Chapter 20
TWENTY
COLTON
OCTOBER | NEWARK, NEW JERSEY
Violet stared back at me through my phone screen, mouth agape. “A p-plan?”
This idea was absurd. Admittedly extremely absurd. I was assuming a lot of things: that Violet was ready for any kind of sex, that she would want to do it with me, that I could handle it and separate the feelings from the physical. I waved my hands.
“You don’t have to say yes to this. There is no pressure from me,” I started. “But if it’s something that will help you, I’m happy to do it.”
Vi eyed me sidelong. “What do you have in mind?”
“What if we did scenes from the books?”
Violet’s eyebrows shot up. “‘Did’ scenes? Like . . . have sex like they do in the books?”
“Hear me out.”
Violet finally laughed. “Every great plan starts with ‘hear me out.’”
I smirked. “I know. That’s why I said it.”
“Alright. I’m listening.”
I sighed. “If we did scenes from books, you’d know what to expect. There wouldn’t be any surprises. We’d have a script, or a template to work from.”
She looked perplexed. “Like roleplay?”
I shrugged. “I mean, sort of. We could get as into it as we wanted.”
“Colt.” Vi shook her head. “I think we just need to be friends. If this is all too much—”
“It’s not. It’s not. Not at all. And you don’t have to say yes. I just wanted to offer this to help you out. I’m not just trying to get with you.”
She narrowed her eyes. “What’s in it for you, though? I mean, besides,” she gestured to her body, “a piece of this.”
This part was harder to articulate without offending her.
I was terrible about being vulnerable with my mental health.
I let the wall down a little for Violet, but it was hard for me to trust anyone with it.
Men, and hockey players especially, were expected to buck up and deal with it.
I didn’t want to guilt-trip her, but I’d have done myself a disservice to keep hiding the impact of her actions.
“I’d know you weren’t going to leave. There was a toll on me too, the times you left because of sex.
Especially the second time. And before you start,” she’d already opened her mouth to object, “you don’t need to apologize for that anymore.
You can both know you did what you needed to do and that it had consequences. ”
She nodded slowly, her chest rising and falling with a deep breath. “Okay. Two friends. Former lovers. Regaining trust by having sex from romance novels. Romance novel friends-with-benefits?”
I shrugged. “We don’t have to call ourselves anything. No labels. No drama. Just us, being friends and having sex.”
Her eyes were worried. I let her sit with it for a minute.
“What’s going through your head?” I asked.
“It’s really not any of my business.”
I tipped my head to the side. “Violet, you know I’m an open book. I don’t care. Say it.”
“Are you having sex with other people? Seeing other people?”
I was firmly able to answer that question. “No.”
“What if you meet someone you want to date?”
Who in the fuck did she think I’d want to date other than her? How could I even want that?
“I’m not scouting for anyone else,” I said.
“But, what if the love of your life pops up?”
I rolled my lips between my teeth. “You know what, Violet? If that comes up, you’ll be the first to know.”
“No bullshit,” she said, pointing a finger.
“No bullshit,” I agreed.
She was quiet for so long, I feared she’d given up on me. “I’d want it to be double blind, so it’s fair.”
“Like, blindfolded?” I asked.
She chuckled. “No, sorry. I want to make sure neither of us influences the other’s scene choices, so we’re doing the scenes we both like the most.”
She pulled her laptop into her lap and slipped her glasses on.
“Are you going to science our sex arrangement?” I asked. “You should just tell me which scenes you want to do.”
“No, I want it to be fair!” she objected.
“No, I think you’re too embarrassed to tell me what you like.”
She gave me a placid smile. “And you’ll see what I like when you refer to our shared spreadsheet.”
I watched her crunch away on her computer as she designed a form that created a rank choice voting system, then fed it into a spreadsheet. After about ten minutes, she had it all figured out and I had a link in my inbox. She yawned as she slammed her laptop shut.
“You’re tired,” I said. “Go get some sleep, pretty girl.”
I loved seeing her sleepy smile. All the memories of her next to me in bed, all soft and warm, float up. “You should too.”
“I’m wide awake. I’ve just been talking about sex with the hottest girl I know. And she still hasn’t told me which scene she likes best.”
Violet put her hands over her mouth and squealed. “Ilikedtheclosetscene.”
I sat up and leaned into my phone. “What was that?”
“Nothing!”
I sat back again and let my hand drift into my shorts. “No, no. My Violet’s not bashful. Tell me what you liked, baby.”
I sucked a little air through my teeth as my cock thickened in my hand. I gave it a firm stroke from root to tip.
Violet’s face flushed. “Are you, is your hand . . .”
“Does that make you uncomfortable? I can stop.”
Her mouth opened and closed several times. “Not . . . uncomfortable.” Her hand disappeared below the frame of the screen.
“This doing something for you, baby?”
Vi’s head cocked back just slightly with a drowsy blink.
“Why don’t you go ahead and tell me what you liked?”
Her smile was wicked. “It’ll be on the spreadsheet.”
I smirked. “I’ve got my hands full. I can’t open the spreadsheet right now.” I looked into my lap. “He needs to know.”
She growled with a laugh. “You’re infuriating.”
“He misses you,” I sang. “You were always his favorite.”
“Ugh! Goodbye!” The call ended.
Okay, I probably was being a little shit. I needed to apologize.
COLTON
he says he’s sorry
(pic of Colton frowning)
and I’m sorry too
he misbehaves a lot
VIOLET
especially on work flights
COLTON
yes especially then
and both he and I would like to know your favorite scene, whenever you’re ready to tell us
VIOLET
apology accepted
i like the closet scene in the billionaire book :)
COLTON
i have excellent news
VIOLET
***
COLTON
so do i :)