23. Jo

Playlist: August - Recorded at Electric Lady Studios | MUNA

I’ve lost my mind. I must’ve. I don’t know when or how, but I have an inkling it was when I realized Hunter’s favorite song was her favorite because of me .

“Where are we going?” Hunter asks as I pull her through the lobby.

“You’ll see.”

I kissed her. Without waiting for prompting, and without reason, I kissed Hunter.

My Hunter.

It was fucking heaven, and she kissed me back, and she tasted so damn sweet, so fucking right .

I pull her out the front doors, making a right and heading towards the beach.

My head is swimming. I don’t know what’s happening to me, but I know I need her.

Port Haven Point is a tiny lighthouse—short and squat with a lock that’s easy as hell to pick. Or at least it was when I was in high school.

“Giovanna Quinn, are you going to push me off the top of a lighthouse?” Hunter asks teasingly.

I look at her over my shoulder, raising a brow. For a minute I’m fifteen again, holding my girl’s hand and laughing as we run along the shore. “Not unless that’s what you’re into, honey.”

Once we reach the door, I face her, reaching into her hair to pull a bobby pin from her perfectly messy updo. Her eyes widen as a strand of hair falls into her face. I turn to the door, inserting the bobby pin into the lock. A little to the left, a little jiggle, and…

Click .

“Holy shit, you’re a delinquent!” Hunter sounds both delighted and scandalized. “Why didn’t you ever that summer?”

I push the rickety door open, nodding at her to enter first. “I didn’t figure out I could break in until that fall. When you were in Georgia discovering your new favorite song, I came here to be alone.”

Once we’re through the doorway, I close the door and flip the light switch on. I step behind Hunter, wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her into me. When I press my lips to her neck, her breath hitches and it’s such a pretty noise that I have to hold back a moan.

“I always wished I’d found it sooner,” I whisper against her neck. “That we had come here together, that it was ours. Maybe…maybe it’s not too late. Maybe it can be ours.”

I’m startled when Hunter pulls away from me, heart sinking beneath the floorboards like I’m in an Edgar Allen Poe story.

“Giovanna,” she cups my face in her hands, eyes searching mine. “I need you to promise you won’t pull away if we do this. I don’t think I could take it if you left again, or said it was a mistake. Even if you’re scared and regret it, promise you’ll talk to me. Please.”

I turn my head and press my lips to her palm. “I promise.” It’s the hardest promise I’ve ever made, but also the one I’m most committed to keeping.

“Kiss me,” she whispers.

I do, tangling my hand in her hair, tilting her head back and kissing her with everything I have.

I don’t know what will happen after this or in the morning. All I know is right this second, she’s mine again. I can’t give her what she needs from a relationship, but I can give her what she needs tonight.

I gently push her backwards into the room. It’s a small space, with a spiral staircase painted with chipping navy blue paint. She whimpers when I press down on her shoulders, forcing her to lower herself to a stair.

“What are you doing?” she asks, leaning back against the stairs above her.

I raise a brow letting my eyes run over her body. Her face is so flushed, and I wonder if she’s wet, if her nipples are straining against her bra. If she wants me as much as I want her. “I thought it was obvious.”

She bites her lip and shakes her head.

I slowly begin removing the rings from my left hand, keeping my eyes on hers. “I’m fucking you on the stairs, honey. Where I can make you scream as loud as I want.”

“Fuck.” A shiver wracks through her entire body.

“Mmhmm. That’s the plan.” I shove my rings into my jacket pocket. I tug on her hip, until she’s on her side facing me as I lower myself onto the stairs beside her.

“Hi,” she says softly, reaching out and brushing a strand of hair behind my ear.

“Hi,” I whisper back before leaning in and kissing her again. I take my time with her, savoring each moan and drinking in the way her fingers dig into the softness of my hip.

There’s no way to make this comfortable, but I still put my arm behind her head as a pillow as we kiss.

“Is there anything I need to know before I touch you?” I ask her gently.

Hunter blinks up at me, blue eyes unfocused and shimmering. “Huh?”

“I really want to touch you. To make you feel good. But I need to know what you want, and for us both to feel safe.”

“Oh!” Her eyes widen in understanding. “Right. I’ve been tested since my last partner and everything came back negative.”

I nod. “Me, too. I was tested at my annual last month and everything is clear.”

