Creed-
I hate the beach.
I can't quite explain what exactly I despise about it.
Maybe it’s the sand in my pussy, the smell of dead fish, or how hot it gets outdoors.
I don’t know, but I never voluntarily choose to go. Yet there I was, sitting on a blanket that Maine had laid out for us at ten o'clock at night. It was Maine's time to shine, and if she wanted to go and play on the private beach behind the BNB house, then I was going to the beach. With my toes buried in the cool sand, I tried my best not to let my annoyance show as I watched Noah talk and laugh with Ashley. They were nauseating to watch. They looked perfect together, like they’d have little Hitler Youth children.
Why did Maine have so many blonde, big-boobed friends when she came from such a diverse background? This one had shown up last night from Tampa, and now she and Noah were all buddy-buddy less than twenty-four hours later.
I could see why he’d be interested.
She wore a flowy white sundress as a cover-up for her pink bikini.
She had a nice body, she was pretty and self-assured—qualities I usually admired in a girl because I wasn’t one to hate. But when I returned from dinner with Devon, I found her and Noah sitting a little too close in the dark living room. She was smiling and giggling. Noah barely spared me a glance and spent the rest of the night talking to her. He didn’t even have long conversations with his family. What was so interesting about her? And what was the whole bathroom incident about? Was he jealous? I couldn’t deny that he wasn’t entirely wrong for his actions. After all, I was the one who had introduced a sexual element to our interactions. I just hadn’t expected him to ramp it up and start ambushing me for pussy though.
"Quietly contemplating life?" a voice interrupted my thoughts.
I looked up to see Devon, his smile too wide for my liking.
I wanted to tell him to shut up and go away, but he was Jason’s best friend.
I didn’t want any awkwardness in the future, so I planned to entertain his interest—barely and hopefully briefly—until he gave up. Don’t get me wrong, Devon was attractive, recently accepted into law school in Georgia, and had a great personality. I’d heard the rumors that he fucked well too, but he was too easy for me.
My parents were annoyingly in love with each other, and though they drove me crazy at times, I wanted their kind of love.
They had ruined me for anything soft and sweet.
Now all I could imagine or want was the type of love that rattles your bones and shakes your soul—the kind that challenges and scares me, the kind that makes me feel alive.
I wanted it to be raw and messy, twisted and complex, something that tears me apart just to put me back together. That’s what I wanted, years in the future though. I was too young for all that now. For the time being, I was going to fuck up, fuck off, and fuck around. But when the time came, I knew Devon wouldn’t be able to give me that.
“Yeah, something like that,”
I responded to Devon, forcing a small smile that didn’t quite reach my eyes.
I met his gaze, and he took a seat next to me on the sand.
He was shirtless, wearing only a pair of blue swim trunks, his gleaming white teeth on display instead of his grillz.
"I guess you could say I'm just sorting things out in my head," I continued, trying to keep the conversation light.
"You know, life, the future, the usual stuff." I shrugged.
"Do you see me in your future?" Devon asked, his voice louder than the crashing waves.
I nodded, avoiding direct eye contact.
"Yes, five seconds from now, five minutes from now, maybe even five days from now..."
He chuckled, seemingly entertained.
Before either of us could say more, Maine flung her wet body across mine, smelling of the ocean and outside.
My back hit the blanket I was sitting on.
She had been swimming. She loved the water and took to it like a mermaid. I could swim, but the ocean scared me. It was too vast, too wide. I used to have this dream about being swept out into it. I wasn’t going to fuck around and end up dead in some dolphin rape cave.
"Sing, Creed! I want to dance," Maine exclaimed.
I shoved her, causing her to land on Devon.
She made herself comfortable in his lap, wrapping her hands around his neck.
Their contrasting appearances struck me—her pale skin against his dark, silky flesh.
I was surprised he wasn’t trying to fuck her; most of Jason’s friends would have been. But even with Maine sitting in his lap, he was staring at my tits in my teal bikini top.
Out of nowhere, Noah took a seat beside me, his arm brushing against mine.
"Are we about to go?" he asked, sounding lighter than usual.
Maine shouted, "No, we're about to play jukebox dance-off!" She was referring to the party game we always played with our parents.
Someone would shout a word, and we had to sing a song with that word while everyone did the appropriate dance.
Neither Jason, nor Maine could sing, so when our parents weren’t there, it fell on me.
I hated it. Singing was something I only did in my moments of solitude, when the world got too quiet and I just wanted to hear my own voice. I didn’t want to sing for people and have them compare me to my mom or dad. It was exhausting.
"What's the first word?" I asked, trying to sound more interested in playing than I actually was.
