by Hughes, Maya
* * *
The faint smell of beer mixed with copious cleaning supplies hit me when I opened the door. Home sweet home. Like a homing pigeon returning to the coop, I stepped inside the Brothel.
Berk stumbled down the steps when I closed the door. He shielded his eyes from the early morning light and hissed at me like a vampire.
“Morning, Berkley.” Seph’s chipper voice sliced through the air, and Berk held on to the sides of his head.
“How the hell are you standing up right now?” He groaned and banged his shoulder into the wall on the way to the kitchen.
“Last night hit you a little hard.” She walked over to him and wrapped her arm around his waist, taking one of his arms and looping it over her shoulder, helping him the rest of the way. His head lifted and he stared at her like she was an alien who’d crash-landed in our living room.
A little flare had sparked in my chest when she put her hands on him. Shaking my head, I shoved it down and took off my coat. This is Berk we’re talking about. Yeah, but it’s also Seph.
A bang came from upstairs. LJ hit the top of the steps like he’d been launched from a cannon.
“What the hell?” He sat on the top step and rode his way down flat on his ass.
“I told you two to go easy.”
He tilted his head and glared at me, slowly standing once he got to the last step. “Risa’s going to straight-up murder me.”
“Is she baking for you again?” I leaned against the banister.
“She isn’t that bad.” His stomach made a noise like a cross between a gurgling swamp pit and a werewolf transforming. He jumped up from the bottom step and rushed into the downstairs bathroom, slamming the door behind him.
Seph got Berk into the kitchen, where he braced himself on the counter.
“At least I’m not the only one who puked.” Seph’s fresh-faced voice drew out a groan from Berk, as well as one from LJ through the closed door.
“Make it stop. Make her stop.” Berk bent over at the waist and rocked his forehead back and forth on the counter.
“Chill out, I’m making breakfast. It’ll help you recover.” I pushed off the banister and crossed the living room.
The toilet flushed and LJ popped out of the bathroom. “Did someone say breakfast?”
“Didn’t you just finish puking?”
“Exactly, so now my stomach is empty.” He stared back at me, shaking his head like everyone knew how ravenous people got after a solid three-minute puke.
“You helping?” I looked to Seph.
Her smile brightened and she nodded. “Can you do me a favor? As much as I enjoyed our walk of shame…”
LJ’s eyes bulged like a cartoon character behind her.
“Do you have something I can change into?” She pulled at the hem of her now wrinkled and rumpled button-down.
“Sure, I can find something for you. Let’s go upstairs.” I guided her toward the steps.
LJ mouthed, What the hell? and I waved him off, snapping my head back to face her when she looked over at me.
Our steps creaked up the uneven wooden stairs. LJ’s head dipped so low as he watched us climb the steps that he tripped and nearly face-planted. That was what he got for being an ass.
“It’s this one.” I opened the door to my room and let her step in. The pile of clothes on my bed was still there, the messy desk still covered in books and papers. I cringed at how different this was from her pristine place. My Nerf gun arsenal clattered to the floor as the door hit the wall.
“What are those?”
“Nothing.” I kicked them under a stack of dirty clothes. The couch in the corner held my gear and even more clothes.
She was probably afraid she’d catch something from being in there.
“Wow.” Slowly turning in a circle, her gaze swept over everything.
“Sorry, I wasn’t expecting anyone.” I grabbed an armful of laundry and kicked open my closet, dumping it on top of my sneakers.
“Don’t clean up because of me. I was just thinking how much this looks like a real college room. You’ve even got the naked girl calendar thing.”
I darted across the room and batted it off the wall. It slid straight under my bed. “Berk got it for me as a joke.”
“Don’t be embarrassed. She was very pretty.”
She’s got nothing on you.
Seph sat on my bed, bouncing a couple of times with her arms behind her, propping herself up. The warning ringing in my head might as well have been a bullhorn. I should’ve handed her some shorts and a t-shirt in the hall and pointed her toward the bathroom. Having her in my room, on my bed—that was a step too far, a temptation much too hard to resist.
