“How do you know?” I ask. “You never spoke to her about me, did you?”
“She wouldn’t be cruel enough to judge a teenage girl like that,” he insists, wiping a hand over his face. “If she didn’t help you back in high school, I’m sure it was because she was just as preoccupied with the divorce as me.”
I look back at my reflection. “Hm,” I say, reaching for my mascara wand. “Okay.”
We lapse into silence again as I touch up my makeup for the fifth time, trying to breathe through my nerves. Luke checks his watch again, his face grim.
Zack looks between us. “You guys know you have to look happy at weddings, right? I’ve seen cheerier people at cremations.” Neither of us say anything. He sighs, sitting up. “Alright. Enough of this. I know what will cheer you up.” He rolls lazily off the bed, pulling his suitcase out from under the mattress. I watch as he extracts a pink silky pouch. He tugs the ribbon to open it, shaking out a string of silver beads. I recognise them immediately. They’re from my Sinsters gift box. “I brought you a present, honeybun.”
“That’s not a present,” I point out. “They were already mine.”
“My gift is the gift of putting them inside you,” he informs me. “Alright, bend over, lass.”
My mouth falls open. “But… right now?”
His mouth ticks up. “Aye.”
“I… you can’t make me… it’s a wedding!” I mean, at least it’s secular, so the ceremony isn’t in a church. Maybe I won’t get drop-shipped directly to Hell when I die. But still.
“Oh, I won’t make you come. That would be very rude, on someone else’s big day,” he agrees. “But they’ll just keep you…” He leans forward and presses a fleeting kiss on my eyelashes. “On edge.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I watch Luke’s fingers fumble on his tie. He swears under his breath as he messes up the knot, yanking it loose again.
I consider him. “Will me squirming in my seat distract you from how awful today is gonna be for you?”
His expression darkens. “Don’t do it for me, love.”
“Yes, then.” I sigh. The idea is tempting. It will certainly make the next few hours more bearable if I have a distraction. “But what about Josh?” I know he’s excited for his brother to get married. I don’t want him to think I’m being disrespectful.
Zack snorts. “Josh won’t give a monkey’s. We’d better not tell him before the ceremony, though. Don’t want him getting hard in front of everyone.”
“Oh.” My cheeks feel hot as I look at the smooth, silver beads. “I… Okay, then.”
Luke dips his head. “Really?” He asks, his voice duskier than usual. I shiver.
“Yes.”
His lips curve up. All of a sudden, the exhaustion has drained out of him. He looks alive and hungry. “Alright. Zack, may I?”
“‘Course, mate,” Zack says, graciously handing the beads over.
Luke comes to stand behind me, placing a gentle hand on the small of my back and turning me towards the bed. “Bend,” he says quietly, stroking a hand up my back. His fingertips prickle over my skin, sending tingles flicking down my spine. My mouth suddenly dry, I bend over the bed.
“Lift up your dress.”
I do as he says. He slips off my underwear, then takes one of my hands and leads it to the bed’s wooden headboard. “Hold,” he orders.
I do, tightening my grip on the bedframe. “You know you turn into a total caveman in bed, right?”
Zack laughs, kneeling next to me on the floor. “He’s all ‘Kneel. Lick. Blow.’ I know you can do whole sentences, mate. You’re well clever.”
Luke gives him an imperious look. “Stop talking and open her up.”
“Right on.” Without further ado, Zack leans forwards and buries his face into my sex. I gasp, my eyes falling shut as he teases my entrance, his tongue dipping into me. I twist my hips towards him so his face is practically buried in the warm blonde curls between my legs, and his mouth opens on a pant. He wraps his big hand around my ankle, groaning against my skin.
I’m distracted from the spike of pleasure when something cold and hard touches my lips. My eyes flutter back open. Luke is dangling the string of balls in front of my face, his eyes dark as he watches my reaction. I focus on them, spinning prettily on the silver chain.
“Suck,” he orders, his voice very deep.