Chapter 28
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Scott
I’m furious, to the point that I can’t think straight. Why does Trina get me so fired up? Why do I let her? And why am I even considering what she’s proposing?
If we cross that line, it won’t end well for either of us. Why doesn’t she get that? She just had her heart broken by her ex. So why does she want this? Am I her rebound guy? A quick fling to make her feel desirable again?
If that’s all this was, if she were just using me that way, I might be okay with it. It’d just be sex, nothing more. But I don’t think Trina can be with a guy without getting her feelings involved. She says she can, but I don’t believe her.
That’s what’s holding me back. The last thing I want is to hurt her. But I’ve hurt her by rejecting her, so what do I do? How do I fix this?
Maybe I should go over there. Try to talk to her again. Except I don’t know what to say. It seems like every time I try to explain myself, I make her more angry.
It’s almost noon. She doesn’t start her other job until two. That’s enough time for me to go over there and try to fix this. I can’t have this disagreement of ours ruining our friendship. Maybe she doesn’t consider me a friend, but I consider her one. I like spending time with her, even if we’re just cleaning out my storage unit. And that fake date we had? That wasn’t just any night. It was the kind where you’re having such a good time you don’t want it to end.
Enough thinking about this. I’m just going to do it. I’ll go down there and tell her we have to fix this. We can’t be neighbors and work together with all this tension between us. We have to find a way to get along despite being attracted to each other, because that’s the real issue here. The attraction between us keeps building up and causing us to fight.
I knock on her door. “Trina, it’s Scott. I need to talk to you.”
“I’m busy,” she yells through the door.
“Doing what?”
“It doesn’t matter. Just go away.”
“Not until I talk to you. We need to figure this out.”
The door swings open. “Figure what out?”
My eyes drop to the towel she’s wearing. She must’ve been heading to the shower when I knocked on her door. I can’t talk to her when she’s practically naked.
“I’ll come back later,” I say, my eyes moving back to her face.
“Seriously? You make me rush to the door, then say we’ll talk later? Just tell me what you want.”
Okay, I can do this. I’ve been around plenty of barely dressed women in my life and it hasn’t been a problem. I just need to stay focused on why I came here.
“I thought we should talk about all this tension between us,” I say. “I’d like us to find a way to be around each other without getting into an argument.”
“I don’t see it as a problem. We really don’t argue that much.”
“We have been recently. And it’s getting worse.”
She cocks her head to the side. “What’s your idea to make it better?”
“I haven’t come up with one. That’s why I’m here. I think we should discuss it together.”
“Or we could try harder not to argue.”
“I don’t think that’s going to work. I don’t have a solution, but we have to come up with something.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t spend so much time together.”
“Is that what you want?”
“Do you ?”
“I was hoping it wouldn’t come to that, because I really like spending time with you. But when I’m around you, I feel all this tension. And I know you feel it too.”
“So what do we do?” She bites her lip, drawing my attention to her mouth, making me want to kiss her.
I knew I should’ve left. The moment I saw her in that towel, I should’ve left. I still could. I could walk away. Go back to my apartment.
“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Trina asks. “I thought you came here to talk.”
My heart’s pumping hard as I fight with myself not to do this. It could make things worse between us. Complicate our already tense relationship.
She rolls her eyes. “If you’re not going to talk, you might as well—”
I yank her into my arms and kiss her. I deepen the kiss as I go into her apartment. I shove the door closed and back her against it. She’s gasping for breath as I kiss her neck and reach under her towel. Her eyes fall shut as my hand moves up between her legs. She sucks in a breath as I slide a finger in her, then add another.
With my other hand, I tear open her towel and it falls down around her. Her back is arched and she’s gasping for breath as my fingers move in and out of her. She’s so wet. So ready. My cock is throbbing, needing to be inside her.
I hurry to undo my belt while Trina unzips my jeans. She shoves them out of the way and takes my cock in her hand. I groan, loving the feel of her touching me. I lift her up and hold her against the door. She takes my cock and positions it between her legs. I push inside her, slowly at first, then sinking in deep. She breaks from the kiss, breathing hard, her eyes on mine. It’s so damn sexy, seeing her look at me that way. I stay buried inside her and grip her ass. She tightens her legs around me and wraps her arms around my neck. She’s ready for a ride, and I’m about to give her one.
I pull out, then sink back into her. I keep it up, going at a steady pace. She’s telling me how good it feels, begging for more. I love that she’s a talker. I don’t need the encouragement, but it turns me on to hear her say those things.
“Oh God,” she moans. “I’m so close.”
I pound into her, going faster, my cock swelling inside her.
“Yes!” she cries out, her head falling back.
I keep going, finally letting go, the feeling rocketing through me so strong I can barely hold on to her.
When I lower her to the ground, my arms give out, falling to my sides. I rest my forehead against hers and look into her eyes. “That wasn’t the plan when I came over here.”
She laughs a little. “It worked. I think the tension between us is gone.”
“Maybe that’s what we needed.”
“Told you,” she says with a smirk. “We just needed to have sex.”
