going to piss Rowan off.
“I think you don’t live here,” he says, pointing his fork toward me. “Why don’t you get a dog, and they could come hang out with it?”
“Yeah, get a dog, Uncle River!” Isla says immediately. “Oooh, maybe we can get two dogs that are brothers! Like you and Daddy!”
“Okay, okay enough. I don’t have time for a dog, and I’m hardly ever home, especially during football season,” I tell them before things get out of hand.
The topic of them getting a dog has been an ongoing conversation for years, and the last thing I wanted was to get sucked into it, because while they haven’t been able to convince their father, they may actually be able to break me down.
I’m back at my house soon after dinner. Rowan tried to get me to stay over or at least long enough to talk to him about how the week went, but I wasn’t in the mood.
I’ve been thinking about the situation with Sloane for a week straight, and I didn’t want to spend tonight rehashing everything.
I wanted one day when I didn’t have to see her, talk to her, or talk about her.
Which is why I don’t know how I ended up back on the HuntersIntheWild Instagram.
She never messaged back after I only liked the message, so there’s no reason for me to be here.
I scroll through photos of animals, landscapes, parks, and forests, and I realize I’m looking for a glimpse of Sloane.
I mostly see her parents, and I even see a few with her little brother, but I haven’t seen any with Sloane leading me to believe she probably took most of the pictures.
I click on one of the photos with multiple pictures and begin scrolling through them, and sure enough, I find a picture of Sloane.
She’s sitting on a cluster of rocks in front of a massive waterfall that overtakes the picture.
The waterfall cascades over a huge cliff, sending mist and streams of water swirling through the air while she’s surrounded by greenery.
In the next picture, she’s looking into the camera, so relaxed and carefree, almost ethereal, as sunlight filters through the mist and creates a soft glow around her.
God, she was so gorgeous. There’s another picture, zoomed in, highlighting her gorgeous smile and those perfect pouty lips that fit mine perfectly.
And felt so fucking good wrapped around my cock.
I notice she’s tagged in the photo, and before I can stop myself, I’ve clicked the link to her public Instagram.
My heart begins to pound as I begin scrolling through this intimate look into her life. She hasn’t posted a ton since she’s been in Maryland, but I do see she has an active Instagram story.
I click on it without thinking and scroll through her pictures and videos of the past twenty-four hours. There were pictures of her latte, a few with her and Delaney, and one of her in her cheerleading uniform.
Fuck. My dick stirs, and against Rowan’s warning blaring in my head, I screenshot a few of the photos.