I roll my eyes and pray for poor Finn’s soul as I dress and tidy up while he showers and gets ready. I’m disgustingly happy with life by the time I get home, change, and race an ecstatic Indie down to the car.
“Shotgun!”
“Yeah, I’ll give it to you if you so much as think of sitting your skinny ass in the front with my…Marks,” I yell, stuttering over the word boyfriend the way an alcoholic tries to deny falling off the wagon.
Sheesh, talk about issues.
Indie just giggles and Marks raises an eyebrow before turning to the troublemaker with a frown.
“No drinking. No soliciting. Do not flirt with Finn, he’s at least six years younger than your dried-up old butt, and for God’s sake, do not press the buttons. I know you can’t resist usually, but try harder. Remember the waterpark?”
Her cheeks go fiery red and she thins her lips and nods at me as Marks tenses and casts us both a long-suffering look.
“What happened at the waterpark?”
“Nothing, it was a complete misunderstanding.”
“Bullcrap. She has this irresistible urge to press any button she sees—”
“Not other chicks’ love buttons, though! Those are off limits,” she interjects cheekily, trying to throw me off track.
I have her sussed, though. She’s afraid Marks will refuse the tour once he knows what a disaster she is around machinery and equipment of all kinds.
“Says you. I bet you tried once at least so do not act all innocent. Anyway, we went to the waterpark and stood in line for the big slide for like twenty minutes when Miss Buttons over here saw this big red thing that said Do Not Push.”
“Let me guess…” he says, making me giggle as Indie wedges herself to the middle of the seats and pouts prettily.
“It was red. Red is my color.”
“Red is also the color of the automatic drainage system. The poor schmuck on the slide had a very uncomfortable landing when he came flying down there, and yes, he broke both of his legs.” I wince, ignoring Indie’s curses.
“It was an accident, Marks, I swear. I won’t touch a thing I’m not supposed to, and I’ll avoid all temptation. Scouts honor.”
Oh brother. This woman is a serial liar.
“Don’t leave me alone with her,” he begs when we pull up to the shop and I lean over to kiss him good-bye.
“You stepped off that cliff, buddy. I warned you about this. Deal with it and try not to let her dive head-first into a barrel of booze. She only doggy paddles at an elementary level.”
His face as I leave the car and Indie jumps to the front over his leather seats is comical and I’m still laughing when I stroll into work and start my new, very good day.
***
“You have to come and get her. Please. Her and Finn are ‘sampling’ all the whiskey and she’s touched his zipper twice while calling his penis names I do not want to repeat,” Marks hisses into the phone over the sound of Indie’s giggles and Finn’s deep laughter.
My giggle is loud and booming as I hear him curse again and mutter death threats that will make him an only child.
“I can’t. I’m elbow deep in bread dough, I still have three hundred spring rolls to hand roll, and Callie’s just left with Jack for her doctor’s appointment. I don’t even know how I’m going to get this all done on time as it is. Tell you what, give Finn the phone.”
He mutters again but I soon find myself giggling as he slurs a hello.
“Finn, honey? Could you please get Indie and come on over to the kitchen where I’m making you lunch and cherry pie?”
The line goes dead but I think I heard feet running before he dropped it so I’m not terribly surprised when a fuming Marks frog marches his two charges into my kitchen fifteen minutes later, dumps them in front of the food I set out for them, and all but inhales my face when he reaches me.
“Thank you. I have a distributor coming in later and they’re making things impossible right now,” he whispers, groaning when I kiss him back while holding my doughy hands out to the side.
“You’re welcome but you so owe me. She’s impossible when she’s wasted and I freaking warned you.”
“Don’t judge too harshly, babe. I caught her going for the good stuff three times before I just gave in and cracked a bottle in the office. I didn’t expect Finn to go all in with her though so…”
Yeah. Like I blame the poor man. I’ve been around Indie since we were little enough to be decent and I know the hypnotic power she has when she wants to get rowdy. Why she’s like this on a weekday when she’s usually a drill sergeant and sober as a judge is bugging me as I kiss Marks good-bye and carry on with the food, my eyes on them at all times.
