Tomorrow's Lies (Promises #1) (24 page)

Flynn peers down at me, uncertainty in his eyes. “We’ll be taking a big risk, Jaynie. What if you get pregnant?”

“You could always pull out,” I suggest.

He buries his face in the crook of my neck. “We both know that shit is unreliable.” His words are muffled. He’s torn.

I want to try, though, without the condom, so I say, “The chances of me getting pregnant are slim. This shouldn’t be a dangerous time.”

I pause for a beat. The only sound in the room is our breathing while Flynn contemplates.

Softly, I say, “I still want this, Flynn. I want
you
.”

I watch as he lifts his head, his resolve crumbling before my eyes. “Okay.” He nods.

He removes the condom and tosses it to the wastepaper basket on the floor.

And then he’s back between my legs, brushing me bare. Already it’s better. “Yes,” I whisper as he kisses me.

I begin to move with him, his bare length gliding along my folds. “Fuck, that feels great,” he grinds out.

“God, it does,” I agree.

Flynn bare against me is indescribably good.

With our shifting and rocking, the tip of him slips inside. “Oh,” I gasp.

He stills. “Are you okay?”

I nod, and he gives me a little more.

Grasping the sheet with one hand, and digging into Flynn’s shoulder with the other, I say, “More.”

A shallow thrust this time, then a deeper one. Two more and I feel overwhelmed, panting out a desperate, “Wait, wait, Flynn.”

He starts to pull out completely, but I shift to keep him in place.

“I don’t want you to stop,” I whisper against his neck. “Just give me a minute to catch up.”

Lowering his mouth to mine, he kisses me.

And kisses me…

And kisses me…

And then he is moving, fast. And I am moving with him, faster, wanting the friction. Flynn completes me in a way I never knew possible. It humbles me that an act I associated with repulsion and disgust is rewritten by Flynn. With every stroke, and accompanying kiss, and declaration of love, the damage written on my soul is erased and scribed anew to something beautiful.

Everything bad is turned good, and I am awed by the power of love.

Flynn

I
fall asleep with Jaynie in my arms. I am spent, but contented. I could sleep for hours, but I only get what feels like minutes.

“Five more minutes,” I mumble when Jaynie shakes me for a second time.

“We’ve been sleeping for a while, Flynn,” she says. “We need to get up and be dressed before Mandy comes back with the kids.”

She’s right, so, albeit reluctantly, I get out of bed. I throw on the same clothes I was wearing earlier. Jaynie dresses next to me, but forgoes the white dress for jean shorts and a beige T-shirt. I watch as she carefully hangs the dress in the closet. When she turns around, I ask her how she feels.

“I’m good,” she says.

“You sure?”

She nods, and then sighs. “What about you, Flynn? Are you okay with what we did? I mean the not-using-protection part.”

Blowing out a breath, I tell her the truth. “I was really careful, and I think we should be okay, but I don’t know, Jaynie. What we did was crazy-risky. We’re going to have to think of something different for next time.”

She doesn’t disagree. “Maybe I can pretend to be sick and Allison will have to take me to town to see a doctor. I could ask for birth control, maybe something I don’t have to take every day.” She gives me a meaningful look because we both know the pill
would be discovered.

“That might work,” I say.

Before we can discuss it further, there’s a frantic knock on the door.

“It’s me.”
Mandy and she sounds panicked
. “Can I come in?”

I race over to the door, and Mandy flies in so quickly she almost falls. Once she’s righted herself, she looks me over, then does the same with Jaynie. “Good, you’re both dressed.”

“What’s going on?” I ask. “Where are Cody and Callie?”

“They’re downstairs.” With a sour expression, she adds, “With Allison.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah, of all the days for her to make a Sunday afternoon appearance,” Mandy scoffs.

I shake my head. “Unbelievable.”

Sighing, Mandy tells us how Allison arrived with pizza for everyone. “But, dude,” Mandy adds, “she is
so
not in a good mood. She keeps asking where you two are. Especially you, Flynn.”

“Great,” I mutter, sarcasm dripping.

“Why is she back to being so interested in Flynn?” Jaynie chimes in.

“Uh…” Mandy appears less than happy to be the bearer of bad news. “…I think that guy she was dating finally dumped her.”

Jaynie’s eyes widen. “Crap. We are so dead.”

“Not necessarily,” I interject. “Let’s go downstairs and act normal.” Turning to Mandy, I ask, “What did you say we were doing?”

Unable to resist a laugh, she says, “I told her you two were putting away laundry.”

The three of us glance around the room, which is a mess. There are clothes everywhere, mainly from the twins, but still, it sure doesn’t look like any laundry was put away today.

“Don’t worry,” I say, more confidently than I feel. “She rarely comes up here.”

“It doesn’t matter if she comes up here or not,” Jaynie says. “We still look guilty. I just hope she doesn’t figure out what was happening, or there’s going to be hell to pay.”

With that thought in mind, we head downstairs to face our keeper’s wrath.

Jaynie

A
llison knows. I see it in her disdainful expression when Flynn and I reach the base of the stairs. She’s out in the hall, waiting for us, the twins beside her.

Callie knows not to say a word, but Cody has no idea there’s a secret to be kept.

“Flynnie, Flynnie.” He runs up to Flynn and wraps his arms around his legs. “Why you no come out and play with us today?”

Callie winces, and Allison’s eyes narrow. “Go to your rooms,” she barks to the kids.

The twins pale as they scurry past us. They know when shit’s about to go down.

“Where is Mandy?” Allison asks me.

“She’s still up in the bedroom.”

