“I want to make you feel it. Come for me,” I whisper in her ear. I move my fingers, meeting her hips midway. She’s fucking sexy as hell with her mouth open, her head tilted back, her hair splayed over my pillow, her breasts trying to bust out of her bra. She’s wet and throbbing as she holds my hand in place and shudders around it, saying things that sound like combinations of my name and curses. I’m dying to push down my jeans and do something, anything, to find my own release. Instead, I hold her with the arm she’s not holding hostage between her legs until finally she relaxes and becomes still.
I’d never cared as much about giving as getting pleasure, but with Juliet under me, knowing I can make her feel that way, I beam like a fucking champ. I want to start all over and watch her fall apart again. I’m completely satisfied mentally, if not exactly physically.
With some deep breathing, I calm my body for the moment and wait for Juliet to rejoin the world. I’m afraid she’s going to freak, so I avoid looking at her until I hear her giggle and see the colors. She laughs in pink. I exhale and prop myself up onto my elbow to kiss her lightly. “What’s so funny?”
Her body shakes with laughter, and she hides her face. “Chase. Oh my God. What was that…I…I mean…Wow.”
“Are you speechless? I didn’t think that was possible.”
She lifts her head and kisses me, then bites me playfully on the lips. “How about you shut up and be speechless for once?”
I feign offense. “That’s how you treat me after I work so hard to please you?”
“Grueling work, right?”
“Oh yeah. Terrible.” Terrible like I want to spend the rest of my life doing it.
“Nobody’s ever worked that hard for me before. Should I be embarrassed? Because I’m really not.” She bites me again, this time on my earlobe. When I look down at her, her chocolate eyes, her shiny hair, her pink bra…I still can’t believe I’m lying next to her.
“I’m happy to work myself hard for you.” She grins again when I laugh at my own joke. “No need to be embarrassed. You’re perfection, Juliet Anderson.”
“You make me feel like perfection.” She kisses my lips. “Thank you.”
She’s still rosy. “You never have to thank me for that. Ever. I am at your service.”
“What about you?” She nibbles my neck and squirms against me, which works directly against my deep breathing.
“W-what about me?” I stutter.
“Can’t this kill you?” She rubs her thigh against my raging, angry hard-on.
“If you keep doing that, you might.” I stand and look down at her satisfied face. She wraps her arms around her bare belly and looks like an underwear model.
She says exactly what I want to hear. “Maybe I can help?”
I bite my fist. God, I want to say yes, but she looks so cute and happy and perfect that I don’t want her to move. “Next time. Don’t forget we still have to go downstairs.”
“I don’t want to go anywhere right now.”
“We’re going, gorgeous. Make yourself presentable. It’s my grandmother, for God’s sake.” She sticks her tongue out, and I think about it in dirty ways. “You know how you look right now?”
“Incredibly hot?”
“Yeah, that. But also calm and crazy at the same time.”
With a smiling Juliet in my bed, I shuffle around my room searching for my shirt, feeling pretty damn good about things. The New Life Plan can go to hell when Juliet Anderson from zero-zero-one is half-naked in my bedroom.
Chapter Ten
Juliet
I wake up Saturday morning and hug my pillow to my chest, recalling flashes of last night at Chase’s house. Oh. My. God. When I try to stop grinning about it, I can’t. I wonder what he’s doing, if he’s up at this ungodly hour thinking about me the way I’m thinking about him. When we got back to the dorm last night, he kissed my earlobe and said, “Night, gorgeous,” just like he had the night before. I think his dropping me off like that is getting to be a habit. What will today have in store for me? Maybe my night will end the same way for the hat trick.
My phone buzzes, and I automatically think it’s Chase. When I pick it up, Ben’s face flashes at me. I wait for the guilt, but it doesn’t come. Ben’s text says:
Wake up.
It’s only six. My return text says,
I’m up.
Unlock. I’m coming down.
I stand, unlock the door, and crawl back under my comforter. About ten seconds later, Ben knocks and lets himself in.
He looks fantastic all dressed up, and I remember he has an away game today. He shuts the door and hops onto my bed. The mattress sinks from his weight. I roll toward him.
