Page 49 of A Little Kissing Between Friends

“I told her not to.”

Just as I’d suspected. “Okay. It’s your birthday, what do you want?” When her eyes dropped down to my glittering titties again, I laughed. “You want a hug?”

Her grin was slow to spread from the corners of her lips, but once she decided to let it fly, it lit up her entire face. When a sure nod followed, I spread my arms open and leaned forward. As I wrapped my arms around her neck, she pressed her face right into the valley of my chest. I squeezed my upper arms together and shimmied my shoulders. Her laugh was so sweet that it warmed my heart. It was amazing how a little motorboating could lift your spirits. After she took a deep breath, we separated.

“When you’re feeling up to it,” I spoke into her ear, “come back and see me and I’ll give you that birthday lap dance.”

Ducking her head, she nodded, and I straightened and left the section without even looking at her sister. Any words that left my mouth might be a lecture, and I wasn’t on that type of time. Stepping down from the elevated section, I locked eyes with Cody in an armchair less than ten feet from the steps. His face immediately lit up, but panic seized me when I saw who sat next to him. Poppa’s eyes were zeroed in on my face, but I couldn’t read her expression from so far away. Or maybe it was because I was actively avoiding meeting her eyes.

Fuck on a stick, why did I feel guilty? I hadn’t really done anything wrong.

Except for bailing on hanging out with her tonight.

And lying about the reason.

And not telling her that I was coming to work.

But other than that...

“Hey, y’all!” I chirped, hugging them both. Cody returned my embrace with the same eagerness as he always did, but Poppa’s hug was a little dry. Preferring not to make a big deal and call attention to it, I held my tongue and just moved to stand between their chairs, not missing the way Cody’s left eyebrow quirked as he eyed us.

“What are you doing here? I’ve never seen you on a Thursday before.”

Poppa snorted at Cody’s question, but Cody just laughed her off.

“Yeah, yeah. You already knew. Whatever, man. I wasn’t expecting to see her.”

Offering a shrug that was anything but nonchalant, Poppa relaxed further into her seat. “Shiiid, me either.”

Oh. She was giving mad attitude and practically ignoring me. Yeah, it was time for me to move around, because one thing I didn’t do was drama at work. Shifting my weight from one foot to the other, I took a step back.

“Aight, I’ll holla at y’all later.”

I was a half-step away when Cody sat forward and wrapped his hand around my wrist. Looking over my shoulder, I glanced back at him.

“What’s up?”

He gave me a curious look, like he was trying to figure something out, before sliding his gaze over to his sister, whose attention was now on the screen of her cellphone. When he looked back at me, there was a sly look in his eyes that let me know he was up to no good. And because of that look, I knew what he was going to say before he even parted his brown lips and said it.

“Can I get a lap dance?”

That calculating, observant bastard. I would’ve laughed if I wasn’t so pissed. He released my wrist, and I twisted around so that I was fully facing them again. I looked from his expectant face over to Poppa, who still hadn’t looked up from her phone, despite the fact that she’d undoubtedly heard her baby brother’s request. While I was inclined to give her that same energy back, Cody had other plans. With one hand still on my wrist and a shit-eating grin all over his face, he dug into his pocket and pulled out a roll of money. He released me briefly and peeled off a handful of bills before sliding the $500 into the garter on my thigh, then he grabbed me again and leaned toward his sister. It was as if she’d suddenly lost her peripheral vision, because she didn’t even move until he slapped the side of her knee.

“Say, Cyn.”

With no way to continue pretending she didn’t hear him, Cyn lifted her eyes as slowly as possible from her phone to her brother, telling us that she didn’t appreciate the annoyance of his touch without saying one word. Though she worked hard to appear bored and unaffected, I saw the moment that she noticed Cody’s hand on me and the way her eyes narrowed in response. Then she blinked slowly and was back to a bored expression.

“’Sup?”

Grinning, Cody seemed completely unfazed by her behavior.

“I asked Jucee for a lap dance and slid her $500 for it. I’m just making sure you’re cool with that.” Then he lifted both of his eyebrows as he waited for her response.

The fact that she didn’t immediately say no was the first indicator that she, too, was on some bullshit. Shrugging, she didn’t even look at me before returning her gaze back to her phone.

“That’s up to Jucee.”

Oh.