The Truths We Told

by Blair, E. K.

  “Oh, god,” she whimpers in pure satisfaction as her hand jerks in mine and her eyes swim out of focus as she falls apart. The moment I feel her tighten around me, I let myself go, and I swear this girl shatters me into a million fucking pieces. Her body tenses, and she grabs me tighter. The room fills with deep breaths and fractured moans as the two of us ride out our orgasms for as long as we can, giving and taking everything we have until there’s nothing left.

  My head is spinning from what just happened, and I swear she just wrecked me.

  She falls back onto the bed, and I wrap my arms around her as I kiss her damp forehead while we struggle to catch our breath. When I look down, I find her cheeks coated in tears before she tucks her head into my chest.

  “Don’t hide from me,” I request. There isn’t a single part of her that I don’t want.

  I touch the side of her face, and her head falls to the pillow before she lifts her eyes to mine, allowing me to see straight inside her heart. All her cracks and broken parts expose themselves, setting me on fire like a thousand suns, and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for this girl.

  Pushing my fingers through her hair, which is sweaty at the roots, I press my chest against hers and confess, “I never knew it could be like that,” and she comforts me when she says, “Me neither.”

  The very moment I start to pull away, she locks her legs around my hips and keeps me inside her.

  “God damn,” I breathe. “You feel so good.”

  And just like that, she has my heart—a heart I never intended to give away but had no hope of keeping from her. I can’t imagine another person in this world who could bring me to my knees the way she has.

  “Tell me you love me,” I request, needing to hear it.

  Pulling my lips down to hers, I swear she breathes life into me when she whispers, “I love you,” etching the words across my heart.

  KATE

  “How do we already have a paper to work on? It’s the second week of classes,” Ady gripes as we walk to our next lecture.

  It’s our senior year, and there are only two semesters left until we graduate and no longer have to worry about grinding out projects and studying for exams.

  “At least it isn’t due until October,” she says as if it’s a silver lining.

  “That’s only next month, and it’s probably going to take that long to write it.”

  “You think?” she questions as she pulls the door to our lecture hall open and then heads toward the seats we claimed as ours.

  “Yeah.”

  “What’s your topic again?”

  We settle in, and I turn to her with a huff. “Japanese economical wonder: The reasons and consequences.”

  Ady’s mouth drops open in horror. “What does that even mean?”

  “Exactly. I mean, is everyone’s topic as crazy as mine?”

  Ady shakes her head. “Mine is about the fast food industry and its connection to working-class people.”

  “What? Are you serious? That’s your topic?”

  “Compared to you, I lucked out.”

  With a heavy groan, I slump down in my seat. “I can’t believe you’re getting off so easy. I’m literally going to have to research my research topic before I can even start my actual research!”

  Her eyes glaze over in confusion for a second before she shakes her head. “Maybe it won’t be that bad.”

  When the professor walks in and takes his place at the podium, I flip open my notebook and grumble, “Senior year already sucks.”

  The next hour drags on, and when my cell phone vibrates in my bag, I pull it out and read Trent’s text.

  Trent: I couldn’t be more bored than a blind man in a milk sack shack.

  Letting go of a silent giggle, I start typing him back when Ady leans over and reads his text.

  “Does he ever talk like a normal human?” she whispers.

  “You’ve been living with him for the past three years and you’re seriously asking me that?”

  “Yeah, but you’re dating him. I’m just curious if he has a serious side.”

  “Of course, he does,” I tell her as I hit send on my text.

  Me: Same here. Plus, I think my international marketing professor already hates me.

  Trent: Why?

  Me: Just got assigned a research paper, and my topic couldn’t be any crappier. I’m going to be living in the library trying to get this thing written.

  Trent: That sucks. Meet you after class?

  Me: Yeah.

  Sitting in the back of the lecture hall and out of earshot of the professor, Ady asks, “So, how are things going with you two?”

