Chapter 9: Chapter 8

I FINISHED the last coat of paint and stepped back to take it in. The bookshelves were covered in a sage green color, and the counter I’d built was painted in two tones, the sage green with white trim that Saylor had been spending the last week painting. She’d sanded and antiqued it and really made it look like a vintage piece of furniture by the time she was finished.

Today we’d be bringing in all her furniture and getting the place set up as much as we could. She’d be unpacking all the books over the next few days, but at least we could get all the big pieces in.

That made me happy. Seeing my brother and Ruby building this life together. It’s everything I wanted for River.

I shoved my hands into my back pockets and stretched my back just as Saylor came walking through the door with her mouth hanging open.

“You finished?”

“Of course, I did. You’ve got the furniture coming today, right?”

“Yeah, but we could have all helped paint today while we got the furniture brought in.” She shook her head, her smile bigger than I’d ever seen it.

Totally worth giving up sleep for.

“King, you’re going to be exhausted. Were you here all night?”

“You know I never mind pulling an all-nighter to get the job done.”

Usually, it was pleasing a woman, but in a way, I was pleasing a woman this time, too.

“How are you going to have everyone for Easter tomorrow? You’re going to be exhausted.”

“I’m fine. I’ve never required a lot of sleep.”

“Well, I talked to Ruby, and I’m going to come early and help set up. I already told you I’ll make the ham, but I’m going to take on more jobs. It’s the least I can do.” Her eyes scanned the room, and she looked so pleased it made my chest squeeze.

I glanced toward the window to see a truck pull up. Hayes was the first one here. Saylor’s brother.

A reminder.

“I forgot to tell you… you can invite Jalen if you want tomorrow. Obviously, anyone is welcome. I just hope the dude puts on some pants.” I chuckled, and she opened her mouth to tell me something, but Hayes came through the door before she spoke.

“Big day, Saylor girl. You ready?”

“Yes. We just went through this five minutes ago when we were at my house loading furniture.” She chuckled. “But look at this place. King stayed up all night painting the bookshelves.”

“And with a chafed devil’s driveway at that,” the fucker said, and I turned to look at Saylor, who had a puzzled look on her face.

“I’ll tell you later.” I shook my head, just as the rest of the group walked in.

“My girl is moving into her new shop!” Cutler shouted as he jogged through the door, holding a handful of flowers that he’d clearly picked for her.

“I sure am. And I’m going to put in a little cozy reading corner just for you.” Saylor bent down to kiss his cheek. “My little baseball star.”

“Yep. I’m really good. Pops thinks I’m going to be better than him,” he said.

I glanced up at Nash, who was smirking where he stood behind Cutler. “Damn straight. Put in the work, and you’ll keep getting better.”

“I want to be like Pops and all my uncles when I grow up. Uncle King, can you teach me to paint like this?” The little guy gaped at the bookshelves as he walked closer to inspect them.

“Absolutely. We’re going to start working on that desk you asked for next week. First, we’ll build it, and then we’ll paint it.”

Cutler reacted with a fist pump and smiled. “Yes. I’m going to have my own desk and be a businessman like Uncle River.”

“Then we’ll make it the best around.” I high-fived my little dude.

“All right, let’s get these trucks unloaded,” River said, as he peeked his head in the door.

And that’s exactly what we did. We spent the next several hours working our asses off. Everyone showed up. River, Ruby, Peyton, Bobby, Slade, Nash, Hayes, Cutler, Romeo, Demi, a few guys from the gym, and Ruby’s brothers, Rico and Zane, even showed up for a few hours. The one person who hadn’t shown up was Jalen. I didn’t ask if she’d ended things with him because Saylor hadn’t mentioned it, and I didn’t want to look like some desperate asshole who was dying to know.

Even if I was a desperate asshole and dying to know.

Demi made us lunch and kept us loaded up with iced teas, and we got the place unpacked.

And when I got home, I didn’t even shower. I fell into my bed with my clothes on, and I slept.

My alarm had me jumping from a sound sleep. I glanced at my phone, stunned to see that I’d been out for fourteen hours, even though I felt like I could sleep a lot longer. Ruby and Saylor would be over soon to help get things set up, and I was definitely in need of a shower to wake myself up.

I hurried as I let the water spray down on my back, and I fought the urge to grip my dick and give myself some relief. But I wouldn’t do it.

It had been weeks. Probably the longest I’d ever gone without sex. I was suffering big time, but I just couldn’t get my mojo back.

When I thought about sex, I thought about Saylor.

It was a fucked-up thing to do, and I knew it.

So, I’d gone without.

No sex. No rubbing one out. No spanking the salami. No fucking relief at all.

I was working crazy hours and keeping my mind busy. My hands busy.

But my dick… he was not happy.

I shook it off, got dressed, and reminded myself that no man had ever died from a bad case of blue balls.

Had he?

I sure as fuck hope not.

The doorbell rang, and Ruby and Saylor walked in carrying grocery bags. I helped unload their cars, and I was grateful that they took charge of the situation.

“I’ll get the ham into the oven,” Saylor said.

