Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter
Twenty-Eight
Dylan woke up in Ramona’s bed.
At least, she thought it was Ramona’s bed. It was dark outside, the blinds on the windows shut tight, but no light seeped through the cracks. White noise whirred from some machine on the nightstand, and she was burrowed so deep in a nest of soft sheets and blankets, she was sure she’d never been so cozy in her life.
She rolled over to her back, and her head nearly split in two.
Okay, so, not the coziest she’d ever been then.
Her stomach roiled a bit, but a few deep breaths calmed it enough for her to sit up, then gulp from the glass of water on the nightstand. As the liquid slid down her throat, it was as though it washed away the muck blurring a window. The entire day filtered back to her—leaving Ramona in her house, her parents, her parents again, lots and lots of wine, an uneaten brunch, and then…
Fuck.
Lots of humiliating things.
Humiliating things that were most likely, definitely, absolutely all over the internet by now. Laurel was probably blowing up her phone, which she remembered she didn’t have, and had never been so happy to be unplugged.
All that shit could wait until her stomach and brain remembered their places within her body. She set the now-empty glass back on the table, then rubbed at her throbbing temples. She just wanted to go back to sleep, but her mouth tasted horrible and her bladder screamed at her. She slipped out of bed and cracked open the door. The house was quiet, and there was a bathroom in the hallway. She peed and washed her hands, then found a bottle of blue Listerine under the sink and swished it around her mouth until her cheeks stung. Finally, she crept back into bed and the cozy cocoon.
Just as she nearly slipped to sleep again, the door cracked open.
Ramona’s silhouette, holding a plate.
Dylan sat up. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
Ramona shut the door behind her, then ventured into the room, set a plate of buttered toast and scrambled eggs on the nightstand. She clicked on the tiny blue lamp, sending a dim, watery glow throughout the room.
“Thought you might need some food,” Ramona said.
“Thanks,” Dylan said, though she didn’t feel she’d quite reached the hangover food stage of her idiocy.
“Okay,” Ramona said, then turned to go.
Dylan reached out and grabbed her wrist. The least stupid thing she’d done in the last eight hours.
“Wait,” she said. “Please.”
Ramona did, but she didn’t make a move to sit or even turn to face Dylan. She just let Dylan hold her arm, thumb brushing against the inside of her wrist.
“I’m sorry,” Dylan said. “I’m an idiot.”
Ramona shook her head, but Dylan saw the ghost of a smile on her profile. “You’re not.”
“You’re too nice.”
“April says the same thing.”
“Something we agree on.”
Ramona finally turned, the motion slipping her arm free from Dylan’s grasp. She sank onto the bed, leaving plenty of space between them.
“I think you’re selfish,” Ramona said. “Not stupid.”
Dylan felt the color drain from her face. “I think I prefer stupid.”
Ramona nodded, serious. “What happened this morning, Dylan? You left me alone in your house after…”
She trailed off.
Took a deep breath.
Her hair was in braided pigtails, her bangs shaggy over her freckled forehead, and she wore jeans and a royal-blue T-shirt that said RISD in white script. Dylan stared at those four letters, realizing for the first time since they’d met—met again —that Dylan hadn’t asked about her experience there, hadn’t thought about what she’d given up to take care of her family. Hadn’t wondered if she still wanted to work in apparel design or if she was content with what she was doing now.
Dylan pressed her eyes closed, rubbed at her temples again.
“You’re right,” she said. “I’m sorry. I don’t have a good excuse for this morning except that my parents make me crazy.” She looked up, met Ramona’s eyes. “I didn’t want you to meet them.”
Ramona frowned. “Flattering.”
“No, no.” Dylan took her hand. Ramona let her. “Not because of you. You’re perfect. They just…” She sighed. “They’re Jack Monroe and Carrie Page. They take up all the space in a room, make me feel like I’m still six years old vying for their attention. Or they smother me and make me feel like shit because I’m so fucking angry with them.”
Ramona squeezed her hand.
“I am selfish,” Dylan said. “When it comes to them, I go into fight or flight, and I do stupid things like drink too much because that always seems like a good solution, and it never goes well because I’m terrible at moderation when I’m emotional, and I forgot my phone, so I couldn’t text you that I was getting them out of my house so they couldn’t ruin everything with us.” She shook her head. “So I couldn’t ruin everything with us.”
“Dylan.”
“But I did anyway.”
Ramona closed her eyes, long lashes on her cheeks. “You didn’t ruin it.”