  “Good. I honestly didn’t know what to expect when we got involved, but so far, everything’s been great.”

  “I still can’t believe you guys are finally a thing. I mean, I never thought I’d see the day when Trent would get into a relationship.”

  “Same here,” I whisper. “I thought he’d have a lot more hang-ups about it.”

  To say I’m surprised would be a drastic understatement. I assumed that, at the very least, our friendship would change, but if anything, it’s gotten stronger. He’s still the same crass and ridiculous Trent, but I’ve seen another side of him that is sweet and full of love.

  I worried that being with a guy like him would be difficult, but he’s made it effortless. After everything that went down with my ex, I just want to be happy, not hurt, not confused, not stressed—just happy. I never imagined he’d be the one to kiss my wounds, but he is, and he does—each and every one of them. He doesn’t see them as disasters on my soul, but rather cracks to fill with his love. And for that, I’ll never be able to repay him.

  It’s taken me a good amount of time to let go of the toxic situation I was in with Caleb. It’s strange to think about how that volatile relationship became my comfort zone. He fed me poison, and I believed him when he called it medicine. I was standing in hell—yet, he convinced me it was heaven. And when the abuse came to an all-time high and we started going up in flames, he assured me that it wasn’t too hot. But it was, and in the end, I’m the one who was left burning amongst the ashes of what I thought was love.

  “Finally,” Ady grumbles when class ends.

  After shoving our notes into our bags, we make our way out of the lecture hall to find Trent waiting for us on the lawn. I walk right into the arms of the man I’ve fallen in love with and give him a hug.

  “Are we still on for tonight?” he asks.

  “Tonight?”

  “Party at Brody’s.”

  “Crap. I completely forgot.” I rub my hand along my forehead. “Are you going to be mad if I bail?”

  “Why would you bail?”

  “This paper—”

  “It’s due next month,” Ady interjects.

  “I know, but I want to get it knocked out now so I’m not stressing about it later. Plus, I have no idea how long it’s going to take me.”

  “What’s the paper on?”

  Gripping the straps of my backpack, I tell him, “Japanese economics or something like that. I was wanting to get a head start on it tonight.”

  “Get a head start on it tomorrow.”

  “It’s already stressing me out. Even if I did put it off, I doubt I’d be able to enjoy myself tonight.”

  “Lame,” my unstudious friend pipes in.

  “No shit,” Trent agrees and then asks Ady, “What about you?”

  “Me?”

  “You haven’t been to a single party the whole time you’ve been here.”

  “Yet, she calls me lame,” I defend in jest.

  “Whatever.”

  “Are you seriously going to leave me hanging after your girl just ditched me for school work?”

  “You’re a big boy,” she says before turning to me. “I have to run to my next class. See you later.”

  Trent slings his arm around my shoulders as we start walking out to the parking lot. “You’re seriously not going?”

&nbs
p; “Don’t be mad.”

  “You gotta stop thinking that I’m going to get mad at you for every little thing,” he says with an easy grin.

  He’s right, I should stop thinking that, but beneath the surface still lives the fear that if I don’t put Trent first, there might be a punishment waiting for me. It scares me to think that he could possibly turn on me the same way Caleb did and I hate myself for even considering it. Trent is nothing like that monster, and he doesn’t deserve my worry that he could be.

  I’ve been trying to move past those insecurities because I know it bothers Trent. He wants me to trust him, but trust is something I’m still working on.

  “So, what’s the plan?”

  “I’m going to go home, grab a bite to eat, and then come back up here to work in the library,” I tell him as we approach my car.

  “You can’t do your research at home?”

  “Possibly, but there are too many distractions there, and I really need to focus on getting this done.” I unlock my doors and toss my bag into the passenger seat before turning back to Trent. I tug on the hem of his shirt and pull him closer. The moment before his lips touch mine, I lightly scold, “Behave tonight.”

  His lips curve into a smirk. “Or else?”

