Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
MARLOW
It’s been five days since Thane and I hooked up in the solarium, which means five days since we’ve been avoiding each other after agreeing that it was ‘Just for tonight.’
I thought it would be simple. We’d get each other out of our systems and move on with our lives, but I was wrong.
After one taste, I fear I’m addicted and want more of him.
He’s the personification of my every living fantasy, the man I’ve obsessed over for three years, and it was foolish of me to think that we could walk away unscathed.
Well, it was foolish of me to assume I could walk away unscathed, I should say.
Thane seems to be fine.
We haven’t been alone since the solarium and Michaela is usually with me whenever we bump into him—mostly for breakfast in the kitchen—and he gives us a stoic head-nod, a plate of pancakes, mugs of coffees, and grunts something in the semblance of ‘Have a good day. I’m headed out.’
I’ve seen him every day on the field because of my cheer practices and the college’s football games.
His gaze never snapped my way, laser-focused on his players instead.
I hate to admit that it upset me. Was I not even worthy of a simple ‘Good morning’ or ‘Hi, Marlow?’
Thane’s lack of acknowledgement left me feeling hollow. Cheap. Inconsequential.
I haven’t felt that way since before eighteen, when I was bouncing around from one foster home to another.
Which is why I made the decision Friday morning that I would move out of his home.
Our apartment situation was worse than we thought. Due to the landlord delaying building maintenance, the overall result is damaged walls and ceilings on multiple floors. Unfortunately, Michaela and I can’t return there.
Not to mention, Michaela has been enjoying being back in her childhood home. Can’t say I blame her. In these last handful of days, I’ve watched Michaela and Thane have these little conversations that lead to easy smiles and laughter, and it looks like they’re healing.
I’m certain they’ll be okay.
Plus, just yesterday, Thane told us we can live here as long as we need, no rent required. It’s also convenient due to the reduced commute to school. There was a bright sparkle in Michaela’s eyes at the suggestion and last night, she told me we should stay here and save money.
I’m happy for her. I really am. She deserves to mend old wounds and have a relationship with her brother again. But she grew up in this home, so it makes sense that she would want to stay.
Me, on the other hand? I feel like a burden.
Michaela is my best friend and she desperately wants me here. I love her to death, but I can’t be under the same roof as Thane.
Though he hasn’t said it out loud, I already know he regrets what happened between us. For what it’s worth, I didn’t tell Michaela. I don’t plan to either, since I don’t want to cause any unnecessary issues.
So, I quietly packed my bags and tonight, once we return from this house party Michaela is demanding we attend…I will leave.
I have yet to figure out where I’ll live, but I just know it can’t be here.
“Knock, knock,” Michaela’s voice comes muffled from the other side of the door. “Can I come in?”
I adjust the spaghetti straps and the hem of my sparkly pink mini dress. “Yes, come in!”
Michael enters and whistles upon seeing me. “Good God! You look stunning! Like a Barbie come to life.”
A blush blooms over my cheeks and I chuckle, tucking aside a loosely curled strand behind my ear.
I’m not usually one for parties, despite my status on the cheer team, and neither is Michaela, but we decided to be more outgoing this year.
My nervousness eases a bit under her compliment.
“Look who’s talking. I love what you’ve done with your hair. ”
Michaela usually has it tied in a bun for ballet and rarely lets it down in all its pin-straight glory. She looks beautiful, coupled with the lilac skater dress, and gentle makeup. “Thank you.” She gives me a playful twirl. “Ready to get this show on the road?”
I nod and bend down to grab my pink platform heels with one hand and my matching clutch with the other. “Ready.”
We amble down the hallway and I’m grateful Michaela didn’t spot the overnight bag I sat by the corner of the bed. She would have asked questions, I would have had to tell her the truth, and she would have barred us from going to the party as an excuse to keep me from leaving this house.
Upon reaching the entrance, I start to put my heels on while Michaela chats about the party. But I’m no longer concentrating on what she’s saying. From the corner of my eye, I see Thane descend the stairs towards us, as if he heard commotion and stepped out of his room to investigate.
My chest twists. He looks so good, even in casual jeans and a black t-shirt stretched across his muscular torso.
The ends of his hair are wet like he just finished taking a shower and I can smell his cologne as he steps closer to us, crossing his arms over his chest like a strict dad. “Where are you girls headed?”
Even his voice sends a wave of yearning through me.
