by K. G. Reuss
It wasn’t like I could blame her. After years of tormenting one another, my actions were out of character. Hell, they were out of character for me altogether. I was never sweet and meaningful to other women. When I told Lexy she was beautiful, it was the first time in my life I’d said something to a woman and meant it. Maybe that was the problem. But why? Why did I do it?
“Why not?” Helen pouted, moving to straddle me, her tits in my face.
I let out a sigh, my mind yanked back to Helen’s dorm room. “I don’t know. Stress, I guess. Big game coming up.”
“Oh, let me help you with that then. Maybe you need something else,” she cooed, kissing my lips.
I didn’t kiss her back. Instead, I hauled in a sharp breath as she moved off me and slid my cock out of my jeans. She ran her hand up and down the velvety length. Shit wasn’t even hard. A first for me.
“Sit back and close your eyes,” she instructed in a silky voice, her tongue darting out to taste me.
I did as she instructed, not even remotely in the mood. Her warm mouth bobbed up and down on my soft dick.
What the hell was wrong with Lexy? She acted like no one had ever called her beautiful before. The girl had it going on.
Sure, we’d fought over the years, me always trying to get a rise out of her or vice versa, but she didn’t need to lose her shit on me when I tried being nice. Scratch that.
I wasn’t trying to be nice. I was telling her the truth. She was beautiful. It pissed me off that she’d think otherwise. What I wouldn’t give to thread my fingers through her hair, to kiss those pink, pouty lips, to feel her warmth as I entered that soft pussy I knew she’d kept to herself. I’d make love to her so good she’d never want another man. Or at least I hoped she wouldn’t.
I squeezed my eyes closed tighter as Helen sucked my cock, Lexy on my mind. The tightness of my sudden erection was full force.
I imagined what her body would look like beneath her clothes. Lush, full breasts. Tiny, peaked, suckable nipples. Kissable. In my mind, I ran my fingers over her soft skin, causing goosebumps to erupt along her toned abdomen. I imagined her pert little ass cheeks. I pictured taking her nipple into my mouth, nibbling it. Suckling it. In my mind, I saw the way she’d throw her head back in ecstasy, her red hair cascading down her back like hot lava as she straddled me. I’d thread my fingers through her hair, tugging her head back as I entered her tight pussy, claiming it as mine. Branding her with my kiss. In my mind, Lexy was all mine.
“Fuck,” I hissed as the tingling in my balls grew. The idea of fucking the blush off Lexy’s face had me spilling my load into Helen’s mouth amid a loud moan. It took every effort I had not to call out Lexy’s name as I came hard and fast.
When I opened my eyes, it was Helen, not Lexy, smiling up at me, wiping at her mouth.
“I think that helped.” Helen giggled.
I swallowed, fear bubbling up within me. It definitely hadn’t helped. I’d just had an orgasm while envisioning a girl who hated me. A girl I’d never be able to have.
What the hell was happening to me?
Nine
Lexy
“Good morning,” I called out to Ava who sat at the kitchen table, mauling a bowl of cereal before she had to leave for class. She grunted a response, her phone in her hand.
I poured myself some sugary sweetness and sat across from her.
“What are we doing for the long weekend we have coming up?”
“Uh, well, I’ll probably catch up my Egyptian documentary—”
“What if I told you that Uncle Marty just sent me an email offering us his place in Vegas for Labor Day weekend?”
I raised my brows at her. “Vegas? For a long weekend? Don’t you want to go to the beach?”
“Screw the beach. I want to play slot machines.” She grinned at me. “He said it’s ours if we want it.”
“I know your uncle is loaded and all, but why is he letting us stay there?”
Ava shrugged. “Uncle Marty doesn’t have any kids. He’s always doted on me and my sister. Hell, he probably offered her his villa in Italy since she’s the favorite.”
I chuckled. “I think I’ll pass on the Vegas break.”
