Asking For A Friend

by Parker, Ali

  Her frown deepened. I could see the retort forming on her lips, but I jumped back in before she could say anything. “If the video were about business or me or my dad, I would have stuck to the plan. But it wasn’t about us. It was about you.”

  Confusion replaced some of the anger in her eyes, but she still refused to look directly at me. I saw the muscles in her legs unlock, though. I didn’t think she was poised to run anymore. She was actually listening. “You and I never talked about Annie’s father and that was okay. As it turns out, my dad knew who he was and sent me on a mission to talk to him.”

  “Talk to him?” Her eyes became the size of saucers. “Please tell me you didn’t.”

  “I can’t do that.” Fuck. I knew I should have run this past her. “Because as it also turns out, I know him too. Brice was a friend of mine growing up. We grew apart after high school. I didn’t know about you or about Annie. I haven’t spoken to him since graduation. Well, until Monday.”

  When her eyes could grow no more, her expression fell. “You knew Brice?”

  The way she said his name was like she was afraid it was going to bite her. Having now seen how he had become, I wasn’t surprised. If I never had to say his name again after this conversation, it would be too soon.

  “Knew being the operative word. I don’t know him now and I haven’t known him for a long time, Marissa. The only reason I went to see him was because my dad told me you had a dark and battered past because of him and that I had to make things right.”

  “Oh God,” Marissa groaned, walking forward on wobbly knees to hold onto my desk with her fingertips. “What do you mean by that? By ‘make things right’ and all. What?”

  “He deserves to pay for what he did to you,” I stated simply.

  Her jaw hardened. I could see she was in shock, slightly dazed and probably feeling a bit like her limbs were made of jelly, but her voice was strong. “You know what he did to me, then?”

  “I know he got you pregnant and quite obviously left you to raise Annie by yourself. I didn’t go digging into the past to violate your privacy. I didn’t ask Brice what happened and my dad, if he knew, didn’t give me details.”

  “Right,” her eyes flashed. “He didn’t give you details but he sent you on a mission to make things right on my behalf that was so urgent you couldn’t even call first?”

  “That part was on me. I was so shocked and so damn furious that bastard hurt you that I acted first and thought later. I was halfway there by the time I realized I should have texted you. I fully realize how that sounds, but it wasn’t because I wasn’t thinking about you. I was only thinking about you. About both of you.”

  She looked a tiny bit less pissed now, so I rounded my desk and came to stand next to her side. My hand twitched to reach for hers, still resting on my desk. But I held back. “I just wanted to make things right for you. I’ve never cared for anyone the way I do for you and for Annie. All I could think of was making things right. Just that. I’m so sorry.”

  Marissa’s eyes fluttered closed and her head tipped back. I could see her chest rising and falling as she gulped in deep breaths of air. After a minute, she finally turned to me. “I never needed Brice in my life to make things right.”

  She lifted her hand and put it on my cheek, sliding her thumb over my cheekbone. “Brice wasn’t someone I needed to make my life feel right, Layton. You were.”

  “Were?” Something sharp pierced my heart. She used the past tense. Why did she use the past tense?

  She nodded, sadness clouding her expression. “Were. I’m sorry, but I can’t have you doing what you did again, Layton. I cannot let that happen to Annie. You have no idea how disappointed she was. She even slept on the couch to wait for you, just in case you got there late. I can’t—I just can’t. I have to leave, I’m sorry.”

  “Leave?” Whatever pierced my heart before ripped it apart now. I knew I fucked up, but she couldn’t leave. It wasn’t likely anything like that would ever happen again. One’s dead father didn’t tend to make too many appearances that shook you to your core and dropped you in a boiling pot of rage.

  Marissa nodded again, lowering her hand away from my face. This was it. She was about to walk out and I didn’t think she would be walking back in. The thought of never seeing her again shattered the pieces of my ripped up heart.

