That Bubbling Feeling: A Feel Good Roommate Romance Novel

Chapter 33

Jonah, That Afternoon

“I’m telling you,” June said from the other side of my closed bedroom door. “This thing will become your new best friend.”

“I don’t know,” Kai answered. “I’m not sure anything could help me at this point. I’m totally fucked.”

“Believe me. You don’t need him for shit. I love him, but you can do it yourself. If you’re interested in this stuff again, you should explore it.”

Who the hell was she talking about? In terms of men June loved, the options were Oli, me, and her father. Of those three options, only one coincided with Kai needing to be told he wasn’t necessary for shit.

Dammit.

The knob creaked, and the door swung open. I watched from my seat at my desk as both girls entered. Kai looked down at her hands. An opened, plastic box sat in one, and a small, teal-colored toy sat in the other. June eyed me and smacked Kai on the shoulder quickly. Kai immediately looked up and froze, both girls surprised to see me.

I should’ve been at the studio. Kai should have been, too, but I insisted they go get another coffee. A longer one, this time.

“I thought you’d be gone,” Kai said quickly, holding the items in her hands closer to her chest as if that would hide them from me.

“We’re practically finished recording. I thought you’d be out,” I muttered, staring at the object wrapped in her fingers. How dare she bring that shit into our room? What the hell did she think she was going to do with a vibrator in here? I lived here.

Fucking June, sewing shitty advice into her head. Fucking Kai, listening.

“Oli just texted,” June said with a forced friendliness. He most certainly had not just texted. “He’s finishing up a meal with Noah. I should go pick him up so he doesn’t have to call a car.”

“You bitch!” Kai said as June spun out of the room and left us here alone. The front door opened, and Kai looked in the direction of it until it shut. When she turned back to me, her mouth was hanging open like she was waiting for words to simply appear on her tongue.

“Would you like to tell me what exactly you’re thinking of doing with that?” I asked, eyeing the toy in her hand.

“Uhm.” She shook her head. “Well, I… It’s stupid. The girls and I went shopping. June said…”

“Touch yourself all you want, Kai, but not in my room.” Not in my room or I’d lock myself in here and explode at the thought of it. I’d wrap myself in the sheets she lay upon while doing it and live with my hand on my cock for the rest of my fucking life.

Her mouth snapped shut, her shoulders straightening out as she looked down on me. “I thought it was our room.” She walked to my desk and placed both the box and her phone down on the surface before lifting the toy up in one hand. “I think people usually touch themselves in bed, don’t they? You haven’t had sex in years, Jojo. You of all people would know.” Malice welled in those cinnamon eyes. I knew exactly what she was getting at, and my brain unraveled into one long string of uselessness at the thought of it.

“I have self-control and respect for the other person who shares this room.”

“I don’t,” she said happily as she turned away and dropped herself onto my bed. I swung around in my chair to watch her. To surveil her. She unzipped her pants slowly as she stared at me. As if she were testing me. As if she weren’t really going to do it. But she didn’t stop. Moments passed, and the zipper hit its limit. She tucked her thumbs into the top of her jeans as her grin grew wider. I couldn’t take that risk.

“You will not,” I gritted through my teeth. Rage pooled in my chest as I slid the palms of my hands roughly over the armrests of my chair.

“Just put your headphones on and get back to work. You won’t notice a thing.” Her voice was so sugary, so poisonous.

“Some discretion would be appreciated…”

I was about to tell her to fuck off to the bathroom, but she cut in enthusiastically. “Oh, of course!” She pulled my blanket over her body, shielding herself. “So sorry, Jojo. Do continue what you were doing.”

I watched as she hid herself under the covers. She shifted around for a few quick seconds, getting comfortable in my bed. The faint noise of vibrations started, and she… Oh god. Little squeaks and moans made their way through the fabric of the sheets, tickling my ears.

She’s not. She wouldn’t.

My head swirled. I stood from my seat, ripping my belt from its loops as I approached her. When I peeled the covers back, I found her face up and fully dressed, moaning at nothing, holding the vibrator to one side. She laughed in my face like a little fucking brat, and my good sense slipped away entirely. I snapped her wrists in my hands, the toy falling to the mattress beside her. In an instant, I had her tied in my leather belt, hands joined, strapped to the black, metal frame of my bed.

“Jonah!” She squirmed, shocked by the bind she found herself in. Her arms lifted above her head, fingers wiggling, wrists turning, but to no avail. She was trapped. She looked so pretty like that.

I picked up the vibrator and turned it off, leaning over my pretty girl. “Try to touch yourself now.”

“That’s not funny, you asshole!”

