Awakened in September

by Kelsey Clayton

  When she bites her lip and nods, basically reading my mind, I push inside her. The tight, wet heat encases me and I need to refrain from finishing too soon. She groans as I bottom out and it isn’t until she kisses me once more that I start thrusting in and out of her. Her tongue dances with mine and her fingers tangle in my hair – holding my head in place.

  We flip over and she gets on top of me, riding me like she was born to do exactly this. I hold her hips to keep her steady.

  “You’re beautiful.” I tell her, watching her as she bounces on my dick. “God, Kayleigh.”

  She smiles and bends down to kiss me, moaning as I hit her g-spot. The sound goes straight to my cock and my grip on her tightens.

  “Fuck.” She breathes, and I can feel her starting to reach her high.

  I thrust up into her as she screams, riding out her climax. The feeling of her orgasming with me inside her is phenomenal. In one fluid motion, I flip her back over and start pounding into her. Seeing her splayed out underneath me is everything I’ve been imagining for weeks, and I almost can’t handle it.

  As her teeth sink into her already irritated bottom lip, I’m overcome with pleasure. I release inside of the condom, shaking as the best orgasm I’ve ever had rips through me. When I’m done, I bend down and kiss her softly.

  I pull out and get up to dispose of the condom. When I get back to the bed, she’s already under the covers. I slip in next to her and turn off the light.

  “You still awake?” I whisper.

  “Mhm.” She answers, still catching her breath.

  I’m slightly afraid to bring it up, scared she will shut me out again, but I grow a set and do it anyway. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “No.” She says tiredly. “I just want to enjoy tonight.”

  I open my mouth to respond, but she rolls over and lays her head on my chest. My arm goes around her and I hold her close. Suddenly, nothing else matters. She’s right – we should take advantage of tonight while we can. I fall asleep with a smile on my face and an unfamiliar feeling in my chest.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I watch with amusement as Kayleigh freaks out. Needless to say, when we woke up this morning and she realized what happened, she lost it. She threw her dress back on, backwards might I add, and proceeded to walk laps around my bedroom – ranting about how fucked up this is and that she’s a horrible friend. I try my best to mask my fond expression but I can’t help it with her. Last night was one of the best of my life, and I’ve never slept as comfortably as I did with her in my arms.

  She finally relaxes a little and shudders from the cold air, chastising me for having the window open. I chuckle and go get one of my sweatshirts for her. As she pulls it over her head, I find myself needing to fight to look away. The hoodie hangs loosely on her body and seeing her in it makes me feel like she’s mine. I could get used to this.

  When I allow myself to glance at her, she’s staring at my abs. The second she takes her bottom lip between her teeth, my breath hitches.

  “Please stop doing that.” I request.

  She shakes herself from whatever she was thinking. “Doing what?”

  Ah, so she was checking me out. “Biting your lip. It does things to me.”

  “Well, maybe you should put a shirt on.” She sasses.

  Her expression is guarded, but her words tell me something totally different. I push myself off the wall and start to walk towards her, only breaking the eye contact to really take in how she looks in my clothes. Once I get close enough, I smirk.

  “Why would I do that?”

  She swallows harshly. “Because. You’re barely wearing anything and it’s inappropriate.” Her voice breaks at the end of it.

  “No, baby.” I all but whisper. “You want to see inappropriate, I’ll show you inappropriate.”

  I lean in, waiting for her to move, but she doesn’t. Her eyes start to flutter closed, but I stop – instead reaching to grab my phone from the desk next to her. Once it’s in my hand, I back away. It takes everything in me not to kiss her, but the next time we fuck, I want it to be because she came to me.

  Opening my phone, I see a text from my girlfriend. The irony isn’t lost as I open it.

  Bree: Morning babe. I’m getting dressed and

  then Taylor is dropping me off there.

  I notice the text was sent ten minutes ago, meaning she should be here any minute. It’s not that she isn’t already aware of my bed partner for the night, but judging by the way Kayleigh is freaking out – it would take all of five seconds before she blurts out that we slept together.

