14. Maybe its Broken – Mar
CHAPTER 14
MAYBE IT'S brOKEN
MAR
Sihn says his best friend Ruin is on his way over—Guys’ night. I’ve never met Ruin, but I don’t want to overstay my welcome. Sihn has been holding me captive and having his way with me all day. I was more than willing, though.
“I was leaving anyway,” I call over my shoulder as I stuff my dirty panties from last night into my purse. I pulled on a pair of his briefs to take their place when I dressed.
He slinks his arm around me from behind, running his fingers up and down my abdomen. “No, stay. I want you to meet him.”
I drop my purse on his bed and lean back into him. “Sihn, I’m not feeling like being in a testosterone-fueled room while y’all drink and talk about other chicks.”
His voice sounds almost wounded when he says, “Mar, it won’t be like that.”
I turn to face him so he can see me roll my eyes. “I’ve heard more than enough about all the women you’ve bagged. I don’t want to stick around and have to listen to the ones he’s slept with, too.”
“You’re the one who asked all the questions, I just answered. You can’t be mad at me for that.”
“I’m not.” I’ve had my fair share of men before him, too. Really only a few other guys, but it’s not a game of who has more sexual experience. “Do you really want me to stay?” It’s not like I have anything better to do tonight, but I’ve never met his best friend before, and I know they’re close.
“Nothing would satisfy me more.”
Feeling insecure, I say, “What if he doesn’t like me?”
“There is no way in hell he doesn’t like you. You’re fiery and that mouth of yours would have any guy dropping his pants the moment you said ‘now’. Plus, he’s an ass man.” His hand comes down hard on my left cheek. It stings.
Why did that sound sexual? Why would he want his best friend to look at my ass?
“I need a shower.” If I’m staying, I am not meeting his friend in my current state. “How long before he’s here?” I ask, but he doesn’t have to answer—a fist pounds on the front door.
“Hey, douche, open up! My balls are sweating the fuck off out here, man.”
Sihn walks backward out of the room shrugging, but he doesn’t take his eyes off me until I can no longer see him.
After taking an extra long shower, I now smell like Sihn, who has chosen the scent of Bourbon with his soap preference. I’m not even upset about it because this scent is intoxicating.
Not wanting to put my clothes from last night back on, I open up Sihn’s dresser. I know the top drawer contains his underwear, but I need a pair of pants or shorts. I can’t be prancing around his place in briefs. Although I’m sure Sihn would like it, I’m not so sure he’d want me prancing around practically naked in front of his friend.
I assume the second drawer will contain T-shirts, but I’m surprised to find a lifetime supply of condoms, lube, and a black vibrator. I wonder if he uses that on himself… or one of the many women he’s been with before.
I slam it shut.
I find what I’ve been searching for in the third drawer, a brown T-shirt with a coffee cup in the middle. In the center of the mug, it says Coffey Cafe. It’s an older shirt. My parents stopped selling this shirt sometime last year.
Hurriedly, I pull it over my naked body before slipping on a clean pair of briefs and a pair of gray sweat-shorts that I have to roll three times to keep them from falling off. They hit just above my knees.
As I make my way down the hall, I overhear them talking.
I hear a man’s voice say, “Dude, it’s been a while for me.” That must be Sihn’s friend because it isn’t Sihn’s voice.
“Now I know you’re fucking with me. Women fall all over you, Ruin. How many subscribers are you up to now?”
“Almost a million, but I’ve been pickier in the real world.”
Sihn chuckles. “No, you’ve just gone through them all.”
“Not really, you know once women see how tall I am they want nothing to do with me.”
“That’s not true.”
“There have been women, but I just haven’t found anyone to get my motor running. It’s sad. The last chick I tried to bag, I couldn’t get it up. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“Maybe it’s broken…”
“I sure the fuck hope not.”
Before I round the corner, I stomp my feet a few times.
Sihn is sitting in the recliner with his back to me. I spot a guy on the couch. His legs are barely long enough to touch the floor. I know immediately that I am taller than him.
Even from across the room, I can see that Ruin has dimples on both cheeks when he smiles at me. Perfect bright white teeth and strawberry-blond curls on top of his head. Where Sihn’s skin is light brown his friend’s in contrast, is milky white. His body is very muscular; he has tattoo sleeves on both arms and one that slinks up behind his ear.
“Dude,” Ruin says as he looks from my wet head to my bare feet and bites his knuckles.
Sihn didn’t have a blow dryer or a hairbrush, so I did my best to get the knots out using my fingers and made sure to cover my bald spot. “What are we watching?” I ask, casually.
