Simple Lies

by Amanda Bennett

  My phone started vibrating in my pocket as I reached my gate. I pulled it out and answered without even looking at who it was who was calling. “Hello?”

  “Hey cuz, how’s it goin’?”

  “Hey man, what’s up?”

  “I thought we were meeting up this week, but I went over to your mom’s today and she said you left early. Everything okay?”

  I felt like the biggest asshole on the planet right now. Even though my cousin was far more successful than I could ever be, I just couldn’t bring myself to see him. “Yeah, everything is good. Sorry man. My boss called me back. I have a fight coming up in a couple of weeks that is a title fight, so I have to get back home and train.”

  “It’s cool. I just wish we could’ve met up while you were in town. It would’ve been nice to see you. Well, let me know if you make it back out this way anytime soon.”

  I could hear the disappointment in his voice, but I couldn’t bring myself to feel that bad, because in all actuality, he just wanted to rub his perfect life in my face. “Yeah, yeah I will, and hey…if you ever make it out to Arizona, let me know. They’re calling my flight man, I gotta go. I’ll talk to you soon.”

  “Sounds good. Talk to you soon.” I quickly hung up and shoved my phone back in my pocket as I handed my ticket to the attendant.

  Before I could let my mind wonder to thoughts of a certain mysterious blonde, I took my seat and threw my headphones on, blocking out all rational and irrational thoughts for that matter, from my mind. I must’ve dozed off, because I came to when someone gently shook my arm. When I glanced up at the woman standing next to me, I saw her. I threw my headphones off of my head, and went to stand with a wide smile on my face. I wasn’t sure how she knew how to find me, but I would take her anyway I could. When I stood to greet her, I racked my head against the overhead bin above me, causing me to shake my head as everything began to blur. When I opened my eyes again, I realized…it wasn’t her at all.

  “Sir, are you okay? I was just wanted to make sure you didn’t want anything to drink before we started making our descent into Phoenix. I’m so sorry I startled you.” She reached out with a comforting touch, but it didn’t help.

  I sat back down in my seat and reached for my headphones. “No, thank you.” I gave her a weak smile, and she smiled an empathetic smile in return before she started making her way to the other passengers.

  When we landed a short while later, I couldn’t wait to get on my bike and go home. Absolutely nothing compared to being on the open road in the middle of the night on my motorcycle. It gave me a sense of clarity that I couldn’t get anywhere else. I checked my phone as I made my out to the parking lot, and saw that I had a new voicemail. I quickly tapped on the voicemail icon, holding my breath the entire time just hoping that it was her, and she somehow got my number from somebody.

  “Hey hun, it’s me. I was just wondering when you were getting back into town. Call me when you get this, I would love to meet up. Talk to you soon.”

  Alexandra’s voice was a welcome distraction from all thoughts pertaining to my blonde. What better to cure my blonde hangover, than with a sassy redhead. I sent Alexandra a quick text telling her to meet me at my place in about an hour, strapped on my helmet, and then took off into the night on my bike. It was still rather warm outside at night even though it was almost November, but that was Arizona for ya, hot and…well, hot.

  By the time I got home, it was almost one in the morning and I half expected Alexandra to be waiting for me on my porch, but when I pulled up to my house, nobody was there. I parked in the garage and made my way out to the street to see if her car was anywhere, but it wasn’t. Once again, I was left alone. As I made my way inside my big empty house, my head fell in loneliness. I never thought that me, a certified bachelor to the core, would ever get lonely. More and more, it just made me want to move back home and be close to my family.

  I stripped down to my boxer briefs and crawled up my bed. When my head landed on the pillow, I couldn’t even fight the sleep that quickly took over me. Somewhere in the deep depths of my sleep, I began having the most incredible dream, and although I wish it would’ve been my hot as sin blonde from North Carolina, it turned out to be Alexandra….and it sure as hell wasn’t a dream. Her red hair tickled my skin as her lips left heated trails all along the inside of my legs, and eventually stopping next to my already hard cock. She brushed her hair out of the way and looked up at me, licking her lips with a sinister look in her eyes.