  I’d never felt anything like this before. Not ever. In the back of my mind, I thought I’d known for a while, but I hadn’t really admitted it to myself before now. “You can’t leave, Marissa. Please don’t leave.”

  “Why not?” She asked, making to move for the door.

  I grabbed her hand and tugged her back, all the way into my arms. Holding her close, I looked down into those gorgeous blue eyes. “I love you, Marissa. That’s why. You don’t have to say it back, but that’s how I feel. I love you. I’m in love with you. Absolutely, totally and completely.”

  I made my confession, knowing it might well be the last chance I got to do it. And then I kissed her.

  Chapter 56

  Marissa

  Layton loved me? What?

  The shock of the moment was cut short when his lips came crashing down onto mine. My own lips parted without conscious command, like they were welcoming home their best friend and long lost lover all at once.

  His arms circled my waist, holding me tightly to him as he devoured me. I could feel the emotion he was pouring into the kiss, including the longing and the silent plea for me not to leave.

  My mind and my heart were at war, the one shrieking that we had to get out of here while the other was quietly convincing me to stay. Before I even knew what I was doing, my hands were in his hair and I was obeying the quiet command.

  What he did when he went to see Brice was the most thoughtful thing anyone had ever done for me. I didn’t care that he did it because his father told him to, he was still the one who had confronted my worst nightmare, and lived to tell the tale.

  I was still stunned to learn Brice and Layton had been friends, but I couldn’t bring myself to care too much about that. Layton had no way of knowing what Brice ended up doing to me. He hadn’t even known me then.

  Bringing my fingers down to curl into the soft hair at the nape of his neck, I held Layton to me. If I was being honest, I never wanted to let him go. He groaned into my mouth and I swallowed the noise almost greedily.

  I would never get tired of hearing those noises from him. His kiss was stirring up emotions in me I thought I had left behind for good this time.

  My nipples were aching to be touched. Wetness was pooling between my legs, right below the spot where a very insistent throbbing was starting up.

  How he managed to make me feel like this by only kissing me, I would never know. All I knew was that being in his arms, kissing him like this, it felt right. Just like it always did.

  When Layton and I were apart or at odds, nothing felt right. Everything felt confusing and topsy-turvy until we were together again.

  The last few days had been filled with so much turmoil. Anxiety and uncertainty had colored my every thought. Though it had been all because of him, it was him I needed to put me back together. To point me in the right direction.

  Every stroke of his tongue, every quiet moan and brush of his hips against mine were doing just that. He was using his body to pick up all my scattered pieces and guide them back into place.

  He slowed our kiss and my heart sank, knowing he was about to pull away. When he did, his lids were heavy and his eyes filled with so many different things I didn’t know where to begin. Love, lust, hunger, apologies. “Marissa, I—”

  I didn’t want to deal with any of that right now. There would be plenty of time for that. What I needed right now was to feel him. I needed his body to tell me what his words had been trying to. Whenever Layton and I were together, it was so much more than just sex.

  The guy had a golden cock, there was no doubt about his abilities in the sex department, but his sinfully sexy body also ha
d a way of saying things he didn’t know how to. Things buried so deep inside him that it felt like the only way for me to get the real truth was for him to be buried deep inside me.

  Or maybe I was just horny. Fuck knew he definitely had that effect on me all the time.

  Bringing my fingers to his lips, I brushed them across the soft skin there. “Not now, okay? Just let me feel you. I just want to feel you.”

  He growled softly and nodded, bringing his mouth back to mine as he started walking us backwards to his couch. My knees hit the leather and then I was on my back with him forming a tent above me.

  I couldn’t imagine he was very comfortable since the couch was so narrow and he was obviously trying not to crush me, but he didn’t seem to mind. He still kissed me like he never had before and hissed when he lowered his hips and brushed his erection against me.

  “It’s okay, Layton,” I murmured between kisses. “I want this.”

