Chapter 26
CRUTCH
I did mention she’s a tease, right?
A complete and total tease.
It’s my fault, though. Because I’m a fucking idiot.
When we got to Lulu’s house after our dinner with Ray and Teresa, we decided to watch a movie. Lulu paid almost $10 to rent one of the new action movies for us to watch. Twenty minutes in, she reached over, pulling my head down to hers, wanting me to kiss her.
And… I pulled away.
“Lulu, you just paid ten bucks for this movie. We can kiss afterward. Don’t waste money.”
I will never forget my sheer stupidity for as long as I live. What man turns down a woman who wants to make out? I mean, those very words could be the death of me. Because I’m about to die right now. Literally.
She promptly obeyed my words, sliding to the opposite end of the couch. After a few minutes, she left the room without saying a word, returning a short time later in a completely different outfit than the leggings and sweater she was wearing.
I glance over at her long legs as she props them up on the edge of the coffee table. She’s wearing really short cotton shorts and a tank top. The straps over her shoulders are no bigger than a piece of string, and she obviously has no bra on. The plump curve of her breasts is driving me to the brink of delirium, and her pebbled nipples have my dick springing to life in my jeans.
Despite my latest run of stripping Lulu from her pants and panties whenever we’re together, I haven’t actually seen her without her shirt or bra. Never laid eyes on her naked chest.
Why?
Sensory overload.
She’s too perfect. I have to focus on one thing at a time with her or I’ll be too overwhelmed. And I’ve been quite content focusing on her perfect little pussy as of late. And trust me, it’s perfect in every single way.
But now all that’s standing between me and her chest is a thin piece of baby-blue fabric, and I think it might be time for me to acquaint myself with a new part of her body.
“Why’d you change clothes?”
“Got a little hot.” She reaches up, rubbing the back of her neck.
“Hmm.” I reach across the couch cushion and hook my pinky around hers. “Come closer.”
She yanks her hand from mine. “Shh.” She points to the TV. “I’m watching the movie. We can talk afterward. Don’t want to waste money.”
That little minx has no clue what’s happening on that screen. How do I know? The hitch in her breath. The uneven swallow of her throat as she pretends to ignore my stare. The way she nonchalantly rubs her thighs together.
Reaching behind me, I grab the collar of my shirt and pull it over my head. I toss it across to the loveseat and settle back against the comfortable couch cushions.
Her head snaps over to mine. “What are you doing?”
“You’re right. It’s a little warm in here.”
This time she doesn’t ignore me. But she’s definitely not looking at my face. Her eyes roam over my torso, widening in pleasure, soaking up every last detail. Despite her best efforts, she hasn’t seen me shirtless since that one night.
Why?
That same damn sensory overload.
There’s no way I would be able to pleasure her if she were touching me. Rubbing my chest, teasing my abdomen with her teeth. Just the thought of it makes me wanna come.
And as I’ve already said, bringing her to orgasm is my new addiction. I’m not ready to give that up for my own pleasure.
Squaring her shoulders and lifting that stubborn nose in the air, she eventually clears her throat and turns her attention back to the movie. We both spend the next five minutes pretending to watch car chases and gun fights.
Finally, Lulu stands. “I need to refill my drink.” She makes a very extravagant show of bending forward to lift her glass from the coffee table. When she does, her cotton shorts ride up, revealing the thin strip of white skin underneath her ass cheek. She’s wearing black lace panties.
I can’t stand it. She wins.
Snatching out, I grab her waist and spin her around in front of me. Her plastic water cup flings across the room, scattering ice cubes everywhere.
I’m not sure how it happened after that. Either I tugged her onto my lap, or she eagerly jumped onto my lap. Either way, she’s straddling me now.
And that’s all that matters.
Her chest heaves underneath my chin. All I would have to do is reach out with my tongue—just a little bit—and her nipple could be in my mouth in a split second. The thin strap of her top dangles from her left shoulder. In a nano-second, I could grab it with my teeth, exposing the fullness of her breast.
But I can’t do either of those things. Because I’m currently consumed with the feel of her tight little crotch being lined up perfectly with my rock-hard erection. My fingers grip her hips so tightly, fusing her body to mine, I’m probably bruising her.
I’m twenty-one years old. I should be too young to know what perfection feels like. Too young to know that nothing better exists in the world.
But somehow, I know. Me and Lulu... This is as good as it gets.
Her hair falls forward, tickling my own bare skin. She reaches around and traces the faint white scar from the cut I had on my chest a few short weeks ago. Her fingers shake as she caresses both hands across my own peaked nipples and down the hard ridges of my abdomen. My eyes close and my head automatically falls back.
I’m definitely not having sex with Lulu. Not tonight. She’s not ready.