“Good.” She peers past me and yells up to where the twins are paused on the second-floor landing. “Tell Mandy no one is to come down till tomorrow morning.”

Little voices gasp, and then little feet keep little legs moving.

“Where were you two?” Allison hisses when the twins are out of sight.

“Um…” I am at a loss, until I remember our cover. “We were putting away laundry.”

Accusing, ice-blue eyes scan Flynn in a licentious manner, and then snap to me. “Sure you were. Funny, but you don’t look as if you were putting away laundry.” Focusing on me, she says, “Jaynie, your skin is flushed. Why is that?”

She then has the nerve to reach out and press a manicured fingertip to where my pink-tinged skin peeks out under the
v
of my tee. “Hmmm,” she muses, “my chest gets that same appearance, usually after I engage in something that
really
excites me.”

I wince, and she thankfully stops touching me. Her eyes meet mine. “You’ve certainly come a long way in the touching department, haven’t you?”

I shrug, and she says, “Even Flynn can touch you now, can’t he?”

“Um—”

“I know he can,” she interrupts. “I’ve seen him sneaking kisses with you in the barn.”
Shit
. “I sure hope it hasn’t gone further, for both your sakes. You do realize if you were to have sex it would be a severe violation of house rules?”

“We were putting away laundry,” Flynn maintains. “There’s no need for this interrogation.”

Allison’s finger returns to my chest. She smirks and curls her index finger so her pointed nail digs deep in my skin. “He had better be telling the truth, little slut.”

“That’s enough,” Flynn interjects. He smacks Allison’s hand away from me, and she spins to him, eyes blazing.

“You fucked her, didn’t you? Little, innocent Jaynie,” she mocks. “Bet you couldn’t wait to shove your cock in her. Talk about a challenge, sticking it in the fucked-up girl who can’t stand to be touched.”

Allison’s jealousy is ugly, raw and rancid as it seeps from her pores. I’m ready to bolt, but Flynn remains steadfast. He shakes his head and chuckles as if Allison has lost her mind.

“What is wrong with you?” he says in a light manner, an effort to placate her. “You know Sundays are for chores. Jaynie and I were cleaning up the room, making sure all the laundry was put away. It’s hot up on the third floor, and Jaynie’s overheated. That’s why her skin is flushed.”

Allison grits her teeth as she lets Flynn’s words sink in. Still, she is not buying his story one bit.

Almost to the point of shaking—she’s that enraged—she grinds out, “I’ve let you two get away with too much for too long. I allowed myself to be distracted by a guy who I meant nothing to.”
I wonder, does she mean her boyfriend…or Flynn
. “It’s clear to me now that there needs to be changes from here on out.”

Here it comes—our punishment.

Flynn brushes his hand past mine. I know he’d like to hold my hand, give me comfort, but that would be the worst thing to do in front of Allison.

“What kind of changes?” Flynn asks.

Allison gathers her blonde mane and flips it over one shoulder. “First, the cameras go back on, starting tonight. Number two, no more periodic checking on the feeds. My mom’s been lax with those cameras for months. Well, that stops tonight. I’m taking over, and I plan to start by adjusting the camera that’s out of whack.” I can almost hear Flynn’s inward groan. “I’ll be putting to use an app I downloaded a while ago. From today onward I plan to watch every movement in the upstairs hallway on my tablet.”

She smiles victoriously, and my heart sinks.

Flynn appears as disgusted as I feel. I’ll miss him in my bed at night, true, but more concerning is what will happen with Cody. His nightmares are sure to resume once he’s back in a room away from his twin. How will Flynn ever get him past those cameras if they’re all positioned correctly? And, worse yet, the cameras are to be monitored by Allison, who clearly has an axe to grind? We are all doomed.

“Fine, whatever,” Flynn says. He nudges my arm. “Come on, Jaynie.”

“Where do you think you’re going?” Allison steps into our path.

Flynn says, “We’re going to go eat now. Mandy said you brought pizza home for everyone.”

“Not for you two,” Allison snaps.

We stare at her, incredulous. And still, she goes on. “Another change I’m making is there’s no longer a free-for-all on the eats. Don’t think I haven’t noticed the amount of food you’ve been going through. I didn’t care, not before, but now”—she stares directly at me—“everything has changed.”

It obviously has, and not for the better.

“What about the twins?” Flynn and I ask simultaneously.

And then just Flynn addresses Allison. “Can we still give Cody and Callie extra food?”

“I’ll think about it,” Allison replies.

Flynn and I are then turned away and sent upstairs with no dinner. Flynn has no choice but to go to his own room, but he does give me a hug outside his door.

“I really want to kiss you right now,” he whispers. “But anything more than this and God knows what the bitch will do next.”

“You’re right,” I reply sadly. And then, clinging to him tightly, I say, “I want so badly for you to sleep with me tonight, especially after this afternoon.”

If there was ever a night I needed to be held in Flynn’s arms, it’s tonight.

“What can we do?” he says, pained, his face buried in my hair.

“Nothing. We’re trapped. Allison’s on the war path now.”

We part because we must, but it still hurts like hell. I head straight to my bed once I’m in my room. Mandy is busy tucking Callie in, and I ignore them. Not to be a bitch. I just can’t talk to anyone right now.

Curling up on my mattress, I wrap sheets that smell like Flynn and me around my body. This afternoon feels like forever ago, even though only a couple of hours have passed.

“How could everything go from beautiful to ugly so quickly?” I mumble, bereft.

Mandy comes over and sits on the edge of my bed. “What happened downstairs?” she asks softly.