“It’s early.” I hide my face with my hands knowing I probably look about as sharp as I feel.
“I have to get on the bus. I wanted to say hi.” He pulls my hands away. “What did you and Chase do all night? He’s out cold, too.”
“We overate and went to his family’s art gallery.” I leave out the part about how we fooled around and I almost passed out from a crazy intense orgasm.
Ben rubs my leg through the comforter. “You still mad at me?”
“I don’t know.” Confusion and sleepiness clutter my brain. Why am I mad at him again? I need caffeine. “Did you bring me coffee?”
“No, sorry. Do you want to hear about my date?”
Oh, right. The date. “Not at all.” Even without caffeine I’m clear as day on that issue. “Please spare me.”
“I’ll spare you the details, but the entire time I was thinking about you. I miss you. I can’t shake you.” And with that, Ben Riley bends down and kisses my cheek.
Huh? My brain turns on, and I sit up in the bed. Did I hear that correctly?
Ben walks to the door and turns to face me. “Wish me luck?”
He and I had this thing going during high school where I’d wish him luck before every game. He became so superstitious about it that on some game days he’d hunt me down just for my “luck.” Once he showed up at my dance studio on a Friday night and made me leave class to wish him luck.
I tilt my head. “Luck,” I whisper like I always do, but my blood boils. I’m not sure why. I’m just about to go ballistic when we both jump at the sound of a door slamming.
Ben peeks down the hallway. “It’s the big guys.”
Frank and Rocco scream at each other, but I ignore their voices in my confusion. “What do you mean you can’t shake me?” I ask. My ears burn as my anger rises. I throw off my comforter and march toward Ben, who stands in the hallway assessing the Rocco/Frank situation. A door slams again, and I join Ben in time to see Frank and Rocco jet across the hall to the lounge.
Someone’s slamming cabinets and Frank’s rattling off calories. “Roc, no. You can’t eat that.”
“I can eat whatever I damn well please.” Rocco’s raging. I imagine his veins are popping and his face is bright red.
I recognize Rodrigo’s voice next. “Cut it out, guys.”
“Should I do something?” Ben looks to me for answers, eyes trailing the length of my body. I’d slept in a tight tee and underwear. Close to naked, I cross my arms over my braless chest. He opens his mouth to say something, but all that comes out is, “Uh.” He looks at his feet, then the ceiling, then rubs his hands over his flushing cheeks. His awkwardness calms me.
“What did you mean when you said you couldn't shake me? That doesn’t make sense. The other night you told me you didn’t want me that way.”
Frank yells at Rocco, “You said you wanted to compete this year. You have to watch your calories!”
Rocco yells back, “I am so sick of you criticizing me. It’s a goddamn muffin!”
Ben stares at me, mouth gaping, while another door opens down the hallway. Megan sees me then glares at Ben, and I remember I have no pants on, just a tee shirt and panties. My dumb luck. At the same time, Chase opens his door at the end of the hallway. When he sees Ben and me, he shakes his head, stares at me f
or a second, then turns back into his room.
Fuck. I drop my head back and look to the ceiling. Why me? Nobody’s giving me answers. Ben’s mute all of a sudden, and Megan and Chase hexed me with the evil eye. “Why are you fighting?” I yell to the guys.
Rocco and Frank shout louder. Ben calls to them, “Guys, relax.”
Megan lifts her chin and turns, stomping away. Ben takes off after her, past Maggie and Winston, who peek out of room two.
“What’s going on?” Winston’s shirtless and groggy. When Maggie sees me staring at her, she does the walk of shame to room three. Maggie and Winston?
I yell after Ben, who’s following Megan into the ladies’ room. “Benjamin Riley, I’m not done with you!”
Frank and Rocco continue to curse each other about workouts and diets and schedules. Rodrigo tries to talk them down, and something breaks. I cringe as Rodrigo appears in the hallway, covering his head with his hands like he’s taking cover. When he sees me, he stops dead in his tracks, his eyes trailing me. “Damn, Kiki-mo.”
