Chapter 36
Thirty-Six
REESE
Daisy
A good friend would probably tell you to listen to your instincts, but I’m going to have to disagree with your instincts on this one. Keep texting him.
Me
My instincts are never wrong.
Daisy
Fine. Say you’re right and this ends badly. You and Char can just live with me.
I roll my eyes. I’d never bombard a friend like that—not with all the baggage I have.
Daisy
Seriously, though. Might as well have some fun while you’re playing make-believe, right? Knowing Malaki, he’s probably trying to actually convince you to marry him.
I laugh.
She’s right, even though I know he’s kidding.
He has to be.
I’m a jobless, college-dropout, single mother with an obsessive ex.
Another text comes in right after Daisy’s, and I already know it’s Malaki without looking.
Malaki
Either you’re having second thoughts about sexting, or Charleigh woke up.
Since he loves to act like he knows me better than I think, I send him for a curve.
Me
Maybe the sexting is just that good that I was preoccupied.
Malaki
Mic drop
A laugh bursts out of my mouth.
Me
Kidding.
Malaki
Good, because that’d be breaking the rules.
Me
There are rules?
Malaki
Well, yeah, Dimples. So far, all I've said is that I’d be touching your hip. You have to do what I’d do if I were there. No other touching allowed.
My first instinct is to defy him, but then this whole texting exchange would be over. I’m sort of enjoying it. The anticipation of his message is exhilarating, so instead of putting a stop to it, I sink down onto the bed and get comfy.
Me
Okay, fine. So nothing more than minimal touching as of right now. Got it.
Malaki
You got my t-shirt pulled up high so you can run your fingers along your hip and stomach?
I glance down and squirm, because of course I do.
Me
Yes.
Malaki
Show me.
A shyness comes over me, but it only lasts a second. I think about the other night, and I’m suddenly filled with confidence. Remembering Malaki’s rushed hands and his earth-shattering kiss had me thinking I was the most desirable thing he’s ever seen.
I snap a photo, angling the phone to show my legs, panties, and bare stomach. His t-shirt lays just above my naval, and part of me wants to pull it up even more.
Malaki
Look at you…already mastering sexting.
I blush from the half-compliment.
I’ve never craved to please someone so much before. I’ll deny it day in and day out, but the slight ache in between my legs tells the truth.
My fingers brush back and forth against my warm skin, getting closer and closer to the top of my panties. Another text comes through.
Malaki
Tell me something…when was the last time you touched yourself?
My fingers pause. My heartrate spikes.
I type slowly and put my phone face down after I hit send.
Me
I…don’t know. After having Charleigh, I went into survival mode. There isn’t a lot of alone time when you have a baby, work all night, and share an air mattress with your younger sister.
Malaki
Sounds like we have lots of orgasms to make up for, babe.
Why do I like that he called me babe?
Why do I like him?
Malaki
Take your panties off.
I rush to pull them off, excitement flowing to my fingertips, but my phone goes off again.
Malaki
Slowly.
My breathing is labored.
I do exactly as he says. I shimmy them off slowly and find myself picturing Malaki’s fingers hooking beneath the cotton to pull them off himself instead of me.
I type done and hit send.
A minute passes and then another.
I watch little bubbles pop up, only for them to disappear.
The longer he takes to text me back, the more nerves fill my stomach. Where’d he go? I sit up on my elbows and glance at my naked bottom half before typing a message.
Me
Is this how you’d pay me back? Leave me half-naked on your bed?
I hit send, and no more than five seconds later, his name flashes on the screen with an incoming call.
I freeze, my fingers itching to answer.
I go back and forth over whether or not to answer, until I finally hit accept.
His smooth voice comes over the speaker, and goosebumps race against my skin. “She answers…”
“I know you’ll just call back if I don’t,” I say.
“So you’re learning.” He chuckles. “Good.”
I nibble on my lip. My panties rest right beside my foot. I’m tempted to put them back on, because what are we doing right now?
“Why’d you call?” I ask, my voice lower than before.
He makes a noise that resembles a hum. “I was arguing with myself…”
My brows dip with confusion. “About?”
“Whether or not I should continue texting you or video-call you.”
I adjust the phone against my ear. “But you didn’t video-call me.”