But I’m definitely gonna have to jack off five-thousand times to get rid of this rush.
Her fingers trace my collarbone. “I thought you wanted to watch the movie?”
I lick my lips. “Nope.”
She does the same, mimicking me. “You said you did.”
“Because I’m a fucking idiot.”
Her giggle sends tingles across my body. “You took your shirt off.”
“Yep.”
“But you wouldn’t take if off for me all the other nights? When I wanted you to? When I wanted to look at you and touch your skin?” Her whisper is heady, thick with desire.
She’s killing me. “Nope.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m a fucking idiot.”
“You took it off tonight. You’re playing our game. And you’re not playing fair.”
I growl. “Game on.” I press her body even tighter into mine, rubbing the hard seam of my jeans into her sensitive skin. The skin I know is throbbing to be touched. The skin that’s leaking her tasty, warm desire all in the crotch of her panties.
Her back arches, and she moans. My moan . Telling me she wants to be kissed. Really kissed .
We crash into each other, unable to function for one more minute if our lips aren’t tasting each other. Her tongue plunges into my mouth, searching for me, calling to me. I bite her lip and quickly suckle away the pain. I reach up with both hands, slowly pushing the straps of her top, lower and lower. I have to see her. I need to see her.
And then there’s a knock at the door.
Holy shit. I have never wanted to break something so much in all of my damn, miserable life.
Lulu pulls away. Her lips are swollen, her eyes glazed over. She looks like a disheveled sex goddess.
We both quiet, trying to listen for sounds above the panted breaths heaving from of our lungs. Sure enough, there’s another knock, followed by what sounds like stumbling.
“Ella, it’s me. It’s Kristie. Your car is here. You told me I have to knock if you’re home instead of just using my key.” You can tell her words are slurred. Is she high again?
“Are you kidding me right now?” I’m not talking to anyone in particular.
Lulu seems just as flabbergasted as me, mumbling unintelligible words underneath her breath. She crawls off my lap, and the pressure from her body that was providing a small modicum of relief to my raging hard-on is gone. Painfully gone. Very painfully gone.
Raking her hands over her shirt to smooth it, she gasps when her hands brush her own massively erect nipples.
Note to self: My Lulu has very sensitive nipples.
She grabs my shirt from the loveseat and wriggles it over her head. Seeing her in my shirt nearly rips the beating heart from my chest. Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I toss my hands in the air. “What am I supposed to do without a shirt?”
She smirks, “It’s not your top half you should be concerned with.” She nods at my lap and tosses me a pillow so I can cover myself.
We can hear Kristie struggling to get a key in the lock. The second Lulu opens the door, she staggers in, stumbling over her own feet. She snatches out, folding Lulu in a hug.
Lulu likes to be hugged. I know she does. You can see it on her face. But she only likes to be hugged by people she deems worthy. And I can see that Kristie doesn’t necessarily fall into that category. She falls just short on the Lulu meter.
Lulu pushes Kristie away, attempting to stand her upright. When she coughs in Lulu’s direction, Lulu’s eyes widen and she starts coughing herself. “Oh my god, Kristie, did you drink the whole bar? I hope you didn’t drive here like that.”
So…not high this time.
Drunk.
Kristie waves a hand in the air and meanders over to the loveseat, flopping down. She’s wearing a really low-cut shirt, an extremely short skirt, and fuck-me stilettos. I’m surprised she doesn’t have hypothermia. No doubt, she was definitely on the prowl tonight dressed like that. Since she’s here with us, that must mean she didn’t find what she was looking for.
Lulu steps around the corner, pulling the sleeves of my shirt over her hands. Her back stiffens when she realizes what Kristie’s wearing. “Kristie, I’ve never seen you in clothes like that. You look…”
Kristie laughs, loud and boisterous. “Hot?”
Lulu purses her lips together. “I was gonna say cold.”
I slide my hand over my mouth, trying to politely cover my laugh. Lulu’s damn funny when she wants to be.
“Well, I was just trying to get a date, Ella. I didn’t feel so bad about not dating because you weren’t dating, either. But then,” she waves a hand over in my direction, “you started dating.”
“It’s not a competition, Kristie. You’ll date when the right person comes along. You don’t have to go searching for it. It’s not something you find at the bottom of a shot glass. Look at me, happenstance brought me and Crutch together. And look at Carrie and Caleb. They met in class. Just a normal day in class.”
Kristie flings an arm over her eyes. “Ugh, Carrie.” She sniffles and starts to cry.
Lulu and I look at each other. “Better get her some water.”
I follow Lulu over to the kitchen. Grabbing some paper towels, I clean up the spilled water and melting ice cubes from earlier while Lulu plays nurse to Kristie. I sit back down on the couch and lower the volume on the forgotten movie. Dabbing the mascara from her eyes, Kristie asks Lulu for some aspirin.