Shit. Still no pants. I slide into my room and throw on pajama pants and then hurry toward the lounge.
I stand in the doorway as Frank and Rocco scream, slam cabinets, and throw food into the garbage. A dish is shattered on the floor. I have bare feet, so I stay in the hallway.
Chase reappears, dressed, and steps into the war zone. He doesn’t look at me as he attempts to push Rocco away from the kitchen and Frank.
“Come on, man. Let’s go talk,” Chase says to Rocco. I jump out of the way and start back toward the safety of room one as Chase guides Rocco to room four. Frank follows them and blocks the door. The three of them, with Chase in the middle, are like a wall of angry men.
“I’m tired of you running my life.” Rocco points at Frank over Chase’s shoulder.
“I’m your trainer, you asshole.” Frank’s red face matches his hair. “It’s my job.”
Megan reappears in the hallway with Ben trailing behind, and when Ben sees Chase struggling to hold back Rocco, he reaches for Frank and does the same.
Nobody listens when I shout, “Everyone shut up!”
Winston, who’d put on a shirt, tries to join the games, but Rodrigo screams at him over the man wall. “What the fuck, Win? You locked me out last night.”
“I’m sorry.” Winston doesn’t seem sorry.
I want to disappear as Rocco and Frank fight in the hallway, Winston and Rodrigo argue over them, Megan shoots me dirty looks through them, and Chase and Ben run interference. I put my hands over my ears and lean against the wall.
Suddenly, Rocco stops moving against Chase and looks behind me. One by one, the faces of my new friends calm as the tension lifts from the air. Even the scowl Megan had been directing at me softens. Ben lets go of Frank as the two of them settle and look past me.
Confused, I turn to see the most beautiful face I’ve ever seen: brown skin, long black hair framing a heart-shaped face, and giant almond eyes.
The beautiful girl speaks. “I am Pooja Pravali. What the hell is going on here?”
Chase
We all follow Pooja Pravali as she walks into the lounge. I can’t be the only one checking out her ass, since she’s in a pair of super tight jeans. Her skin is the color of milk chocolate and it peeks through the cutout shoulders of her white shirt. Pooja, the mystery roommate, is steaming hot.
“Sit.” She points to the couches, and we sit. Nobody makes a peep. Serenity engulfs the basement of Sheridan Hall as if Pooja Pravali has some sort of mind control over all of us. “I’m sensing much miscommunication.” Ain’t that the truth. I glance at Juliet sitting next to Ben, and my stomach churns with a mixture of desire and disgust. Just a few hours ago, she was across the river in my apartment, in my bed.
Pooja paces the lounge and stops at Rocco. “You have to relax. You’re a gentle soul. I can help you with some techniques to control your anger.” If any of the rest of us had said that to Rocco, he’d flip the fuck out. Pooja Pravali says it, and he flashes his teeth.
She squats in front of Frank and looks him in the eye. “I will talk to you privately.” She takes Frank’s freaked out face in her hands. He softens but doesn’t smile.
Juliet catches my eye and shrugs. Pooja walks to the couch, where Juliet sits with Ben and Megan.
“My roommate, yes?”
Juliet nods and Pooja smiles at her. “I knew you’d be perfect.” She bends down in front of a stunned Juliet. “But you are missing a half.”
Missing a half? Juliet remains silent, but for the first time I see greys around her rather than her usual pinks and reds. I want to be the one to console her, but Ben puts his arm around her. My chest tightens. No matter how awesome last night was, I may never be the one sitting next to Juliet.
Pooja stands and I watch her place a hand on Megan’s shoulder. She looks around the room. Her eyes stop on me.
“There are so many mixed emotions here. I don’t know what’s going on, but I can tell you all have to follow your hearts to get where you need to be.” What the fuck?
“You.” Pooja points to Maggie, who must have snuck in during my Pooja trance. “You need to be truthful.” Maggie grimaces and scoffs.
“Yeah,” Rodrigo whines. He’s the only one of us who’s talked in Pooja’s presence. He stands and points to Maggie and Win, “You two—”
Pooja interrupts him and looks toward Rod. “But you should stop being so bitter.” Rodrigo shuts up and sits back down.
