Chapter 23 #2
Her hands slide around my waist and down my back. I drop my mouth to her ear. “I can’t stop thinking about the way you feel, Snowflake.” I skim along her spine until I reach her lower back and press my hips forward, my erection nudging her stomach. “I just want to make you feel good.”
She exhales an unsteady breath.
I kiss her cheek and lift her chin. “Will you let me do that for you?”
“You make it sound like I’m doing you a favor, not the other way around.”
“Your permission is a gift, Snowflake. Never forget that.”
Her eyes are soft. “We can make each other feel good again?”
“Whatever you want, however you want it.” I brush my lips over hers. “Come on. Let’s go upstairs.”
I tug her toward the stairs and motion her ahead of me. But she comes to a grinding halt when we reach my door. I stumble into her back and settle a hand on her hip to keep from knocking us both over. Lovey is still sprawled out on my bed, sheets thrown off, body pillow hugged to her side.
“The fuck?” Winter spins around, her expression reflecting confusion, disbelief, and outright disgust. She points to my door and whispers, “Is that Lovey?”
I hold my hands up. “I can explain.”
The color has drained from Winter’s face. “What the fuck is even going on?”
Lovey bolts upright. “I’m awake! What time is it?”
I realize how bad this must look, especially after I convinced Winter to come upstairs so I could distract her with orgasms. Lovey is sleeping in my bed. I look shady as fuck.
Lovey’s eyes go wide. “Oh. Oh, no. This isn’t what it looks like, Winter.”
“So you didn’t spend the night in BJ’s bed?” Winter turns to me, hands flailing. “And you didn’t just offer me orgasms while Lovey is sleeping in your goddamn bed? That’s not what’s happening here?”
“Oh wow. Okay…” Lovey’s eyes are frantic. “Well, I guess it’s sort of how it looks, but not really. I’m not supposed to still be here. I was supposed to leave a while ago.”
“Lovey, you’re not helping,” I mutter.
“We had sex in that bed last night.” Winter shakes her head. “Or early yesterday morning. And now you’re having a sleepover with Lovey? Why would you do that? Why would you fuck me and then let another girl sleep in your bed?”
I raise my hands. “You’re jumping to conclusions.”
“How can I not jump to conclusions?” She steps back, putting distance between us.
“Is this a thing for you two? Like, is it a kink or something?” Winter seems completely shell-shocked.
“Because I’m not into threesomes. Or sharing.
Or open relationships or whatever the hell is going on between the two of you—not that I think we’re a couple or anything, but this is like… really fucked up.”
“Lovey is my best friend.” I stay firmly planted in front of the stairs.
“With benefits? I knew this was too damn good to be true,” she mutters.
“Can I explain?” I run a hand through my hair, scrambling to find a way to put her at ease.
“Oh please, this should be interesting.” Her tone is laced with sarcasm, but her voice wavers.
Lovey is now standing in the doorway, wringing her hands. Conflict is not her strong suit.
“There’s nothing going on between me and Lovey. She’s like my sister.”
Winter’s nose wrinkles. “Is that supposed to make me feel better? Siblings of the opposite sex in their twenties don’t usually sleep beside each other unless they’re in a VC Andrews novel.”
“I don’t know who VC Andrews is.”
“She writes forbidden romance,” Lovey jumps in helpfully.
“They’re kind of incest-y. Flowers in the Attic was made into a movie.
More than once actually. The brother and sister—never mind.
” She turns to Winter. “When we got back here, you were already asleep. BJ and I started talking, but we must have fallen asleep too. I’m sure out of context this looks really bad, but I swear, BJ and I are just friends. That’s it.”
“I’m so weirded out. How the hell can you sleep beside each other and not…do stuff?” Winter rubs her temple. “That would be like temptation nation.”
“We’ve kissed twice.”
“Seriously, Lovey?” I give her a what-the-fuck look.
“What? I’m trying to explain so Winter can understand.