“Let me get you something to change into.” I spun around and tugged open my middle drawer. “There aren’t many things that will fit.” I lifted the big ball of clothes and shoved them to the side.
“Do you have a brush?”
“No, but I have a comb. It should be somewhere on my bed, maybe.” As soon as she left, I was cleaning this place up.
Underneath the tangle of sweatshirts, t-shirts, and pants was a folded shirt. It sat at the bottom with a pair of my old high school sweats that had gotten mixed up with my clothes when the semester started.
“It’s not going to look the best, but here’s what I have.” I spun around and the clothes slipped out of my fingers. Recovering, I caught them midair and stood there frozen.
Seph’s hair fell in waves around her face, longer than I’d have expected, like back in the club, but now I could see every deep and light brown tone. She ran her fingers through the strands.
I dropped the clothes to the front of my jeans, hoping I didn’t punch a hole straight through them.
She looked up at me with the sun shining through my window and lighting her hair up like a halo. “They look perfect.” She made grabby hands motions with her fingers.
Stumbling like my legs had fallen asleep, I got closer until I stood beside her.
“What’s up? Is the booze just hitting you now?” She picked up the comb from beside her and ran it through her hair. Tilting her head to one side, she tackled the ends, getting out the tangles.
I cleared my throat. “No, I’m good.” Setting the clothes on the bed beside her, I watched her fingers work, releasing the last of her hair. “Did you want some help?”
Her eyes lit up and she smiled. “Sure. I don’t know why I still do these. As a time killer, I guess.” Turning her back to me, she combed at the front of her hair.
My fingers shook. Flexing them, I took a deep breath. I followed along with her work, unraveling the last braid down the back of her head. Her soft, silky strands brushed across my hands. I ran my fingertips along her scalp, raking them across her skin.
Her head fell back and she let out a moan. “Oh, that feels good.” Her low moan might as well have been her wrapping her fingers around my cock and tugging me forward.
I did it again, letting my fingers explore her hair, massaging her scalp. Her small sounds of appreciation had the blood pounding in my veins.
“Reece, hurry up! My stomach is eating itself,” Berk called from downstairs.
Her head snapped up straight and she looked over her shoulder at me with wide eyes. Our moment was over, and I was kicking my own ass for saying no to being her first. In my head, that was the right choice, the honorable one—not that I’d been particularly honorable throughout my life, but damned if I didn’t want to be that guy for her.
“Then start the food yourself,” I shouted back to him. Getting off the bed, I put the clothes on her lap. “I’ll meet you downstairs.” I looked back at her from the doorway as she combed out the rest of her hair. “Bacon and eggs good for you? We might have some bagels down there too.”
“Whatever you make, I’m sure it’ll be perfect.”
Nodding, I closed the door behind me and stood outside. My head leaned against the door. I wanted nothing more than to rush back inside, rip her clothe
s off, and bury myself inside her until the only name she remembered was mine. And that was exactly why I needed to get my ass downstairs and stop thinking about the fact that Seph was going to be naked in my room in the next few minutes, about how soft her hair had felt in my hands. I could imagine wrapping my finger around it before trailing it down her exposed neck, still sweaty after giving her the most explosive orgasm of her life.
I jogged down the steps. Stop thinking about it. I’d give her the other firsts, as many as I could, because if I gave her too much, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from never wanting to stop.
15
Seph
Reece’s restraint was killing me. If he was any more of a gentleman, I might stand in the middle of his room naked until he did something about it. He kept saying my first time should be special. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind he could be the one to make it more than special—the one to make it perfect.
His room was the typical guy stereotype: movie posters, piles of clothes everywhere, and way more sneakers than I’d have imagined, all neatly lined up in rows inside his open closet door.
