by Rebel Hart
“Okay,” I said finally. “Saturday.”
She smiled. “Great. I’ll call you.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
She finally fluttered off, and I felt exhausted. I skipped my Friday classes, despite Henry’s protests, and had already taken Saturday off in anticipation of a possible NewSem hangover. There were many restaurants within walking distance of the campus, so I picked one of those in case Taylor wanted to storm off after I broke things off.
On Saturday, I was uncomfortable, to say the least. I’d never really broken up with a girl before, so I didn’t know the best way to do it. I dragged her all the way out to the restaurant, so didn’t it make sense to do it after we ate? But was it rude to waste more of her time when I knew I was going to end it? I prayed to the gods of love that if I did start dating Nina, she’d be it. I never wanted to have to end a relationship, new or otherwise, again.
“Are you okay? You seem kind of gone,” Taylor said finally.
“Huh? Oh, yeah. I’m okay. I’m just thinking…”
“Me too, about you.” I jumped at the feeling of Taylor’s foot rubbing along my leg. “What a pity that we have to do the whole necessary meal thing before you can take me home.”
If I had an eject button, I would have slammed it immediately. She was in a much different place than I was in. Much different. “Yeah…”
“So. Tell me, what happened to Nina?” Taylor asked.
That snapped me to attention instantly. I remembered the way Taylor almost seemed blissed by Nina’s anguish back at the party. If I was waiting to end things until after we’d eaten anyway, what was a couple of questions going to hurt?
“I don’t know that she’d want me sharing,” I replied. “You looked happy when you saw her at the party. How come?”
Taylor tilted her head. “Did I? I don’t remember.”
Shit. Was she gonna play it like this? “Yeah, you were smiling when she was running down the stairs.” I took a sip of my water. “You never did tell me what happened between you guys. Just said it was a long story.”
Taylor shrugged, and her foot slid a little further up my leg. “It is. I don’t really like to talk about it.” Tight-lipped, just like last time. “You know what? Let’s get this to go. I can’t wait to get you alone.”
Cool, so now I have to break up with a chick who was throwing herself at me? How the hell did people normally do this? I wished I’d asked Henry. Henry, that’s it.
“My room?” I asked.
Her sultry smile grew. “Hell yeah.”
I couldn’t sort things out with Taylor. I was nervous that there was something going on between her and Nina that I needed to know about, and I wanted to break up with her in a way that wouldn’t create a hell-storm. Henry was generally in our room with Sydney on Saturdays from sunup to sundown, enjoying spending the whole day together. It wasn’t my fault if I brought a girl back to my room, only to find my roommate was already there with a girl. I was going to use Henry to wiggle away from Taylor for the time being, and the next time we saw one another, I’d just end it before things got too seedy and move on. A quick rip, that was what these things required.
We walked back to campus, boarded the elevator in the East Tower, and took it up to my floor. I kept myself at enough distance from Taylor, who was already jumping to amorous by trying to make out with me in the elevator, and was glad when the doors opened so that I could scurry out.
“That much of a hurry, huh?” Taylor sang, but I just ignored her and went to my room.
I set the key in the door, praying that Henry was truly inside, and when I opened the door, I let out a sigh of relief at the sight of him and Sydney curled up in his bed, watching Netflix.
“Aw. Damn, dude,” I said to Henry, hoping he’d pick up on what I was saying. “Don’t you remember that I told you I was bringing a girl back?”
Sydney looked up, and her jaw dropped. “Taylor!”
Taylor smiled, linking her arm through mine and putting her head on my shoulder. “Long time, no see, Syd.”
“Sorry, dude,” Henry said. “I got my girl back here first, so tough shit.”
For everything I already owed Henry, now I owed him even more. “Fuck you. Get out,” I growled.
“No,” Henry said. “We’ll be gone tomorrow, so come back then.”
I looked at Taylor. “I’m sorry.”
