PUCKED Up (35 page)

“
Not this time!” Under all that anger are tears. She’s fighting them. I can see the tremble in her chin, even from across the room.

Benji laughs. Maybe it’s because he’s got an audience. Then again, maybe he really is a giant dick. “If I leave, you know you’ll be calling me in a couple hours, crying like you always do. So why don’t you take the bitch down a notch?”

Now Lily has been a serious pain in my ass where Sunny’s concerned. But no matter how I feel about her interference, I’m not cool with guys calling their girlfriends bitches. It’s demeaning. And he’s doing it in front of other people, which makes me wonder what he says to her when no one else is around. I’m about to say something, but Randy beats me to it.

He pauses with his spoon halfway to his mouth. “The fuck you say to her?”

“
Mind your own business,” Benji snaps.

Randy’s eyebrows lift, and he drops his spoon in his bowl. Milk splatters the table, his beard, and his shirt. He doesn’t seem to notice or care as he pushes his chair back. “Mind my own business?” Randy crosses the kitchen until he’s towering over Benji. Randy’s tall, but not as built as me. I tell him he’s skinny all the time. In hockey he’s lean; in the real world he’s intimidating, and he’s got about fifty pounds on Benji.

Randy thumbs over his shoulder at Lily. “You’ve been following her around the house like an untrained puppy for the past twenty minutes, needling the shit out of her right in front of me. Maybe it’s time you take a fucking hint and leave like she’s been asking you to.”

“
I’m not going anywhere.”

“
You sure about that?” Randy cracks his knuckles.

“
I have a brown belt in karate.”

“
And I have a black belt in kick your fucking ass.”

Then the weirdest thing in the world happens. Lily grabs Randy by the shoulder, spins him around, and suctions her mouth to his.

“
Is there a full moon?” I ask Sunny, who looks as shocked as me.

She doesn’t even have to think about her answer. “It’s not until next week.”

Randy’s hands are up in the air. His eyes are as wide as Sunny’s—and Benji’s. It’d be comical if it wasn’t so fucked up.

“
Fuck you, Lily!” Benji yells and stomps off.

Lily breaks free from Randy’s mouth, covers his ears with her palms, and shouts, “No. Fuck you, Benji!”

He turns around to say something else, but Lily glues her lips to Randy’s again. Benji slams through the front door in a snit.

At this point it’s safe for Lily to disengage, but that doesn’t seem to be happening. Eventually, Randy takes her face in his hands and unlocks their mouths. Both Sunny and I are still staring.

“
I think you proved your point, honey.”

Lily blinks. “What?”

“
I think he got the message. You’re good.”

She shakes her head. “Oh. Oh! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean. Shit.” She lets go of him like he’s a grenade without a pin.

“
Unless you wanna keep going. I’ve already seen you naked, so we’re halfway there, right?” He grins and winks.

“
Ugh. You’re a pig!”

Randy laughs as she pushes past him and heads for the stairs, her face an interesting shade of red. “I like your friend, Sunny. She’s fun.”

Randy laces his fingers together and stretches his arms over his head as he watches Lily run up the stairs. “I think I’m gonna go for a swim.”

It’s hot, and I smell like sex, so joining him seems like a smart plan. “I’mma do that, too. You coming?”

Sunny scratches the underside of her boob. “I’m gonna change my bathing suit first. I think there might be pine needles stuck in this one or something. I’m itchy.”

“
You want help with that?” I slide a finger under the fabric and graze her nipple.

“
Later I want help with a lot of things. I should check on Lily first.”

“
Sure thing, sweets.” I kiss her and then wait until she’s up the stairs and out of sight before I search my bag for a pair of swim shorts. I strip in the middle of the living room and change while Randy cleans up his mess. He’s already in swim shorts, so we go down to the dock together.

The camping trailer isn’t in the driveway anymore. Maybe that means Bushman is gone for good. Things are finally looking up.

***

We spend what’s left of the afternoon down at the dock. According to Sunny, the khaki twins have gone home for good. She called Bushman and told him, over voice mail, that they’d only ever be friends, and she hoped she hadn’t given him the wrong impression. I almost feel bad for him. Except he’s an asshole.

When the sun hangs over the tree line and my stomach starts to rumble, we go back up to the cottage to make dinner. While Sunny prepares some stuffed pepper deal, I check the fridge for animal products to go with it. I should know better—it’s full of tofu and fresh produce. The only item that isn’t plant-based is a container of non-dairy creamer, and that’s synthetic junk. If we’re going to stay a while, Randy and I will need to pick up some bacon and burgers at the very least. When I check the freezer, I find lobster tails and crab legs. If I’m going to eat Waters’ food, it might as well be the expensive stuff.

We don’t eat dinner until almost nine, which Sunny tells me is typical at the cottage. As long as there’s lots of food and it tastes good, I don’t care about timing. Lily comes down and surveys the table. It seats eight comfortably, but the only unused place setting is beside Randy. None of us—apart from Sunny—has seen her since the blowout with Benji and the face sucking with Randy. She doesn’t so much as look at him, but her face is red again, and she’s uncommonly quiet.

She guzzles her glass of wine and tops it off, staring at the contents while conversation goes on around her. Sunny and Randy get along well, which is a bonus. If I could find some common ground with Lily, we’d be golden. I can tell she wants to escape, but she stays, maybe because she doesn’t want to be rude.

“
What is this thing, anyway?” She picks up the orange sculpture from the center of the table. The cape around its neck looks like it’s supposed to be for Superman, except it has the letters MC on it. There are googly eyes and a mustache.

“
Let me see that.” Randy holds out his hand, and she passes it over. He flips the cape up and starts laughing so hard he almost falls off his chair. “It’s a superhero dick.”

“
I bet a million dollars that’s Violet’s work,” I say.

