It’s not going to be possible to avoid him forever, is it?
Ugh. The reality of the thought is a blow to my gut.
But I can hide a little longer, give him time to forget. Make the situation a little less raw.
Darla and I talk for a little longer, before saying our goodbyes.
I throw myself back into my work, planning out the videos I’m going to shoot this week. I’ve got two product placements. Fortunately neither makes noises.
My doorbell rings, and I sink down low against my kitchen table, even though I’m around the corner from the door, and there’s no way anyone could ever see me.
“Avery,” Piper says through the door.
I’m relieved it’s just her, but still don’t want to see her in case she tells Knox I’m not sick after all. There’s always a good chance of her inviting me over to their house for more pizza or dessert.
She bangs on the door, though not with as much force as her father uses. Riddled with guilt, I freeze in place to stay silent.
The letter slot snaps shut, and the house goes quiet again. I peek around the corner. A white envelope is on the floor.
I retrieve the envelope and tear it open. It’s a homemade card, with a surprisingly good drawing of the two of us shopping together. Thank You is written in purple bubble letters across the front.
Inside, written in purple pen, it says:
Dear Avery,
Thank you so much for taking me shopping. I had so much fun and it’s so nice to have pretty bras. I hope we get to do it again, I love hanging out with you.
My dad says thank you, too. He said you’re super nice and funny, and how lucky we are that you live next door to us. He also said you can come for pizza another time.
And that he thinks you’re really pretty.
Piper xoxo
My heart bursts. She’s so sweet. I actually had a lot of fun shopping with her. I wonder if it’s possible to hang out with her and have zero contact whatsoever with her father.
Though I wonder why she’s telling me all the stuff he’s supposedly saying about me.
Knox
I haven’t seen Avery in days. It’s already Wednesday. She’s obviously scarred by my drilling comments. Except she posted the F*ck Buddies video after that conversation. Even though the video’s gone now.
Did she change her mind about wanting a fuck buddy? I haven’t. As long as she agrees to the no-relationship part.
Avery must feel like a sham, posting all these how to have sex videos online, when she doesn’t appear to be having any herself. No wonder she wants a fuck buddy. It’s not just for her body’s needs, she needs one for her job.
I’d be doing her a huge service.
On Monday, she didn’t answer her door, no matter how long I banged on it. Yesterday, she didn’t answer her door, no matter how much I tried to talk her out through her closed door and windows. It’s impressive that she’s kept all her windows shut so tight, since it’s been over eighty every day and I haven’t even worn a shirt all week.
Today, I have a different tactic.
I hear Avery’s front door shut, and jog to the front of her house. She probably thinks I’ve gone to pick up Piper from school, like I normally do. But not today, I asked her friend’s mom if she’d give her a drive home.
“Hey,” I say, rounding the corner of her house. She’s on her driveway, wearing a flimsy sundress that I want to tear off her right this second. She must’ve been making a break for her car. I stride over to her.
She looks at me like a deer in headlights, and a broad smile forms across my face.
“Knox,” she says as I near her.
“Thanks for taking Piper shopping.”
“No problem, anytime. She’s a great kid. You’ve done a good job, considering her mother is in Africa. I mean, what she’s doing is noble, but her priority really should be her daughter.”
Africa? What the fuck is Avery talking about? Focusing on my goal, I ignore the comment.
“She’s a good kid,” I say.
“Anyway, I’d better run,” she says, turning away.
On reflex, I reach out and grab her upper arm to stop her from leaving, before she can go hide again. The second my hand touches her soft skin, a rush of something shoots from my hand all the way down to me feet.
Judging from the way she looks to the sky and swallows, she felt it too.
“I’ve never seen a guy here.”
“Nope,” she says, and leaves her lips slightly parted.
“I was joking around the other day about you not having a man around. But I mean it, if you need any help with anything, I’m here.” I release her arm.
“Oh,” she says, and turns to face me. Our eyes meet, and the same rush blasts through me.
“You know, anything at all,” I say, raising my eyebrows.
Her nose twitches and her tensed shoulders drop.
“Hear me out. I’m single, you’re single. We both have itches that need scratching. We both know you find me… Well, you know, the whole window thing.”
Avery’s eyes widen and her cheeks turn red. She turns to flee again, and once again I grab her arm. Even though I’m touching her, we’re standing arms length apart.
“Let me go.”
“Just let me say what I want to say, then you can go hide from me in your house again.”
Avery lets out a long groan, her other hand flying to her mouth to stop it.
I smirk. “That’s a sound I want to hear more of. Because seriously, you’ve got the sexiest voice I’ve ever heard. That day,” she grimaces at my reminder, “when you screamed out the window…”
“Oh God, was it that loud?” she says, looking at the ground.
“That noise made me want to break down your door and help you out. I’m just saying this is a two-way thing. There’s no point in us having to do what you were doing at the window.”
“It wasn’t about you, you know?”
“Then why watch me out the window while you’re doing it? You were ten feet away. Obviously you wanted me to see.”
“I most definitely did not want you to see,” she says, raising her voice in protest.
