Chapter 48

CHAPTER FOURTY-EIGHT

TAM

52 bobas left until they both die … (the same day)

“Please pay attention for another twenty minutes,” Jacob says, standing over my chair. I’m poised at the edge of a conference table, head parked on my hand, eyes closed. We’re taking a twenty-minute break before we reconvene, and all I want to do is go home.

The CEO isn’t even here—her headquarters are in San Francisco—but we’re finishing up the concept for the new album with the creative team, and if I’m not here, I won’t get much input. I have to advocate for myself.

But damn, Jacob forced me out of that room with guilt and threats. Leaving a warm, sleepy Lakelynn behind in my bed didn’t sit right with me.

“I was paying attention, Jake,” I tell him, opening my eyes when I hear a ping from my phone.

I slide it across the table and turn it over, glancing at my notifications. The security cameras at my house have been going off with Unfamiliar Face notifications, but it’s just Lakelynn so I stopped looking at them. She has Joules there, along with a large security team, so I’m not worried. “But this is my break. Can I please have a break?”

I look up, and I can see that Jacob is not pleased with me. Too bad. I have my girlfriend at my house, and I’m distracted. I don’t want to be here. I want to be with her.

“Fine. Do whatever you want.” Jacob stands up, straightens his jacket out with flustered movements, and then storms over to me. His next words come in the form of an angry whisper. “Come to work with scratches all over your arms and back like you’ve been in a fight with a tiger. Very professional.”

He flees the room with a huff as my lips twist into a smile.

A fight with a tiger? Well, well, Lakelynn.

I tap the notification for the cameras, just so I can see her face. The first ‘event’ recorded by the security cameras is Lake, sitting up to find my note. I smile when she slaps her hands over her face. I wet my lips when she walks naked into the bathroom. I scroll through the footage until I see her start to wander the house. She finds my dance room first, and I have to put a hand over my mouth to muffle my laughter when I see her imitating the choreo for “Break Up With Me”. I slip an earbud in and turn up the sound, just to see what she’s saying.

She’s singing. And it’s so terribly awful, and somehow incredibly endearing.

My chest feels tight, and my mind shifts gears. Last night was … I’m having a hard time controlling myself around Lake. Now that I’ve let myself relax around her, I’m falling hard and fast. Just looking at her excites me. My mind strays back to her every thirty or so seconds.

I’m going crazy, and I don’t even care.

Lake makes an accidental circle, finds the laundry room, and returns upstairs. I watch her on the bedroom cameras as she stares at my bag for two or three minutes straight. She ends up kneeling down beside it and drawing out the sweater in the plastic bag.

An old twinge of fear grips me, but I push it down and rid myself of it for good. Whatever Lake is doing with that sweater, I trust her.

I keep watching, rewarded immediately for putting my faith in her.

Lake is … scraping the sweatshirt. Soaking it. Washing it.

I’m about to get up, say to hell with the meeting, and go straight home to her. But then I see that she’s found Joules and that they’re having a conversation. It looks intense, so I rewind the footage a bit to see what’s going on.

They’re discussing the curse.

I listen to the entire thing, and I only stop when Lake starts cooking for Joules, and their conversation switches to family members I know nothing about.

I get up and stuff my phone in my pocket.

“I’m going home,” I tell Daniel as I pass by, and he nods, getting on his phone to call Pat. Jacob is gaping at me as I sweep past down the hallway. “You know what I want from this album. Tell them it’s all a no-go unless they make it happen.”

I use the stairs because I’m too impatient for the elevator, and then I head straight home.

Joules is still in the kitchen with Lake when I walk in the door. He’s leaning over the countertop while he eats, and she watches him with satisfaction from the other side. They’re both chuckling about something.

I pause just inside the door as Lake looks up to see me, her cheeks going pink, her pupils widening. My body recognizes it right away, the instantaneous shift in her demeanor. From laughing and smiling to waiting. Anticipating.

I squeeze my right hand into a fist before forcibly relaxing it. In my other hand, I have a boba that I’ve brought home with me.

“Oh, hi,” Lake says, and her sweet, soft voice does everything for me.

As soon as I can get rid of Joules, I’m going to fuck her again.

“Hey,” I respond, and the word comes out with an edge to it. Lake shudders as I carry over her tea and set it down on the counter. But not too close to her. I keep a careful distance for now. My eyes shift over to Joules, and I see that he’s taking his sweet time with the bacon and eggs and waffles that she’s made for him.

This woman has found my waffle maker that even I’ve never used and made breakfast on her first morning here.

I want her to stay with me like this forever, but I can’t say that aloud just yet.

I exhale and Lake does the same, our eyes on one another.

“Are you hungry?” she asks, and I should say no because I had a green smoothie this morning and that’s all I can really afford calorie-wise until dinner.

I nod and take a seat two stools down from her brother.