  “Bree is on her way over.” I mention.

  Her eyes widen and she nods, grabbing the bottom of my sweatshirt and starting to pull it over her head. “That’s my cue to leave.”

  She places the hoodie on the back of the chair and picks up her things before heading to the door.

  “What? No goodbye?” I pout. I mean, if she’s going to leave after last night, the least she could do is kiss me as a parting gift.

  “Bye Holden.” She says with an attitude.

  I quickly walk over to her and as soon as she opens the door, I push it closed – keeping my hand on it so she can’t try again. She turns around to glare at me, though I ignore her hostility. I use my free hand to grab her chin and lean down to kiss her softly. It’s shorter than I’d like, but Bree will be here any minute and I can’t risk this going too far. When I’m done, she remains motionless. She doesn’t even open her eyes immediately.

  “Bye.” I whisper.

  She doesn’t say anything else. She just slips out the door and leaves the room. After a couple minutes, I start to go to the kitchen when the sound of Kayleigh’s voice downstairs makes me wonder why she’s still here. Who is she talking to?

  “…go out with me tomorrow night?” I hear only the end of the question, but it’s enough to understand what’s going on.

  “Sure, Caleb. That sounds great.”

  I step onto the landing of the stairs and lean against the wall, but Kayleigh doesn’t see me yet. I watch as my friend smiles excitedly and grabs a piece of paper from his pocket. I can only assume it’s his phone number. She takes it from him and puts it in her bag just before she spots me. Her eyes meet mine and I raise my eyebrows.

  “See you then.” She says to Caleb and hastily walks out the front door.

  What the fuck just happened? I didn’t even know Caleb had any idea who Kayleigh was. Hell, I don’t even know who Kayleigh is. She’s supposed to be this innocent girl who stays in her room all the time. However, in the last 24 hours she has made out with Caleb, slept with me, and then agreed to go on a date with someone who isn’t me. I grind my teeth and try to calm myself down.

  “Oh, hey H. I didn’t see you there.”

  I continue my walk down the stairs. “I see you’ve got a date tomorrow night.”

  “Y-yeah.” He smiles and follows me into the kitchen.

  “Do you really think that’s a good idea?”

  His eyebrows furrow as I grab a granola bar from the pantry. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

  I shrug. “I don’t know. I mean you just broke up with Taylor last week. You don’t think you’re moving a little fast? What if you end up wanting to get back with her?”

  He chuckles and shakes his head. “Trust me, man. That’s not happening – especially not after what she saw last night.” Unfortunately for me, he doesn’t stop there. “I was dancing with that girl you just saw me asking out and we started kissing. It probably would have ended up moving to my bedroom but we were interrupted by Bree and Taylor. After that, I couldn’t find her anywhere.”

  The granola bar crumbles in my tightly clenched fist. Thankfully, he doesn’t notice. I throw the crumbs into the garbage. I’m insanely relieved when the door opens and Bree walks in. At least now I don’t have to listen to what a good kisser Kayleigh is. If only he knew what she was doing while he was looking for her.

  “Hey.” My girlfriend gree
ts me as I walk out of the kitchen.

  “Hi.” I wrap my arm around her and kiss her head. “Happy Birthday.”

  “Thank you.”

  As I release her and head up the stairs, I can hear her following behind me. We go into my room and I grab my towel.

  “Just give me ten minutes to shower.”

  She sits down on my bed and I leave the room. It isn’t until I see my reflection in the mirror that I notice the scratch marks all down my back. Fuck, I really hope Bree was too engrossed into her phone to notice.

  WATCHING CALEB LEAVE FOR his date with Kayleigh is a whole new level of torture. Knowing that he gets to do what I’ve been dying to fills me with jealousy. However, nothing compares to when he arrives at the party with her. I see them walk in and my jaw locks. I never thought she would have the guts to come back here with him, knowing I’m going to be here.

  I stay in my place against the wall and watch them from a distance. They’re both smiling and he has his hand on her lower back. I need to hold myself back from going over there and breaking his fingers.

