Makayla is getting way too much enjoyment out of her cousin's suffering.
I don’t understand what happened. Why did we have to leave Zeus’ house? I thought our humans were getting along nicely. But another woman showed up, and Xenia left instead of marking her territory. Why would she leave like that? She wanted to breed with Clay, so why not send that other female running? It made no sense. I certainly didn't want to leave. I liked Zeus and his home. It was so much bigger than the kennel I live in with Xenia. And that sofa Zeus and I were lying on was super comfy. It was nice to be somewhere with enough room that I didn’t feel claustrophobic. The only downside was that Xenia could leave my sight, which made me nervous, but I had Zeus next to me, so I didn’t panic. At least I didn’t till I heard her shouting. I hope my slipping on the water and making them fall wasn’t why we had to leave. I know it was part of why she initially wanted to go. I thought Clay had changed her mind when they got close again. I don’t know how long ago that was. I don’t exactly
Four days. Four days ago, Xenia stormed out under the assumption that my stupid cockblocking cousin was my girlfriend. I did watch over Makayla’s shoulder as she deleted the security footage from my interaction with Xenia. I wanted to be sure it was entirely erased, even if I wanted to keep it for myself. Not for anything weird, just as a reminder of why hooking up with Xenia would not happen. We are a fucking disaster when together. Makayla quickly fixed my phone, so I was bombarded with missed messages from Missy and Sheila. I didn’t even read them till this morning. I wasn’t in the headspace to flirt and deal with women. Instead, I went to the gym, put in hours at a construction site in Harlem, and hung out with Makayla. But I needed to break the monotony and finally read the texts from the girls. And while at the end, they were starting to think I ghosted them, the first few days were some seriously hot texts. They are very down to fuck with how graphic they got in an attempt to
I don’t know what I thought would happen when I returned the clothes to Clay. But overhearing him setting up what I can only assume is a threesome was not on my bingo card. Running into Makayla was on the bingo card, but I hoped I wouldn’t. It was nice to have her confirm they were cousins, and I overreacted and ran away before letting him explain. I’d have felt bad if he hadn’t just gotten into a car to have a threesome. Makayla telling me that bit of exposition, as she called it, doesn’t change things. I’m unsure how she thought telling me he was upset that I left or that he waited all four days to set up a threesome would change my mind. I don’t have the time or patience for a player like him. All that conversation with Makayla and what I overheard about Clay’s call convinced me that giving him any other chances was a bad idea. I don’t have time for this nonsense. I’m pulling extra shifts at work because I want to save up to get a bigger apartment. The tug-of-war with Tink proved
I don’t even know what possessed me to walk over to Xenia, let alone talk to her. I should have just left, called an uber, and gone home to ice my balls and sleep off the bullshit that was an epic fail of a threesome. But I’m a glutton for punishment because I walked over and started a conversation with her. And by some miracle, she didn’t tell me to fuck off. If she did, I’d have left. I’m not going to force anyone to be in my company. I didn’t mean tonight. My offer to make up the other day to her was open-ended. So her offering to take me to her place to break her curse caught me off guard. Knowing my luck, her idea of breaking the curse has something to do with some voodoo shit from Puerto Rico. But honestly, whatever ways she wanted to try and break my curse, if it meant getting to spend time with her, I was in. It’s fucking weird. I know it’s strange for me to want to spend time with a woman. I’m not against getting to know a woman, but I generally seek out the ones who don’t w
I shouldn’t have enjoyed sharing nachos with him as much as I did. I want to not like this guy. Right? But even knowing he was just with two other women, even if it went worse than the day we met, hasn’t managed to deter me from wanting to be around him. It hasn’t stopped me from wanting him. And mother issues aside, he’s freaking adorable. His whole face lit up when he talked about his close family and showed me the pictures. Shit, you’d think the kids in the photographs were his on how he beamed as he told me their names. He is close to his sister and cousins. I love my family, but I don’t think I look that happy when I talk about them. I didn’t learn how Makayla is related, but I will assume it’s on his mother’s side. Given his reluctance to talk about them, I guess he doesn’t have the best relationship with that side of his family. He said Frost, that name sounds very familiar, but I’m not sure from where. I’m sure I’ll remember it if it’s important. “Come on. My building is thi
