Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
GRACIE
Ishift a little and fidget with my hands as Noah unlocks the door to his parents’ place.
“Are you sure this is okay?” I ask, biting down on my bottom lip as he guides me through the entry way.
I don’t know a whole lot about his parents, so who knows how they’ll react to him being here with me while they’re not home? My parents are laid back and wouldn’t care in the least if I was alone with Noah since they know him so well, but I have a feeling his parents are nothing like mine.
“Am I sure it’s okay to have a friend over to my house?” Noah asks with a snort. “Of course it is, little one.”
I roll my eyes. “Har har. I’m just worried because they’re not here. What will your dad think if he finds out you’re hanging out alone with his business partners daughter?” I ask with a raised brow.
“You want the truth?” he asks, and I nod quickly.
“Truth is, he’d probably see it for more than it is and attempt to arrange a damn marriage between us.
He’d be so thrilled at the thought of me fucking you that he’d throw a damn party.
My parents are nothing like yours, Gracie. Trust me, everything’s fine.”
I know his parents can be a little… different, but would they really try to arrange a marriage for their own son? And I’m going to conveniently ignore the other part of his sentence because… no, just no.
Noah is my brother’s best friend, even if we were in an alternate reality and I did want to do that with him, I wouldn’t be able to.
Noah is as close to my brother as I am, and I would never want to wreck their relationship. Or mine and Cole’s.
“I can see you thinking.” He tilts his head towards the sofa and raises his brow. I dutifully take a seat while he heads to the kitchen to get us drinks.
He saunters back in and hands me a bottle of water before taking a seat on the couch beside me.
“My parents are… traditional. Your family may be from old money, just like mine, but whereas yours believe in showing affection and spending time with their children, mine do not. My mom believes she should be the dutiful housewife that she was raised by her parents to be, and she believes that my wife should be the same. My dad thinks I should take over the company and marry a woman who will look good to the outside world. He doesn’t care about my thoughts or feelings on the matter, but he did agree to let me choose my own wife, so long as they fit with the image he has in mind. ”
My mind stutters to a stop as I take in what he’s telling me. “So, if one day you fall in love with someone who doesn’t fit into stereotype, what will you do?”
He smirks. “That won’t happen, but that’s besides the point.
I won’t give him power over my decisions, but it’s easier to just agree with him whenever he gets into it.
Ever since I turned eighteen, he’s no longer had anything to do with my finances and honestly, I rarely ever see my parents.
” He gestures around the room. “They’re basically retired.
My dad hands most of his work off to his assistant while he waits for me to graduate and they spend their time traveling the world, I have no need to worry about having to see them and avoid the conversation. ”
I have so many questions, so many things I want to say but the information he’s hitting me with is scrambling my brain and I’m not even sure where to start or if this is the right time to ask them.
“And that’s why you always spend the holidays at either our place or with one of the guys,” I surmise. It’s not what I really wanted to say, but it was all I could come up with in the moment.
He nods, seemingly unbothered by his parents’ antics and I’m hit with the knowledge that even though I thought I knew Noah, today has shown me that there’s so much more beneath the surface.
I told him while we were in the museum that I would find out all of his secrets, but there’s a part of me that’s scared that when I do, I won’t like what I find.
So far, I’ve discovered just how bad Noah has had it at times. I always thought he was carefree and that yeah, his parents were assholes, but I had no idea how bad it was.
Just how much is he hiding under that people pleaser, soft spoken exterior of his?
Not only that, but I had no idea that he was into art.
When we pulled up outside of the museum, I figured he’d made a mistake or done it for me, but there was no denying that he knew what he was talking about, especially when he went into the artists background with passion is his words and a smile on his face.
This new Noah is a mystery to me, and I kind of like that I get to unravel him layer by layer until I get to the center.
“Yup. Spending it with one of you guys’ beats spending the holidays alone,” he says with a shrug, and my heart hurts at how nonchalant he is about it all.
I stand and approach him until I’m between his knees and grab his hand before pulling him to his feet.
He opens his mouth to say something, but I don’t give him a chance to speak, I just wrap my arms around him and bury my head in his chest. His own arms are limp for a moment before they wrap around me.
He squeezes me and lowers his head to my hair.
I suck in a breath, a weird feeling that I can’t name filling me as his hard body presses against mine.
“I’m sorry your parents are shit,” I mutter, and he snorts before pressing a kiss to my hair. It’s so like him that it brings a smile to my face. Even though I’m the one who’s trying to comfort him, he’s the one who knows how to put me at ease.
