Lakeside Cougars - The Complete Trilogy, page 23
“...wow,” he murmured. “That’s...rather specific.”
She shrugged. “I could be wrong. I could definitely be wrong. Maybe we’d be perfect, maybe we’d hate each other in a month, but I don’t think so. For some reason, I just can predict stuff like this? I’ve pretty accurately predicted lots of people’s relationships around me. Anyway, so that’s why.”
“Hmm. Thanks for answering. So, what do you want to do?” he asked.
“Part of me wants to say I need to think about it, but I know that isn’t true. I want to take you over to Colleen’s house and fuck your brains out while Little Miss Perfect watches me do it,” she replied.
“Well...ah…” Atticus winced slightly. “I think that’s not the best way to handle this. I don’t just-I’m not just railing Colleen and using her for her money, and she’s not just using me for sex with a younger guy. We’re not in love or anything, and this is a fling, but we’re basically a couple right now.”
Atticus found a great deal of surprise waiting for him as he said that, but wasn’t it true?
“A couple that fucks around with another woman,” she murmured. “Two, apparently.”
He shrugged. “Why not? But if you have a problem with Colleen, I mean, I just don’t want this to be hostile. Honestly, Colleen said you might go for the ‘she’d love to make me watch her fucking you’ angle, but like in a much more gentle way? I just don’t want you treating Colleen badly, or her you, which I don’t think she would. I just want this to be nice and fun. I mean, filthy, sure, but nice.”
“Nail on the head, you are a sensitive boy...okay, so I’m willing to do this. My day is free now. Was supposed to figure out something for another lakehouse but apparently it was a false alarm. I’m also willing to more or less put myself in your hands and let you take the wheel. So what do you suggest?”
“Hmm...how do you feel about getting high?” he asked.
She grinned. “Pretty good, though it’s been a while. You guys want to get high?”
“Yes,” he replied. “I think we should go to Colleen’s, get a little high, chill out and talk for at least an hour or so. You should get to know Colleen.” He paused. “You should probably get to know me, and I should get to know you.”
“I do know you, dumbass,” she replied, grinning.
He sighed. Then groaned. “Oh my God, I suddenly remembered how much of a fucking bitch you could be when we were growing up.”
“It was just teasing, Atticus.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Well…” She leaned forward and pushed her chest out a little more. “If you are that insistent that your feelings were hurt, I’m sure I can think of a way to make it up to you.”
He looked down. Man, she did have some really, really nice tits. “Um...let’s go to Colleen’s.”
She laughed. “Thought so.”
“Hey, don’t think you can just lead me around by the dick,” Atticus replied, getting up. “Also, have an open mind about Colleen. She’s not some stuck up rich bitch who thinks she’s so much better than everyone else. She’s really nice.”
“Hmm...fine,” she muttered, souring at least a little. “I will try.”
“Thank you. And we can still go back to the just you and me fucking here or at your place option if you want,” he said.
“That is a good fallback plan...okay, let’s go.”
They headed out and he locked up. They got into her car and she started driving them the short distance to Colleen’s place.
CHAPTER THIRTY
“Why?” Atticus asked suddenly.
“Why...you? Why am I jumping you?” Kate replied.
“Yeah.”
“A lot of reasons. I haven’t had time for dating and there’s fucking no one in this town I want to screw, even casually. You’re cute. Hot, honestly. You grew up to be pretty hot.”
“So did you, Jesus Christ,” he muttered, looking at her again.
She laughed. “Thanks.”
“Are you blushing?”
“Yes because that is a normal response,” she replied, pulling into Colleen’s driveway. “But to really answer your question...I guess two reasons. The first was that I always wanted to know. I found myself thinking about you a lot at night for a while there. I found you on social media, but you don’t post pictures for shit!”
“Ah, no. I hate getting my picture taken,” he replied.
