by C. Morgan
“I’m willing to challenge that belief,” I said, continuing with my lazy circles and crawling back over her body.
Since I’d also already figured out that it turned her on when I let her know how turned on I was, I also made sure to be vocal about it. It took a while longer this time, but when she fell apart again, I got to see it when her brow crumbled and her lips fell open.
As soon as she started coming down, I left her to grab my wallet. Watching her build up to the main event in addition to everything else had put me right on the edge, and I couldn’t wait any longer.
Her eyes widened as she watched me roll on the condom, but she spread her legs and rested her hands gently on my shoulders. “You don’t need to hold back. Give it to me. I can take it.”
I stared down at her for a beat, wondering how the fuck she’d known that I’d just been thinking about how hard and rough I wanted to give it to her. Eventually though, my need won out over my curiosity and I slammed into her once the latex was properly in place.
Her pussy gripped me like a hot, tight vise, and I groaned as I withdrew from her before thrusting in again. I set a punishing pace, surprised when she gushed around me and her face tightened in concentration again.
I didn’t know how much time passed before I felt her contracting around me, but that was it. The. Fucking. End.
With one final hard thrust, I exploded like a water cannon deep inside of her, roaring with my release as I dropped my forehead against hers. My orgasm sucked me dry, making my limbs go numb when it subsided. I collapsed next to her, letting her use one of my arms as a pillow as we lay there all tangled up in each other.
When it was over, I let myself stay in her bed only for as long as it took for me to catch my breath. My legs were still a little weak when I sat up, curling the arm she was lying on to get a look at my watch.
“Fuck, I’d better get going.” I gently removed my arm from behind her, then scooted off the bed before I got too tempted to stay in it.
Hadley naked with her dark hair spread out over the pillow and her lips all swollen from our kisses might just be able to convince me not to leave. I felt the mattress shift when she sat up too but didn’t look at her as I started rummaging for my clothes on the floor.
“What’s the time?” she asked, her voice husky and too fucking hot. “Shit. I hope Ruby isn’t sitting out in hall or something.”
“It’s just after eleven.” I got up when I found my jeans and underwear, pulling them on before I reached for my shirt. “If she is out there, I can’t say I’m sorry she had to wait.”
Hadley chuckled but then groaned. “I better get my pajamas and open the windows to air this place out a little before she comes in.”
I still didn’t look at her, only turning around once my shoes were on and I’d heard her cupboard door opening and closing. When I deemed it safe that she probably dressed, I looked at her over my shoulder as I pushed my wallet back into my pocket and checked that my phone hadn’t fallen out of the other one.
“I’ll talk to you soon, yeah?” I said, already walking to the door before I did something stupid. Like go back to kiss her one last time.
She nodded, glancing down at my lips like she was thinking the same thing. “Yeah. Okay. I’ll see you around.”
Ducking behind the curtain of her hair, she hid her face as she climbed onto her bed to get the window. A part of me wanted to stick around to make sure we were okay, but then reality came seeping back into my consciousness and I went for the door instead.
As I stepped into the hallway, I came face to face with the chick who’d blown me off at the bar the other night. She’d just come out of the stairwell, but she glanced at Hadley’s door after recognizing me, then scowled and crossed her arms.
“Daxton the dick,” she drawled with intense disgust in her voice. “What are you doing here? Did you come to make my roommate cry again?”
I rolled my eyes, immediately putting two and two together. “I did anything but make her cry actually. Unless you count crying out my name. Got to go. Catch you later, Ruby.”
As I walked past her, opting for the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator, I felt her gaze burning hateful holes into the back of my head. Wonder what her problem is.
Deciding that whatever it was, it wasn’t my problem, I jogged down the stairs and tried to quiet my mind. It was racing now that I wasn’t with Hadley anymore. What the fuck did I just do?
It’d been totally consensual, but still, I’d literally slept with the enemy, and I’d fucking loved every second of it. My determination that it wouldn’t happen again had also waned, but I’d work on that.
All the way back to the house, I convinced myself that I had nothing to feel bad about. Hadley had kissed me, and one thing had led to another. I hadn’t done anything she hadn’t wanted. Hell, I hadn’t done anything she hadn’t begged for at times.
There was a gnawing sense of unease in my gut about the plan, but I shoved it down. It wasn’t easy, but it suddenly got a ton easier when I walked into the house and found most of my brothers still awake.
Colt took one look at me after I’d walked in the door before he let out a whoop. “Dax got laid, boys. Wait. Didn’t you have a date with that chick you’re planning on leaving in Hawaii?”
“Yeah, he did,” Ryker said, the only one not joining in with the whooping and hollering. “Was it her, or did you run into someone else after dinner?”
“It was her,” I admitted, seeing my own unease reflected in his dark eyes.
The other guys acted like a bunch of morons. Colt and Thomas even came up to high-five me, while a few of the others I didn’t even know that well made a few jokes at Hadley’s expense.
I smirked and lifted my hands for the high-fives and fist bumps, but the whole thing was rubbing me the wrong way. I just didn’t know why.