He's always been affectionate, and I’m kind of jealous of the girl he ends up with one day, since I know without a doubt that he’ll treat her like a queen.
“Don’t apologize for things you can’t control. I love my life, little one. I wouldn’t change any of it even if I was given the chance. In this moment, I have everything I’ve ever wanted, and I’d never change a single thing.”
I sigh before taking a step back and plopping down on the sofa. I pat the space next to me, and he grins. “So, what are we watching?”
White hot pleasure rushes through me as pressure slides against my clit. I rub against it, seeking for friction and whimper as electricity crackles down my spine.
I get closer to the edge, right on the precipice of my orgasm and my eyes flutter open, only for reality to come crashing in and my mind and heart stuttering.
Fuck.
Noah and I must have fallen asleep while watching TV last night and we somehow must have gravitated towards each other in our sleep. We’re on the sofa, me lying on top of him like a damn koala with his hard dick pressed against me.
Panic fills me. Holy shit, I’m currently grinding up on my friend while he sleeps, like a goddamn pervert.
I’ll say it again, fuck.
My eyes flick up to his face and relief floods me when I see that he’s still sleeping. Thank fuck he didn’t wake up to me grinding all over him because that would have been the most awkward moment of my life.
I bite my lip, desire still flooding me as I go to move away from him, but the action only makes his hard length slide against me again, since my leg is awkwardly positioned so I can’t just climb off of him and I stop.
God, I’m so close. My skin is buzzing, almost vibrating with the need to get off, one more little touch and it’ll push me over the edge.
I need to get up.
I need to move away from him.
I need to do literally anything but give into the need filling me.
I attempt to move again, but the slightest touch sends a pulse of need through me, making me ache. I can’t do this. I can’t stop.
I chance another look at him, seeing him sleeping peacefully.
This is so wrong.
So fucking wrong.
I move my leg, attempting to move away from him again but it only makes it worse, my body involuntarily grinds against him and that’s it.
I’m done for.
My orgasm crashes into me, and I can’t help but move against him, using his body for my pleasure as I come undone. His cock is so hard as I rub against it, his body fitting perfectly under mine. My face turns into the crook of his shoulder, and I bury my face into his neck to muffle my cries.
It's so messed up.
So twisted.
And yet it feels so. Fucking. Good.
I’m panting as I come down from the high, his scent washing over me as my nose brushes against his neck and I feel his hand slide up my back, snapping me back to reality.
Panic and horror fill me with equal measure as I pull back to look at him just in time to see his eyes flutter open. He stares at me for a moment, his gaze filled with confusion before everything seems to click.
I roll away from him, only to fall right off the sofa and land on the floor with a thud, but the embarrassment of that is washed away with what I’ve just done.
What if he hates me for it?
What if he’s so disgusted that he never speaks to me again?
Oh god, what if he—
“Shit, Gracie,” he murmurs and rubs a hand over his face. My heartbeat picks up and my pulse drums in my ears. Is he about to lose his shit? Kick me out? What if I’ve traumatized him?
Oh Jesus, I took something that wasn’t mine to take.
“I’m sorry.”
Everything crashes to a halt as I realize that the words didn’t come from me, but from him.
“W-what?” I stutter, my brain struggling to catch up on what’s happening.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what the hell happened while we were sleeping, but I must have pulled you to me at some point,” he says, his eyes wide and apologetic.
“I bet the last thing you expected to wake up to was being poked by my morning wood.” He cringes and covers himself with one of the decorate pillows.
“I’m fucking this up,” he whispers to himself more than me before pinning me with his gaze and clearing his throat. “I’m sorry, little one and I hope you can forgive me.”
I… I have no words.
He’s apologizing to me?
Clearly, he has no idea what I did.
Should I tell him?
What if it ruins the friendship that’s been building between us?
Frustration and guilt war with each other and I find myself speaking before I’ve even fully processed what to say. “It’s okay,” I rasp. “It happens, no big deal.”
Yes, the morning wood is no big deal.
What is a big deal is that I’ve just fucking got myself off against him.
Holy shit, I’m going to hell.
I am an absolutely fucking horrible person.
Tears prick at my eyes, but I turn away from him, unable to look at him with the shame that’s currently filling me.
“I’m just gonna go get dressed, help yourself to coffee, little one.”
I’m aware of his movements as he leaves the room and I use the time of him being gone to pull myself together.
I will tell him what I did.
But not yet… not today.
I need to process everything before I can speak the words, and I’ll just have to hope like hell that he forgives me.