Sweet Addiction

05

He just gets distracted.

A lot.

"Yeah, I know that, but I don't want him in any pain," Winston says.

He's so overprotective that I can barely believe that he and Tristan despised each other when they first met!

"I'll drive, I promise," I tell him, actually trying to be reassuring.

Even though I'm usually sarcastic and don't really fully listen to what anyone (except for Amari) says, I do know what it's like to have a soulmate and worry more about their well-being than anything else. So, I can be comforting toward Winston and assure him that I'll keep his baby safe.

"Don't get into any unnecessary trouble," Amari murmurs, hugging me from behind and kissing the juncture between my shoulder and neck. "Text me when you get there."

I hum. "Don't worry about us. If anyone fucks with us, we can just kill them."

"Avoid murdering anyone, please," Amari begs, sounding exhausted over the very prospect of me saying that. "Have fun."

"I will!" I exclaim as my partners in crime all come out of their rooms and are all ready to go. "Love you!"

"Love you, too, Lex."

Tristan smirks when he sees us. "Simp," he mumbles, but I won't let him talk shit to my soulmate like that!

"You're the one who cried when you got high for the first time because you were upset that Winston went to the bathroom and was out of your line of vision for a whole five minutes."

"That's not being a simp!"

"I remember that!" Kayden exclaims. "You were moping for a full hour, even when Winston came back!"

Tristan groans. "Fine, I get your fucking point. I'll stop calling Amari a simp, even if that's exactly what he is!"

"Don't dish it if you can't take it, T," Winston says, leaning down for a kiss, but Tristan dodges him. "Give me a kiss, baby."

"No," Tristan responds, glaring at his soulmate. "You're not supposed to agree with the enemy, Winston."

Winston pouts but Tristan is the most stubborn person I've ever met, so he just ignores his soulmate.

"Alright, let's go get in the car before Tristan decides that anger sex is better than stubbornness," I say, herding my little group toward the front door and into my car.

We drive down toward my favorite little alleyway in Cincinnati, where my friends Ari and Vera used to run a little lingerie shop that is a branch store of a huge online lingerie community. Their daughter owns it now, because they're now in their late forties and are always traveling because they're huge parts of their lingerie community. The alleyway also has a cafe, a nice Italian restaurant, clothing boutiques, and several sex shops. In fact, it's only a five minute drive from where I work.

"Please tell me we're getting food," Tristan says as we walk past the restaurant. "Lex, my stomach is going to eat itself if I don't get food."

I keep heading toward the lingerie shop. "We'll get food. I'll even pay for it," I say, smirking at him.

Tristan narrows his eyes. "There's a definite 'if' sentence hiding in your words."

"If you let me buy an outfit for you and you have to try on whatever I tell you to!" I exclaim, making Tristan gape at me while Levi and Kayden giggle.

"Nope. Oversized t-shirts or bare-ass naked are my sleeping attire. Not lingerie," he says, his face red with embarrassment. "Winston would never let me hear the end of it if I bought lingerie."