“I’m going to start working for Kaycee, so I won’t be around much,” Joules begins, still staring at his plate. I heard all of this and more from the security cameras, but I don’t volunteer that information just yet. I’ll tell Lake after Joules is gone.

“Okay,” I tell him, planting an elbow on the counter and resting my cheek against it. Thank fuck. Lake and I can be alone.

“But no matter how you feel right now, how she feels right now, the curse is not broken.” Joules finally turns to look at me, and there’s an honest pleading in his face that makes me take this even more seriously than I already am. I’ve decided that believing in the curse won’t change a thing. I’ll just roll with it. “Please take care of my little sister, get to know her. Let yourself believe that you guys could be together for the rest of your lives. I know it’s a lot to ask, but I’m begging you.” Joules stares right at me, and my lips part. I sit up straight on the stool to look back at him. “I’m trusting you with the person that I love the most, Tam.”

“Joules,” Lake says softly, and my heart thumps painfully.

“I’ll take care of her,” I promise him, because if this curse doesn’t break then … it won’t be on my end.

Joules stares at me like he’s testing my mettle. I don’t flinch. I look right back at him. Maybe he doesn’t know that I waited twenty-seven years to let myself fall in love. This is a big deal to me—curse or no curse.

Lakelynn and Joules are the only people I’ve met in years who treat me like a regular person, who have judged me solely by my character. They found it lacking. I could see it that night, Joules’ face covered in blood and Lakelynn looking at me like I was a mistake.

“I didn’t come here for him,” she’d said to her brother. “I came here for you.”

I won’t let that happen again.

“Won’t ask her to get on her knees and suck your dick?” Joules replies dryly, and I lift a brow.

“I can’t promise I won’t do that,” I admit, and Lakelynn makes a sound, spilling some of the batter as she tries to pour it into the waffle maker. “But I’ll be nicer about it.” A pause. “Or else I’ll just make sure we’re both on the same page with what we want.”

“Lovely. An old virgin dom. Just the sort of guy I wanted to leave my sister with.” Joules slides off the stool and snatches up his jacket. He moves around the counter to give his sister a kiss on the forehead, his eyes leveled over her head and fixed right on me. If you hurt her, I will kill you. And I believe it, too.

“Wait, did you say virgin?” I say after a minute, when I realize the full impact of Joules’ insult.

“He knew you were a virgin from moment one,” Lake explains gently, and I raise both brows.

Well, shit.

“Text me twice a day or I’ll hunt you down,” Joules calls out, sweeping past me and out the door. I text Pat and tell him to give Joules a ride to wherever it is he needs to go. If it’s Kaycee’s house, she’s all of five minutes down the street.

I look over my shoulder and out the wall of glass until Joules disappears down the path in the direction of the garage.

Only then do I turn back to Lake.

She’s already blushing.

“I feel like you’re anticipating something,” I say to her, which is just mean. Because we both know exactly what we’re anticipating. Hell, I warned her in the note I left. I just really, really like her reaction when I say things like that. She squirms, and then steels herself, trying to act cool as she tucks sea green hair behind both ears. “Want to tell me what that something might be?”

“How was your day today?” Lake asks, looking up and refusing to take the bait. My fingers curl on the countertop as I search for an appropriate response. No, fuck this.

I stand up and walk around the kitchen island, snagging the cord for the waffle maker and yanking it from the plug.

Lake looks up at me, lips parting as I take her chin in my fingers and kiss her.

She lets me walk her backward and over to the couch, my hand sliding up and under her hoodie to find her breasts naked and waiting for me. I groan against her lips as I thumb her nipple, kissing the tiny gasps off her swollen mouth.

“I should never have left this morning. That was a mistake.” I tell her this with our mouths just a hair’s breadth apart. “Not after last night.”

I lower Lake to the couch, shoving her sweats down so that I can cup her between the legs. She’s wet for me already, like maybe she’s been thinking about me since she woke up this morning. I smile as I nip her lower lip, stroking a finger along her center and reveling in the soft, happy shudder of her body underneath me.

No, I can’t wait.

I take my hand away and Lake groans in frustration. I yank her pants down and toss them aside, pushing my own to mid-thigh. She spreads her legs around me, one flung over the back of the sofa, the other foot on the floor. My own foot rests beside hers for leverage as I thrust in, thrilled at the sight of her in the early afternoon sunshine.

Gold light spills over Lake’s beautiful hair, turns her skin to cream, paints her lips a vibrant pink. I curl my fingers into hers, take her mouth with my own. Lake is so sweetly enthusiastic when I touch her that I want to do it more, kiss her with every thrust, touch and pet and worship her with my hands.

I pin her down again when she starts to come, and she pushes right back at me. But I meet her eyes when I do it, can see her struggling not to call it off. With a groan, Lake thrusts her hips up hard against mine, tightening so firmly around me that I can’t move. She pulses as she cries out, shoving against me. And then her entire body is softening, melting, molding against me.

