by E. M. Abel
“I can’t wait,” he deadpanned before hanging up the phone.
“Bye,” I said to myself as I dropped the phone in my lap.
I was being pathetic, and I wasn’t even sure why. I had a hot guy who wanted to explore a relationship with me, an awesome best friend who was going to be famous one day, a pretty cool job, and an awesome wardrobe. I should have been grabbing life by the balls and making it my bitch.
TJ walked out in her bathrobe, looking cleaner but just as tired as she had when she came home. “I’m going to make a sandwich, eat my sandwich, drink a glass of wine in bed, and pass the fuck out.” She was on her way to the kitchen, but before she made it, there was a knock on our front door.
TJ paused and questioningly glanced back at me, but I only shrugged. I had no idea who it was. She went to answer it, and I peered at the door over the back of our yellow couch. She stepped back, and Logan walked in.
I sucked in a breath. “I’m in sweatpants,” I muttered from my seat.
I wasn’t supposed to say it out loud.
Logan flashed his dashing, bright smile while pulling a bouquet of flowers from behind his back. “I’m wearing jeans.”
TJ laughed to herself and continued on her path to the kitchen, leaving us alone.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, getting up to greet him and take my flowers. “Thank you. They’re so pretty.”
I was feeling giddy. No guy had ever spoiled me like this.
“I missed you,” he said, leaning forward and kissing me on the cheek.
“Aw. Do you say that to all your girlfriends?” I asked, taking them back to the couch with me.
He didn’t move, and I realized he thought I was being serious. Well, I kind of was but not in a bad way.
“I’m fucking with you, Logan. It’s okay. Come sit.”
He sat beside me, his eyes going to the television screen. “Good show.”
He smelled good—not like he worked at a gym, but a chocolate factory. I leaned closer and sniffed his shoulder. He cut his eyes at me and smirked.
“You smell delicious.”
“I went to a bakery. I had to order a birthday cake.”
“Oh, yeah? Whose birthday is it?” A girlfriend’s?
“One of the managers at the gym. It’s tomorrow.”
“You allow cake in the gym?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow. “What kind of business are you running anyway?”
He chuckled and leaned closer—his lips, nose, and eyes the only things in my view. They were so pretty.
“We sneak it in the back, where no one can see,” he whispered.
Why does that turn me on?
His eyes were intense, and his body was warm against my side. His voice instantly ignited a spark in my gut, and little fireworks started going off.
“Oh,” I whispered back in a daze, my eyes glued to his lips. I watched as they lifted into a sexy grin.
“I like your sweatpants,” he said.
I wasn’t sure he’d even looked at them.
He pressed his big hand on my thigh, and I felt the oxygen leave my lungs.
He’s a warlock. He’s got me in a trance. Snap out of it, Sky. Wake up!
I blinked four or five times, but it didn’t work. The fireworks were still there, and I was still horny.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his green eyes searching my face.
“I think so.” I blinked one more time for good measure, but I was definitely under his spell.
Logan smirked as he reached up and slid his other hand into the hair at the base of my neck. I shivered at his touch as goose bumps traveled down my arms and back. Leaning forward, he pressed his perfect lips against mine, and I melted into him. I was hopeless against his magic.
His warm tongue slid into my mouth, caressing mine, coaxing it out to play, as his fingers in my hair tightened. I moaned involuntarily and tried to move closer.
“Ahem.”
I froze, and we each opened our eyes. Logan took his tongue back, and I felt him smile against my lips.
“Don’t have sex on our couch, please. It’s yellow, and it doesn’t do well with stains,” TJ said before taking her sandwich and wine back to her room.
That was enough to lift the fog in my brain, and I leaned away from Logan and grinned. “You want a beer?”
“Yeah, sure.”
We sat together on the couch, drinking beers and watching Sons of Anarchy, Logan’s hand still on my leg.
“This reminds me of high school,” I said.
Logan and I used to always sit in his parents’ basement and watch TV together. We’d done other things in that basement, too.
Logan’s hand slid further up my thigh and into the elastic waistband of my sweats. I smiled and bit my bottom lip as his fingers grazed over the top of my panties.
“I’ve learned a few things since high school,” he whispered against my ear.
I sucked in a breath when he put pressure on my clit and started circling.
“I can still remember how tight your pussy felt around my cock. I can’t wait to feel that again.”
My eyes rolled back in my head. I was getting wetter by the second. Taking my hand, Logan put it on his dick, and I curled my fingers around it through his jeans. He was hard, really hard.
“You see what you do to me, Sky? I’ve been fantasizing about fucking you all day.”
He started moving his hips as I stroked him, his breaths coming faster against the side of my face.
His fingers found their way into my panties, and Logan groaned when he felt how ready I was.
“Unzip my pants.”
I did as he’d asked, freeing his cock from the confines of his underwear. I tightly wrapped my hand around him and started jerking him off as he fingered me. I knew TJ could walk out at any second, and that should have been enough to make me stop, but I couldn’t.
Turning my head, I buried my face against Logan’s shoulder as I felt an orgasm coming. His body grew rigid as my hand moved faster. He was about to come, too.
