20. River
RIVER
“How did you get rid of Mel?” I ask as I start moving down the street.
While Sam seemed to have everything under control, part of me was tempted to call the cops myself to break up the party, but I remember what it was like when I was a kid, just trying to have fun.
The last thing I wanted to do was ruin anyone’s future.
But at least they’d be alive to see it.
“Her sister was already on her way. I just said you were here, and she was fine with waiting.” She leans forward and squints her eyes at Sloane.
“Hi.” She waves and gives Margot a timid smile. “We met earlier.”
“Yes, the Eliza Thornberry girl.” She turns her head toward me, and in my periphery, I can see her narrowing her eyes. “Why are you picking up a student, Uncle River?” She bats her eyes at me, and I shake my head.
“Put your seat belt on.”
“This”—she points between the two of us—“looks like someone is buying my silence hard.”
I briefly adjust the rearview mirror so I can glare at her. “You don’t know anything.”
“I know a teacher should not be picking up a student from a party at twelve thirty at night. Maybe one of the boys from your team but certainly not a young woman.”
“I didn’t know who else to call.” Sloane speaks up. “I… got very drunk, and I wanted to leave, and my cousin was staying.”
“And what, you’re going to tell the school?” I ask because I never knew Margot to be a snitch.
“No, of course not. But I assume you don’t want Dad to know.” She smiles at me, and I roll my eyes.
“Fine, what do you want?”
She spins her finger around in a circle, pointing at all of us. “This to be a secret, for one. I told Dad I went to a lowkey movie night at Mel’s.”
“Anything else?”
“Please. I’m not going to blackmail you. What kind of niece do you think I am?”
“A bratty one. That’s why Isla is my favorite.”
She scoffs. “You’re not allowed to insult me while I occupy the moral high ground.”
I let out an exasperated sigh. “I met Sloane on the plane home from North Carolina.”
Margot gasps so loud she starts choking before pushing her head between the console again to look between us. “You’re the plane girl? Wait.” She snaps her head to look at Sloane. “I thought you were going to be a freshman at Towson?”
She shifts in her seat. “I lied.”
“And weren’t you twenty-one?”
“Yeah, I lied about that too.”
“Damn. How old are you actually?”
“Nineteen.”
“Jesus,” she groans. “Uncle Riv, didn’t we talk about women who weren’t my age?
“She’s not your age,” I correct her.
“Practically.”
“He didn’t know.” Sloane interjects. “I… fucked all of this up.”
“Look, I need you to keep this to yourself. Please. Can you do that?” I interrupt Sloane from spiraling and thinking that everything was her fault. Because while she may have put things in motion, I am equally responsible for everything that’s happened since I learned the truth.
“Obviously,” Margot says.
“You can’t tell your dad. He knows about Sloane being my student, and… I’m not ready to tell him that I did not heed his warnings about crossing this line.” I hated asking Margot to keep something from her dad, but I wanted to tell him on my own terms.
Preferably after Sloane graduates.
“You… told your brother?” Sloane asks.
“On the first day.” I glance at her before turning back to the road. “He’s my lawyer.”
“Oh. That makes sense.” She bites her lip. “Does he hate me?”
“No.”
“My dad doesn’t hate anyone.” Margot snorts from the back seat. “He’s like a huge teddy bear, especially since he met Ellie.”
“He just advised that I stay away from you, and obviously, I have not been doing that,” I continue.
“So have you guys been together this whole time?” Margot asks.
“No. He broke it off,” Sloane says immediately.
“Blocked me on everything. I just tracked him down tonight because I was drunk and needed a ride. This is the first time we’ve seen each other outside of school since the first day,” she says seamlessly, and while that is true, sort of, I’m surprised she was able to get that out so effortlessly while being this drunk.
“I see,” Margot says. “Well, do whatever you want. I’m not going to rat you out. But I shall be cashing in on something for this soon, TBD.” She leans forward again. “Perhaps you should casually mention that I should be able to go visit Eden at Yale for Halloween.”
“You want to go to Yale?” Sloane asks.
“Try she wants to go party, and it’s her closest friend she has in college who happens to be there.”
“Technically, she’s my aunt, and that sounds like adult supervision to me.” Margot sits back in her seat and folds her arms across her chest.
I chuckle before looking at Sloane to explain what she means. “Ellie’s sister. Fine, I’ll put in a good word. But I can’t completely convince him.”
Shortly after, we pull up to my brother’s house. “I’m just going to walk her up,” I tell Sloane, but it’s mostly so I can have a moment to speak with Margot alone.