Surely, I should’ve been sharing in their enthusiasm and lame joking. It hadn’t been part of the plan to fuck her, but I had. It was something I could use to my advantage, but even the thought really didn’t sit well with me.
But why not?
I was still pissed at her, wasn’t I? She deserved to be hurt the way she’d hurt me. I couldn’t just let her get away with the damage she’d done.
Steeling my resolve, I squared my shoulders and dropped into a free armchair between Ryker and Colt. Thomas handed me a beer, and I took it without hesitation.
Guilt kept threatening to creep up on me, but I wouldn’t let it. I hadn’t done anything wrong. Abandoning her in Hawaii after I’d slept with her wasn’t even so bad. It was the least she deserved really.
It wasn’t like I was dropping her in the wilderness with only a knife and no clothes on. There was an airport there, with numerous flights back here operating on a daily basis.
It was more about teaching her what it felt like to be abandoned by someone she thought she could trust. She’d even be getting a free vacation out of it before I left her there. That, and a chance to be seen on my arm.
That wasn’t really so bad. Neither was the fact that she’d gotten a few orgasms out of the deal. I hadn’t made her any promises. We’d both gotten what we wanted tonight. All was fair in love and war, after all.
Sitting back in the armchair, I drained half my beer and kept the story light on detail when the guys drilled me about it. Ryker kept shooting me questioning looks, but I ignored him.
This was none of his business, and he’d better stay the fuck out of it. If Hadley caught even the faintest whisper of my plan on the wind, it would all go to hell. That couldn’t happen. Not if I ever wanted my chance to make her feel the exact same thing she’d done to me.
Chapter 18
HADLEY
When I’d heard Ruby coming in last night after Dax had left, I’d pretended to be asleep. I’d heard her key turning in the lock so soon after he’d gone that I was pretty sure they might’ve run into each other.
I wasn’t proud of it, but I just hadn’t been up to faci
ng a lecture from her while there had still been a pleasurable tingling throughout my entire body. Also, I doubted it was appropriate to be lectured to by one’s new roommate when one hadn’t even found the condom wrapper to dispose of it yet.
Dax had taken the condom itself with him, but I’d been too blissfully out of it when he’d gotten it out of his wallet and opened it to know where the wrapper had gone. Long after Ruby had gone to sleep, I’d texted him about it.
We’d exchanged numbers a few days ago when we were still planning our dinner, and I was actually a little relieved to have had the excuse to text him. It hadn’t been a super deep conversation, but at least I’d gotten to say goodnight. On the upside, I’d also learned that he’d taken the wrapper with him.
Ruby had let me “sleep” after getting in last night, but apparently, she’d decided that I’d had enough of it. I felt my mattress dip when she sat down. Then she started bouncing up and down, clapping her hands loudly to wake me up.
“Hadley Sage,” she said, her tone reminiscent of what an army drill sergeant’s might be. “Get the hell up and explain yourself. What the heck was Dax the Dick doing leaving our room close to midnight, and why were there hickeys on his neck?”
I swore I stopped breathing. Crap. Crappity crap.
While I hadn’t been planning on keeping our hookup a secret, I definitely hadn’t wanted to advertise it. I figured I’d tell Ruby, and that was it. If Daxton had hickeys on his neck though, everybody who saw him in class today was going to wonder who was responsible for them.
Here’s to hoping he’s not the kind to kiss and tell.
“I know you’re awake, Sage,” Ruby snapped. “I just heard you gasp and you’re not breathing anymore. Time to face the music, young lady.”
I pulled my pillow over my head and groaned. “When is your birthday? I’m a February baby. I’m pretty sure you’re the young lady between the two of us.”
“Nope.” She pried the pillow away and tossed it to the side. “In this instance, you’re definitely acting like a young person. The correct word for it probably just isn’t lady. As far as I know, ladies don’t engage in intercourse with dicks who wanted to ruin their lives just a week or so ago.”
“I don’t need you to berate me.” I rubbed my eyes as I sat up, managing to give her tight smile. “I appreciate your concern, but I’m okay. Really. I can take care of myself. I’m not going to do something stupid like fall in love with him.”
She exhaled in a huff, her ponytail swinging from side to side as she shook her head vigorously. It was clear that she was more than a little annoyed with me, but I still couldn’t bring myself to regret what I’d done.
“I know you can take care of yourself, but that’s not really the point,” she said, voice tight with exasperation. “Roommates who are also friends watch out for each other. You say now that you won’t fall in love with him, but you guys have history. It’s not just some random hookup. That makes it dangerous.”
I sat up, reaching out to take both of her hands and squeezing them before smiling at her. “I really do appreciate you watching out for me. You’re making the part of my heart that loved you before I even met you just because you were assigned to be my roomie do backflips of joy, but I’m fine. Really. What happened last night wasn’t something I went into with stars in my eyes.”
“Daxton is a jackass and you know it, Haddie,” she said, but her expression and her voice were softer now. “After how he treated you, he doesn’t deserve a second of your time. Let alone your body.”
Looking into her worried green eyes, I sighed and nodded. “I understand why you think that, but he apologized and he’s trying to make up for it. You were right when you said we have a history, and it’s that history that drove his actions before, but he’s realized that he was wrong.”
