Well, that was easier than I was expecting. I always believed blackmail would be the only way to get her to come into my room after agreeing to just be friends. That word still leaves a sour taste in my mouth. The way she looked at me and sauntered off to the bathroom seemed hardly friendly to me. She’s either the biggest cock tease or she wants me as much as I want her. I’m hoping for the latter, especially after such a crappy day.
The minute she shut the door, I spun on my heel, quickly scanning the room to make sure there isn’t any wayward socks or boxers lying around. I picked up a couple of pairs of dirty white tube socks and threw them into my almost overflowing laundry basket. I’m not a neat freak like Adam, but I certainly don’t like living in a pile of dirty clothes. Not that I have a crazy amount of clothes anyway, I prefer to save my money, sending it home if I have any spare.
I locked my door, learning from last time and not wanting to get interrupted. By Adam most specifically. I still haven’t had much time to figure out how I’m going to approach the Reign subject with him. I’ve only seen him at practice and dinner with the guys, so it’s not like there’s been ample opportunity to mention it. I know he’s interested in her still. I heard he’s been walking her to school, being the chivalrous guy that he is. but she’s not some high school sweetheart he can impress with his kindness. She’s my girl.
As much as I enjoyed Reign drooling over my chest, and yes, I noticed, I don’t want to scare her away or make her think I only invited her over for sex. Truth is, there’s so much more I want from her, I just don’t know if either one of us is ready to admit it.
‘Devin?’ Her faint voice reached my ears. She’s standing by her railings timidly smiling and her beauty takes my breath away. Scanning down her body, I try hard to stifle a chuckle. The gray hoodie swallows her petite frame, and her red flannel shorts are so baggy that I think I could fit in them with her. Something I wouldn’t mind trying later. My eyes drop to the black furry socks her feet are settled into and I’ve always wondered why girls wear those. It makes them look like hobbits with hairy feet.
Shuffling over, I offer my hand out before I get to her. ‘Let me help you,’. She takes my hand pulls herself up, letting her feet gain traction on the metal railing. She’s still a little short so I lean over, ready to haul her over the three-foot ledge.
I clasped her hips over the hoodie, but my fingers slip when I try to lift her. ‘I can’t get a good grip.’ I tell her honestly and she nods silently, lifting her hoodie up to reveal a small sliver of her toned, tanned stomach.
She inhales sharply as my cold hands touch her warm skin, goosebumps prickling as she watches my hands on her. Instinctively, my thumb rubs circles around her hip. Catching her eye, her cheeks pinken and when she looks like that, all I want to do is pick her up and throw her on my bed. I don’t though. Instead, as she bends her knees, I start to lift, kicking her legs up and I easily lift her over the railing. I lift more at the gym to warm my muscle up.
As she falls into the room, I pull her towards me, wrapping my arms around her back, still under the hoodie. I pretend it’s to help balance her but really… I just wanted an excuse to get her this close again. She still has that fruity scent I remember from the first night we met, and her hands are twisted in the fabric of my t-shirt. She’s biting her bottom lip, looking up at me with those inviting chocolate eyes. I force myself to think about old women naked just to make sure my dick doesn’t decide to make an unwelcome appearance between us. She’s so close, she’d definitely feel a hard-on.
‘You okay?’ I ask and she looks up at me breathlessly.
‘Yeah,’ she sighs as she pulls out of my hold, straightening up. She let out a gasp, looking down. ‘You put a shirt on?’ She blurted, covering her mouth with wide eyes. I’m guessing she didn’t mean to say that.
I chuckle at her awkwardness, ‘I thought you might be more comfortable if I put one on. I can take it off if you’d prefer?’ I ask while playing with the hem of it, pulling it up slowly. Her eyebrows pop up and her mouth gapes open as she squirms on her feet.
‘No, No! It’s okay,’ She can’t hide the disappointment in her eyes, and I can’t hide my smirk.
