by Eden Finley
Typical.
“What time are you heading home?” I reluctantly asked.
He was on his back, and I was practically wrapped up in him. My head was on his chest, my leg placed over his hips. Basically, I was lying on top of him and preventing him from getting up. I didn’t want him to go.
“You kicking me out?”
“No, but you’re out of clothes.”
“There’s this thing in your bathroom called a washing machine and a dryer. They do the most amazing things. By adding some detergent, they clean your clothes.”
“So funny. I just figured you’d want to go home for more.”
“I could go and come back …” He held me close and then somehow I was on my back with him on top of me. His lips moved to my neck and then my shoulder and then murmured against my skin. “I mean, if that’s okay with you.”
“If you’re staying again, I have studying I have to do, and if you’re planning on distracting me some more tonight, I should probably get to it now.”
He groaned and climbed off me and out of bed. “Okay. You study while I go home and pick up some stuff. I’m also going to grab my test results so I can fuck you bare tonight. Wait … you’re on the pill, right?”
“Depo shot. I get it every three months. I was actually contemplating stopping because I was starting to think I was never going to have real sex again. But I do like not getting shitty girl disease …” My eyes snapped to his. “I just overshared, didn’t I? Shitty girl disease is—”
“I know what it is. I practically lived with Paige for a month.” He bent down and kissed my forehead. “I’ll be back in about an hour.”
As soon as he was out the door, I was dressed and on my laptop but not to study. I wasn’t lying about that, but I needed to call Lana back. She’d already left me an angry message on Facebook yelling at me because I hadn’t called her back yet. I messaged her earlier saying I couldn’t talk and would call her when I could. Even though it was six AM over in London, I knew she’d want me to wake her.
Not one to disappoint, she answered the Skype call with “Oh my God, tell me everything.”
Either time got away from me as I proceeded to explain the whole previous day’s events or Ryan wasn’t as long as he said he would be, because when he came back through the door just as Lana asked how good the sex was, I thought I was going to die of embarrassment.
“Mind-blowing,” he yelled out from the doorway.
That was followed by a loud “Sqeeee” coming through my computer speakers.
“So this is what you meant by you’re studying?” Ryan asked as he joined me at my side.
“She was worried you held me captive against my will,” I said. “I had to show her I was unharmed and safe.”
“Sounds legit. Hi, Lana. Carry on.” He leaned in and kissed my cheek. “I’ll be on the couch. I can’t wait to hear your answer to her question.”
“Lana, I have to go.”
I wasn’t sure if she heard me over her chuckles, but then she muttered, “I bet you do.”
When the call was disconnected, I made my way—very red faced—to the couch.
“Will the TV annoy you if you have to do some actual studying?” he asked.
“No, that’s fine.” I furrowed my brow. “I thought you said you’d be an hour.”
“Yup. That was until I saw Cole and Paige fucking on my couch at home. That’s the second time. I think I need a you fuck on it, you buy it policy.”
I laughed.
“So not funny.”
“Did you at least get everything you need?”
“Yeah, I ran from the living room, got my stuff, and then left again. By that time, they’d retreated to his bedroom so at least I didn’t have to look Paige in the eye after …” He shook his head as if trying to shake the image from his mind.
I took a step towards him, but he held his hand up.
“As much as I want your hands on me, I feel violated—as if I walked in on my parents or something.”
His words were serious, so I didn’t know if laughing was appropriate, even though holding it in was way too difficult.
“Go study,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I’ll watch TV. Or I can go in your room and do stuff on my phone if I’m too loud.”
“I’m fine with background noise when I study. Hell, I put up with Paige’s rantings a lot while we study …”
His face blanched.
“Got it. Too soon to bring up P.”
I got a start on studying but didn’t get too far. My eyes kept wandering over to Ryan. When it’d been a full fifteen minutes without him shuddering or saying “Blergh,” I left my desk and proceeded to strip myself of my clothes.
As I rounded the couch and his eyes landed on me, his mouth dropped open in appreciation.
“The best way to get rid of the couch incident from your memory? Make a new memory of our own.”
I approached him and helped relieve him of his shirt. He went for his sweatpants, but my hands stopped him as I sank to my knees on the floor between his legs.
“That’s my job.” I pulled the waistband down and over the swollen head of Ryan’s cock. Once his sweatpants were off, I gripped the base of him and his hips rose off the couch.
Sucking in a shuddery breath, he reached to cup the back of my head. “You don’t have to—”
I cut him off by lowering my head and running my tongue along his tip.
“Okay, fuck, I take it back, you do have to.”
I chuckled as my mouth enclosed over him, briefly sucking the head, before taking him as deep as I could go. Which wasn’t far. I had to use my hand in sync with my mouth.
Grunts and moans escaped him, and his breathing became ragged. His hands fisted at his side as he threw his head back.
His hand wrapped in my hair, and his hips thrust upwards, trying to go deeper. I relaxed my jaw to let him go as far as I could take him, but I wasn’t going to allow him to finish. The salty, masculine taste of pre-come hit my tongue, giving me warning to pull away.
