by Ella Goode
“What do you think will happen when school is over? You don’t talk much about your plans.”
“Only plans I have are being with you. I can go to school anywhere.”
“So college?” He shrugs.
“I’m going to culinary school.”
“I know.” Of course he does, because he listens to everything I say.
“Wonder where Davis will end up.” Berkley lifts my biscuit for me, putting butter and honey on it.
“I was thinking about that actually. Did you see that they cancelled the NCAA for the year?”
“See? I heard Davis scream from next door.” I laugh. No college football this year. I had a feeling that one was coming. Berkley lets out a chuckle.
“I was thinking of putting some tapes together and making some new ones for Davis. Get him out there. These colleges are going to have to figure out how to recruit for next year one way or another.”
“Berkley.” I get up, coming around the table. He pushes back in his chair, making room for me to sit in his lap. “You’re so freaking sweet. I can’t even handle it.” I kiss him. “Now tell me more. In your eyes how would this work out for us?” It’s clear that Berkley has ideas in his head about the future. He’s been thinking about it for all of us.
“I thought we might go where Davis goes. We can get a place. I think you’d have to live on campus or some shit for the first year. I don’t know all the rules. We can go to school almost anywhere.”
“We would get a place?” I wrap my arms around his neck. I like the sound of that. Berkley goes to bed with me most nights. It will be strange when that’s over. It would be nice if he could be there when I woke up too.
“Yeah, we would get a place.”
“Sounds like you’ve got it all worked out then.” I brush my mouth against his as I shift to straddle him. His hands slip under my dress to my ass, and I can tell the second he feels that I'm bare underneath.
“I’ll reheat the food.” He groans as he stands with me in his arms. At the same time, the room floods with light.
Davis doesn't look our way as he makes himself right at home going over to the movie theater area Berkley set up. Mike and Syracuse stand there in shock. Berkley turns, making sure my ass isn't showing.
“What’s going on here?” Mike says.
“You know what this means?” I hear Syracuse say. “No more ten-year plan, Davis.”
Davis lets out a loud groan that has me giggling into Berkley’s neck. “I’m going to kill them,” Berkley growls.
“No, we’re going to share our chicken and hang out with our friends.”
He grunts but puts me on my feet. “I’ll go get you some panties.”
“You’re going to drive all the way back to my place?”
Berkley actually blushes. “I have some of yours here.” I burst into laughter.
“Damn, Berk. You never set shit up like this for us,” Mike says.
“That’s because you don’t give him any—”
Davis smacks Syracuse in the back of the head before he can say the word pussy.
“You sure I can’t kill them?”
I rest my head on Berkley’s chest watching them all start to fight with a smile on my face.
We might be young, but we’ve all been through our own challenges. Especially in the last year. This year has been crazier than any other, but it doesn’t seem to matter what life throws at us.
When all the cards fall, we’re all still together. Laughing and smiling. The people in this room aren’t only my friends, they are my family. As for Berkley, he is my future. The pandemic might have brought a ton of uncertainty and worry, but it also brought all of us closer together.
Chapter Eighteen
Berkley
I deserve the first blow and then the second and even the third, but by the fourth one, Chandler’s cries break me, and I push Davis off.
“What the fuck, man?” he yells, panting at me.
I swipe a hand across my mouth. It comes away bloody. Chandler drops to her knees and tries to use her skirt to dab at the corner of my mouth. The action exposes her ass to Syracuse’s and Mike’s gazes, who are trying hard to hold Davis back. I push her hand down. “I’m fine,” I say gruffly and get to my feet.
I sway, and Chandler reaches out a hand to steady me, but I skate out of reach. If she touches me, Davis is going to lose it. I hold out my palm. “Look, man, I can explain.”
“The fuck you can. How long has this been going on?”
“It’s none of your business,” Chandler declares before I can say a word.
I shake my head. “She didn’t mean that.”
