Chapter 22Annie
Chapter 22
Annie
OCTOBER | Balance: $50,262
Hey. Just checking in before I leave work.
You okay?
NICK OBERBECK
Slept all day. Doc brought me some numbing meds for my throat so I could eat and gave me IV fluids. Keeping me steady on the other meds till the fever goes away. I’m out a couple games
Thanks again for taking care of me. You are an angel for real
No problem. Glad you’re doing better.
Thanks for helping me move
Anytime
Greg misses you
Oh, Greg does?
Yeah. He said he wanted the blonde lady to come back with her high heels
Greg sounds really clingy
Oh he is
and very lonely
We’re watching a movie. Sure could use some company
Does Greg need to be walked?
yes
You already walked him didn’t you
He likes the blonde lady who acts like a teacher better. I just shoved him out in the yard to do his business
And you left your makeup bag here
I sighed. He had me there. The whole conversation had me blushing and covering my mouth. Why was he so damn cute? He couldn’t just say I want you to come over. He had to make it some long con to make it seem like he wasn’t dying to see me again.
Mentally, I lumped those stomach-jumping feelings in with part of the “benefits” of our arrangement. Because it couldn’t be more than that. We were just exercising our chemistry.
It would be fine. Those are feelings that lead to sex, not love.
At least let me go home and get some clothes
Thank youuuuuu. I’ll order us some dinner
We’re excited to see you
* * *
Nick answered the door in a long-sleeve tee, sweatpants, and a mask. He looked disheveled but better than when I’d seen him last.
“Hey,” he whispered, reaching out for a hug, then stopping himself. “The doctor said I shouldn’t touch anyone.”
I stuck out my lower lip. “Sorry, bubby. That’s a bummer.”
“I got you some dinner, but I didn’t touch it just in case. It’s up on the counter.”
“Oh, thanks!”
“Least I could do,” he said. “I’ll just, uh, go up to my room so I don’t breathe on you while you eat.”
Greg appeared beside Nick, putting his paws on my shin for pets.
“Hey, little man,” I said, crouching to pet him. “Did you take care of your dad today?”
Nick’s smiling eyes flashed before he turned to go back to his room. After I ate, I noticed Nick’s trash was overflowing. Typical twenty-something bachelor boy behavior, which was a reason why I wouldn’t be pursuing anything more than a friends-with-benefits arrangement. I could give him a little pass for being sick, though.
I carried the garbage bag out while I took Greg for a walk. Another beautiful California fall sunset. I still hadn’t gotten used to the warm temperatures, the lows only getting into the fifties at night. Thanksgiving was a few weeks off, and then there’d be the slide into Christmas. I wouldn’t have the money to fly home for both holidays, and if I was really being responsible, I wouldn’t go for either. I was so close to paying off the highest interest bill I had, the carrot dangling just in front of my face. Living modestly and funneling every spare dollar into my mom’s medical debt was the best thing I could do to get back to life. If I just buckled down and lived like a monk a little while longer, I could actually get to enjoy the benefits of my cushy salary.
When I got back to Nick’s room, he was sitting up watching TV. He muted it as I came in, Greg walking up his ramp to join Nick in bed.
“Thanks again for coming over,” he rasped.
“Thanks for feeding me. Watching anything good?”
“Nah, just passing the time. How was work today? What’s the outside world like?”
“Obi, you’ve been sick for like twenty-four hours. You were outside yesterday.”
“I don’t do this part well,” he moaned. “Come on. Tell me about your day.”
“You really wanna know?”
His eyes cast downward. “If we’re doing the whole friends-with-benefits thing, I think it’s important that we’re actually friends.”
“If we’re good friends, it won’t be just sex.”
“This might sound contradictory, but I’d prefer if it wasn’t just sex. I like to feel connected to my partners,” he said. “That’s how I got in this situation. I can’t do random flings.”
I wrinkled my nose. “You didn’t know me when we fooled around. You were the just for tonight one.”
He ran a hand through his hair. “No, but I felt a vibe with you. You felt . . . safe. You’re Kitty’s best friend, so I figured you couldn’t be a bad person. And I also drank a decent amount that weekend, which I don’t normally. Drinking fills in those little gaps where you don’t know someone. I either have to be drunk or close to someone to want to fuck. But I love making friends with people, if that makes sense. Getting to know what makes people tick.”
“That’s fair. I’m glad you’re in touch with what you need,” I said. “But you know we can’t be—”
“Yes, we can’t date. We’re just going to be good friends who touch each other intimately. I know your job is important, Annie.” He reached for my hand but stopped himself from taking it. “No touching, no touching.”
“Pretty sure I touched you plenty last night. If I’m doomed, I’m doomed.”
