38. Weston

Through the rest of the week, Renee and I go back and forth all day and all night long. Mostly, it”s pictures—Renee cheekily sending me shots of fast food, screenshots of memes, and her making faces into the phone camera at fancy events she”s been roped into. They all have a Polaroid filter slapped over them. My favorite is a Taco Bell order she snapped a pic of, her spread organized expertly in her lap.

She even gave it a fancy caption like it’s in a museum.

Pictured: 2023. A lonely woman”s 2:00pm Taco Bell run. For the purpose of acquiring serotonin, there are two (2) standard quesaritos, a six-piece of Cinnabon poppers, and a large Baja Blast slushie, partly melted in the 99 degree California sun.

She thinks she”s funny. I don’t disagree.

It doesn”t stop when I go back to practice. We”re not supposed to have our phones on the ice, but I”m not always the most rule-following good boy, either.

WESTON: I’m busy freezing my nuts off. Wyd?

RENEE: Not freezing my nuts off.

RENEE: I”m nice and toasty.

She sends me a pic poolside beneath the sunset, looking like an ethereal tropical princess. Her white and peach one-piece clings to her body. I don”t know if it”s the separation that’s got me down bad or just her, but she”s fucking glowing. Soft skin all dewy in the sunlight. There”s a plumpness to her body that just looks fucking delectable.

I want to bite and kiss my way from her full breasts to her plush tummy, right between those thighs…

I lick my lips. Leaning against the edge of the rink, I send what the kids call a risky text.

You do look pretty hot. We should get toasty together.

”Scott! Get the fuck off your phone and back on the ice!”

I laugh, sliding my phone into my pants. Feels like old times again.

I behave through the rest of practice, which is a feat in and of itself. By the time the final whistle blows, I”m damn near drooling to know what Renee sent me. So when I get to my car after practice the first thing I do is check the texts.

I am not disappointed.

First, a set of pictures. Each is Renee slowly revealing more and more of her body. A cute shoulder strap slip. Her tits pushed up, and then fully exposed. They”re perfect, full and round with the nipples pert and rosebuddy.

They”re in desperate need of my lips wrapped around them.

Then the final two. Her fingers teasing over the bottoms of her swimsuit, as if to ask, Should I? Like it”d be a scandal to reveal herself to me, like I haven”t seen her and don”t crave her for it. She rewards me with the very last picture, those bottoms pushed to the side revealing the plush mound of her pussy, her own fingers spreading her lips in invitation.

But Princess Polyester doesn”t stop with pictures. Nah. She goes the extra mile for me.

There”s a video, too.

”Fucking hell, Renee.”

My jeans are unzipped and my cock is in my hand before I even open the video.

The camera is angled downward, giving a great view of her thighs and her hand between them. Her fingers circle the bud of her clit. I hear her murmur, ”I miss you, Weston…”

I don”t know if she meant to say it. The admission is breathy, broken by a soft moan and a full-body shudder.

I miss you, Weston…

I squeeze my cock and stroke. Precum makes a mess of my shaft and I”m gonna have a hell of a clean-up, but I don”t give a fuck right now about that. Right now, I need it to not be my hand bringing me this pleasure. I need it to not be her own hands touching herself, stroking, pushing inside.

I want to bury myself so deep inside her she can”t think anymore.

I want to remind her who she really belongs to.

It doesn”t take her long and neither do I. Her fingers rapidly flick over her clit. The shallow panting as she brings herself closer to the edge works me up more than I”ve been in a while. When her thighs spasm and clench, I”m spilling over my own hand, cock pulsing in pleasure.

She whimpers through her orgasm and I swear she moans my name again.

It”s only then I see the message she sent right after the video.

RENEE: Next time I”ll send Polaroids, too.

This goddamn girl will be the death of me.

Something about jerking it in your car after eight hours of practice makes you really fucking hungry.

I stop by In-N-Out on the way home. I devour my fries like some kind of unholy beast before I even swing into the parking garage at The Palais.

By the time I”m coming through the front door, the apartment is quiet. I see neither hide nor hair of anyone.

Well. Almost anyone.

I nudge the balcony door open with my foot and catch sight of a familiar silhouette. ”You”re up late.”

”I don”t recall having a bedtime.” Mom looks up to me with a smile. ”You”re back late yourself.”

Yeah, my bad. Had to rub one out and get post-nut snacks.

”Practice ran long.” Not really a lie; Hud”s running us ragged.

”Sit with me while you eat then. Hunter and Molly are already asleep.”

My brow goes up. ”Together?”