Dylan’s lungs felt as though they were functioning normally for the first time since she opened her front door this morning. “No?”
Ramona shook her head, a small smile on her mouth.
“Well, just give it time,” Dylan said, and Ramona laughed. “Someday I’ll probably have to offer you some really big grand gesture.”
“Oh yeah?” Ramona said, smiling. “Like what?”
Dylan watched her for a second, eyes trailing over Ramona’s face. “You’d need something romantic. But soft. Not super public or flashy. But still big enough that you knew I meant business.”
“Like a mushroom museum?”
Dylan laughed. “Maybe. But I already did that.”
Ramona squeezed her hand. “You did.”
“So I can’t do that again. How lazy.”
Ramona laughed.
“If I’m the one who fucked things up,” Dylan said, “which, let’s be honest, I would be, I’d want to do something where you wouldn’t feel trapped.”
Ramona frowned. “What do you mean?”
“So many grand gestures in books and movies are like…I don’t know. They feel intrusive sometimes. Like, ‘Hey, here I am, the person you’re furious with! Talk to me!’?”
Ramona laughed. “You have a point.”
“So I’d do something where you had a choice. I would…” She trailed off, but then the perfect grand gesture drifted through her thoughts. Perfect for Ramona. Elegant and romantic, one of Dylan’s most favorite places in the world. “I’ve got it.”
“What is it?”
“I’m not giving away my secrets.”
Ramona tweaked her thigh, making Dylan yelp.
“Tell me,” Ramona said, tickling her way up Dylan’s leg to her stomach.
Dylan laughed, curled in on herself. “Fine, fine, I give!”
Ramona relented, then looked at her pointedly.
“Okay,” Dylan said. “We’d have to be in LA though.”
Ramona’s expression sort of froze. “LA?”
“Hypothetically,” Dylan said.
Ramona waved her hand in a go on gesture.
“I’d go to the Griffith Observatory,” Dylan said. “Every day at sunset. It’s gorgeous then. Soft and romantic and perfect. And I’d post a picture on my Instagram every day that I went. No caption, or maybe a caption only you would understand, and I’d wait there for you every day for five days until the observatory closed.”
“Only five?”
Dylan smiled. “I figure that’s enough time for you to know if you wanted to see me.”
“What if I didn’t see your Instagram?”
Dylan just grinned. “Come on. You’d check my Instagram.”
“I would?” Ramona said.
“You would,” Dylan said. “At least I would.”
Ramona laughed, then grew serious. “I’d rather not have to wait for a grand gesture.”
“Me neither,” Dylan said, then tugged on her hand, tugged and tugged some more until they were both lying down, facing each other. Dylan tucked Ramona’s hair behind her ear, then traced the delicate shell, the lobe, drifting over to her nose and mouth. “Can I kiss you?”
“You better,” Ramona said, and so Dylan did.
Soft and slow.
A savoring.
Opening her mouth gently, tasting Ramona’s bottom lip, then her top before touching her tongue with her own.
Ramona gasped, softly, adorably, but in a way that made Dylan feel immediately feral, wild with want. She kissed harder, licking into Ramona’s mouth, tracing her teeth.
“God,” Ramona said into the kiss.
“Yeah,” Dylan said, then kissed her again, pulling her tighter against her and trailing her hands down Ramona’s back, then under her T-shirt. “Take this off.”
Ramona sat up enough to take off her shirt, which she did slowly, lifting it above her head and revealing her gorgeous tits held in a pink lace bra.
Dylan groaned. “You’re gorgeous.”
Ramona tilted her head. “What next, Ms. Monroe?”
Dylan lifted her brows. “You like being told what to do.”
Ramona giggled, literally giggled, and it was both the cutest and sexiest thing Dylan had ever heard.
“Turns out I do,” Ramona said.
Dylan smiled. “Take off your pants. Then take off mine.”
And Ramona did.
She slid off the bed and shucked off her jeans but left on her yellow cotton underwear. Then she yanked the covers back, unbuttoned Dylan’s cutoff shorts, and slid them down Dylan’s legs.
“Oh,” she said when she saw that Dylan didn’t have on any underwear.
Dylan felt her cheeks go warm, but she laughed. “Surprise.”
“And a nice one at that.”
“Shirt next,” Dylan said through a laugh, sitting up so Ramona could take off her tee. “Good girl.”
Ramona smiled. “Now?”