A strangled cry left him when I pulled off him and met his gaze with a cheeky smile on my lips. My eyes were watery from deep throating him.
“Shit, did I hurt you?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Nope, I just didn’t want it to end that way. You got that piece of paper for me?”
He gave me a quizzical look until he understood what I meant. Reaching forwards with his long arms, he grabbed his duffle bag off the single armchair next to the couch.
Once he got what he was looking for, he handed me his clean test results.
After a quick glance, something at the bottom of the report under clinical notes caught my eye.
“Previous treatment for chlamydia, hey?” I raised my eyebrows at him.
“That was before I even met you. I was young and dumb, and that scared me straight. I’ve wrapped it every single time since then.”
“Every time?”
He nodded.
“Then why did you …” I held up the test results.
“Because I wanted to prove it to you.”
The paper was tossed aside faster than I could get onto his lap. Straddling him, I took his mouth, hard and demanding.
“Are you sure?” he asked, pulling back.
“Ryan, fuck me on my couch.”
***
My alarm woke us the next morning. I had to get to class.
I went to climb out of bed, but his arms snaked around me, pulling me into him.
“Call in sick,” he mumbled, still half-asleep.
“It’s been a while since you’ve been at uni, hasn’t it?” I laughed. “There is no calling in sick. I could not turn up, but it’s nearing end of term, and I can’t miss any of these classes because exams start next week.”
He grumbled. “Fine. Will Paige be there?”
“Yeah, we have the same schedule. Why?”
“At least I know it’s safe to go home.”
“Umm�
��” A knock at the door sounded. “Perfect timing, Paige,” I mumbled.
His eyes flew open. “She’s here?”
“Yup. We sometimes carpool to uni and it’s her turn. You can hide in here if you want.” I got out of bed and quickly scrambled to get dressed in my jeans and tank top—my usual uni attire.
Ryan hadn’t even moved by the time I was opening the front door.
“Hey,” I said to Paige, letting her in. “I’ll make some coffee, and then I’ll finish getting ready.”
“Since when are you not ready?” she asked, following me into the kitchen.
It was true. I rarely awoke to my alarm because I was usually already up. I only set it as a precaution.
“Distracted,” I mumbled, clicking on the coffee machine.
“I have so much to tell you,” she said.
“Oh?”
“Hunter hasn’t slept at home for two nights. He must have a new skank.”
Heat rose to my cheeks.
“That’s not a nice thing to call your best friend,” Ryan said, emerging from my bedroom.
Paige froze, her mouth agape.
“Yeah, I might have a lot to tell you too,” I said quietly.
“Holy crap, your hair!” she yelled at Ryan.
His surprisingly long hair sat shaggy across his forehead when it wasn’t styled. While I knew how soft his hair could be, Paige always joked that his quiff hairdo must’ve been permanent as she practically lived with him and had never seen it messy.
The unkempt guy in front of me was the Ryan I knew.
The stylistic underwear model with perfect hair was the Hunter she knew.
It amazed me he was the same guy.
“Wait,” I said, holding up my hand. “He walks out of my room with no shirt”—I turn to Ryan—“Where is your shirt, by the way? Seriously?”—I turn back to Paige—“And the biggest surprise is his hair?”
She shrugged. “Please. You two were inevitable, but I’ve never seen him without his hair all … Hunter-like. I was beginning to think he slept with the hair gel bottle next to his bed. I even wondered if it was a toupee or a wig or something. Can I touch it?” Paige took a step closer to Ryan and reached out her hand.
“What? No. Go away.” He swatted her hand away.
“You know, you would’ve seen it yesterday when he came home to grab his things, but you were clearly too busy.” I was being evil and I really didn’t care.
“Thanks for making it awkward, babe,” Ryan said.
Both of them wore a tinge of pink on their cheeks.
“My work here is done. You can get yourselves coffee, I’m going to go clean my teeth.” I went to head to the bathroom, but Ryan stood between me and the door.
He leaned down, putting his mouth to my ear. “Prepare to pay for that later.”
I smiled. I couldn’t wait.
***
“So …” Ryan said Friday morning as he got out of bed. “Almost a week in. Are you sick of me yet?”
“So, so much.”
“You’re really not one for giving compliments or sweet talk, are you? Would it kill you to tell me how awesome I am every now and then?”
I laughed and my mouth opened to say something over the top sarcastic and mean—perhaps something about his hair—but he cut me off. It was probably for the better as it turned out he was overly sensitive about his hair. Apparently, Paige wasn’t the only one who gave him shit about it.
“Can I be honest?” He threw on his jeans, sat back down on the bed, and leaned over me.
“Should I be scared?”
His lips curved up at the edge. “Maybe a little, because shit’s about to get real sweet. You ready for it?”
I shook my head. “No, but I have a feeling that’s not going to stop you though.”
“You catch on quick. I was going to say that I was worried this was all going to fall apart really quickly. That the girl I met four years ago didn’t actually exist.”
“Like I was a figment of your imagination? That would’ve made almost getting caught having sex on the beach so much more awkward for you.”
