Chapter 1 #2
“Oh, Cade, yes. Fuck fuck!” I wailed. He stroked inside me, curling his fingers further in and my thighs shook madly around his neck, my pussy shuddering around his fingers.
My hand clutched his hair tighter and my free hand clawed down on his shoulders.
He sucked my clit until my release soaked his hands and his face.
I made a last shuddering shake as I came and he gently licked it all up.
I slumped back on the couch breathing heavily.
This man. This man fulfilled me in ways no one had ever done before.
We spent the rest of the night naked on the couch, feeding each other the heavenly spaghetti bake Cade had made, sipping wine and watching The Devil Wears Prada.
And tonight was no different. Cade had been by my side the entire evening, holding hands with me and guiding me gently by my waist. He introduced me to friends I had not met before and fondly repeated the whole story of how we met to each of them.
He didn’t seem to want to stop talking about us.
When I had told him the night before that he didn’t need to pick me up because I wanted to bring my own car in case River needed me, he said I was welcome to bring River along.
But River had a test and had to study for it at home.
When I told him that, he said he’d still come pick me up, and drop me home if something came up with River.
I insisted on bringing the car anyway. Although I had come to trust Cade, I had been River’s only guardian for most of his life, and I was still not comfortable handing even a small part of the responsibility to anyone else.
And after what I had just heard Cade say about me, I was fucking proud of myself for not trusting him with anything to do with River.
I pulled into my driveway.
And then I stopped.
There were three cars parked in front of my house. Music was coming from inside. Loud music, the kind that vibrated slightly in the windows, the kind you played when you were certain the person who paid the electricity bill was not home.
I recognized one of the cars.
Noah Walker’s car. Matte black, embarrassingly loud exhaust, the bumper sticker that said SEND IT that I had been seeing in my nightmares since River had started talking about Noah like he was some kind of prophet six months ago.
River.
I turned off the engine and sat in my car for exactly five seconds.
Then I went inside.
The living room looked like a recycling bin.
Beer bottles were on the coffee table. More were on the floor.
Someone had put one on top of the speaker.
A jacket was draped aimlessly over my good chair.
And the lamp I had found at the antique market on Birch Street was tilted at an angle that told me someone had knocked it without a second thought.
There were six teenagers in the living room.
Four boys, two girls. One of the boys was making out on the couch with the “no care” attitude only a teenager could have.
One of the other boys saw me first. His reaction time was dreadfully slow, which I concluded had something to do with the three empty beer bottles on the table next to him.
His expressions comically moved, from shock to guilt to the calculation of how fast can I get out of here — and then he called out to River loudly over the music.
River was dancing with a girl in the middle of the room.
He turned around and an expression of shock ripped through his eyes.
He turned the music off. His eyes were red.
Red like he’d had at least four beers. He was fourteen years old and had not accounted for the fact that alcohol at fourteen hits differently than he’d apparently anticipated.
We looked at each other.
“Everyone. Out.” I said.
It took twenty minutes to get them all into an Uber. I put the addresses in myself, one by one, and told the driver to drop each of them at their front door. The driver looked at the collection of teenagers with a resigned look on his face and then drove away.
River and I stood in the driveway.
“Inside.” I said.
“Let’s start with Noah Walker.” I said as soon as I closed the door.
River crossed his arms. “We were just hanging out.”
“With beer. While I was gone.”
“It’s not a big deal —“
“Eleven bottles, River. I counted them.”
He opened his mouth.
I held up a hand. “I’m not done. You all trashed the house.”
“I’ll clean it —“
“You will absolutely clean it. That is a given and not up for discussion.” I took a breath. “And the jacket on the chair. Whose jacket is that?”
“Noah’s —“
“Noah,” I said, “he is not the kind of company you should keep, River. He is the kind of boy who will get you into trouble. How many times have I told you to stay away from him?”
River looked at the floor. “A lot.”
“A lot,” I agreed. “So many times that I have lost count, which for me is impressive because I am very good at counting, as demonstrated by the eleven bottles.”
River shrugged and gave out a sigh. “Uhhh. You’re making it into a bigger thing than it is.”
“You are fourteen years old and you have been drinking in the living room.”
“Everyone does it —“