Sadie clicked her fingers. “And that’s where teen and unplanned pregnancies come from. It’s the same in the U.K., you know. Condoms cost a fortune, but you can go on the pill for free there, so at least they have that. Unfortunately, that doesn’t stop teenagers from doing stupid things or people falling into that teeny gap in the pill's efficiency. It also doesn’t stop STDs and stuff happening.”
She had a fair point.
“I’m awful at taking pills, so I figured the shot would be the better option. They offered me the coil and that little ring you put inside you, but I hate the thought of having a mini coat hanger inside me all the time. And what if I lost the ring? Can you imagine having your period every month and it going all over the string for the coil? That freaks me out.”
“My friend used to use a diaphragm with her boyfriend,” Santana said, finally joining the conversation with us. “I couldn’t get my head around digging it out when there was, you know… stuff up there.”
Sadie snorted. “For someone who writes some hot as hell sex scenes in her books, you have an issue saying come or semen?”
Santana’s mouth had just opened to say something back to her when two deep voices started speaking behind us.
“What in the fuck are you guys talking about, Pixie?” the first said, followed by the second one.
“Looks like we came back just as things got interesting, Addy.”
Spinning around, we all looked behind us to see Elijah and Marcus standing there grinning. He looked tired, disheveled, and there was some tension in his body I didn’t recall ever seeing before, but he’d never looked better to me.
Without thinking, I hurdled out of the hot tub, almost falling to the floor when the inflatable side pressed in with my weight on it. Uncaring of the fact I was soaking wet, I jumped on Marcus, wrapping my legs around his waist and kissing him like I hadn’t seen him in years.
After a while, he pulled away and grinned at me. “Did you miss me?”
Deciding to take a leaf out of Sadie’s weird analogies, I whispered, “Is my left boob bigger than my right?”
I swear he froze for a moment, but then he replied hesitantly, “I don’t know. Is it?”
My analogy had been shit and had fallen short, so to save face, I nodded. “Yes, it is. So, yes, I missed you.”
Hitching me higher with both hands cupping my ass cheeks, he started walking toward the sliding doors leading into his house. “I see I need to do some exploring to ascertain whether you’re telling the truth. I’ll be the judge on which one’s bigger.”
Waving at my friends and his brother over his shoulder, I stopped when I saw Bronte still fast asleep in her teepee and smiled softly. It hadn’t even been six months since I’d moved here, and already I’d made a million memories that would be ingrained in my head forever. Ones I never wanted to forget.
And because of that, as soon as he had me out of my bathing suit and dried off, I straddled him as he took his t-shirt off and cupped his face in my hands, and kissed him softly.
“I love you, Marcus.”
The smile he gave me was shy but also beautiful. “I fucking love you, too, Addy.”
All was right in the world—ish. Obviously, all wasn’t right in the world because we had famine, wars, disease, pollution, climate change, conspiracy theories, political conflicts, abuse, rape, and so many other things. But in our tiny piece of it, all was right.
Chapter Thirteen
Marcus
Four days later…
When Archer called us to ask for help, knowing he wouldn’t ever have done that if it hadn’t been an emergency, we’d dropped everything to go and help out.
The situation with him and the chick he was into, Bonnie, was fucked up. Although we hadn’t found out who was responsible, we’d helped him make her safe, and that’s what mattered.
I’d spent three days with little sleep, and I’d missed home the whole time.
At this moment, I was blaming sleep deprivation for agreeing to babysit my niece while Elijah took five days with Sadie at a cabin they’d found three hours away.
They’d hardly had time just the two of them, and I loved Bronte, so I hadn’t even needed to think about it. I knew Addy would help out, and the guys were great at dealing with the ranch while me and Remy weren’t there, so where was the problem?
I now knew where the problem was. I’d only seen Bronte during her good moments, and I’d likely tuned out to the bad ones because Elijah or Sadie was there to deal with her and guide her through them.
I’d been duped!
It was now two o’clock in the morning, and here I was, with a tiny kid bawling her heart out. When I’d called him, Elijah had said she was probably cutting some new teeth, so to give her the Tylenol in her diaper bag.