Chapter 19
Graham, Then
It’s late, well after three in the morning, as I stumble into the room I share with my buddy, Landon.
He’s not here, which isn’t surprising, considering the way he goes home with a different girl nearly every night.
Most nights, it’s like I don’t have a roommate at all.
It’s kind of nice. Stripping out of my clothes, I climb into bed wearing nothing more than my boxer briefs, knowing I need to go to sleep soon; otherwise, I’m going to be miserable tomorrow.
My first class is at nine a.m., and I have a full day, including work in the afternoon.
It’s been about three months since I started college, and it’s been quite an adjustment.
The university is four and a half hours from home, and going from living with my parents to living in a dorm with my best friend has been hard.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s been fun getting to do whatever I want without having to answer to my parents, but there have also been moments when I wish home was a much closer drive.
Mostly when I’ve eaten only Top Ramen for days at a time and all I want is a home-cooked meal.
Last month, I got a job working in the kitchen at a diner near campus, and it’s been nice having spare money again.
My parents would have helped if I asked, but they’re already paying for my tuition, so I didn’t really want to bother them.
Grabbing my laptop off the nightstand, I give myself ten minutes, then I’ll turn it off and go to sleep.
I clear out the few notifications I have from my friends before scrolling through social media.
There’re already pictures and videos online from the party I was at tonight, but none of them featuring me, thankfully.
The number of times my mother has questioned me about stuff she’s seen is insane.
You’d think she has no clue what goes on at college.
I come across a post that has my heart beating faster in my chest. It was posted a few hours ago, and I can’t help but stare at the image on my screen.
Study it. Catalogue every detail to memory, like I do every time she shows up on my feed.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other—at least six months—but Charley looks just as good as she always has, if not better.
She just started her junior year at college, but she’s at a completely different university than me.
Closer to Blossom Beach. Normally, she comes home for summer break, but this year, she didn’t.
Instead, she went on a cruise with my oldest sister, then they backpacked around Europe together.
Part of me can’t help but wonder if she planned all that specifically so she wouldn’t have to go home and risk running into me.
It’s not like it’s hard to do. Her parents still live down the street from my childhood home, and she’s still best friends with all three of my sisters.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit disappointed about not getting to see her before I left for school, or that I wasn’t also disappointed she wasn’t at my graduation.
Despite how nonexistent our relationship has been for the last couple of years, I didn’t think she’d miss it, even if only to see Grace graduate.
But she wasn’t.
And I hate it, even though I have no right to.
I know I shouldn’t, and she probably won’t even pick up, but my fingers are moving of their own accord, finding Charley’s number and hitting call before I can talk myself out of it. It rings a few times, and just as I’m about to hang up, the line connects.
“Well, look who it is,” she drawls. “Little late for a phone call, don’t you think?”
A smile tugs at the corner of my mouth, hearing her voice in my ear. There’s a slight rasp to it, and I know it’s because she’s tired. “Maybe, but you answered,” I say.
“I guess curiosity got the better of me,” she teases. “Didn’t think talking to me was allowed, especially not in the middle of the night.”
I huff out a dry laugh. “That’s not true. And besides, Megan and I are over anyway.”
“Since when? Didn’t she post a picture of y’all not that long ago?”
“Keeping tabs on me, Sunny?” My pulse kicks up, thinking about her stalking my social media the same way I do hers.
“You wish,” she mutters with a chuckle. She’s lying, or maybe I’m just tipsy enough to believe that.
“We broke up about a week ago,” I say. Well, technically, she broke up with me, but I saw it coming, and had she not done it, I know I would have eventually.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” she replies softly. “You guys have been together a while. I’m sure that sucked.”
“Eh, thanks, but it’s honestly for the best. We fought all the time, especially since starting college, and the last thing either of us needs is to be bogged down by relationship drama our freshmen year.”
“Still, breakups suck, even if it’s for the best.”
“I miss you, Sunny,” I admit, knowing it’s a stupid thing to say.
Charley’s going to think I’m only saying that because I’m single now, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
She may have ended things between us two years ago when she went off to college, but I still think about her constantly.
I still feel more connected to her than I have anyone else.
The line is silent for a moment. I would give anything to know what’s running through her mind. It’s been too damn long since we’ve talked like this. “You don’t miss me,” she finally says flippantly. “You’re just single and it’s late.”