  “Damn, H.” Laci appears next to me. “I always knew there was a competition between you two, but I never thought he would win.”

  Rolling my eyes, I take a sip of my beer before responding. “There is no competition. He doesn’t know.”

  “Seriously? He’s your best friend.”

  “And?”

  “And the fact that you’re crazy about the girl he’s with is kind of one of those things you tell your best friend. It’s like bro code.”

  I shake my head. “They’re not together. They’ve been out on one date. It’s no big deal.”

  She looks at me knowingly. “Is that what you’re telling yourself? Holden, every relationship starts out as one date.”

  The thought of the two of them getting serious makes me sick. “So, what do you suppose I do about it? If you haven’t realized, I have a girlfriend.”

  “Well, that’s mistake number one.” She snorts. “Now stop being a little bitch about it, and go take back what’s yours.”

  “Trust me, Lace. Kayleigh is anything but mine.”

  “And it’s going to stay that way until you do something about it.”

  She slides her hand behind my back and pushes me forward. I groan, finally giving in and going over to the two of them. Kayleigh’s back is to me, so she doesn’t see me approach. Although, when she hears me greet Caleb, her whole body tenses.

  “Hey. You know Kayleigh, right?”

  “I do.” Her and I make eye contact and she’s practically begging me not to mention Friday night. “She’s Brianna’s roommate.”

  Caleb nods, but his attention is pulled away by the sound of a beer bottle breaking. I use the moment to wink at Kayleigh, trying to silently assure her that our secret is safe. She rolls her eyes at the gesture.

  “Where is Bree? Is she here?” She looks around the room, but her and I both know where my girlfriend is.

  “Nope.” I pop the p for emphasis. “She’s studying.”

  “Oh, right.”

  I stare down at where Kayleigh is standing a little too close to Caleb. He now has his arm around her waist and is rubbing his thumb in a soothing manner. When she notices my expression, she shifts uncomfortably.

  “Holden!” Jason comes up next to me. “Come play pong with me. I need a partner.”

  Despite not wanting to leave the two of them alone, I’m grateful for the distraction. I tell Caleb I’ll see him later and head outside to the beer pong table with Jay. It ends up being a tournament, and in a twisted turn of events, it’s me and Jason against Kayleigh and Caleb in the finals. If I thought watching them from a distance was hard, standing across a small table from them is devastating. No matter what I do, I can’t take my eyes off her.

  The game is close, both teams sinking cups just about every time we throw the ball. I’m pleasantly surprised to see Kayleigh keeping up. For someone who hasn’t played this game much, she’s rather good at it. Just as the game goes into overtime, Jason has a devious look on his face.

  “Let’s make this more interesting.” He suggests.

  Caleb and I make eye contact and he shrugs. “What’d you have in mind?”

  “If you win, Holden and I have to do your laundry for a week.” Okay, not bad. I can easily make one of the pledges do that instead of doing it myself.

  “Alright, and if you win?” Caleb asks.

  “Holden gets to kiss Kayleigh.” Jason announces, surprising all of us.

  I see the panic on her face and instantly take pity on her. “Jason, I have a girlfriend.”

  He acts as if I just told a joke. “Oh, please. That’s never stopped you before.” This fucker does not know when to shut up. “And besides, you’ve been eyeing her up this entire game.”

  If I’ve learned anything lately, it’s that I really need to work on being more subtle. Apparently, at least when it comes to this girl, I seem to be lacking in that area. Caleb pulls Kayleigh closer to him and narrows his eyes on Jason. All I can focus on is the jealousy building inside of me.

  “Dude, come on.” Caleb sounds offended. “That’s disrespectful to Kayleigh.”

  I study her face carefully and I would honestly give anything to be able to read her mind right now. Her eyes meet mine and she smirks before speaking.

  “No. It’s fine.” I’m shocked by her words, but then she presses a kiss to Caleb’s cheek and whispers something into his ear. I grit my teeth as I watch it unfold.