“Straddle me,” Dylan said, and god, Ramona did. Thick thighs over Dylan’s hips, perfect and soft. The contact was almost too much, Dylan’s cunt already wet and throbbing for more. “God, I want to do so much to you. With you.” She slid her hands up Ramona’s legs, dipped her thumbs into the crease where her hips joined her thighs.
Ramona tipped her head back. “Please. Anything.”
“Anything?”
“Anything,” Ramona said again, her hips moving.
“You remember our safe words?” Dylan asked.
Ramona nodded, then leaned over and kissed her, whispered, “Green,” against her mouth.
“Jesus,” Dylan said, hands on Ramona’s soft waist. “Take your bra off.”
Ramona reached back, no hesitation, unclasped the garment, and let it fall onto Dylan’s stomach. Dylan didn’t even move it, couldn’t, her hands trailing up to Ramona’s heavy breasts, cupping and squeezing, plucking at those pink nipples.
Ramona moaned, her head arched back again, her chest already flushed with want, hips rolling. Dylan sat up enough to get her mouth on Ramona’s breast, teeth scraping over her nipple, then soothing the bite with her tongue.
“Oh my god,” Ramona said.
“You like that?”
“So much.”
So Dylan did it again, licking and biting and sucking, first one breast, tonguing her nipple to a hard peak, then the other.
“Your mouth, god,” Ramona said. “I need it.”
“That’s a good girl.”
Dylan pushed Ramona’s tits together, buried her face between them and inhaled, licked, kissed.
“Do you have any toys?” Dylan asked against her skin, her voice raspy.
Ramona nodded. “Drawer.”
“Show me.”
Dylan released Ramona’s tits and rested back on the pillows. Ramona leaned over, not even bothering to get off Dylan or the bed, which was exactly how Dylan wanted it. She held on to Ramona’s hips as Ramona slid her nightstand’s drawer open. She took out a soft bag and set it on Dylan’s stomach, tossing her bra to the floor as she did so.
“Open it,” Dylan said.
Ramona did, and inside was a purple dildo, textured with a mosaic of designs.
“Well, that’s very interesting,” Dylan said, and Ramona laughed. “What else?”
Ramona got out a clitoral stimulator, a bright pink dildo that had a suction cup on the base, and a red vibrator that had an insertable part and a base shaped like a butterfly that stimulated the clit and entire vulva.
“Which is your favorite?” Dylan asked.
Ramona smiled down at her toys, her cheeks flushing a gorgeous pink.
“Tell me,” Dylan said, sliding her hands up Ramona’s thighs.
Ramona held up the red butterfly. “This one.”
“Good,” Dylan said, smirking. “Looks fun.”
Ramona laughed. “It is. You want to tell me why I need it right now?” She rolled her hips a little, making Dylan gasp and then laugh too.
“You need it,” Dylan said, squeezing her thighs, “because I want you to come while going down on me.”
Ramona’s eyes widened, then she smiled. “I think I can do that.”
“I know you can.”
Ramona put the other toys back in the drawer, then Dylan sat up again and kissed her. Kissed her deep and long, pulling at her lower lip with her teeth, tugging to the point of pain, but Ramona just moaned, kissed her back, her hands going to Dylan’s tits.
“Yeah,” Dylan said, and Ramona unhooked her bra, then dipped her head to get one of Dylan’s breasts in her mouth. “Fuck.” Dylan sucked in a breath, tilting her head back. Ramona’s mouth was magic, tongue swirling and teeth grazing her skin, lips full and soft. Dylan needed them on her cunt as soon as possible.
“Baby,” she said.
“Tell me,” Ramona said. “Tell me what you want.”
“You,” Dylan said, her thoughts going fuzzy as Ramona’s work on her tits continued. “Your mouth. Now.”
“Thank god,” Ramona said, lifting her lips to Dylan’s. “Because I’m dying to taste you.”
Dylan gasped a laugh, then watched as Ramona got off her, slipped her underwear down her legs. She was a goddess—silky skin, a perfect triangle between her thick thighs. Dylan wanted her mouth on Ramona’s pussy too, but one thing at a time.
“Put your toy in,” Dylan said.
Ramona licked her bottom lip, a shy smile on her lips. She picked up the toy from the bed.
“I bet you don’t even need any lube,” Dylan said. “So wet for me already.”
“I am,” Ramona said. “Soaked.”
“Show me.”
Ramona slid her fingers between her legs, dipped inside in a way that made Dylan groan. When she pulled her hand away, her fingers were glistening. She stepped closer to the bed and offered them up. Dylan sat up, grabbed her wrist, and took her fingers into her mouth.