“
What’s the MC stand for?” Randy asks.

“
I think that’s what Vi calls Waters’ dick. Monster Cock or something,” I offer. Everyone stops eating. “She does a lot of oversharing.”

Randy snorts. “Waters’ isn’t that hung.”

“
That’s what I thought, but he’s got a stash of Magnum XL in his bedroom,” I reply. “Sunny can vouch.”

“
No shit. He must be a serious grower.” Randy stabs a green bean and bites it in half.

“
I can’t deal with this conversation.” Lily drops her fork on the table and grabs the dick sculpture. She and Sunny decide to take pictures of it all over the cottage.

The two of them are ridiculous, giggling their asses off as they hide the Superhero dick behind pillows, on the fireplace mantel, and in the fridge. It’s the first Lily’s smiled since Randy and I arrived.

When they’re done, Lily and Randy take care of the dishes while Sunny and I go outside to build a campfire. She swats at the back of her neck and scratches under the collar of her shirt.

“
You okay? Still itchy?”

“
It’s fine. I think it was a mosquito. I’ll put on some bug spray once we get the fire started.”

I wait until we’re away from the cottage before I say anything about our friends still inside. “You should probably warn Lily about Randy.”

“
I already did.”

“
Yeah, but—”

Sunny puts a hand on my shoulder, rising up on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on my lips. “They’re adults.”

“
Yeah, but she’s probably not going to be making the best decisions, and Randy can be smooth.”

“
Like you?”

There’s a difference between me and Randy. He’s a different kind of smooth. He’ll get involved with a bunny until it gets too serious, and then he cuts ties. Completely. I’ve watched him shut girls out like a door in the face. I know why he does it; he doesn’t want to end up doing to someone else what his dad did to his mom. Unfortunately, it means he leaves a trail of discarded, emotionally crippled bunnies in his wake.

We were eleven when Randy’s parents split for good. His dad was mostly farm team with only a couple NHL seasons under his belt. He wasn’t very good about keeping his dick in his pants on the road. Randy’s mom put up with it until she couldn’t anymore. I think Randy’s afraid he’ll follow the same path, so whenever it starts to get too real, he bails.

I’ve always been upfront with bunnies about how things will go down. It’s been about having fun, not getting serious. Until now. Sunny makes me see the value in being vulnerable with someone. Sometimes consistency is better than variety.

Still, her comment hits me right in the chest.

She must read it in my face. Her fingers curl around my chin. “I don’t mean it the way you’re taking it, Miller. Well, in some ways I do. You know what to say and when to say it, and you definitely know what to do and how to do it well, but I never feel like you’re feeding me lines.”

“
That’s because I’m not.”

“
I know. Lily’s been with Benji for a long time. She hasn’t been happy for a while. I think this week made her realize things aren’t going to get better.” She picks up a stick and twirls it between her fingers. “It’s another reason I didn’t want to flake out on Lily for this trip. Benji’s got some . . . issues. Sometimes he can be mean. Anyways, it might be good for her to have a fling.”

“
As long as she gets that that’s all it is.”

“
She knows all about you hockey boys.” She grabs my hand and moves toward the forest. “Come on, let’s get some kindling.”

We end up making out in the forest against a tree. Making out turns into moving Sunny’s shorts to the side and taking her from behind. I hang the spent condom from a tree branch when she isn’t looking. Outdoor sex is the fucking bomb. Afterward, Sunny demonstrates her master campfire-building skills. She manages to get a roaring fire going without dousing it in gasoline or lighter fluid.

Once it’s blazing, I go back to the cottage to look for marshmallows and roasting sticks. Campfires aren’t campfires without them. I also want to head off any potential fuckery between Randy and Lily.

I’m too late, though. I find them in the kitchen. Randy has Lily pinned against the counter. Maybe
pinned
isn’t the right word. Lily is fisting his shirt, and he’s got a hand braced on either side of her. He has one knee between her legs, dry fucking her while they suck face.

I close the screen door harder than I need to. Lily shoves him away and spins around, dunking her hands in the sink. Her back expands and contracts with every heavy breath. Randy wipes his mouth with his sleeve as he glances over his shoulder. “’Sup, Miller? You get a campfire going yet or what?”

“
It’s marshmallow time.” I wrangle up a bag from the pantry along with graham crackers. I can’t find a chocolate bar, so I make do with Nutella. “You guys coming, or are you planning to get it on in the kitchen some more first?”

He slips an arm around Lily’s waist and nuzzles her neck. “I’m partial to option two, but I’ll leave the decision to Lily here.”

“
We’ll be right out,” she croaks.

Randy chuckles. I shake my head and shut the screen door behind me. For someone with a big hate-on for players—perceived or real—Lily seems intent to hook up with one. I wonder how long it’ll take for her to regret it.

***

I soon discover that Sunny doesn’t eat marshmallows. Gelatin is made from bone marrow, and bone marrow comes from animals, so they’re a no-go. Being a vegan seems like food-deprivation torture.

We stay outside for a few hours, but Sunny’s itchy, even with all the bug spray. Everyone’s drunk by the time we decide to call it a night. Sunny sets Randy up in the room right next to Lily’s. I’d say it’s a bad idea, but based on all the groping going on at the fire, those two’ll get their fuck on regardless of how far apart their rooms are. I hope Sunny’s right and Lily takes it for what it is: a rebound lay.

Sunny’s bedroom is decorated for her. The walls are painted a soft, pale yellow. The comforter is covered in sunflowers. It’s a girly room. It gives me a better understanding of how close Sunny and her brother are.

“
I need a shower; my hair smells like campfire,” Sunny says once she closes the door.

I wrap my arms around her from behind and shove my nose in her blond waves. “You smell like toasted marshmallows. I like it.”