“Are you serious?” Ava demanded, her mouth falling open. “It’s paid for. Uncle Marty said he’d even pay the travel expenses. You know he’s good for it. Last year, he sent me to Mexico for spring break, remember? You bailed then too! Come on, Lex! Please! Do this with me!” She jutted her bottom lip out and gave me puppy dog eyes.
I sighed. “Can I think about it?”
“Yes, but not too long. I told him I’d let him know tonight.” She got up with her empty cereal bowl and washed it before turning back to me.
“What happened with you and Travis last night in the bathroom?”
“What?” I yelped, heat flooding my cheeks.
“I went to check on you and cracked the door to find you together in the bathroom.” She gave me a smug look. “You two looked awfully cozy.”
I scoffed at her description. “We weren’t cozy. In fact, after you guys went to play pool, he had the nerve to say I was beautiful. Can you believe that?”
“Yeah.” She shrugged.
I gave her an incredulous look.
She was thoughtful before she spoke again. “I mean, maybe all these years of animosity and repressed sexual tension were too much to take so he finally snapped.”
“Christ, Ava, are you still drunk?” I groaned.
“No,” she laughed. “Hear me out. If this were last week, I’d agree with you and think it was nothing. But I saw him last night. He kept looking at you like he wanted to say something. Almost like he was hungry, and you were a t-bone steak on the dollar menu.”
“Oh, whatever.” I let out a snort of laughter at the ridiculousness of her words. “Travis hates me. He always has. That’s why we’re always at each other’s throats. That’s nature. Not nurture.”
“Say what you want, hon. I know what I saw.”
“You were also under the influence of a ninety-nine-cent pitcher of house beer,” I pointed out.
She shrugged with a giggle. “True. But I don’t know, Lex. I have a feeling something is about to happen between you two.”
I shook my head vehemently. “The only thing that’s about to happen is I give him the ass kicking he’s been begging for all these years.”
When I finished classes for the day, my cell vibrated in my pocket. I sighed, staring down at my phone. Travis had texted me, citing we needed to meet up to talk about our project since we didn’t get to the night before.
Java Hut seemed like a safe zone, so there I was, sipping my French Vanilla Latte, waiting for him. He was already twenty minutes late. It shouldn’t have surprised me. The guy would be late to his own funeral.
Deciding I’d rather be home watching the documentary on Egyptian pyramids that I’d had on hold for the last week, I rose to my feet and gathered my stuff. If he had something he wanted to discuss, he could message it to me.
“Where are you going?” Travis called out.
I looked over to see him striding toward my table, his dark hair windswept, his green eyes filled with concern. Ugh. Why’d he have to look so good?
“Home. I have things I want to do. Sitting here waiting for you to show up seemed like a waste of time.”
“I’m here now,” he protested as I shouldered my messenger bag and grabbed my latte off the table. I was glad I got it in a to-go cup. That spoke volumes about my faith in Travis showing up.
“And I’m leaving. You can message me whatever you wanted to talk to me about. My email is in the pinned post on our class’s online syllabus. Have a good weekend.” I made to move past him, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop.
“Stay. Please. I’m sorry I was late. We had an issue at the frat house I was trying to take care of.”
I studied his face for a moment with narrowed eyes. “What sort of issue? Naked sorority girls taking over?”
“No. Mason and Jay set a goat loose in the house. It made a hell of a mess. Can you imagine explaining to a professor why a goat ate your homework?”
I let out a loud laugh, staring at him in disbelief. He only gazed back at me with a straight face.
“Are you serious?” I laughed. “You think I believe that?”
“Call Alex and ask him. The goat shit on his bed.” He offered me his phone with a straight face. “Actually, wait.” He pulled his phone back and thumbed through it for a moment. “Look at this,” he said holding his phone out.
On the screen was a bored looking goat with a bit of black fabric hanging out of its mouth.
“You want to guess what he’s eating?”
I chewed on my lower lip and shook my head.
“My boxers, Lexicon. Stupid, fucking goat.”