Taking off my clothes, I shivered as the cool air swept over my skin. I picked up the outfit he’d grabbed for me. They were probably the only clothes in his whole room that were folded. And no, I didn’t hold them up to my nose like a stalker might—okay, maybe I did, but only a little bit. They smelled like freshly mown grass, like someone who’d spent most of their time outside in nature, sweating, working at something they loved.
I folded my old clothes and stacked them on the bed. Putting the shirt on, I looked at myself in the mirror on his desk and imagined for just a second I was his girlfriend rolling out of bed and wearing his clothes.
The sweatpants took a little bit of maneuvering to get the drawstring tight enough and the cuffs rolled up, but I made it work. With my clothes under my arm, I scooped up my shoes off the floor. They dangled from my fingers as I walked back down the stairs. The voices from the kitchen filtered over the creaking of the steps.
“In her bedroom on the floor?” Berk’s voice froze me dead in my tracks.
“Why’s that so hard to believe?”
I leaned against the banister, making sure they couldn’t see me.
“Have you ever had a platonic sleepover before?”
“Sure, plenty of times.”
“Let me rephrase that. Since the age of twelve, have you ever had a platonic sleepover?”
There was silence then more pans clanking and the kitchen sink being turned on.
“That’s what I thought. So what’s the deal? She’s hot, can hold her liquor like a boss—how have you not already banged her seven ways till Sunday?”
Right, Berk?! At least there was someone on team Reece Should Bang Seph. Wait, Berk thinks I’m hot?
“I’m not talking about this with you.” Reece’s voice was tight and clipped. Pots and pans banged together.
“Why the hell not? I tell you all about when I get some.” Berk talked like he was chewing something, muffled with a grin behind it.
I peered through the wooden dowels of the banister and craned my neck.
“Even when we beg you not to.” LJ shoved at Berk’s shoulders.
“Just because Marisa has your balls in a vise.”
“You wouldn’t know what caring about someone looked like if it smacked you across the face.”
“Right, LJ, that’s why you’re running around after her and putting your career in jeopardy caring. You’re playing the long game.”
“Does everything have to be about sex? She’s my friend, has been my friend since long before I knew you.”
“Then you won’t mind if I ask her out. Her ass is stellar and her rack is even better.”
LJ bolted from his seat so quickly he was barely a blur. He slammed Berk against the fridge. The whole thing rattled and a box of cereal toppled over, hitting him on the head. Berk held up his hands in surrender.
“Don’t go near her.” LJ shoved his hands, which were still fisted in Berk’s shirt, against his chest.
“Just friends, huh?” Berk took another bite of the piece of bread in his hand.
“Can I listen too?” The sharp whisper tickled the hairs on the side of my neck.
I jumped and yelped. Clutching my hand against my chest, I whipped around. Nix sat on the step beside me, rubbing his hands over his eyes and rotating his shoulder. My cheeks were ready to spontaneously combust. So busted. My mouth opened and closed like a fish on land. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I just didn’t want to interrupt.”
“Don’t worry about it.” He yawned and stretched his arms over his head.
Reece popped up beside my spot on the steps with a pan in his hands. “You coming to help or are you freeloading like the rest of them?” He gestured to the guys with the pan, butter sizzling appetizingly in it.
“I’ll help.” Seizing my chance to escape, I hopped up from the steps. The eyes of everyone else were on me and I hoped the flames didn’t burn them too much when my face set on fire. Setting my clothes down on the couch, I followed him into the kitchen.
“Do you want to do the eggs? I’ll do the bacon.”
“Eggs—on it.” I saluted and opened the twenty-four pack.
Nix came in behind me and turned on the coffee machine. He grabbed a mug from the cabinet and shoved it under the outflow.
“Where’d you disappear to last night?” Berk took another bite of his bread.
“I met up with a friend.”
“A friend who needed help with a dick delivery.”
A laugh shot out of my mouth before I could stop it. Everyone else around me froze, and the only sound was the sizzling bacon in the pan in front of Reece.
