by Raquel Belle
“The untrained eye?” I said, laughing. “Does that mean I’m not a gentleman?”
Beth’s eyebrows lifted, and she tilted her head but didn’t say anything.
I laughed again. “Alright, I see how it is.” I was already planning how I’d get her back for that one.
We finished breakfast, and I helped her clean up, like a gentleman, then we settled in the living room with our computers and the receiver on the coffee table. She plugged it into a portable charger and pressed play on the four-and-a-half-hour-long recording.
“You’re gonna have to supplement,” she said.
I nodded. “I gave a bunch of my thoughts at the end, when I was on the way to your place after.”
Beth stretched out on the couch opposite me and slipped her legs between mine, also outstretched. The first couple minutes played with nothing but background noise, then I breathed a sigh of relief when Nathan’s voice came through clearly. We both started to take notes, and I couldn’t help glancing at Beth every minute or so. It’s like we were in school at the library, doing homework together.
Beth laughed, and I snapped out of the spell she had me under. “What?” I hadn’t been paying attention to the recording in the slightest.
“Did you realize that you make little snide comments under your breath?” She reached forward to pause it.
“I was annoyed, but that’s my version of taking notes,” I said.
She laughed. “You said, everyone here looks like they’re about to be sorted into Hogwarts houses.”
“Seriously, that shit was weird. Why’d we all have to wear robes? Nathan wouldn’t even explain it to me, so that’s probably why I was mad,” I said, making her giggle again. “I even asked the chapter founder about it, and he just laughed and fucking walked away from me.”
“Did you speak to any other members?”
I nodded. “A couple of Nets players that stopped at the bar, but mostly, Nathan talked my ear off. He’s really passionate about that society. He never said it directly, but he might be a spokesperson or something like it.”
“Hmm…” Beth said. She pressed play, and her foot rubbed against my inner thigh. My cock twitched, excited to be even remotely touched. My focus had already been on her, and any chance at taking notes flew through the window. I paused the recording and left my laptop on the table, and she looked at me curiously.
“I just…there’s something on your mouth,” I said.
Beth laughed and put her computer aside. I crawled between her legs, and she wrapped them around my hips while I kissed her. Soon, I picked her up and walked her back to bed.
Chapter Nineteen
Beth
The girls and I had decided on a binge night. Everyone came over to my place. Cara brought four bottles of wine, and Jasmine and Grace brought snacks. I couldn’t stop shaking my head as I put the wine in the fridge to keep cold.
“Oh, come on, Beth, you know we go through a bottle of wine like it’s water.”
“We reverse Jesus the shit like it’s nothing,” I said, and Cara cracked up.
“Wait, what are we watching?” Jasmine said from the living room. She stood by the couch, scrolling through Netflix.
“Disney Plus, remember?” Grace said. She was looking for my cheese knife in the utensil’s drawer. The cheese and fruit platter was almost ready to go.
“Yeah, we’re starting with Lady and the Tramp,” Cara said. Jasmine went back out to the apps on the TV and selected Disney. I grabbed the glasses and Cara picked our first bottle. Grace found the knife, and we all settled on the sectional.
Jasmine found the movie but didn’t start it yet, since Cara was pouring wine for everyone. “So, Beth, you never told me what ended up happening.” Jasmine plopped down next to me.
“Ended up happening… What? What’s the story?” Grace asked.
“With her arch enemy, Anthony Preston,” Cara said. “They kissed the last time I heard.”
Grace gasped, and Cara almost smiled but she held it back and continued pouring.
“What, Cara, you’re not surprised?” I said. She put the bottle down and handed everyone a glass before she took her own.
“Well, I know how that rivalry energy can change depending on how much distance is between two people. Plus, he’s hot, so I figured there might’ve been more there,” she said, and sat on Grace’s right. She tucked her feet under her and sipped the red wine.
“No!” Grace said. “I never thought of it that way. The way you described him, Beth, I thought he was an actual asshole.”