“Indie? You okay, babe?”
Her snorted chuckle is loud as she looks up at me with such sadness I feel my feet drop out from beneath me. Figuratively only, but still, the impact is harsh.
“No, but you know me, I’ll live as long as I have the will to keep the tears at bay.”
Finn laughs, probably thinking she’s teasing me, but I know her. This is the serious Indie, not the jokester.
“Indie—”
“Don’t, just let me eat and I’ll be good to start on those desserts I’m supposed to be making. I’ll be okay. I got Finny over here to drown my sorrows.”
“Hell yeah. I’ve got me a hot older woman with hair like spun gold and eyes like the finest chocolate,” he croons, licking the pie from his fork in a way I do not need to see when he’s looking at my best frenemy.
Ew.
“Fine but I’ll finish up here and do the desserts. I’ll get Hector to drive you both home so you can sleep it off.”
She doesn’t bother to argue so I know that whatever is up with her right now must be worse than she wants me to know. Dammit, here I am, finally feeling all happy, and my Indie is a mess. How did I miss this?
I’ll solve it and hopefully get her back to rights. For now, though, I have work to do before I can leave to go set up the ladies tea luncheon for Astrid and Edie.
Chapter Ten
The World is So Small
Percy
I’m just about done setting out food, putting the finishing touches on the tables and getting juices, tea and coffee done when Astrid and Edie sail in, arms linked, looking like two peas in a pod.
Seriously, I hope to God I look this good when I reach their age.
“Percy dearest, this looks fabulous! I just hope those old crones can appreciate this fine experience instead of pulling their noses up at everything. I swear to God, Edie, I don’t even know why we bother going to church anymore what with the judgemental glares and snide remarks.”
“Turn the other cheek, Astrid dear,” she trills, walking farther into the little solar where I’ve set up in the afternoon sunshine.
“Yes, but the other cheek’s been slapped enough, thank you very much. I’m telling you, Percy dear, don’t bother getting to know people when you’re older, it’s just silliness. Why I bet I could go weeks without this nonsense.”
Edie just smiles at her and I have to say that I’m distracted enough thinking about Indie not to give her words much heed as I try and fail to see a pattern to her behavior.
The woman is so not a talker, unless she’s lording her love advice over the rest of us poor mortals, so I have no starting point to see where this all began. All I know is that this is not her, and it’s bugging me to have seen her that way.
By the time I’m done and breathing out a sigh I feel a set of arms come around me and smell Marks.
“Hmm, that looks good. Want to come upstairs with me and give me some of that sugar?”
“Stop. I’m working,” I hiss, giggling when I look to my right to see Edie and Astrid both looking at us with huge grins.
“Don’t be silly, dear, you’ve done all you can and those old assholes can certainly pour their own tea. You run along with Markus now and leave us old ladies to our squabbling.”
Like I’d argue with th
at, I think as he grabs my hand and tows me away, smirking at the giggles of two old ladies I really do think I’ve fallen in love with.
My own giggles start up when he throws me over his shoulder, takes the stairs at a run and, tosses me onto a bed before closing and locking the door. When he turns to me he’s smiling wolfishly and pulling at his suit jacket and tie like a man on a mission.
“Panties off.”
That’s all the warning I get before he’s diving at me and chuckling at my squeal which quickly becomes a moan. Marks is a pro at the oral, a master of the art.
I’m moaning and biting into my hand to stifle a scream as he rips my panties and puts his mouth all over me, his attention to detail as he sucks and licks at every fold and hidden nerve turning me into a writhing puddle of incoherent goo.
I love his mouth, but his sounds get me off more than anything else and right now he is not skimping. He growls with every swipe of his tongue and snarls his appreciation when I grab his hair and grind into his face, not caring about anything now but the feel of him sucking and flicking at my clit as my honey starts flowing like a gushing faucet.