She exhales longly. “Good, cuz if Kelsey had given you anything…”

“Please stop talking about my ex.” She giggles, and my face breaks into a soft smile. “Remember when my dad dragged us to Planned Parenthood after he walked in on us and made us get tested listen to a lecture on safe-sex practices? God, he’d be so disappointed I don’t have dental dams on me…”

“Please stop talking about your dad.” Hunter interrupts, grabbing the collar of my blouse and pulling me into her until we crash together.

“How do you want me?” I murmur against her. “You want my fingers? My mouth? You want to grind that pussy on my knee the same way you did the night we watched FRIENDS reruns?”

“Yes,” she breathes, tracing the seam of my lips with her tongue. “Yes. Yes to all of that.”

I smirk against her and gently bite her lower lip. “Dirty girl. You’re so greedy.”

She moans, and I feel her body moving as she rubs her thighs together. She’s wearing a sundress with cowgirl boots, because of course she is. I slip my hand between her legs. “Keep them open for me, honey.”

She’s so obedient, so responsive. She spreads her legs as best she can, opening herself to me.

“That’s my good girl,” I praise her, testing out the waters.

She whimpers and I smile to myself. Of course she has a praise kink. Of course I fucking love it.

Then she surprises me by closing her legs, squeezing my hand between her thighs. I pull away from her. Her chest is heaving under her dress, lips swollen and cheeks tinged pink.

“Hunter. Legs open.”

“Or what?” she asks with a wicked uptick of the corner of her mouth. “Legs open or what , Giovanna?”

“Oh, so naughty,” I tease, reaching out to run my finger along her collar bone. “Legs open or you’ll have to work for it.”

She slings her leg over my hip and I smirk, slowly moving my finger down her sternum and over the softness of her belly. I slide it beneath her skirt, savoring the softness of the skin on her inner thigh. God, I want to make her scream my name until she loses her voice. To make her come so many times she…

She clamps her legs shut again.

I meet her eyes, and instead of the anxious expression I’d expected to see, she’s smirking at me.

“Oops,” she says innocently.

I bite back a groan. “Hunter.”

“Yes, Giovanna?”

I don’t even know what to say. She’s all batting eyelashes and giggles and fuck, she’s wrecked me.

I pull my hand from between her legs and dig my fingers into her hip, shifting so that I’m on my back against the stairs. She follows me, swinging both legs over my body and straddling my knee. Her hair’s all mussed, and she looks down at me expectantly.

“I told you. You’re going to have to work for it since you can’t behave, honey. Fuck yourself against my leg.”

She moans, eyes fluttering closed. “Giovanna,” she whines, grinding her core against me. “You want me dead?”

“Never. I want you to come.” I check my watch. “The party ends in twenty minutes, and I have to break down the room, so you better get going if you want to come.”

“I hate you,” she grunts, her hips moving in a circle, chasing the pleasure of friction from her lace panties against my thigh.

“No, you don’t.” I don’t try to hide my smirk since her eyes are closed.

“No, I don’t,” she sighs.

“Play with your tits,” I encourage.

Hunter opens her eyes to glare at me. “Stop telling me what to do,” she whines.

I smirk and lean back on my elbows. “Okay.”

“Fine!” she exclaims after maybe ten seconds, screwing her eyes closed again. She lowers the thin straps of her dress from her shoulders and tugs the bodice of her dress down. She then tugs down on the cups of her pink, lacy bra and dear god, she’s perfect.

She grasps her perfect tits, and they overflow from her hands as she rolls her nipples between her middle finger and thumb. Her cunt is so warm against my leg, a radiating heat that is burning me alive.

“Giovanna,” she gasps. Her movements are frenzied as a blush creeps up her chest.

“You gonna come for me, Hun?” I ask, breathless. She nods frantically, eyes still squeezed closed. “Use your words.”

“Yes,” she whimpers. “Yes, I’m gonna come for you.”

I squeeze her hips, stilling her movements. She lets out a frustrated moan, opening one eye.

“Ask nicely.”

She groans, and she can pretend she’s annoyed all she wants, but I can see the way her teeth dig into her bottom lip, biting back her smile.

“Please, can I come?”

“That’s my girl,” I praise, one hand sliding beneath her skirt again. I groan when I feel the softness of her lace thong beneath my fingers, which I’m certain matches her bra. “Can I feel you come on my fingers?”

