Game (Gentry Boys, #3)(76)

I drank a cup of coffee while Truly quickly tossed varied ingredients into a mixing bowl as she hummed. She had a batch ready to hit the oven inside of ten minutes. When I headed back to the bedroom to check on Stephanie, Truly stopped me.

“Thanks,” she said softly, her warm brown eyes fastened on me affectionately.

“For being eager to eat your cooking? You are damn welcome.”

“No.” Truly Lee cocked her head and gave me a warm grin. “For being a good guy, Chase. And for loving my friend.”

“Well, I can admit to being a work in progress. But I’ll keep progressing. As for loving her, that’s the easiest thing I’ve ever done.”

Stephanie stirred when I sat on the edge of the bed. She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever laid eyes on. Her hair was everywhere and I brushed a curl from her forehead as her eyelids fluttered and her soft lips pursed together.

“Hey, sweetheart,” I said softly.

She sat up and sniffed the air. “Are those cinnamon rolls?”

“Yup.” I handed her my cup of coffee and she started drinking it immediately while I watched.

“Don’t,” she grumbled, handing me the cup back.

“What?”

Stephanie pulled her knees up to her chest and looked at me seriously. “Don’t pity me, Chase. Please. I swear I won’t break.”

I hadn’t been pitying her at all. I’d been looking at her lips as she drank from the cup and wanting to feel them on various parts of my body. But I couldn’t say that either.

“I don’t pity you,” I growled and set the cup on the floor. I climbed back into bed and held her to me. She snuggled against my body and let out a sweet little sigh while I suppressed a groan because I was getting hard as f*ck.

Steph ran her fingertips lightly up and down my arm and we watched the morning shadows sift through the blinds.

“You going to class today?” I asked her.

“Yes,” she answered stubbornly. “And then to work. Don’t get me wrong, I’d much rather hide out in here. But if I don’t get out today then it’ll only be tougher tomorrow.”

“I checked this morning. Video got taken down if it makes you feel any better.”

“You think it’ll just show up somewhere else?”

There was no point in lying to her. “Yes.”

Truly’s bright voice sang out from the kitchen. “Breakfast is ready!”

“She’s a saint,” Steph moaned, sliding off the bed. She kept her back to me as she pulled a long t-shirt over her bra and panties. My dick liked the view anyway.

Truly gave Stephanie a sisterly hug and that was the only reference between the two of them to the awful events of the day before. She sat with us at the kitchen table and talked brightly and extensively about her Thanksgiving menu. That was the awesome thing about Truly; she didn’t require too much out of you.

“Mmmm, I forgot about Thanksgiving next week,” Steph said, stretching. I stared at the way her breasts strained against the fabric of her shirt and nearly dropped the plate I was holding.

“You okay?” Truly frowned.

“Fine,” I insisted. Except I was a pervert. An absolute f*cking pervert. But if I didn’t take care of this myself, and soon, then I wouldn’t be able to function for the rest of the goddamn day. So I thought about dead bunny rabbits until I could stand up without shocking the ladies in the room. Then I excused myself and said I needed to get home so I could shower and change.

Stephanie followed me to the door. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed herself against me, prompting a reaction that a thousand dead rabbits couldn’t fix.

“It’s not that I don’t want to,” she whispered in my ear.

I held her face in my hands and ran my lips over hers. “It’s okay, honey. I can’t help being a horny bastard but there’s no pressure.”

She laced her fingers through mine. “Meet me later?”

“Naturally. You’ve got class at one, right? I’ll be over at noon to take you to lunch and head over there with you.”

I was prepared for an argument, for her to scoff and tell me she was just fine on her own, but there was no way I was letting her walk onto that campus alone today. She didn’t argue though. She actually smiled.

When I got home Cord had already left for work but Creed and Saylor were sitting in the living room as if they were waiting for me.

“I’ll answer questions,” I muttered, “but give me fifteen minutes first.”

I headed straight for the shower, blasted the hot water and then jerked off like the future of my dick depended on it.

When I made it back to the living room, wrapped in a towel, Saylor was reading a book and Creed was playing Xbox. He smirked when he saw me.

“You feel better now, junior?”

I sat on the couch. “I always feel better after I take a shit.”

“That ain’t what you did in there.”

“Fuck you, Creedence.”

Saylor was watching me solemnly. “How is she?”

I paused before answering. Saylor’s hand was resting on her growing belly and I suffered a moment of dizziness as I realized she was sitting in exactly the same place she’d been sitting one morning last May when she’d stumbled back into our lives, bruised and lost. If anyone knew about overcoming cruelty and humiliation it was Saylor.