“Keep going,” she whispers, wrapping her arms around my neck.

It doesn’t take much, just the pair of us, lazy and sloppy and precious in the sunshine. I climax buried deep inside of Lake, holding her against me, listening to the frantic beat of her heart.

“He’s giving this his all. Please. Consider us a done deal, okay?” Her words to Joules come back to me, and I sigh, holding onto her just a little tighter. I got a perverse amount of pleasure at hearing her say that.

“I need to tell you something,” I whisper, pushing up so that I’m on all-fours and barely touching her. Lake is blushing as she adjusts herself onto her elbows. It’s a little different, for sure, making love in bright sunshine. I could see everything—the strain in her face, the tightness in her neck, the backwards roll of her eyes. It’s a lot. I wonder what I looked like to her.

“You’re going to come, and then drop that horrible statement while we’re still half-naked?” she whispers, and I laugh, dropping my head down a little.

“It’s not that bad, but I feel like it gets worse the longer I don’t say it.”

Lake wiggles out from underneath me and oofs as she falls to the floor. I grin as I sit up, watching her scramble to collect herself. I love the way she yanks her sweatpants up like that, as if I’m not dripping down the insides of her thighs right now.

Shit, I love that.

I look up at her stern expression, and I take my sweet time pulling my own sweatpants up. I let the waistband snap against my hips as I sit back, hands on my thighs.

“I forgot to warn you that there are security cameras here,” I explain, but Lake doesn’t get it. She just blinks down at me and then shrugs.

“Okay?” She tilts her head slightly to one side, sea green hair mussed up from being underneath me. I shiver and close my eyes briefly. This is all new to me, and frankly, I’m having trouble not just reverting to sex right now.

I make myself open my eyes, force my body to back off for a minute.

“So, I got an alert on my phone that there was someone here. I clicked it because, why not, and I happened to, uh …” I run my hand over the back of my neck, lips twisting. “Well, I saw a few things.”

Like you, dancing and then grabbing your pussy because I made it sore with my dick.

I meet Lake’s eyes, pleased to see that she’s blushing now.

“What things?” she whispers, tucking her hair behind her ears.

“Well.” I stand up in front of her and cross my arms. “Are you going to accept his offer or not?” I repeat my words from last night and Lake groans. But I’m not done yet. “No, you jealous potato, I am not. You know why?” I pat her on the head, and she moans in agony, putting her hands over her face. “Why, I’ll tell you. Because I’m dating international superstar Tam motherfucking Eyre.”

“You could’ve stopped at the first line, and I would’ve received your message loud and clear.”

“I know,” I tell her, petting her hair back and ignoring my body’s signals. I’m hard again. Already. “But it’s funnier if I deliver the whole thing.”

She jokingly slaps my hand away, and then hesitates.

“Hey, uh, can I show you something?”

I nod, and Lake takes my wrist, using a strange, roundabout way to get to the laundry room. Her way involves going outside and cutting across one of the porches to get there. Not sure exactly why this is what we’re doing, but I find myself laughing and enjoying the long journey.

“Most people don’t have security cameras in their house, Tam,” Lake informs me as she pushes into the laundry room. I see that she’s finished drying and folding the items I put in the washer before I left. That’s adorable. I love that.

I wet my lips and look over at her. I’ll do all the chores if she wants. I like cleaning up after myself because it means that I can be alone when I’m here. I get precious few weeks like that a year, and I treasure them. But splitting chores like this? It feels good to share something so mundane but necessary.

“I know, and I’m sorry. On the plus side, seeing you like that made me want you even more.”

Lake releases my wrist and turns around, backing up a few steps.

“Well … that’s good because I had no intention of acting any differently than that. Watching Joe die made me realize that there’s no point in wasting time pretending about who you are. Anyway.” Lake turns away like she isn’t sharing these deep, personal little parts about herself. “Check this out.” She presents me with the cream-colored sweater that I defiled. Only, it’s clean and nice and folded, warm from sitting on the top of the dryer.

I slip it straight on over my T-shirt, and then I wrap Lake in the overly long arms.

“Oh, that’s nice,” she breathes, curling her fingers against the soft fabric and closing her eyes.

We stand there for a few minutes before I let her go.

Guess everyone was right about the sweater, huh?

“I’ve had so many fans tell me that they’d die if I hugged them while wearing this. Is it as nice as they imagined it would be?” I’m teasing her, but her expression is thoughtful, and I see that little dimple on her right cheek when she smiles. I cross my arms as I wait for her to answer.

“I like the sweater, but I prefer the sweater off.”

“Mm.” I take another step toward her, so that we’re toe to toe. “I take it that you had a good time last night then?”

“One would assume, considering the couch just now …” She trails off, turning her head slightly to one side.

