I’d just shaken myself out of my stupor and was retreating into my room in case he caught me perving on him, when the towel lost its purchase. Remy caught it before it could hit the ground, but not before it bared his entire ass to me.
Sweet Jesus, I didn’t have anything to compare it to that I’d seen in real life, and I swear it tattooed itself into my brain. My dreams that night were sweet and hot, and it seemed like once I’d seen the classical art worthy Remy ass, it was in my line of sight constantly after that. Having coffee, feeding Toby, changing his diaper, at work while I dealt with Luanda and Sunflower… You name it, the ass was the star of every show.
It's almost like he knew, but that couldn’t be right. Could it?
TEN
REMY
There were things in life a man wished he could forget and things he wished he’d always remember. I felt both ways about seeing Tana in that swimsuit she’d been wearing in the bath with Toby. Who the hell came up with shit like that, and why would Addy have bought it for her?
A while back, Addy had been kidnapped and suffered from sporadic anxiety attacks now, but she had a rescue dog who’d trauma bonded with her immediately, and her job writing music also helped her get through it. That said, I was always very careful about what I did around her and the tone of voice I used because I didn’t want to trigger her in any way.
“Hey,” I said softly, walking up next to her as she watched two colts chasing each other around the field while their moms took advantage of the peace to eat. “How are things going?”
Leaning her cheek on the top rung of the fence, she smiled at me. “Good.” I gave her a look, and she amended her answer to, “Better. How about you? You seem more relaxed now.”
I cringed like I did any time someone brought up the stark contrast between how I was now and how I’d been before.
“Things seem easier now,” I admitted. “Before, I wasn’t sure I knew if what I was doing was what I was supposed to be doing. Does that make sense?”
Addy shrugged and turned back to the field. “It’s like everything in life. Think about it like driving—you don’t know you can do it until you’re behind the wheel by yourself. Even then, there are other scenarios that test your ability to drive to the max. Like heavy traffic, avoiding an accident because someone drives like a dick, or a long road trip where you have to be focused for an extended period of time.”
She had a point, and I’d known instinctively Addy would understand where I was coming from.
“It just doesn’t seem as overwhelming and impossible now.”
“That’s because you know you can do it. Plus, you have Santana, just like we have someone who teaches us how to drive.”
I was silent for a moment, but then I mumbled, “I was a total dick to her.”
Addy snorted and patted me on the shoulder with a little bit more force than was necessary. “You were a dick to everyone, but she was the only one who knew what she was talking about, so you had more of a chance to be one to her. I’d be lying if I said I’m relieved about the fact you’ve gotten your shit together, though. It took you long enough.”
She wasn’t wrong there.
“I’d also be lying if I said I wouldn’t cut your balls off, boil them until they were solid, and then play golf with them if you hurt her. Just to sweeten the deterrent deal, I’ll fill you in on what I’d do after that.”
Glaring at me, she ground out, “I’d put them in a canon and fire them into the side of a mountain so that in two hundred years, some poor person will come across them, and they’ll have to cut them into pieces to find out what they are.”
I angled my crotch slightly away from her protectively. “Jesus, that’s graphic.”
“I may even shoot them into the side of a glacier or drop them by helicopter on one. Your pancake looking nuts may even end up as the cover photo on National Geographic for everyone to see as scientists and experts experiment with them.”
“Point taken,” I said dryly, glaring at her now. “It won’t come to that, I promise.”
“Promises are made to be broken.” She waved her hand through the air dismissively but then looked at me out of the corner of her eye. “Now you have an extra incentive not to do that, don’t you?”
“No shit.”
Wracking my brain on how to get away from the testicle mutilating psycho, I stayed quiet for a minute. Just as I opened my mouth to say whatever excuse I could think of, desperate to get to safety now, Addy surprised me in a good way.