CHAPTER ELEVEN #2
I rip the Slurpy5000 off myself at the same time my knees go out.
I begin a graceless tumble onto the slick shower floor, so I grab the shower curtain in a bid for stability.
It fails. Instead of stability I get a shhhhrrrriiiiipppp, followed by a pop and a clang, as the curtain rod disconnects from the wall and comes down with me.
My entire brain is full of exclamation points and half-formed curse words.
What in the actual fuck is happening? I don’t have much time to think about it because my ass hits the floor with a loud thwump.
If that wasn’t bad enough, my slippery ass slides against the slippery floor, and I fall onto my back.
My legs go into the air. The shower curtain is draped on top of me. The rod lies in shambles. And the water is streaming directly into my nose.
This couldn’t get worse.
Knock knock knock.
“Casey! Are you okay?”
Oh my god. It’s actively getting worse.
I stare up at the showerhead, unsure what I need to address first. The ruined shower curtain? The showerhead waterboarding me? The fact that Griffin is outside thinking I probably had a stroke?
“Uh,” I squeak, but the Clitorator stole my voice. I notice it still vibrating near my feet. “I fell.”
“Do you need help?” Griffin asks. I can hear the concern in his voice. I didn’t lock the bathroom door because I thought he’d be gone for a while. He could just walk right in here and see all this.
But I also think I might actually need help getting up.
I swallow hard, weighing my options. None of them are good. “Uh…”
“Casey, you’re freaking me out. I’ll come in if you need me to.”
I cover my face with my hands. There are way too many things I need to explain, and the absurdity of this situation makes me want to cry and laugh at the same time.
“I might need you to come in,” I say slowly, “but if you do I need you to do so with an open mind.”
“Okay. I’m gonna open the door.”
I brace myself for whatever happens next. My entire body is tense, and I no longer feel the pain of having hit my ass on the shower floor. All I can feel is expectancy, waiting for Griffin to realize I fucked up his shower, sustained a masturbation injury, and got caught jacking off all in one go.
The door creaks open, and I can tell he’s come in by the way the hair on my arms stands at attention.
Then I hear a low, incredulous laugh.
“What the hell happened in here?”
“I really don’t want to talk about it,” I say, finally daring myself to look at him. I’m halfway covered up by the shower curtain, so it’s not like I’m exposing myself to him. At least there’s that, the silver lining to the whole fiasco. The shower lining, more like.
Griffin comes over to the shower, fighting a smile as he reaches to shut off the water. Once the rushing noise stops, another noise becomes more prominent.
The buzzing of my goddamn Clitasaurus.
His gaze drops to the shower drain, where the purple asshole is announcing its existence to the entire room.
I lunge forward, reaching for his leg to steal his attention. “Listen, I said I didn’t want to talk about it. Open mind, remember?”
When he looks me in the eye, I can tell he’s struggling not to burst into laughter. “Is that your vibrator?”
“Maybe.”
The laughter finally escapes him, so I reach for the stupid thing and struggle to find the off button. I can turn it on and off with ease at any other time. But when my high-school-turned-adult-crush walks into his own bathroom that I just destroyed? Forget it. No hope of turning it off ever again.
I huff with frustration, pressing buttons maniacally until it finally stops vibrating. I set it aside and roll my lips in.
“You didn’t break any bones from all the fun you were having in here, right?” He steps back to assess the curtain rod and how I’m tangled up in it.
“I’ll get you a new rod. And shower curtain. I’ll just renovate the entire bathroom so we can forget this ever happened.”
He shakes his head, a cocksure smile tugging at his lips. “No. This is perfect. This is honestly one of the best days of my life. Do you need a hand getting up?”
I look around and nod. He reaches for me, and I slip my hand into his.
He tugs gently, helping me to standing. My ass and tailbone feel a bit tender as I stand on my own two feet again.
The shower curtain is suctioned to my naked body in the same way the Cliterator was suctioned to my flesh, except without all the vibrating.
The shit-eating grin on his face erases some of my mortification.
“So tell me again what you were doing in here.”
I groan, covering my face. “Haven’t I suffered enough embarrassment for one day?”
“I guess that depends on your answer.”
I push back my shoulders, preparing myself to say the words. “I was…letting off some steam.”
He is tickled to the core as he nods, his gaze raking over my curtain encrusted body. He reaches for a towel, still looking like he’s fighting back raucous laughter. “You gonna wear that thing the rest of the night?”
I reach for the towel. Is this rock bottom when it comes to Casey’s Chaos? “I guess I don’t need it anymore. I might as well not wear anything. What more is there for you to find, Griffin? After tonight, you’ve seen it all.”
I tear the curtain away before reaching for the towel. Griffin’s gaze sizzles over my naked body, and his eyes go hooded.
I wrap myself up in the towel. Griff’s jaw is flexing now.
It looks like he’s straining at the edges.
The air in the bathroom seems to evaporate.
Everything is hotter now, more intense, like somebody turned the dial up on reality.
My clit is throbbing again, and this time, it’s not from the Clitorture Device.
Griffin’s gaze is hungry. He’s devouring me, even with the towel on, and the space between us shrinks. He clears his throat. “What’s your plan, Case? I’ve got about twenty seconds until I tear this towel off you and we ruin our friendship. Tell me what you want.”
I tip my head back to look up at him.
I want him. So very badly. Every inch of him, until there’s nothing left to explore.
And maybe it’s the Clitsplosion or being imbued with the courage of the shower curtain, but I suddenly have no fucks left to give.
He saw me struggling like an upside-down turtle, and he still wants me.
If he wants this hot mess, he can have it.
“I want you to ruin our friendship,” I say, “and kiss me.”