but when the air charges with something other than grief and remorse, I pull away.
“I hope you don’t feel sick when look at me,” I tease to lighten the mood.
“Oh, Kitten,” Cort moans. “That’s never going to happen. When I look at you, all I feel is want. There is so much I need and want from you. I look at you how I look at our Ezra, and I didn’t think that was possible. I was so frightened that I’d be jealous of you like I was the others, but I’m not. I want you with us, I don’t want to push you away.”
I didn’t like the way Cort sounded when he spoke of jealousy and the others . But neither of them are my concern when it comes to relationships and sex. “Ezra may be your Ezra. But he’s not ours ,” I tease Cort to wipe that depressive expression off his face. I’ve never had anyone look at me that way, and it’s unnerving in its intensity.
“Sure,” Cortez dismissively says. “I love looking at your lips and remembering our time together, the way those hot lips felt wrapped around my cock. You can deny it all you want, but you loved it. It put fire in your veins. It made you feel alive. And you want to do it again,” he taunts.
“You’re so full of shit!” I hop off the couch, and it’s hard to deny the flush that creeps over my skin and the thoughts that echo in my mind. That bastard has me pegged. Cort taunts me with that toe-curling laugh of his- bastard.
“What Ezra does to me, do you consider that cheating on you?” I ask in all seriousness.
“No, never ,” Cort breathes the word like a benediction. “Every touch with that bitch is cheating. We can touch each other, he can touch you, I can touch you, and you can touch us. Everything else is a negotiation. He never negotiated with me about Adelaide, so it was wrong… and it wasn’t the first time Ezra’s done that to me,” Cort’s voice breaks in anger and betrayal.
“You’re with people all the time, though,” I question.
“And that was nego tiated a long time ago,” Cort firmly says. Slowly his scowl turns into a wicked grin. “If you won’t let me feed you my cock, then at least let me feed you the pizza I ordered.”
We all crowd around the dining table , eating pizza. Aaron, Kayla, and Ava happily chat about a recent movie release that I didn’t know existed. Ezra and Cortez openly stare at me as I watch the single slice of pizza on my plate as if it’s going to eat itself.
“You do like those toppings, right?” Cort asks. “I’ll come up with something for Ava if she lied to me.” Cortez’s smirk tells me he is cataloging all the interesting punishments for my daughter.
“Yeah, it’s just been a long day. A lot has changed, ya know?” I toss a piece of pineapple into my mouth, but I don’t taste it.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Ezra’s voice sou nds hopeful that I will open up to him.
“I’d kind of just want to take a long bath and get some sleep,” I mutter in exhaustion. “I have to get back to work tomorrow or I’ll never catch up.”
“You can take more time. Start back on Monday.” Ezra looks at me , hoping I’ll agree to everything he ever says without question. Not happening.
“I’m disrupting everyone. If I don’t go back, Kayla doesn’t. By the looks of them,” I say in the direction of the lovebirds chatting with my daughter. “If Kayla doesn’t, Aaron won’t. Tomorrow is Friday, so it’s just one day that Ava won’t be in school while I work. She can sit in my office while I get caught up.”
“Okay, but Cortez and I will entertain Ava on and off throughout the day. We’ll take shifts.” Ezra looks pleased with h imself.
“Ava’s a child, not a puppy. Don’t you have some work to do?”
“Being the boss do es have its benefits,” Ezra cockily says.
“Being a writer does have its benefits. If I don’t feel like writing- I don’t,” Cort ez answers when I look at him.
“The pair of you are incorrigible- a very bad