Kisses and Lies

My hands push him back and he smirks, but he does step back.

“I think we need a repeat.”

“You’re serious right now?” I ask.

“Yep, I want you. No denying that.” Marcus looks down to the tent in his pants, and I roll my eyes.

“I’m busy. No time for you this weekend. At all.”

“Where are you going?”

“To the Gold Coast with my sister. All weekend.”

“I can come. Meet you there?”

I laugh at him. “You’re joking, right?”

Marcus scratches his face, and the look that takes over it, it’s as if he’s just realized what he’s said.

“Yes, I fucking am.” Then he walks away.

Leaving me standing there confused as fuck.

“You aren’t wearing that, are you?” my sister Kat asks, eyeing me up and down as she holds Annabelle in her arms. I look down at my dress, which has a slit up the side and leaves nothing to the imagination.

“Maybe you should live a little, let me take Annabelle and you go out tonight. And let me dress you,” I say, showcasing my leg a little bit more.

“No, last time I did something stupid…” she trails off and looks at Annabelle. “Well, I got my best gift from your mistake. But I also learned my lesson, thank you very much.”

Kat pulls Annabelle up on her hip. “You just have to play it safer.” She eyes me.

“You know I speak to Tanika, too, right?” Kat’s blue eyes look at me. They’re the same color as mine. “I know you aren’t playing it safe with a particular man, whom I want photos of by the way.”

I wave my hands at her face. “No can do. That ship has sailed, and it’s over.”

“Was it fun, though?”

“It was a headache and a nightmare, plus the best orgasms I have ever had.”

“What I wouldn’t give for one of those.” Kat laughs.

We get seated on the boat. Annabelle falls asleep in her mother’s arms as the boat starts, and servers come around to serve our first course.

“Let me take her, you eat first.”

“No, I like it when she’s like this. It tells me she will always love me, no matter what.” Kat kisses the top of her head, and I start eating as she begins using one hand. Not once complaining or asking me to take her. By the last course, I take Annabelle despite Kat’s protests, and Annabelle stays asleep in my arms.

“Tanika said he’s one fine specimen. What’s so wrong with him?”

“Don’t you mean what’s right with him?”

Kat laughs and shrugs. “That too.”

“He’s confusing for one, and he isn’t relationship material. It’s obvious. I want kids one day… I don’t think I could ever have kids with a man like him,” I tell her the truth.

Kat looks to Annabelle then back to me. “Don’t base a relationship, or even fun, on what you think you want. Wants change. Needs change. I never wanted a child, and now I’d be lost without her.” Kat takes Annabelle back from me and I smile. Because she’s right. Kat never wanted kids, yet here she is, one of the best mothers I know.

“I don’t think he’s safe to be around. I mean, his brother is the president of Exile MC for God’s sake.” We stand as the boat comes to a stop and make our way off. Our hotel is right on the water, so we don’t have far to walk.

“Okay, stay away. Far, far, away. I heard about those boys. They’re dangerous.”

“Tanika is obsessed with the president.”

“Of course she is. Tanika loves dick,” Kat says with an eye roll.

I bump her shoulder slightly because she has Annabelle still in her arms. “Hey, be nice.”

Kat and Tanika have a weird relationship. Kat likes her but thinks she’s not stable. I think we balance each other out.

“I am. I’m nice to Tanika because you love her. No more, no less.”

“I love you more, though,” I say, leaning my head on her other shoulder as we make our way to the room. When we reach the room, we swipe in, and I see my cell ringing on the table. I forgot to take it with me, and when I pick it up, Tanika’s name is flashing on the screen.

“Hey.”

“Ohhh, so now you answer,” she slurs into the phone.

“Tanika…”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t say my name like that. What? You better than me all of a sudden?”

I look over at Kat who lays Annabelle down in her bed. She mouths to me ‘what’s wrong?’ I just shake my head and step out on to the balcony.

“Are you drunk?”

“Of course, I am. Amongst other things,” she whines.

“Why?” Tanika never used to be like this. Granted, she likes to drink, but she didn’t do it often, and I hate to think what ‘other things’ actually means.

“Because my heart is fucking broken and this is the way to fix it,” she screams.