Chapter 26
Deacon
The barks of laughter carried down the hall from the Veterans Center, the sound of four or five voices talking over one another before another peal of laughter filled the otherwise quiet corridor of the student union.
It reminded me of the thousands of times I’d had moments like that with my squad, shooting the shit between missions or drills or just because.
I quickened my pace to pass the open door, still clocking the group inside, including a few people I recognized from around campus.
One raised a hand to wave. I recognized him and slowed.
He looked like a Marine, hair still buzzed short, and we’d had some classes together where we were the only people over twenty-five.
For the first time, I was tempted to go in, but I kept walking.
I looked at my phone intently and scrolled to the thread with Willow, rereading the last few messages from the day before.
Willow: I can’t believe you sent me ten different ideas for toys!
Deacon: Just to get you started. The options are vast.
Willow: How will I choose?
Deacon: Get them all
There was another burst of laughter from down the hall, and I tapped at my screen, checking the clock. I still had an hour to kill before my next class.
Deacon: Make a choice?
I waited for her to respond. As it was, I hadn’t stopped thinking about her since that night on the phone.
I thought it would be a little sexy banter to get her comfortable.
I had not expected to coach her through an orgasm or the way it would knock me on my ass when she got there and I saw the way her neck and cheeks reddened.
Outside of the many, many ways that turned me on, it was more.
She’d trusted me so completely, which filled my chest in a way nothing ever had.
Willow: I picked two.
Deacon: I’m all ears.
Willow: Only ears? Disappointing.
I grinned at the surprising response and ran a hand through my hair.
Deacon: What will you care? You’ll have toys.
Willow: I got these.
She pasted in a screenshot of her order confirmation, and I took in a ragged breath. She’d actually bought three items, a rabbit-style vibrator with a pink silicone shaft and a purple clitoral stimulator. Then there was a black satin blindfold.
Deacon: You definitely found #3 on your own. Interesting.
Willow: It was free when I spent enough!
The noise from down the hall drew my gaze away.
Cruz had bugged me plenty of times to check out the center, but I’d ignored him, like I’d ignored his warnings to stay away from Willow.
I thought things would be fine, though. What was important was that we had an agreement and she wouldn’t get hurt.
That was his main concern. Plus, there were a ton of things we could do that were only nudging the line without fully crossing it. I hit the icon to call her.
“Blindfolds can be fun,” I said when she picked up, and I couldn’t see her face, but I knew she’d be adorably flustered. “You keep surprising me.”
“I didn’t pick it! They just added it to the order.” I heard sounds of the road in the background.
“Hmm, but would you have?” I leaned against the wall and crossed my arms over my chest, knowing she was thinking about it. “Never mind. Don’t tell me…I’ll wait to be surprised once it arrives.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be in class?”
“On a break. I thought you’d be missing me.”
The road sounds on her end gave way to barking.
“I’m at the dog park with Gus,” she said, and I listened as she gave him the “at the ready” command Cruz required before he’d send Gus into the fray with all the other dogs.
“And I missed you a little.” She paused as I soaked in the words, but corrected herself.
“Missed that filthy mouth,” she whispered, as if not to offend Gus’s delicate sensibilities, and then giggled. It was fucking adorable.
“You have no idea,” I said, tucking one ankle over the other. “But you will. When does your shipment arrive?”
“Tomorrow,” she said, releasing Gus to play. “What class did you have this morning?”
“English. We had to write a short story. I made mine about a girl who discovered something magical she could do with the right inspiration.” I pitched my voice low the way she liked, but she laughed on the other end of the phone.
“Shut up! I’m at the dog park!” She lowered her voice again and whispered, “I can’t do dirty talk here.”
I laughed again at her concern—that dog park was huge, and I could guarantee no one was nearby.
I hadn’t wanted to get her going, though; I just wanted to hear her laugh.
“Fine,” I said, returning to my normal voice.
“I did have English, though—ready to be done with that class.” I’d picked psychology when I needed to declare a program of study, and I liked it, but spending time with Jayden made me wonder if I should pick up some kind of education class.
I wouldn’t need it in the PJs, but maybe for after.
“You had that vet school tour this morning, right?”
“It was, wow, incredible. I wished Des had more time, because I would have stayed there all day. They showed me their labs and classrooms and, damn, it all just looked so fantastic.” She spoke quickly, like the words and ideas couldn’t come out fast enough. “I really didn’t want to leave.”
“Time to bite the bullet and apply,” I said. State was only half an hour away, and the idea of having her nearby made my heart beat faster.
“I’ve been out of school for so long. It feels too late.
” I pictured her nibbling on the corner of her thumbnail the way she did when she was thinking about something too hard.
I wondered if she’d done that after our call.
Before I could fixate on that, she continued.
“It was my dream, but I gave it up. It feels hard to turn back to it. And vet programs are all supercompetitive.”
“I told you. Competition ain’t a thing when you’re the best,” I said, tipping my head back against the wall. “And is it ever too late to give up on a dream?” I thought of my own goals and the notebook where I was tracking my progress for the fitness test.
She chuckled and paused for a moment where I heard her sweet-talk Gus. “I’m not the best,” she said. “Competition is definitely a thing for me.”
That flicker of self-doubt in her words would show in the angle of her smile, and I hated to see it. “I think you’re the best person I know. I can’t imagine someone better.” My words were drowned out by barking and Willow’s voice.
“Sorry, what did you say?”
What did I say? Rather, why did I say it? I bumped my head against the wall. “Nothing, just that you should think about applying.”
“Maybe,” she said. “I’ll think about it. I’ll see Des tomorrow. A group of us are going to go see Steel Magnolias. That theater by the airport is doing a special showing.”
I grinned and lifted my head at the change of subject. I adopted my best Southern accent and shared my favorite line from the film I’d watched a hundred times with my grandma when I was a kid.
“Oh my God! Yes!” Her voice was back to normal, bouncy and light. “I can’t believe you’ve seen it. It was actually my mom’s favorite movie. Feels kind of symbolic to go see it now since she can’t, I guess.”
“It’s a good one.”
“Do you want to go with us? I like having you along with me for my re-dos.”
I wanted to say yes. I imagined my arm around her and the way she’d snuggle against me in the dark after our hands mingled in the popcorn bucket.
“No,” I said, bending to pull my textbook from my bag like a prop would help sell the lie.
“I should study.” I didn’t need opportunities to touch her in the dark.
I’d already blown past the lines I’d set for myself when it came to Willow. “But what’s next on your list?”
“It involves riding and protection,” she said playfully.
“Tease.” I glanced down the hall toward the center when a few new people walked in and the group called out to them with greetings. “It’s bikes, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” Willow’s giggle left me smiling, even if the joke wasn’t that funny. “But I thought you’d appreciate the double entendre.”
“I did.” I snagged my bag from the floor and slung it over my shoulder, deciding to kill time outside. “Tomorrow?”
“I can use Cruz’s bike. It’s mounted up on the wall in the garage, though.” I thought of her struggles to get the ladder up from the basement herself and offered to come over after class when I had a few minutes this afternoon to get it down and fill the tire.
“Fill the tire. That’s not a euphemism, is it?”
I grinned. “Not this time.”