I giggled. “I think he’s cute.”
He scowled at me for a minute. “You would. Next time, I’ll bring him to your place and see how cute you think Billy Goat Gruff is when he’s making a buffet out of your stuff.”
I eyed Travis’s phone for a moment, then him. He was still wearing a straight face.
“Fine. I’ll forgive you for being late.”
“Thank you,” he breathed out a sigh of relief and gestured for me to sit.
I did so, pulling my notebook back out of my bag. “What did you want to discuss?” I tapped my pen against the pad of paper. When I glanced at him, I found him staring back at me, a strange look I’d never seen in his eyes before. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, pushing thoughts on what was going on with him out of my head.
He cleared his throat. “I wanted to make sure we were on the same page. I meant what I said about being exclusive for the project. I want our marriage to function, to work. It’s important we get a good grade on this.”
I scoffed at him but didn’t argue the point about grades. Instead, I addressed another issue. “You want to be exclusive? You don’t want to screw other people for the rest of the semester?”
“I won’t if you won’t,” he countered, winking at me.
Ah, there was the Travis I knew. I sneered at him and shook my head. “That’s not funny, Travis.”
“Yeah, it is,” he said gently. “I’m only teasing, Lexicon. I know you won’t do anything. Or that you don’t do anything—”
“OK. We got it,” I snapped at him. “It’s not a joke, Travis.”
“I’m not saying it is,” he protested, wide-eyed, his hands raised in surrender. “I mean, it is a joke, but not a bad joke...” He sighed, looking flustered. “I’m sorry.”
“Whatever. Here’s the deal. I don’t care about exclusiveness. I care about getting a good grade. You can continue to screw your way through the entire student population if you want. I’ll write the report. I’ll do the presentation. I’ll manage finances. We can already put down that we were married less than a month before we decided a divorce was the best course of action. That takes the aspect of having children off the table later, so we won’t have to add our plans for kids to the report.” I checked off the boxes I’d listed in my notebook before his arrival.
“Wait, that sounds like I don’t get a say—”
“Welcome to being married to me,” I said, snapping my notebook closed. “I’ll take care of everything.”
“No.” He snatched my notebook from me and opened it. His brows furrowed as he read what I’d written. “No kids. Divorce? Irreconcilable differences? I can’t manage finances. We could be on the verge of losing our apartment because of my inability to stop partying and drinking? I’m a cheater?” He stared up at me, his green eyes stormy. “That’s bullshit, Hale, and you know it.”
I shrugged, snatching my notebook away from him. “It’s not like anyone would question it.”
“You’re fucking ridiculous. You know that?” he hissed at me, leaning forward in his seat, his eyes glittering with anger. “Is that how you think I am? That I can’t keep my dick in my pants? That if you were married to me, I’d risk losing our home just to party? That I don’t want kids? That I-I’d cheat on you?”
“Travis, it’s not real. It’s just a project—”
“A project that you made me look like a fucking asshole on!” he shot back through clenched teeth. “I don’t know what person you think you know, but I can tell you one thing, the jerk in that notebook is not me, Lexy. It’s fucking not.”
I shook my head at him, angry. “What do you care? You’ll get an A, and we won’t have to deal with each other.”
“What if I wanted to do this project? Huh? What if I wanted a say?”
“Then you can agree to what I have and keep on doing whatever you do, Travis.”
He shook his head at me. “You’re unbelievable.”
“Hey, Lexy. Travis.” Mason grinned down at us. “Uh, hope I’m not interrupting.”
“You’re not.” I gave Mason a tight smile at the same time Travis claimed he was interrupting.
“Well, I won’t stay long at any rate. I saw you in the window and wanted to tell you that Ava told me about the trip, and I’m all in.”
“Wait. What? You’re in?” I stared up at him blankly.
“Yeah, she asked Alex too, and he said yes. We’re all going to Vegas. Coach is giving us a long weekend if we win our game on Thursday. And we’re going to. No classes Monday anyway. It’s perfect.”