She paused for a beat. “I don’t know him, but I don’t trust him. There’s something about all this that’s bugging me.”
“I’ll be careful,” I promised, and I meant it. “I’m not sure if I trust him fully yet either, but that’s why we’re spending time together and trying to rebuild our friendship. We both recognize that we’ve done things to hurt the other and that it’s going to take time for us to get over it.”
“I’m just not convinced you should be trying to get over it,” she said before placing her hands on her thighs, sitting up straighter, and taking a deep breath. “That being said, I’m here if you need me and I hope he showed you a good time.”
“The best,” I said honestly, scooting to the end of the bed to get up. “I’ve got to get to class, but we can talk more later?”
“Sure.” She stood up too, going over to her desk and taking a seat behind her computer. “Have a good day, Haddie. Try to stay off Dax’s dick, will you?”
At least it sounded like she was trying not to laugh about it now, but I knew she was still super unimpressed with me. Not that I could blame her. Just over a week ago, I’d been telling her how horrible he was being to me and now I’d slept with him.
I collected my shower caddie and clothes, escaping the room so I could leave for class early. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk to Ruby. I just really needed some space to sort things out in my own head before I did.
Thoughts about Dax and last night completely dominated my brain while I showered, got dressed, and went to grab breakfast. Although I had more time to get to class than usual thanks to leaving Edgewater Halls early, I was still almost late after my mind drifted off while I’d been sitting in the cafeteria.
During class, I was too easily distracted. I was doing my best to keep my focus, take notes, and pay attention, but my brain just didn’t want to work with me. It kept wandering to Hawaii and the guy who had invited me to go there.
I thought about the doodles of palm trees in my Business 101 notebook and smiled. It had only been a few days since Dax had really come back into my life, but he was already consuming me.
Alarm bells went off in the back of my mind. I’d come to Edgewater to get a degree that would change my life and that of my family. The last thing I needed was to get caught up in a boy and yet, this boy was difficult to ignore.
It felt like Dax and I were on the precipice of something big. Maybe that something was just college, but it felt like it had to do with the two us and not only our education.
Is it really possible that I might get a second chance with the only guy who’s ever stolen my heart, though? I still wasn’t about to set myself up to be crushed or to place my hopes on him wanting to be in a relationship with me, but I also wasn’t dead set against it. If it happened once we learned to trust each other again, I wouldn’t try to push him away.
We’d had a rocky start here, and I knew there was some truth to what Ruby was saying, but something felt right when I was with Dax. Like nothing had ever changed between us and we’d just picked up where we’d left off.
The funny thing was that he felt the same way. It wasn’t just me deluding myself into believing something about him that wasn’t true.
I’d honor my promise to Ruby and be careful, but at the same time, I’d also stay true to myself. Just because he’d given me reasons to be careful didn’t mean I was going to be too afraid to let him in at all.
The thought of having both Ruby and him in my life made me smile. My business law professor probably thought I’d gone crazy, but I didn’t really care. I’d known college was going to be the best time of my life and it was turning out to be true.
My phone buzzed on my desk, and when I glanced down at the screen, my smile widened. Daxton’s name above a message taunted me into sliding the phone off the desk and into my lap. If I got caught with it, I’d be in so much trouble.
But when I saw what he’d written, I decided that the trouble would be so worth it.
Daxton: Sitting in class. Bored out of my mind. Missing you.
The words went right to my heart, and the pictures he’d somehow managed to snap of himself while in class warmed me fro
m the inside out. They were the exact kind he used to send me, and the fact that he remembered sending me funny pictures of him pulling faces at the camera meant more to me than it should’ve.
I studied the pictures for a few minutes before replying.
Me: Class boring here too. Definitely not missing you, though. Woke up to a livid roommate who claims someone marked your neck.
He responded only seconds later, and I chuckled softly when I read the text.
Daxton: Pfft. Liar. I know you’re missing me, or you wouldn’t be texting me in class. But keep telling yourself whatever you need to. Yep, tamed a lion last night. It got a few swipes in. Totally worth it, though. Ruby’s livid, huh? You okay?
I sighed softly, knowing I shouldn’t reply again. If we kept texting, I wouldn’t have paid attention to class at all today, and yet, my fingers were tapping on my screen before I could stop myself.
Tomorrow I’d be a good student, but today, it looked like I was going to be a typical one instead.
Chapter 19
DAXTON
Haddie and I saw each other a few more times over the next week. Nothing physical happened between us again except for lots of accidental touching and hand-holding, but I was pretty sure she was starting to believe that I’d really forgiven her.
She smiled when I walked into the cafeteria to meet her for breakfast on Friday morning. Motioning to the empty seat across from her, she sat back and pushed a spare coffee over to my spot.
“Good morning,” she said when I dropped into the chair. “Did you manage to get that assignment done?”
“Yeah, I did. Thanks for pointing me in the direction of that article.” I grinned, shaking my head at her. “Only you would know where to find reference material for a class you’re not even taking.”
Her cheeks flushed until she glowed with a rosy hue. “It was nothing. I came across it while I was doing some extra reading. I’m glad if it helped you.”
