Hothouse Flower (Addicted #4)(75)

“Was she happy that she’s able to go with you guys to California?” she asks before we hang up.

“Yeah,” I say, my chest rising with the f*cking fact. “I’ll keep her safe.”

“You be safe,” Lily emphasizes. “You’re the one climbing. I’m packing a first-aid kit, just in case you fall, so you know.”

“Your f*cking Band-Aid isn’t going to save me.”

“Wolverine is printed on the front. He can save anyone.”

I roll my eyes for the fifth time it feels like. “Let’s just hope we all make it there in one piece.”

Daisy starts walking over to me.

“Gotta go.”

“Bye.” We hang up, and I slide my arm over Daisy’s shoulder and carry her duffel. Mikey is going to stay in France for another two weeks as vacation, hopefully distracting the paparazzi and leading them off our trail. For the first time in a while, we should be free of the media.

“You ready for a f*cking adventure, sweetheart?” I ask her.

She hugs me close and says, “Does this adventure contain cupcakes, Ryke Meadows and motorcycles?”

“Substitute the last one for a f*cking rental car.”

She smiles. “I’m ready for this awfully big adventure then.” She pauses and adds, “With you.”

I kiss her temple.

30 days until Yosemite.

The f*cking countdown begins.





< 31 >

RYKE MEADOWS



Seven days into the road trip, and I’m already fighting with my brother.

“Do you know how f*cking inappropriate you are?” Lo is half-turned around in the front seat of the SUV, his jaw clenching as he lays into me. The surprising f*cking bit of all this: it’s not even about Daisy.

It’s about Lily.

His f*cking fiancée.

“I’m pretty f*cking inappropriate,” I admit with a shrug. “I thought we all already knew that. So why are you hounding me about this?”

Lo gives me a look like are you serious? “You can’t talk about that shit with her. She’s a f*cking sex addict.”

Connor’s eyes flicker to me in the rearview mirror, his hands tight on the steering wheel. Whether he sides with Lo or me, he doesn’t let on. Daisy twists her hair into a long braid beside me.

I groan loudly. “She’s so embarrassed to talk about sex. I was doing her a f*cking favor, and secondly, I don’t know why you’re yelling at me now. This conversation happened months ago.” Thanks, Lil, for bringing it up right now. When I’m in a confined space for f*cking hours with my brother.

Lily and I talk often, but I don’t remember how we arrived onto the topic about public sex, maybe because she mentioned how she missed it. It’s one of her restrictions now that she’s in recovery. I was sitting on their couch, waiting for Lo to change for the gym, and I asked her all the places she’s done it.

Her face flushed red and she stumbled for answers. I thought it’d make her more comfortable if I listed my sexual f*cking adventures.

Beaches.

Bathrooms.

Golf courses.

Woods.

Parking lots.

Elevators.

Parks.

Malls.

Gym locker rooms.

The list really just goes on and f*cking on. I like screwing everywhere, especially outside. Lily started to open up a little bit. It wasn’t my f*cking intention to share our sexual exploits with each other, but I just wanted to make her feel less ashamed about her sex life. So f*ck me.

She told me she had sex with Lo in a movie theatre once. And how she did it at an amusement park when she was eighteen, on the f*cking Ferris wheel.

My first thought: I have to give her some credit for that one. It sounded f*cking fun.

And then she told me it was with a random guy she met at the cotton candy booth.

My insides kind of twisted. For her. For my brother. I wish she could have just enjoyed sex like me, but instead it was something else entirely for her. Something darker.

“I appreciate you trying to make her comfortable,” Lo says in a way that sounds like he really doesn’t appreciate it. “But for Christ’s sake, she’s texting me to clarify public sex to her.” He shakes his head and looks down at his phone and reads her text. “Is tent sex considered public sex, if the tent is owned by us? Because some people live in tents. Therefore that would be a house, and a house isn’t public, it’s private. Therefore, tent sex is private sex.”

Connor tries really hard not to make a sound (at least I think he does) but he ends up bursting into laughter.

“I know,” Lo says. “It’s insane. It’s like reading a text from someone trying to convince you that cocaine isn’t a drug.”

“And how do you know this is my f*cking fault?”

Lo raises his brows. “Because I told her that it’s public sex and she immediately responded with: Ryke has a lot of public sex. Maybe he’s a sex addict.” He looks up to me. “And then we had a long f*cking talk about the conversation you had with her.”

Daisy eyes me with a grin. “You like public sex? Like in grocery stores?”

“Yeah, right in front of the f*cking cantaloupes and produce,” I deadpan.

“I prefer to do it in front of the baking goods. Chocolates chips. Cake mix.” Her smile grows.