‘You sure? All you have to do is ask and I’ll get naked for you,’
Groaning, she said. ‘Oh, God. Am I going to have to go back to my room?’ She turned to the window, but I pulled her arm back forcing her to look straight at me again.
‘Nah, you’re good. Do you want a drink or anything?’
‘I’m okay” She smiled hesitantly, her eyes darting across my face. “but I would like to give you this.’ She torpedoes herself towards me and wraps her arms around my waist, squeezing me tight. I’m too wide for her arms to reach completely around me and I wonder how she can breathe with her face squished so tight into my chest. I cage her in and let her breathe me in for a few minutes. ‘I’m sorry you’ve had a shitty day. I won’t force you to talk about it, but I want you to know that I’m here for you.’ At least, I think that’s what she said. Her voice is muffled because she’s nuzzling into my chest. My shoulders relax and I immediately feel calm with her here like this. Who knew that just being around her would make me feel so much better?
‘I’d rather watch a movie if you’re up for it?’ She tips her head up at me and I get this urge to drop a kiss on those plump lips of hers. Just a short quick one that she’d hardly notice. Instead of answering that urge, I kiss her on the forehead, and she smiles at the gesture. ‘Sorry the only seat I’ve got is the bed,’ I nod over to my clean navy sheets and she smirks. ‘That wasn’t a line. I promise.’
‘I know. You’re too much of a sweetheart to use lines.’ She unwraps herself from me and takes a tentative seat on the bed. Just what every guy wants to hear… you’re a sweetheart. Instant boner killer.
‘Thanks, darlin,’ I grumble, taking a seat next to her, our shoulder’s rubbing as we relax back. As I flick through the options, I lean over. ‘Shout if you see something you want to watch.’ She plays with the laces on that old raggedy hoodie, barely taking notice of the comedy choices. ‘Can I ask you a question?’
‘Of course,’ She looks up and smiles at me. A dimple on her right cheek shows up and I want to lick it.
‘That South Point hoodie. Is it your boyfriend’s?’ I’m 99 percent sure she’s single considering she slept with me the first night and she’s here with me now, but I want to make sure before I pursue her further. For my own sanity. I’ve seen her in that hoodie one too many times now for me not to think it means something to her.
She tentatively looks down, pulling the laces again and her lips pout out. It takes her a minute to come up with an answer. ‘It’s my ex-boyfriend’s hoodie,’ She confirms, but looking disappointed at the admission. She alluded to a bad ex on the first night but didn’t give me any of the details. ‘He. Uh, well, I caught him cheating on me a few months ago.’ She pauses for just a second.
‘I’ll kill him,’ I say calmly. So calmly that Reign hopefully thinks I’m joking. I’m not. I’m seething on the inside. Who in their right mind would cheat on this girl?
She giggles quietly swatting me on the chest. ‘Nah, it’s fine. You can put your He-Man tendencies away. I’m over it.’ From the pink in her cheeks and the somber look on her face, it’s fair to say she’s not over it. ‘I just wish it wasn’t my cousin I caught him with,’ She twiddles her fingers now, refusing to make eye contact.
If I was furious before, I’m seething now. How could you do that to your family? ‘Are you serious?’
She nods with pinched lips, ‘Yeah, I moved to Louisiana in my Junior year of high school to live with my Aunt. That’s when I met Clay.’ I turn my body to face her completely. With her legs crossed in that big hoodie, she looks so tiny and vulnerable. ‘We dated through high school, then decided to go to LSU together. My cousin Ally and I shared a dorm and well, one day I found out we shared more than a dorm.’
I drag her into a hug without thinking and she seems surprised at first, but then melts into my touch. ‘I’m so sorry.’
Her next words are muted, ‘It’s okay,’ When she pulls herself away from my chest, she looks in my eyes with grit and determination. ‘Honestly, it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. I’m now back home in California, where I should have always been.’
I notice her eyes welling up. I’ve got a feeling there’s more to the story but I don’t want to push it. ‘Is that why you don’t date? Because of those two assholes?’