  Before I could reach out for her to bring her lips up to mine, she was removing my underwear with her teeth, and then slowly began sliding her wet plump lips down my length. I sucked in a strangled breath as she began to move her head up and down in a slow agonizing motion. As much as I didn’t want to cum in her mouth, she wasn’t really leaving me much choice. Her lips moved faster and faster, and before I knew it, I was holding her head still as I exploded into her mouth. I could feel the calm of my release wash over me as I reached down, pulling her up by her arms. I positioned myself at her entrance, and without warning, I thrust myself deep inside of her.

  My hands gripped her hips tightly as I guided her up and down my rock hard length. Her loud moans pushed me harder into her, wanting to make her scream my name. It felt amazing having her on top of me, but every time I looked up at her face, all I could see was her, and right now, all I wanted to see was the blonde that had me so wound up inside for her that I couldn’t think of anything or anybody else. I flipped Alexandra onto her back, and then roughly pulled out of her as I rolled her over and positioned her on her knees. At least this way I could pretend to be with the other girl, and Alexandra would never know.

  Without warning I slammed into Alexandra’s wet pussy, clutching onto her hips as I continued to pump in and out of her at a painful pace. As my balls slapped against her, I could feel myself getting closer, but I knew that Alexandra wasn’t just an inside penetration kind of girl. She needed manual stimulation to cum, and all I wanted to do at this point was get off one more time, and then go back to dreaming of the one girl I actually wanted to be with. I slid my hand around her side, letting my fingers press firmly on her clit, and then moving them fast as I circled her clit. Luckily for me, Alexandra’s walls began to clench around me seconds later. I pumped harder and faster as my fingers did their work, and shortly after, we were both riding out the wave of pleasure.

  I stilled as I poured myself inside of her, trying to catch my breath before I finally pulled back. She fell to the bed, exhausted and as much as it pained me to do it, I lightly slapped her ass cheek and then placed a kiss just above where I had just slapped her. “You gotta go, love. I’ve got practice real early in the morning.”

  She rolled over with a death stare, “Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Her Russian accent was always thick after we had sex, and I was finding it hard to understand her. “You’re an asshole, Declan.”

  That time, I understood her completely. “It’s nothing personal, Alexandra.” I thought I meant it, but we both knew deep down that I didn’t. Truthfully, if I couldn’t have my blonde, then I didn’t want anybody else either.

  After Alexandra left in an angry haste, I lay there staring at my ceiling in a daze. I wasn’t sure if I was looking for answers or if I just needed time to process everything, but I found myself not being able to sleep at all. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t get her off of my mind. I sat straight up in my bed as it all hit me at once. I wasn’t this guy. I didn’t sit here and pine for a girl. No! I wasn’t going to do this. It was nothing more than a one night, ok, two night stand, and I wasn’t about to let that control my life. I was going to make it my mission to move past this and get back to being me, if it was the last thing I did.

  ELEVEN

  Hadley

  “Come on, Hads. What is the problem?” Ryan’s voice was laced with concern that I couldn’t ease.

  “Nothing is the problem, Ryan. That’s the problem.” I pulled my hand from
his grasp and made my way into the kitchen to get a glass of water.

  “Wait! What?” Ryan was right behind me, and it made me nervous.

  “The problem is, everything has been perfect for the last little bit. We’ve gotten along amazingly, and honestly Ryan…that scares me. I want this to work between me and you, I really do, but it’s hard when you’re only happy when I’m the person you want me to be.”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means that as long as I’m at home waiting for you, or at your apartment waiting for you, then you’re in a perfectly good mood. I feel like your stifling who I am as a person.”

  Ryan wrapped me in his arms and pulled me close to his chest, “I don’t want that to be how it is between us. I want you to feel free to be whoever you want to be. I really do, Hads. I don’t want to lose you.”

