Chapter 41
DENALI
YOU’RE A CAVITY
One of my favorite times to be close with Zariah was after she had an orgasm. She was way cuddlier—especially after I ate her ass for the first time. We were in matching pajamas, watching a movie on her bed. Her head was tucked under my chin, and she was petting my arm hair. It was so comfortable.
A knock echoed from the door and I narrowed my eyes. “It’s eight o’clock. Who the hell is that?”
“Okay, old man,” she snorted.
She shifted to get up, but I wrapped an arm around her waist. “Do we have to move?”
“It’s Piper. She’s dropping off some t-shirts this weekend—where are you going?”
“I got it.” I brought her back to bed and kissed her shoulder before I slipped out. I just had to grab the stuff from Piper and then I’d burrow back into the blankets with my girlfriend.
Today was a goddamn good day. With a grin, I opened her front door, and for a couple of seconds, I didn’t register what I was seeing. The grin fell at the unexpected visitor.
“Jeremy?” I said, confused.
There was no way—what the hell? Jeremy’s sad, downcast expression vanished. Silent, we stared, both surprised to see each other. His eyes darted to the numbers on the wall. “I—uh—have the wrong dorm—”
He wanted to see Zariah. Fuck no. Absolutely fucking not. I slipped into her dorm again to grab my phone off the kitchen counter, and as softly as I could, I closed the door behind me. I didn’t want her to hear.
Once I made sure it was closed, I snapped a picture of Jeremy.
He blinked. “You’re the guy from the hockey arena.”
“I’m Zariah’s boyfriend,” I retorted.
“Boyfriend?”
“Yeah. And you’re the dumb fuck who won’t leave her alone. Zariah told you to stop following her. What are you doing here?”
“I—I—”
“Actually, I’ll tell you what you’re doing here.
You’re harassing her and now I have proof.
” I waved my phone, flashing the picture.
Now that Adam’s court stuff was off Zariah’s plate, I’d get to send this to the entire basketball program.
I gloated, smug with satisfaction. “Hope you’re ready to have a sit-down with your coach, you dumb fucking asshole—”
Understanding fluttered across his face and he was fast, grappling for my phone.
Oh, shit.
I yanked it from his grasp, dodging away from Zariah’s door. Fuck, I didn’t want her to come out here. No doubt I’d get distracted and I didn’t want this moron to fuck up my phone.
I almost sucker-punched him and whipped back my hand. Shit. I couldn’t touch him. I promised. Jeremy grabbed for me, and I had to do this weird dance, leading him away from her door.
“Give me the phone,” he snapped.
I sidestepped, fists twitching to shove him back. “Shut the fuck up, she’s going to hear.”
“Give me the phone!”
“Shut up!”
He tried to hit me, and he clearly hadn’t done that before. It was too easy to leap out of the way. Jeremy slammed his fist against the brick wall, and his face crumpled in pain. Howling, he clutched his hand.
“Shut up!” I snapped, pulling him to the elevator’s lounge by the back of his shirt. “I can’t have Elijah hear you, he’ll lose his shit, and I’ve worked my ass off proving to Zariah that I’m a different guy—you’re not fucking this up for me!”
“You fucked up my hand—”
“You came at me!” I released him. “If you keep following her, I’m going to—I’m going to—” I stumbled over my words, cursing under my breath. “I don’t know what I’m going to do because I have to check in with her first, but—”
He swore at me, twisted with rage. I thought he’d learned his lesson, but he jumped at me, a full-body throw I wasn’t expecting.
My fist flew out on instinct alone, connecting with his jaw. Jeremy spiraled back, wheezing from the punch.
“Fuck!” I swore. “Goddammit, Jeremy!”
“You broke my jaw—”
“No, I didn’t, you wouldn’t be able to talk!” I stared down at my hand. My knuckles ached. No doubt that’d bruise for sure—I couldn’t fucking believe it. I felt sick. “She’s going to be so mad at me!”
“You hit me—”
“Shut the fuck up. What am I going to do?” I sucked in a hard breath, staring at the dumbass basketball player, still whining about the punch. “What am I going to say to her? Fuck. Fuck!”
Mind racing, I dragged Jeremy to the door to the stairwell. I yanked it open so hard, it teetered on its hinges and I threw him inside.
“Take the stairs, asshole!” I snarled.
I slammed the door shut and whirled around, clenching and unclenching my knuckles. What could I say to her? I couldn’t leave and pretend like everything was fine, she’d see my hand eventually. I couldn’t hide this. I couldn’t lie.
She explicitly told me not to touch him, and I fucked up.
Fuck, I had to come clean.
Apprehension rolled through my stomach.
I entered her dorm, hands up in surrender. “I punched Jeremy! I’m sorry!”
