“What are you doing in here?” I ask him as I push through the door.

  “I remember this trip.” He points at the picture of me, him and Michelle in front of the Statue of Liberty.

  “Do you?” I joke, because there are definitely pieces of this trip that are a blur. We’d gone to New York right after we graduated college and spent the week getting drunk and sightseeing. We’d met up with some friends from college but for the most part it was just the three of us. That’s how it was for so long.

  “The Three Musketeers in New York.” He runs his hand over the frame. Kevin had proposed to Michelle our senior year and was planning to get married the following year. He’d already asked me to be their best man and I remember Michelle crying when she got drunk that it wasn’t fair that I couldn’t stand on her side too. “This trip was when Michelle and I decided to make you our first child’s godfather.”

  Shit. He suspects something. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

  “I can still remember her words clearly. ‘A baby is going to be the best part of you and me, and our friendship with Jacob is one of the best parts of us. He has to be our baby’s godfather.’”

  “Kev—” I start and he turns his gaze to look at me.

  “Is there something…” He puts a hand over his eyes. “Never mind. I’m fucking losing it. I’m going to head out.”

  “You sure? I know you came over to hang out and then we didn’t even—”

  “Yes, because my child is evidently in a crisis and ran to you.” He jokes but I can hear the hurt in his voice and maybe something else that he’s never used towards me.

  “Kev, it’s not like that. She called me and I think she’s in shock.”

  Tell him. Tell him. Tell him.

  Words come out but they are different ones entirely. “But I was actually thinking I could come by tomorrow? Maybe in the afternoon?”

  “You make plans to come to my house now? Usually, you just show up and let yourself in even if we’re not home.” Kevin stares at me incredulously.

  “Sorry for asking?”

  “You don’t usually ask.” This is the first time I don’t think I haven’t been able to get a read on Kevin. I can’t tell what he’s thinking. He’s quiet and it reminds me of a ticking time bomb. It’s faint and that quiet noise is the only warning you have that something’s about to explode.

  Kisses down my neck and across my cheek rouse me out of a deep sleep and I’m pulled to a hard chest. I snuggle against it, as I’m straddling the faint line of sleep and awareness when I hear his words in my ear. “I love you so much.”

  My head is fuzzy and I feel disoriented from the alcohol and I wonder how long I’ve been asleep after Chloe and I took back-to-back tequila shots in his guest room. I don’t know why I thought that was a good idea or why Chloe encouraged it. I had just broken up with my fiancé, I had made the somewhat reckless decision to come to my boyfriend’s house who also happened to be my parent’s best friend and then my father showed up. I felt like my life was spiraling out of control and although I had been the person who set all of these things in motion, I had no power to stop the course it was taking.

  “JP?”

  “Yes, baby?” He strokes my arm gently and I snuggle further into his arms.

  “Where’s…”

  “Everyone left,” he answers for me and I let out a sigh of relief.

  I finally open my eyes and I bury my face in his naked chest to avoid the light from his nightstand. “What time is it?”

  “A little after midnight.” He presses his lips to my forehead and gives me a gentle kiss. “Do you want to take that bath now?”

  “I’d rather make love again,” I tell him as I pull off the sweatshirt that I’d put back on after he’d taken me against the door. I slide my sweatpants down as well leaving me completely naked under his soft sheets. He pulls it back and eyes down my body.

  “Fuck.” I take that as a yes and kneel between his legs, grabbing his naked cock and sheathing my mouth around it. I move up and down on him, letting spit drool from my mouth around him to serve as a bit of extra lubrication when I slide my pussy down on him. “Slow down, angel, I don’t want to come in your mouth.” His hand finds its way into my hair, gripping the strands as he tries to slow me down. His dick is long and thick and I remember struggling with spit control and breathing the first time I took him in my mouth. I pull him out of my mouth, allowing a trail of spit to connect his dick to my lips and I notice his abs flex in restraint.

