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Mac and Jaxon both just shake their heads and continue to get things ready for the cookout.
Bailey, Chris, and I get settled on the blanket. Chris and I remove our tops. We’re both wearing bikinis. Mine is a dark gray, while hers is pure white. I look over at Bailey and see the indecision written all over her face. Her body is marked from her time with Steven, and she’s still self-conscious about it.
I watch as she finally comes to a decision, and I couldn’t be more proud of her. With shaky fingers, she lifts the hem of her shirt and pulls it over her head. She has on a modest forest-green bikini top, but it still reveals the lines and dips of the scars she carries. She looks at me when she’s done, and I smile at her in encouragement.
All three of us lie back and soak up the sun and listen to the guys rumble about. The sun feels nice on my skin. I’m naturally darker-skinned so I don’t need to sunbathe to get a tan, but I like to do it every once in a while just for the relaxation it gives me.
“Did Jaxon tell you he heard from your dad the other day?” Bailey turns her head to ask me.
At the mention of the man who likes to claim he’s my father, my body stiffens. No, Jaxon hasn’t told me. Probably because he knows I don’t want to know. That man is a piece of shit who cares about nothing but himself. When he left us, there was a huge weight lifted from the house and everyone left in it. Yes, he was my father and I should have been sad, but he hadn’t acted like a father in years. He was constantly putting us all down and had cheated on Mama with several different women. The kicker was that he didn’t even try to hide it. He eventually moved to hitting my mom, but that didn’t last long. Jaxon made sure of that.
The most fucked-up part about it all is that he wasn’t always like that. When I was a kid, I remember him being the best father there was. He always had time for us kids. When he would come home from work, he would walk up to mom and give her a big kiss, and then turn to us kids and play with us until it was supper time. He treated my mom like precious gold, always catering to her every whim. My mom wasn’t a demanding woman, but he would find little ways to do things for her. I remember waking up each morning to my mom and dad sitting at the table beside each other talking quietly and laughing over a cup of coffee. I remembered always wanting a love like my parents had.
When I reached high school, everything changed. To this day, my mom has no idea what made him change. She likes to think it was a midlife crisis, but who knows.
I turn my head in Bailey’s direction and curl my lip. “He knows better than to bring him up to me. He’s tried in the past, but I always shut him down. I have no desire to ever know what’s up with that man.”
She nods in understanding. She knows the subject is a sore onefor both Jaxon and me. Probably more so Jaxon since it was his fiancé that our dear ol’ dad ran off with, right after she aborted Jaxon’s baby. Yes, it’s majorly fucked, but that’s our father for you.
“How did Jaxon do?” I ask her, because normally after Jaxon talks to our father he’s not in the best of moods. Who can really blame him though?
“He was okay. Mostly quiet.” She looks at me and starts chewing on her lip, like she’s trying to decide on whether or not to tell me something. I save her the trouble.
“Just spit it out, Bailey,” I tell her as gently as I can, but I know it still comes out harsh.
“He called to tell Jaxon that he and Cara are having another baby,” she rushes out.
This doesn’t surprise me, but it still pisses me off because my father knows how much it must hurt Jaxon. It’s like he’s gloating to Jaxon. It makes me want to hunt him down and rip his damn dick off and shove it down his throat so he can’t have any more babies with that hoe bag Cara.
“He was fine after a while, but I know it still bothers him,” Bailey says, after a few minutes. “I also know that having Amari helps as well.”
“I still hate that he does that to Jaxon. He knows damn good and well what it must do to him. He just doesn’t care. He’s a selfish prick.”
Bailey and Chris both nod in agreement. We lapse into silence. I’m almost asleep when a huge shadow blocks the sun. I open my eyes and see an upside down, shirtless Mac looming over me with a big grin on his face. The only thing he has on are his navy-blue board shorts. My mouth immediately becomes dry, and my heart does a pitter-patter at seeing his beautifully built chest. He squats down and lowers his mouth to give me an upside down kiss. His tongue and lips linger, sending a warm shiver racing through me, before leaning back on his heels.
“Come swim with me,” he says quietly.
I look over and see Chris lounging on her stomach. Bailey iswith Jaxon with her arms wrapped around him from behind while he mans the grill. Andrew is nowhere to be seen.
“Okay.” Mac helps me up from the blanket, and I slip off my shorts. I hear Mac groan behind me once my shorts are lowered, and I glance over at him. What I see in his eyes brings moisture between my legs. His eyes are running up and down my body with such intense sexual desire.
I clear my throat to get his attention. When he looks at me, there is no regret for being caught ogling me. He sends me a cocky smile.
Men.
He turns his back to me and says over his shoulder, “Hop on.”
I walk up behind him, wrap my arms around his neck, and give myself a little jump to bring my legs around his waist. He puts his hands underneath my upper thighs to help keep me on his back and starts walking forward.
An evil little grin forms on my face. I lean forward start licking and kissing the back of his neck. His skin is salty from sweating, but I’ve never tasted anything so good.
I feel his hands tighten on my thighs before he says in a warning voice, “Mia…”
“What?” I murmur innocently, after sucking and leaving a very impressive hickey on his shoulder.
“You know payback’s a bitch, right?” he asks, as he continues to walk.
“Suck it up, baby.” I use my tongue and leave a wet trail from the crook of his neck up to his ear, where I whisper to him, “That’s what this is. Payback from earlier.” I suck his earlobe into my mouth.
