“Don’t think you can afford me, Scully. I don’t accept coins or coupons.”

The tables have turned again, and I want to flip them up and rip the walls down to show her nothing has changed. I still hate her. I still just want to fuck her.

“We’re taking a shower together, silly,” she finally explains, shimmying out of her skirt. Her black cotton panties follow suit. “But you’re not going to touch me. Because guess what? Even though you don’t know how I feel about all my firsts, I do. And you don’t deserve shower sex with me.”

“You’ve never had sex in the shower?” Bullshit with a capital B. This chick has probably seen more cocks than a chicken farmer. Getting naked with me and not letting me touch her is payback. But it’s a price that might cost me my balls.

“I plead the fifth,” she purrs. Goddamn America.

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

We both get into the shower. I’m aware her family might come home early from dance and work, but I still don’t care. It’s not that I don’t like Mel, Jaime, and Bailey. I’ve just been let down by so many people in my life, so getting attached and giving a shit are not really a top priority to me.

Once inside, I grab the soap bar, lathering my body. She squeezes the hundred and five colorful bottles of whatever bathing oils she is using. I sniffed them all, and I’m not surprised she smells like a cake surrounded by every type of fucking flower known to mankind.

I watch her body moving, bending, straightening, living, and wonder why we’re doing this. Nothing’s gonna come out of it. It’s pure, delicious torture. It makes my muscles and cock ache, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The tormentor tormented by its prey.

“Had a good day at school?” She bats her eyelashes, a sugary-sweet smile gracing her lips. I think back to the conversation I had with Coach this afternoon about Prichard and my football career. Another guy would snitch on Prichard to her and let her deal with the mess. But (A) I don’t take orders, especially from idiots in expensive suits, and (B) on the off-chance this puts her in a vulnerable position, I’m not going to have him press her back against the wall.

“I survived it.” I flex my biceps when I rub soap off my shoulders to see if she’ll check me out, and sure enough, she does. She averts her gaze quickly when I smirk.

“How ’bout you?” I ask.

“It was okay.” She clears her throat.

“Daria”—I snap my fingers twice—“I’m right here. You can talk to my dick, too, but he’s more of an action man.”

“You grew up from that scrawny kid,” she says quietly, turning off the water behind me, and for a moment, our bodies are flush. Her stomach brushes my dick, but neither of us moves. We just stand there, dripping wet, with my dick poking her navel. Close but afar. Nervous, but bold. I’ve never done this before with anyone. Got naked for the sake of being naked. I feel like I should take control of the situation, but then I’ll have to shut her down, and as much as I feel shitty about doing this to Adriana, I can’t not do it, either.

Daria raises herself on her tiptoes and brushes her lips over my ear. I bend down the rest of the way to accommodate whatever it is she wants to tell me.

“Thank you for another first, Scully. I’ve never been naked with a man in a shower.”

Before I know it, she’s wrapped in her pink towel and sauntering out of the bathroom, leaving me in the shower with my hard dick pointing at the tiles.

I relock the door and rub one (fine, two) out before I can get out of there.

1-0 to the home team.

You wear your lies

Like a tie

Too beautiful to remove

Too elegant to resist

Too tight to breathe

Boys are a sore subject for me.

First, let me say that the past few days have been trash, and I’m happy I get to unwind at the end of it. Throughout the entire week, Penn hasn’t been home, both because of his football practices and business he has in San Diego. Maybe he is with his maybe girlfriend. I’d kill to get a straight answer about who and what she is to him, but I’m too proud to ask him, let alone ask around.

When Penn is home, he ignores my existence completely, locks himself in his room, and growls one-word responses when I need something concrete from him. He does seem to toss balls with Dad in the backyard whenever he gets a minute as well as read with Bailey. Melody is trying to spend more time with me. She keeps asking me how school is, and I keep dodging. If she truly cared, she’d check. She hasn’t checked in years.