  “You can stop me any time you want,” he gritted out. “I know you’re pissed at me.”

  “I’m going to be more pissed at you if you stop,” I tried to tease, but it came out as a low, begging kind of moan. I might have been embarrassed if the look in his eyes wasn’t telling me that he was right there with me.

  Dropping my hands to his belt buckle, I started undoing it at the same time he started undressing me. There were a lot of uncomfortable shifts and positions as we hastily removed each other’s clothes, but then we were finally naked.

  Layton was hard as steel and hot as the sun pressing against me. He maneuvered us one last time so I was sitting on top of him, straddling him. In my severely impaired top brain, I realized he was giving me control. He was handing over the reins so I could move at the pace I was comfortable with given everything that had happened.

  My lower brain rejoiced at the idea and pulsed in anticipation. If he wanted me to be in control, this wasn’t going to be slow. I needed him too much for that.

  Raising my hips to position myself over him, I realized we were missing something and almost wept. “Condom?”

  “Pocket.” It was all he had to say. I twisted my upper body and bent down, relishing his moan at the view he was getting. I ripped the foil package open with my teeth and handed the condom to Layton, who rolled it on so fast he could have won a medal. Or done a demonstration in a perfectly efficient technique.

  And then he was sliding into me and I stopped thinking about anything at all outside of him. Outside of us and this moment. Everything else between us fell away. He stretched me so very perfectly and hit each one of my sweet spots with every thrust.

  I lost myself in him, rising up and bringing myself down to meet him in a rhythm that had me crazy in no time. Layton lost it just after I did, gripping my hips as his cock twitched deep inside me.

  We stayed like that for a long time, breathing heavily and kissing as we came down from what, for me, had been an impressive climax.

  Finally, when my thoughts returned and my brain remembered how to function, I sat up. My limbs were loose and felt lighter, my body purring with happiness. Unfortunately, as my mind restarted, reality sank in.

  Layton was lying on the couch, his breathing still as ragged as mine. His eyes were closed, but I knew he wasn’t sleeping.

  He was gloriously disheveled, his usually perfect black hair sticking up at odd angles. His shirt was half open and half off, while his pants were still unbuckled but his briefs now covered his package again.

  Looking at him lying there, I realized that it didn’t matter how much I hadn’t wanted to hear his story, he somehow came up with the one thing that was so completely selfless in every way that I couldn’t stay angry with him. I already wasn’t anymore.

  I admired him for what he had done, but that didn’t answer any of the questions I had. “Layton?”

  “Yes, love.” He replied lazily, cracking open an eye. My heart skipped a beat when he repeated the ‘L’ word. Again.

  But I couldn’t think about that now. It was way, way too huge of a thing to process in the middle of the night in the middle of the office. I was going to need time, wine, ice cream and Denise for that one.

  So I focused on the more pressing questions. “Why did you want to bring Brice back into my life? Into Annie’s?”

  He shrugged, propping himself up on his elbows and studying me as though he was trying to see if I was ready to hear what he had to say. “I didn’t try to bring him back into your lives. I just thought you might want something from him. Closure. Child support. He owes you that.”

  “I don’t want or need anything from that man,” I told him honestly, reaching out to take his hand. “I appreciate that you care enough about us to do something like that, though.”

  “Does that mean I’m forgiven?” He asked, hopefully, his lips curling into an impish grin.

  My head tilted. “I guess you are, as unlikely as that was when I walked into your office earlier. But yeah, you are. You do owe Annie, though. Big time.”

  “I know,” he replied solemnly, sitting up to take me into his warm arms. “I’ll make it up to both of you, I promise.”

  Chapter 57

  Layton

  On that Thursday morning, I was at Marissa’s door an hour before she was due to arrive at work. There was no way I wanted to miss her, it would ruin my whole plan.

  After we made up the night before, I went home determined to come up with a plan to start making it up to her and Annie. I thought I had the beginning of one, but it all depended on how strict Marissa was about school attendance.