“I’m not here for assumptions, Lakelynn Frost.” I tap her chin with a single finger, and she turns right back toward me again. “Tell me.”

“Tam Eyre …” Her voice cracks, and I gather her to me so that I can kiss her again. She’s panting against my mouth when I draw back for breath. “You’re … off tonight?”

“I’m off,” I assure her, because I’ve told Jacob that if he bothers me in the next seventy-two hours that I’m going to fire him for real this time. My tongue traces over Lake’s lower lip, and she presses into me, seeking more. I draw back, and she moves forward onto her tiptoes, reaching. I exhale and fist her hair, pushing my tongue into her mouth as she grabs at the front of my sweater. Her hand slips between us, cupping me through the pale pink joggers I’m wearing.

I’ve accounted for everything … except my mom.

“Thomas!” I hear her calling out to me, and I freeze. Lake startles, and I release her hair just in time to keep her from pulling it out.

“It’s my mom,” I explain, but I think Lake already knew that and maybe her reaction is a result of that knowledge. My mom wasn’t exactly warm toward her at that meeting. Probably because she could tell where my heart was before I did.

She doesn’t know that I’m breaking up with Kaycee yet. She’ll fucking hate that.

Lake is blushing, putting a hand on her lower belly.

“Can I change in here real quick?” she whispers, gesturing at the folded clothes behind her. There are the overalls I took off. The panties that were wet with my cum. Those silly boba socks that I stripped off her feet in the morning, just barely resisting the urge to kiss her on the top of her foot.

“There’s a bathroom just there.” I point at the corner, and Lake gives me a look.

“I thought that was a storage closet. How is there a bathroom in your laundry room? Does that make sense?”

I’m trying to muffle my laughter in my sweater, so that my mom doesn’t find us in here before Lake is ready, but it’s too funny to me.

“Tam, seriously? I’ve counted eleven bathrooms so far today.”

“There are twenty bathrooms,” I tell her, still laughing, and she just stares at me.

“Sir Tom, why on earth would you need twenty bathrooms?”

I give her a pat on the head and then point again, liking the way the long, cream sleeve of the sweater drapes dramatically over my hand and fingers. I’ll remember that for a future music video. Lake seems enthralled. I flick my fingers at the bathroom door.

“Maybe there are twenty bathrooms exactly for situations like this? You better hurry, or I’m introducing my new girlfriend to my mom with …” I don’t have to say it. We both know.

Lake gathers her clothes and takes off with me following her. She gives me a look, but I’m just here to wash my hands real quick. I wink at her as I dry them off on a towel, and then I slip out of the bathroom and laundry room both.

Just in time, too.

My mom is frowning and striding my way with purpose. She’s taken her shoes off, but that doesn’t diminish the powerful figure that she cuts in navy slacks, a loose jacket, and a cream blouse.

“Hi, Mom.” I wrap my arms around her, but not too tight, not as much as I usually do. She notices and is immediately suspicious.

“Have you seen it then?” she asks gently, but I just tilt my head at her. I have no idea what she’s talking about. “Shit, Tam. Oh, honey, it’s not good.”

I cross my arms, and I just wait.

Lake slips out of the laundry room, looking cute in her overalls and a T-shirt that reminds me of our first kiss. She’s already smiling, but there’s an edgy tension to her that I’m not sure I’ve ever seen. My lips tilt upwards at the corners. She wants to make a good impression on Elena.

“Mom,” I begin, unsure why her expression is the way it is. Have I seen what? But introducing Lake is more important than digging into whatever stupid video has gone viral. Me, taking a piss. Me, vomiting and passing out. What could it be now? I don’t know if I even care. “Elena. This is Lakelynn Frost, my new girlfriend.”

My mom is oddly silent, and then she passes her phone over with a TikTok video queued and waiting. Lake leans in toward me to look at it, too.

The caption reads: Tam Eyre performs for his lover in a tea shop. Uh-huh. There I am, dancing on a hopscotch for Lake’s cousin. My girlfriend clamps both hands over her mouth, stumbling back and turning away. She looks like she might throw up.

“It gets worse.” My mother’s gaze slips from me to Lake, and I can see that calculating glint in her eyes that I know so well. Cutthroat. Merciless. Elena takes her phone from me and navigates to another video. “Interesting timing, your new girlfriend and this video.”

Uh. I give my mom a look, but she just shakes her head and hands her phone back to me.

I take it. I press play. Lake turns around just in time to see what’s on the screen.

There we are. Her, in an oversized T-shirt. Me, shirtless. My hands are on her waist, our foreheads are bent close. I can see the expression in my eyes the way Lake must’ve experienced it. I look like a desperate man right there.

“Would you let me fuck you, Lakelynn?” I hear myself asking, voice deep and husky and warm.

Thirty-two million views.