  “You act as if you like the idea of me punishing you.”

  “As long as you don’t cockfrost me, I’ll take whatever punishment you’re willing to give,” he jokes before pressing his lips to mine.

  I try to play it cool, as if I’m not worried, but I am. This isn’t the girl I want to be though—insecure and untrusting. Doubt nags me often, whispering that I’m not good enough, that I’m not making him as happy as what I should. And knowing how girls flock to guys like Trent has me scared that he might find someone better and that he’ll realize he’s wasting his time with me.

  “Text me later?” I ask, pushing down all my uncertainties.

  He nods before I get into my car and drive to my condo. When I arrive home, I relax for a couple of hours before eating an early dinner and heading right back to campus. As the sun begins to set, I scan my student ID and enter the university’s library. Not quite sure where to start, I stop by the information desk and talk to the guy working. He directs me to the stacks tower and tells me to go to the sixth floor.

  Before heading up, I hit the catalog terminal and write down several call numbers for the books I need. Once I have a decent number of resources, I make my way through the massive room filled with countless rows of stacks. It’s a maze of bookshelves that nearly reach the ceiling. The silence is eerie, and when I walk along the wall of study carrels, I discover I’m up here with only two other students.

  Foregoing a carrel, I go back into the stacks in search of the last few books I need before situating myself on the floor. Settling deep within the room, I crack my first book and prepare for a long night ahead.

  Time is illusive as I fill notecard after notecard with facts and opinions, dates and definitions. When my eyes grow heavy, I blink and then look around, realizing I’m sitting in the middle of a chaotic sea of white three-by-five cards covered in my handwriting. Sighing, I start to straighten them with one hand and dig my cell phone out of my bag with the other. When I tap my screen, I find a missed text from Trent that was sent over two hours ago.

  I open a photo of him and Brody drinking and flipping me off. I smile down at their faces and then hone in on Trent. A warmth spreads through my chest when I think about how happy he makes me. He offers me more than what I deserve, and after everything that has gone down these past few years, I still can’t believe we’re together.

  Holding the phone out in front of me, I snap a selfie of me returning the sentiment, shooting him the finger.

  I get back to my research, and when I find myself stifling a yawn, I leave my belongings and head to the lobby in search of a pick-me-up. I hit up the vending machines and take a short break while I guzzle an energy drink and devour a bag of Skittles. Once I’m amped up on sugar and caffeine, I return to the sixth floor, passing the now vacant carrels and returning to where my things are still scattered on the ground.

  Seconds multiply into minutes, which dissolve into hours. Eventually, my lids begin to droop and exhaustion hits hard. Crashing from my caffeine rush, I decide to finish the current book I’m looking at before heading home. I lean against the stack behind me and rest the open book on my bent knees while I continue to jot down important notes, but that soon dissolves into me staring blankly at my hand. I don’t even realize the pencil has slipped out from my tired fingers as I begin to nod off.

  Something jostles my shoulder, and I jerk awake with a start. It takes me a second to gain my bearings, but when I do, I find Trent standing over me, and I wonder if I’m dreaming.

  He squats next to me, and I blink a few times before asking, “What are you doing here?”

  “I’ve been trying to call you.”

  I drop my head to the side and pull my phone from my bag to see several missed calls.

  “I didn’t even hear it vibrate,” I murmur, my head still clouded in sleep. “How did you know where I was?”

  “I didn’t. I’ve been wandering around like a fucking newb,” he says a bit too loudly, and I quickly shush him. “We’re the only people in here,” he retorts.

  “What time is it?”

  “After one. When does this place shut down?”

  I chuckle under my breath, knowing damn well this is probably his first time in the actual campus library. “It doesn’t.”

  Grinning, he sits next to me and takes in all the notecards.

  “How was the party?”

  His eyes come back to mine. “Some trixie mouth shit all over Brody’s pool table,” he says, and I shudder in disgust. “It was like the damn exorcist.” He laughs.