  I drag my tongue up his shaft and circle the tip, licking the creamy bead that forms and sliding my hand up and down while I suck just the tip into my mouth.

  “In your cunt,” he growls and when I look up into his blue eyes, they’re dark and wide and unblinking. He grips my forearms and pulls me off of him and holds me above his dick. “Are you wet?” he asks and I reach a finger down and rub it through my slit. I’m wet but I haven’t been awake long and not as wet as Jacob likes me to be when he’s inside of me. “On my face.”

  I do as he says, knowing that it’s the fastest way to get me wet and wanting and sure enough, after three swipes of his tongue over my clit, I’m panting for his dick inside of me. I look down at him since I’m facing the headboard and our eyes meet as he flicks his tongue against me over and over. His eyes are hungry and I can see the heat and feel the heat in them. “Daddy, you’re so fucking good to me. You always take such good care of me.” I drop my hands to either side of his head and grind my pussy harder against his mouth, chasing the orgasm I wasn’t anticipating having on his tongue but now I’m desperate for it.

  “Mmmmhmm,” he groans against me and the vibrations set my whole body on fire. He grips my ass, digging his nails into the flesh and I feel a finger travel inward toward my asshole. He pushes a finger there and I whimper at the fullness, his tongue in my cunt and his finger in my ass. I was no stranger to the feeling, having been very familiar with butt plugs and other types of anal stimulation while he was inside me. But there were few positions that allowed our eyes to lock while he was stimulating me in both places and a feeling of vulnerability washes over me. I look away, the intensity too much when he nips at my clit and I cry out. “Eyes on me.” His words are soft but demanding and when I look back down at him just as he pulls his face away from my pussy to show the slick evidence of my arousal. His beard is wet and his lips are shiny and I watch as he slowly drags his tongue through my seam and flicks my clit before he shoots me a wink that makes my knees weak. I fall forward, dragging my pussy along his mouth and back down his body.

  My sex is wet and pink from the rubbing against his facial hair and my needy clit is throbbing and peeking through the lips of my sex. I brush his dick against my slit, dragging the blunt tip through my wetness and Jacob releases a shaky breath.

  “Fuck, that feels good, sweet girl. Do that again.”

  “Like this?” I do as he says, dragging the head of his thick dick through my sex and tapping my clit each time, making me shudder with pleasure.

  “Just like fucking that,” he grits out. “You feel so good, baby.” I eventually give up the teasing and slide his dick inside of me and begin moving up and down instantly. My head falls back and I grab my hair pulling it off my neck and holding it up as I start to move faster on top of him. “I love when you ride me,” he tells me as he grips my hips to help set the pace. My head falls back down to meet his gaze. “I love watching you. Watching us. I think it’s the way I can see all of you full of me.” His eyes drop to where I’m sliding up and down on him, where my pelvis presses against his, his dark pubic hair rubbing against my creamy flesh every time I slide down. It’s a stunning visual that I never want to forget.

  And if I’m honest with myself, the whole time we were apart, I never did.

  I press my hands to his chest as I begin to ride him harder and his hands find my hips. “I love you,” I tell him as the beginning of my orgasm begins, my body trembling with the anticipation of a powerful climax.

  “I’ve never loved anyone or anything the way I love you, baby. Ever. I’ve loved you from the second I knew you’d exist.” He cups my face and lowers me to press his lips to mine. “And I’ve never stopped loving you since. The love has changed and morphed into different kinds of love but you’ve always been here from the second you entered the world.” He grabs my hand and presses it to his heart and then I come with a cry and his name falling from my lips over and over. I come all over his dick at the thought of how much he loves me and has always been a constant in my life. I slow my strokes as I try to calm my racing heart when he begins to speak again.

  “I’ll protect you always, baby. From anyone or anything that even thinks about hurting you.” Realizing that he hasn’t come yet, I begin moving up and down on him again, knowing that he’s nearing his climax as well. Our eyes lock and a smile finds his face revealing that sexy dimple that never fails to make my sex throb. “Fuck baby, right there. Right fucking there. God, you’re mine. You’re fucking mine again. Finally,” he sputters as he spills into me.