“But I did, so here we are. No point in prolonging your suffering,” I say, smirking.
“My suffering? What about your suffering? Because it seems to me like you’re the one that wants me,” she says, looking at me with her brow furrowed.
“Let’s be clear, this is just about an itch. Nothing, and I mean nothing, more.”
“Good, because nothing more would ever happen.”
“Exactly. I don’t like you. You don’t like me. We just happen to have needs.”
“You don’t like me?”
“So what, you don’t like me.” Shit, what a stupid thing to say to a woman. “I like your body. And your voice. I really like your voice.”
“You said that already.”
“I meant I don’t want a relationship with you. Because I have Piper, and she’s my priority. But I absolutely want to scratch your itches.”
Avery laughs, the sound makes the blood race in my veins. I step closer to her, and run my hand over the bare skin of her shoulder.
“I’ve never really done the whole casual,” she pauses, “sex thing.”
“Don’t worry. You’ve probably never even had a man please you.”
“Of course I have.”
“Not really. Not the way I can make you feel.”
“Is that so?”
Her eyes wander over my shirtless torso. They get stuck on my six pack for a minute, before zeroing in on my crotch. My cock stiffens under the heat of her gaze, and she grins.
“See, we can help each other out. No strings attached.”
I run a calloused finger over her silky hair and down her cheek, stiffening my cock further.
“No strings?”
“We’d have to agree on that from the start. This is purely itch scratching. It’s not even the hint of a relationship.”
“I can agree to that.” Avery smiles and bites her bottom lip.
Unable to resist, I run my thumb over her full lips. The full lips I’ve been watching and visualizing on my cock all those nights with my iPad. She doesn’t stop me, instead her tongue darts out between them and connects with my thumb.
Jesus, why did she take so long to come out of her house? I’ve waited all fucking day, and now Piper’s about to get home.
I close the rest of the distance between us. The swell of her breasts graze against my exposed chest. My cock strains against my shorts.
“But above all else, Piper must never even suspect anything. Ever,” I say.
“Fine.”
“I’m fucking serious. Not even a whiff. Don’t come knocking on my door at night because you want some. Don’t hint to her that you’ve had so much as a conversation with me. Nothing.”
“You’re right, of course she can never know. She’s a kid. She doesn’t need, or want, to think about her father’s love life.”
I shake my head, “Not love life, sex life.”
“Whatever, that’s even worse. What would she think if she found out I was sleeping with her father?”
“Good, we agree. Any terms you want to add?”
I lean over, our lips an inch apart.
“You really don’t like me?” she asks.
“Do you like me?”
Avery doesn’t say anything.
“Didn’t think so,” I say, and press my lips against hers.
Jesus. My cock surges. They’re every bit as amazing as I’ve imagined. Soft and full, my lips get lost in them the way they’ll get lost in her pussy lips.
The noise of a car rounding the corner hits my ears, and I spring back from Avery.
“Why’d you take so fucking long to come out of the house?” I bark.
“I don’t know.”
“Tomorrow morning, do us both a favor, and answer your goddamn door.”
“Dad! Avery!” Piper shouts, slamming the car door behind her.
My cock deflates at record speed, and I turn to wave to her. She’s running at full tilt towards us.
“Are you feeling better, Avery?”
“Yes, I’m just about to go grocery shopping,” Avery says, “I have to hurry if I want to make it to the bank.” Smooth, real smooth Avery.
“Come on, sweetheart, let’s go home. Avery’s in a hurry.”
Avery
I get in my car, but forget what I was going to the store to buy. Did that really just happen?
My body is buzzing all over. The super hot guy from next door kissed me and is coming over tomorrow morning for more.
Knox and I just agreed to be fuck buddies.
Daytime ones, apparently. That suits me just fine, I’m into some afternoon delight.
Sure, this way I don’t get to be held by a man in bed at night, but it certainly solves me dishing out sex tips to the masses even though I live a nun-like lifestyle. There’s still no relationship in my immediate future — and I most certainly do not want a relationship with Knox anyway.
His terms were perfect for me. It’s like he read my mind.
And damn, going by the way he kisses, he knows what he’s doing. Dear God, the way he tasted, I thought my knees would buckle. What else can he do with those lips?
No more overpowered vibrators for this woman.
I can barely wait until tomorrow. The first thing I’m going to do is run my hands all over those tattoo-covered muscles of his, the ones I’ve been staring at out the window. The second thing is to see if that bulge in his pants really is as big as it seemed today — because there’s no denying the raging hard-on he had just now, but damn, Nathan sure never had anything so big in his pants.
I want my body pressed against his right this minute. Why did I hide in my house all week?
That’s fine. It’s been over six months since I had sex. One more night isn’t going to make a difference. Besides, I need time to cool down and collect myself. The way my mind is racing now, like a horny teenager, I’d just embarrass myself all over again.
Thinking of which, Darla is going to die when I tell her.
No, she’s probably going to thank him for making the arrangement so she didn’t have to.
