Five Peeks of Pink

Everly

Everly

My bare ass slid along the blue BMW's bench seat. Cold leather and the buzz from blown speakers prickled my skin. My shoulder thumped against the car door. Sandy blond hair fell over my eyes, and my cuff's button slipped free of my fingers, missing its mark for the umpteenth time.

"Oh my God, Olivia!" I shrieked. "It's like you want me to get in trouble!"

From the front passenger seat, Luna glanced over her shoulder. A grin filled out my friend's usually narrow face. "Everly, you're the one fussing with your shirt instead of putting your skirt on! You're not going to get grounded for having unbuttoned cuffs."

The hairs on the back of my neck rose. My heart seized and--and then remembered Luna was right. A mildly unkempt school uniform wouldn't get me lectured or grounded. Dad wasn't here to nitpick me anymore.

I exhaled the clamminess from my chest. Heck, if I came home in sweatpants, neither Mom nor my stepdad would notice my MIA uniform. Nor would they figure out I'd skipped half the school day to hang out with Luna and Olivia.

I pulled my skirt on like Luna had suggested. Yeah, I'd turned eighteen last week, and Mom had remarried a year ago. None of that meant the rules of life had changed. While my stepdad, Marino, was hands-off with me, he hailed from the same world my dad had. A mafia boss was still a mafia boss.

Mafia life be damned, this was my last year of school and I would spend it being me. I didn't care what my future held as long as I got to continue being true to myself.

Two blocks from my house, and around a corner, Olivia pulled over.

"See you tomorrow for Mrs. Jetts' quiz!" Luna said after I'd gotten out.

I mocked a gag and aggressively swung my bag over my shoulder. "Maybe I'll finally pass one next year."

The BMW peeled off, leaving echoes of my friend's laughter behind.

Quaint silence descended over my walk home. No one in this neighborhood ever made a peep. No one here saw, said, or did anything unless it directly benefited them.

My parents' house was like every other on the block. Two stories with a plush green lawn, a large covered porch, a brick facade, and white siding. I entered through the front door, double-checked I'd locked it behind me correctly, and then went straight to my room.

I tossed my backpack in the general direction of my bed. It landed on the pale pink comforter with acrunch.

I frowned. What the heck was that?

The sound hadn't come from inside my bag. It'd come from a now crinkled piece of pastel blue paper. More specifically, a sheet of Mom's favorite stationery.

Everly,

I am very disappointed in the call I got from your teachers.

Go to Marino's office immediately. You can explain to him why you skipped school.

Mom

My mouth dried.Shit, shit, shit!

We were barely into the school year, and it was my first absence! They weren't supposed to call for two measly missed classes!

And why couldn't talking to me wait until she got home? It was a, um...a Tuesday! So Mom was at her weekly book club for only another hour.

Marino was my parent in writing only. Living with him was what I imagined living with a rando roommate was like. We were cordial but never paid each other much attention.

I rolled my cuffs up, making myself somewhat more presentable, and then left my bedroom, scratching my head. Whatwasthe worst thing Marino could do? Lecture me? Ground me?

Whatever punishment he had in store, I'd take it on the chin. Dad's death had freed me from being his perfect-perfect Mafia daughter. It'd allowed me to start just being Everly. And nothing would make me go back to being someone else. Especially not someone phony.

I knocked on the office's solid oak door. Three deep breaths later, a smooth masculine voice said, "Come in."

I did so and closed myself inside.

Golden, hazy lamp light, wood paneled walls, and a large maroon rug crowded the room. In truth, there was plenty of space for three people to walk shoulder-to-shoulder around and between the office's furniture.

Marino sat behind his desk with one of his forearms resting on its neatly organized surface. He rubbed his wide mouth with his thumb. My stepdad's dark brown eyes signaled more boredom than disappointment.

"Mom said you wanted to see me?" I asked, the question scratching my throat.

"Yes. I did." Marino sat back in his chair. His voice rolled down my spine with an unusual heat.