“Yeah, babe, shit, ride my face,” he growls when I swing harder, deeper, wanting more.
He gets me there so quickly every time, with nothing more than a few licks.
With that in mind I find the will the push him away. Ignoring his snarl of protest and roll to my feet.
“On the bed, Marks, fast. I hurt.”
He obeys quickly and smiles when I attack his zipper and tug his pants to his ankles, my body going tight at the sight of his erection, standing hard and tall, arcing away from his belly.
Sixty-nine is not my thing, I mean having my ass so close to his face, open and on display makes me twitchy, but right now it’s what I have if I want to get my mouth on him too.
So I do it. I swing my legs over him, settle just beside his shoulders and give him what he wants while I suck him in and make love to him thoroughly.
When we’re both spent and panting and I have the taste of him on my tongue I feel the residual tension I haven’t allowed myself to examine melt away.
“I know you don’t want to hear this, but I’m not sure I can do casual at all if that’s how naughty you’ve become, woman. Hell, that was…”
So naughty. I know.
I don’t think I’ve ever smiled this much in one day and actually meant it, I think after cleaning up and following him down to the living room.
“I…”
My words just seem to drop off and die when I look up. My smile is a pool of melting wax as I meet the blue-eyed glare of my mom and hear the absolute filth she’s spewing at Astrid.
“And you! I should have known you would be involved in this, Percival. Have you heard what is happening here?”
Oh Lord save us, here comes the reformed sinner riding in in a blaze of inglorious bigotry and downright ignorance. I so do not want anyone knowing I even know her, never mind that I survived her festering womb, but it’s unavoidable as I look up, shrug causally, and meet Marks’s eye.
“You get why I avoided this for an entire year?”
She’s still railing and making a complete ass of herself along with about half of the church crones when I look over and just conveniently catch sight of the ice bucket Edie set out earlier.
Oh well.
I never was one for self-control.
The bucket, when I hoist it high, is icy and I’m grinning from ear to ear when I raise it as high as my flats will allow and dump it over the garbage I do not want to talk to. Ever again.
“Your hot flush just about done, Mom, or should I go get another?”
“Percival!”
“Mother.” I groan, looking over at the moms apologetically before marching to the door and opening it wide. “I think you and your little witch-hunting, pitch fork-wielding hags should get the hell out before I lose my temper now.”
She looks like a drowned rat as she gasps and huffs out her anger, her face so pinched I don’t know how she can breathe and snarls at me.
“This is outrageous! Our church is for God-fearing folk, not-not these people,” she spits, grabbing her purse and stomping my way.
I seriously think she’d try and hit me if not for the fact that she clearly remembers the right hook I am capable of since that fall morning when Percival, the boy, decided to mess with the dress Gruffy made me.
I socked that sucker good and he still has the crooked nose to show for it. Mommy dearest must know that anything she throws at me will come back at her threefold, and with a delight I don’t think I’m decent enough to hide.
“The only outrage I see around here is a recovering alcoholic who thinks orange and green are color matches. Get your skinny, no-good, ignorant ass the hell out before I do something to you I’ve wanted to do since I was five years old.”
And that, folks, is how you clear a room in a minute flat. They all leave, the quiet spectators, the yellers, and the gapped-toothed crones, all streaming out quickly when they see the murder in my eyes and the sneer to back it up.
When they’re gone and I slam the door shut I’m almost terrified to turn around. I just ruined an event that I am technically getting paid for, and what’s more, I think that rug I dumped the ice and water on is one of those fancy things that cost more than a car.
“I um, lost my temper?” I say, turning to face them with a wince.
Three sets of eyes stare at me in abject shock and what I pray is not horror. Marks is the first to move and before I know it he’s smooching me like a stripper hugs a pole and laughing his ass off at my struggles.