She shook her head. “No worries. I’ll just have to wait a day longer.” She pulled my head down to kiss me and then looked back in at Sydney. “Good to see you, Syd. Let’s get coffee soon, okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll get right on that.” Sydney’s voice was flat and unamused, and with that, Taylor was off.
I walked into the dorm room, shut the door, and leaned back against it, relieved. “Oh, thank you. I just can’t quite figure out how to end it with her.”
“What the hell are you doing, dating her in the first place?” Sydney spat. “Does Nina know?”
“Yeah,” I replied nervously. “Why?”
“Oh my god. Let me guess. She mentioned Nina immediately when you started dating?”
My heart sank as a sense of foreboding washing over me. “Yeah. That was the first question she asked. She asked if we were dating.” I rubbed my temples as my head started to pound. “What did I miss?”
“Taylor and I used to be best friends until Nina transferred to our school. I adored Nina immediately, but for Taylor, you’re either her best friend or nothing at all. She thinks Nina stole me from her, so she’s embarked on a path to make Nina’s life a living hell. That’s why she started dating Kai and definitely why she came and found you.”
My jaw dropped. “Taylor was Kai’s girlfriend?”
“Yeah! Didn’t you know that?” Sydney asked.
“No.” I closed my eyes, frustrated with myself, and imagined Nina seeing Taylor on my arm. Whether or not she liked me, that still must have killed her. I looked back at Sydney. “I’ve fucked up.”
Sydney scoffed. “Yeah, you have.”
“I gotta go. Thanks again.” I bolted out of the dorm room and used the stairs, not the elevator, to race down to the fourth floor. I ran right by Monica, who tried to stop me and engage me in conversation, and knocked on Nina’s closed door.
“It’s unlocked,” Nina called from the inside. I opened the door and then shut and locked it behind me to prevent Monica from butting in. Nina looked up from where she was sitting on her bed with her schoolwork. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Is it true that Taylor has been tormenting you since you first met?” I asked.
Nina’s jaw opened a little, then closed. She closed her textbooks and notebooks and set them on her bedside table, then grabbed a pillow and hugged it to her chest. “Yeah. She didn’t want to share Sydney, I guess, so instead, she decided I was her mortal enemy.”
I walked over and sat on the edge of Nina’s bed. “Sadie, why wouldn’t you tell me that?” I asked. “I never would have dated her. I’m so sorry.”
Nina seemed warmed by the sentiment. “Why are you sorry? You were just a hot guy, dating a hot girl. That’s how the world works. You don’t have anything to apologize for.”
“I never would have dated someone that I knew hurt you. Especially because…” My voice trailed off.
“Because what?” Nina asked.
I was at an impasse. I’d been trying to give Nina the space she needed to get over Kai and didn’t want to come off as trying to take advantage of the situation, but it was getting harder each day. I didn’t want her to think we were just friends anymore. Even if I had to wait a little longer, I needed Nina to know how I felt about her.
“I like you,” I said finally, throwing caution to the wind. “Honestly, my feelings are stronger than that, but I don’t wanna freak you out.” I rubbed the back of my head nervously as I spoke. “I’m not trying to make a move or anything right now because I know you’re still trying to get over Kai. It’s just… Fuck, Nina. I�
�m kind of crazy about you. If I’d known that you and Taylor had that history, I would have told her to fuck off the second she approached me.”
“Of course she approached you,” Nina said. “I bet Kai mentioned that he’d seen us together, so she broke up with him and decided to come after you.”
“Is she that crazy?” I asked.
“Yeah. I think she feeds off of it.” She shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about that.”
“No, that’s okay. We don’t—”
“I like you, too.”
I stopped short, my heart racing in my chest. “What’s that?”
Nina chuckled. She took the pillow out of her lap and slid a little closer to me on the bed. She set her hands on top of mine and then looked directly into my eyes. “I like you, too. Maybe more. I don’t really know. This is all really new to me.”
I could have jumped through the ceiling, but I was careful not to assume too much without making sure I wasn’t just a rebound. “What about Kai?” I asked.