"Everybody get a partner!" Maine yelled.
Noah and Ashley, Maine and Devon, and the two blondes paired off.
I lay back on the blanket and closed my eyes.
"The word is 'love,'" Maine announced.
"That was easy," I muttered to myself.
"Love, so many things I've got to tell you, but I'm afraid I don't know how, 'cause there's a possibility..."
Luckily, after throwing out the words "sex" and "power," they got bored with dancing and started running up and down the beach like children.
I just couldn't bring myself to participate.
I stayed put on the blanket, enjoying the cool breeze on my face and the sound of the crashing waves.
Out of nowhere, Noah was next to me again.
"How did your date go?" he smirked.
I cocked my head to regard him, trying not to stare at his bare chest and abs.
He was fucking hot.
"Great," I smirked back.
"I see you and Ashley are hitting it off."
Noah chuckled, leaning back on his hands.
"She's fun to be around." He glanced over at Ashley, who was now splashing in the water with the others.
I raised an eyebrow.
"Fun, huh? You’ve spent your life doing everything but trying to have fun.
You should have told us that a blonde with big tits was all it took.
Daddy would have gotten you one. This seems like more than her just being fun from where I'm sitting."
Noah's smirk widened.
"Well, who knows? Maybe there's potential there.
You sound jealous."
I sucked my teeth, rolling my eyes.
"If I sound jealous, what exactly were you when you cornered me in the bathroom last night? I hope she hasn't fallen victim to one of your episodes."
"Episodes?" he chuckled.
"Is that what you call what happens after you seduce me?"
My mouth fell open, shocked by his response.
"Seduce you? I said I was going on a dinner date, and you tried to break my back in the bathroom before I left.
How is that seducing you?"
Instead of acknowledging what I said, he reached out and took my hand in his, his gaze fixed on my lips.
"Speaking of back-breaking, you should help me gather drinks at the empty house for everyone." He emphasized the words "empty house."
I rolled my eyes.
"We're not having sex anymore." The thought of him thrusting into me sent a tingling sensation through my body.
If he persisted, it wouldn’t be hard to convince me.
I secretly hoped he would.
"But your eyes are begging me for it," he retorted.
I dropped my head back and laughed.
"You're fucking cheesy.
First, you were all like, 'I'm going to break you apart just so I can put you back together.' Now you say my eyes are begging for it? You're a 40-year-old in my eyes right now." I waved him off.
"I need you to jump into your Lexus convertible sports car and drive away from me with your midlife crisis."
He smirked again.
"Isn't forty the age of your professor? You didn’t seem to have an issue with having sex with a forty-year-old."
"So you did see us?" I questioned.
"I did, and it was..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Devon took a seat next to me again, diverting my attention.
I hadn’t even heard him approach.
Ashley followed, taking a seat next to Noah.
Ashley’s cover-up was gone, and her tits were nearly falling out of her pink top. I almost rolled my eyes. Why did everyone keep interrupting us? Cock blockers.
"What are you two talking about?" Devon asked, his eyes shifting between me and Noah.
Noah answered before I had a chance to think of a response.
"Breaking backs and sex with professors." He actually told the truth, and I couldn’t believe it.
Ashley narrowed her eyes.
"Weren't you two raised as brother and sister?" Her tone held a mix of suspicion and judgment.
"No," we both said in unison.
"He was more of a chew toy than a brother," I added quickly, trying to brush it off with a laugh.
Before she could dig any deeper and push my patience, I cut in, turning to Noah with a smirk.
"You know, you should get Jennifer here to help you with those drinks at the empty house."
"My name is Ashley," she corrected, visibly irritated.
"My bad," I said, shrugging.
"All of Maine's friends look alike.
Sometimes I get you confused." I stood up and grabbed Devon’s hand.
"Come on, I want to go in the water. You’re my anchor. You gotta keep me safe. My daddy will kill you if you let me get swept away or kidnapped by mermen." I pulled him along, leading us into the ocean just deep enough to cover me up to my waist.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Noah and Ashley head back toward the house.
I tried to shrug it off.
Oh well, no more big dick for me, I thought.
He's found himself a new plaything. Maybe it was for the best.
I spent the next hour playing in the water with Devon until Maine announced that we'd be sleeping on the beach.
She ordered pizza, beers, and wings, and we all sat around, talking and laughing as the night settled in around us.
With Devon on my left and Noah on my right, I participated in the conversations as best I could, pretending that Noah wasn’t the sole focus of my attention.
I made a conscious effort to avoid dwelling on what that might imply.
No guy had ever occupied my thoughts the way Noah had over the past few days..