She shakes her head, making her whole body vibrate with movement as she straightens her shoulders up and looks directly at me biting her bottom lip, ‘Partly. A lot of stuff has happened in the last few years.’
‘What kind of stuff?’ I’m prying, I know, but I feel like she really wants to talk to someone, and it takes my mind off my own problems for a bit. Taking her small hand in mine, I rub my calloused thumb across her silky-smooth hand, trying to comfort her. ‘You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.’
‘I mean, I guess you’ll find out sooner or later.’ She says dismissively, but I can tell she’s trying really hard to show nonchalance. ‘My parents died in a car accident when I was a Sophomore in high school. Since I wasn’t 18 yet, it meant I had to move to live with my Aunt in Louisiana.’
‘Reign.’ It’s hardly a whisper because what the hell else do I say to that?
She holds her hand up. ‘Please. Don’t feel sorry for me. I’ve had more than enough of that to last a lifetime.’ She bites down on her bottom lip, only this time, it looks like it hurts. Maybe that’s her way of controlling her emotions. I don’t know what to do. I want to hug her, but that’s not what she wants. ‘It’s been five years and I know they’d want me to be happy and move on so that’s what I’ve been trying to do. I just wish I hadn’t put all my eggs in my exe’s basket.” This girl has a kinder soul than anyone I’ve ever met. “I hear he and my cousin are dating now. If anything, maybe it helped bring them together.’ She shrugs it off, like it’s no big deal. ‘And the story has a happy ending because I’m sitting here, right now, with you.’ She smiles. This time both her dimples show and something about that look squeezes my heart. She is everything.
‘You’re the strongest person I’ve ever met.’
‘Thanks,’ She mumbles out.
‘I don’t mean to sound rude but why do you still wear that idiot’s sweatshirt?’
Picking at the nail on her index finger, she shrugs. ‘Being my first love and all that jazz, he’s the only guy who’s ever given me a hoodie to wear and I like wearing it. It makes me feel safe and protected.’ Has she just inadvertently admitted that I’m the second guy she’s had sex with? I shake that thought from my head because it’s not important.
Snorting out, ‘Not sure how that Jackhole can make you feel protected anymore. How about you take one of mine instead?’ I utter before I can stop myself, groaning inwardly at my incessant need to insert myself into every part of her life even though I shouldn’t. I don’t have time for a girlfriend and she’s not in the right mindset either.
Her head sharply turns. Squinting her eyes at me, she examines me and most likely my motives for offering. I give her a smile instead of an explanation because that usually gets me out of trouble.
‘Uh,’ I hop off the bed and go to the bottom drawer of my dresser, rooting through the five sweatshirts I own.
‘I’ve got a couple of gray ones, a couple of black ones and a red one. Any of those work for you?’ I ask as I turn to look at her deer caught in headlights face.
‘Oh no, I really couldn’t.’
‘Don’t worry. I’m not going to get any ideas. I just think it’s better for you if you’re not constantly reminded of your ex every day.’ I pause for a beat. ‘You’re just borrowing a friend’s sweatshirt. That’s all it is.’ I reassure her, which seems to make her relax a little. ‘Once you’re done with it, you can just throw it over the balcony.’
‘If you’re really okay with it?’
‘I wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t.’
‘Um, alright well how about one of the gray ones?’
‘Perfect choice.’ Tossing my old high school sweatshirt her way, she immediately takes off her exe’s and I exhale a breath. I turn away while she changes, noticing she’s only wearing a white tank and no bra if those nipples were anything go by. After a few seconds, I turn back around and nearly faint. If she looked small in her ex’s hoodie, she looks minuscule in mine. All kinds of fantasies swirl in my head of her naked underneath, straddling me on the bed and I scrape my hand over my face, trying to shake the thoughts away before I do something stupid like try and act them.
‘Thanks,’ she smiles and snuggles further into my sweatshirt. My chest constricts watching her. I put it down to a hard chest day at the gym and not to my potentially growing feelings for her. The sweatshirt is so big on her, she brings her legs under it and holds them tight as she sits on my bed.