  I looked up into his emerald green eyes, and started to fall for him all over again. “Then I have one stipulation to this whole, you and me thing we’re doing.” I laughed. “I need my nights out with PJ, no questions asked. And no being an asshole when I go out with her. Last time¸ you were a real dick.” I pulled back, taking in his hardened expression at the mention of PJ’s name. Why these two just couldn’t get along, was beyond me.

  “Hmm, I suppose I can work with that, but why PJ? What happened to that one girl? I think her name was Caleigh.”

  “Oh my gosh, are you serious right now? Caleigh and I stopped hanging out towards the end of freshman year. Do you really pay such little attention to my life and who I hang out with?” I joked.

  “Honestly, I just don’t really care about you.” He laughed and I slapped him hard across the arm. “Chill out, babe. I was just joking. Damn, that shit hurt.”

  “Sorry.” I said as I sealed my lips over his. “Better?” I giggled before kissing him again, this time much more passionately.

  “Not yet.” He whispered just below my ear before picking me up and carrying me to his room.

  He gently laid me on the bed, pulling back just long enough to slip his shirt over his head, and pull his pants and boxer briefs off. I took that moment to look at him in all of his naked glory. He was most definitely something to look at. Ryan stood at about six feet two inches, give or take a few, and he was trim and fit, but not overly muscular like most guys his age. His body was something to be appreciated, and I most definitely did not mind showing it the appreciation it deserved.

  Ryan watched me as I visually violated him, posing in ways that eventually had me busting up. I loved the way he could make me laugh without even trying. What I had with Ryan was easy and fun, and although he had his moments when he was serious and bitchy, I still found myself loving him regardless. It wasn’t everyday you found what him and I had, and I sure as hell wasn’t willing to give it all up for someone I didn’t even know outside of a bedroom, or hotel room more specifically.

  “You see something that interests you?”

  “No, not really.” I played coy.

  Ryan jumped onto the bed almost landing on me, as he growled like a lion. “How about now?” He whispered.

  “Maybe.” I clutched his face in my hands, pulling his lips onto mine. “Now I do.” I muttered between kisses.

  Ryan’s hands were all over me as his lips remained on mine, as they usually did. I hated to compare Ryan to other guys that I have been with, more specifically Declan, but it was hard not to. While Declan and I had pure, raw animalistic sex, giving into our most carnal desires, Ryan and I had vanilla, missionary style sex…every time. There were plenty of times over the last little bit that I had tried to get him to be more open and willing to have sex in other places than a bedroom, but he never wavered from his usual. And every time, all I could ever think about was if my love for him was enough to deal with “vanilla” sex for the rest of our lives.

  Ryan’s mouth fell to my heaving chest, his tongue circling my hardened nipple as his hand pinched and pulled on the other. I let out a low moan to let him know that what he was doing was turning me on, but he quickly released my nipples, and quickly pulled down my shorts and panties, discarding them on the floor with his clothing. I closed my eyes, imagining his mouth against my pussy. His tongue sliding between my folds, and stopping at my clit just long enough to give it a few flicks before sliding a finger or two inside of me.

  Unfortunately, that’s not what he did. Ryan had only ever done that a few times before, and although it had felt amazing, he hadn’t done it since the night I went out with PJ. Every time I would bring it up, he would just shrug it off as he didn’t like doing it. Although he had no qualms with me going down on him. Ryan was just as selfish of a lover in bed as he was in life, putting himself first. Instead he pushed a finger inside of me, and then pulled my wetness up onto my clit so he could make sure I was wet enough to enter. When he saw that I was, mainly due to my own doing, he gently slid into me, rocking back and forth.

  I latched my legs around his waist and moaned when he hit the right spot, but before I even had a chance to get into it, he was finishing. Not wanting to make him feel like a worthless lover, I moaned and forced myself to clench around his length, faking it just enough so he would buy it. And before I could even finish my fake orgasm, he was pulling out of me and walking towards the bathroom.