  “Gross.” I watch as he starts stacking up my notecards. “Why did you leave?”

  “I got worried when you didn’t answer your phone.”

  “Seriously?” I ask as my smile grows.

  “What?”

  “That is so sweet.”

  He shakes his head. “Don’t start that sappy shit, woman.”

  “Aww,” I continue, overexaggerating just to annoy him.

  He then tosses the cards, and they go scattering about as he crawls over me, forcing me to lie down on my back. “You better stop that,” he warns, smiling deviously at me.

  “Or what?”

  “I’ll show you just how unsweet I can be.”

  A giggle slips out of me when he drops his mouth to my neck, sending shivers along my skin as he tickles me with his kisses. I gently slap his arm. “Stop.”

  “Why?”

  “Because.”

  He shifts back to sit on his heels, and when he looks down, my eyes follow to see he’s getting hard. “I’m like a bitch in heat,” he jokes.

  “Oh my god.”

  He then grabs my hand and pulls it between his legs. “See?”

  Yanking my hand back, I sit up. “You’re crazy.”

  Excitement brews in his eyes, and I’m shaking my head before he says, “Come on. No one is up here.”

  “No way!” I whisper sternly.

  “Why?”

  “Because . . . what if we get caught?”

  “By who?” he says, looking around at nothing but the ceiling-high book stacks. “It’s one in the morning and this place is empty.” He leans forward again, crowding me until I give in and lay back.

  “Trent,” I hesitate, but when he slips his hand beneath my top and presses his erection into me, I lose all sensibility.

  Adrenaline spikes through my bloodstream when he squeezes my breast, and I can’t believe we’re about to do this as my eager hands slide between our bodies to unfasten his shorts. We both smile as I shove his pants down as quickly as he unfastens mine. Cloaked in nerves, I anxiously shimmy my jeans off one of my legs before grabbing his hips and rushing him inside of me.

  “Damn, girl,” he says with a cocky smile.
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  “Shut up.”

  And just like that, we’re going at it on the floor of the library in a frenzy of excitement. We move fast, urgent to find our releases, but when he slips his thumb into his mouth and drops it to my most sensitive spot, I abandon all control and let go of a heady moan.

  His smile widens, and I grip his wrist to push his hand away, but he doesn’t stop touching me.

  “Trent—” I gasp as he sends a radiation of pleasure through my core. “You have to—” My eyes roll back when he strokes me at just the right angle to make me nearly come out of my skin. I can barely breathe as I try to get him to stop before I scream out in pure euphoria. “You have to stop.”

  “Fuck no,” he says on a breath of laughter as he drives me higher. “You look so hot right now.”

  On the brink of an orgasm, I clench down and grip on to him tightly, doing everything I can to keep quiet as my body peaks.

  “I can’t hold on,” I strangle out on a broken voice.

  He swells inside me, and that’s all it takes to send me spiraling. His hips buck into me as we both splinter into blissful ravishment.

  Nothing can be heard outside of our heavy panting as we ride out our pleasure, and when I have nothing left to give, I go lax beneath him. He doesn’t rush to pull out, and although we risk getting caught, I can’t bring myself to push him off me.

  Instead, I run my hand along his sweaty forehead and grin before he drops it on to mine.

  “I can’t believe we just did that,” I whisper.

  But then again, I can. One thing I love about Trent is that he allows me to have fun. He’s wild and free, and through those qualities, he’s given me the courage to explore that within myself. Trent loves me in ways I didn’t know I could be loved, and because of that, it breeds a joy that was once stolen from me.

  He plants a kiss on my lips before saying, “You’re the realest feeling I’ve ever known.”

  And just like that, he melts my heart entirely. There’s so much I want to say in return, but all the words get tangled inside a swarm of emotions he sets off. I don’t know how to tell him just how much I love him. It isn’t the type of love that’s felt in my heart—it’s in my bones.