." she started then was interrupted by Bear jumping up onto the bed and wiggling between them."Hey, whoa! Look who wants to join us." Tom grabbed Bear...and gave him a good belly rub. "I bet he's hungry. I know I am. I'll go whip up some food, for him and us. Meet me downstairs when you are ready." Tom pressed a kiss on her forehead before hopping out of bed.Keisha let out a big rush of air as she flopped back into bed. She was so close to risking it all by telling Tom she loved him. She was. It was as though the minute he crossed his parent’s threshold, his spine was jerked out of his back and locked deep away in some hidden box to which, only ‘they’ owned the key. In Houston, where he’d made a name for himself, Ben’s enemies would cross to the other side of the street seeing him coming down the sidewalk. Here, in the house of his birth, he was no braver than the thin waif of a girl who’d yelled out the truth that afternoon. ‘Where’s that bottle?’ the voice of his mother’s demand. I decided that I didn't want our son to get all fucked up on all that shit I been taking all this time. And I decided that I had to be a role model or something so he wouldn't. Homer and I had just about given up trying to figure out who the father was so we just sort of accepted that Reo was our baby. That was much simpler. Hell, with two such fine and upstanding daddies as me and Homer, he will probably be the next Elvis if he wants to. Besides, who really gives a rat's ass? It's the baby. ‘What’s happening to me?’ Liana thought, as she broke into a jog toward the library entrance. ‘I’m not a slut. Why am I like this?’ As Liana ran across the bridge, the front of her outer robe slipped open and cool raindrops splattered across her exposed shoulders and legs. She felt her skin tightening up in response to the chill, and her nipples became prominent against the soft fabric of her nightgown. Her bare feet padded softly on the stone tiles of the floor, splashing through puddles as.