She nods enthusiastically. She’s so worked up, so wet, that when I slip my hand beneath the lace, my middle and ring fingers slide effortlessly into her. God, she feels good. Her pussy squeezes around me, and I curve my fingers like it’s muscle memory.

She rides my hand, frantic and fast and hard, and then she’s coming. She’s so fucking beautiful, mouth open on a silent scream as she squeezes my fingers. Her lips curl upward, and my heart flutters. She giggles a smiley, breathless giggle that’s haunted me for over a decade.

“That’s it, honey. God, you’re beautiful, you’re so, so beautiful.” I’m overwhelmed, just from watching her, from feeling her.

She exhales loudly, eyes fluttering open as I pull my fingers from her and bring them to her mouth, tracing the shape and watching her lips glisten from her wetness.

“Clean up your mess, Hun.” Her eyes are on mine as she opens her mouth and I place my fingers on her tongue.

Her lips close, I groan, throaty and loud. She smirks, swirls her tongue around my fingers, and releases them with a pop.

“Did you know you laugh when you come?” I ask as she pulls her bra and bodice up over her tits.

She peers up, looking shy. Imagine that. Hunter Cleary, shy. “No?”

“Yeah. Uh, you did it that summer, too. You’re the only person I’ve ever seen who does.”

“You looked?” And somehow I understand exactly what she means.

“Yeah, I looked,” I say softly, reaching up and cupping her jaw. “You’re something special, Hunter Cleary.”

“No one’s ever told me that before,” she muses. “That I laugh when I come. I don’t think anyone else ever noticed.”

For a moment I let myself believe that it’s because it’s just for me. That this is something I can hold close to my chest and secret from the rest of the world.

“I wish they had. I wish someone told you how it’s your best laugh. Do you… Maybe you can see it? I can show you?” I’m stammering at the end, cheeks red as I imagine supporting Hun in front of the mirror in our room as I fuck her with that pink vibrator she brought with her. Imagine our eyes meeting in the reflection like they had earlier, but this time, as she giggles and comes. Just for me.

“Yeah,” she swallows and looks around. “How do you want me to touch you? I want to make you come before we face the wrath of Kelsey.”

Kelsey. While we were here, Kelsey hadn’t existed. It had been me and Hunter and our baggage from the past that really doesn’t feel like baggage when I’m with her.

“So, um. I’ve learned a lot about myself over the past twelve years,” I say slowly.

“Oh?” Hunter shifts on my lap. “Like what?”

I cup her waist in my hands. “Like sometimes…getting someone off is even better than me getting off. Sometimes, the longer the wait is, the better it is.”

Hunter’s eyes widen in understanding. “Oh! You…get off by not getting off.”

I smirk. “Yeah. And I just…I like watching my partner when I make her feel good.”

Hunter nods slowly, looking deep in thought. “That’s helpful.”

“Are you okay with that?” I ask apprehensively.

Her attention is back on me. “Now why wouldn’t I be okay with whatever works for you?”

I don’t respond, and my silence is enough of an answer.

“Fucking Kelsey,” she sighs, her eyes falling closed.

“I mean, she felt a sense of power making her partner come, I think, so she just didn’t get it. So I’d fake and…”

“What?” Hunter asks, her voice biting with anger. But it fades, replaced with a soft, concerning voice just for me. “You faked with the woman you were going to marry?”

I don’t know why I told her that. I’ve never told anyone that before. But something about Hunter wants to let her see my vulnerabilities, to be honest with her. Because I think she’d treat them as delicate and precious, protect them like a baby bird in her hand.

“I’m sorry.” Her voice is small. “I’m sorry that you…”

“Nope. That’s very nice of you, but we’re not doing that right now.”

Hunter nods. “Got it. Thank you, Giovanna,” she adjusts her skirt as I get to my feet. “For bringing me here. For this. I know you’re letting me into a private part of your life, and I want you to know I see that.”

My heart stutters because she’s right . Tonight has been my past and present colliding. The first girl I’d loved, in a place I had mourned her and our lost relationship.

She reaches out and squeezes my hand. “I think you’re brave too, Giovanna. Do you know that?”

“Thank you,” I whisper, voice thick. I’ve never felt so known, so seen, so thoroughly, unconditionally understood and accepted than I feel at this moment.

I’ve never felt as at peace with myself as I do with her.