Pooja studies our little dysfunctional group. “I’m told this University promotes unity as a goal. I don’t see any unity here. I see only drama and confusion. I will help you if you will promise me one thing.”
We all stare, waiting for her words.
“You must promise me you will be honest. With honesty, everything else will fall into place. Honesty is unity. Unity is love.”
Pooja reaches for Juliet’s hand. “Come, Juliet Anderson. Show me our room.” She leads a wide-eyed Juliet out of the lounge.
The rest of us sit in silence until Ben grumbles. “What the heck was that?”
“That was Pooja Pravali,” Rocco answers. He stands and paces, his eyes wide. “And I think I just fell in love.”
Megan giggles. “Do you think she’s psychic or something?”
I roll my eyes and stand up. I can’t deal with this right now. “Whatever she is, at least she calmed everyone down. I’m going back to bed.” I look at Ben. “Good luck with your game today, man.”
“Shit, my game! I’m late.” Ben kisses Megan on the cheek. “I’ll text you later.”
Everyone disperses. Megan follows me down the hallway. “Hey, Chase? Can I talk to you?”
Two women in love with my roommate is too much to bear. I want to say no, but Megan is so damn sweet I don’t know how. “What’s up?”
I open the door and she follows me into my room. “Do you know what’s going on with Ben and Juliet?”
That’s the question of the year. “I have no idea. He insists they’re just friends.”
Megan sighs. “I asked her if I could ask him out. She said yes, so I did. Then when we’re out, Ben has a freak out and tells me he can’t date me because of her.”
I shut my eyes and drop my head. Megan must have misunderstood. “What exactly did he say?”
“Something about how he has to try? I don’t know. They have this…connection…and she’s…she’s gorgeous, you know?”
Yeah, I know. “I don’t know what to tell you. They have some weird cat-and-mouse thing going on. Maybe it’s best to let them play it out.” I shrug, acting like I don’t care. Fuck my life.
“You’re right. I don’t have the energy to fuck around with that shit.” My eyes pop at Megan’s harsh words. When she sees my look, she tilts her head and crosses her arms over her chest. “What?” she huffs.
“I can’t believe you just cursed like that.” Megan’s full of surprises. “Now get out, dirty mouth. I want to sleep.”
I p
oke her back. She laughs as I maneuver her to the door. When she’s gone, I lay down on my bed for a few more hours of sleep. My eyes don’t want to shut. Images of Juliet from the night before race through my mind—the train, my room, a few moments ago in the lounge.
The more I think about Juliet, the more I realize it will never work with us. Ben’s always going to be there, sitting next to her, holding her hand, keeping that string attached even though he doesn’t truly want her. Megan’s right—it’s their damn connection.
Ben wants to try, Megan said. Great. I roll to my side and pull Ben’s extra set of sheets over my head. When my phone buzzes, I flip the sheets down and reach for it.
Text from Juliet.
Spending time with Pooja. Talk later?
I ignore her text, feeling too antsy and unsettled. I ache to draw, so I sit up and grab a sketchpad and my pastels. I let my wrists talk to me. I end up making a portrait—of Pooja. Maybe she is a master of mind control.
As I admire my work, my phone rings and Gram’s face glows at me, but when I pick up, it’s Rob. “I need to talk to you privately. As soon as possible.”
I shake my head at the ceiling. It’s barely eight in the morning and this day already sucks.
Juliet
Pooja holds each statue as she explains them to me. “And this is the Goddess of Strength.” Her thick, black hair falls over her shoulders as she speaks, and her eyes search mine as I try to pay attention.
I can’t listen to Hindu history after her performance in the lounge, so I interrupt her. “How did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“How did you talk to all of us like that when you don’t even know us?”
Pooja sits next to me on her bed. “I’m not sure you’ll understand.”
“Try me.” I smile, hoping to encourage her to trust me.
“I see things around people.” I raise my eyebrows but she continues. “What I see is indescribable, but it’s sort of like clouds around people. Clouds of color.”
She Laughs in Pink (Sheridan Hall #1) Page 10