“God,” Dylan said, sucking and licking. “Tastes so good.”
“I want to taste you,” Ramona said, her voice a perfect whine. “Please.”
“Get that toy in your cunt, then,” Dylan said, releasing Ramona’s now-clean fingers.
Ramona didn’t smile shyly this time. She set one leg on the bed, then positioned the toy at her entrance. It slid in so easily, inch by inch, the butterfly base coming to rest against her pussy.
“God,” Dylan said. “I could watch you do that all day.”
Ramona laughed, but it was breathy, desperate. “Feels really good.”
“Fuck yourself with it,” Dylan said. “Just for a minute.”
Ramona obeyed, holding on to the base and moving the toy in and out of her cunt. She moaned, grabbed Dylan’s knee with her free hand, hips working into the toy.
“Jesus,” Dylan said. “You’re ridiculously sexy.”
Ramona couldn’t even respond, her chest flushed. Dylan wanted her to come, and soon.
Dylan scooted up a little so she was sitting up against the pillows. Then she spread her legs.
Ramona had stopped moving the toy inside her, her eyes fixed on Dylan’s cunt.
“God,” she said. “Perfect.”
“Put that mouth to better work,” Dylan said, her words terse but her tone soft.
“Yes, ma’am,” Ramona said, and Dylan swore to god, she could come just from Ramona staring at her, fucking herself, and doing exactly what Dylan told her to. It was all the sexier because Dylan knew Ramona loved it too, loved giving up control. It was what they both needed right now, what they wanted, and Dylan had never felt so safe.
She wanted Ramona to feel the same.
“Give me a color,” she said.
Ramona smiled. “Oh, very, very green.”
Dylan grinned back. “Just checking.”
“Though we do have to be quiet,” Ramona said.
Dylan’s eyes went wide. “Is your father here?”
“No, he’s out with some friends, and Olive is spending the night at Marley’s, but I’m not sure when my dad will be back. I’d rather he not walk into the house to the sound of his daughter screaming.”
Dylan smirked. “Plan on screaming, huh?”
Ramona’s eyes glittered. “With you? Yeah.”
They watched each other for a second, Dylan’s heart swelling in her chest. “Come here.”
Ramona stepped closer, leaned down while Dylan arched up, lips meeting gently at first, then growing more wild, more fevered. Dylan loved this, loved how sex with Ramona could feel feral one second, then soft and romantic the next.
She’d never had that with anyone else.
The kiss went soft again, then wild, a cycle that made Dylan want to cry, and also fuck Ramona until she really did scream, all at the same time. It was dizzying and perfect and real.
She pressed her fingers to Ramona’s toy, pushing it in a little farther, angling it so it hit Ramona’s clit.
Ramona groaned into Dylan’s mouth, and that was perfect and real too.
“Dylan,” Ramona said, and Dylan knew what she needed. What she wanted.
“Go,” Dylan said, then kissed her one more time, before pushing her hips away, then slapping her gently on the ass as Ramona turned.
Ramona laughed and went to the end of the bed, then crawled onto the mattress slowly, her eyes fluttering closed as the toy moved within her. She settled between Dylan’s legs, her eyes glazed as she got a closer look.
“Kiss me,” Dylan said.
And Ramona did. A single kiss to the center of her cunt, and god, that first touch. Nothing like it. Dylan’s back arched. Even with how soft the kiss was, it felt like a firework lighting up the sky. Ramona moaned and kissed again, harder, before she slid over to Dylan’s thigh, dragging her tongue over her skin.
“Oh, so you’re a tease,” Dylan said.
“I think you like it,” Ramona said.
“God, I do,” Dylan said, sliding her hand through Ramona’s hair. “You know just what I like.”
Ramona hummed against her thigh, moving closer to the center again. But then she bypassed where Dylan really wanted her, teeth scraping across Dylan’s other thigh. And god, as much as Dylan wanted Ramona to fuck her hard with her mouth, she liked this too, this slow build. She watched as Ramona’s own hips worked over the toy.
“Is that thing charged?” Dylan asked.
Ramona lifted her mouth from where it was, right next to Dylan’s lips. “Of course.”
“Turn it on.”
Ramona didn’t hesitate, needy little thing, and slipped her hand between her legs. Dylan heard a faint buzzing sound, felt a soft vibration through the mattress.
“Fuck,” Ramona said, resting her head against Dylan’s thigh for a second. “Oh my god.”
“That’s right,” Dylan said. “That’s what you needed.”