  We end up in the bath as we were both sticky and sweaty from our lovemaking facing each other on opposite ends of the tub, my feet resting in his lap as his thumbs massaged the soles of my feet.

  “I want to tell your parents tomorrow.” I stretch my foot, flexing it and he massages it harder, trying to get me to calm down. He lifts my foot from the water and kisses the bottom of it and I smile. “Don’t be nervous. If you don’t want to be there, I understand. Whatever you need.”

  “No, I want to be there. I think I should be there. It will also help fill in some of the blanks about why I broke up with Parker.”

  “So tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow.” I nod.

  We arrive at my parents’ house around noon the next day. It’s raining, which is rare for LA and I can’t help but take it as a bad omen of sorts. Like the universe knew there was a storm brewing in my life and sent a physical one to match it. I’d called my mother in the morning and told her we were coming over and also that I invited Mason and Chloe over so that I could talk to everyone together. As the only two people that were privy to me and Jacob, I hoped they could help soften the blow.

  Or maybe I was just praying that they could keep things from getting too ugly.

  We’re sitting in the car outside of the house, my eyes glued to the front door that we will have to walk through and effectively change my family forever.

  I’d been a nervous wreck all morning, antsy and jittery and jumping every time my phone buzzed with any type of notification. JP had tried everything to calm me down and I still couldn’t shake the anxious feeling.

  His hand finds mine and gives it a gentle squeeze. “Everything is going to be fine, baby.”

  “Is it?” I begin chewing on my thumbnail, a habit I gave up years ago that suddenly seems to bring me a bit of comfort.

  “Okay, or it’s going to be as bad as we think.”

  Absolutely not what I want to hear right now. “JP!”

  His voice is soft but even and it calms my racing heart a little. “Either way, we have to tell them.”

  “I know.” He gets out of the car, putting up the umbrella even though we are only twenty or so feet from my house and opens the door for me, holding the umbrella over my head. The small act of chivalry makes me smile and I remember exactly why I’m doing this today. I can’t go another second hiding how much I love Jacob Price.

  “Thank you.”

  He smiles down at me. “I would kiss you right now, but just in case your mother is waiting at the window for us, I’ll refrain.”

  I laugh because it’s a very real possibility. I see Mason’s car in front of us but I don’t see Chloe’s but given her track record of tardiness I didn’t expect her to be here yet. We enter the house to the sounds of laughter and it puts me at ease that it seems that everyone is in a good mood for now. We walk down the foyer toward the living room to find my parents and Mason talking and they all stop when Jacob and I enter the room. My mom hops up from her seat, the only person in the room not privy to some piece of information regarding me and I hate that I’ve kept her in the dark. My biggest supporter and probably the person that’s going to be caught most in the middle of this situation and she has no idea the bomb I’m about to drop.

  “Whitney!” She pushes her glasses into her blonde curly hair that she has pulled into a bun and makes her way over to me and pulls me into a hug, kissing me on the cheek and pulling me to sit next to her on the love seat. “I made brunch, it’s that time you know? So, we can eat when Chloe gets here,” she says and I briefly wonder if like our normal brunches and if she’s already had a mimosa but I don’t see anything on the table except one of her sparkling waters and a bottle of water in front of my father.

  My eyes move to my father for the first time since I walked in, eyes that are sad with maybe a hint of comfort. Like he knows this might be difficult but that he understands.

  You do not know the half of it.

  The sounds of the door opening stop me and I’m grateful to see my cousin walk into the room and her eyes fall on me immediately. I’m here. Her eyes tell me with a nod.

  “Oh lovely, you’re here! We can all eat. Unless you want to tell us your news now!” My mother claps her hands together in excitement. “You said you had something big to tell us.”

  “I said important…?” I wince, not understanding how she’s excited when I’m fairly certain I did not sound enthusiastic about this news I’m about to deliver.