Chandler whips around. “Don’t speak for me,” she snaps. Her eyes narrow, skipping from me to Davis. “I see what this is.”
I don’t like her tone. “Now, Chandler—“
“Don’t Now Chandler me.” She jerks her dress down. “You guys all stick together no matter what. I told you that Davis and I didn’t have a thing, and you chose not to believe me. Now you’re telling him you can explain? Explain what? What we do”—she breaks off and shakes her head—“no, what I do with my body and my time is my own damn business.”
We’re all too stunned by her speech to move, and it’s not until the back door slams behind her that I pop out of my daze and start after her. Someone grabs my arm. I shake it off.
“No. Let her go. She doesn’t want you up in her business.” It’s Syracuse. If it was Davis, I wouldn’t have listened, but Sy has a lot of experience with girls.
“Why not?”
“Because when they’re mad, they’re mad. Let her get it out of her system, and once she’s done being angry, you can explain things. Besides, don’t you need to talk to him?” He tilts his head toward Davis, who is standing stiffly in the middle of the room, his hands fisted as his side, his eyes blaring holes through my skull. “Come on, Mike. Drive me home. I think the latest Madden is done downloading.”
Mike frowns. “Didn’t know you played those sport games anymore. You said they were boring as fuck and you preferred—“
“I love them now,” Syracuse interrupts. He grabs Mike by the neck and drags him out.
“If she’s crying, tell me,” I order as they leave. If she’s in tears, then I’m not giving her any space.
“No problem, captain.” Syracuse gives me a fake salute and disappears out the back. The door slams shut again, leaving the two of us alone.
I wait for Davis to ask me a question, but he only continues to stare angrily at me. Maybe it’s Davis that needs to be left alone to work things out of his system until he’s calm. If he was thinking rationally, he’d understand why I couldn’t keep my hands off Chandler. She’s a goddess, and ever since I got the green light to worship at her feet, that’s what I’ve been doing.
“Look, man—” I start, but Davis holds up his hand.
“I don’t want to know. Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to pretend I didn’t see you pawing at Chandler like she’s some piece of trash you picked up on the side of the road. You’ll forget that you’ve ever had your hands on her, and we go back to how it was.” He pushes by me and starts picking up the things in the pantry that got knocked over when we were fighting.
Go back to the way things were before I told Chandler I loved her? Before I heard those sweet words gasped or shouted? Before I had my dick in her sweet pussy? Before I tasted her tart honey? I think the fuck not.
“No.”
Davis shakes his head. “Yeah, because if you don’t, you’ll end up breaking her heart, and then it won’t be the three of us. I’ll have to choose to remain friends with you or her, and I don’t want to do that.”
“I’m not breaking up with her.”
“We had a good thing going,” Davis says, pretending like he doesn’t hear me, “And I’m only doing what you asked.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
He places a cereal box on the shelf and turns to me. “Don’t
you remember? That night we caught your old man with that girl. You said you were afraid of your own genes and wondered if you would end up like him—cheating on someone you were supposed to love. You told me that if you ever showed signs of getting close to a girl, I should remind you of who you came from. So this is me reminding you that your old man has been cheating on your mom for years and that you worry about her mental health because of how he treats her, and that’s why you’ve never dipped your wick inside a girl’s pussy in the past.” He arches his eyebrows. “Remember now?”
I slump against the wall. Every word Davis said was true. I had nearly begged him to make sure that I didn’t turn out like my dad. I had shoved that fear down deep when Chandler opened her heart to me because I hadn’t wanted anything to stop me from taking her. Oh, sure, I’d hid behind my friendship with Davis for a long time, but the real reason I stayed away from Chandler, the reason I never wanted to acknowledge my feelings, was that I might be just as big of a bastard as my old man.
Chapter Nineteen
Berkley
“I feel like a third wheel in this melodrama,” Davis complains.
I let out a sigh and push to my feet before I bury my face between her legs. “I’m not into threesomes, man.”