“Perfect. I’ll go start hiding eggs for Cutler.” Ruby paused as she took in the bags full of eggs that I’d gotten for the egg hunt. “My God. He’s one little kid. There must be two hundred eggs here.”

“He’s one little kid, but he’s also the best kid on the planet. I figured he’d want to find a lot of eggs. I’ve been stuffing them full of all his favorite shit the last few nights.”

“You’re a good man, Kingston Pierce.” Ruby pushed up onto her tiptoes and kissed my cheek before she grabbed one of the large bags and headed out the back door.

I turned to look at Saylor, who was bent over, ass in the air, sliding a ham into the oven. Her tan legs were on full display beneath her cut-off denim shorts.

Motherfucker.

My dick strained against my jeans, and I did everything in my power to make my boner go away. I squeezed my eyes shut and forced myself to visualize my worst nightmare.

White vans.

Beehives.

Dozens of clowns.

“Um, hello? Are you okay?” Saylor’s voice pulled me from my own personal version of hell.

“Yeah. Of course. What can I do?” I asked, clapping my hands together and causing her to jump.

I’m jumpy. My dick is jumpy. My whole fucking body is jumpy.

We hadn’t been alone for more than a few minutes at a time in a while. I’d made sure of that. But now, here we were.

She was wearing a white tee, and I couldn’t pull my eyes away.

She glanced down and looked at herself. “Is there something on me? Why are you looking at me so weird?”

“What? Me? No. I’d never look at you weird.”

“Oh. Oh, you’re probably wondering why I’m so underdressed.” She shook her head as if she should have thought of this first. “Rubes and I brought clothes with us here to change into before the party starts. But I thought I’d be casual while we cooked and set up.”

I was not concerned with her attire, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to say that.

“You look great. You don’t need to change on my account. It’s a casual party.”

“Well, it’s also Easter.” She grabbed another grocery bag off the counter and handed it to me. “How about you start opening all the paper plates and utensils, and we’ll get that set up on the island. Ruby and I figured buffet-style with this size group was best.”

“Yeah. That sounds good. Thanks for taking care of all that. Ruby said my white paper plates were not going to work.” I chuckled as I started unpacking the endless crap that they’d gotten. I’d offered to pay when they’d called me to ask if they could pick everything up, but Ruby said River had insisted on covering this stuff since I’d be covering the rest.

We spent the next two hours getting the food going, and I loaded coolers full of drinks, which I set up on the patio before I helped Ruby get the rest of the eggs hidden for Cutler.

When I stepped back inside, Saylor came walking out of the bathroom wearing a short white sundress and a pair of cowboy boots.

My mouth went fucking dry.

This was it.

My dick was going to explode. Right here in the middle of my house, with no one touching him. He was ready for an epic release.

I’d either have to eventually allow myself to rub one out or reach out to one of my usual hookups and make it happen.

I couldn’t go much longer like this.

This was bordering on a medical emergency.

Saylor smiled and then spun around. The back of her dress was completely open, her tan skin glistening against the white fabric. “You like it?”

I nodded, my tongue poking out to wet my bottom lip. “Yeah. You look great.”

Her hair was in a ponytail that swung down her back, and she wore just the slightest bit of makeup—pink gloss on her plump lips—and her smile reached her pretty turquoise eyes.

“Thanks, King. This is going to be a great day. And thanks for including my mama. It means a lot to her. To me.” She moved past me toward the kitchen, her lavender scent taunting me as she floated by.

“Of course. Barry better not show up, but your mom is always welcome. What time is Jalen coming?” I asked because I was dying to know what was going on with them.

“Oh. I haven’t filled you in yet because you’ve been so busy with work. That’s done. I officially ended things. I mean, we’re still going to be friends. But nothing more.” She shrugged before holding her arms up and waving her hands around. “I guess I’m single and ready to mingle.”

Ruby laughed as she walked through the back door. “Oh, boy. Here we go again. She’s back on the market.”

“Truth be told,” Saylor sighed, her eyes moving between us, “I think I might just want to be by myself for a while.”

“Well, you know, there’s nothing wrong with that. A girl can always take care of her own needs if she doesn’t want to rely on a man to do it.” Ruby winked and then bumped her shoulder into Saylor’s, and they both laughed.

What the actual fuck is this?

Were they actually talking about getting themselves off?

Was the universe fucking with me intentionally?

“Oh, yeah? You think you can please yourself better than a man can?” I asked, hoping like hell that they didn’t notice how gruff my voice sounded.

Ruby was busy looking at her phone now, and my gaze locked with Saylor’s.

“It’s not like I’ve been with anyone… like that, in a while anyway.” Her eyes widened as a grin spread across her gorgeous face, and she reached for a grape and popped it into her mouth casually, like we were discussing the weather. “So, yeah. I know how to please myself, King. Don’t you worry about me.”

Fuck me.

Not even a white van filled with killer bees and a serial killer clown driving said van could help me now. There was no vision that could erase what was going through my mind. I was for sure going to blow if I didn’t take care of business soon.

I popped a grape into my mouth and tried to mimic her casual demeanor. “Not worried at all.”

Because it wasn’t Saylor that I was worried about at the moment.

It was me.