CHAPTER 36 #2
“OC,” I say, letting my voice carry a hint of softness.
“If she’s engaged, that means she said yes, and the only way she would say yes is if she’s in love with this person.
And if she’s in love, that means it’s really serious.
Do you really want to be that person who comes back into her life and muddies her reality? ”
I can feel Maple’s eyes on me, her hand warming over my thigh.
Yes, I’m an asshole most of the time, but there are points when I’m not a complete and total dick, when I can offer some solid advice and give a fuck about you. It’s a small amount of time and the quota runs low often, but he caught me in a moment when Maple was pushing her energy into me.
Lucky him.
“I don’t want to be that person,” OC says, looking deflated. “Fuck, do you really think it’s over?”
“Yeah.”
“But what if…what if she still has feelings for me and doesn’t know it?
” OC asks, hope hitting him in the chest. “What if she’s just saying yes to this guy because she doesn’t know how I feel?
Don’t you think I should give her the chance to know how I feel and then she can make an informed decision? ”
“You have a point,” Maple says. “But let me ask this: When you were there with her, was there tension between the two of you? Did it seem like she wanted to work things out? How were the vibes?”
Check out my girl hammering out the details.
He rolls his teeth over his bottom lip as he looks away. “The vibes weren’t great.”
“Then that should be your answer,” I say.
“But I never got the chance to woo her. I was helping all the other fools with their girl problems, like I helped you, and now look at me, alone and sad and heartbroken.”
“Aw, he helped you,” Maple says, leaning in and kissing my cheek.
“A lot,” OC says. “Like the reason you two are sitting there all snuggly, making me jealous, is because of me.”
“Don’t fucking exaggerate,” I say. Sure, he helped, but also, I had a lot to do with this, thank you very fucking much.
OC just shrugs. “Anyway, don’t you think she deserves to find out how I feel?”
“No,” I answer. “She deserves happiness, and she found it.”
“Yeah, don’t be a Rachel.”
“A what?” OC asks.
“Rachel,” Maple says again. “Rachel Green from Friends. She has feelings for Ross and goes to London to tell him how she feels before he gets married, only to mess with his head, and he goes and says the wrong name at the altar.”
“That’s because Ross is unstable at best.” OC sits taller. “How on earth can someone who once owned a monkey as a pet function properly in society? There’s a screw loose up there.”
“Uh, Ross is the glue that holds that show together.”
“Preposterous!” OC shouts. “It’s Chandler, and everyone knows it.”
“Chandler is the easy answer.”
“You’re the one who’s easy,” OC shoots back.
“Hey,” I snap at him. “Don’t fucking call my girl easy.”
OC winces. “Sorry, that…that just flew out of me. Apologies. I’m a bit stressed at the moment, so forgive me for anything stupid that I might say.”
“It’s okay,” Maple says, even though I want to tell her that it’s not. “Back to the problem at hand. I know this is not what you want to hear, but I think you just need to let her go.”
He sighs heavily. “Why did I know you were going to say that?”
“Because you know what’s right, and that’s what you should do. If she’s happy, let her be. Let her live her life. Don’t complicate it for her.”
OC brushes his hand through his hair, pushing his hood back.
“Fuck,” he says, and I can see that cocky yet goofy demeanor he wears all the time slip as he lets us see him in a raw, vulnerable moment, realization setting in that this is what his life is going to be.
A life without Grace.
And as much as he annoys me, I feel bad because I feel very attached to Maple right now. Not that I have the kind of history that OC and Grace had, but if she were to just walk away right now, I would feel pretty sick about it.
I wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about her.
And I know deep down inside that if it were her who just got engaged, I would probably have something to say about it. And I wouldn’t just let her go live her life.
Then again, I don’t usually fall under the line of morally correct decisions.
“I’m sorry, OC,” Maple says, her expression turning into deep sympathy. “If you want, you can hang out with us for a while.”
Uh…what?
“Really?” he asks. “That would mean a lot to me.”
And before I can even protest, he stands from the chair, takes the two steps he needs to make it to the couch, and sits down, grabbing the remote to the TV with him before turning it on.
“Ooh, Pretty Woman, love this movie.”
He grabs one of my throw pillows, hugs it to his chest, and stares off at the TV as I slowly turn to look Maple in the eyes.
She gives me an apologetic expression, and I know she can feel my displeasure.
Because this is the last fucking thing I had in mind when we were driving back to my place.
OC on my couch, watching Pretty Woman, was not how I planned on ending this evening.
“He’s kind of precious when he sleeps,” Maple whispers as she stares down at OC, who is now sprawled across the couch, mouth hanging open, gripping my throw pillow like it’s his personal little spoon, covered in a blanket that Maple insisted on me draping over him.
“Not the adjective I was looking for,” I say, already in my boxer briefs, ready for bed. I got ready once the dickhead started drifting off to sleep.
