Series: Webs We Weave Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 126927 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 635(@200wpm)___ 508(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126927 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 635(@200wpm)___ 508(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
“Or here’s an idea. We don’t pass out candy.” I eat another Almond Joy.
“Halloween Scrooge,” she combats, dumping the M&M’s into her palm.
“You shouldn’t insult the guy who just made you come four times.” I crunch on the fun-sized candy bar.
She lets out a long breath, blushing and slightly glaring. Her body is splayed a little over me right now, and she’s gorgeous. Flat-out, drop-dead gorgeous. But I fell in love with so much more than her tits and ass and the curve of her hips. Though, God, I love her wide hips. They’re the perfect crook for my hands to rest while I take her.
I raise my brows. “I only speak the truth.”
“I’m not denying it,” she says hotly, then sits up more against the headboard. Her blue hair cascades along her collarbone. “I was just thinking . . .”
She takes forever to finish that.
It’s killing me.
“Was there a thought there?” I retort.
“Now who’s impatient?” she snaps back.
Me. I take a frustrated bite of Almond Joy. I’m on edge while she withholds her tortured thought. I say tortured because her face contorts and brows wrinkle.
“Can I help you?” I ask her. “You want me to guess?”
“No, no,” she says, more softly. “I was just thinking that sex makes things more complicated. Are we . . . what is . . . ?” She trails off.
Okay.
I pick up the remote to pause the movie. I’ve been waiting for this talk. Phoebe rotates fully to face me and hugs a pillow to her bare chest. I’m only thankful because her breasts would be incredibly fucking distracting right now.
“What are we?” I clarify what she tried to ask. “We’re together. Fuck everything else. I want to be with you, Phoebe. I told you I wouldn’t have sex with you for any other reason than because I love you.” I watch her contemplate this with a short breath, and my muscles tense. “Isn’t that what you want?”
Am I wrong to think this? Are we not on the same page?
She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “I want that.” Her eyes lift to mine. “To be together outside of a con, I’ve always wanted that, Rocky.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
Phoebe is quiet in thought.
“Our parents?” I question.
“ ‘Fuck everything’ means fuck them, right?” she asks. And when I nod, she says, “Then fuck them.” She picks at a feather poking out of the pillow. “I mean, of course I’m still nervous how involved my mom will be if we tell her. I can’t just shut that off.” She looks to me. “We are telling our parents, right?”
“Yeah. I wasn’t planning on keeping this a secret from them.”
I knew that once I crossed the line and slept with Phoebe—that was it. I’d be opening the door to have our relationship manipulated and used by them. But I’d rather roll those dice and find ways to come out on top than stay in the hellhole I’ve been living in.
She smiles a little bit, but it fades in another thought.
Phoebe. I wish I could read her mind right now. “You’re not just hung up on our parents?”
“There are so many messy parts to this.” She sighs, but quickly adds, “It’s worth it.” Her eyes say: you’re worth it. My chest rises in a deeper breath, and I nod her on. She tucks hair behind her other ear. “How do I tell Hailey? She doesn’t even know I like you like this.” Phoebe gesticulates to my naked body.
“Why is that?” I wonder. “Afraid she’d run and tell me?”
“No, I was afraid she’d want us together.”
That surprises me. “Really?”
“I didn’t . . . I didn’t want her to be like my mom and hope for another Tinrock-Graves union. Now I’m actually more afraid she’d hate us together.” Phoebe’s neck reddens. “She’s adamant we’d be terrible for each other, and I have agreed with her. A lot.”
“Yeah,” I say with understanding. What we’ve been to each other has always been complicated, and I can’t foresee whether my sister will get it. Let alone Phoebe’s brothers. “Your brothers are more of my concern,” I admit, “but it’s not going to stop me. I’d rather tell all of them than have to sneak around.”
“Me, too.” Her voice is quieter. “How do we break the news that we’re together? Because in each version in my head, it feels so preplanned, like another con.” Her face breaks. “I want this to be real. But I don’t even know how to announce it without it sounding fake.”
“So we don’t plan anything,” I tell her. “We just let them figure it out or tell them casually when it feels right. We don’t need some elaborate setup, Phebs.”
She thinks this over, popping another M&M into her mouth. “Okay.”
“Okay.” I hold out my hand. She pours three candies into my palm, and I toss two back, crunching. “You’re forgetting another messy part to all this.”