“What?” Zariah scrambled out of bed. “You did what?”
“I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to, I promise!”
“Oh my god, what happened?”
“That dumb shit was here to see you. He tried to hit me, he smashed up his hand pretty good on the wall, and then he jumped me, and—”
“Are you okay?”
“Oh, yeah. I’m fine. He can’t fight worth shit.”
“Why did he punch you?”
I slipped out my phone. “I took a photo of him and said I’d send it to his coach.”
Her eyebrows knitted in concern. “Why would you do that? We have cameras in the hallways.”
“I—uh—” I trailed off into silence. Wait, I knew that. Why was I taunting Jeremy in the first place? He didn’t need to know that I was Zariah’s boyfriend. He didn’t even think he was in the right room, I could’ve handled that so much better.
Holy shit. I wanted Jeremy to try something.
“I—I’m sorry,” I stuttered. “It won’t happen again, I promise.”
Zariah studied my knuckles, biting her lip. I had the weirdest feeling she was debating on something.
“I’m sorry,” I said again but it was like she didn’t hear me. Her eyes slid to mine. A smile tugged up on her lips, and she walked me to her bedroom.
Just like that?
I swallowed. “I’m sorry, Zariah. I shouldn’t have antagonized him—”
“Don’t worry about Jeremy, I’ll email his coach after this.”
“After this? After what?”
“I like when you listen to me, Denali,” Zariah said, bypassing my question. She sat on the edge of her bed, holding my hand while I stood in front of her. “Do you understand?”
“Yeah, sure. It makes sense.”
“Because when you listen to me, I feel like you respect what I say, respect who I am. That makes me happy, especially considering our past. Do you understand that too?”
“Uh-huh, I…” My words trailed off as Zariah tugged me closer, her face inches away from the strings of my pajama pants—from my cock. I took a deep breath. “I understand.”
“Do you know what happens when I’m happy?” she whispered.
Zariah lifted my shirt a little, pressing her lips to the exposed skin underneath. My cock swelled against the fabric and my eyes shot wide. “Uh…”
Her fingers danced up the lining of my pajamas. “When I’m happy, I make you happy.”
“Yeah,” I whispered. There was something off about this, something didn’t make sense, but I was too hard to recognize what that was. Zariah nudged down my pajamas a little and dragged her tongue across the skin above my cock. A groan escaped me. “Jesus, Riah—”
“Do you want to have sex again?”
I nodded so hard, my neck hurt. “Yeah. Yeah.”
My pajama pants were shrugged down all the way, my cock met the open air, throbbing for her. Zariah wrapped a hand around it, and I swore, my hips already moving with her, trying to get her to stroke it. But she stayed still. I was losing my fucking mind.
“Zariah,” I panted. “Please—”
“Denali?” she murmured. “I want you to tell me something.”
“Anything—anything—”
“Why did you change the defense players’ schedule?”
There was no more blood in my head. I didn’t understand the question, and when I did, it wasn’t one I wanted to answer. I stared down at her. “Huh?”
“Listen to me.” She ran her fingers down my cock in one smooth motion that left me reeling. “You don’t lie to me ever. Right?”
“Right,” I croaked.
“Why’d you change it?”
I couldn’t lie under normal circumstances, and these weren’t normal circumstances. The answer tumbled out of my mouth. “So I could see you.”
“Because you knew I’d wait the ten minutes in the Colo?”
Embarrassment clung to me, only overpowered by her hand around my cock. “Yes.”
“Why’d you move your car to parking lot J2?”
“Fuck,” I blurted out and looked away, mortified, but Zariah stroked up and down, precum beading my head, leaving me shaking. “I—I go grocery shopping on Tuesdays now.”
“Grocery shopping? What does that have to do with the parking spot?”
“It’s by the gym.” I managed. “I leave after seven.”
Zariah fell still and I was in physical pain from the erection. I couldn’t ask her to pump my cock while we were talking about this. I panted until she blinked in recognition. “You watch me go to my Pilates class.”
“I watch you leave it.”
The admission was heavy on my tongue—Christ, I should’ve stopped doing it. It was a hundred-dollar parking fee and fifteen minutes out of my day, once a week, when I’d watch her leave the gym in a sports bra, her body dewy with sweat.
The tension was thick in the air. I apologized while Zariah’s expression was unreadable. Nothing I said seemed to reach her.
“Did you fake getting locked into the closet at alumni night?” she whispered.
Shock rippled through me. “What? No.”
“You didn’t do it to trap us in there?”
“No! I’d never—”
“Because there was a warning on the door.”
“Then I didn’t see it! It was dark, and I didn’t think—” I struggled to explain. “I’d never do that. Ever.”
Zariah relaxed her grip which didn’t help with the hard-on at all. “I know you wouldn’t.”