“That was great! You should have seen her face when you clenched your fist, babe. I thought for sure she’d soil the rug and her ugly-ass pants,” he crows, kissing me once more before slinging an arm over my shoulders and turning to the moms.
“Er, sorry.”
Edie and Astrid blink at me for another minute, turn to each other, and start dancing like loons as I look on and try to keep my expression remorseful.
That expression soon morphs into a shy smile when they start applauding me and talking a mile a minute.
“Oh God, I need to get them around Gruffy.” I groan when the two hoydens start re-enacting the whole scene with sound effects I do not remember.
Marks, bless his heart, just keeps grinning and looking at me in a way that makes my bits tingle.
“Remind me never to piss you off, babe. That was downright scary.”
“I told you I do not like that woman.”
“Yeah, let’s not invite her to the wedding.”
***
“He said those words? Those exact words?” Freddie asks, sitting forward to grab another roll and cursing when Gruffy raps his knuckles with her cane for overreaching. “Ouch, Gruff, that freaking hurt.”
“Ask and ye shall receive, scamp,” she grunts, passing the basket over before turning to me with a beady eye. “You’re wearing one of them rubber things? I don’t want another scamp running around here only two months after the nuptials, young lady. I’m counting on you to uphold some morals, though God knows I must be completely soused to even think it possible.”
“Gross, Gruffy.”
I do not tell a soul that protection was the furthest thing from my mind or that my chances of actually catching are slim to none, so what the hell is the point? I just do what I’m good at and deflect.
Jack throws me a smirk and I get a knowing wink from Woody just as the doorbell peals and my heart starts hammering.
“Please, please just act as normal as you freaks can and do not embarrass me,” I plead, closing my eyes before going for the door.
Today is Thursday, and as per usual we’re all at home being verbally abused and loved by Gruffy. I went and did it. I invited Marks and his whole crew along for dinner and I am suddenly regretting it.
I mean I’m sweating like a whore in church as I swing the door open and let them in, stealing one kiss before the mayhem beg
ins.
Introductions go about as well as expected with Callie and Luci throwing their two cents in about the mom debacle and I’m feeling just about ready to breathe again when Gruffy breaks the iceberg as only she can.
“So my Percy tells me you two are not only lovers but that you also used to be married to the same fella.”
Oh Jesus, take me now.
“I didn’t say it the way she’s making it sound!”
“Oh calm your feathers, Percy peacock, they know what I’m getting at.” She huffs, waving me off.
Of course Indie cracks up, the irreverent asshole, and that sets them all off, including Marks who’s making a choking nose that worries me.
“Well, that’s true. Technically at least,” Edie muses. “Of course he married her first, so it turns out I was the whore on the side.”
That gets a round of applause. Honestly, are we animals now? Astrid takes a bow and blows Edie a kiss.
“We kind of just fell from there. It may sound odd and maybe it is, not that we care much, but hearing each other’s stories and being so alone while poor Marks tried to fix the mess my husband left behind…it gave us a whole new appreciation for what we missed out on being married to that ass. We’re too old to care what others think of us at this point, and besides, life is way too short to throw away happiness just because others think it’s wrong.”
“Here, here,” Jack yells, kissing Callie soundly and rubbing her belly with a grin. “Take what you need and say screw it if anyone has anything to say about it.”
That gets things rolling rather nicely and I feel myself relax when they all start yelling and laughing louder than the next, fitting in like pieces to a very odd and questionable puzzle.
“So. This is nice,” Marks purrs, nibbling at my ear in a way that sends shivers down my spine.
“You should all be here when Callie’s three dads, two moms, and the Levin clan join the fun. Hell, I don’t think this house would survive it.” I chuckle, trying not to look at him lest they all see me turn into a mushy loser.
I have a reputation to maintain, but doing so is not easy at all when the man keeps looking at me the way he is, as if I just gave him porn as a birthday gift.
THE NAUGHTY ONES: The Complete 5-Books Series Page 44