“Be careful, Uncle River. Are you sure you can trust her?” she asks while we’re walking up the driveway.
“I’m hoping I can,” I tell her just as we make it to the front door.
She nods before looking down at the ground, and her brown eyes meet mine. “Please don’t get caught up… I don’t want you to ruin your life over…” She winces and casts her gaze back to the car. “Well, you know.”
“I know.”
“Thanks for the ride,” she says before engulfing me in a hug.
“Always, kid.”
“Love you.”
“Love you back.”
“Get home safe! Make good choices!” She calls after me before I hear the front door open and close.
Not long after dropping Margot off at home, we are back at my house, and I realize this is the first time Sloane has been here since before school started.
I can tell she was fading in the car, and by the time we are inside my house, she can barely keep those gorgeous eyes open.
I guide her back to my bedroom and sit her on my bed before handing her a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt.
I kneel in front of her and pull her heels off for her before rubbing each of her feet gently for a few seconds each.
“Thank you,” she whispers. I’m still kneeling in front of her, and she leans down and presses a gentle kiss to the tip of my nose.
There was something so domestic, so intimate about it that my heart squeezes in my chest. She grabs the clothes I gave her and moves into the bathroom.
I wasn’t sure if I was expecting her to get completely naked, but a part of me is disappointed that she put a door between us while she changed.
This is for the best.
But then she comes out of the bathroom a few minutes later, and I see she’d taken her hair down from that sexy-as-hell high ponytail she had it in from the game, and she’s wearing nothing but the T-shirt I gave her.
She’d foregone the sweatpants, so I was looking at her smooth, bare legs underneath my shirt that came to about mid-thigh on her.
She collapses onto my bed and pulls her pillow under her head immediately before letting out a contented sigh.
“Do you need to text anyone to let them know you’re safe? Maybe your cousin?”
“I told her I was safe,” she murmurs as her eyes flutter closed. “I appreciate you coming to get me.”
“Of course.”
“I know this doesn’t change anything.” I swallow the words sitting on the tip of my tongue that…
maybe it did? Not that Margot finding out was the worst thing that could happen, but another person knowing this secret did feel like a tiny weight had been lifted off my shoulders. “Will you lie down with me?”
“Yeah,” I tell her, kicking off my shoes and sliding my pants down my legs and pulling my shirt off. I climb into bed next to her, and within seconds, I can hear her softly snoring.
I’m asleep not long after.
The first thing that jostles me somewhat awake is the feeling of a weight on top of me. The second thing is the feeling of lips on my neck and more weight on my dick. My eyes fly open, and the room is pitch black. “Sloane.”
“Mmm, hi, Daddy.”
“Shit,” I whisper. “Baby, we really shouldn’t.”
“Please… haven’t you missed me, Daddy?”
“Yes. So much. But we’ve talked about this,” I say, but my actions are very different as I reach under my shirt she’s wearing to play with the string of her thong.
“Maybe just… one more time? I mean… I’m here.”
“You’ve been drinking, baby. I don’t want…” I start when she cuts me off.
“To take advantage of me? River, please. I’m half naked and climbed on top of you while you were sleeping. I don’t think anyone would think you’re taking advantage here.”
“You seem more sober…”
“Well, I’ve been asleep for a few hours,” she says, and when I reach for the phone on my nightstand, I see it’s almost four in the morning. “How about… you just… relax,” she whispers before her lips collide gently with mine.
I groan against her soft, pillowy lips, and then her tongue gently moves between my lips, to meet mine and begins to rub hers against it.
Her soft hands rub against my bare chest as she rocks against me while we kiss.
“Maybe… we can get off like this?” She grinds her covered pussy against my dick that’s covered by my briefs, and the thought of dry humping her until we come was so fucking sexy, I’m about to lose my mind.
“I’ve missed you so much,” she tells me as she begins to move faster on top of me.
I grab her hips, holding her hard against me and helping her move back and forth. “I’ve missed you too. I’ve thought about you so much.”
“I don’t want to give you up. Please don’t make me,” she pants against my lips. “I want you… I want this… us… fuck, you’re hitting my clit just right,” she moans, and my cock is already leaking in my briefs from her humping me.
“You’re doing so good, baby.”
“I’m your good girl?”
“My best fucking girl.”
Her lips find mine again. “Have you… had anyone here since I’ve been here?”
I pull her lips away from mine and hold her cheeks in my hands. “Fuck no. I swear.” It’s so dark, I can’t really see, but I feel her nod against my cheek as she continues to move on top of me.
“You believe me?”