There it is.
“That’s not true,” I toss back. “Do you miss me?”
She giggles. “I’m not answering that.”
“Why not?” Sitting up, I press my back against the headboard, a burst of excitement shooting through my veins. “Because you don’t want to admit you miss me too?”
“Nah, because I wouldn’t want to hurt your feelings when I tell you I don’t.” There’s teasing in her tone, and we both know she’s full of shit.
“Ha! Yeah right.” We both laugh, and it’s all the confirmation I need. “What are you doing right now?” I ask.
“Lying in bed,” she murmurs, the rasp in her voice heating my blood. “What about you?”
“Same. A little drunk.”
“Same,” she repeats with a giggle.
“I saw the picture you posted earlier. What’d you get up to tonight?”
Charley breathes out another giggle. “Wanna see?”
“Yes,” I say too quickly.
A moment later, my phone vibrates against my ear, and when I look, it’s a picture from her.
Blame it on the alcohol I had earlier, or the pull she’s had on me for years, but my dick’s already half hard by the time I click on the notification.
“Damn,” I breathe, taking in the picture filling my screen.
It takes no time at all to go from half-mast to full.
“Those are fucking hot. You got them done today?”
“I did.”
“They look so fucking good.”
“You like ’em?” she asks, her voice low and sexy.
My body is vibrating with arousal as I stare at her breasts and the jewelry shoved through both her taut, pink nipples. “Fuck yeah, I do.”
Charley chuckles, the sound breathy through the line. “Yeah? How much?”
I reach down and squeeze my erection over my boxer briefs, biting my lip to keep from groaning. “You sure you wanna know?” I ask, knowing we’re walking the line into dangerous territory.
“Tell me.”
“Seeing your tits got me so hard, Sunny,” I admit. “That’s how much.”
Breathing out a sound somewhere between a giggle and a moan, Charley asks, “Does that mean you’re touching yourself right now?”
Oh, fuck.
“Do you want me to be?”
“Maybe I do,” she says softly. “Is that bad?”
“No, I don’t think so.” My hand slowly strokes my cock through the material. “Does it turn you on knowing I’m hard?”
“Mmhmm.”
Fuck. That’s so hot.
“And what are you gonna do about it?”
“What do you want me to do about it?” she counters, and I swear I could come just from the sultry sound of her voice.
“I want you to slip your hand inside your panties and feel how wet you are,” I instruct her, shoving my boxer briefs down enough to free my dick. “And I want you to walk me through it since I’m not there to see for myself.”
“Graham,” she murmurs with a nervous laugh. “I can’t do that.”
“Yes, you can. Now, tell me how wet your pussy is, Sunny.”
Charley moans. “She’s so wet thinking about you touching yourself.”
“I am,” I rasp. “My hand’s stroking my dick while I imagine your sweet pussy wrapped around me. Slip a finger inside,” I tell her. “You’re nice and tight for me, aren’t you, Sunny?”
“Mmhmm.”
My heart is pounding in my ears, imagining what it would be like to bury myself deep inside of her again. “If I was there right now, what would you want me to do to you?”
“Graham…” Charley giggles, the sexy sound morphing into a groan as I imagine her continuing to finger herself.
“I wanna hear it,” I push. “Would you want it to be my finger in your cunt instead of yours?”
“Yes…”
“Bring your fingers to your clit,” I say, hand pumping my cock faster as heat and arousal flood my system. “You want them to be my tongue instead?”
“Fuck,” Charley gasps. “Yes.”
“You’d let me lick and suck on your clit while my fingers fucked your tight little pussy?”
She moans, and it’s the sexiest sound I’ve ever heard.
“I’d make you come all over my fingers, getting you nice and ready to take my cock. Would you want that too?”
“Yes, fuck me, Graham.”
“Stretch that tight little pussy of yours,” I growl. “Fuck, it’d feel so good.”
Charley moans some more. I desperately want to see her, to watch her touch herself to the fantasy I’m laying out for her.
It’s right there on the tip of my tongue to tell her to turn the camera on and I’ll do the same, but something about not seeing makes it so much hotter.
Knowing I’m turning her on with nothing more than my words.
“I don’t remember you being much of a dirty talker before,” Charley says, and I can hear the smile in her voice. “And I gotta say, it’s doing it for me.”