Chapter 29

"This place is a shithole."

I sighed as I drummed my fingers against the armrest. Tilly was perched in Art's lap, tilting back another beer as I poked at the fire I'd started in the pit in the middle of my yard.

"Call it a shithole if you want, but at least it's mine."

Daniel snorted. "He's got that going for him, man. You're still couch surfing."

Art threw him a glare and flipped him off. Tilly rolled her eyes but didn't move from her spot. From the way she'd been glued to Art's arm since they all got there, it appeared that they were on again.

Instead of letting my friend's evaluation of my home bother me, I got up and went inside to bring out the bottle of Jack Daniels that I'd bought for the evening. I'd told them all to bring something, but no one bothered. It was like them to mooch off of everyone else and another reason I needed to pick better friends. Daniel had at least tried by bringing two bottles of beer with him, explaining that he would be limiting himself to just those for the night.

My phone lit up on the counter and a smile spread across my face when I lifted it and saw Nathan's name on the screen. It was nice that he'd wanted to spend the day with Drew. His uncle didn't get out a whole lot. I was a little jealous that he had family that he could still spend time with.

Nate: We're back in town and finished with dinner. Is it still good for me to come over?

Damn, having him here would be better than subjecting myself to the three idiots who were in my yard. When I looked out the window, Tilly was off to the side with her vape while Art walked around the edge of my makeshift firepit poking it with a stick that was much too short. If he wasn't careful, he was likely to get burned. I didn't want it to happen on my property, but maybe he'd learn his lesson and be more fucking careful.

Me: Please. And bring something to drink. Something hard.

I got a thumbs-up emoji in return and my heart raced, knowing that he was on his way.

Daniel jumped up when I walked back outside and grabbed the bottle from my hands. "Jesus, dude. You got the good stuff."

I chuckled before snatching it back from him. "And someone said he only needed the two drinks he brought with him."

Daniel laughed nervously and scratched the back of his neck. He looked over at Art and Tilly before leaning in close to talk to me. "I said that because this was all I had. There was more, but it's missing."

My brows furrowed as I looked him over. "Hasn't Art been staying with you?"

He nodded. "He has. And Tilly has been coming over every other night. Between the two of them... I don't know who did it, but some of that stuff wasn't cheap."

I believed him. Art was a piece of shit on the best of days, but it was another thing entirely to steal from your friends. Especially someone who was letting you crash with them for a while. "Are you going to confront him about it?"

Daniel shrugged. "I don't know how. He's been my friend since we were little..."

I laughed. "That's a stupid reason to let him walk all over you."

The rumble of Drew's truck coming down the road could be heard a mile away. It was enough to distract me from my current conversation and when a grin spread across my face, that warm and content feeling spreading through my chest, Daniel bumped my shoulder.

"Is that lover boy on his way?"

I choked on my own spit, turning my attention back to Daniel. "Oh, he's lover boy now? Not fuck-boy anymore?"

Daniel shrugged. "Seems like it's getting serious. This is the longest you've kept anyone around."

He wasn't wrong. Nathan was the reason no one stayed in the picture. As much as I had missed him, he was the only one who held my heart. He was the only one I'd give it to.

As the truck pulled in and Nathan climbed out, I couldn't keep the smile from spreading all over my face. My shoulder got another shove from Daniel. "Oh, hell yeah, dude. You totally got it bad for him."

If having it bad meant that I took off across the lawn, making Nathan drop the six-pack in his hands and grab my ass as I jumped into his arms, our lips crashing together, then maybe, yeah. I had it bad for this guy.

Drew honked his horn, forcing us to break apart, and I laughed as I flipped him off. He just chuckled and backed out onto the road and drove away. I dropped my legs to the ground and bent to pick up the drinks that Nathan had dropped and were, thankfully, not broken. The coolers were far from hard liquor, which was probably for the best since the two of us and hard booze didnt always get along.