Leather creaked from my left. Seated in an armchair across from the desk was one of my stepbrothers, Teo. I could never remember where Teo stood in the stepsibling lineup, but I knew he was ten or so years older than me.

The two men appeared similar enough to be brothers. Black hair, tan skin, harsh jawlines, calculating brown eyes, and height as generous as their strong physique. Teo's broader shoulders and muscles, and the lines around Marino's eyes, set the two apart.

Their encompassing focus on me plucked at my already stringy nerves. Weakness in my knees urged me forward toward the empty chair beside Teo.

"Stay," Marino said.

I stopped, and momentum rocked me in place.

"Five weeks into school and you're already skipping class," Marino said with a veneer of impatience. "Am I correct?"

I nodded.

"What was that?" Marino asked.

"Yes," I said. "Sir."

Teo's impassive stare followed a shiver down the front of my body.

"Why?" Marino asked.

I didn't have a real answer for him. What I had was a real feeling. How could I explain the drive to be true to myself to a man like Marino? Figuring that translation out wasn't worth the effort. I could tell Marino the truth without getting into my details.

"Those classes are boring," I said.

"Boring?" Marino asked. "Already?"

I held his stare. "Yes."

"But you're in the sculpting club," Marino said plainly. "Yet, you skipped pottery."

To me, his wooden view of my hobbies was a good sign. My punishment wouldn't be outrageous, and my heart's love of the arts wasn't at stake.

"I already know everything," I said.

Teo smirked, and Marino chuckled under his breath. Slugs of anxiety hit my gut. Amusement was in their tones, but I knew better than to think the two Made Men were being friendly or playful.

Marino rubbed his mouth again. My gaze caught on his thumb. Scars crisscrossed over its knuckle. I forced my attention back to where it belonged.

Something white-hot flashed in Marino's dark eyes.

I stiffened. Was that rage? What else could it have been?

"Justified or not, your actions reflect back on me and your family. You sneaking out makes me look aloof and irresponsible," Marino said in a voice laden with contempt. "Do you understand how that reflects on our business?"

By "business" he meant "Mafia." Inla Cosa Nostra, the line between family and operations was practically nonexistent.

"Yes, sir," I said, intertwining my fingers together at my front. I stared at the plush maroon rug. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

I meant it. No more skipping school. An ounce of caution for many ounces of freedom.

"Sorry's not enough for me," Marino said.

I'd figured as much. The apology had been worth a shot. I peered at my stepdad, awaiting his instructions.

"Stand up straight," Marino said.

I pushed back my shoulders and lifted my chin.

A thin smile graced Marino's shrewd face. "Now, lift your skirt, Everly."

Wh-What?!

Every inch of my insides gummed up. I'd heard his command but didn't understand it. He wantedmeto showhimwhat was under my...?

My heart raced, yet my breathing slowed. Heat curled down my front and encircled the base of my spine.

"Show me and Teo your panties, Everly," Marino said in a gentle voice. For whatever reason, his tone didn't strike me as foreign. Did he have a secret soft spot? Who or what for?

With twitchy fingers, I reached for the hem of my skirt. This was wrong. This was so, so wrong. They were family. They didn't need to, theyshouldn't, see these parts of me. A sting grew between each of my ribs as I grabbed fistfuls of stiff, green pleats.

"Everly," Marino said again in that soft, near outlandish tone. "Lift your skirt up for us."

Goosebumps licked down my back. I swallowed. My mouth and throat only grew drier.

I lifted the front of my skirt to my waist.

Marino and Teo's gazes dipped to the plain, pink cotton between my legs. Marino's jaw relaxed, losing the sharpness I'd assumed was natural. Teo's chest expanded, his white button-up wrinkling under the strain.

Thumping, insistent heat pulsed between my legs. I tucked my elbows to my sides, and my skirt slipped down an inch. If either man noticed, neither showed it as a minute ticked by.

"You're excused," Marino said without looking up.

Before my skirt fell back into place, I barricaded myself inside my room. I leaned back against the cold wood door. What the hell had happened?

