“Didn’t Mrs. Sharon give you one of Davion’s Dr. Seuss books to read?”
“Mhm. Go, Dog, Go.”
“And have you started it?”
Charlotte paused, her hand clutching her bright orange crayon harder.
“Bugs, come on.” My head snapped back as I dropped it with a sigh, swinging my legs over my bed. “You know you gotta read it. We’ve already read every book I grew up with a hundred times. Mrs. Sharon is really nice to let you take these home for a bit.”
Charlotte turned her pleading eyes up to me, paired with that annoyingly adorable protruding bottom lip. “Can I just finish coloring this one picture first? Please, Katty?”
Oh hell, why did she have to be so freaking cute?
“Fine, last picture, then you go read, okay?” I ordered with a cocked eyebrow.
“Okay!”
She sunk back down to her elbows, coloring away furiously as she turned an elephant at the circus orange.
Flopping back down onto my bed, I picked my phone back up and resumed my mind-numbing round of Candy Crush. Level 1800. Yes, I was one of those weirdos that still played Candy Crush, and I would be until I could beat these fucking Jelly levels. I’d invested far more hours than I would comfortably admit playing this game, but it was free and didn’t require WiFi, so it was an ace in the hole for me.
It was also perfectly distracting from thoughts and shit I didn’t want to deal with. Like how nervous I was for tomorrow, my first official day of work for the Reeds. Maya was cool and all, and we’d have a blast together. She wasn’t what I was worried about.
It was her mom. I clearly wasn’t Heather’s first choice for the gig, and if I ran into her tomorrow, I was sure she’d have a few choice words to say about my being there. Maybe take another jab at my education or lack thereof.
A curt knock on my bedroom door tore me from my irritating thoughts, and I propped myself up on my elbows in confusion.
“Kathy? It’s like 11:30 am. What are you doing up?”
The door creaked open. “Sorry, but last time I checked, I was pretty sure I was your boyfriend, not your mom.”
The voice that was clearly not my mom’s brought a crooked grin up my lips and a snort through my nose as he walked in. “I’d use that term loosely.”
Daren pretended to be offended as he strolled in, hand on his muscular chest and mossy green eyes pushing into mine. “Why do you wanna hurt me, babe?”
“Such a drama queen,” I said, rolling my eyes as I sat up on my bed.
Daren and I had been seeing each other for a few months now. He came into Marties one day looking for beer pong balls and wouldn’t leave until I said yes to a date. While his approach was annoying, he was charming in a boyish way and easy on the eyes. Daren was tall, lean, and knew his way around the female body well enough that I didn’t have to waste money on batteries for my vibrator anymore.
We weren’t serious since I wouldn’t touch a serious relationship with a twenty foot pole, but he was fun. Fun and safe. Daren was someone I could spend time with, fuck around with, and all without having to worry about losing myself to him.
The thought of ever losing myself to someone was a fist in my gut, holding it tight and refusing to let me breathe or forget it was there at all. Giving my heart, my soul, my whatever to someone wasn’t an option for me, and I wasn’t even a little interested in the willing thievery. I couldn’t afford the loss. Charlotte couldn’t afford it, either.
Our mother fell into that dangerous love trap with our dad, and when he left, he ripped her essence out completely and left us with a husk of a woman. A woman whose heart was her compass, and she’d gone mad searching for it with no sense of direction left.
That’s what falling into that delirious kind of love drunk state did to her, and I had zero interest in that kind of intoxication. Daren kept me sober.
My neck craned back as he came closer, bypassing a greeting to Charlotte. “How’d you get in, by the way? Did you break into my house?”
“I think the lock is busted.”
Instant stress filtered through my lungs as I dropped my head back with another sigh. “Great.”
There went more money I didn’t have towards this shit pile.
“Don’t think about that right now.” Daren cupped the underneath of my chin, raising my head so he could reach my lips. “I missed you,” he murmured against them.
Unable to help another eye roll, I smiled against his mouth. “I highly doubt that.”
“What? A guy can’t miss his girlfriend?” And then he kissed me, sliding his soft lips between mine in a kiss that would seem sweet if it weren’t for his hand that was on my chin sliding down to rest on the rise of my breasts.
Pulling back some, I muttered between us, “Did you miss me or my tits?”
“Same thing, right?”
Daren yelped as I smacked the back of his head playfully, both of us chuckling as we parted our kiss.
“Katty got a new job!” Charlotte interrupted, beaming up at me proudly and only sparing Daren a quick glance to see his reaction.
Much like me, she liked Daren but didn’t love him.
“Oh yeah? That babysitting thing?” Daren laid himself back on my bed next to me, fishing his phone out of his pocket.
“Yeah. The pay’s great, the kid is easy, and the schedule works so much better for me and Charlotte.”
“That’s good, babe.” Daren’s focus was glued to his phone as he texted away. I fought not to loudly exhale my annoyance. I never liked when he did that or when anyone did that. “Maybe you’ll finally have time to go out and hang like a normal twenty-year old,” he added.
Not so convinced, I just shimmied down to get comfortable next to him. “We’ll see.”
Daren made a whining noise in the back of his throat, rolling to his side to face me. “Come on, babe. You’re always so busy with work and shit.”
“Language.” I shot a cursory glance over to Charlotte, who was thankfully absorbed back into the world of circus folk and animals that needed coloring.
Daren groaned a lackluster apology that was laced with irritation, his hands finding the curve of my waist and holding on. “Babe, I wanna show you off. Please?”
“Like I’m a show pony?” I replied dryly.
“A sexy show pony.”
“You’re not cute.”