Lulu disappears into her bedroom and comes back out, shaking an empty bottle. “I’ll be right back. I’ll walk over to the Big House and get some.”
I sit up, “Do you need me to go with you?”
“No, it’s fine. Stay here with Kristie. I’ll be right back.”
Great. Just great. I don’t really want to be left alone with her for some reason.
The moment the hallway door closes, Kristie seems to invigorate.
Uh-oh.
“I’m sorry to barge in. I hope I didn’t interrupt anything too special.”
You did. You interrupted my life. My moment with Lulu. I shake my head. “No. We were just watching a movie.”
Her eyes slowly roam over my body. “So, do you always watch movies shirtless?” It’s not her words that concern me, but her actions. She slowly uncrosses her legs and opens them wide, flashing me a glimpse of some red satin panties.
I jump up like my ass is on fire. Wishing I had a shirt. And wishing my jeans didn’t sag slightly at the hips, flashing my black boxer briefs. I walk into the kitchen, reaching in the fridge to grab a soda. As soon as I turn back around, Kristie is in my personal space. Way too damn close for comfort. She twists her red hair around her fingertips.
Her eyes narrow, and her gaze follows the curve of my shoulders. She takes another step closer, close enough for me to smell her. Vodka. Cheap vodka was her drink of choice tonight.
“Ella is still a child. If you’re just looking for someone pure, you can have me. My cherry’s never been popped.” Her pink fingernails scrape across my belt buckle. “I can even offer a preview. A blow job doesn’t count as sex so you’d be doing nothing wrong.” Her voice lowers to a whisper, making my jaw clench in anger. “I will blow your mind.”
I grab her hand. A lot harder than I intend to. She pulls from my grasp and massages her palm. “Get your hands off me.” I walk around the kitchen island and stare at the closed hallway door. She follows me like a little puppy. “You’re supposed to be her friend, right? And you’re hitting on her boyfriend? That’s plain shitty. I’m hers. No one else’s. And she’s not a child. She’s the most mature person I’ve ever met.” I lean down to her level, growling in her face. “You were high the first time I met you. If you ever show up here high again, there will be hell to pay. You keep that shit away from my girl.”
Kristie’s mouth gapes open and she starts to drunk hiccup. I leave her standing there and walk back over to the couch, fighting the urge to let her and my sudden pissed-off mood ruin the day and night I just had with Lulu.
My tension eases a fraction when I hear Lulu open the hallway door. She shakes two aspirin from a fresh bottle into Kristie’s hand and ushers her into the bedroom. “Go lie down, Kristie. I’ll be in soon.”
I’m perched on the edge of the couch, my elbows on my knees and my hands clasped in front of my face. Squeezing around me, Lulu sits on the coffee table, between my legs.
Pulling my hands away from my face, she stares into my eyes. “What? What’s wrong?”
Kristie is a sleaze, that’s what’s wrong. “I don’t like this situation. She’s taking advantage of you. Showing up here all hours of the day and night.”
She bites her lip. “We grew up with her, Ry. What am I supposed to do? Carrie felt bad for her. Growing up without a mother, being secluded by her overprotective father.”
I reach out, running my hands up the sides of her thighs. She shivers underneath my touch. “You grew up without a mother too, Lulu.”
She chokes on her whisper. “It’s different. And you know that.”
I do know it. I grew up without a mother too.
Gripping her legs, I tug her closer to me. It doesn’t matter when I touch Lulu, where I touch Lulu, her legs are always smooth. My hands glide across her like melted butter. Bending my forehead against hers, I close my eyes.
Her breath whispers across my eyelids. “Tell me something. Something no one else knows.”
“Before I go to sleep, I read. I’m afraid of looking stupid so I read the classics. Dickens, Hemingway, Fitzgerald. I didn’t read Jane Eyre for school. It wasn’t on our required reading list. I read it for me. So, someday, when someone asks if I read it, I can say yes.”
She gently kisses my eyelids, my nose, the side of my mouth before scooting back. Grabbing the hem of my shirt, she tugs it over her head. Her own tank top catches in the material and rises above her belly button, gifting me a small glance of her bronzed skin and flat stomach.
She holds the shirt out to me, pulling it back when I reach for it. Her innocent eyes grow wide. “Ask me.”
Holy hell. Has anyone ever had so much power over someone? She holds the key to my life in her hand.
“Tell me something. Something no one else knows.”
“It makes my heart beat faster knowing that you’ll be smelling me on your ride home. Smelling me on your shirt. Thinking of me.”
This time the moan is mine.
Kiss me, Lulu. Kiss me forever.