Dirty Little Secret

five | again

Lucas

The next morning I drop a kiss to Riley's cheek before sneaking out of her dorm suite. Then, I think on my decisions like a mature adult would as I drive to work.

Will this ruin my relationship with Gabe? Absolutely.

Is she worth it? I'm not sure.

As of right now, all we've had is sex. I don't know if there's anything more there.

I know how I feel about her. But I don't know how she feels about me.

And I feel like a fucking prick for wanting more with her. It'll break my brother. And it'll break my brother and I apart. But now that I've got a small part of Riley Peterson, I'm not sure I'm ready to let her go.

"Nice win, kid." John Bills, my supervisor says when I walk through the doors.

"Thanks, Billy."

He grumbles at the nickname and I smile teasingly. "Sugar had her pup this mornin'."

"No shit. And I missed it?" I ask, shoving my things into my locker.

"Sure did. That's karma for that god-awful nickname."

I snort. "I didn't come up with it. Would you rather me call you Johnny?"

"Dear God, no." He tosses a plastic water bottle at me.

I catch it in my hand and crumple it. Tossing it into the recycling bin, I follow John down the hall.

"I let Emmy miss school to see the new addition."

"Oh boy."

Emma Bills is an adorable nine-year-old little girl, but that girl has enough sass in her to fill the entire South.

"Is she gonna name this one after a condiment too? Maybe we could go with Spice."

"Sugar, Spice, and everything nice." John pats my back as he swipes his ID card.

"Lucas! Lucas! Come look!"

"Emmy, girl, we gotta work on your volume." I tell her, ruffling her blonde hair. "Turn you down a few notches, kiddo."

"Yeah, anyways." She grabs ahold of my hand and drags me to the exam table where the baby sea lion lays. "Look at her."

"You name her yet?" I ask, slipping on a pair of blue latex gloves.

"Honey!"

John and I share a smile before I squat down and look at the pup. I stroke the tip of her nose and a small whimper hits my hand. "What's wrong with her?"

"Well, she's premature."

"Right."

"So of course not everything is developed. Melissa and Reese are mixing a formula to try to get her some food. December isn't typically a good time for pup births, so we'll keep her inside when it's chillier."

Sugar was recently at another facility a few hours away, where she wasn't taken care of properly. The workers there had been breeding her, but did it too late. Most California sea lions give birth between May and June.

She'd been dumped along the shore, where someone found her and called us. We found out she may have eaten some type of fish with domoic acid. So, it's really no surprise that her pup was born early.

"Isn't she just adorable though!" Emma squeals.

"You gotta be quiet, Emmy. We've talked about this." John scolds his daughter.