There have only been a few moments I’ve feared for my life or someone else’s. And riding in that ambulance with Clay has made the top three. I’m unsure if it gets to kick my experience of getting mugged on the subway from the number one spot. But it is certainly in contention against the time my brother fell off the roof our first winter in Jersey and had to go to the hospital with a broken leg. I say he fell, but the idiot jumped, thinking there was enough snow piled up to cushion his fall. But whatever is wrong with Clay, it’s not his own doing. I answered the EMTs’ questions the best I could as they checked his vitals and got him onto a gurney. I told them he had seemed perfectly fine till he suddenly wasn’t. That we’d been at a bar where we each had four shots of tequila and shared chicken nachos and that earlier he’d had sushi. I didn’t go into details about the sushi since I wasn’t there, and he only told me he had sushi. I did mention he took a table to the nuts and gut when o
The universe seriously hates me. Things went wrong with Missy and Sheila, and then I ran into Xenia. Xenia even invited me back to her place. More than once, my vision was blurry between the bar and her apartment door, and I felt unbalanced. I’m damn lucky I didn’t drop her when we were making out in the elevator. God bless small elevators. I could cover up my stumble by pressing her against the walls. I don’t know what was happening to make me feel like this. I know I’m not drunk. I’m pushing thirty. Trust me. I’ve drunk enough to know how much of what gets me there. And three shots of tequila aren’t it, especially when I had food in my stomach. Sure, if I hadn’t eaten and done tequila shots, three might have gotten me tipsy, and four would have put me on the floor. But of course, the universe can’t just give me a mulligan. This was my chance to show Xenia I’m not a total wreck and capable of showing her a good time. And just as things were going the way I wanted, it went to shit. I
This is ridiculous. I called 9-1-1 and rode in the ambulance with Clay, but now I’m sitting in an interview room at a police station with this dumbass cop who keeps asking me the same questions as somehow my narrative of tonight's events would change. Because I didn’t feel shitty enough that Clay was possibly drugged on my watch and that he blacked out while eating my pussy. Now I’ve got his cunt mother thinking I’m the one that drugged her son and this cabrón of the same mind as her. “How many times do I have to repeat myself?” I sighed, rolling my eyes. “Until I feel I have the whole story.” The officer shrugged. “You do have the full story! At least the full story from what I could tell you.” I sighed. “I did not drug Clay,” I repeated for what felt like the hundredth time. “Well, you aren’t giving us any….” The cop narrowed his eyes as the door to the interview room swung open, cutting him off. I arched my eyebrow as I saw an African American woman in one killer bold yellow p
Pregnant! Xenia is pregnant! I’m going to be a dad!? Me, of all fucking people, is going to be a dad! I know we tackled the subject when the puppies were born. But an offhand ‘we’ll have one when it’s time’ differs from a positive pregnancy test. A positive test is real. Our baby is currently growing inside her as we speak. How far along is she? How did I miss the signs? Has she missed her period? No, I couldn’t go off that her birth control made that hard to track properly. We’ll have to wait till we see a doctor to get an estimate on how far along she is. I say estimate because, in my family, we’re big, so judging just on the size of the fetus may not work. Though I guess they can go off from developmental stages like when certain organs develop and yadda. As I walked into the ceremony, all eyes turned to me. Reese underestimated how many guests we had. Including Xenia’s mom, sisters, and Reese, we had 48 guests. So, add Xenia and me, and we had 50 people. That’s, of course, no
I didn’t know what made me think pressing myself against the door was a good idea. There was no way little me could keep out Clay or his equally tall and strong twin sister. I should have been upset with Reese for deciding to get him when I started crying over the pregnancy test. But I can’t. Because as I looked at his face and saw all the love and concern in his eyes, I knew she was right. I needed him. “Xenia, baby, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?” Clay asked as he put Zeus down. “What worries do I need to put to rest?” “It’s not worries, per se.” I sighed and steadied myself with Tink’s help. “I just…” I frowned as I avoided eye contact with him. It’s not that I’m ashamed that I’m pregnant. I mean, it’s my fault for not being on top of renewing my birth control. Clay couldn’t help it if a condom broke. We agreed to use both condoms and my birth control to be safe. We knew we wanted kids, eventually. Like he said, we’d have one after the puppies were born when we were ready.
