Chapter 7
7
GRACE
T he Birthday Massacre is playing loudly through my Bluetooth speaker—though not too loud—and I’m stretched out on my bed, working on a paper for a class. Lila, as usual, is out doing God knows what with God knows who. I am honestly baffled how her grades are so good when I can’t remember the last time I saw her sit down and do any actual coursework. It seems like I work ten times as hard as she does just to keep up with her GPA-wise.
But whatever. If I could roll out of bed after partying all night and still pull straight As, I might be doing the same thing. Okay, that’s a lie. I’m not the party-all-night type. And I’m certainly not the go-home-with-any-boy-who-tickles-my-fancy type either. She really is using her college years to make all the memories she possibly can. And here I am on a Friday night doing work for a class. God, I suck.
As that thought passes through my mind, I glance at my phone and sigh. Nothing. I really thought after the kiss we shared outside the dorm that Griffin would reach out. That I’d at least get a text from him. But so far … nothing. He hasn’t called, emailed, texted, or sent a darn smoke signal. It’s been total and complete radio silence.
I wonder if it meant more to me than it did to him. Or if he thought about it and didn’t like me as much as he thought he did. It’s possible I interpreted it wrong. But when I looked into his eyes, I could have sworn we had a real connection. And it seemed strong. It was stronger than anything I’ve ever had with anybody before. But here we are, days after the fact, and Griffin hasn’t tried to contact me. I guess it was just all in my head.
I flop onto my back and stare up at the ceiling, doing my best to fight off the waves of depression washing over me. It figures. The first time I let myself get attached to and do anything with a boy, he ghosts me. Maybe it’s better this way. I really should be focusing on my education, anyway. I shouldn’t be trying to make time for boys. I’ve got too many things to do and need to focus.
The knock on my door yanks me out of my cocoon of self-pity, and I jump to my feet and roll my eyes as I walk across the room, certain it’s going to be Maddy, the RA from hell. She’s probably here to complain about my music being too loud, even though I checked, and it can’t be heard through the door. The girl just loves to flex her power over all of us. She’s annoying.
I throw the door open and freeze immediately. When I see him standing there, my stomach twists itself into knots, and my heart stops dead in its tracks.
“Griffin,” I say. “W-what are you doing here?”
He holds up a large paper bag and offers me a smile that finally restarts my heart and makes the blood flowing through my veins run hot. I swallow hard and try to control myself.
“I brought Thai food since I know it’s your favorite,” he says. “I know you’re busy with your schoolwork, but I thought you might want some dinner.”
My head spins like a tornado as I stare at him. “H-how did you know Thai is my favorite? And how did you know I was working on a paper?”
He shrugs. “I may have done a little social media stalking.”
“Why did you do that?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Well, you never called or texted.”
“Yeah. About that,” he says with a sheepish grin. “I’m sorry.”
I shake my head, and my senses start to come back to me. “How did you even get in here? You don’t have an ID?—”
“I’m a resourceful guy.”
“This isn’t a co-ed dorm. If our RA sees you, I’m going to be in so much trouble.”
“Then I better not let your RA see me.”
Without invitation, Griffin sweeps into the room and closes the door behind him. He turns to me with a crooked grin on his face that does wholly inappropriate things to me. I should be mad at him for ghosting me. Part of me wants to be. But the parts below my waist insist it’s better to forgive—a sentiment that echoes through my body as I gaze at him. Dressed in black jeans, black boots, and a black long-sleeved t-shirt that clings to his ripped physique, he looks like he just stepped out of an underwear ad. Like Lila said, he’s a beautiful man.
It’s then that I glance down at myself, dressed in black yoga pants, thick socks, and an oversized pink hoodie, and cringe. As if noticing my self-conscious appraisal, Griffin laughs.
“You are beautiful,” he says.
“I’m not. Not right now,” I say and pull the scrunchie out of my hair, letting it fall over my shoulders.
“You really are.”
“Well, thank you,” I mutter. “That’s sweet.”
He favors me with that smile again, and I am half-afraid I’m going to soak through my panties and yoga pants.
“If you’re worried about your RA finding me here, we should probably go picnic in the quad downstairs,” he offers.
“No, it’s fine,” I say quickly. Too quickly. “It’s probably better if we just eat here.”
Griffin nods, then sits down on the floor and leans back against Lila’s bed. As he opens the bag and starts taking out the containers, filling the room with a hundred incredible aromas, I take a seat on the floor in front of my own bed. Griffin lays out all the containers and two bottles of Diet Dr. Pepper, which makes me laugh.
“Wow. You really did do some social media stalking, didn’t you?” I ask.
“Yes, I did.”
For the next couple of hours, we eat, talk, and laugh together, picking up right where we left off at the diner the other night. Griffin makes me feel seen. Heard. It’s crazy, given how little time I’ve known him, but he makes me feel like I can tell him anything, and he’ll listen without judgment. There’s just something in the way he looks at me that makes me feel safe. Other than with Lila, it’s something I’ve never experienced before, and it’s really nice.