‘Are you cold?’ I ask and she does a half-nod, half-shrug. ‘You can go under the covers if you want. I washed my sheets yesterday.’ At first, she looks like she’s deciding what to say or do but then her need for warmth takes over and she slips under.
I join her on the bed but lay on top of the sheets. As much as I want to be under there with her, I don’t want to make her feel uncomfortable. She moves close to my side, leaning her head on my shoulder and letting out an audible relaxed sigh. I consider wrapping my arm around her, what with that confession earlier, I feel like we bonded, but I decide better of it. Tossing her the remote, I say, ‘I can’t decide, you pick something.’
She silently picks an old movie I’ve never heard of. I don’t care at this point, I won’t be watching or concentrating. ‘In case you want to change it,’ She says as she rests the remote on my thigh.
As we sit in silence, the only noise comes from the tv and I try my best to concentrate but I can’t. I had so much on my mind before Reign opened up that now my brain is exploding with everything that happened today. Covering my face, I sigh in frustration, wishing I could stop thinking about it all, but the memories keep coming back.
My sister, Chloe called me this morning. She was yelling frantically, and I couldn’t make out what was wrong because she was hysterical. Skipping my classes didn’t help solve the problem because I’m twelve hours away from home. When I finally managed to get through to my mom, I found out Chloe had gone out again and was hammered. At the ripe old age of seventeen, my sister was an alcoholic. How do you try and explain that to anyone without them thinking you come from some abusive household? We didn’t by the way.
In fact, before all of this happened, we were just your usual run of the mill family. Loving wife with a doting husband and two kids. Now, it’s just temper tantrum after temper tantrum with Chloe and it’s exhausting to say the least. It kills me that people blame my mom when I’ve seen her try everything to help her over the last year. It’s not like she’s not dealing with her own shit either. Her husband, my dad, left us. When the going got tough, my dad left and now it’s up to me to try and mend the broken pieces of our family.
Chloe hasn’t been the same since her best friend died of an overdose. You’d think that would make her stop completely, but it seems it’s fueled her on. When I’ve confronted her about it, she says that alcohol is the only thing that gets her mind off it, and when she’s not using mouth wash as a shot, she’s out trying to find someone who would buy her beer. We’ve tried everything to help her over the last couple of years but it’s almost like she doesn’t want to change, like she doesn’t care about anything. Not even my mom and I.
We know she needs professional help. It’s to the point now where we can’t control her, but my entire body shrivels when I think about how we’d pay for it without me entering the draft early. I did manage to talk Chloe into taking a nap at home instead of going out and partying today. That’s only today though. It’s a temporary solution. She will go out and get drunk again. It’s just a matter of time. She’s broken and it breaks me that I can’t be there to help her more. We were so close growing up but now I feel like I’m just talking to a hallowed version of her.
My thoughts are interrupted when I hear a soft snore coming from my side. Without noticing, Reign has snuggled into my torso, her little hand rests on my chest as her cheek uses my bicep as a pillow. A smile grows on my face as I look down at her messy bun and how relaxed she is, and a wave of calm rushes over me. She still feels comfortable enough to sleep on me. Just like that, I’ve forgotten about everything. The only thing that matters right now is the two of us.
I carefully placed her head on my pillow so I could get up and get ready for bed. I figure I’ll leave my shirt on; I don’t want her waking up tomorrow thinking I’d taken advantage of the situation. Removing my jeans and turning off the tv and lights, I pull the covers from the other side of the bed and get in. Lying on my back, I stared at the ceiling and looked over at Reign. She’s nestled into one of my pillows looking like she belongs here. Twiddling my thumbs, I feel her roll over towards me. She’s like a kitten looking for warmth as she curls herself into my side. Her leg drapes over mine and I raise my arm so she can rest her head on my chest.
Even though her messy bun is tickling my face and all I can breathe in is the sweet smell of her shampoo, I’m not about to move her. This is the happiest and most relaxed I’ve been all day and I’m not about to ruin that.