  Caleb’s expression turns to something else before shooting the small ball across the table and sinking it into one of the cups. “Game on.”

  I dip my fingers into the cup and take the beer covered ball out of it. Lining up to where I want it to go, I lob the ball into the air and watch as it goes straight into the exact cup I wanted. I’ve never been more thankful for all those high school parties. I look at Kayleigh and wink, knowing how much it irritates her. Surprisingly, she needs to suppress her smile and a light blush coats her cheeks. Okay, maybe I’m not overthinking this.

  Jason and Kayleigh are up and both make their shots. I bite my lip to keep from looking proud of her. I shouldn’t be glad the other team scored. Seriously, H, poker face. When Caleb steps back up to the table, he’s visibly nervous. He shoots and I know as soon as it leaves his fingers it’s a miss. Sure enough, it bounces off the rim.

  All I have to do is make this shot and we win. I hold the ball steadily and take aim, making sure I’m certain before I release it. The ball flies over the table and directly into the final cup. Caleb’s head drops as Jason chuckles next to me.

  “Go get your girl, Holden.”

  Kayleigh looks at Caleb, appearing frantic. I don’t think she expected to lose, but her confidence got the better of her. I refuse to embarrass her and the last thing either of us need is word getting back to Bree that her boyfriend kissed her roommate.

  “Nah. If she wants me, she knows where to find me.”

  Her head snaps up, seeming totally caught off guard. I smile shyly in response. Jason pats me on the shoulder and shakes his head. I can already tell he sees right through me. Caleb smiles, thinking I did it for him, but he has no idea.

  With one last glance at Kayleigh, I head up to my room. I don’t think I can handle seeing his hands on her for the rest of the night. If I tried, I may end up punching him in the face, and that wouldn’t be good.

  On my way up, I feel a hand wrap around my wrist. I turn around to see Laci looking at me strangely. I throw my head back, knowing there isn’t anything I can do to get out of this. She must have seen what just transpired outside. I step back down the stairs and lead her into the dining room.

  “What?” I ask.

  She shakes her head and shrugs. “I just don’t know why you didn’t go for it.”

  “Go for what?”

  “Kissing her. I mean that’s what you want, right?” I run my fingers through my hair and look down at the ground. “Unless… you already h
ave.”

  I smile, remembering the night we spent together just 48 hours ago. Still, the memory is plagued by the fact that she’s now technically with Caleb. A long exhale leaves my mouth as I try to sort out my feelings.

  “I don’t know.” I say to Laci. “All I know is she’s worth a hell of a lot more than being some prize from a drinking game.”

  She raises her eyebrows. “You’ve got it bad.”

  “You don’t know the half of it.”

  I’M SITTING ON MY BED, playing a game on my phone and texting Bree, when there’s a soft knock on my door. I look up, half expecting it to be my ex but instead, I see Kayleigh in the doorway.

  “Hey.” She greets me.

  I close out of the game and turn the screen off before placing my phone on the nightstand. “Hey.”

  “Everything okay?”

  Well, I thought I was masking my disappointment well, but it appears I have zero control over my emotions. Ignoring the question, I shrug. “How was your date?”

  “It was nice.” Just nice? Breakfast with your grandmother is nice. A date isn’t supposed to be described as nice.

  “Are you two a thing now?” I ask, unsure if I even want to know the answer.

  “I don’t know.” She eyes me carefully. “Why?” I shake my head and break the eye contact between us. “Holden, talk to me.” She comes closer and sits on the edge of my bed – so close yet so far.

  My mother’s words once again run through my head. Be yourself with her, H. I promise it will be the best thing you’ll ever do. I sigh and give in. “I don’t want you to be with him.”

  She looks a little outraged as she recoils slightly. “Why not?”

  “Never mind. I shouldn’t have said anything.” I attempt to backtrack, but it doesn’t work.

  “No. You can’t just say something like that and not tell me why.”

  I grab my phone from the nightstand and put in the code.

  “Drop it, Kayleigh.” I’m about to reopen the game I was just playing when the device is ripped from my hands. “Give me that back.”