“I know.”
“Why?” I ask.
“Because if I see you in my bed, I might be tempted to book a red-eye back to Chicago."
A smile refuses to leave my face. “That would be crazy.”
He scoffs through the phone, his voice echoing. “That’s sort of what you do to me, Reese. You make me want crazy things, and I find myself doing crazy things just to talk to you, or see you smile, or…”
His voice trails, and I swallow.
“Or what?” I whisper.
“Or touch you,” he answers. “It wasn’t my plan to cross the line last night after helping you with your shoes. I just couldn’t seem to help it.”
I bite the inside of my cheek while my head runs circles. I’m clinging to his every word like it's a cure to every one of my problems.
“I can’t help it either,” I admit. “Do you think I want to be lying here in your bed, desperate for your attention? It makes me feel weak…and needy.” I laugh sarcastically. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
He’s quick to respond. “There isn’t a single thing wrong with you.”
“I don’t know about that–”
He cuts me off. “I like you like this.”
Butterflies pull on every single string of my heart.
“I like you needy,” he says. “I like you desperate for my attention too.”
I think back to every time I’ve been called desperate or needy, and a sense of hurt comes with it. It was depicted as a negative thing from not only my parents but boyfriends too. Especially Benedict.
“I can’t get you out of my head, especially knowing you’re in my bed, desperate for my touch.” He makes a noise that sounds a lot like a groan. “It’s a turn-on, Reese.”
A shaky breath leaves me, but I say nothing.
“That noise too,” he whispers. “A total fucking tease.”
“All I did was breathe,” I argue.
“Exactly.”
I laugh, but it’s breathy. He makes another noise of satisfaction, and my skin heats.
“Tell me you’re as desperate for me as I am for you.”
My smile fades, and there’s a pull in between my legs. I squirm against the covers. “I am,” I admit quietly. “I’m desperate for a lot more than your touch, though.”
“Tell me,” he urges.
A tinge of embarrassment stings my skin. I reach over and turn the light off before admitting anything. At least now the walls aren’t staring at me.
“I’m desperate for everything. Your attention, your touch, your kiss...” I can’t believe I’m admitting this.
“Anything else?” His voice is edged with something tight.
When I say nothing, he sighs. “Don’t get shy, Dimples.”
“Your praise,” I quickly blurt. “I like it, okay? I like…pleasing you.”
He curses. “Fuck me. That might be the hottest thing I have ever heard in my life.”
I put my phone on speaker but turn the volume down just in case Zoe happens to come home. My hands rest against my stomach, and my pulse beats everywhere.
“If you like pleasing me, then I want you to do exactly what I tell you to do.”
I swallow.
“Can you do that for me?” he asks.
I shiver. “Yes.”
“Spread your legs.”
I spread my legs on top of the bed.
“Okay,” I exhale. “I did it.”
“Good,” he murmurs. “Now slide your hand down your body until it’s in between your legs.”
My nipples harden as soon as I drag my palm past my belly button. Heat pools at my center, my body throbbing for my fingers in a way it never has before. I make a noise that sounds a lot like a whimper.
“That’s it...” Malaki encourages. “Let me hear every sexy little noise.”
My breaths are choppy, my chest moving quickly. “Now what?”
“Are you wet?”
I quickly skim my fingers against my warm flesh, not needing to slip a finger in between the folds to find out. “Yes.”
“Good,” he says. “Now give your clit the attention it deserves.”
I waste no time.
My fingers find the spot my body needs, and I begin to unravel. I rub fast circles against my clit, my legs spreading even wider, desperate for a release. A slight moan leaves me in the midst of pleasure, and Malaki curses again.
“Fuck, I might get off just listening to you.”
I whimper again, my fingers working faster than they ever have.
“Jesus Christ.” His voice is strained, and it sends me into a frenzy. “Give yourself what you need, Reese. Put your fingers exactly where they need to go.”
I take my other hand and slip a finger inside. When I realize it isn’t enough, I push another one in and make a noise of satisfaction.
“How many fingers are inside?”
“Two,” I breathe out.
“Your voice…goddamn,” Malaki groans.
I say nothing, too preoccupied in the pleasure.
“You’re doing so good, Reese.”
