“Wet already.”
“Always.” I breathe against his mouth. He pushes a finger inside of me, his thumb going to my clit. He knows my body. It doesn't take him but a few strokes and he has me.
“You’re mine, sweet girl.” Those are the last words I hear before I fall over the edge. I scream his name as the orgasm flows through my body. I relax against him. “Mouth, Cherry.” I turn in his arms, straddling him to give him his kiss. I dig my fingers into his short hair. He stands with me in his arms, carrying me over to his bed and laying me down.
I watch as he slowly strips off his shirt and pants before he climbs over me. He leans down, giving me a soft kiss. Letting me know what he’s about to give me. I have no idea how much time we have together.
I don’t know what the future holds for us, but I know somehow we’ll end up together. We have to. Linc is my whole world. Everything else is what happened to us. He is the one thing in life that is consistent for me. I know he’ll never let me down. That he’ll always be there for me. It’s why I have to do this for him. Because I love him and he’s the only person in the world that’s ever truly loved me.
“Cherry.” He looks down at me, brushing some of my hair out of my face. “You okay?”
“Yeah. I’m okay.” I wrap my arms around his neck, spreading my legs. “I have you. How could I not be okay?” That earns me one of his sexy smiles. No wonder women throw their panties at him. I can’t blame them. Too bad for all of them he is mine.
Chapter Five
Linc
Cherry is still sleeping when I crawl out of bed the next morning. My parents will be home this afternoon, so it’s the last time for a while that we’ll have the place to ourselves. Once I get a job, though, and an apartment, we’ll have this every day. I’d been hoping to jump start our life together when we graduated, but if the factory’s not hiring, I’m not sure what my plans will be.
The factory is the only big employer in town. The rest of the jobs around here are part-time gigs that wouldn’t pay enough to feed a bird, let alone Cherry. Maybe I can get work over at the local college—even if it’s cleaning floors or some shit like that. It’s not like I care what I do to make money as long as there is time for Cherry and my music.
I push all of that out of my head and get the fixings for breakfast. Today’s menu is waffles with whipped cream and sugared strawberries. I turn on the waffle iron and start mixing up the batter. My phone buzzes before I can pour out the first waffle. A glance at it says it’s from Nick.
You making breakfast yet? We’re outside.
Both my boys look like they haven’t gone to bed yet.
“Good night out?” I smirk, letting them in.
“Yeah. I’m starved. What’s for brekkie?” Nick walks by and arrows for the kitchen. Benjy follows slowly behind. His hoodie is up and the strings are pulled tight so there’s nothing but a small hole for him to peer through.
“Rough night?” I revise.
“I had a few,” he mumbles and stumbles over to the sofa where he throws himself onto the couch.
“We should write a song about a hangover. We could title it ‘the long goodbye’ and all the lyrics would be about that asshole in your life that ruins all the good things, won’t leave, and then you die,” Nick suggests. He pops some of the sugared strawberries into his mouth before I can reach him.
“Those are for the waffles,” I scowl.
“I’ll cut some more up. Where’s the container?”
I point to the fridge. While Nick preps more fruit, I start pouring out the batter. “How many do you want?”
Benjy holds up a fist.
“Yo, Ben, you’re still drunk. Your fingers aren’t up,” Nick yells out.
Benjy pulls his hand down and then raises it again. This time three fingers are showing.
“Where’d you two go?”
“The lake. Tate Lulzman was having an end of the year bash.” Nick sprinkles about a half a bag of sugar onto the strawberries. I guess it’s a good thing his old man’s a dentist.
“It’s not end of the year.”
“It’s an aspirational thing.”
“Anything interesting go down?”
“Lulzman’s ex showed up with a guy from Sailor Lake and the two almost killed each other.”
“The guy and Lulzman or Marie and Lulzman?” Marie has always been quick with a fist. I admire that about her.
“Ha. Marie and Lulzman. He could not believe she showed up with a guy to his party.” Nick mimics Lulzman’s high-pitched tone. Lulzman is a big dude with a small voice. Weird how things work out. “Anyway, he tried to get the two to leave and Marie was having none of it. Eventually the two got into a fight. Lulzman was throwing cups at her and Marie found a stick and wacked him across the back. We had to step in then because, you know, it was Lulzman’s party and it didn’t seem right that we allow him to get offed right by the keg he bought.”
“What’d Marie’s new man do?”
“Nothing. Stood there and held his dick. I think he might’ve been for show.”
“Gee, I wonder.” I flip a golden waffle onto a plate. Nick ladles on three tons of strawberries and then sprays a mountain of whip cream on top. “Is that for you, Benjy, or Cherry because if it’s for Cherry, she’d probably want a little less of all of it.”
“This is for Benjy. We got to get some food in his gut before he decides to barf up all the beer he drank.” Nick digs around for a fork and then carries his concoction over to the couch. “Eat up, old man. We’ve got practice today.” Nick glances over his shoulder at me. “We’re practicing, right?”
“We are.” We’ve got a gig Wednesday night. “Coincidentally it’s Sailor Lake.”
“I know. I was trying to chat up the new guy for intel about the crowd there, but he was out of it. Think he was stoned before they came.”
“Whatcha talking about?” chirps a bright voice.
Cherry’s up and looking edible, dressed in a pair of dark gray joggers and a light gray cropped T-shirt. A sliver of tummy peeks when she raises a hand to rub her eyes.
“Try not to drool on my waffle,” Nick complains.
“Don’t look at my girl’s stomach.”
“I’m not. I’m looking at my waffle that’s about to burn.”
I glance down and see the steam coming out from the sides. Hastily, I open the iron and flip the waffle out. “It’s perfect. Stop complaining.”
“No thanks to you. Cherry, how many strawberries do you want on your waffle?”
“Is there a limit?” She climbs onto the counter stool and reaches over to steal a few pieces of fruit from the bowl.
Nick stares at me.
“What?”
“You gave me hell when I did that.”
“I didn’t give you hell and even if I did, yes and so what? Is your name Cherry?”
“Man, remember when it was bros before hoes?” He fake cries and dumps two heaping spoonfuls of berries onto Cherry’s waffle.
“Nah, actually, I don’t.” I’ve been with Cherry for as long as I can remember.