“All I want is for Juniper to be happy again.” Beni said with a shrug, “and I know both Phineas and Adil feel the same way.
Juniper gave a nervous jump as he put her hand back on her lap, but his fingers stroked the inside of her thigh where her dress rose up a smidge too high. She gulped too much air and choked on her own spit and Suki snorted.
“I can’t see your hand Beni. What are you doing?”
Beni lifted his hand off the steering wheel, “it’s right here.” His grin was broad as Suki chortled with glee at Juniper’s hiss of embarrassment, but he didn’t pull his other hand away as he wrapped it around the warmth of her thigh. He shot Juniper a sideways glance, “you okay?”
“Yes.” She put her other hand over his and watched his smile broaden.
A few minutes later they were pulling into a gas station and Suki leaned forward, “I’m going inside to grab some gum. Coming?”
“Sure. Mints might be a good thing to have tonight.” She shot Beni what she hoped was a flirty look.
“Sunshine, you could have licked dog shit off a filthy floor, and I’d still want to put my tongue in your mouth.”
“Beni! Kinky!” Suki exclaimed excitedly as Juniper shook her head at him.
“You have no idea.” Beni winked at Juniper as she pulled the door open. “Don’t dawdle in there. I want to get you on a danc floor and make out hard while we’re grinding.”
With that thought racing through her brain, Juniper chased after Suki into the store attached to the gas station. She found her standing in an aisle full of candy and chuckled, “you and your sweet tooth.”
“I know. I can’t help it. Speaking of sweet,” Suki flicked her gaze to the windows facing the gas pumps, “he is sweet on you. He likes you, a lot. He’s not even trying to hide it.”
“I’ve never allowed myself to consider the possibility of anyone but Kyst,” Juniper whispered as she reached for Suki’s hand, “I have to admit, it’s exciting and thrilling to consider someone else. It’s never been anything I let myself consider before, but the truth is, I can’t stop thinking of the possibilities today. It’s been a week, and I know I shouldn’t be ready to move on so fast but here I am, acting like the girls from high school I mocked so much because they’d break up with someone on Monday and be with someone else Tuesday.”
“You know we were wrong back then, right?” Suki asked her. “We were really wrong. I let my mom cloud my judgement and you were so head over heels with Kyst you would tell anyone if they could move on so fast it wasn’t really love. I think,” Suki held up a bag of mixed candies, “the world is full of various kinds of people, all with unique needs, wants and like: We love differently. We feel differently. We heal differently. We w judgmental asshole in high school, but I want you to know, Ju I’m done judging women for the way they express themselves sexually. Now, if a bitch comes to sabotage my relationships, I’ll be judging all day long but how someone conducts themselves or moves forward, I’m not that girl anymore.”
“What you’re saying is, if I end up with Beni far faster than anyone would anticipate, you’d not judge me?”
“Exactly but I’m with your mom, though. Don’t marry the first guy you kiss. Explore yourself a bit first. Find out what you like and stop trying to conform to what someone else wants for you. When we were eating earlier, you mentioned you were recognizing a lot of the ways you’ve changed over the years of being with him. Dropping drama, doing the community college course for administrative assistant instead of getting your degree in business you were originally intending because you knew you could only afford to pay for one degree between you, and you knew his law degree was going to be the better money maker in the long run. You planned your whole lives out at sixteen, seventeen, eighteen without knowing who you would grow into. I think it’s really important for you to view this as an opportunity to learn more about what Juniper the adult wants for her life versus what teenage Juni planned out for yourself with his input.”
“While I’m upset about what happened to you when you were away,” Juniper squeezed Suki’s hands, “I’m really glad you’re home to help me navigate all this Suki. Your friendshi everything to me.”
“I know.”
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The sound of a woman’s shrill voice caught their ear and they both looked over to the door where a woman was coming into the gas station with a phone smashed to her head.
“I’m telling you. He ruined my entire life! I know it was him behind my tires getting slashed. My parents threw me out because his father and grandfather went off the deep end that I wrecked someone else’s marriage. It’s not like I did it single handedly! None of my friends other than you are talking to me because they all think I’m going to ruin their marriages and sleep with their husbands, and I know it’s because Phineas told his friend circle to tell everyone what I did.”
Juniper made wide eyes at Suki and mouthed, “that’s Denise.”
Suki wrinkled her nose up and started to walk towards her, but Juniper shook her head at her. Suki wanted to protest but Juniper was pulling her towards the cash to pay for her gum and candies. Denise was at the back of the shop looking at bottles of wine and complaining she couldn’t afford decent wine anymore.
She wasn’t sure why, but it hurt to see Denise, even if she was complaining of her miserable life. It hurt this was the woman Kyst decided to throw their marriage all away over.
-in to
Juniper was on edge, trying not to shake, when Beni c. pay for his gas. She flicked her gaze towards where Denise vas yapping loudly about Phineas. His face transformed into one o disgust and he shuddered visibly. Suki caught it and she giggle
Beni wrapped his arm around Juniper’s shoulder and whispered in her ear, “Kyst was a fucking idiot, and it has never been more apparent than in this moment. She’s trash and you’re class, baby.” He tilted her chin and pressed a lingering sweet kiss to her lips. “She’s nothing and you are everything and while I’m sorry you are hurting, I’m so glad I get this chance with you.”
She blinked at the quiet affirmative words he spoke, and she stood on tiptoes to kiss his cheek, “thank you Beni.”
“Thank you, sunshine.”
“Benicio?” Denise saw him and beelined towards him.
He ignored her and passed his credit card to the attendant to pay for the gas and the treats the girls put on the counter.
“You need to talk to Phineas!” she narrowed her gaze at him and he wrapped his arm around Juniper. “I didn’t know you the way had a girlfriend, Benicio.”
Juniper stayed tucked against Beni’s side protectively and she was grateful for his presence because everything about Denise screamed confrontation, and she didn’t care there was an audience. For the last week or so, she’d thought of many different scenarios where she would see Kyst and how she would respond but for whatever reason, it never dawned on her to think of what to say to Denise.
She felt her cheeks turning red when Denise narrowed her gaze on her.
“I know you from somewhere. What’s your name?”
“How about none of your business,” Suki stepped forwa intervene, her fists clenched.
Juniper cleared her throat, anger rising in her at Denise’s bold stare. “Juniper Kennedy. You fucked my husband on my couch underneath a giant portrait of him and I on our wedding day. You probably know my face because you were looking right at it while you two went at it.”
Juniper spoke loud enough the handful of customers and the clerk behind the counter all turned to look at Denise.
Denise turned a mottled shade of pink, blotches of color rising up her neck and face and disappearing into her blonde hair.
“Um.”
“If you’ll excuse us, Beni is taking my friend and I out because the day you two were caught was the day I lost the baby I was carrying,” she delivered another punch and watched Denise’s eyes widen in horror as she staggered backwards. “I lost my baby and my husband on the day you were screwing my husband against the door, the sofa, in my bed. We caught you being a mistress to a married man so don’t come in my face acting high and mighty or telling Beni he needs to talk to your ex-husband when you were caught red-handed. You and Kyst didn’t give me a second thought when you were burning my world to the ground. Don’t think for one second the people you hurt owe you a damn thing.” She looked at Beni, “tonight was supposed to be about me having fun and to stop all the crying and sadness and she’s killing the vibe. Can we go?”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.