you’re doing it wrong.”
My earpiece is also on my shoulder, volume on low. “Which knots?”
He lists a few off, then says, “Don’t push inside her unless she’s wet—and I don’t mean light wetness that lasts five-minutes before dry. She should be trembling and soaked towards dripping.”
I nod a couple times. “I’m not fucking any girl dry.” I take a swig. “I’d rather have her bite an inch off my dick than put her in pain.”
Akara raises his beer. “Cheers to that.”
We’ve been talking about headboard restraints after we brought up some past hookups who wanted to be tied. In the past, definitely pre-security days, Akara has had the fortune of fucking girls in a bedroom that he shares with no one. He can stash rope in a dresser drawer.
I’ve mostly had roommates all my life, so I have to be creative about where I have sex, and I’m not carrying forty-feet of hemp rope in my ass pocket wherever I go.
I tell him that, and he laughs. “Hey, I miss the days where I could sneak off into my parent’s pool house, man.” Akara swallows beer with a smile. “It was too easy.” Our gazes slightly coast to the middle of the game room where Oscar hops up on the billiards table.
The brightest light is above that table, and Donnelly stands on the green fabric and holds the lamp’s brass chain, redirecting the beam of light onto Oscar’s face.
Farrow sifts through a piercing kit that Donnelly brought to Key West while Thatcher and Maximoff talk quietly, and Quinn is rubbing his eyes on the couch, waking up from a power nap.
I look back at Akara, just as he checks his phone. “Sulli text you back?”
“No.” His eyes darken, and he pockets his cell. “Legal. Owen’s termination is done.”
“I’ll cheers to that.” I finish off my beer. Most of us concluded that what I saw on the beach—Maximoff upset—must’ve been about the temp hitting on Farrow. Mystery solved. I’m a regular Scooby-Doo over here.
Akara clinks my empty can with his and throws the rest of his drink back in one gulp. “Want to see the knot?” He means the one I’ve never used.
“You know I do.” Next time I have the chance, I’d rather not use a belt again. The leather dug into her wrists, a one-night stand, and as soon as I saw a mark, I pulled the restraint off her in point-two seconds.
Akara sets his empty can on the bar, unties a lace on his boot, and he begins to demonstrate the knot using the lace.
I watch and ask, “How’s your mom doing?”
Whenever I bring up Akara’s family, a shadow passes over his features, but that doesn’t stop me from asking.
“The same.” He makes a loop in the lace. “Her last surgery was good.”
I nod and sweep him. His muscles have tightened, and his eyes are too focused on the knot. Until he glances up at me and says, “I don’t know if Thatcher already told you, but I plan to call your dad, probably after the wedding.”
I let this sink in and trash my beer can with a toss. “My brother didn’t tell me that yet. He probably didn’t want to hear me say, it’s never gonna work.”
I’m not necessarily a wealth of good advice, but that doesn’t mean I won’t offer my four-cent worthy thoughts now and again. And sometimes I’d like to think I’m right more than I’m wrong.
Akara makes another lace loop. “When I hear never, I hear find a way.”
“That’s why you make the calls and I listen.”
His eyes meet mine. “But you don’t want me to find a way?”
I want to shake my head, but the truth stops the movement short. “I can’t see him quitting on the Navy. He’s training SEAL recruits. Why would he want to come back to Philly and spend time on temporary bodyguards?”
“The pay.” Akara shows me the knot. “I’d pay him better than what he’s getting in Coronado.”
Thatcher first floated the idea around about hiring our dad to the firm. Kitsuwon Securities needs help training temps and future 24/7 bodyguards, and our dad has experience training soldiers.
“I wouldn’t waste my money on him,” I say to my friend. “But that’s just me.” Obviously, Thatcher thinks differently. Wouldn’t be the first time we disagree.
Akara pushes his black hair with his hand and the pieces still fall back to his forehead. He’s about to talk when the stairs suddenly creak. Our heads turn as Sulli walks into the basement.