Aiden
I feel a nudge on my shoulder, and Grayson nods towards the tv. “Go that way,” he tells me.
I press the controller, moving to the left, squatting down until I can get a clear target. “There’s no space.”
“Right there,” he tells me, gesturing to the guy coming around the corner. “Shoot.”
I shake my head, moving more to the right. “You’re blocking me.”
In the next breath, Grayson’s character gets shot, giving my location away. We both die, and Grayson curses, letting the controller fall to the side. “You had a clear shot.”
“You’re kidding, right? You were covering him.”
He shakes his head, running a hand through his hair, and Rosie walks in, glancing at the tv. “Hey, what are you guys doing?”
“He’s ruining my street cred,” I tell her, laughing when Grayson flips me off. “My stats are going to suck.”
“We were playing a game, angel,” he tells her. “Want to join?”
She shakes her head. “I don’t think I’d be very good.”
“Easy fix,” I tell her, shuffling so she can sit next to her boyfriend. “Sit.”
She sits between us, and Grayson passes the controller to her, she stares at the buttons, clicking away, and I laugh. “See. You’re already better than your boyfriend.”
“Cocky son of a bitch.” Grayson lets out a laugh, teaching Rosie the controls and starts a new game. Poor girl dies instantly, moving around in a circle. I press my fist to my mouth, stifling any laughter when Grayson scowls at me.
“I suck,” she says.
“You don’t,” I tell her, starting up a new game. “That was pretty good for the first time.”
“You did well, Rosie,” Grayson tells her, smiling at her. “You’re always so good at everything you do. Such a quick learner.”
She blushes and his cocky grin makes me blink. “Are you guys dirty talking right in front of me?”
Grayson glances up at me but doesn’t reply. He doesn’t have to, by the way Rosie giggles, shuffling closer to him makes me think that whatever just happened was some sort of weird dirty-talking foreplay. I groan, standing up from the couch. “That’s my cue. I’m out of here.”
“Finally,” Grayson breathes out, grabbing Rosie and bringing their mouths together.
I shake my head, leaving them alone to do whatever it is they’re about to do and head upstairs.
I strip off my t-shirt as soon as I get inside, turning on the shower and letting the hot water drip down my body, engulfing me. It’s so good. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to hot water whenever I want. When I first got here, I must have raised the water bill by a fuck ton because I couldn’t stop taking showers.
I had never felt so… clean. We barely had hot water growing up, and when we did, the water was cut off for lack of paying the bills. I would sneak into school earlier than everyone else and take a shower at the gym, but then some guys from the team caught me, and I wasn’t allowed to shower there anymore. It sucked having to be the school’s reject, having to put up with the shit-talking and people thinking I was gum on the bottom of their shoe.
Which is why I will always be grateful to Grayson for taking the heat off of me freshman year. I don’t know how they found out, or who it was but rumor was one of the freshmen lived in a trailer park and had a junkie mom. I was terrified that people would find out it was me, that the few weeks I had in college being treated like an actual human being was all going to come to an end, but then Grayson stepped in and let everyone think it was him.
I love that motherfucker. I owe him so much but as much as I try to pay my way, give some money towards rent or some bills, he won’t accept it. He knows the shit I have to deal with back home and doesn’t let me spend a penny. So the least I can do is buy groceries and cook us a decent meal that doesn’t come in a box.
I turn off the shower after what feels like an hour and pick up the towel, running it over my hair. Fuck, I need a haircut. I hate the long strands. Hate feeling it under my fingertips.
I throw the towel onto the bed when I notice something on my nightstand that I’m not quite sure why it’s still there.
Leila’s hair clip she left here the night we… the night she dismissed so easily.
I pick it up and turning it over in my hands, wanting to know what she’s doing right now. I’ve barely seen her. I kept my word, she wants to be done with me, to act like that night never happened then so be it.
Too bad I can’t do the same. I can’t act like it never happened. The times I see her in class, I can’t take my eyes off her. She always sits next to this girl she seems to be friends with. I watch as she talks to her, laughs with her, smiles at her. She has such a pretty smile. If only it was directed at me.
She needs this back, right? I clutch the clip in my hands, picturing what her hair looked like that night, pinned back with this butterfly clip, the rest flowing behind her back, those rich, chocolate strands of hair that were so soft between my fingertips. I want to run my hands through it, to clutch the strands and pull her into me until those pink, plump lips part and let me inside, tasting how sweet she is when no one else is around. So sweet.