“Me either,” protests Chandler.
“It wouldn’t matter if you were,” I tell her.
“Oh, so my feelings don’t matter now?” She puts her hands on her hips.
Davis leans back, enjoying the show.
“Sure, but if you slept with another guy, I’d have to kill him, and that doesn’t seem like it’d be good for our relationship.” I motion between Chandler and me.
“Same goes for you.”
“I don’t plan on sleeping with any guys.”
Davis covers his mouth to muffle a laugh.
“I was talking about women, and you know it.”
I wink at her. “You’re the only one for me.”
“Better be or chop chop.” She makes a couple slicing motions in the air.
Davis folds his hands over his crotch, but I lean forward and kiss her. I like her aggressiveness and her possessiveness. It matches mine.
“Now I feel like a third wheel in a porn shoot,” Davis says.
Chandler breaks away. “You poor baby. Come next door and I’ll make you a tart.”
“That sounds vaguely sexual.” I frown.
“It’s not!” Chandler calls over her shoulder from the stairs. “It’s only because you have a one-track mind.”
“Yeah, get your mind out of the gutter.” Davis punches me in the shoulder and clambers up the stairs after Chandler.
Everything seems fine between all of us. Chandler and Davis make jokes while she rolls out dough and makes some kind of fruit syrup, but we haven’t really talked about anything. We’ve brushed aside the fight as if it never happened, and it makes that space between my shoulders itch. I’m not one for exploring my feelings and shit like that, but it doesn’t sit right. It’s like covering an infected wound. The injury still exists, and it’s not going away because there’s a Band-Aid over it.
I clear my throat. “By the way, I think someone hit your bike.”
Davis leaps to his feet. “What the fuck?” He tears out of there without another word.
Chandler casts a suspicious glance in my direction as she pulls the tart crust out of the oven. “You didn’t need to make up a lie to get him out of here.”
I grimace. “How do you read me so easy?”
“I wasn’t able to before. It must be because your dick has been inside of me.” My jaw drops and peals of laughter fall from her lips. “You look so shocked. It’s hilarious. Go outside and have your little meeting while I finish up here.”
I give her another quick kiss before heading out. Davis is inspecting the back of his bike when I reach him.
“Where’s the scratch?” he demands.
“There isn’t one.”
“What?” He jumps to his feet.
“I wanted to say I’m sorry.”
His brows come together. “What for?”
“For not being upfront with you. For not trusting you. For treating you like you were a third wheel. For taking Chandler even though I thought you had a thing for her.” It’s the last one I am most apologetic over. It really didn’t matter that Davis didn’t love Chandler. The point was that I thought he liked her, thought Chandler was his girl, and I still pursued her.
“Nah, I’m the one who’s sorry.” He scruffs his toe in the dirt. “I don’t love Chandler, just like she doesn’t love me. I mean, like you do. I love her like a friend. A sister. The thing is…” He trails off and then looks away. He wants to tell me something and is afraid, I realize. Afraid of what I’ll think of him if he confesses. I stay still, making sure my face gives away nothing, especially not judgment. This is Davis, after all; there’s nothing he can tell me that is going to make me think bad of him. Well, almost nothing. Like if he admitted he had a thing for kids, that would be bad, but he’s not that type of guy. After a prolonged silence, he starts again. “I’ve never felt anything for a girl.”
“Okay.” So he’s gay? “I don’t care what side of the bed you get up on.”
He laughs, but it’s sort of hollow. “How about if I don’t get into bed at all?”
“I don’t know what that means, but you’re still the same person. Loyal as hell. Funny. Talented.”
Davis laughs. “Damn. Sounds like you have a crush on me.”
I don’t laugh. He stops and then exhales heavily. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I don’t like girls. I don’t like guys. All I like is football. I knew Chandler didn’t like me as a boyfriend, but I told myself she’d be my fail safe.”