Tilly had confiscated the bottle of Jack from Daniel and was swaying around the firepit as if dancing to some unheard music. I quickly ran inside, pulled out a Bluetooth speaker, and connected it to my phone, scrolling through a playlist of some of our favorite songs.

"You didn't tell me there was a party going on over here tonight," Nathan said as he wrapped his arms around my waist and nuzzled into my neck. I purred at the contact. The sound of the cat purring was absent because there were too many people she didn't know.

I smirked and rocked in his embrace to the beat of the music. "I just invited my friends over. You know, in case you didn't come back over tonight."

When Nate kissed my neck, little zings of lightning raced through my system. My whole body came to life, and it was almost too easy to forget that there were three other people in our presence.

"You get lonely without me?"

I hummed and ground my ass against the bulge that was forming against the back of my jeans. "Always. It was torture without you last night. My dildo wasn't a good enough replacement."

He growled before biting into my neck. "Fuck, babe. That shouldn't be so hot, but I want to see you fuck yourself with it one day."

My breathing grew ragged as we continued to dance to the music. "Yeah? I'd put on a good show for you."

"Get a fucking room!"

The haze broke as Art grabbed Tilly by the hips, making her squeal. If he had the nerve to tell us to get a room, so could the two of them. But this was perfect. Even if my friends acted like dumbasses ninety percent of the time, the evening was turning out to be fun.

Nathan's arm tightened around my middle. This was perfection, waking up in my bed with him wrapped around me. The sun was just starting to crest the horizon, casting a pink light into the room. One of these mornings, I'd need to get him up early enough and venture out onto the sand to watch the sunrise over the ocean together. It really was breathtaking.

"Oooooh, fuuuuuck."

The low groan from the other side of the camper wasn't as familiar, but it was enough to have me sitting up and seeing what was going on. Daniel sat huddled into the corner while Oreo stared him down. Her tail swished back and forth over the tiled floor as my friend's eyes widened further in terror.

"You okay?"

Daniel's gaze snapped to me, and I pulled the blanket around my hips. Waking up with Nathan always had me hard, and Daniel didn't need to see that.

"You have a cat?"

I couldn't help but laugh. Nathan leaned over my shoulder, resting his chin there before patting the bed. "Come here, Oreo. Princess girl, leave Daniel alone."

Oreo made her way over and jumped onto the bed. She curled up next to Nathan and purred loudly as he rubbed her behind the ears. The fact that he had addressed my cat as a princess made me feel all fuzzy inside. He was accepting her as part of me, and that meant everything.

Daniel relaxed in the corner, but only slightly.

Since my dick had finally calmed down, I climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom, and came back out to see him still cowered there. "You're really scared of cats?"

He nodded before gluing his eyes back to where Oreo was sleeping quietly on the bed.

Nathan got up carefully in order to not disturb her. Her black and white face looked so innocent in sleep, and I couldn't imagine anyone being scared of her.

"Is there a story there?" I asked as I pulled a can of coffee grounds from the cabinet and set about making breakfast for the three of us. I had no idea if Art and Tilly were slinking around anywhere, and I didn't care. They'd ended up making off with my bottle of Jack last night, and I understood why Daniel had been so annoyed with them.

Daniel got up and sat at my little table when he realized my cat was going to stay asleep for now. "My Grandma had this huge mean-ass cat when I was really little. It would follow me everywhere and hiss at me and sometimes scratch and bite me. She kept trying to tell me there was no way the cat would do that..."

Nathan sat at the table with him and leaned against the wall. "That sucks. Oreo is super sweet. I don't think she's even capable of hurting a bug."

I wasn't about to tell them about the moth she'd eaten the other night.

And just like that, something else settled into place. Nathan had managed to squeeze himself into another place in my life. He fit in with my friends. At least with Daniel, who I was starting to realize was a better person than I'd suspected. He'd just fallen in with the wrong crowd.