“Well, I should probably let you get back to your paper,” Griffin says as he gets to his feet. “It was nice spending some time with you.”
“Yeah, maybe this time you’ll actually call or text me.”
He grins. “Yeah, I might just do that.”
“You better.”
I follow him to the door, and he turns, as if he has something to say, but when our eyes meet, it’s like I just grabbed onto a live wire. Griffin grabs me by the shoulders and pushes me up against the door to kiss me. His tongue is like velvet, and his mouth tastes like the spices from the Thai food, raising goosebumps all over my body. As he presses forward, I melt into him and feel his long, thick cock pressed against my belly. I gasp and stare into his dreamy eyes as a quiver runs through my body that lights me up from head to toe.
I know I should stop this. I’ve never had sex with anybody before. I’ve honestly never even touched a man’s cock before, and the size of Griffin’s has me a little intimidated. But a fire burns between my thighs, I’m wetter than I ever have been, and my body responds to his touch in ways that I can’t control. Everything he’s doing—from kissing me to grabbing my hair and pulling my head back so he can bite my neck—sends molten heat through my veins and feels so good, I don’t think I could stop if I tried.
As if I weigh nothing, Griffin scoops me up and carries me over to the bed, laying me down gently on top of my comforter. With my heart beating so hard I’m sure the RA from hell can hear it, he kisses me and, with his eyes twinkling mischievously, slides down my body. I gasp as he slides my yoga pants down and bites my bottom lip, ten thousand thoughts and emotions colliding inside of me all at once. As he parts my thighs, he looks up at me with his eyes glittering in the soft lighting of the room. If I want to stop things before they get out of hand, this is my last chance.
I don’t do anything, though. I’m frozen, caught between my common sense and my desire. Griffin’s warm breath on the insides of my thighs drives out coherent thoughts, and when his tongue touches the dripping-wet center of me, an explosion of pleasure goes off between my legs. I press my head back into my pillow, moaning wildly as he licks and laps at my pussy. Reaching down, I grip his hair, pulling it hard as he plunges his tongue into me.
“Oh my God,” I stutter. “Oh God, yes. Don’t stop.”
Griffin buries his face deeper into me, sucking and nipping at my swollen, sensitive button. I draw in a sharp breath and squeeze my eyes shut, gritting my teeth and doing my best to keep from screaming. The last thing I want is to have Maddy pounding on my door right now. Not when I’m so close to the very first orgasm I didn’t give myself.
“Don’t stop, baby,” I gasp. “Don’t stop.”
And he doesn’t. He licks me with a wild abandon that leaves me shaking and breathless. He pulls me closer to him, driving his tongue deeper into me as he strums my clit with his fingers. He brings me to the brink in an instant, and I bite the side of my hand to stifle my cries, but my body shakes so hard it’s like I’m having a seizure of some kind. Through it all, Griffin keeps using his tongue to pleasure me, sending bolts of electricity shooting through my veins.
Slowly, my orgasm ebbs, leaving me panting and wrung out. At the same time, despite being a little nervous about it, I’m looking forward to what comes next. I’m already picturing having him inside of me, thinking about what it’s going to be like to have him filling me up with that deliciously long, hard cock. He looks up at me with my juices, making the stubble on his face glisten, superheating my sex.
“Come here,” I say.
As he gets up and starts to unbuckle his belt, I hear the key in the lock a moment before the door flies open, and Lila comes stumbling in. There’s a moment when time seems to stand perfectly still as we all exchange awkward looks with each other. Nobody speaks. Nobody moves. I’m not sure anybody is even breathing. And then Lila screams.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” she shrieks. “I’m so sorry!”
“What are you doing here?” I shriek back.
“I live here! Oh my God, put some pants on!” she says and laughs.
“Stop screaming, or Maddy?—”
“You stop screaming!”
We’re laughing hysterically with each other as I struggle to maintain some bit of dignity and wiggle back into my yoga pants. All the while, Griffin stands there looking at us like we’ve lost our minds. Lila finally rushes out of the room, slamming the door behind her, but I can still hear her cackling as she runs down the hall. My face red and still giggling, I turn to Griffin.
“Well, that was awkward,” he says.
“Sorry.”
“I think I should go.”
“Yeah. Probably,” I say. “Text me.”
He flashes me that cocky grin again, then leans forward and kisses me. I taste myself on his tongue, and there’s a part of me that wants to throw caution to the wind and finish what we started. But the fear of Maddy bursting in like Lila had keeps me from acting on it. The last thing I need is to get thrown out of school.
“Talk soon,” he says.
“We better.”
He gives me a wink as he slips out of my room, gently closing the door behind him, leaving me alone with a racing heart, a churning belly, a hot, wet burning between my thighs, and an unfulfilled sensation of desire coursing through me.
But Griffin also leaves me thinking that maybe he does care about me. That perhaps, everything I thought about the connection we shared the other night wasn’t just all in my head after all. It’s a thought that puts a smile on my face, so I guess that’s something.