I shrugged. “What? It was funny.” Cracking an egg into a bowl, I kept my head down.
“As if I needed another reason to like you, Seph.” Berk laughed behind me. “She likes dirty jokes too. Tell me, Seph, why hasn’t some lucky guy snapped you up yet?”
“Probably because they know they could never match up to the ridiculous amount of research she’s done into every possibility and eventuality in life. She’s a walking encyclopedia of human knowledge.”
Was that what I’d done? Had I freaked everyone out, freaked Reece out because he was afraid to not measure up?
I cracked all the eggs and stirred them with a fork. Turning on the burner, I added more butter into the pan and waited for it to melt.
The guys banged and bumped around the kitchen in their hangover stupors. Mixing the eggs gently, I took them on and off the heat to make sure they didn’t cook too quickly and burn. I was shoulder to shoulder with Reece, but he felt miles away. I once again felt like an observer from space trying to fit in.
“You’re quiet. What’s up?” He ducked his head, trying to catch my eye.
“My stomach isn’t feeling too great. I think scrambled eggs was a bad choice.” The once lumpy mix had turned fluffy and wasn’t actually turning my stomach, but it was a better excuse than ‘I’m worried I might have freaked you out too much to ever try anything with me.’
He looked from me to the pot. “Let me take over. You grab the bacon. The salt will be good for you.”
Nodding, I moved over to the pan filled with popping, sizzling strips. I stole a piece from the paper towel-covered plate and closed my eyes the second it hit my taste buds. It was like music playing in my mouth.
“No fair, Seph’s stealing bacon.” Berk’s chair skidded on the kitchen floor.
“Are you five?” Nix leaned against the counter with his mug in one hand, reading a folded newspaper.
“What are you, fifty? Who reads the paper anymore?”
Nix’s head shot up. “There’s a lot of good information in here, the financial section and sports too. Better than zoning out in front of a screen.”
LJ’s head popped up from scrolling through his phone. “I feel personally attacked.”
Berk and Reece laughed. Reece stepped back fro
m the stove and reached around me. His chest pressed against my back as he flipped open the cabinet beside me and pulled out some plates. My heart sped up and I held myself still so I didn’t attempt to rub up against him like a cat in heat. He smelled so good. Even after a night out and sleeping on my floor, he smelled like the outdoors and his own special aroma.
* * *
Two weeks of firsts later, we’d checked off dessert for dinner with cupcakes from a bakery near campus, Bread & Butter. I needed to find that place, like, yesterday. Chocolate, vanilla, red velvet. I’d taken a bite out of each one. So delicious. Breakfast for dinner was French toast at an all-night diner, and—best of all—dinner for breakfast, which was cold pepperoni pizza. Who knew it tasted so good? Our time together got more frequent. I didn’t think twice about calling or texting him.
He was my friend and so were the rest of the guys, and that scared me because all those feelings I’d tried to bury when it came to him kept bubbling up. What would happen when it ended? I’d lose not only him but the only other friends I had so far.
Reece grabbed hold of the back of my coat as I tugged open the door to the bar. The flickering neon light overhead looked like one straight out of the movies. He pulled me back and I slipped, slamming into his chest.
“What are you doing?”
“I want to go in here.”
“Does this look like a bar you want to hang out in?”
I craned my neck and looked at the sign. “Yeah.”
He smacked his hand against his forehead. “You’re not going in there. Why don’t we go back to The Vault?”
“We’ve already been there. How much of the city have you actually explored?”
His lips tightened as I dropped the words he’d laid on me before our disaster of a swim lesson back on him. Letting out the sigh of a thousand-year-old man, he shook his head. “Fine, but if I say we need to leave, we need to leave.”
“Yes, boss.” I saluted him and opened the door. The beer-and-booze mixture wafted out over us. I stepped inside. There were booths and tables, and the bar on the right had lots of bottles behind it. Unlike at The Vault, they weren’t lit up on glass shelves, and the music playing was older.