Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
ATHENA
Three hours after Charlie left, we had watched one and a half movies for our weekly girls’ day, and I hadn’t stopped thinking about everything that had happened this morning.
Was this real life?! What were we? Did he have feeling—
Suddenly, Sierra paused the really bad horror movie we were watching.
“Did something happen with Charlie?” Heather asked, smirking at me.
“No!” I exclaimed, tugging the pillow to my chest. “Why do you think that?”
Thank God my hair is long enough to cover the marks he left on my body!
“You’re acting kinda weird,” Sierra said.
“Am I?” I asked—definitely suspiciously.
Think, Athena! Come up with some type of an excuse.
“And what are these?!” Heather exclaimed, pushing my hair over my shoulder and staring with wide eyes at the hickeys that Charlie had left all over me.
I’d thought I was way past the age of getting hickeys, but …
Charlie had transformed into a wild animal a couple of hours ago, claiming me in ways that no other man ever had. Deep down, I secretly loved that he had left marks on my body and come inside of me when he never did that to any other girl—at least in his videos.
But it was going to be a bit hard to explain because I didn’t want them to think we were something when we weren’t.
I wasn’t sure what Charlie thought we were after that. Did he still want to be friends? Friends with benefits?
I didn’t want to lose him.
“I, um …” I started, my throat closing. “They’re from …”
“Charlie?” Sun smirked.
“No!”
“Are you seeing Charlie?!” Heather squealed. “I knew it! We’ve been—”
“These aren’t from Charlie,” I said quickly so she wouldn’t come up with this entire scenario in her head.
It’d probably meant nothing to him. He slept with so many girls anyway. I was just another one.
“Then who are they from?”
“His brother,” I blurted out without thinking about the consequences.
As soon as the words left my mouth, everyone suddenly became quiet. I opened and closed my mouth a handful of times, trying to find a better excuse, but I literally couldn’t think of anyone else who’d be acceptable.
Who else could I say?
“Derek?” Sierra asked as the front door opened.
“Did someone say Derek?” Charlie asked, holding cheesecake from my favorite bakery, Doughburgh. He placed the cheesecake on the counter and glanced at me. “Did he stop over?”
“No,” I said, turning my gaze away and cursing to myself.
Why the hell did I say Derek and literally not anyone else?!
“Oh.” Heather giggled. “Athena was just telling us about last night.”
I glared at the side of her head for bringing him up, but this was my fault.
“And my brother came up?” Charlie asked from the kitchen, unboxing the cheesecake.
“Yeah,” I mumbled, sinking deeper into the couch. “Somehow.”
“Apparently, he came over,” Sierra teased, bumping her shoulder with mine.
Fuck! God, Charlie is going to hate me after this!
In the reflection of the TV screen, I spotted Charlie pausing mid-cut. I gulped and hoped that he would drop it and return to his normal bubbly self. I really didn’t want him asking any more questions that I couldn’t answer.
“Who wants cheesecake?” Charlie asked after a second. When the girls didn’t say much, he placed two big slabs on plates, walked over to us, and handed me one. Charlie plopped down beside me. “What are we watching?”
Heather yawned and stood. “We were watching this horror thing, but it got kinda boring.”
“Anyway, Steven is waiting for me. We’re supposed to go to dinner tonight,” Sierra said.
I followed them toward the door.
Heather placed her hands on Sun’s shoulders and squeezed. “And someone has a date tonight with a certain couple at Radiant! I’m going to help her get ready for it. A, you wanna come with us?”
I swallowed hard and looked at Charlie sitting on the couch, his fork sliding into the cheesecake to break off a piece. To anyone else, he looked like the fun, calm, and collected Charlie that everyone loved.
But he was gripping his fork a bit too roughly.
“I’m going to stay here,” I said, beaming at Sun. “But have fun. I want all the details!”
Sun blushed and hid her face in Heather’s shoulder. “You don’t have to tell everyone.”
“Yes, I do,” Heather said. “This is your first relationship. And with a married couple!”
Sierra giggled. “A married couple?”
“Sun snagged literally the two hottest people who attend Radiant,” Heather said.
“I’m jealous,” I played along, but it only seemed to make Charlie grip the fork harder.
Heather looped her arm around Sun’s and dragged her to the door with Sierra hot on their heels while trying to tug on her winter coat.
“We’ll see you later!” Heather called.
Then, the door swung closed.
I sucked in a sharp breath, unsure of what to say to Charlie. Talking about Derek—insinuating anything with Derek—really was going to screw me, if it hadn’t already.
A moment later, Charlie’s arm came around my shoulders, and he plunged his forkful of cheesecake into my mouth, the way he usually did whenever we had some dessert.
“How is it?” he asked, his upbeat self.
Though I could tell that he felt bothered.
I chewed and swallowed. “It’s good.”
“Want another?”
“No,” I whispered, peering back at him. “Are we going to talk about it?”
“Talk about what?” Charlie asked.
“You know,” I said, shifting my weight from side to side.
Hell, I didn’t know whether I was talking about earlier today or Derek anymore.
“Is my cum still buried deep in that pussy?” Charlie hummed.
My entire body suddenly felt like it was in flames. I crossed my arms over my chest and shuffled my feet together, my thighs grinding in the process. “Charlie, I … you …” My nipples hardened underneath my shirt, and then I finally breathed out a, “Y … es.”
“Then I don’t think we have anything to talk about.” Charlie moved closer to me until his hardening cock was pressed against my right hip. He snaked a hand around the front of my throat and pulled me closer until his mouth pressed against my ear. “You’re mine. Understand?”
I stared up at his piercing blue eyes and nodded.
He slowly drew his thumb across my lower lip, then popped it into my mouth. “Say it.”
“I’m yours,” I mumbled against his thumb.
“I own you now, Athie.”
Heat rushed to my core, and I pressed my thighs together to suppress the ache between them. “Yes.”
“Good girl,” he said, gaze shifting from my eyes to my mouth and then back to my eyes. He took off my top, then my bottoms, then continued, “Now get on your knees, open your mouth, and ask Daddy to give you his cock.”