We need to work on our boundaries, because we clearly have none, and Winter deserves the truth—especially with everything else that’s going on.
” She gives me a meaningful look. “Like I said, we kissed twice. But it was during a game of spin the bottle when we were fourteen. My brother Laughlin has a terrible sense of humor, and he thought it would be fun to play, but like, I have four brothers, and half of our friend group is related to each other. It got super awkward when we realized it was going to be all about cousins kissing. It was a VC Andrews novel.”
Winter looks to be somewhere between disbelief and horror, and Lovey’s face keeps getting redder.
“Laughlin thought it was hilarious,” Lovey adds.
“And BJ and I ended up having to kiss twice because Lacey tapped out, which was smart of her, in retrospect. Anyway, it was super squicky and not good.” Lovey makes a gagging sound.
“Kissing BJ was like kissing one of my brothers. Or what I imagine it would be like, anyway. It was just…ew.”
“Thanks,” I mutter.
“You felt the same way. And we made a pact to never speak of it again, because it was one of those situations that seemed like a good idea until it wasn’t.” Lovey fiddles with her hair. “I know BJ is a good-looking guy, a little on the wiry side, and like, man pretty—”
“I’m a figure skater, not a jacked-up hockey player.” I don’t know why I’m compelled to defend myself.
“I know.” She makes a general motion that apparently encompasses my wiry, man-pretty physique. “And what you have to offer is attractive to a lot of women, but—” She turns to Winter. “BJ and I have zero chemistry. He’s like a brother, but less annoying.”
“Really bolstering my self-esteem over here,” I grumble.
“I’m being honest. And I don’t do it for you either.
” She addresses Winter. “But you absolutely do. The way BJ looks at you is borderline NSFW. That look has never, ever been directed at me.” She clasps her hands.
“I swear we didn’t mean to fall asleep, and I promise it won’t happen again.
I feel awful that I put you in this awkward position, and I don’t want you to start your first semester at Hawking feeling like this is something you need to worry about.
” Lovey motions between me and her. “We’re just friends. That’s it.”
She appears finished, so I decide it’s time to wade in. “I’m really sorry, Winter. I swear what Lovey said is the truth. I wouldn’t string you along like that.”
Winter sucks her bottom lip between her teeth. She opens her mouth and closes it, then repeats the cycle. “I’m going to get ready for work.”
“I can drive you.”
She raises a hand. “I need time to process. Alone.”
“Can I text you later?”
She purses her lips. “I’ll text you. When I’m ready.”
“Okay. Fair. I’m really sorry. This isn’t how I wanted this morning to go.”
“Me either.” She walks into the spare room and closes the door behind her.
Lovey follows me into my bedroom, her hands on her cheeks. She doesn’t say anything until the door is closed, and even then it’s barely a whisper. “I’m so, so sorry. I really didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
“It’s not your fault. I should’ve set an alarm or something.
” I run a hand through my hair. “We’ve been doing this for years.
Until now, it never occurred to me that it was a problem.
” Part of that is because until Winter, my dating history consisted of one semi-secret relationship that imploded and a ridiculous number of casual flings that may or may not tally somewhere close to the hundred mark.
Which isn’t something I want to focus on.
Lovey shakes her head. “I feel awful. She just agreed to move in with us in a couple of weeks. We need to fix this.”
“Hopefully she just needs time.” This can’t be the thing to derail her. Or us. My stomach twists. “I can’t believe I didn’t see the issue with this before now.”
“We’re used to being surrounded by people who know us.
Our group is tight. They’re accustomed to our brand of friendship, but I think we need to be conscious of how we are moving forward.
” The alarm on Lovey’s phone goes off. “I have to go. I need to be at the foodbank. Can we figure out how to manage this later?”
“Yeah. Of course.”
I follow her to the sliding door and open it in time to see Winter’s bike disappear down the driveway. I worry that this one stupid mistake has the potential to taint everything we’ve built.