After all the things that had been happening in his life, he was aware that it was in the cards. "Yeah, about that," the friend said. "Sorry." "I don'... blame you at all," Brian shrugged. "In fact, I am glad you got the promotion." "Thanks," the friend said bowing his head. "What are you going to do now?" Brian took a deep breath then took another long swig of his beer. "I doubt I will be drinking beer with you guys anytime soon," he smiled. "Doubt I will be able to pay for my car." "The beer is. She didn’t often feel the need to defend her mother. Her mother didn’t often need help defending herself. ‘I was just checking on the castle,’ she said, turning from Shiflet so he couldn’t see her frown. ‘I’ve been overseas—with an embassy—and I heard about the fire but had no idea how extensive the damage was.’ ‘If you ask me, what it needs is a couple of sticks of dynamite to bring down whatever hasn’t collapsed on its own. It ain’t safe and it ain’t exactly in keeping with the countryside. Ruth, the wife just happened to lookmy way, smiled and waved at me. I kept finger fuckingmy mom with one hand and waved to Ruth with the other.If she only knew what I was doing. I waited until they were not looking my way, went overand pulled the drapes closed. What to do now…Oh hellwith it, I came back to mom and grabbed her from behindher knees and just lifted her so that only her neck andupper back were on the couch. I could never have donethis when I was 14! And I wondered if my dad. " I looked down at my feet.I felt her finger tuck beneath my chin. Just the feel of her touch sent a jolt through my body. I felt a rapid swelling in my pants. "Look at me when I talk to you," she said with sweet, feminine authority. This was perfect! Our eyes met. "It's okay, James," she said. "I think it's cute." Really?" I felt light-headed.She laughed. "Yeah. I mean, it's also gross. And perverted. But cute."I didn't know how to respond to that. She released me chin and our.