  “Tomato, tomahto.” She waves at me. “Are you pregnant?” Her eyes widen. “I know you drank with us last weekend, but if you just found out, it’s early enough that it’s okay, sweetheart.” She pats my arm and I shake my head.

  “No. Not pregnant.”

  “Oh.” She frowns. “I could have sworn that was it. Although, I was expecting you to show up with Parker though, not Jacob.” She moves around me to hug him and reaches up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “Hi hon. Did you guys come together?” she says, looking more confused before moving toward the kitchen. “Well let’s eat, and you can tell us your news. Or… are we waiting for Parker?”

  “Parker and I broke up,” I blurt out and given that everyone in the room besides my mother is aware of this fact, no one reacts. Everyone is silent while they wait for my mother to get on the same page.

  She turns around and looks at me and blinks her eyes several times. “What?”

  I let out a sigh and take a step closer to her. “Parker and I broke up.”

  “That’s the story you’re going with?” The voice is cold and angry and isn’t from anyone in the room that was previously here. But it’s a voice I know well.

  Fuck.

  Parker is standing at the entrance to my living room, being held up by his crutches staring at me with a look of rage that I’d never seen before. He looks unshowered, wearing jeans and that same black hooded sweatshirt from last night making me wonder if he’s been up all night wondering how best he could set fire to my life. His posture is tense, his hands balled into fists and a scowl so intense on his face that I actually feel that saying if looks could kill, I’d be dead.

  Jacob wasn’t as close as he’d been before after my mother hugged him and inadvertently put space between us and I can already sense him moving back toward me even though I’m sure he won’t touch me given the precarious situation we’re currently in.

  “Parker, please don’t do this.” My heart is pounding in my chest and I feel my knees buckling. Why is he here? How did he even know we’d be here? FUCK!

  “What’s going on?” My mother snaps her head back and forth between me and Parker before realizing that she still needed to be a good hostess even if it is to my injured ex-fiancé. “Please sit, I… I am so sorry about the accident. Are you okay? How are you feeling? Would you like something to drink? Or food? We’re about to eat.”

  He leans against the wall, foregoing my mother’s invitation to sit. “Oh? Well, I would love to join you.” Chloe and I lock eyes and I feel like everything is happening in slow motion. Brace for fucking impact. “But I do feel like some things need to be cleared up first.”

  “Parker, can I talk to you alone?” I stop him and begin moving toward him despite hearing a growl from behind me.

  “No. The time to talk to me would have been before you were cheating on me, with whom I assume to be this guy.” He points at Jacob and my eyes widen and a hand goes to my chest as it feels like my heart might just fly out of it.

  “With who!?” My mother’s eyes widen in shock before she shakes her head. “Whitney, cheating? Impossible and…” She looks at Jacob and then me and then back to Parker. “You’re mistaken, that’s Whitney’s godfather, Parker. And to shoot off such baseless accusations, is unbecoming.” She looks at me. “Did you guys really break up?” She gives me a sad look even though I know she’s thinking something along the lines of ‘thank goodness, he was not right for you, honey.’

  “She broke up with me. For… JP, right?” A smug grin finds his face as he points at Jacob and I can tell JP is trying not to react until we get some emotions under control, most importantly my parents. But for him to know that I call him JP… fuck fuck fuck.

  “What? Parker? I know you might be feeling some anger toward Whitney right now, but please,” my mother says, putting a hand up toward him. “You do not know what you’re talking about.”

  “I will fucking murder you.” The words are quiet and my eyes snap to my father who’s staring at Jacob. His hands are shaking as he stands to his feet and I don’t think I’ve ever been as afraid of anything as I am at this moment as my father crosses the room and makes his way toward us.

  “Honey, what…?” My mother looks at him before me then Jacob. “Baby, that’s Jacob. You’re really going to take the word of Parker, who you don’t even like?”

  “Well finally someone admits it.” Parker scoffs.

  “You shut up.” I growl at him before turning back to my father.