“I don’t know what the big deal is. It’s not like I felt anything for anyone but Chandler. Maybe you haven’t met your match or maybe your match is a football. It doesn’t change who you are or what I think of you.” I toss him the keys. “If that’s all, get the hell out of here before I put a real dent on your bike.”
He catches the keys easily. “Why? I have tarts to eat.”
I shake my head. “Never say that again. As for why, I have to apologize to Chandler, and you don’t need to be here for that.”
“Because you’re going to have sex with her after?” He wiggles his eyebrows.
“Yeah. Because I’m going to have sex with her after.” I give him a chin nod and return inside. Chandler is sitting at the table, looking at her phone.
“More recipes?” I ask bending down over her, but she covers the screen before I can see what she was studying. Now I’m even more curious. “You buying me a present?”
“No. I’m looking at stuff on Pinterest, and if you see it, you’ll buy everything.” She wrinkles her nose. “I just want to browse in peace.”
I snort. She’s not wrong. “Is it a crime to want to spoil you?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. I won’t do it.”
She wrinkles her nose again. “Now you’re being too compliant.”
“I need you in a forgiving mood.”
“For what?”
I lower myself to my knees. “For not fighting for you. I should’ve been on my knees the moment Davis came in, and I’m sorry for it.”
She wraps her arms around my head and pulls me against her chest. “No. You wanted to preserve the friendship we all shared. That’s precious to me, too. And Davis always acted like we were a thing, so you probably felt guilty every time you touched me.”
“I still did it.”
“Yes, and I’m glad.” She presses a kiss on the top of my head.
“My dad is a cheater,” I blurt out. “I need you to know this. He’s a cheater, and I don’t want to be like him.”
“Baby, you are not like your dad.”
“I tried to hold out for so long because I didn’t want to be someone who snuck around, lied to people, and took what didn’t belong to me, but for you…” I swallow the rock in my throat
. “For you, I would do anything to have you, even betray my best friend.”
“Oh, Berkley. You’re so good. A man like your dad would never question how he hurts people. He just does it. You’re on your knees for the second time in a day. I know you didn’t want to hurt Davis. You held me off for so long. I’m the one that seduced you, you know.”
“You didn’t—“
She shoves my face tighter against her chest, muffling my voice. “Yes. It was me. Give me some credit for being a sexy, irresistible woman”—she pauses dramatically—“or else.”
“Or else,” I mouth against her.
“Yeah. You don’t know what havoc I can wreak. We bakers are quite dangerous. We have knives and whisks and mixers. The kitchen is the most dangerous place in the house.”
I ease out of her grip. “You are woman. I hear you roar.”
“Yes, exactly.” She places her hands under my chin and tips my face up. “Never forget it.”
“I won’t,” I vow. “I love you, sweetness. I’ll love you forever.”
“I know. I love you, too.” The kiss she lays on me is as tender and passionate as I’ve ever had, and in it, I feel her promise that she believes in my devotion and my unending love. My heart fills with peace and my cock with lust. I sweep her into my arms and carry her to her room, ending the night exactly as I had told Davis—except it’s not sex, it’s love.
Chapter Twenty
Chandler
I lean my head back, closing my eyes as I wait. Mike and Sy better keep their mouths shut. They dropped me off back at home, but I decided that home wasn’t where I needed to be right now. I’m too mad and upset to sit at home. So I decided that coming over to see Davis would be a better option. That I needed to hash this out with him today. He can’t go punching Berkley every time he kisses me. If there are going to be any more kisses, that is.
I hear the motorcycle outside, letting me know Davis is here. They’d both been enjoying the motorcycle so much that Berkley had another delivered to his home so now they both have one. Sometimes I forget how well off Berkley really is. I listen close to see if it’s one bike or two. I’m not sure if I’m happy or disappointed that I only hear one at the moment. A few moments later, I hear the familiar quick feet of Davis coming down the stairs.