“I’m in too,” Travis grunted.
“You weren’t invited,” I snapped at him.
He held up his phone, a message from Ava inviting him on display. “Looks like I was.”
I shook my head at him. Before I could answer, Mason cut me off by addressing Travis.
“Yo, man, that chick you left with last night dropped by, looking for you. Said she was hoping for another taste. I hope you didn’t get too attached because she slept with Ronnie since you weren’t home.”
I stared at Travis, whose face flushed red.
“Not a cheater, huh?” I chuckled darkly. “Exclusive for the project? Yeah. I think my assessment was spot on.”
I got to my feet and grabbed my bag and coffee.
“See you, Mase.”
“Damnit, Lexy. Wait,” Travis called out to me.
I didn’t stop. I kept walking, leaving him and his bullshit behind.
Ten
Travis
“Damnit, Mason,” I groaned, watching as Lexy got into her car and left.
“What did I do?”
“I was trying to fix things with her. You just screwed them up.” I launched into telling him more about our project and how she was pissed at me because I turned out to be pretty much spot on with the whole cheating thing after preaching I’d never do that. In my defense, she hadn’t agreed to it yet.
“I didn’t know, man. You and Lexy are always fighting.”
“I know. She’s a pain in my ass,” I grumbled, staring out at the spot she’d been parked in.
“You like her.”
“She hates me.”
“And you like her.” He sat back in his seat and gave me a knowing look.
“She’s Alex’s sister. I care—”
“You like her,” he repeated.
“I don’t know. I’m confused.”
“I’m here to tell you to let it go. A girl like Lexy wants the world.”
“I could give her the world.” My voice was barely above a whisper.
“Maybe. Maybe not. I’ll tell you one thing though, don’t put your dick where it doesn’t belong. If Alex catches wind of you wanting his sister, he’ll kick your ass. You know how he is about Lexy.”
I nodded. “I know. I won’t do anything like that. I-I just… I don’t know.” I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. “I think she’s a cool chick. She grates on my last nerve. But there’s something about her I can’t get out of my head.”
Mason gave me a sympathetic look. “Hang in there, buddy. I think Lexy clings around in a lot of guys’ minds.”
I grimaced at the tho
ught of anyone envisioning her the way I had.
“You’re really going to Vegas?” Mason asked after a brief silence.
“Hell yeah. Free travel? I’m in.”
Mason grinned. “We leave in a few days. We need to goat-proof the house before we go in case the guys decide to one-up me.”
“Fuck,” I sighed. “We better get going then.”
“Did you talk to Lexy?” I asked Alex, coming into his room the morning before our trip to Vegas.
He looked over his shoulder at me as he zipped his suitcase closed.
“Yeah.”
“And?” I prompted. “Is she coming?”
“No. Said something about some Egyptian documentary she wanted to watch.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I shook my head in disbelief. “Did you tell her she could bring the damn thing with her?”
“I did. She said to kiss her ass and stop telling her what to do.”
“So it’s just us guys and Ava?”
“Looks that way.”
“That’s bullshit.” I grumbled, folding my arms over my chest.
“What’s the big deal if Lexy goes, anyway? All you two do is fight.”
“We have that project due at the end of the semester. Me jetting off to Sin City while she wallows around at home watching documentaries isn’t exactly working on it.”
“Then convince her to go. She already told me to kick rocks.”
“How the hell am I going to do that?” I asked, hoping he had an idea.
He shrugged, looking thoughtful. “How about just asking her to go? Or maybe, asking Ava to ask her to go. Ava seems to be able to talk her into anything. She’s probably your best bet. I don’t like leaving Lexy here with no one around anyway, so I’m on board with whatever you guys do to change her mind.”
I grinned, clapping him on the back. “I’m on it.”
“Hey,” I greeted Ava when she answered her door.
She raised an eyebrow at me in response.
“Uh, is Lexy here?”