“It’s a front,” I said. “Well mostly, with me it definitely was…I think. I don’t know. Anyway, we’re dating now and fucking like bunnies.” I shrugged and took a big sip from my glass.
“What!?” Jasmine said. She stared at me with an open-mouthed grin, her eyes sparkling.
“Oh, no, see, now you have to start from the beginning because Grace and I aren’t totally filled in on this,” Cara said.
I smiled. “Well, basically…”
“No, no, full details, no basically,” Grace said.
“He tried to sabotage my interview with Jonathan, and we ended up kissing. I wanted to forget about it, but he showed up at my office, and I caught him snooping around. We got in a fight, kissed again, and then…” I gave them all a sheepish look and tried not to choke on my wine at their expressions. They ranged from pride to shock.
Jasmine gasped. “You had sex in your office, Beth?”
“Look, it’s a very small office, and there was a lot of tension and…” I shook my head, not knowing what else to say.
“See? My theory was right—rivalry plus close proximity equals sex. Every time,” Cara said, as she drank more of her wine.
“Was it on your desk? Did anyone catch you guys?” Jasmine asked.
“It was on the desk, yeah. I don’t think anyone heard anything. The blinds were pulled, and the door is pretty heavy, plus there’s carpet, so it’s fairly soundproof,” I said.
“But do you actually like him?” Grace asked.
“When he’s not getting on my nerves he’s actually…great,” I said. Of course, all we’ve really done was have sex, but I was looking forward to getting to know him. I hoped sex wouldn’t be the only driver of our relationship. I knew from experience, that would only lead to heartache. “I came to a dilemma with the story, and he actually helped me out. It was completely unexpected.”
“Well, that’s good, promising even,” Cara said.
“He helped you with your story or… Wait, how does that work, exactly?” Jasmine said.
I explained the whole Classics meeting to them, and they were all quiet. “What, you guys? Say something.”
“Just be careful. Protect your story,” Jasmine said.
“Also, if he’s so virtuous now, offer to read his story and see how far he’s willing to go to prove you can trust him,” Cara said.
Grace nodded. “You can be on guard, but not too much. If you really like him, don’t make him think everything is a test.”
“True,” I said. “Well, all we’ve been doing mostly is having sex and going over the recording. It’s like four hours long.”
“You guys haven’t gone on a date yet?” Grace asked.
I shook my head. “We will…”
“Well, damn, make sure he takes you out,” Jasmine said.
“It’s not like a weird thing, though. We have a good vibe going. As crazy as that sounds,” I said, and drank from my glass. It was bizarre to me. The last time I was with the girls I’d been cursing Anthony’s name and now? Well it was definitely the opposite.
“So, what’s he working with? Is he hot for no reason or what?” Cara asked and Jasmine choked on her wine. Grace laughed and patted her back.
“It’s huge,” I said, “and he knows what to do with it.”
“A rare find,” Cara said. “I hope it works out.”
I laughed. “Yeah, me too.”
“Okay, okay, play the movi
e!” Grace said.
We hung out like we were home from college and watched five Disney movies and went through a few bottles of wine, then knocked out in my room and on the couch.
***
Sunday night came around too quickly, and I was starting to feel the pressure to get my feature past the drafting stage. I had ample time to work on it, still, but I liked to stay ahead of things. The first half of the story came to me readily. Of course, my pace came to a grinding halt when I typed the words, secret society. A quick glance at the time told me it wasn’t too late, so I texted Anthony. He called me a few seconds later.
“I imagined you in a bubble bath with like…a glass of wine or something. Why are you working?” he asked, as soon as I’d answered. On his end, it sounded like he was out, maybe at a restaurant. Maybe it was bad habit or a bad protective instinct, but I immediately became suspicious.
“Because I was getting twitchy, and I needed to get a draft down, but I can’t even finish it because we haven’t gotten through the entire file yet,” I said and paused when I heard a female voice in the background. “Anthony! Get off the phone and take this shot,” the woman said.