“Fair enough, I guess. But the other reason is, like I said, you’re sensitive, Atticus. And not in that mean way, like I’m calling you a bitch or anything. I mean like, you’re sensitive to people’s feelings. You always knew when I was mad or sad, and you always tried to help. You never really made fun of me for anything. Like not for real, you know? I remember when I caught my hair on fire when we were doing fireworks and my mom had to cut it real, real short. Everyone else gave me so much shit for that, but you didn’t at all. Not even a little.”
“I could tell it really got to you. You were always really specific about your hair, and I always tried to respect that,” he replied.
“And that is why I want to have sex with you. Now, let’s meet this world famous romance author you’re banging the fuck out of...is she good in bed?”
“Oh yeah,” he replied immediately, then paused. “Well, I mean, I sure think so. But I don’t know if it’s because I’m so into her or because she is actually that good. Are you?”
“I mean, I sure hope so. I’m kinda rusty, to be honest.”
“Don’t worry, I can be very accommodating.”
She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Yeah ‘cause that’s what every girl wants to hear. The boy they’re trying to fuck saying ‘I can accommodate you if you can’t hack it in bed’...okay, actually, that is what every girl wants to hear. Proof of my point. Now let’s go. I would very much like to get high and get laid. It has been stressful.”
“How about a massage?” he asked.
“Holy shit, for real? You’d do that?”
“Oh yeah, no question,” he replied as they got out.
“Yes. I want that. Badly. Back and feet. Although after the sex.”
“Gladly.”
She let out a wicked little laugh. “You are so getting sucked dry.”
“And you are getting eaten until you lose your voice.”
Kate stopped. Atticus stopped as well, looking back at her. They were nearly to the front door. “What?” he asked.
“...I might be reconsidering my notion of you and I not being long-term compatible…”
He laughed. “Let’s just see what happens.”
“Yeah, okay.”
Atticus opened up the door and led Kate inside. Colleen was waiting for them on the couch, looking anxious and like she was struggling to pretend she wasn’t. After a few steps in, Atticus realized that Kate wasn’t following him anymore.
He turned and looked back at her.
She looked like someone had stuck a gun in her face.
“...you coming?” he asked.
“Um. Yeah. Yes.” She took a few steps in and shut the door behind her, then looked at Colleen. “Hi.”
“Hello, Kate. Don’t worry, I don’t bite,” Colleen replied. “And, if I’m being honest, I’m as intimidated as you are.”
“What!?” she cried, then seemed startled by her own response. “How-how is that possible?”
“Kate...I just got divorced. I haven’t dated in twenty five years. I’ve had sex with one person for the past two and a half decades, I’m terrified of going back into the dating scene. Finding Atticus has felt like a literal miracle to me.”
Atticus felt a little surprised. He hadn’t quite expected Colleen to dive in so blatantly and so immediately, but it did feel like the right thing to do. He studied Kate as she seemed to digest what had just been told to her.
“This...is not what I was expecting,” Kate replied finally.
“What were you expecting?” Colleen asked.
“I guess...more buildup? Confidence?” She paused, her eyes went a little wide. “Shit, that was really rude. Sorry.”
Colleen laughed. “No, I get it. I just...I’m tired of games, Kate. And my patience is, shall we say, running low, so I have to allocate it appropriately. And the social contract is one of the first things to go when patience is running low. I prefer to save it for where it will matter more.”
“That makes sense,” she murmured.
“How about we sit down and just...have a talk about this?” Atticus suggested.
“I’m-yeah, that’s good. Um, good idea,” Kate replied.
“Holy shit, you are seriously off your game, huh?” he said as they walked over to the couch and sat down.
“Oh shut up!” Kate snapped, blushing. “I am...adjusting. Sending you that text took a lot of courage. And then coming over to your place took a lot more.”
“Did you think I was going to say no?” he asked.
“I...didn’t know what was going to happen,” she replied. “It’s...you know, it’s actually really intimidating, doing stuff like this. I’ve had...experiences. Poor ones. Guys not wanting to hear no, guys wanting what they want and fuck you if you don’t want it, pressuring...I haven’t had anything really terrible happen yet and I haven’t had to use any of my arsenal, but it’s been a near thing.”
