Aspen #3
My arm whipped out from my side so I could grab my phone and flip it face down, smacking it back onto the table.
My pulse was rampaging as heat flooded my whole body.
You let a guy put his hand down your pants at a party once, and suddenly he feels empowered to sext you on a random Monday. Fucking pervert.
“Was that him?” Faulkner wondered, tilting his head, and I thanked all the gods that he couldn’t read it from his side of the table.
“No,” I lied. I knew my face was probably redder than a tomato.
“Really?” He asked, that smug expression returning, like he knew I was full of shit.
“My youth pastor sends me daily bible verses,” I responded flatly. He raised an eyebrow, smiling politely.
“Oh, I’m sure.”
“Anyway,” I said, squeezing the bridge of my nose with my fingers to try and ward off what felt like a massive incoming headache. “Like I said, even if I wanted to, there’s no way for me to just dip out on him, okay? You don’t need to worry about that.”
He shifted in his seat, tapping his fingers on the table as he seemed to consider my words. I waited silently, hoping he would believe me, and wondering what the hell I’d gotten myself into. Or more accurately, what Caelyx had gotten me into.
“I’ll, once again, be transparent in that this is not how I wanted this conversation to go,” he eventually said.
I didn’t know if it was blind optimism, but I thought I could detect a note of resignation in his voice, which meant he was at least considering that he wouldn’t have to literally force me to date his son.
“But I understand your side of it, too. I want to think that I can trust you, Aspen. Can I trust you?”
“Yeah,” I answered instantly, hoping it sounded convincing. I wasn’t lying. I didn’t have any plans of packing up and disappearing. “You can trust me.”
He nodded slowly, pursing his lips. “Then it sounds like we won’t have any problems. But I will be watching,” he warned me. “And I will intervene if I have to. And I don’t think you want that.”
I shook my head quickly. “N-no. There’s not going to be any problems. Nothing’s going to change.”
“Well, let’s hope that any changes are changes for the better, hm?” He mused, and I wasn’t exactly sure what he meant, but I nodded anyway.
He picked up his phone, typing on it, before mine vibrated next to me.
“That message is from me,” he said. “I’ll reach out to you when I need to. It should go without saying that Caelyx can’t find out about this.”
“Of course,” I agreed. “I won’t say anything to him.”
“Then for now, I’m glad we’ve come to a… Compromise.”
He was being civil about it, but it was obvious he wasn’t used to being told no. I really hoped he wouldn’t resent me for it, because the last thing I needed in my already precarious life was for some powerful billionaire sitting in his mansion seething over me.
“Um, yeah, me too.”
When he was ready for us to part ways, he reminded me that we’d probably be speaking again soon, but told me not to dwell on it.
Easier said than done.
LATER THAT NIGHT, in my dorm room, I was hunched over a textbook when another text came through.
You never answered me, Cupcake. Do I need to come check on you?
Squeezing my eyes closed, I inhaled deeply before slowly letting my breath out. I glanced over to the other side of the room, where Ren was engrossed in typing out some essay.
With the chaos of my impromptu meeting with Faulkner, I’d pushed everything out of my mind, even the pervy text from Caelyx.
But with him reminding me of it and forcing me to think about it…
I didn’t know how to respond. What he was saying he wanted to do wasn’t something I’d ever let a guy do to me before.
Then again, I hadn’t let anyone do what he’d already done.
I had rules with guys. Boundaries. Things I wasn’t willing to compromise on, because I couldn’t stand the idea of being vulnerable like that. And any time I’d ever started considering it, they always ended up ruining it before I could even give them a chance.
But it had been so different with him, immediately different in a way I hadn’t even realized I’d been desperate for until it had happened.
But it wasn’t the time to think about that.
I didn’t even have the mental processing available even if I wanted to think about it.
And I couldn’t let Caelyx know that I’d let him do something I hadn’t let anyone else do before.
That was the last thing I wanted him to find out.
I’m studying for the econ exam, I informed him. It suddenly occurred to me that if he failed any of his classes, especially the ones I was in with him, then his dad would probably blame me, so I sent him another message. You should be studying, too.
You’re not avoiding me, are you? He asked, and a twinge of guilt squirmed in my stomach. I wasn’t avoiding him, exactly…
I’m not. You’ll see me tomorrow in class.
What about after? He insisted. I was pretty sure he knew neither of us were on the schedule at work. I ran my tongue over my teeth, considering.
What about it? I asked, even though I knew what he was suggesting. I wasn’t a moron.
Hang out with me. Let’s do something. You don’t have to come over here if you don’t want to.
And there it was. I didn’t have to come over if I didn’t want to. He wanted to screw around, but he didn’t want me to feel pressured. And he wanted to see me either way. It was hard to blow him off when he wasn’t just being a horny pest.
Groaning lightly, I rubbed my temples. Ren glanced over at me, looking slightly concerned.
“You okay?” He wondered.
“Yeah, I’m just… Brain hurting,” I finished, aware I probably sounded like a caveman barely capable of human speech. But he just nodded, grinning.
“Right there with you,” he agreed, brushing his mop of shaggy black hair off his forehead before returning his attention to his laptop.
Before I could decide what to say back to Caelyx to keep it light and casual, he’d already sent another message.
Please, Cupcake. Don’t deprive me. I miss you.
Pressing my fingers into my closed eyes, I suppressed the urge to hiss.
We’ll do something tomorrow, okay? Don’t be weird about it.
When he sent me a kissy-face emoji in response, followed by a bunch of different colored hearts, I just rolled my eyes to the ceiling and buried my phone under my pillow so I could actually focus on my work.