“Uh, if you’re busy…um…” I didn’t know what to say. My heart felt like it paused in my chest and likewise, as if I wasn’t breathing. Of course, he was out with some other woman. It was Anthony Preston after all. I didn’t know why I expected or even hoped for anything else.
“No, no, I’m not busy. I can come over,” he said. Suddenly, it was a lot quieter on the other line.
“That’s okay. I have to go,” I said and hung up—too out of sorts to say anything else. Huevos hopped up on my lap as if he knew how I was feeling and started purring away. “Huevos, you’re the only good guy in my life right now.” I sighed and dragged myself away from the kitchen table, and then ended up in bed with a bag of caramel popcorn and Huevos curled up beside me. My chest felt heavy, like it might burst. I called my brother to keep myself from crying over fucking Anthony.
“Sis,” Oscar answered happily on the second ring. I missed him so much that I had to swallow back a sob.
“I miss you!”
“Aww, come on. Don’t do that. You’re sounding like mom with the lump in your throat. I can hear that hundreds of miles away,” he said, making me miss him even more. Our family really hasn’t been the same since mom and dad’s divorce, and he went all the way to Miami for college. On top of that, I wasn’t visiting home as often as I’d used to.
“I’ll be there soon for Thanksgiving,” he said. “I already got my ticket.”
“Good, so you’re surprising mom?” I asked. My phone beeped, and I pulled it away from my ear for a second to check the screen. Anthony was calling me back. I declined the call.
“Yeah, she’s gonna flip,” Oscar said. He sounded smug and excited, so I knew he was going to make the surprise a good one. “If you can, tell her that we talked, and it doesn’t seem like I’ll be able to make it this year.”
“Sure thing,” I said, “but, she’ll be mad at me because I already said that we spoke, and I sent you money for a ticket.”
He laughed. “Nah, don’t worry, I’ll tell her I’m studying or something over the break for finals. Anyway, how are you?”
“I’m…meh. You know me. Always on the go, and still having bad luck with men,” I said.
“I told you where I left my taser, right?” he said, making me smile. My phone beeped again, but I ignored it. “Who’s the idiot this time?” Oscar sounded curious and concerned. He was over five years younger than me, yet there were still times that he acted like an older brother.
I sighed. “This guy, whom I should’ve known about because we hated each other at first. It’s a complicated story.”
I heard the buzzer at my front door. Confused, I checked the time, and it was pushing ten o’clock. I glanced at my phone, and other than those missed calls from Anthony, no one had texted or called to tell me they were coming over. “Hey, I’m gonna call you back tomorrow, Oscar.”
“Okay, if it’s that idiot, don’t give in. Get the taser!” he said.
I laughed. “Trust me, the taser isn’t too far away.” We hung up then I hurried to the door and pressed the speaker.
“Who is it?”
“It’s Anthony,” he said. Utterly confused as to how he got to my apartment so fast, I paused, my hand still on the button. “I was around the corner having drinks with friends, but if I had known you wanted to hang out and go over the recording, I would’ve been here a lot earlier.”
I let him in, only because I didn’t feel like having a whole conversation over the intercom. In a few minutes, he knocked on my door, and I let him inside. Anthony was wearing a wet leather jacket, a rain splattered white t-shirt, and jeans. His hair was flattened by rain, while a soaked-through beanie hung in his hand.
“You were out there in the rain?” I said.
“It didn’t start pouring until I was a block away,” he said, and put his hand on my waist. He leaned in to kiss me, but I turned my head so that his lips met my cheek instead. Anthony didn’t pick up on my mood and proceeded to take off his jacket and shoes. He left them at the door on the coat rack. “You want to pick up where we left off or what?”
“Umm…” I walked to the kitchen table and sat behind my laptop. That was a good question on a couple of levels, one of which Anthony didn’t seem to have any idea about. I really didn’t want to come off as jealous or suspicious, nor did I want to talk to him about my general trust issues with men. Everything was so new between us, and yet I knew how much of an asshole he could be, so it was very possible that he was seeing other people. There was also the fact that we were just dating, and neither of us had mentioned exclusivity.