“Sex doesn’t fix things. It complicates things.”
She looks down. “Oh shit.”
“What?”
“We didn’t use anything.”
Panic comes over me as I realize she’s right. “Trina, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t even thinking.”
“Me either.” She picks up her towel and wraps it around her. “It all happened so fast.”
“I can’t believe I did this,” I say, rubbing my hand over my face. “I always use a condom. Always.”
“It’s okay. I’m on the pill. Unless you’re worried because—”
“I don’t have anything, but I still should’ve worn one,” I say, zipping up my jeans. “I’m almost 30 years old. I know better.”
“We’ll remember it next time.”
“I don’t know if there’s going to be a next time.”
“Why not?” she says, sounding like I just told her Christmas was cancelled. This is why I didn’t want to do this. I knew it couldn’t just be sex with her. I knew she’d get her emotions involved.
“Because of that. The way you sounded just now. You want more from me, and you know I can’t do it.”
She looks down, then back up at me. “You’re right. I do want more, but I know you don’t want a girlfriend and I’ve accepted that. I pushed Asher to marry me and look how that turned out. I’m not going to make that mistake again. I’m not expecting anything of you.”
“I still don’t think we should do it again,” I say. “It’s not a good idea.”
“Then we won’t do it.” She glances at the bathroom. “I should get ready for work. I was about to get in the shower when you showed up.”
“Yeah, I’ll get going.” I walk to the door, feeling odd about how this is ending. I feel like we should talk, or go do something, or just hang out at my place.
With other girls, I wouldn’t have a problem leaving, but with Trina, it feels different. It feels wrong.
“What if I stick around?” I say. “While you get ready?”
“I’m sure you have something better to do.”
“Actually, I don’t.” I go over to her mattress and sit down. “You need a chair. You want one of the inflatables?”
“You’d let me have one?”
“You can have as many as you want. Why didn’t you just take one from the storage room?”
“I didn’t know I could.”
“I owned the damn company. Of course you can have one.” I get up. “What color do you want?”
“Can I have the pink one?”
She can have whatever she wants. I can’t believe she thought she had to ask. I should’ve just given her one. Actually, I should order her a new one. The ones in the storage room have been spilled on a million times.
When I bring the chair in, I hear Trina in the bathroom. I move her piles of clothes out of the way and set the chair down in the corner. She really needs a dresser. I have a small one in my third-floor storage room, the one Trina hasn’t been in yet.
“I’ll be right back,” I yell so she’ll hear me.
She pops her head out of the bathroom. “Where are you going?”
“I need to get something.” I grab her keys. “I’ll lock the door so no one kills you while I’m gone.”
She smiles. “That’s very thoughtful. Thanks.”
When I get to the storage room, I prepare myself for what’s inside. Every time I see stuff from my old house, I think of Megan and the life we could’ve had. That’s why I never go in here.
Opening the door, I see the dresser shoved against the wall. I check all the drawers to make sure they’re empty. They are, except for the bottom drawer that has a Christmas ornament Megan gave me that looks like one of my inflatable chairs. She wrote the date on the bottom with a permanent marker. It was the year I started the company. She was so proud of me. My biggest fan.
“Fuck,” I mutter, wiping my eyes.
I put the ornament in a box and take some deep breaths. I need to get myself together. It’s just an ornament.
I take the dresser out to the hall and lock up the storage room. I might need to let more time pass before I go through it. It’s full of things from my house. I don’t think I’m ready to face those memories yet.
“It’s me,” I say as I open Trina’s door. “Not a murderer.”
She’s laughing. “I would hope a murderer doesn’t have a key.”
She’s dressed now, in jeans and a t-shirt, her usual work outfit.
“I got you something.” I go out to the hall and get the dresser and bring it into her apartment.
Her eyes get huge. “Where’d you get that?”
“I had it in storage. You want it?”
“Yes!” She claps her hands. “I have a dresser! And a chair!”
I put the dresser against the wall next to the chair. “Your place looks like an actual apartment now.”
“Thank you!” She runs up to me and hugs me. “I love it!”
“You’re welcome,” I say, surprised she’s so excited. But I guess if you have nothing, a used dresser and inflatable chair is exciting.
“It looks so much better in here. It almost feels like home.”
“If your home were a closet,” I joke, sitting down on the chair. “Oh, I’m ordering you a new one of these.” I get my phone out and do it now so I don’t forget.
“You don’t have to get me a new one.”
“I want to. And they’re free. It’s a perk of being on the board. I can order whatever I want. You want anything else? Another pool float?”
She smiles. “I have a mattress now. I don’t need a pool float.”
“The chair will be here on Wednesday.” I check the time. “You want to grab lunch? You didn’t eat today and you have time before your shift starts.”
“Yeah, let’s go, but it has to be somewhere cheap.”
We go to a fast food place and each pay for our own meal. Before we had sex, I could take her to a nice restaurant and pay for it and not have it mean anything. But now if I do that, she might think I see her as a girlfriend.
Things just got a lot more complicated. It’s like I said. Sex complicates things.