Xenia is supposed to be MY emotional support human. I was not a fan of this switch of roles, but for Xenia, I would try my best. Just because I failed all those training classes to be an official support animal doesn’t mean I cannot be here for my human. She has always been there for me when I was upset. It’s about time I returned the favor. I didn’t understand why she was upset. She’d been so happy a few moments ago. She was trying on her new dress, and everyone was gushing over her and talking about how great today would be. I still didn’t know what was happening today. I knew Xenia was getting all dressed up, even fancier than when she and Clay went on a night out. I got a purple outfit and a crown of flowers to wear. Zeus was given a special outfit, too. So, something big was going on. Even if all the special clothes didn’t make it clear, we were in a strange place, and there were people we only saw occasionally. Plus, all my puppies were here. I love to see my puppies. It’s
I put up with a LOT of shit with Clay as my human. The silver lining is that I have Tinkerbell and her human Xenia around. Not that Clay makes a habit of dressing me up like this. That doesn’t mean I like being in this getup. I don’t care that it’s a special day. I don’t understand what is happening, but it must be special. Clay and Xenia have been planning this gathering for what felt like forever. And all the people they like most are here. Which means all our pups are here. I am happy and envious to see my pups. I was glad to see them since we see some of them only on special occasions. But I was envious because none of them were dressed up like me. Lucky pups. I feel ridiculous dressed like this. Whatever is supposed to happen today better happen soon, or I will find a way out of this outfit to run around free. I was restless and bored sitting in that room, waiting for something to happen. I was happy when Clay decided we could venture out of the room. I was happy until I picked
Holy shit! It’s MY wedding day! If someone told me two years ago I’d be in a committed relationship, I’d ask if you were high. If someone said I’d be getting married, I’d recommend a trip to the nearest psych ward. Old me couldn’t imagine ever wanting to give up being a bachelor. I loved the freedom of that life and couldn’t fathom giving that up for a woman. It wasn’t until I fell into Turtle Pond in Central Park with Xenia that I realized I was all wrong. Being in a relationship wasn’t a noose around my neck. It wasn’t the death of my freedom. It was just a change. Sure, I wasn’t free to fuck whoever caught my eye, but that’s fine with me. If I learned anything from the disaster of an attempt at a threesome before Xenia and I were official, it’s that no one else would do. Till Xenia, I didn’t realize that the ‘freedom’ of being a bachelor was more a cover for loneliness. It was for the loneliness that Reese gave me Zeus. The little shit never filled that loneliness. At least not d
Who’s bright idea was it to have a Valentine’s Day wedding? Oh right. It was mine. I thought it would be romantic and Clay would never forget our anniversary. Not that I believed he would forget any other day. This was the guy that proposed on the anniversary of our meeting in the same spot where we got ‘pongoed,’ as Makayla likes to call it. It still makes me laugh when I think back on how we met. It wasn’t so funny at the time, but in hindsight, I can laugh. I also can’t watch 101 Dalmatians without laughing and thinking of that day in Central Park when my life changed for the better. By chance, Fate, or just the divine intervention of Zeus, I ended up with this incredible man who is hot, great in bed, and so damn sweet. I still don’t know how, in the thousands of men that live in NYC, after only finding assholes, I found such a keeper. And trust me, I know all about the assholes that live in NYC. Between the assholes I met in college, like Alden Zachery Greenwood the Fourth. Inse
The following bonus chapters are for the Valentine's Day special "A Valentine's Wedding." There are references to future Ravenwood books, but no spoilers! I hope you enjoy it!Clay - Who'd have thought the perpetual bachelor would settle down? Meeting Xenia turned my world upside down in the best way. I am looking forward to spending the rest of my life with her. My family, the ones that count, are all behind us. Xenia - It has been almost two years since I fell into a pond and found true love. Clay is everything I could have wanted and didn't think I deserved. Despite some annoying human-size speed bumps, we will start a new chapter together as husband and wife.
Zeus: It’s been a year since I met Tinkerbell, and therefore Clay met Xenia. Unlike Clay, it didn’t take long to figure out I found the one I wanted to be with and have a family with. He was slow on the uptake, that’s for sure. But he finally got his head out of his ass and made it right with Xenia. I swear if he'd dragged his feet longer or lost my chance with Tinkerbell, I’d have chewed every shoe he owned and never given him a moment's peace again. Thankfully for all involved, that didn’t happen, and since that time, things have been mostly great. The devil woman has never returned, and I’m happy about that. I didn’t want her around even before I met Tinkerbell and even less after I did. We moved into a new house where our humans gave us our own room and outdoor area. And we had eight puppies. That’s where the “mostly great” part comes in. After our puppies were old enough, they were sent to their forever homes. They at least ended up with members of our humans’ families, so we
Tinkerbell: I’m so happy we stopped living in that tiny place. I’m even happier that we will never see that mean man again. I didn’t fully understand everything that happened. But I knew, based on what Zeus and I would overhear our humans say, the mean man tried to hurt my human and was punished by the human catchers. I felt terrible that I wasn’t with Xenia to protect her from that evil man, but Clay was, so it was okay. And now we all live together. Zeus has been a great help to my anxiety. With him around, I’m never alone; if I start to feel anxious, he’s there to nuzzle me and remind me I’m safe. Alan, our dog sitter, is excellent too. He’s learned how to handle my anxiety, always brings us yummy treats, and takes us on long walks. I should miss my doggie daycare, but I don’t. There were always so many other dogs and humans that it would be hard on me. Living with Zeus, I’ve gotten better at handling things that used to scare me. Like small humans. When our humans took us on a l