Sitting in the car, I close my eyes and try to remember whatever it is I needed so badly that I risked leaving my house for. It’s probably milk, but I’ve lost interest.
I get out of the car and go back in the house.
The first thing I do is shave my legs.
Next, I go through my large lingerie collection given to me free and added to weekly by different lingerie designers for me to showcase in my videos.
Do I go full naughty straight away, or stick with something tamer like simple blue satin panties?
I have all night to think about it, I’ll decide in the morning.
Instead, I spend the evening trying to think of other things. I check my fan mail, and answer some questions on social media.
In the end, I’m still buzzing and wind up editing videos until after midnight.
Somehow I manage to resist the urge to FaceTime Darla and tell her the news. I figure we have to act on this arrangement at least once before it’s actually official. At least in her eyes.
Though an hour later, still hyper with the idea, I send her a text:
I don’t want to talk about this now but Knox and I are apparently now neighbors with benefits. Do not call, I won’t answer, xoxo
She’ll want too many details, and ask all sorts of questions I don’t have the answer to right now. Like how big and straight is his cock. It’s better I avoid the conversation altogether, or she’ll end up killing my buzz.
In bed, I toss and turn. Every time I close my eyes, my memory is flooded with his manly smell, the feel of his lips are on mine and I’m just about to reach out and touch his powerful biceps.
My body begs me to reach for the Xtreme Buzz, but I won’t. I can’t. I want to carry this tension through to our morning rendezvous.
I dream about him all night and wake up wet. Forget the blue panties, I’m going with the black lace thong and matching black lace bra.
After showering, I put them on and wonder what to throw on overtop. Would wearing only a housecoat be too forward? Probably. What happens if it’s someone else at the door like a delivery person? I wind up wearing a navy maxi dress with a halter top that shows off my cleavage. I bought it for Nathan’s sister’s wedding last September.
It was the night before we broke up for good, and the last time I had sex. I figured it was fitting, and that I’d be putting a nice bookend on this dry spell.
At eight, before I am completely ready, my doorbell rings. Knox is on my doorstep, in track pants and an old T-shirt and unshaven. He’s underdressed and earlier than I’d expected, but I’m not complaining.
“Hey,” I say, trying to sound cool and collected and not like the desperate, horny woman who hasn’t-been-touched-by-a-man-in-six-months I am.
“Avery,” Knox says, sounding far too serious.
Was it all a joke? Is he backing out on his own idea?
“Yeah?” I say tentatively.
“I need your help. With Piper.”
“With Piper? What’s up?” I ask, my brow furrowed.
“This morning she got her first. Her first… you know.”
“Period?”
Knox’s eyes slowly shut and open again.
“Yes. But it hurts, real bad. I don’t know what to do.”
“Cramps?”
“She’s scared,” he says, his eyes pleading.
“Did you give her a hot water bottle?”
“No,” he says, confused. “I don’t have a hot water bottle.”
“How do you have a girl that age and not have a hot water bottle? You need to be prepared,” I snap.
Knox’s face falls, “I’ll go buy one.”
“I’ll bring mine first. I’m coming right over to calm her down. I’ll g
ive you a shopping list of things to buy. You have tampons and stuff, right?” I say.
“Some. How many do you need each month?”
“It depends,” I say. I feel bad now. He’s in way over his head and I should’ve been more helpful instead of snapping about the water bottle.
Running upstairs, I grab the hot water bottle from the bathroom before running back downstairs again and handing it to him. I follow Knox across the lawn and into his house. Piper is in her pajamas, lying on the couch.
“Hey, Piper,” I say, walking over and perching myself on the edge of the couch.
“Avery,” she says, a weak smile on her face.
“Your dad told me what’s going on. I brought you a hot water bottle, your dad’s filling it up now. It’ll help a lot with your cramps.”
“It hurts so bad,” she says.
“Down low?” I ask, pointing on my own body.
“Yes, right here.”
“That’s normal, sweetie, don’t worry at all. The hot water bottle will help, plus you can take some Tylenol. And you don’t have to move from this couch all day. But don’t worry, it’s only temporary.”
I turn my head to the side, and realize Knox is standing there listening to us. He looks both helpless and mortified.
“Thanks, Avery,” Piper says as I take the bottle from Knox and pass it to her.
“It’s your dad who got it,” I say. “I’m just going to get something from the kitchen.”
Knox follows me into the kitchen and I grab a pen and pad of paper from the table to write out the list of what she’ll need.
“Thank you,” he says.
“No problem. You’re obviously in over your head.” He winces, and I add, “Like any man would be. I’m going to write out a shopping list. You go get it. I’ll stay here and keep Piper company.”
“Can she go to school today?” he asks.
“As much as I really want her to, that would be cruel to the poor girl.”
“I’ll phone the school, then go get the shit on your list.”
He acts like he doesn’t even remember what we were supposed to be doing this morning.
Knox quickly makes me a coffee and leaves for the store. I sit back down with Piper and she asks me a million questions about periods. I answer in my best YouTuber voice.
Carnal: Pierced and Inked Page 24