Maple did too once I brought her bag up to my room.
She asked if maybe she should go home since it was so late, and I told her absolutely not.
If anything, I was going to at least sleep with her in my arms.
She changed into a cute pair of pink shorts and a flamingo shirt that I’m sure is one of many in her wardrobe.
She took her hair out of the tight ponytail it was in and has opted for more of a messy bun now.
Her face is freshly washed, and she looks so damn good that it’s going to take a very huge effort not to strip her down right here in the middle of my living room like I had planned.
Maple pats my chest. “You are very grumpy.”
I gesture to the lovesick nimrod on my couch. “I wonder why.”
“It was nice that you helped him and offered him a place to crash while he’s hurting. That’s being a good friend.”
“We’re not friends.”
“I don’t know.” She takes my hand in hers. “It seems like you might be.”
“Trust me, I would never be friends with someone like him. He’s too…annoying.”
She chuckles, and I tug her upstairs to my room, catching that it’s past midnight already. Everything I had planned for us is completely ruined.
Yeah, thanks for the cock block…friend.
When we get to my room, Maple takes off toward the bathroom, and I go to the bed, where I draw down the covers.
Our phones are already plugged in, so I turn on my nightstand light and turn off the others, casting the room in a soft glow.
I lie down on the bed and prop one hand behind my head as I wait for Maple.
Irritation creeps through me, but I try to tamp it down because the last thing I want is for Maple to see it.
The bathroom light turns off, and the door opens. My eyes fall to the silhouette in the doorframe just as she takes another step forward, revealing Maple in nothing but a black see-through bra and matching thong.
Jesus.
Fuck.
Her dusty-rose-colored nipples poke up against the fabric, nothing concealed from my sight, while the strings of her thong run incredibly high on her hips.
I wet my lips as she moves forward, climbs onto the bed, and starts crawling toward me.
Immediately, I’m hard.
That’s all it takes, her…in lingerie, making her way toward me.
“Fuck,” I whisper as she crawls up my body and straddles my lap, where she lowers herself down.
“Mmm…you’re hard.”
“Of course I’m fucking hard,” I say, my voice raspy as I take her in. “Jesus, you’re so fucking beautiful.” I glide my hands up her sides to her bra, where I let my thumbs run over the see-through fabric.
“Have you been wearing this the whole night?”
“No, I changed when I got ready for bed.”
“You mean you’ve been sitting in this while that asswipe has been falling asleep on my couch?”
“Give him a break,” she says softly as she lets her hands travel up my chest. “He’s lovesick and hurt.”
“I don’t give a fuck about anything other than you, right here, in my arms, wearing this.” I let my eyes roam, my heart rate picking up the more I take in.
The subtle curve of her hips.
The hard nub of her nipples.
The goose bumps along her skin.
Fuck, I want this woman, and bad.
And she must see it in my eyes because she lifts off my lap and pushes the blankets down. She grabs my boxer briefs and pulls them down as well, letting my length stretch up my stomach.
Her eyes find mine, and they slowly travel down my body until they reach my cock. She wets her lips, straddles me, and gradually lowers her center over me.
“Jesus,” I grumble right before her hips start rotating over my length.
“God, I love your cock, Graydon. I love how big you are, how ready you are. How you allow me to take control when I want to use you.”
“Use me all you want, beautiful,” I say as my hands land on her hips, guiding her movements. “Fuck me however you want. I’m yours.”
Her eyes fall to mine, and with a smile that could kill, she turns around, her ass facing me now. She bends forward just enough to give me a perfect view and starts humping my cock, her arousal moving fast over me, creating enough friction to drive me wild as I stare at her two perfect globes.
She knows me too well now.
She knows my goddamn weakness.
I spank her loud enough for the sound to echo through the room. She holds her moan in, only letting the smallest of sounds fall past her lips.
That’s not good enough.
“Let me hear you.”
“Not with OC in your living room.”
“Fuck him.”
“No, I’d rather fuck you,” she says, looking over her shoulder, her expression so sinister that I forget what we were just arguing about, and I spank her again.
I watch as her teeth pull over her lip, and she lets out a tiny moan for me.
“Fuck. Again, beautiful.”
I spank her once more…and another…and another, her pace increasing with every slap to her ass until we’re both panting and she has me forgetting what the hell I’m supposed to be doing as my pleasure climbs and climbs.
“Shit, stop, Maple. I’m going to…fuck, I’ll come.”
“Then come,” she says and continues driving over me. It only takes three more strokes before I’m coming early, exploding all over my stomach like a fucking rookie.
“Fuck…” I groan, hating myself. “Shit, I’m sorry.”
She turns around, a smile playing on her lips as she takes in my stomach.
“What are you sorry for?” she asks as she leans forward and starts licking the cum off my stomach. “Seems to me like you’re doing just what I want.”
Jesus…Christ…