I wish…I wish he wanted me for more than one night.
I’m tired of being the girl that’s only good for casual hookups. I have more worth than that. For once, I want to be for keeps.
Michaela rolls her eyes at Thane but the smile on her lips betrays her. She’s happy to be on speaking terms with her brother again. “To a party. Where else would we be headed on a Friday night?”
Thane’s eyes sweep from Michaela to me and stray on my body for longer than intended. He can try to avoid me, but one moment in my presence, his body can’t hide the way it reacts to mine.
He likes the way I look.
I mean, if the physical reaction wasn’t obvious, then the way he talked dirty in the solarium totally is. My God. I’m ashamed to say I’ve replayed those words in my head a million times at night while using a sex toy to recreate the thickness of his fingers inside of me.
“Name and address.” Thane scowls. “And please be back by 1 a.m. latest. I won’t sleep well unless you’re both under this roof, safe and sound.”
I hate the way that melts my heart. No one has ever cared for my safety. Or when I was going out and coming back home. It’s nice.
My best friend gives me a sidelong glance and I discreetly nod. We’re not party animals and it’s already 9 p.m. If anything, we’ll be back home before midnight.
“Yeah, we’ll be home by then, Thane,” Michaela replies.
“Do you need a ride there?”
Michaela shakes her head. “No, our friend Addie is picking us up. She’s the DD.”
Thane nods and scrapes a hand over his stubbled jaw. “Okay. But please call me if you need anything.”
We hear a honk outside, letting us know Addie is here.
“We should get going.” Michaela points a thumb towards the front door. “Have a good night and for God’s sake, please go out tonight. You’re too young to be home alone doing nothing, Thane. Call up one of your buddies. Hit up a bar or something.”
Thane’s mouth twitches in a smirk. “Can’t believe my little sister is giving me pointers on my social life.”
Michaela laughs. “Yeah, ‘cause you don’t have one.”
I smile at their camaraderie.
“Fine.” Thane shrugs. “Maybe I will hit up a bar.”
My smile drops at that.
In the short amount of time that I’ve lived here, I understand why Michaela calls her brother a recluse.
He doesn’t go out unless absolutely needed.
He leaves in the morning for work, comes home with groceries, cooks dinner, occasionally cracks a beer, and then does some carpentry projects around the house.
Adding plaster to the walls, repainting the basement, fixing the wooden floorboards in the backyard deck.
All while old rock band music plays on a small Bluetooth speaker.
And according to Michaela, he doesn’t have any ‘lady friends’ either. Yesterday, she told me that she’s going to pester him to start dating again. I listened raptly and pretended like I didn’t want to retch at the thought of my coach crush with someone else.
If he goes to a bar, he’s definitely going to catch the eye of multiple admirers.
How can he not?
Thane’s got this quiet, broody, sexy thing going on that attracts women to him like bees to honey. He’s going to find one tonight and they’ll fuck each other’s brains out.
Ugh. No, Marlow. Stop thinking about Thane with other women unless you want indigestion before the party.
“Marlow.”
Thane calls out right when we open the front door. Michaela doesn’t hear him. She bounds down the porch steps and leaves me in the entrance with her brother.
“Y-Yes?” I’d hoped to be calmer and more composed the next time we were alone.
“Give me your phone.”
I arch a brow, steeling my spine. “Why?”
“So I can plug my number in. Michaela has mine, of course, but you don’t.”
A schoolgirl type of giddiness pounds in my veins. Never did I think Thane would give me his number. If he didn’t have his fingers in my pussy and his mouth on my nipples already, I’d have thought this moment was a figment of my imagination.
“Oh. That’s okay.” Especially since I’m leaving after the party. “I’ll be with Michaela. We can reach you from her phone if needed.”
His expression darkens into a glower.
“Marlow.” Thane’s jaw clenches and his eyes get stuck on my bare thighs.
My dress is dangerously close to exposing all of me if I so much as bend the wrong way.
I wore it on purpose. A part of me wanted Thane to see me before I left and regret the way he’s tiptoed around me all week long.
“I know that, but I also want you to be able to call me if anything happens.”
The abandoned inner child in me who longs to have people care for her aches. But I remind myself that he’s mostly doing this because he’s a good human being and concerned for his sister—and by extension, me— and I shouldn’t read too much into this.
Sighing, I reach into my clutch and pull out my phone, unlocking and handing it over to him.