“Eh, I think we both know you don’t mean that.” He winked, reminding me of that cheeky charm of his, and I rolled my eyes again at him. I realized I did that a lot around him.
“Come on, my buddy from work is having a party on Friday at his place. Come with me.”
I arched an eyebrow. “So you can parade me around?”
“So we can hang out like a real couple, and I can prove to my friends that you’re real and not just a cat like they keep messing with me.”
Stiff laughter barked from between my lips. “Maybe I won’t show up now because that’s pretty freaking funny.”
His hands around my waist squeezed, and his hazel eyes brightened. “That almost sounds like a cruel way of saying yes.”
“Maybe…”
Now that I didn’t have to work on weekends, I really didn’t see why I couldn’t go out for at least a few hours and let loose. Just a little. A couple drinks. A few dances. Maybe one game of beer pong. Charlotte was already going over to Mrs. Sharon’s house for a movie night with Davion anyway, so I wouldn’t have to worry about that.
“That maybe sounds like a yes,” Daren mumbled against my neck as he drew himself close, lips skimming beneath my ear.
A grimace he couldn’t see pulled back my lips. “What a creepy thing to say.”
He ignored me, pushing a hand beneath my shirt to grab my bare stomach with a squeeze, and I fought not to gasp. His mouth that pressed a smooth kiss against the hollow of my neck right after didn’t help matters.
“My sister’s right there, Daren,” I whispered, shifting beneath him.
“Charlotte, go to your room,” Daren tossed towards Charlotte, not bothering to spare her a look.
“Hey—” I pushed his shoulders back without pause, pinning my stare to him. “Don’t tell her what to do. Also, this is her room.” Dumbass.
A frustrated breath of air blew across my face as Daren hung his head low. “I’m sorry. I would just really like to spend some time with my girlfriend. Alone?”
He snapped his focus back to me, lust still brimming behind his pointed look. That look was a reminder that it had been over a week since we’d last had sex, and my resolve took a quick beating. I rolled my fingers around his shoulders, fisting the material in my palms as familiar heat sprouted between my legs.
Like he could smell my growing arousal, Daren lowered himself back over me gently, mouth hovering just above my ear. “Let me show you how much I missed you, Kat.”
The wet surprise of his tongue flicked my earlobe, and that was that.
“Hey, Bugs.” Propping myself up on my elbow to give Charlotte my full attention, I pushed Daren off behind me. My sister batted those big brown eyes up at me. “It looks like you’re about done with your coloring. Think you could go start that reading now?”
She heaved a gloomy sigh, her face falling into a pout. “Okay…”
Charlotte made sure to pick up her crayons and coloring book with as little purpose as she could muster, making her exit as dramatic and time consuming as possible.
No one could say that we weren’t related.
Once she was out of the room, Daren’s lips were on mine. His kisses were always smooth and quick, tongue sliding with mine and gone before I could ever really taste him properly.
Kissing Daren was like kissing anyone, really. It was nice to be kissing someone and have them kissing you back, but there were no sparks. No wild fire shooting through your veins and turning your every other thought that didn’t orbit around this one person to ash. No famed stars. No nothing but lips and spit and tongues.
Those sort of star-seeing, firework-exploding kisses were rare and dangerous and nothing I wanted any part of. Hollywood could keep their happily-ever-after kisses to themselves. I was fine with this, with Daren and our kisses that were just fine.
Safe.
Daren worked down my neck in hurried paces, proving he wasn’t a man who liked to wait for the prize at the bottom of the cereal box. His hands cupped both my breasts, squeezing them with a faint moan. My nipples ached for attention under his grip, but his hands disappeared seconds later, and I heard him messing with his belt buckle.
Whatever.
A content sigh blew past my lips as I brushed my hands over the thin graze of Daren’s buzz cut as he trailed his tongue down my navel, teasing the band of my pants with his fingers. I closed my eyes to enjoy the sensations, feeling myself growing wet in anticipation as his fingers made quick work of removing my shorts.
Before I could catch up, Daren was over me, between my legs, sliding into me, and I rolled my bottom lip between my teeth to not gasp. My mouth dropped open in a silent moan as my back bowed, the feeling of his cock hitting where I needed him sending tingles down to my toes.
Daren’s breathing in my ear was already turning ragged, and I huffed out loud, sinking my nails into his back as punishment for being so fucking close to coming already.
“Ow,” he hissed, jerking slightly. “Watch the claws, babe.”
Frustration and disappointment bubbled in my chest, but I pushed it aside and just closed my eyes. I focused on Daren’s body, the muscles moving in his back, the low moans he was trying to muffle in my neck.
Sensations in my lower stomach were knotting together as he rocked his hips into mine, and I squeezed my eyes harder to hold on to those electric knots forming, growing bigger and tighter.
Just before those bindings snapped and came completely unraveled, just before I reached that peak and nose-dived into the upcoming orgasm, an unexpected image glitched behind my eyes.
Gray.
All I saw was gray. Piercing, hypnotic, smokey gray.
The tempestuous wave of the unexpected color swept me up high and crashed over my body in an orgasm that had me turning my head to bite the pillow. Tears leaked through the corners of my eyes that were still squeezed shut as pleasure cracked and popped inside of me, the assault seeming never-ending.
Daren couldn’t take it and came undone inside the condom seconds later, shuddering above me as I tried to catch my breath. I was heaving and stunned and sensitive to the touch laying there beneath him as he collapsed on top of me.
Each breath that wracked my lungs helped flood thinkable air back to my brain, connecting the dots in a gut-twisting revelation of why exactly that specific, menacing color of gray looked so familiar. Of where I’d seen that exact shade before in a pair of striking eyes.
Well, shit.