I smiled. “You could have gone to the bathroom. You could have gone to Oli and June’s room for all I fucking care.”

“I wanted to do it here.” She flashed me a full grin, cocking her head and sweetening those wide eyes for me.

I leaned down further, bracing my hands on the bed to murmur in her perfect, studded ear. “If you want to get off in my bed so badly, I will turn this piece of crap back on, put it right on that little clit, zip your jeans so it doesn’t budge, and I will leave you here alone, tied up, screaming for as long as I see fit.”

She gasped. “Now it seems like you do want me to do it here.” Of fucking course, I did. I wanted her to do it everywhere. All over my sheets, my pillows, my face. Wherever the fuck she wanted. My sanity be damned. “June only showed me that thing because she thought I’d like it. I prefer you do it, though.”

I placed my face in front of hers and ran a thumb over her bottom lip, momentarily considering it. Fuck, she felt so soft. And she couldn’t have been clearer. She wanted me. She really did.

She only prefers I do it because she trusts me. She just needs a play thing to explore before she moves on.

A hard swallow brought me back to reality. “Now you get neither.”

I moved quickly to drop the toy in the drawer of my nightstand, right next to her. Poor thing. So out of reach. I then sat back down in my chair and turned to my computer, placing my headphones over my ears and turning the volume on high.

◆◆◆

Kai

Maybe if I move my hips around, my jeans will rub me the right way.

No, fuck. That doesn’t help the situation, you slut.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

I kicked one foot frustratedly, attempting to get the attention of the major, humongous, shithead-asshole sitting in front of me with those stupid fucking headphones on.

No reaction. Obviously.

I reached my toes as far as I possibly could, channeling all the information I learned in ballet class as a child. Elongate, extend, think of energy shooting out of your feet that surpasses your own extremities. I pointed my toe as far as I possibly could, desperately trying to make contact with the ass-hat’s shoulder.

Nope.

Fuck.

On the desk arose my saving grace after hardly two full minutes of torture. My phone, which sat next to Jonah’s keyboard, lit up with a call. Jonah slid the headphones off his head and picked it up as he spun around, staring me down as he answered like some sort of evil villain. Fuck, he was a hot villain.

“Hi, June… She’s a little busy right now…”

“June! Jonah is depriving me! Tell him to get a fucking grip!”

Faint sounds of June’s voice came through the line.

“She’s strapped to my bed frame, if you must know… My belt… Because she’s being a brat. Why did you call, June?”

More faint noises I couldn’t make out.

“Do you want anything to eat, Kai?” Jonah asked casually. “June is going to pick something up for herself.”

“I’ll take a fucking shiv, thanks!”

“She’s not hungry,” he answered with a polite smile. “Okay, June… No. I can assure you we won’t be… Come home whenever.”

Jonah ended the call and placed my phone back on his desk. He faced me, resting one elbow on the armrest and scratching his jaw with two delicious fingers. His composure made me explode with rage. Or desire. Or frustration. Fuck if I knew.

“You’re darker than I thought,” I said. I liked it. A lot. The transition from hating sex to loving this was a steep one, but that evidently didn’t stop me. I was helpless.

Jonah got up from his seat and approached me. His hands gently undid my ties, releasing the cutting pressure that had built through to my fingers. A large hand wrapped around each of my wrists and turned them up so he could see them. There were subtle red marks around both. Jonah kissed each of them lightly, and little tickles spread through my body at the sweet contact. He said nothing, but he seemed to have softened over a bit.

“I’m having a really hard time understanding what you want from me, Jonah,” I said.

His eyes fell as he took a deep breath. Two seconds in, two seconds out. “We’re…friends.”

“Oh!” I feigned understanding and pulled my wrists from him, sitting up on the edge of the bed. His hands remained in place, holding the air I’d just occupied. “That’s really insightful, Jo. Thank you. You’ve cleared up all my doubts.”

Dick.

I stood from the bed and stomped toward the bedroom door.

If he didn’t want to have an honest conversation with me, then, frankly, I wasn’t sure how good of friends we really were. He could’ve said he wasn’t interested in me, which would’ve been a lie but would’ve ended this. He could’ve said he wanted me but he was scared, which was probably the truth. He could’ve even said he wasn’t interested in sex at all, but that he wanted to be with me. It didn’t fucking matter. Any answer would’ve been better than something I already fucking knew.

“It would ruin our friendship, Kai.” I stopped in my tracks and turned to look at him. “It’s just not worth it.”

Speak for yourself.

Without an answer, I stormed to the nightstand, pulled it open, grabbed the toy, and left the room. I wasn’t even going to use it. I just wanted to piss him off.