Sweet tb-2

by Erin McCarthy

  “Maybe this wasn’t the best choice,” he conceded, rubbing my arms. “I stand corrected.”

  “You think?” I said, actually shivering from fear.

  “You really are afraid. I thought you were exaggerating.”

  “I don’t exaggerate,” I said with great dignity.

  He snorted. “It’s the sledding all over again. I didn’t know you were really such a chickenshit. I thought you were making it up.”

  Oh, yes, the sledding. I didn’t think it was that weird to be twenty years old and afraid of flying down a hill on a piece of cracked plastic, but he had seemed to think I was just stalling to be annoying. So Riley had pushed me, and I had almost fainted from lack of oxygen, a scream frozen in my lungs. “Well, from now on, you should believe me.”

  As we stood up and left the theater, I added, “And I’m not a chickenshit. There are just certain things I’m afraid of, high speeds and demonic possession being two of them. You have to be afraid of something too, everyone is.”

  “Nope.”

  “Whatever.” I rolled my eyes for emphasis. “You’re not afraid of heights or small spaces or spiders?”

  “No.”

  “Flying?”

  “I’ve never been on a plane, so I’m not one hundred percent sure, but most likely no.”

  “Death?”

  “Not particularly. I’m too busy trying to live.”

  “You’re unnatural,” I declared. “Everyone is afraid of something.”

  Riley held the door open for me as we stepped out into the heat and sunshine. “You know the one thing I’m afraid of.”

  I glanced back at him, and I knew what it was—losing Easton. “That’s not going to happen,” I told him firmly. “The house looks great and Easton is happy. He feels safe with you, and he’ll tell the social worker that.”

  Riley nodded. “And demons aren’t going to possess you, Jess. I don’t believe in guarantees, but in this case I’m willing to guarantee it.”

  “I’m willing to guarantee that you’re going to hang those blinds when we get back to the house.”

  He made a face. “What are you majoring in? Management? Because you’re really good at telling me what to do, while you watch me and point.”

  “Ha ha.” I hesitated to tell him my major, because it sounded so stupid to me. Like a waste of a giant pile of money. For more than a year, I hadn’t even told Kylie and Rory that I was doubling with Religious Studies. They had just thought I was a design student until Rory started to get suspicious as to why I was taking so many theology classes and I had confessed the truth.

  I wasn’t even sure what I wanted to do post-college exactly, and that felt like such a failure. It made me feel guilty, too, that other people didn’t have the luxury of going through the motions of a degree. They had to pay bills and survive and here I was, getting a degree to placate Daddy.

  The freedom I was working so hard to ensure wasn’t really all that freeing if I was going through the motions with my classes, and aimless otherwise. I was halfway done with college and knew less about my future than I had when I’d graduated high school. Scary shit.

  Fortunately, Riley was not the kind of guy who wanted me to cough up all my personal details or my feelings. Probably because he didn’t want to do that in return.

  There was a safety in spending time with him, laughing and eye-rolling and teasing, with occasional moments of serious conversation. But there was no prying, no judgment.

  He hung the blind. Maybe because he knew that it would look a lot better than the sheet that was currently tacked to the wall. Or maybe he just wanted to get me to shut up. Either way, in ten minutes, he had the brackets mounted to the wall and the blind clicked in place.

  I clapped. “It looks awesome in here.” I had thrown away the pillows on the couch when he wasn’t looking and had replaced them with two red pillows we had scored at the dollar store for five bucks a piece. Mostly my goal there was again to cut down on the lingering smoke smell.

  “I have to admit, it does look a lot better. You are a genius, my friend.” But he swatted my hand when I tried to open the window. “Down, girl.”

  “Argh! Your logic makes no sense! It’s boiling in here!”

  “You’re cute when you’re annoyed,” he told me, and kissed the tip of my nose.

  Damn him. I forgot about the window. “Kiss me,” I ordered.

  “There we go with the bossy thing again.” But he obeyed, taking me into his arms and kissing me thoroughly.