I pick up my phone from the nightstand, scrolling through until I find her name, letting out a breathy laugh when I see the name still set as what she changed it to.
Never going to happen.
That’s too bad, Leila, it already did, and like the gluttonous asshole that I am, I want it to happen again.
I pull on my sweats and throw on a clean shirt, stuff my phone in my pocket and head downstairs, not even daring to go near the living room. I send Grayson a text, smiling when I see his reply and I open the front door and head outside.
I’ve never been here before, but I know I have the right place when I see the big ass spiral doors at the front. Grayson came here all the time when he was seeing Rosie. Difference is, Rosie wanted to see him too. Leila doesn’t want anything to do with me.
This might be a mistake, but I knock on the right number before I can talk myself out of it. I can hear shuffling on the other side and then the most gorgeous pair of eyes stare back at me when she opens the door and blinks, twice, three times.
“Aiden?”
“Hey.”
She blinks again, making me grin a little. “What are you doing here?” she asks.
I grasp the small butterfly-shaped clip in my pocket and pull it out, holding it out to her. “You left this at my place the other night.” She glances down at my hand, grabbing it. “Thought I would bring it back.” It’s such a shit excuse, but it’s the only thing I could think of.
“I didn’t even know this was missing,” she says, glancing down at the clip and then back at me.
Right. Of course she wouldn’t. “Well, I thought you might need it.” I rub the back of my neck. Fuck, this is not going how I wanted it to.
She squints. “That’s the only reason you’re here?”
No. “Yep,” I say instead, stuffing my hands in my pockets. “I just wanted you to have that back,” I gesture to the clip clutched in her hands. “And now you do. So…” Well, this was a fucking dumb idea. I turn around, heading out of here before I embarrass myself further.
“Wait.”
I look behind my shoulder at her, clutching the clip in her hands, fiddling with it. “You want to come in?” she asks.
I blink, my eyes widening a little. “Yeah. Sure.” She steps inside, holding the door open for me and I enter, looking around the place. Damn, there’s a lot of windows. This place screams rich trust fund kid. “Wow, this place is nice.” Understatement. It’s so white and clean, glass vases everywhere, covered in green. Plants are spread all over the place, on the counters, tables, by the windows.
“Yeah,” she says a low chuckle coming from her. It makes me twist around to see her. Did she just… laugh? “Well, I have Rosie to thank for this. If not, I’d be living with my roommate.”
“She sounds awful,” I say, remembering how she wasn’t her biggest fan.
“She was the worst.” She rolls her eyes which makes me smile. I really like when she does that, I don’t even know why.
“What did she do?” I ask her, leaning against the wall. “She steal your soap?” I tease, grinning at her.
She shakes her head, dropping the clip on the table near the door. “More like set fire to my dorm and roll around with her boyfriend in my bed.”
My brows lift. “Damn. I’m sorry, that does sound bad.”
“Yeah.” She scoffs, crossing her arms. “That’s why I’m thankful for this place.” She turns around and grabs a glass, looking behind her shoulder at me. “You want something to drink?” she scrunches her nose. “Fair warning, I only have water and orange juice.”
I laugh, liking this side of her. “I’m good.”
She nods, fills up her glass with water and takes a sip before she turns around and leans against the sink. I watch as her eyes drop, giving me a once-over. Very obviously checking me out. Oh, Leila, you are not as done with me as you think. “So, what are you really doing here?” she asks.
“I came to bring your hair thingy.”
She rolls her eyes, setting the glass on the counter. “We both know you didn’t come all the way here to give me my stuff. Why did you even keep it?”
I shrug, deciding to be honest with her. “I wanted to see you again.”
My eyes trace the movement of her throat when she gulps, licking her lips. “I told you I don’t do repeats.”
Trust me, I can’t stop thinking about it. “I know.”
“I said I couldn’t do this again, Aiden.”
There’s no way I can stop the smirk that’s currently on my lips. “Couldn’t, huh? Not didn’t want to.”
“Aiden.”
“I’ve been racking my brain over what happened between us the other night, and I know you liked it. I know you wanted me.”
“Of course I did,” she admits. “For a night.”
“So this is your thing?” I ask her straight up. “You sleep with guys and then leave. Never see them again?”
Her brows raise, a frown painted on her lips. “Don’t you do the same?” Well shit. “I don’t see why you’d have a problem with that.”
“I didn’t think I would, but when it comes to me? Fuck yes, I have a problem with it.”
She sighs. “I don’t get why you’re so hung up on this.”