“I suppose it wouldn’t help to hear me promise something reassuring? Because that’s what all guys say?” Atticus asked. Then paused. “Shit, sorry. That came off as a little dismissive or sarcastic and I didn’t mean for it to. I meant the question for real.”
“You know, you’d be surprised. Yes, it would be helpful, actually,” Kate replied after thinking about it.
“Oh, cool. Well then, Kate, I promise not to take advantage of you, hurt you, or try to pressure you into anything. You say stop, we stop. No guilt. And...whatever fears that you might have about Colleen, do you believe that you can trust her to watch out for you, woman to woman?” he asked.
Kate looked to Colleen, who stared back a little earnestly at her, and nodded. “Yeah. I do believe that. And I do believe you. I trust you, at least to some degree, or I wouldn’t have done this. So far my instincts are telling me...this isn’t stupid.”
“Your instincts are correct,” Colleen murmured. “And thank you, Kate. I’d trust you with the same thing. And also, I wouldn’t have involved myself with him at all if I didn’t fully trust him.”
“Yeah, that also makes sense.” Kate fell silent for a long moment, looking uncertain. “This is so weird. Sorry. I’m still kinda...catching up.”
“Take your time,” Colleen replied. “And, if it will help, I do have a little weed.”
“That was mentioned. Um...you know what? Yeah. Let’s do that. I want to smoke, just a bit. I don’t need to get bombed, but I would like to be buzzed.”
Colleen rose smoothly to her feet. “Then I will be right back.”
“Can’t believe I’m about to get high with my childhood crush and the millionaire famous author I’ve been following for like half my life,” she muttered.
“Really?” he asked.
“Yeah. I mean, you know, we don’t get much in the way of ‘claims to fame’. She’s the only person to come from Lakeside, Oregon who has ever made any kind of real splash on the global scene. Or even the state scene. This place is really just...dull. I mean, you know?”
“I guess it is, yeah,” he replied.
“Why’d you come back?” she asked suddenly. “I mean, really why? I’m curious.”
Atticus considered it, an immediate answer coming to him, but he rejected it. Or, more accurately, put it aside and kept thinking.
“Because...I had to,” he replied slowly. “I’m not sure how else to put it. I mean, I needed a vacation, I could afford it, this place is within relative driving distance, it’s extremely nostalgic...but those are like bullet points. I just had to. Maybe all those things together combined and made a ‘you gotta do it, man’ in my brain, or maybe something else. Or, shit, I dunno. Maybe I’m swinging at shadows and I just so very badly needed a vacation and this was the first place that came to mind after getting Cold Reset out the door.”
“That reminds me…” she murmured.
“Yeah?”
“I’ve played your games. All of them. Played and beat.”
“Oh wow, holy shit. That’s awesome...hopefully.”
She laughed. “Yes, it’s awesome. I liked them, for the most part. I don’t know if our brains just work similarly, but I never struggled to understand anything. But...I did have one question. About Cold Reset.”
“I’m listening.”
“...Cait,” she said. “Cait Calhoun. Was she based on me at all?”
He opened his mouth to answer, for a moment unsure of what she was talking about, and then it all came back to him in a rush.
She snorted. “So I was right.”
“Not...completely,” he replied with an awkward chuckle.
Kate grinned. “Now who’s blushing?”
Cait had been a love interest, the first one available, actually, in Cold Reset. She already seemed like she was going to be a fan favorite, though he wasn’t sure if that’s because he’d done a good job writing her or if it was just because she was sort of the ‘default’ romance option.