I bit the sleeve of his shirt and squeezed my eyes shut as a spine-tingling wave of pleasure washed over me. My body started to shake as I came, but I kept stroking him, wanting him to come with me.
“Fuck,” he whispered. His fingers slipped out of me, and he focused on his own release.
He started lifting his hips against the rhythm of my movements, and before long, he was coming all over my hand and his underwear.
At least it didn’t get on the couch.
DILLON
I was on my back, panting, the euphoria of my orgasm still coursing through my veins, while Natasha kissed my chest. Two hours of a romantic comedy was definitely worth this.
“Mmm. God, that was amazing, Dillon,” she crooned, draping her leg across my hips.
I gripped her thigh in my hand and grinned down at her as my heartbeat began to slow. “Yeah, it was.”
Rolling over, I pressed her back into the mattress and kissed her a few more times while she giggled beneath me. Pulling back, I studied her face. She seemed different, relaxed. Her hair was a mess, and her makeup was mostly gone. She looked beautiful. I was only allowed a short moment to enjoy it before her body stiffened beneath me, and she wiped her fingers under her eyes.
“Oh God, I probably look awful. Is my mascara everywhere?”
She pushed against my chest, and I backed off enough for her to roll out from under me and off the bed.
“You want some water?” she asked as she wrapped herself in a robe and started walking away.
“Yeah, sure.” I sighed and fell backward onto the bed, my arms spread wide.
I wanted to find a way to bring the carefree Natasha back, to show her that she could be herself with me, flaws and all.
A few minutes later, she came back with her hair pulled back into a bun and two glasses of water in her hands. I sat up and rested my back against her headboard as she handed me one.
“Thanks.” I drank half of the glass befor
e setting it on her nightstand.
She only took a small sip from hers before she climbed onto the bed next to me.
“Can I talk to you about something?” she asked, her fingers fidgeting with the belt on her robe.
I was surprised by the gravity of her tone and turned to face her, my eyes studying hers, but she looked away before I could find anything.
“Of course.”
“I know this is silly, but I wanted to get it off my chest before…things got more serious between us.” She paused to take a deep breath, and I put my hand on her leg to try and reassure her. “It’s about Sky.”
“Sky?” My eyebrows creased in confusion. “What about her?”
“I …I want to be sure that nothing more is going on between you two. You’re only friends, right? You’ve never…been more than that?”
I chuckled and took her hand in mine. “No. We’re just friends. We’ve always only been friends.”
She gave me a weak smile. “Okay.”
I didn’t believe she was satisfied, so I tried to convince her. “I know it’s not usual for a guy and girl to be best friends, but I promise, that’s all we are. Sky and I grew up together. She’s more than a little crazy, but she’s got a good heart, and she’s always been there for me when I needed her. She was actually really thrilled when she found out I was dating The Natasha Bennington.”
That seemed to cheer her up. Natasha laughed. “Really?”
I nodded, tucking a curl behind her ear and kissing her forehead. “Sky works for Frederico Rossi, the designer. Have you heard of him?”
“Of course I’ve heard of him. Who hasn’t?” She laughed at my seemingly ridiculous question.
“Well, Sky is an aspiring designer herself. She’s been making her own clothes since we were kids. So, as soon as I said your name, she knew who you were, and she was excited to hear we were dating.”
“She does have great style,” Natasha said, leaning closer to rest her cheek on my shoulder.
Rubbing my hand up and down her arm that was now across my waist, I told her, “I hope you two can be friends. Sky is important to me, but I want you to know that you’re important to me, too.”
Her arm tightened. “I hope we can be friends, too.”
I kissed the top of her head and grinned. Well, that was easy.
It was nice to be with a rational woman who wasn’t instantly jealous the moment Sky was mentioned. Natasha was different, and I liked that about her.
The next afternoon, I stood on the train, on my way home from Natasha’s, when I got a text from Sky.
Sky: Meet me at Luigi’s in an hour.
Dillon: Stop bossing me around.
I could almost picture her rolling her eyes.
Sky: Pleeeaaassseee?!
Dillon: Fine.
I chuckled to myself as I slipped my phone back into my pocket.
Luigi’s was our favorite pizzeria. I loved their calzones, and Sky loved the owner who would gush over her outfits every time we walked in.
“Ciao, bella ragazza. Look at that shirt! And that necklace! How do you stay so beautiful every time I see you?” Luigi shouted from the kitchen as Sky and I approached the counter to place our orders.
“You like?” Sky asked, lifting her arms and spinning in a circle. “I made this last month. I can make one for your wife if you want.”
There was something about Sky that drew people to her. She made friends everywhere she went.
I stood aside while Luigi came to lean across the counter and admire her craftsmanship more closely, showering her with more compliments. I couldn’t say I blamed him. Not many women could pull off the clothes Sky wore. She had her own unique style and the personality to match. I admired that about her. She was never afraid to be herself, and that was a beautiful quality for any woman to have.
“So, what can I get you and your boyfriend tonight? The usual?”
“Yes, please,” Sky said, smiling brightly, as she reached into her purse for some cash.
We’d stopped trying to argue with him when he called me her boyfriend. We’d explained that we were only friends, but his response was always the same.