Ramona just nodded, biting at her bottom lip.
Dylan tightened her hands in Ramona’s hair, directing Ramona’s mouth toward her own cunt. Ramona went eagerly, mouth finally right where Dylan wanted it. Ramona moaned against her, and Dylan moaned right back as Ramona kissed and licked, tongue swirling up to her clit, then back down to her entrance.
“Jesus Christ,” Dylan said, her hips bucking, fingers still curled in Ramona’s hair. “God, baby, you’re so good at that.”
Ramona kept up her work, but soon her breathing grew erratic. Dylan watched her eyes flutter closed, mouth closed over Dylan’s cunt.
“You going to come for me?” Dylan said.
Ramona hummed a yes, her tongue wild now, sliding into Dylan and back out.
“God,” Dylan said. “You’re perfect. My perfect little slut. Come for me. Come with your face in my cunt.”
Ramona moaned even louder, her hips spread on the bed, undulating for more friction against her toy.
“That’s a good girl,” Dylan said, hand tightening in her hair. “Come while you tongue fuck me.”
Ramona’s sounds were at a fever pitch now. Dylan couldn’t keep from making her own noises, the idea of Ramona coming like this bringing her so close herself. Ramona’s tongue was so deep inside her. She slid it out, swirled it over Dylan’s clit before diving back in again.
Ramona groaned, her body locking up as she came, but she didn’t break contact with Dylan. She stayed buried in her pussy, Dylan’s nails scraping through her hair.
“Fuck,” Dylan said. “Yeah, right there, baby.” She came suddenly, the feeling slamming into her and radiating down her legs and ass, all the way to her toes. She heard Ramona come a second time, her tongue dragging over Dylan’s clit before sucking it into her mouth.
“Christ,” Dylan said, tried not to yell, but it was hard. Ramona’s touch was almost too much, she was too sensitive, but she couldn’t stop either, never wanted to stop, and she came again, so hard her vision went dark, knees closing around Ramona’s ears. She stayed like that for a second, breathing hard at the ceiling, completely boneless.
Ramona’s toy still buzzed as she kissed Dylan softly now, but then she pressed her forehead to Dylan’s lower belly, her breathing going ragged again.
“You come so easy for me,” Dylan said, her fingers still tangled in Ramona’s hair. “Do it again.”
Ramona could only nod, her hands on Dylan’s hips, mouth hovering above her mound.
“Come on, dirty girl,” Dylan said. “One more for me.”
“Fuck,” Ramona said, hips working frantically now. “Dylan.”
“That’s right,” Dylan said, her hands curling tighter into Ramona’s hair.
Then she tugged.
Just a little, but Ramona moaned.
So she tugged harder…then harder still as Ramona writhed, fucking gorgeous, a goddamn goddess. When she broke, it was beautiful, her cries soft and muffled against Dylan’s stomach, her body still pressed to Dylan’s cunt.
“Fuck,” Ramona said, then reached down to turn off the toy, laughing as she did so. Then she collapsed against Dylan’s belly again.
“Yeah,” Dylan said, resting her hand on Ramona’s head.
They lay there like that for a few minutes before Ramona lifted her head, their eyes meeting and watching each other.
“Come up here,” Dylan said.
Ramona got up, took out her toy, and set it at the end of the bed. Then she crawled onto the mattress, aligning herself with Dylan’s body. Dylan pulled the covers over them, then wrapped her arms around Ramona’s waist.
She needed her close.
She kissed Ramona’s nose, tucked her head beneath her chin. Her heart was still going a bit wild in her chest, but it felt larger than it did before, a river swollen with rain. This might be the safest she’d ever felt. The healthiest. This moment, this bed, in Ramona’s bedroom. There were so many things pressing in on her—her parents, the movie, her career, Laurel and Rayna’s constant plotting and rearranging of her image—but none of that mattered right now.
Nothing mattered but Ramona and Dylan.
Cherry and Lolli.
Dylan felt invincible with Ramona in her arms like this, and at the same time, soft. Like light and water and air.
“I don’t want to be an idiot with you,” she said, mouth pressed against Ramona’s temple.
Ramona’s arms tightened around her. “I don’t want to be an idiot either.”
“You could never,” Dylan said.
Ramona lifted her eyes to Dylan’s, her mouth dropping open to say something. Instead, she kissed Dylan, just once, then buried her face in Dylan’s neck. Soon, her breathing became steady, but Dylan stayed awake, listening to Ramona sleep, fingers trailing through her hair.