  “I’m gonna jump in the shower real quick. You wanna join me?” He winked.

  As much as I wanted a shower, I figured I would just wait until I got back to my dorm room later. “No, I have to get going soon.”

  “Okay, well don’t leave just yet. I’ll be out shortly.” He shouted from behind his half closed bathroom door.

  “Sure.” I muttered as I stood and pulled my shorts and panties back on. I knew he would at least be a few minutes, so I ran out to where I left my purse and retrieved my phone, quickly dialing PJ. Luckily she picked up after one ring.

  “Hey girl. Where the hell have you been the last couple of days? I haven’t seen ya much.” Her southern drawl instantly put a smile on my face.

  “Sorry, been hanging out with Ryan a lot before he gets super busy at work this week. So, I’m thinking we should go out tonight. You in?” I could hear her excitement as she jumped around her dorm, I’m sure.

  “Hell yes I do. Where shall we go?”

  “You figure that out, and pick me up at my dorm around eight. We can grab some grub before we drink. Sound good?”

  “Most definitely. I’ll see ya then.”

  I hung up just as I heard Ryan come walking up behind me. When I turned around, I never in a million years thought I would see what I saw. Ryan was in his towel, down on one knee, his hand outstretched with an open powder blue ring box that held one of the biggest diamonds I have ever seen in it. I clasped my hands over my mouth in shock. My mouth went dry and I was finding it harder and harder to breathe, and the only thing I could do was shake my head in protest.

  “Ryan, what are you doing?” I could feel the tears welling up behind my eyelids as I took in the sight before me.

  “Hadley James Smith, I know I haven’t been the perfect man, but I want to know if you will spend the rest of my imperfect life with me?”

  Was he serious right now? Of all the proposals I have imagined, this was definitely not one of them. Don’t most guys say something sweet and nice about the girl, asking them to spend the rest of their life with them? I was at a loss for words, because even in a proposal that was supposed to be about me, he had still somehow managed to make it all about him. Before I could even answer, Ryan was sliding the ring onto my finger.

  “It’s a perfectly flawless, six carat princess cut diamond. Don’t you just love it? Man, so many girls are going to be jealous.”

  I glanced down at the ring that so wasn’t my style, and then back at him. “Ryan, I…I don’t know what to say.”

  “Oh baby, you don’t have to say anything. I can see it written all over your face.” He stood and pulled my lips onto his. “Man, I can’t wait to call my mom and tell her t
he good news. She’s gonna be stoked to plan a wedding.”

  My eyes darted around his house in complete and utter disbelief. Did he just say his mom would be planning my wedding? What the hell just happened? I still had no words, and Ryan was already changed and on the phone with his mother, his mother who hated me to be more specific. My instinct was to run, and without a second thought, that was exactly what I did.

  “Ryan, I have to get going.” I tried to get his attention as him and his mom celebrated her son’s engagement.

  All he did was nod and smile at me as he walked back into his room. I grabbed my purse and car keys, and got the hell out of his place as fast as I possibly could. The entire ride back to campus, I couldn’t take my eyes off of the ridiculously large and almost hideous ring on my left hand. It was like he didn’t even know me. For crying out loud, I hadn’t even said yes. I shook my head in disbelief as I slid the ring off of my hand and tossed it into my purse. There was absolutely no way I was wearing that thing until I absolutely had to, and tonight, was not that time.

  TWELVE

  Declan

  “Man, what is going on with you? You know you have a title fight tomorrow night, right?” I could see Tommy’s disappointment in me written all over his face.

  “I know, man. I know.” I punched the pads as fast as I could, and then dropped my hands in exhaustion. We had been at it for two hours now, and I was beat. “You know I do need sleep too, right?” I pulled the tape from my wrists with my teeth and began unwrapping them.

  “What do you think you’re doing? We’re not done.”