“That’s what I said.”
When I reached into my back pocket for my wallet, Sky glanced at me over her shoulder.
“I got it.”
I raised an eyebrow. That was a first. Sky and I always split the bill. I dropped my hand from my pocket and took the cups of water Luigi pushed across the countertop.
After settling into our favorite booth, I watched Sky as she pulled her wavy hair back into a messy bun and unwrapped her straw.
“So, what’s up?” I asked, leaning back in my seat.
I knew she wanted to talk to me about Logan, and I was interested to see how she’d convinced herself that dating him was a good idea.
She cleared her throat and started twisting the empty straw wrapper around her finger. She was nervous, which meant she wasn’t sure about her decision.
“Logan is polyamorous. He’s a polyamorist. He believes in polyamory. Something like that.” She waved her hand in the air, and the wrapper fell from her fingertips.
“Say what now? What the fuck is polyamory?”
“You know,” she said before pausing to take a sip from her water.
My eyebrows furrowed. “No, I don’t know. That’s why I asked.”
“He doesn’t believe in monogamy.”
A sarcastic chuckle erupted from my lips as I shook my head. “You don’t say.”
“Oh, don’t be like that, Dillon. At least he was real with me about it. He thinks people should be able to have multiple relationships and be in love with more than one person at the same time. He’s honest with everyone he’s with, so it’s not like he’s a cheating bastard or something.”
I raised an eyebrow, wondering if she could hear herself.
“And, before you say anything, he apologized for what had happened in high school, and I mean, he really apologized. He told me he’d had strong feelings for me, and it’d scared him. And I believe him.” When she finished, her eyes were pleading with me to reaffirm her choice, but that wasn’t going to happen.
“So, let me get this straight. This douche bag treated you like shit in high school…”
Sky sighed, and her shoulders dropped.
“He took you out again years later and made some sorry excuse about why he’d hurt you, and then he proceeded to tell you that he wasn’t monogamous. But he still wants to fuck you. And you think this is a good idea?”
“I knew you wouldn’t get it,” she muttered just as Luigi called out our order.
She went to get our food, and when she returned, she dropped my calzone on the table in front of me before gently placing her slice of pepperoni down on her side. She was clearly upset that I wasn’t seeing things her way.
“Look, I know you want me to reassure you that you’re making the right choice, Sky, but I’m not going to lie to you. I don’t trust him, and I don’t think you should either. He might’ve grown up and gotten more in touch with who he is as a man, but that doesn’t mean he’s miraculously become a good person.”
“He has his own company. He owns Solid gyms. And he didn’t even use his dad’s money to do it. He’s not the same guy, Dillon, and I think it’s unfair to think he can’t change.”
“Good for him.”
Sky rolled her eyes while she took a bite of pizza.
“No, seriously. I’m surprised, but that doesn’t mean—”
“Dillon, you know me. You know how I feel about love and relationships and marriage,” she said the last word like it tasted awful on her tongue. “And, now, I’ve met someone who feels the same way. He’s saying he wants to explore a relationship with me but without the strings. Without the jealousy and commitment that usually send me running for the hills. He’s open about everything and encourages me to be, too. We haven’t even had sex yet! I don’t plan to fall in love with him again or anything. It’s fun. Remember
that word? Fun?”
“Well, it seems like you’ve already made up your mind.”
“I have.” She straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin in defiance.
“So, why even bother asking me what I think?”
Her posture softened. “Because your opinion matters to me. I want to be able to talk to you about it and bring him around without you giving him your evil death stare.”
I lifted my gaze from my food and raised an eyebrow. “Evil death stare?”
“Yes! You don’t realize it, but you can be intimidating, Dillon. When you’re mad, your eyes look like they could melt the skin off of someone.”
I chuckled as I took another bite from my calzone.
“Could you at least try to be civil? You were kind of an asshole to him at the show.”
“I wasn’t an asshole. I barely spoke to him.”
“Exactly!” she shouted, gaining us a few curious glances from the tables around us.
“Fine. I’ll try to be more civil.”
“Good.”
We ate in silence for a few minutes before she asked, “So, how are things with Natasha?”
“They’re good.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“What else?”
“What do you mean, what else?”
“Come on, Dillon. Good? That’s it? This is me you’re talking to.”
“Well, she’s a little more insecure than I expected.”
“Why? Because she’s a model?”
“Well, yeah, to be honest. I figured she’d be pretty comfortable in her own skin, but I don’t know. She can be kind of uptight, like she’s always thinking about how she looks.”
“Oh, really? I can’t imagine why,” Sky said, sarcasm seeping from every word. “It’s not like she spends her entire life being judged on her looks or anything.”
I chewed my food, considering Sky’s words. She had a good point.
“I think she’s also insecure about us,” I told her before taking a sip of water.
Sky peered up at me. “Us?”
“Yeah. She asked if we’ve ever been more than friends.”
“And what did you say?”
“I told her the truth, that you were important to me, but we’re only friends. I told her I wanted you guys to be friends, too. I said you were excited to hear I was dating her and that you were an aspiring fashion designer, so you should have a lot in common.”
