Part 16 (1/2)
Sophie stared at her, the question written all over her shocked face.
”We had this food incident in Rosita's and-”
”Not that, the other. The barbecue invitation.”
”Cole hasn't told his aunt that all this dating is a big pretense, and she's getting the wrong idea about Cole and me. She thinks that there's more between us than there is.”
Sophie pinned Christy with her piercing eyes. ”Are you sure you have this under control?”
Christy nodded as rea.s.suringly as she could. She had everything under control. Yes, she was annoyed at the groupies, and yes, she might feel a smidgen of jealousy and territoriality where it came to Cole, but she could handle it. It wasn't a big deal...really.
Probably.
Five minutes into the movie, she saw Cole approaching, and as he winked at her, her stomach flipped. They'd been f.u.c.king for a while now, and she'd had his tongue, his fingers, and his d.i.c.k on her, in her many times, in many places actually, but still the mere sight of him made her insides flutter. He just had to smile at her and she felt sixteen again.
”h.e.l.lo, beautiful,” he whispered so that Sophie wouldn't hear and, taking the lollipop from her mouth, kissed her. ”I told you you don't need these. Every time you feel the need to do something with your mouth, just come get me.”
She laughed softly.
”How did it go in the gym?” Christy asked.
”It was fun. I don't get to cover for Mike too often. You should have come to see me.”
Oh no, thank you, she'd done that once. The whole thing was too s.e.xy.
”We could have sparred a bit together.”
”Me? In a gym? I don't know if you've noticed, but my natural state includes a bed, a TV, and a bucket of ice cream. I've made some improvements with time, but that's basically it. Me working in a gym is a far cry from reality, buddy.”
He rolled his eyes. ”What did I miss?”
”Nothing much.”
Just his aunt inviting her to a family event and his groupies publicly unsheathing their claws on her. Not that they'd been saving their punches up until now, but they'd been more discreet, if not less insulting.
This last week she'd discovered that fending off barbs was d.a.m.n hard work. The snooty b.i.t.c.hes were mean. Never in front of Cole, though. He wouldn't have stood for it and they knew it, but when he wasn't around, they were plain nasty.
”Where's Annie and Holly?” Cole asked her.
”Holly doesn't do outdoor movies, and Annie is enjoying my birthday present. She's probably now meeting the stud of all studs while I'm here being secretly hated by almost all the females around.”
A smirk spread across his face. ”That's only one part of the deal. After the movie, we could go to my place and I'll pay you back with o.r.g.a.s.ms for these nice, uncomplicated dates you're offering me.”
As they watched the movie, her phone vibrated several times, but she didn't answer. It was her mother.
”Are you up for taking a swim in my tub?” he said at the end of the movie after Sophie had said her good-byes.
”Sure.”
On their way back home, she took off the silent mode on her cell and right away came the surfer ringtone.
”I have to answer this,” she said, looking at the ID. ”It's my mother's husband.” He never called her if it wasn't an emergency. ”What's wrong, Fred?”
She heard a relieved sigh from the other end of the line. ”Oh thank G.o.d and all the angels you answered. Christy darling, your mom is driving me crazy. Please, please talk to her.”
Poor Fred. She so understood him. ”Put her on. h.e.l.lo, Martha, what do you want?”
”What do I want? What do I want?” she shrieked. ”Isn't talking to my own flesh and blood too much to ask?”
Oh boy, she was in drama-queen mode. Christy drew in a calming breath. ”I was at the movies.”
”The whole day?”
She had a point there. ”No, I was working the whole day.” And avoiding her calls.
”It's not work if you don't even get minimum wage.”
”What do you want?”
”I spoke with Todd today. He said you're blocking his calls.”
”You speak to him all the time. Maybe he should marry you.”
Cole looked at her, amused, and she signaled for him to come close, after which she turned the cell so both could hear.
”Don't speak nonsense. I'm just trying to prevent you from making a huge mistake. Leaving just like that. It's a miracle he still wants you back.”
”Well, maybe he should have kept his c.o.c.k inside his pants. Besides, I don't want him back.”
”You're just being unreasonable, Christy. I know he disappointed you, but it is your fault. What did you expect? Men are like that, sometimes they go a bit...wild. They need s.p.a.ce to do their things.”
Do their things? Please! ”You make it sound as if I caught him playing computer games. His d.i.c.k was in her mouth, Martha.”
”Don't be crude, Christy. Besides, where did you expect it to end up? He told me about you not making yourself available to him. That was...ill-advised, Christy. If you don't give a man what he needs, he'll go find it somewhere else.”
”I made myself availab-You know what? Just forget it. Sure, it's all my fault. Are we done now? Can I continue with my evening?”
Her mother didn't seem to catch the irony in her tone. ”At your age you should not walk out on a man who has proposed. You don't want to end up alone, darling. You need a man. Work with me here, so that we can get past this silly misunderstanding and get back on track with the wedding.”
Christy rolled her eyes and covered the speaker. ”Can you believe this?”
Cole smirked. ”Come on, sweetheart, I'm waiting for you,” he said the second she freed the speaker, loud enough for her mom to hear him. At Christy's questioning glance, he mouthed to her, Use me.
At first she didn't understand, but then it dawned on her.
Oh...he might have a point there.
”Who's that?” her mother asked.
”I hooked up with someone, Martha. I'm not without a man anymore. You can relax.”