Sihn looks over the back of his chair at me. “It’s Ruin’s turn to pick.”
I laugh. “What is this? Some kind of guys’ movie night?”
Sihn stands from his chair and sits on the opposite side of the couch from Ruin. I head to the chair, but Sihn speaks, “Over here, Pretty One.” He pats the middle seat of the couch with his palm.
Ruin’s lips pull into a megawatt smile. “Don’t worry, I won’t bite. Unless you ask me to.”
Ignoring him, I ask Sihn, “Why?”
“Better view of the TV.” He points at the flat screen on the opposite wall from the couch.
I cross my arms in front of me in defiance. “Maybe I don’t want to watch the movie…”
They both laugh like I’m not in on some joke of theirs.
“I’m leaving,” I say.
I turn on my heel ready to bolt to the front door when Sihn pleads, “Mar, stay.” With puppy dog eyes and a fat bottom lip, he says, “I ordered pizza.”
“What kind?” I haven’t eaten since lunch, yesterday. We were supposed to get breakfast this morning but we ended up feasting on each other instead. Then when lunchtime rolled around, we took a nap.
“Sausage and onion.”
Oh, well my head was going places it shouldn’t. No one wants to kiss with onion breath. “Okay, but only because I’m hungry, but I’m picking the movie and neither of you are allowed to complain.” I huff and sit my ass on the couch between them. I cross my arms over my chest and pull my feet up criss-cross.
“Man, she is feisty. I like it!” Ruin turns to me, pushing the remote in my direction. “Don’t be afraid to turn to me if dick for brains here doesn’t treat you well.”
I take the controller from him. “Oh, I kinda like his dick, though.”
“That’s because you ain’t seen mine.” He winks before adding, “Yet.”
I clench my legs and feel warmth pool between my thighs. Why does the thought of seeing his dick turn me on… he is Sihn’s best friend. He doesn’t know I overheard him saying it no longer works anymore. I wonder if he’d be embarrassed if he knew…
The guys lock eyes and their lips turn up into mischievous smiles.
“We’re going to watch the girliest movie ever if you two don’t stop having secret conversations with your eyes. I’m right here!”
I look back and forth between them until I’m mesmerized by Ruin’s dimples. I know those dimples. I spent a summer with those dimples in my bedroom. Back then he looked less like a man.
“No, wait, you look familiar… ar—are you Chad. Chad…Williams?” How did I not notice this as soon as I entered the room… “Chad?”
“I don’t go by Chad. Not since I lost a hundred pounds and reinvented myself.”
I was right! “Do you remember me?” Maybe he doesn’t remember me. It was over ten years ago. People change a lot in ten years, he sure has.
“Of course. My favorite summer in my teen years was spent with you, Amarynth.”
Sihn chimes in, “Wait, you two already know each other?”
“Sort of. Do you want to tell it, or do you want me to?” I ask Chad or well, Ruin now.
“You can,” he offers.
I had kind of hoped he would take the reins. I want to know what he remembers. “We were fourteen or fifteen that summer. Neither of us could drive.” I had hit my growth spurt, so I was taller than every guy in our grade. Mom said they would catch up eventually.
“Chad…uh—Ruin and I worked at the library together in the evenings. Our moms would take turns on who picked us up when the library closed. We bonded over our love of reading.”
Sihn says, “You read, Ruin?”
“Only when I’m forced.”
“Shut up! You loved to read. You would come over and we would spend hours talking about the classics the teachers made us read that sucked and the ones that blew our minds.”
“Correction, if I may?” Ruin asks.
I nod.
“I worked at the library because my parents required me to have a job, and I went to your house because I thought you were hot.”
I laugh. Huh? “No, you didn’t! We talked about books.”
“You talked about books. I was trying to get in your pants and you never picked up on it. I thought you found me unattractive like everyone else.”
I think back on all the times we spent together. I know I always kept the conversations going, but I thought he was a shy book nerd, and we bonded over our love of reading. “Wow, I did not see it. Then again, I wasn’t looking for it.”
“I was too short. I’m always too short.”
“No, it wasn’t that. I didn’t feel attractive back then either. We were in our pubescent teen years. Braces and acne.”
He shrugs his muscular shoulders. “I never got in your pants, did I?”
“No, but no one else did back then either…if that’s what you’re asking.”
Sihn is very quiet and then Ruin says, “Enough about being young and dumb. Are we watching a movie or not?”
“What would you choose if I wasn’t here?” I ask.
Sihn shifts his hips. “You want the truth?”
I look at Sihn and say, “Well, yeah.”
“Porn,” Ruin states.
My head snaps back toward him so fast.