And Kate was right. She was in her twenties, brown hair, blue eyes, a kind of teasing, slightly sardonic attitude with a helping of vulnerability at just the right moments…
“I didn’t realize I was basing her off you until near the end,” he said. “I mean, it should’ve been obvious to me. First thing I did was name her. And then after I drew her, I thought she looked familiar. And then near the end, yeah, it hit me that it was you, or really who I imagined you had grown up into. I almost scrapped the character, because it felt kinda weird, but she was just too good, I felt she’d come out so well, I couldn’t scrap her.”
“I’m not mad or weirded out, I’m honestly...flattered,” she murmured. “I just didn’t know if I was being paranoid about it, or vain.”
“Okay, young ones, it’s time to get high with an old lady,” Colleen said, her voice growing louder as she walking back into the living room holding a trio of thin joints and a lighter. “This should be decently light stuff.”
She sat down and passed out the joints, then stuck hers in her mouth and lit it up. She passed Atticus the lighter and he did the same, then passed it down to Kate.
“Oh man,” he said after inhaling and coughing a few times. “I’m still not really used to this at all.”
“It settles in quick,” Colleen said. “From what I remember. Although shit, that was twenty years ago. This stuff is supposed to be stronger.”
“Safer, too. A lot safer,” Kate replied, then coughed a few times. “There we go...that smell. So weird. Bad but good? But yeah, now that it’s actually regulated, you don’t really gotta worry about someone fucking dosing you with something.”
“Very true,” Colleen agreed. “Now, let’s sit back and get high.”
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
“What’s so funny?” Colleen asked.
Kate continued giggling for a few seconds more, then struggled to get control of herself. “Um...I don’t even know,” she replied. “Shit. I had it, and then it just popped out of my head the moment you asked that question.”
Atticus snorted, then started laughing. “I always said you were an airhead.”
“Oh fuck off!” she snapped, then started giggling again.
“You know,” Colleen murmured with a big smile that she probably thought was much smaller, “I’m positive something would’ve happened between you two if he’d kept coming back.”
“Oh yes,” Kate replied immediately. “And probably after just a few more years. I came this close to try to kiss you last time you were here, but I lost my nerve. If you’d kept coming back...I’d probably have gotten pregnant eventually.”
“Really? You seem like you’d be really good about protection,” Atticus said.
“Oh I am, to be sure. But I found out that I just don’t like condoms. Male or female. And so either you would’ve asked to...ride bareback, and I would’ve said yes, or I would’ve asked to ride bareback. But now I’m on birth control! Well, actually I’ve got an IUD, so even better.”
“We should probably talk about some specifics…” Colleen murmured.
“Of sex?” Kate asked. Colleen nodded. “Okay. Well, like I said, can’t get pregnant, because I am not ready for a kid. I also have proof that I don’t have any STIs. I mean, as much as I can get.”
“What’d you get?” Atticus asked.
“There’s this place up in the next town over, Westfield, with the mall, where you can just go in, have blood drawn, order tests, and get results kinda fast. So now that I finally have some cash, I’ve been getting some tests done. One of them was a full STI panel.”
“I did something similar after my divorce,” Colleen said.
“And I did something similar after my last breakup. So I think we’re safe.”
“Yes, we are…” Kate murmured, putting one foot in his lap and gently probing his crotch with it. “I don’t mind not using protection.”
“...how do you feel about creampies?” he replied.
“I feel pretty good about them if they’re from you.”
“Oh wow. Um, that’s awesome.” Both of them immediately began laughing. “It is!”
“It’s such a fucking twenty-something guy response,” Colleen replied.
“I want to know if I was right about the other MILF you’re fucking,” Kate said.
“I’m not a MILF,” Colleen replied.
“I...oh, wait, really? I thought...hmm. Sorry,” she said awkwardly.
“Oh it’s fine, dear. Most people assume I have adult children, but I don’t. I didn’t want kids. I...am not a mother. I’m just not. I was a decent aunt, but it became clear to me that I could not be a fantastic mother. And if I had children, that’s what they deserved. Plus, my husband just did not want them, so that made it easy to just not have them. And now it doesn’t matter.”