“I’ve had a crush on Kai for, like, I don’t know, four years or something crazy. I’d never really had guys pay attention to me, so when he started to, it felt nice. I latched onto it.” It was difficult to imagine guys not paying attention to Nina when it seemed like she was all I could think about. “I didn’t really know that relationships were supposed to be like how things are with us. You’re easy to talk to, and I like being around you. When I ran out of that room after Kai tried to get me into bed, all I could think about was getting to you. I didn’t really understand it at the time. I just knew that you were the comfort I was looking for.” That explained why she was so attached to me right after everything happened. “When you kissed me, even if it was just to try and trick Monica, it made me hot all over. It was unlike anything I’d ever felt before. When Kai kissed me—”
“Wait. You guys kissed?”
Nina pinched my hand. “I’m trying to make a confession here. Can you not?”
I smiled. “Sorry.”
“When Kai kissed me, the first thing that popped into my head was, ‘That was okay but not as good as Devon.’”
I snickered. “Hell no, it wasn’t.”
“I don’t know. I think I was just chasing after Kai because that was always what I’d done. I didn’t realize that the rest of me was falling for you. When things went south with Kai, it all kind of clicked into place.”
“Wow.” I was certain I looked like an idiot with how widely I was smiling. “I wanna kiss you so bad.”
Nina nodded. “Yeah.” I leaned in, and she recoiled back. “Sorry. What about Taylor?”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and navigated to my texts with Taylor. I held the phone where Nina could see it clearly, and knowing that Taylor was just using me, I had no trouble saying over text, “We’re over.” I tossed my phone over to the other bed, well out of reach, and looked up at Nina. “What about her?” Nina smiled. “Can I kiss you now?” I asked.
Nina nodded, and I quickly wrapped my arms around her back and pulled her the rest of the way to me. It was so nice to set my lips on hers and feel her hands slide behind my neck. This kiss was real, and I could feel it in the way Nina lightly trembled. I understood so much better now, the fear she must have had, not knowing what anything meant from Kai or from me. The way all of her first experiences were just a result of her friend’s cracked plan to be with her boyfriend. No wonder it was so hard for her. Still, if it hadn’t happened, we may not have met. I couldn’t bring myself to regret it.
Nina pushed herself against me, and I pushed back, letting the tension grow between us. Nina’s tongue jutted forward, and I grinned. I pulled away. “Impatient?”
“Shh. I just admitted I liked you. Don’t ruin it.”
I laughed but returned my lips to hers, this time sliding my tongue in alongside hers. She let out a soft moan that was the most magical sound I’d ever heard. It snaked over my skin and directly down to my groin. I wanted Nina so badly. Over a month of emotions and tension building between us was bubbling over, but I remembered her declaration of her virginity and knew why I couldn’t indulge yet.
I pulled back but kept Nina held tightly in my grasp. “I want to keep going so badly.”
Nina looked disappointed. “So, keep going.”
I put my hand on her face. “I can’t. You deserve so much more than a shitty, twin-sized bed in a college dorm room.” I imagined the close to two grand that I had in my bank account due to Henry’s refusal to take it. More than enough to plan a really nice trip to a hotel. “I want to do things right for you.” Nina’s bottom lip poked out, and it was like being whacked in the face with a sledgehammer. “Come on, don’t do that. I’m trying to do the right thing here. Don’t make that face at me.”
“I know you’re just trying to make it special. I’m happy about that. I just…” She looked up at me, and her beautiful gray eyes were sparkling with sadness. “I want you.”
What god did I piss off to have to pass this test? “Sadie…”
She turned away. “Sorry. I’m needy. It’s okay. I can wait.”
I cupped her face in my hands and brought it back to look at me. “I want you to be needy. You’ve given up a lot, and you’ve waited a long time. If there’s anything you want, you should ask me for it.”
Nina nodded. “Okay. Then…”
Fuck. I was caught between a rock and a hard…place. “Okay, how about this as a compromise?”
