Unscrupulous by Avery Aster Read Free Book Online

on her back. Her swollen face appeared raw and tender. On the TV screen by her bed played a video.
    “What is Birdie watching?” Vive stepped in closer.
    “Eh?” Taddy felt as if she’d just been hit with a baseball bat. Instinctively she reached for Vive’s hand for balance. A quick swallow and deep inhale, she pushed the lump that was coming up in her throat back down. “It’s Lex’s tenth birthday party.”
    “This is so sad.” Vive seemed to better understand Birdie’s condition.
    On the screen, Birdie and Eddie sang happy birthday set to a rock-n-roll melody. Taddy noticed herself in the video with her own parents. Countess Irma and Joseph Graf sat at a table clapping along, out of rhythm. She’d forgotten what it looked like to see everyone happy, especially herself. “All Lex wanted that year was for Eddie to be home and spend time with her.”
    “Did he?”
    “No.” It pained her to think about it. “Eddie came for the party. It was good press for their family.” Taddy kept her voice low. She noticed in the video how Lex clung to her father, afraid to let him go.
    “God, Eddie was such a beautiful man.”
    “Such a waste.” It angered Taddy to think about how he’d neglected his family.
    “Those are your folks, right?” Vive squinted at the TV and then back to Taddy.
    “Yup.” Taddy suddenly felt sick. She couldn’t stand looking at her parents.
    “I’ve never met them.”
    “And for good reason.” Taddy stalked over to the TV and punched the off switch. “Let’s let Birdie sleep.” Before leaving, she pulled the plush covers snug around Birdie.
    The next day Taddy called Birdie and offered to hire a nurse for around-the-clock care. Birdie declined and argued she was ready to see her husband in heaven. Taddy didn’t know if Birdie was being dramatic or if she should be taken seriously. She put another call in to Dr. Fassenbender.
    He disregarded Birdie’s images and disease claims as nothing but a skin irritation.
    Resisting the urge not to get sucked into Easton drama, she figured Birdie would be fine. Maybe it was denial. Maybe it was hope. Either way she didn’t want to get involved. The only thing to do was to wait and see what Birdie did next.
    * * * * *
    “Screw me, Brayden Brooks,” she chanted per usual at seven a.m. mid-week, pre-Christmas, about a week prior to her sunny jaunt to Algarve with Lex. Taddy exercised on her elliptical. The private Gilad sessions gave her ass a new tighter, higher, younger shape, although he had yet to fuck her. Gilad held out for Taddy to purchase a twenty-session package. Taddy told him the package that interested her came from his pants and should take one session, not several. There was no desire to see the same man twenty times for anything, including sex, so Taddy crossed Gilad off her men-to-screw list. Fuck that! She wasn’t about to pay for sex from her Pilates instructor.
    She’d hit the thousand-calories-burned mark strutting on the exercise equipment. Endorphins flew. The tangy ammonia hint soared from her pores, a sign she could eat whatever carbohydrates she wanted. She’d earned it. Jamming to “Honey Hive Filled Love” sung by Waris Sugar, Taddy sang the lyrics to herself:
    I’m pullin’ my Victoria Secrets down
    A-ooh baby baby, ooh baby baby
    You’re slickin’ your dick up
    A-ooh aah aah, A-ooh aah aah
    I’m gettin’ my honey hive filled
    A-aah mmm, A-aah mmm
    Taddy knew women orgasmed while doing intense cardio. They didn’t come like a geyser, rather with mini-climaxes. Natural to her, she came too when endorphins flew. So frequent in fact, she did the elliptical alone, unless with Lex who remained oblivious. When she pushed her body hard enough, closed her eyes, let the song take over and Brayden Brooks danced in her mind’s eye—she’d come. Pilates with Gilad didn’t compare to this exhilaration, let alone the Brayden Brooks fantasy.
    Utilizing this morning’s workout as she did any other—watching