“Don’t need to tempt fate. Now tell me about your day.”
We stayed on opposite ends of the bed, but laid on our sides to talk. His mask made the green of his eyes stand out more.
“Well, I had a meeting with another new-to-me client. From Angel City FC, actually.”
“The soccer team? That’s awesome.”
“Yeah, I like working with women clients. No offense.”
“None taken.”
“It’s just a more collaborative approach, less ego. And I always like to try and get more for my women, since we’re paid so much less on the whole as athletes. If I could have it my way, I’d have an agency for just women athletes.” I sat up to take off my sweatshirt and pull down my hair. Nick’s eyes tracked the movement.
“Why don’t you?”
I sighed, nestling back into the mattress. “Money. I’d need to know I could make enough with a women’s agency, and health insurance and all that. You never know what’s going to happen in life.”
Nick nodded. “What if someone could help you?”
“I want to be able to do it on my own. If you have to answer to investors, it’s never really yours.”
“Fair.” Greg stirred at that moment, lifting his head to see me in the bed. He got up and curled into my body, lying back down.
Nick’s eyes went wide. “Look at this little traitor! Leaving me in my time of need!”
“Please. Do you even have a fever anymore?”
“I’m two hours medicine-free. Let’s check.” He grabbed the thermometer off his nightstand, the rapid fever beeps coming out. He showed me the screen.
“It’s coming down at least. Not as bad as it was last night. You had me freaked out, bub.”
“You told me I wouldn’t die!” he cried, then coughed and grabbed his throat.
“I should get out of here so you stop talking.”
“You won’t even watch a movie with me?”
“Okay, then, put one on.”
Nick and I chose a comfort movie, but he hardly looked at the screen, glancing at me more often.
“Annie, I don’t think I ever said sorry.”
“For what?”
“Not getting you there. I really did want to make it right that second night.”
“Oh, I know. It was just a bad circumstance. I still feel bad for telling my friends.”
“Water under the bridge,” he said. “I want to make it right, though.”
I grinned, reaching toward him and grabbing his sweatshirt sleeve. “You’ll get to. Don’t worry.”
His eyebrows went up a touch. “You know, I thought about you a little bit today.”
“Oh yeah? A little bit? Like about that contract we need to get finished for goalie school?”
“Yeah, get on that, woman.” He laughed softly. “No. About you you. About that little performance you did for me this morning.”
“You liked that, huh?”
“Oh, definitely.”
“What are you hoping to get out of our arrangement? Like what do you want to learn?”
His voice was low and husky, perhaps a partial product of his throat’s shredded state. “I want to learn what I need to do to make your body sing. To make you feel a fraction as good as you make me feel. To bring that little piece of heaven to you.”
My chest flushed, and I couldn’t meet his eyes. “Oh.” I cleared my throat. “So, what are the specific items you want to check off, then?”
“I think I want . . . to make you come with my hands, and with my mouth, and I want to feel what it’s like for you to come on my cock. I want to hear what turns you on, so I can make it come true. I want to try you being in charge, and me being in charge. But I think I really might want . . .”
“What, Nick? You can tell me.”
He drew a shuddering breath, his next words gravelly. “I want to watch you while I talk to you.”
Why was the idea alone turning me on? He was sick, and not even talking dirty, and I was getting wound up. “Nick.”
“I think it would help for me to see how you do it for yourself. And maybe I could help by talking to you. I might not get it right, but I want to try.”
“What I like might not be what your next girl likes,” I said.
“I have to start somewhere. Get the jitters out. Rip off the Band-Aid.” He shrugged. “What do you want out of it?”
I flapped my mouth, unsure of how to answer. I turned my attention to the movie. He tapped the bed next to me.
“I just told you everything, Annie. Trust goes two ways.”
Tears stung my eyes. I hadn’t imagined a conversation about sex would make me emotional. “Until you meet someone else, I just want to be the only one.”
Nick’s eyes softened. He could have pushed me more on the sexual end of things, but he knew when to shut up. “Consider it done. You’re the only one, Annie.”
He opened his arms and beckoned me close, arranging me so my head was on his chest and our legs intertwined. I sniffled. “I mean it’s fine if you meet someone. That’s the goal, right? To get you ready for the right person? I just want you to tell me when you do so I’m not in the dark.”
“You don’t have to worry about that, angel. No cheating. From either of us.”
“No feelings,” I said, soothed by the steady drum of his heart under my ear. “And no one can know. Not Guy. Not Mikey. No one.”
“I know. And you can’t tell your friends that I’m bad.”
I clenched my jaw, fighting the stinging behind my nose. “My friends won’t know.”