  I knew I shouldn’t encourage Annie to skip, or ask Marissa to let her, but I didn’t want to wait before I started making it up to them. I wanted to start immediately, but it just so happened to be Thursday.

  Still, I was serious about making it up to Marissa and Annie and I couldn’t think of a better way of driving that point home than to start as early as I could with the amends. Literally early, since it was only just past six in the morning now.

  I knocked on the door, my breath misting as I waited for them to answer. It was freezing out at this hour and the sun was barely rising, but hopefully it would be worth it.

  Marissa opened the door, her eyes wide and her brow furrowed. “What’s wrong?”

  “Why would anything be wrong?” I asked her, checking that Annie wasn’t anywhere in sight behind her before leaning in to give her a quick, chaste kiss. “Can I come inside? I’m half frostbitten.”

  “Of course,” she stepped to the side and shut the door firmly behind me, cutting off the frigid gust of wind that followed me in. Their house was warm inside and I shivered one last time before I felt feeling coming back into my extremities.

  Marissa was dressed for work, though her feet were still only covered in stockings and her face was bare of any make up. There was a light smattering of freckles on her nose that I caught in the light as she scrunched it. “Okay, now tell me. What’s wrong?”

  The smell of bacon wafted in the air and I sniffed it, my mouth watering. “I’ve told you, there’s nothing wrong. Do I smell breakfast?”

  The corners of her lips turned up and she gave her head a slight shake just as I heard laughter coming from their kitchen. “That is usually the meal people are making at this time of day, isn’t it?”

  Her tone was light and teasing, which was a pleasant surprise. I was worried she was going to be stressed about me coming over, but it didn’t look like she was. “So, to what do we owe the pleasure of your early morning company?”

  “I’ve come to tell you that you have the day off,” I started. “And if Annie can stand the thought of missing a day at school, I’ll need her to come too.”

  “Who was at the door this early, Sissy?” Denise rounded the corner from the kitchen, stopping in her tracks when she saw me. “Whoa. I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

  Her eyes flicked to Marissa’s, who shrugged. “He wants to kidnap us for the day.”

  A ghost of a smile touched Denise’s
lips, which was interesting. I thought she would hate me as much as Marissa did before I explained the situation to her. But since now I had a sneaking suspicion her smile meant she might have had my back last weekend, I said. “You’re invited too. You should come, it’s going to be fun.”

  Denise bobbed her head from side to side, pretending to consider as she gave me a quick wink. “Okay, you’ve convinced me. I’m in.”

  “Aunty Dee? Mommy?” Annie’s small voice called from the kitchen. “I think the bacon’s going to burn.”

  Both women turned to go to her, but I held up my hand. “Allow me.”

  Annie was frowning at the stove from where she sat at the kitchen counter, sipping from a glass of water. She lifted her eyes to the door when she heard my footsteps, her jaw coming unhinged when she saw me.

  Almost instantly she hopped off her stool and raced to me, throwing her arms around my legs. “Layton! You came! I told Mommy you would, I told her. You’re late, by the way.”

  “I know, baby girl. I’m so sorry. Something really important came up, but I promised your mom I would make it up to you.” I dropped to my haunches so we were face to face. “What do you say? Will you let me make it up to you? And have I mentioned how sorry I am?”

  She smiled shyly, but I could see hurt lingering in her blue eyes. A fissure cracked open in my heart. I thought I had understood why Marissa was so pissed at me, but seeing that look told me I’d gotten off lightly. If it hurt me to see the days old consequences of my actions, I couldn’t imagine what Marissa must have seen and felt when it happened.

  Chewing on her lip, Annie eventually nodded. “You said you were sorry. Mommy says if someone is really sorry, you should forgive them.”

  “Only if you want to,” I told her, enveloping her small hands with mine. “I really am sorry, but you don’t have to forgive me. What I did was wrong.”