The implications were dangerous.
I needed to stop entertaining things I shouldn’t be entertaining.
But the truth was, I didn’t even know what I was entertaining.
At some point, I must have dozed off, because when I woke up, the world was quiet, the fire had dwindled to embers, and the night was heavy around us.
Devon was lying in front of me, facing me, lightly snoring while holding my hand in a death grip.
I lifted my head.
Everyone else seemed to be asleep, sprawled out on blankets and sand.
I laid back and realized my head had been resting on Noah’s arm, and he was pressed close up on me.
I felt my bikini being pushed aside, then I felt his dick.
His hand slid over my mouth as he whispered, "Shh, just rock into me."
Dazed and half-asleep, I instinctively rolled my hips, feeling him slip inside my slick warmth.
He guided me by my hips, making my movements slow and rhythmic, his breath was hot against my neck as we moved in silence.
His hand never left my mouth, muffling my quiet gasps until my body tightened, and stars burst behind my closed eyes.
I felt him shudder, spilling into me as we came together in the dark, hidden from everyone around us.
As I drifted back into sleep, he planted soft, butterfly kisses along the back of my neck, one after another.
The entire time Devon was holding my hand.
Noah was getting on my last nerve.
Every cell in my body was irritated.
The annoyance sat low in my belly, twisting and curling into something I didn’t even want to acknowledge as I watched him from across the room.
He was acting like last night hadn’t happened.
Like he hadn’t held me just hours ago, his body pressed up against mine in the dark, my back arching, his hand covering my mouth, his fingers sliding over my skin like silk.
And now? Now he was playing.
Laughing with Ashley, leaning way too close, his hand resting on the small of her back like she was something precious.
It wasn’t even jealousy.
It was just the principle of it that was pissing me off.
My fingers clenched around the strap of my bag as I stuffed the last of my things into it, keeping my face neutral.
If he wanted to pretend like nothing happened, I’d do the same.
But I kept watching.
I couldn’t help it.
He doesn’t look at you that way, a voice whispered inside me.
Not like that.
Not with that softness.
I shoved the thought down, but it burned as it sank.
And then another one rose.
I had forced him into whatever we had.
No wonder he was ignoring me in the light of day.
The sun was high, making the air sticky as everyone left the house and started to gather by the cars.
We were loading up, stuffing bags into trunks, and making plans to head out.
Noah hadn’t said a single word to me all morning.
But it felt like he was making sure I could see him with her now.
He was talking loud enough for me to hear.
She was clinging to his arm, and he was tapping his number into her phone, his mouth curving into that small, rare smile.
I stopped watching.
I turned on my heel, tossing my bag over my shoulder, and made a beeline for Devon, who was standing by his car.
He looked up as I approached.
“Can I get a ride with you?”
I asked.
It wasn’t a request.
I wasn’t riding back with Maine and Noah.
They both could go fuck themselves. Maine had been acting brand new too, for days.
Devon’s grin widened.
“Yeah? Sure thing, Creed.
I thought you’d be going with Noah and Maine.”
I shrugged.
“Plans change.”
I could feel Noah’s eyes on me as Devon slung my bag over his shoulder, his hand lingering on my hip, fingers pressing into my skin.
I looked over my shoulder, just for a second, and met Noah’s gaze.
His face was a blank mask, but his eyes were darker than usual, that hard, unreadable look was back.
For a moment, I thought he’d say something.
I thought he’d step forward, demand I go back with him and Maine.
But he just stared, and then he turned away, slipping his hand around Ashley’s waist.
The sting of watching that was worse than I’d expected.
Devon led me to the driver’s side—a dark blue luxury sedan that smelled like Baccarat.
I slid into the passenger seat.
We pulled out of the driveway, leaving the beach house behind.
My mind got tangled up with thoughts of everything that had happened.
Noah’s body pressing into mine, his hand covering my mouth as he whispered, the rough scrape of his stubble against my neck, how rough his hands had been on my skin.
My back against the cement wall on the beach.
And the way he’d looked at me.
“Hey,”
Devon’s voice broke through my thoughts.
I blinked, realizing he was watching me at the stoplight.
“You okay?” he asked.
I forced a smile, nodding.
“Yeah, just... tired.”
He took my hand, his thumb tracing small circles over my knuckles.
It was too intimate, and I hated it.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Noah in the rearview mirror, driving behind us.
For the next hour, he stayed right behind us.
I forced myself not to look in the rearview again.
You don’t get to want him, I told myself.
We weren’t supposed to be doing any of what we were doing in the first place.
Momma and Daddy would have a fit.
It was done and over with, I told myself.