I take a step forward, watching as she stills. “I can’t stop thinking about you.”
She presses her lips together, almost stopping herself from speaking. She shakes her head and lets out a breath. “That will pass.”
“I doubt it.”
“You just need to get laid,” she tells me which makes my pulse skyrocket.
“Can’t do that.”
“Why not?” she teases, smirking. “Lost your mojo?”
I almost laugh, loving when she teases me, but I shake my head instead. “I can’t stand the thought of sleeping with some other girl when I’d just be comparing her to you.” I watch as her lips part and her breathing gets faster. “I’d picture your breathy moans under me, the way those big, round, green eyes have lived in my mind for weeks, there’s no way I could think of anyone else when all I see is your flushed cheeks and the way you moaned my name.”
“You don’t think that,” she forces out after a few seconds of silence ticking between us.
A breathy laugh escapes me when I step even closer to her. “I do.” My eyes drift down to where she’s gripping the edge of the sink behind her, almost having to hold on. She’s so damn pretty, dressed in an oversized white shirt and some little shorts underneath.
“I don’t do relationships,” she spits out, all breathless.
“Neither do I,” I tell her, looking down at those sour green eyes. “Basketball takes up all of my time,” I admit. “I’m not talking about a relationship, Leila. I don’t even know what one would look like.”
“Then what?” Her tongue pokes out, running over her bottom lip. I’m dying to taste her lips again.
I cup her face, loving how she melts into my touch, and looks up at me. “We had fun, right?” Those beautiful eyes stare back at me for a second before she nods, licking her lips again. I do something a little risky and graze my fingers along the material of her shirt, unbuttoning the first button. The little gasp I elicit from her making me lose focus. “We had so much fucking fun.” I unbutton the second button, the edge of a lace bra peeking through.
“What do you say we make this a regular thing?” I ask her, unbuttoning another button.
She stills, sucking in a breath when she places her hand on top of mine, stopping me. I think I’ve gone too far, scared her off when she says, “Like friends with benefits?”
I shrug. “Something like that.”
“I’ve never done that before,” she admits, her honeyed breathy voice making my dick hard.
“First time for everything.”
“We’re barely even friends,” she teases, bringing out a soft chuckle out of me. Fuck, I really have missed having her around.
“We can be whatever you want to be. What do you say?”
I can see the wheels spinning around in that pretty head of hers. “We need to establish some boundaries,” she says, pressing a hand against my chest, playing with the material of my t-shirt. “Rules.”
“Rules?”
She nods, glancing up at me. “For example, rule number one. No one finds out about this.”
“Why? Are you embarrassed to be seen with me?” I lift my brow.
She rolls her eyes. Fuck, that makes me want to kiss her so bad. Knowing she’s willing to get rid of her ‘no repeats’ rule makes me ecstatic, if I have to put up with some other ridiculous rules then so fucking be it, as long as I get to kiss her again. “So cocky.”
I tut, letting my hands drift to her hips, her full body filling my palms. Missed this. “Not cocky, baby. Confident.”
“Don’t call me baby,” she chastises, narrowing her eyes at me. “No nicknames.”
“None at all?”
She seems to mull it over, shrugging. “As long as they don’t gross me out.”
“I’m sure I’ll come up with something.” I give her a grin. She shakes her head but I can see the small smile on her lips. “We keep it a secret and no nicknames. Got it. Anything else?” I just want to kiss her. I want to pull her into me and brush my lips against hers, taste that pure fucking sugar I can still taste on my lips.
“No sleeping over,” she says, making my stomach drop a little. I’m not the biggest fan of that rule.
“You’re joking.”
She shakes her head. “It’s too intimate. We need to make sure we keep this casual.”
“Fine,” I concede. “Anything else?”
She lifts her arms, wrapping them around my neck. Fuck, just kiss me already. “We don’t get jealous, and we don’t put pressure on this,” she says. “When one of us is free, we fuck.”
I scoff, drifting my hands to her ass. “Don’t flatter me with such romance.”
“You don’t want romance,” she says, leaning up into me. “You want quick, easy, dirty sex in the dark, and I’m willing to make that work.”
“You’re serious?” I ask her, wanting to rip every shred of clothing from her. “You want to do this?”
She shrugs. “You weren’t completely horrible last time.”
I laugh, leaning down until my lips barely brush against hers. “I’m going to remind you how good I made you feel, gorgeous.”
I smash my lips against hers, loving how she groans and pulls me into her. She wants closer. More. And I’m willing to give her whatever she wants.
