for his father instead. Worry roiled in my gut. Even though no one knows what his father does, everyone back home keeps a wide berth of Franklin Rees. Whatever it was, it wasn’t legal.
Tyra was determined to push us away, but for every shove, we pulled twice as hard. She wasn’t getting away from us that easy.
Vaughn… he hasn’t been so easy to convince.
No one had laid eyes on him in months. Our only option was to storm that castle he was forced to call home, but it was pretty hard to go against the armed men with guns who’d mysteriously appeared, making sure no one came in or out.
I’d just finished putting everything back in its hiding spot when I heard the front door open. Jamie and I lived in a three-bedroom townhome not far from Penn’s campus. So far, every one of Jamie’s wishes had come true. I was constantly getting an ass full of toilet water and hauling the trash to the road when he forgot, which was often. He was also constantly drinking straight from the milk and juice cartons and leaving toothpaste smudges all over our bathroom sink. And he never ever ever took the time to put a new roll of toilet paper on the damn handle.
He made it all worth it every night and each morning, though. During the day, Jamie would find the time—even if just a few minutes—to assure himself that I wanted for nothing. In the early days, while he was busy with orientation and preparing for his first week of school, I kept busy making our apartment comfortable for us. After countless runs and too much money spent at Target, I was pretty proud of what I’d done with the place. There was one thing Jamie got wrong, though. I hadn’t bothered to ask his opinion on any of the decoration choices I’d made, but he never once complained. In fact, the only reaction he’d given was to our dining room table. We’d christened it thoroughly less than an hour after it was delivered.
I rushed downstairs in time to see Jamie closing the door. Snowflakes sprinkled his gray hooded parka, but he seemed oblivious to all the snow he was tracking on my freshly swept floor as he stared at his phone. Sensing me, he looked up, and I wondered at his curious gaze.
“Hey, baby,” I greeted nervously since he was still eyeing me. “How did it go?”
He took his time kissing me while I pushed his coat from his muscular shoulders before answering. “Statistics was kicking my ass for a little bit, but I’m Jamie fucking Buchanan. Of course, I aced it.”
“Uh-huh… and it wouldn’t have anything to do with me agreeing to make a home video with you if you aced all of your final exams?”
“Does it matter?” he retorted, grinning. “A deal’s a deal.”
I grabbed his hand when he reached for the hem of my oversized Christmas sweater. It was the only thing I wore besides the white thick slouchy socks. “Hold your horses, mister. You don’t have those scores back yet.”
With a cocky smile, he ignored me as he gripped my ass and yanked me into him. “Where are your panties?” he asked the moment he felt my bare skin.
“I don’t know,” I flirted, playing coy. “I guess I lost them.”
“Where?” he growled.
I peeked up at him. “Under your pillow.”
Rather than go for them as I’d expected, he pulled me into the living room. After sitting down on our large black sectional, he sat me on his lap.
“Care to explain this?” Showing me his phone screen, the back of my neck grew hot when I saw the video I’d posted on YouTube a couple of weeks ago. The caption read “Holiday Glam,” and it had over ten thousand views. That was nothing compared to the more established beauty gurus, but it was more than I could hope for. Even though my mother had forced me to master the art, I chose not to run from my demons and embraced them instead. If I could somehow turn my negative experience into a positive experience for girls and women everywhere, then that was something, right?
“It’s… it’s a makeup tutorial.”
“I see that,” he said as he caressed my back. I wondered if he could sense my nervousness. “What I don’t understand is why you didn’t you tell me you were doing this?”
I shrugged, keeping my gaze pinned to the floor.
Gripping my chin, he turned my head until our