She hunched her brows. “How do we compromise on something like this?”
I laughed. “We can’t go all the way just yet, but maybe I can give you a preview?”
Nina smiled, immediately interested. “Like what?”
I brought her lips to mine again and kissed her before gently guiding her down to her back. I left her lips to kiss her cheek and forge a trail down her neck. Her hoodie was blocking most of her upper body, but I left that alone. I damn near lost it when she was in nothing but a towel and liked another guy. If I got her naked when I knew she wanted me, all good intentions were gonna be off the table. Instead, I slid my way down until I was at her waist. I pushed the sweatshirt up enough to kiss along the base of her stomach and hips. The scent of her cocoa butter soap was intoxicating, and I knew it was going to take everything I had in me to only go so far, then stop.
I grabbed the edge of her leggings and slowly rolled them down her legs, kissing my way over her thigh and down her shin as I went. When they were down, I tossed them aside and crouched down over Nina’s sweet spot. She was shaven, likely due to thinking things may happen—either with Kai or with me. I didn’t want my mind to travel down that road, so I didn’t let it. Instead, I settled my head between Nina’s legs and slowly, gently started to take timid licks of her. She jumped at first, a reasonable reaction, but eventually, she relaxed. Her legs shook as I used my tongue to trace the sensitive bundle of nerves that I knew had seen no attention from another person before.
I laid a lick directly over the spot, and she let out a loud yelp. Her hands flew to her face to cover her mouth, and I smiled as I continued. This particular area of sex was one I’d worked to hone my skills in. Given that I wasn’t an emotional giver, I wanted to have other reasons for a woman to stick around. Even though it never really worked, I was glad for a full arsenal of tricks to pull out to help Nina achieve her first climax at the hands of someone else. She squirmed as I lifted my mouth to blow on her heated center before closing down over it again, eliciting another round of muffled moans.
What started slow got quick and feverish with each additional reaction I got out of Nina. I pictured myself being able to please her in more ways than just this one in the very near future, and it spurred me on.
“D-Devon,” Nina whined.
I focused myself at her crest, sucking while letting my fingers dig into the soft skin of her thighs. She shuddered, bucked her hips, and erupted with a strong orgasm. I used my thumb to rub her through it so that I could look up at her flushed and wil
d face while she traveled high and came down, and when she looked down at me with satisfaction on her face, I knew that I’d done my job.
I slithered my way back up so I could kiss her again, and she was weaker in my grip, not that I could blame her after her first time getting that overwhelming feeling.
I combed my fingers into her hair. “Was that good?”
“I mean, I don’t have a frame of reference, but I nearly passed out, so I think so,” Nina replied through labored breaths. “You next?”
What the hell, Nina? Here I was trying to be a good guy. Damn temptress. “No, baby. This was just for you.”
She didn’t look as disappointed as before, but more concerned. “But what about you?”
“I’ll be okay. It was good for me, too. Trust me.” My borderline painful erection would argue, but he’d be okay for the night. “Don’t worry. I’ll have all of you soon.”
I wrapped around Nina, and she lay her head on my chest, and not thirty seconds later, I heard her lightly sleeping. I was nearly asleep when I heard the door unlocking. We weren’t lying in a position where I could get the blanket over Nina to cover her bare lower-half, so I prayed that it was the only other person with keys to the room, not nosy Monica.
Fortunately, when the door opened, Sydney’s colorful head of hair peeked in. She took in the sight before her, quickly rushed inside, closed the door, and jumped up and down as quietly as she could.
“So, this went well?” she whispered.
I nodded. “Yeah, but I’ve still got more to do, and I need your help.”
20
Nina
I stretched my arms high above my head and was upset when I realized Devon was no longer next to me. The pessimist in me immediately wanted to jump to the worst conclusion, but I knew better. I wasn’t going to let Kai taint my perception of all men. Devon liked me, and he’d gone above and beyond to prove it. If he wasn’t still in the room, I knew there was a good reason.