My entire body heats.
“Don’t get shy. Your sweet moans are safe with me.”
Oh my god.
I make one more noise, and suddenly, I’m falling into an altered state. My fingers work in overtime, my back arching for more.
“There it is.” Malaki’s voice is distant, but it’s the final push I need to truly let go. “God, you’re mesmerizing, even through the phone.”
I’m still riding out my high when I hear Malaki groan on the other end of the phone. He curses under his breath, and the thought of me turning him on from across state lines is addicting.
My body finally relaxes, and I pull my fingers out from between my legs, letting my arms fall to my sides.
“That’s my girl,” Malaki whispers, his voice hardly hitting my ears. “I’m proud of you.”
The smallest smile slips onto my lips.
“Sleep, Dimples. You deserve it.”
It takes effort to speak, but I take full advantage of my high and say something I wouldn’t have admitted prior. “I sleep better when you’re here.”
“I know you do,” he says. “I’ll stay on the line all night, babe.”
I roll over, pull the covers up, and put the phone beside my ear. “Thanks.”
“Sweet dreams, Dimples.”
I smile with a coffee mug pressed against my lips, already done with cleaning the kitchen after prepping dinner for this evening. Charleigh is at my feet, playing with her new favorite toy–a spatula–while I daydream about a make-believe future with Malaki, who I’ll see later on today.
My phone was dead as a doorknob this morning. I frantically sat up in bed, wearing nothing but Malaki’s t-shirt, my panties thrown off to the side somewhere.
I quickly plugged it into the charger, and as soon as it came back to life, a text from Malaki was waiting for me.
Malaki
Your phone must’ve died while you were sleeping. I’ll be home later today. Can’t wait to see you and Charleigh-girl.
I squealed like a teenage girl and flopped back onto his bed.
While bouncing back and forth between rationality and a state of utter delusion where Malaki and I end up happily ever after together, raising Charleigh, without Benedict showing up like some sort of plague, Char woke up, and I slipped into mom mode.
That isn’t to say I haven’t been eagerly checking the time, waiting for him to walk through the door.
“What am I going to do, Char?” I ask, taking a sip of my coffee.
She looks up at me from the kitchen floor and smiles.
I bend and give her a kiss on top of the head. “I love you, pretty girl.”
“Ma…ma!”
“What will we do when this is all over?” I ask. “Move into our own place? Stay friends with him?”
Charleigh smiles. “Ma…ma!”
“I’m not even sure when this will be over.” I rub the pain in the center of my chest.
The thought of it being over should feel like a weight being lifted off my shoulders, because that means Benedict has finally moved on. Yet, there’s dread that comes with it.
“Ma…ma!”
I smile. “Can you say… Malaki?”
Charleigh stares at my mouth.
“Right, that's way too complicated.” I tap my chin. “What can you call him?”
“I know!” Zoe comes into view. “Dada!”
I stand abruptly. My coffee spills out from the top of my mug onto the counter. “That is not funny!”
“Daa.”
I gape at Charleigh.
Her lips try to form the word again.
“Daaa.”
Zoe bursts out laughing.
“Zoe!” I shout.
There’s a knock at the door, and I’m pretty sure it’s karma.
I point at my sister. “You better come up with other words that start with Da right now!”
My sister snorts out a laugh and gets on Charleigh’s level. “Damnit?”
“Zoe, I swear!” I call out over my shoulder.
The fancy doorbell that Malaki had installed makes a chirping noise before being followed by another knock.
I open it, still preoccupied with Charleigh and the word dada to register who it is.
“Mrs. Moreno?”
I come face to face with a man who looks to be in his forties.
There are dark bags on his face, his eyes tired looking.
It sends me back to my childhood when my father tried selling vacuums for fast cash.
He’d go door to door with hope gleaming in his eye, only to take out his frustrations on my sister and me when he made next to nothing on commission.
“Sorry,” I apologize kindly. “We’re not interested.”
I move to shut the door but stop at the last second.
How does he know my name?
“Wait! Are you Mrs. Moreno?”
I pull the door open slightly, “It’s Ms. Moreno.”
He pushes an envelope into my chest. “You’ve been served.”
The blood drains from my face as I watch him walk away.