  Everything inside me melted, and I rubbed my breasts against his chest as his breathing grew slower, louder, our mouths colliding with a hot intensity, his fingers gripping my hair on the back of my head. I went for his zipper.

  Riley stopped me. “Uh-uh. We’re just kissing. No skipping steps.”

  What steps was I missing? Kissing led to naked, which led to sex. I wasn’t sure what else there was supposed to be, but I didn’t want to get into a breakdown on sexual dynamics and dating again. Those conversations were boring and annoying. So I just moved my hands to the small of his back and bit his bottom lip to show him what I thought of that.

  “Ow.”

  “Be quiet,” I said in response to his clearly fake complaining. “It wasn’t that hard.”

  “You know, there is something else I’m afraid of,” he said, his brown eyes crinkling in amusement.

  “What?”

  “You.”

  That earned him a smack on his chest.

  He laughed, and that was the end of our romantic kiss. He pulled away and dug his phone out of his pocket. “I’m starving. I’m going to order Chinese food. What do you want?”

  A magic pill that would allow me to eat as much food as he did. Jesus. “Steamed vegetables.”

  “Gross.”

  “Like your face.”

  He laughed. “Touché, pussycat.”

  Hell, if this was dating, I could do this, no problem. It wasn’t that much different than how we had been two days ago. I felt a little more relaxed about the weightiness of the word “relationship.” Obviously it meant different things depending on the people involved, and Riley and I were not moony-eyed, let’s carve each other’s names with knives on our forearms kind of people. Nor did we need to be constantly petting and grooming each other like Tyler and Rory, or using smoochie-woochie, fakie-wakie words like Kylie and Nathan.

  We were awesome, as Riley had stated, and we ate Chinese food (well, he ate Chinese food, and I nibbled on broccoli) and played video games and made out, his Szechuan breath killing my desire to stick both my hands in the food containers and shovel scoops into my mouth.

  Riley kissed me old school, his hands staying outside of clothes, on my waist. I have to admit, it was making me crazy, but in a good way. He was stirring my arousal, making it simmer low, and I knew if he kept this up, I would be boiling. I tried to arch my breasts as an enticement but he ignored me.

  Then he smiled at me. “I need to go to bed. I have to get up at six tomorrow to be on site by seven.”

  I blinked. “Are you serious? It’s only ten.” I knew that because I had been clock watching earlier for our war of the windows. I had just opened the living room one a half hour before.

  “I know. But I want to get home early tomorrow and do something with the boys when they get back. Jayden loves the zoo, and I hate the zoo, so I need a good night’s sleep to have the patience for that. All that walking and animal shit and Jayden pointing out their balls in a voice that is way too loud for public.”

  Nice. “That sounds fun. Sort of. I can’t say I’m that interested in giraffe testicles myself.” I realized I didn’t know what my role in any of this was. “I should probably pack up my stuff tonight. I’ll see if Robin can drive me to the apartment I’m subletting.” I was supposed to move out the next day, when the boys came home. That’s what we had agreed on. But now that seemed like a whole lot of no fun. I didn’t want to be in an apartment by myself with a strange roommate. I wanted t
o be here.

  “Want to go to the zoo with us?”

  “I have to work.”

  “Bummer.”

  It was a bummer. All of it. I didn’t expect him to offer for me to stay. Where would I? The only room I could stay in would be in Riley’s with him and that was like basically living together. Real living together. That was skipping steps, and maybe not appropriate for Easton’s impressionable mind. Of course, Rory stayed there all the time, so what the hell was I worried about? That wasn’t really the point. The point was you don’t move in for reals with someone you started dating five minutes earlier. Plus Riley knew I’d rented this apartment already. It would seem weird if he suggested I stay.

  So why did I want him to suggest I stay?

  He was turning me into a neurotic freak. Maybe it was better I was moving out.

  “When will I see you again?” he asked.

  “Wednesday is my first day off.” Hmm. That was a long time to not see each other. In a week I’d gotten used to him being around, and I felt a pout coming on.

  “Text me your new address and I’ll pick you up after work, and we can do something. That cool?”