It'd been wrong. It'd been disgusting. And-And Marino and Teo had almost acted like my underwear had enchanted them. What had been more obscene, the punishment or their reaction to me?

I shifted my weight around. A cool wet spot pressed against my inner thigh. My brows furrowed. My period had ended last week. What else could make...

I sucked in a breath. No way! Being punished hadnotturned me on.

I sat down on the edge of my bed and then tugged my undies off. A damp spot the size of a nickel darkened the cotton. No. Way. That was not arousal, it was just discharge.

Between my legs, a slim string of unwelcome wetness dangled from my clit.

A blush singed my face. Oh. My. God.

"Everly," Mom called out, "dinner's ready!"

The textbook blurred before me. I raked a hand through my hair. But what if I wasn't ready?

What had happened a few hours ago in Marino's office had been more confusing than the material for Mrs. Jetts' quiz.

Out of all the punishments, why had my stepdad gone with...that one?

My fingers curled. I swore I could still feel the skirt's fabric bunched against my palms.

My breasts tightened, and heat twirled through me from head to toe. Lightheaded arousal gripped me stronger now than it had when I was exposed before my stepdad and stepbrother. The memory of two Made Men softening at the sight of my underwear thrilled me.

I shook my head clear and closed the textbook. Screw what was wrong with my stepfamily, what was wrong with me? I was hallucinating expressions of obsession and passion on Marino and Teo's faces!

And now, I was going to have to sit down at the dinner table with them and pretend I wasn't drowning intheirconfusion.

I double-checked my outfit in the mirror before heading downstairs. Earlier, I'd changed into yoga pants and a t-shirt. My uniform had distracted me while I'd tried to study.

The dining room table was set for three. One at the head, and two on the left. Me, Mom, and Marino's places. My paranoid pulse settled a hair.

I took my seat and draped a fabric napkin over my lap. Moments later, Mom came from the kitchen with a wine bottle, and Marino entered from the hallway. Marino said nothing as he took his seat.

Marino glanced in my direction for a split second, his usual mealtime check that I was in my place, and then at Mom.

"Teo's not staying for dinner?" Mom asked as she filled his wine glass.

"No," Marino said, as he adjusted an invisible-to-me wrinkle out of his suit coat. "He has other business to attend to, too."

"Ever the ambitious one," Mom said, not sounding surprised, as if the two of them had had this conversation before.

"Who doesn't need to work twenty-four-seven to make a name for himself," Marino said.

"Perhaps learning the hard way is the best way," Mom said.

My skin grew thin, and I shifted in my seat. Neither parent looked over at me.

"Maybe he needs to burn himself out," Mom continued.

"And ruin his reputation? No. He'd look weaker than a doe," Marino said. "I don't want that any more than I want Teo being all business and nothing else."

A maid set a bowl of soup in before me, and I turned my full attention to it. While Mom and Marino chatted, a mental checklist formed in my head of Marino's usual dinner time behaviors. So far, he'd ticked every box.

"Everly, is homecoming this week or the next?" Mom asked.

It took me a moment to notice she'd spoken to me. I sat up a little straighter. "This week," I said.

"The dance is on Friday night?" Mom asked.

I'd forgotten all about the dance. Was I even allowed to go?

"Um, yes," I said.

Marino's gaze rolled from her to me. There wasn't an ounce of the passion I'd seen in them earlier. I had to have made that all up!

"At the academy, or somewhere else?" Marino asked. This was the stepdad I was used to. Only speaking to me if Mom had first and only asking me questions about dates or locations.

"At the academy," I echoed. I did my damnedest to hold his indifferent stare. "Am-am I allowed to go...?"

Marino curtly nodded. "You are."

"Unless you skip any more classes," Mom added.

My anxiety settled. This was exactly the dynamic I was used to. Why had I expected him to treat me any differently? He'd punished me as he'd seen fit and then had moved on.

Nothing had changed. I was Scott-free to go back to being me.