Unattainable (Undeniable, #3)(75)

I’d even started writing again in my free time, something I hadn’t done since I was a teenager.

“Hayley!” Christopher shouted and I used my hand to shade my eyes from the sun. Hayley and Joe stood above us, smiling.

“Damn, Hayley,” I said smiling. “Your boobs are enormous. Imagine what they’re going to look like after you pop that kid out.”

With a groan and a helping hand from Joe, she lowered herself beside me and scowled. “You got jokes, huh? Well, you’re no Kate Moss anymore, so shut it, Teg.”

“Hey,” I scoffed. “I like that I actually have a butt! I don’t have to be jealous of all you lucky bitches with body fat anymore!”

Hayley snorted. “You do realize how utterly ridiculous you just sounded, right? And how many women would beat your small but now existent ass for saying that?”

“If I keep eating like this, I might be a C-cup someday,” I said hopefully, peering down the top of my T-shirt.

“Don’t push your luck.”

“Shut up.”

“Ladies,” Joe said as he took a seat beside Christopher. “Don’t subject the little dude to your absurd female issues.

“And by the way, Teg,” he continued. “I’m digging the hair.”

“Me too,” Hayley said, reaching out to run her fingers through my short locks. “It’s really growing fast too.”

Nine months ago I’d cut off my dreads, took out most of my piercings, and threw out every last one of my toe rings. Whoever that girl looking back at me in the mirror had been, she wasn’t me. She was the mask I’d been hiding behind and I was done hiding.

My hair hit my chin now. I’d recently had it cut into a pixie style, short in the back, longer in the front. I hardly wore my contacts anymore and found I actually preferred wearing my glasses. It was sort of like reuniting with an old friend, only this time an old friend who was infinitely more fashionable than before.

“Where’s your mom?” Hayley asked. “Are we eating without her today?”

Yawning, I stretched out my arms and legs before scooting up some and placing my head in Hayley’s lap. “She’ll be here,” I said. “She’s just running late. Said she wanted fresh cold cuts or something. But really, I think she has a crush on Rich.”

“Rich?” Joe asked. “The butcher on Stockton?”

I nodded. “Yeah, they flirt all the time and it makes me ill.”

“But he’s so much older than her.”

I glanced up at Hayley and shrugged. “But he’s a nice man with a good job.”

She smiled down at me. “And he doesn’t ride a motorcycle.”

I smiled back. “There is that.”

“Daddy rides a motorcycle,” Christopher said. “Someday I wanna ride one too.”

“How about a pickup truck?” I suggested. “Or a muscle car? How about your very own fire truck?”

“Nope.” He shook his head exaggeratedly. “I want to be just like Daddy.”

“Well,” I said, sighing. “I tried.”

“There’s a Phish concert next week,” Joe said. “I could always take him with me, introduce him to the other side of the tracks. Where the real men are.”

I snorted. “By real, you mean men who like to wear Crocs, get high, and sing along to Tom Petty while reminiscing about the high school crush that never was?”

“Yep,” Joe said proudly and thumped his fist on his chest. “Real men.”

Hayley started laughing and I smiled along with her. They were so perfect for each other, so in tune to the other. Joe might not be what I would consider aesthetically pleasing, he might play video games more than he helped out around the house, he would probably never stop getting high, but even so he loved his wife. And despite his shortcomings, she loved him.

But people didn’t need to change to suit each other. They just needed to accept their differences. You could love someone just the way they were and still live in harmony together.

I’d realized this too late; because when I had, ZZ had already taken the man I loved away from me.

? ? ?

Grabbing the head of thick brown hair between his thighs, Cage punched his hips up. “Faster,” he growled. Although gagging, the stupid bitch complied, probably because he was holding her head right where he wanted her and she had no choice but to do whatever the f*ck he told her to.

They were all whores. Every last one of them. They deserved to be treated like the f*cked-up bitches they truly were.

And yet, still he felt nothing. Absolutely f*cking nothing.

Cursing, he yanked her head up and used his grip on her hair to toss her beside him. Straddling her chest, he gripped the sides of her face, forcing her mouth open. Holding himself above her, he thrust his dick into her open mouth and began f*cking her face. Fast and hard. She was gagging prolifically now and her eyes were wide and watering and finally, motherf*cking finally, he felt something. Some twisted sliver of satisfaction.

He came hard in her throat and immediately pulled out. She started gasping, coughing, and tried to turn her head. Slapping his hand over the girl’s mouth, he leaned down. “Swallow it,” he demanded, grinning down at her.

She tried but she couldn’t. She was choking, coughing too hard, and spit and semen erupted from her lips and between his fingers.