  “Yep.” Sort of. I guess it would have to be.

  “Good night.” He kissed my forehead. “Talk to you tomorrow.”

  So apparently I was supposed to sleep in my room. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Actually, yes, I did. I thought it sucked.

  I really hated it when he closed the door to his room and I realized how dark and quiet the house was. I got up and checked the front and back doors. The front had been locked already but the kitchen wasn’t, and I did a quick search of the closets and the pantry to make sure no one was lurking there, having snuck in while the door was unlocked all afternoon. Then I closed the living room window because really, anyone could just pop the screen out and climb in. It was huge, unlike the bedroom windows.

  Trying to watch TV, I bit my fingernails and told myself there was no such thing as demons and that the weird scratching sound was the cat who came and went at random through the pet door. He must be back in the house, wandering around. My feet were on the coffee table and I was hot now that I’d closed the window, yet I shivered like something had touched the back of my neck. Spinning around, I expected to see the cat on the back of the couch, but nothing was there.

  Suddenly the room had shadows everywhere, and the kitchen looked like a big yawning black hole, the back door glass giving off a weird reflective shimmer.

  The scratching got louder, and I went from slightly unnerved to scared on a level of pure panic.

  When the scratch was followed by what I swear was a sinister whisper, I shut off the TV, jumped off the couch, and went down the hall, my back sliding against the wall so nothing could attack me from behind. Reaching Riley’s room, my heart racing, I whispered, “Riley?”

  He didn’t answer.

  I lightly knocked. “Riley?” I had to keep it down. I didn’t want the demon to know where I was precisely. Or the serial killer. Whichever it was.

  When he still didn’t answer, I turned the knob and slowly pushed the door open. “Riley?”

  “Yeah?”

  Thank God. He wasn’t dead in his bed.

  “I heard a noise. In the living room. Like a disembodied voice whispering.” I didn’t wait for his response. I was already moving into his room, closing the door behind me and locking it. “I think someone is in the house.”

  He sighed. “No one is in the house.”

  “How do you know?” I tripped over something in the dark and stumbled into the bed. “Fuck.” I crawled up onto it, accidentally putting my knee down on Riley’s shin.

  “Ow, Jesus, what are you doing?”

  “I’m scared.” I started climbing Riley, trying to get over him to the free side of the bed. We were a tangle of limbs, my balance off as we rocked slightly. “Why are we moving? OMG, is this a waterbed? Who the hell has waterbeds?”

  “People whose mothers were fourteen in the eighties and in love with hair bands.” The light from his phone suddenly glowed in the dark. I could see his squinting eyes looking less than pleased.

  My elbow went into his gut and he made an oomph sound as the air left his lungs. “Sorry. But there’s someone in the house.”

  Riley helped me off of him, tucking me along his side. “There is no one in the house.”

  “You keep saying that but you have no way of knowing if that’s true or not. I heard scratching.”

  “That’s the cat.”

  Pulling the sheet over me, I threw my leg over his, wanting the reassurance of his masculine body. He could probably beat the crap out of a serial killer. Or at least stall him so we could escape. A demon I wasn’t sure about, but I still felt a lot better being next to him. “Cats don’t whisper.”

  Riley sighed. His phone went dark, and I could hear him set it down on the nightstand before sitting up. “I’m never taking you to see a horror movie ever again.”

  Thank God. I grabbed his arm. “What are you doing?” I knew I was being insane, but I couldn’t help it. I was scared and I didn’t want him to be killed. Nor did I want to be left alone.

  “I’m going to check the house to give you peace of mind and to give me sleep.”

  I started to get up, too, but he added, “Just stay here.”

  “That’s what they always tell the female protagonist to do in movies and that’s when she gets killed.”

  “You’re not coming with me. Just lay down and I’ll be back in two minutes.”

  I didn’t lay down, but I did obey him, despite my desperate urge to jump on his back like a baby monkey. That would hinder him from fighting off a killer though, so I cursed my stupidity for leaving my phone in the living room and rested on my knees, peering through the open doorway, trying to see and hear what was happening. I was wobbling from the waterbed, but Riley flicked the lights on as he went, which helped my state of mind.

