Chapter 24: Rebel

I stepped out of the salon feeling good for the first time since the news about Austin. It was late, so I went home. I had no qualms about my new appearance or how the kids would react. They knew who I really was no matter how I portrayed myself. I strutted into my bedroom to see Diablo sleeping in my bed. Aww, how sweet. Britannia was going to be moving out in the morning, but for the time being, Diablo didn't have a bed. He'd been sharing mine for the past few weeks. It felt nice to have someone else sleeping next to me again. I grabbed Austin's pillow out of my closet and fell asleep holding it in my arms.

"Mom?"

Cairo looked at me with surprise in his eyes. "You look so... different! But I like it."

"Aww, thanks, honey."

"Did you do that cause of Austin?"

Cairo's question caught me off guard and a tear rolled down my cheek. I nodded. Cairo enveloped me in a tight hug and let me cry on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Mom."

I went to Ravenbucks to grab a cup of coffee. As I sat down to drink it, a blond haired man sat down across from me.

"Hey, beautiful. Can I join you?"

"You just did."

"Feisty. Name's Skip Broke. You?"

"Sicily Zenteri."

I continued sipping my coffee, blatantly staring at his pecs, which he was obviously wanting to show off. Why else would he leave it half unbuttoned? He was also leaning forward more than necessary so I could see one of his nipples. Skip was staring at me as if I should be saying something more to him.

"Sicily, do you know who I am?"

"Um, you just told me your name, so yeah. ." I made air quotes with my hands as I said his name. "Skip."

Skip looked at me a little shocked. "No, I mean, who I am. The star of Ravenview's most popular crime drama?"

"Congratulations. Do you want a medal?"

I was enjoying confusing the berry out of Skip. I'm sure he had women fawning over him all the time because he was a celebrity. He wasn't bad to look at, but he wasn't Austin, so I could care less. The fact that I didn't give a royal berry probably pissed him off a little bit. I liked the way it made me feel. After all, he had sat down with me, not the other way around. Skip's eyes wandered down to my chest, so I took my shoe off and ran my foot up his pant leg. He smiled at me. I put my foot close to his... area and rubbed it. I laughed a little when he nearly spilled his coffee.

I sat in the booth staring out the window for a while until Skip took my hand and sat down next to me. He started rubbing my arm gently. He put his arm around me and kissed me. We made out in the booth, grabbing at each other inappropriately. Skip slid his hand under my top, grabbing my chest, while I grabbed his package.

"Let's go out the back. I want to take you to my place."

I nodded, letting him grab my hand and lead me to his car. We drove to his place in silence, not really caring to get to know each other better. After we arrived, he took me upstairs to his hot tub.

"You should let your hair down, sexy."

I let him take the clip out of my hair as I felt him up under the water. I slid close to him and kissed his lips. He tasted good for a jack ass. By this time, my top was off and floating away on the other side of the hot tub. The water felt good on my legs. I slid his swim trunks down and he pushed himself inside me. Mmm.. he was good.

Afterwards, Skip turned to me and said, "You were a nice fuck, gorgeous."

I shot him my best seductive look. "So were you."

I turned around to walk away when I heard Skip say, "We should do this again sometime. You know, just a casual thing."

I looked over my shoulder at him, winked, and said, "No thanks. See ya, baby." The look on his face was priceless.

I got onto my new Simcati motorcycle, loving the way the leather grips felt in my hands. I turned the engine on and revved it a little.

The wind felt good on my face as it whipped through my hair and brushed my cheeks. I felt alive. I felt like I could take on the world.