“Earth to Beth,” Anthony said, as he waved his hand in front of my eyes, laughing. I hated that his eyes were so blue and that his face was so handsome.
I smiled. “I’m here. Yeah, let’s just pick up where we left off.” My stomach turned, as my mind continued to race with conflicted thoughts. For about twenty minutes of the recording, I weighed whether I should confront him or not.
Abruptly, Anthony paused the tape and looked at me expectantly.
“What?” I said.
“What’s wrong? I can tell you’re not all here. Your eyes are glassy, and you haven’t typed anything since we hit play,” he said.
I sighed and then took a deep breath but still couldn’t bring myself to mention the woman I’d heard on the phone. “I… Are you dating other people?” I said, after a minute of Anthony staring at me, patiently waiting.
His brows scrunched together, as if the question was absurd and caught him completely off guard. “Why? Are you?”
“N-no… I was just wondering,” I said. Maybe he’d been telling the truth, then. Guys could have female friends that they weren’t secretly in love with or banging, right? I smiled at him, but he searched my face, his brows still drawn together.
“Tell me what’s bothering you, come on.”
“That was it,” I said, and forced myself to shake off the doubt and ghostly baggage of past relationships.
“Well, we should have this talk, anyway. Do you want to date exclusively? I have no problem with that. To be honest, I want to be the only guy you’re dating too,” he said. Anthony turned in his chair and pulled mine closer to him.
My legs settled between his, and I had his entire focus. It was a little unnerving—his blue eyes looked supernatural when he was so close. I could make out the flecks of silver and white in them. “Too?” I said, catching the last word of what he said.
“Yeah, since we kissed in that hallway…and, well, since before then, you’re all I’ve thought about, and you’re the only one I want to be with. I’m not seeing anyone else,” he said.
“Wow…well…I’m not seeing anyone else either,” I said, feeling lame. “I do want to date exclusively, though.”
“Cool,” he said, and grinned. He kissed me, and his eyes held min
e for a moment. He kissed me again and eased back in his chair. It was a little unnerving, to be honest, for him to be so in tune with how I was feeling. I’d never dated anyone who paid attention to whether or not I was too quiet.
“Do you want to take notes on my iPad?” I asked, while rewinding the recording.
He smiled. “Are you sure you won’t steal them?”
“Shut up before you get smacked.” I stuck my tongue out at him, and he leaned to the side to drape his arm over his chair.
“You know, that was pretty hot when you slapped me,” he said. “We should role play or something and do some of that again.”
“You know, I wouldn’t mind making you my bitch, slapping you around a little, forcing you to wait on me hand and foot while you wear nothing but a leather G-string.”
Anthony’s brows shot up, and he tilted his head, smiling. “Okay, I didn’t think you’d take it that far.”
“I can fulfill your needs, Anthony. All you have to do is call me mistress,” I said over my shoulder.
His laughter filled the room.
Chapter Twenty
Anthony
I was packing up my laptop when my editor tapped on the door and stuck his head in. Nelson had on his jacket, and his briefcase hung from his hand. “What’s up, I haven’t seen you in days it seems. How’s the feature coming?”
“It’s decent so far. I’m still compiling some interesting stuff, and I’ve got a good angle planned,” I said, as I zipped up my bag before clasping the front flap.
Nelson seemed surprised. “You haven’t started drafting yet?” He almost laughed. It was the same routine we always had. He’d expect me to be farther ahead on my stories than I usually was, get worried, and then forget about it once he had the publisher’s approval of my work.
“I’ve got plenty of time, Nelson, so don’t worry. It’ll be good,” I said and stepped sideways past him, into the hall.
“But how’s that secret society bit coming?”
“Nelson, you’ll have all the details when I turn in my draft, cool? If I was worried about something, I’d let you know, right?” I squeezed his shoulder then waved and hurried out of the building. My mind was less focused on taking notes for the recording and more on seeing Beth again.