  In a minute, he was back, filling the door frame with his near naked sexiness before he flicked off the hall light. “There is nothing and no one in the house. The cat isn’t even here.”

  “Oh. Are you sure?”

  “I’ve never been more positive of anything in my life.” Riley got into bed, further rocking me.

  I held onto the headboard for balance. “Well, that’s good.”

  “Come here, princess.” In the dark, his arms reached out for me.

  Grateful, I tumbled back onto the bed with him, letting him pull me against him in a spooning position. His arm was heavy and comforting tucked under my breasts, his legs warm, the cotton of his boxer briefs soft against my thighs.

  “You okay?” he asked, his breath a hot whisper above my ear. He sounded sleepy.

  “Yes. Thanks.” I hadn’t been planning to go to bed this early, but I was reluctant to go back out there by myself. I knew if I heard another random noise, I’d flip out again.

  Besides, it was nice being with him like this. The rhythm of the bed was soothing. I wished I could take my bra off but I didn’t want to disturb him, any more than I already had, that is. Feeling a little sheepish, but mostly relieved, I wrapped my arm around his and snuggled my ass into his crotch. It wasn’t meant to be a come-on and he didn’t respond in any way, his breathing light on the back of my neck. It was more that I wanted to be close to him.

  “Night, Pita,” he murmured.

  “Pita? How am I like a Middle Eastern flatbread?” Was that better than princess? I wasn’t sure.

  “It stands for pain in the ass.”

  “Oh.” I wasn’t even particularly insulted. I was a pain in the ass. I didn’t mean to be.

  He kissed my bare shoulder.

  And it felt more intimate than oral sex.

  I shivered in the dark.

  Chapter Eleven

  When Riley climbed out of bed at some ungodly hour, his alarm having gone off with a vicious squawk, I vaguely responded with an “Mm,” when he said good-bye. Then I promptly fell bac
k asleep and didn’t wake up until I heard shouting and door slamming and altogether too much freaking noise for anything earlier than noon.

  It sounded like the boys were back from their jaunt in the suburbs.

  I pried my eyes open and wished coffee would miraculously appear in my right hand. I’m not so much a morning person, but with caffeine, all things are possible. Yawning, I started when I realized there was a pair of eyes staring at me from the doorway.

  Easton. The kid moved like smoke. It was freaky.

  “Where’s Riley?” he asked, looking at me like I had swallowed his brother whole.

  “He’s at work. How was Rory’s house?”

  “Fine. Who are you?”

  Yeah, I needed coffee. I sat up. “I’m Jessica, Rory’s roommate. We’ve met a couple of times.”

  “Hm.” He sounded like he thought I was lying. About all of it. His brown eyes stared at me, unblinking.

  I stared back, not sure what to say. I didn’t have Rory’s way with kids. It didn’t come naturally to me.

  After a second, he turned on his heel and left. He must have narced on me, because Tyler appeared. “Hey.”

  “Hey. How was the fresh air?”

  “Chilly with the disapproval of Rory’s father. But I have to give the guy credit, he’s trying to ignore the fact that his daughter is dating a convicted felon.”

  “Well, you are innocent.” I yawned and stretched my arms.

  “I’m not sure how much that matters. So what the hell happened to the house? It looks almost nice.”

  Jayden’s head popped up behind Tyler, his mouth split into a grin. “It’s fucking awesome!”

  I laughed. “I’m glad you like it.”

  Jayden disappeared again, probably back to the kitchen.

  “You did this, obviously,” Tyler said. “Riley would never hang the word YUM anywhere except maybe off his dick.”

  Rolling my eyes, I climbed out of bed. “Yes, the ideas were mine. Riley was the labor.”

  Tyler coughed and lowered his voice. “So, uh, why are you sleeping in here? Your stuff is in the other room. Did you and Riley . . .” He made a gesture that was supposed to indicate sex, obviously, but it looked more like he was changing a tire.