Replace Me (Kin #2)(36)
Author: Jennifer Foor

I wasn’t following. “I don’t understand how this naked picture has to do with culinary school.”

He smiled. “It’s simple. One night we had a few drinks. Getting her to come back to my room was easier than I expected. Once I got her naked, I took the picture. The next morning she woke up and begged me not to tell anyone. I waited a week before I showed her the picture and told her if she ever crossed me again, I had leverage against her.”

“You’re ruthless.”

“I was determined to make my dream come true. No little two-timing bitch was going to f**k it up.”

I pointed to the others. “What about these?”

He pointed to two others. “For two months I worked in Baltimore. The first week there I met these two crazy chicks that just wanted to have fun. Tawny and Sheena were their names. Those two I took for fun. Then I decided that I wanted a collection, so every woman that I hooked up with I took a picture. You may think I’m an ass**le. Some people write in journals. I kept photos to remember them by.”

I grabbed all of the photos and put them back in his drawer, still not sure how I felt about them.

“They’re yours to keep. Thank you for being honest.”

“You think I take them out and look at them?”

“I don’t want to know.”

“Your picture ain’t goin’ in that drawer, Lace. Don’t even worry about it.”

“I wasn’t.” I felt hurt. Like I wasn’t good enough to be something he reminisced about. “Am I not good enough to be in your collection?”

He grabbed my hands and pulled me between his legs. “You’re different. I want you here, because I like being with you. Your picture belongs on nightstands and wallets, not hidden in drawers.”

I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him on the lips. “I really shouldn’t like you this much.”

He laughed and kissed me again. “I warned you.”

“You did.”

“I’m not the guy that everyone says I am, Lacey. I get that I did things that some people would frown upon, but I knew what I wanted and I went for it. Every woman that I’ve been with has understood that I couldn’t give them anything other than a good time.”

“Stop explaining. I don’t even care.” To an extent, I didn’t care. Joey made all of my problems disappear. With every kiss and every touch I was consumed by pleasure, leaving me needing more.

He said I was different. Whether that was a crock of shit, or really the truth, it was enough to make me come back. It was time for me to live in the day, instead of reaching for forever when it was too hard to grasp.

“I don’t want you to leave.”

I climbed on top of him, pinning him to the bed while holding on to his hands. Joey didn’t fight me. “If you want me to stay, then you need to lose the shorts. I want you naked.”

He flipped us around and ran his hands up my t-shirt. “That goes for you, too. Take off this shirt and show me that pu**y.”

He sat up and I lifted the shirt to my abdomen, revealing my naked sex. Joey licked his lips and ran his hand over my smooth naked pu**y. “I’m going to lick this pu**y until you explode.”

I gasped and watched him scooting down.

It was going to be another long night.

Chapter 17

Shayne

Twins.

She was having f**king twins and I’d told my whole family they were mine.

I didn’t sleep much that next night, or the one after it. It didn’t help that I could hear Ashley crying her eyes out constantly. What kind of support would I be to her if I walked away now?

I woke the next morning with a pounding headache. I’d reach my limit of stress and I was about to explode. My emotions were through the roof and I hated myself for being such an idiot.

In the back of my mind, I continued to remind myself that I was doing this for my brother; that his future was worth protecting.

Still, hearing those heartbeats did something to me. They reiterated that these were two innocent children. I had to protect them.

Ash was going through her own set of emotions. She was crying constantly and comforting her was uncomfortable, since we weren’t really that close. It was necessary for us to make peace and move forward, if not for ourselves and the fact that we were living together, but for the sake of the unborn children that I’d committed to help raise, temporary or not.

I found Ashley in a ball on the couch. She had some movie playing, but her head was down against her knees. When I sat down beside her, she looked up with eyes full of tears. She sniffled through her words. “I’m fine.”

I put my arm around her. “You’re not fine, Ash. I get it. I know you’re scared.”

“It’s not just that. After hearing them, those heartbeats inside of me, it hit me. They’re little lives growing inside of me and I’ve been so awful. I don’t deserve to be a mother, Ford was right. How am I going to give them a good life?”

“Don’t say that.” I kept comforting her, rubbing her back for support. “Ash, you may not have expected to get pregnant that night, and yes it changed your life, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be a better person. Sure, you went a little crazy when it came to gettin’ Ford back, but you were desperate.”

“Don’t be nice to me about Joey, Shayne. I know you helped him get back with Lacey.”

“I’m not denyin’ it. They belong together, as weird as it sounds. I’m not meanin’ to be a prick and hurt your feelin’s, but it’s true. Ford loves Sky and she loves him back. Think about how broken he’s been since Harley died. Can you imagine how hard it was for him to feel again? She brought him back to life, and whether you want to believe it or not, it’s the truth.”

She got quiet and put her face down against her knees again. I pulled my hand away from her back and just sat there. She spoke without looking at me. “It hurts so much. I can’t stop lovin’ him. We were supposed to grow old together.”

I sighed and thought back when we were younger and had our whole lives ahead of us, not that we still didn’t, but the game plans had changed before our eyes. “You’re not alone, Ash. I’m not Ford and I know we’re not a couple, but I’m not goin’ to walk away.”

She finally sat back up and leaned her head against me. “Do you hate me?”

I brushed her hair away from my face, since it was itching. “No. I may not agree with things you’ve done, though.”