”Don”t be juvenile, Weston.”

”Not like that.” I roll my eyes. ”They”ve just been cozy lately, that”s all.”

She arches her own brow, a perfect mirror of my expression. ”Like that wasn”t your goal when you had Molly come here to help him.”

”You can prove nothing,” I say solemnly.

She purses her lips to stop from smiling. ”I don”t have to.”

I tuck into my food and Mom and I sit in comfortable silence for a while. Then she speaks up. ”You know, I”m proud of you.”

”What?” I sloppily finish the bite in my mouth. ”Why?”

”For how you”re handling all this with Hunter. Not many could take on the responsibility of something as serious as an addiction, even if it was happening to their best friend. Especially when that best friend also did something to hurt you because of his addiction.”

I pause mid-chew. ”He told you he stole from me?”

She nods. ”He did. When he called and explained to me what happened, he told me about that, too.” She sighs, shaking her head. For the first time in a long time, she seems aged. ”I was stumped when he confessed, West. I know he”s been down since his injuries—but drugs? Stealing? I wish I had seen this sooner.”

”You couldn”t have known. None of us could have.”

”Knowing that doesn”t stop the feeling. I could tell you the same thing. You gonna stop feeling guilty about it?”

I put my chin out. ”How do you know I”m feeling guilty?”

”Because it”s weighing on you every single day. I can see it.”

My bravado deflates. Hammer, meet nail. ”It”s—he”s like my brother, you know? That matters.”

”And he”s like a son to me,” she agrees. “He needs our help and our guilt isn”t going to do that.”

Again—not wrong. I slouch back in my seat. ”Guess we gotta swallow that shit, huh?”

”Just more of the same thing I’ve been doing all my life, son.”

She sure as hell has. She”s where I get my grit, after all.

”So… Now that you know about Hunter, you know you need to make things right with Renee.”

It”s not a question. ”You and Molly share brain cells,” I accuse.

She doesn’t bother quipping back. ”Molly and I know Renee is the best woman to ever happen to you. You let the pain of your past bleed into your relationship with her. You punished her for something that wasn’t her fault.”

My chin sags to my chest. ”I know.”

”Then what”s the hold-up, son?”

What isn’t the hold up? Even with this talking we”ve been doing, it”s not like it”s the big talk.The groveling, fix it all talk. The run back into my arms, Renee talk.

”She”s got a guy. A family-approved guy.”

”So? Is he Renee-approved?”

”I don’t think so. But she makes all these excuses for staying. She just has to, ”cause her parents bailed her out after I pressed charges. I swore I’d take care of her, but she doesn’t think she can trust me anymore.”

”Everyonemakes mistakes, West.”

”I nearly ruined her life. That”s bigger than a mistake.” My voice catches in my throat, unpleasant and unyielding.

”You can say that about what Hunter did. But you forgave him. So it seems to me you can get the same.”

I shake my head. Mom still doesn’t get it. ”I haven”t told her that Hunter stole from me. So all this has to happen while she still believes that I think she”s a gold-digging bitch.”

My mother gives me that look. ”Weston?—”

”I know, I know. She”s gonna hate him for it, though. She”s gonna hate me?—”

”After all this and what happened with Hunter keeping secrets, do you really think that”s a good idea?”

”I”d rather she just be angry at me than have something more to judge Hunter over.”

”Do you really think she”s going to judge Hunter?”

”I don”t want there to be room for it to happen.”

She rolls her eyes. ”You’ve got such a hard head. I”m glad for it when you”re on the ice, but when it”s this kind of stuff, I just want to kick you into gear.”

”You don”t always want to kick me into gear as is?”

She chuckles. ”Oh, I do. This one is just more specific rather than in general.” She turns her whole body to me. ”Listen, all I know is that you”ve always tried to go at life on your own. You have to take on the burdens. You have to make the hard choices. Hunter was the first one to break that wall—well, after Molly. Then Renee happened. Post-Eva, I thought you”d never let another woman close to you. I thought I would see my son move through the rest of his life alone—but she came and showed me it didn’t have to be that way. Now, though, I’m looking at my son possibly facing down that loneliness again. She challenges you. She brings out the very best in you, in a way that Molly, Hunter, and I can”t do.”

Her words hit hard, but that tightness in my throat won’t go away. ”How do I do that when I let Hunter”s problems be the reason I cut her loose?”

Could I even have them both in my life with this news coming to light? Can I even handle being that open?

Despite everything I don”t know, I do know one thing: I gotta figure this out, and quick.

If I fuck around in this fire too long, we”re all gonna burn.