“You know, one day I’m going to say something nice and you’re going to reply with ‘Thank you, Ryan. That was very thoughtful of you to say,’ and it won’t contain even a hint of sarcasm.”
“And when this happens, will it be the day that pigs fly or hell freezes over?”
He sighed heavily. “I’m guessing both at this point.”
“Well, I’m still waiting for the sweetness. All you’ve really stated is you’re surprised we’ve made it a week. I realise that must be a record for you, but—”
“Weren’t you worried that we’d built each other up in our heads so much that when we got together, it would’ve been doomed from the beginning?”
“I think we may need to have a discussion about what classes as sweet talk. First tip, using the word doomed is probably not a great start.”
“Oh my God, you’re worse than Cole with talking about your feelings and shit.”
“Shit probably isn’t a great word to use either.” I didn’t understand why he was getting frustrated. Surely, these last several weeks of back and forth had shown him I was the queen of deflecting. Was he trying to defeat me? Because, game on.
“Fine, I’ll say it seeing as you’re not going to admit it.” He leaned in close and spoke softly. “You’ve exceeded all of my expectations and more.” His lips brushed against mine gently and then moved to my cheek, across my jawline, and down my neck when I tilted my head and allowed him access. “I hate that we didn’t have these last four years,” he murmured against my skin.
“Maybe it was meant to be this way.” My voice was quiet.
“What do you mean?” He pulled back.
I shrugged. “I was eighteen when I met you and hadn’t really experienced much. Maybe we needed the four years so each of us could figure out what we wanted. You were the first guy I was ever with, and I think if we had a go of it back then, I might’ve wondered if a relationship was the wisest thing to get into at that age. Maybe we would’ve fallen apart because I wasn’t sure of myself and wanted to play the field—see if the grass was greener on the other side, so to speak.”
“But you did that and only ended up dating Danny after all that time.”
“I only ended up sleeping with Danny. Trust me, I had plenty of other dates.”
He winced. “None of which I care to hear about.”
“I think you’d like the stories. Nearly all of them were horrible.”
He shook his head. “That’s where you’re wrong. I don’t want to hear any story that finishes with you being hurt or pissed off. And the fact I’m one of those stories cuts that much deeper.”
“Hey, our first date was awesome. Best date I’ve ever had. It was the second one that needed work.”
He flopped backwards onto the pillow beside me. “So close to getting a compliment that wasn’t piggybacked by an ugly truth.”
I laughed. “Fine. You want a happy truth?” I paused for his nod. “I was worried too, but I like you so much more than the asshole I met four years ago.”
“Glad I’m not the only one who needs work on their sweet talk.”
I smiled. “Seriously though, I am surprised how easy things are between us. I was kinda expecting a lot of yelling.”
“Why’s that?”
“Maybe because of the explosive start we had when Paige dragged me to go out to dinner with you and Cole. Not to mention the six weeks that followed. It’d seem we’d take two steps forward and then four back.”
“Well, I’m glad we got our shit together because having a girlfriend is surprisingly awesome. I mean, regular sex? Best thing ever.”
“Yup. We’re definitely going to need to work on our sweet-talking skills.” Although, my heart did a little flip at the girlfriend title. Even though I agreed to be his last week, we still hadn’t officially put a label on it.
“Wanna come to the pub tonight and
freak out all of my friends? I can’t wait to see their faces when they meet you.”
“Hmm. Will Paige and Cole be there?”
“Nah, he has Cody tonight.”
I hesitated.
“What’s up?”
“With the little interaction I’ve had with Reece, I’d be a bit nervous being around her.”
“Reece scares you? Really?” he asked, his tone amused.
“And Pip. Going from what Paige has said.”
“You know I love Paige, but you have to admit she’s super biased when it comes to them. When Reece and Cole got divorced, our group of friends was split down the middle. Someone who’s with Cole isn’t going to like Pip who’s so far on Reece’s side she can’t even see the dividing line anymore. Reece isn’t so bad—Cole will even tell you that. She has her moments, but she’s just really bad when it comes to him. There’s a lot of history between them, plus there’s Cody and now the whole Paige thing.”
“Okay, I can push my bias aside—being Paige’s best friend—but will they?”
“It may be a non-issue. Reece’s failed wedding was only six days ago. She probably won’t even be there.”
“Okay.” I was still nervous about the whole thing, but I was sure humour and deflection would help me get through it. Maybe.
“Okay, you’ll come?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
***
My nervousness was warranted when we arrived to find Reece had in fact turned up. So had Pip, and Gage, and Blair, and Spence. Full house. They were all at my table for the wedding last week. The girls didn’t glare at me as much as I thought they would, so I took that as a win.
“Everyone,” Ryan said, “This is Sara. My girlfriend.”
And as expected, the whole table went quiet for a long beat.
“Did he just say what I think he said?” Blair asked.
“Nah. Not possible,” Spence said. “We’re all hearing things.”
Blair had his phone in his hand and he held it up. “It’s not Facebook official. Doesn’t count.”
I expected the joking around. Ryan warned me about that. What I wasn’t expecting was the seriousness of their shock.
Ryan rolled his eyes and took out his phone. A few minutes later, mine dinged with a notification.
