by Bella Emy
What the fuck? I double-checked the doors, making sure they were locked. I push away from Harleigh and grab my pants off the floor.
“Hello? Preston? Harleigh? You guys here?”
It’s fucking Cory. Fuck, I forgot he still had keys. Damn… this woman made me forget something like this? Not good.
I flash Harleigh a look, but she already jumped off the bed at the speed of light and is picking up her clothes.
I walk toward the front of the store, fully dressed. “Hey, Cor. What are you doing here?”
Cory looks at me with a stupid expression. “Is Harleigh here? Didn’t she tell you?”
“Yeah, she’s in the bathroom. I was just tidying up the other rooms.”
He gives me a skeptical look. I don’t think he’s buying it, but I really hope he is.
I need to get him off the thoughts he’s probably having. I try to steer him toward safer grounds. “Tell me what?”
“That I was going to be picking her up at six.”
Nope, she failed to mention that when she begged me to take her virginity and fuck her like a porn star, dude.
“Hey, big bro. I’m ready to go.” Harleigh darts from the back, passes me, and places a kiss on Cory’s cheek. She makes her way to the front door.
“Later, Preston. We’ll finish the rest of the cleaning soon,” she answers as she opens the door and walks out.
Cory gives me another look before saying, “Okay, man. See you around.” He turns on his heels and makes his way out.
Fuck, that was a close one. I’m starting to wonder if she had this all planned or if it happened in the heat of the moment.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Harleigh
“You little tramp!” Aubrey throws a pillow at me, and I jerk out of the way. It barely grazes me.
I had just finished telling her all about my little one-on-one with the notorious Preston Scott.
Hot. Smoking hot. Preston Scott.
“Seriously though, was it everything you imagined it would be?” She leans in closer, waiting for me to fill her in on all the juicy details I know she’s yearning for.
It’s been two days since I lost my virginity, and while I want to explode and tell her all about it, a part of me wants to keep it a secret. It’s as if keeping our little tryst all to myself means he somehow, someway, belongs to me and only me—that he is mine.
But he totally isn’t. He couldn’t have proved it much more by not calling me. It’s not like I was expecting him to call me the same night, but I was hoping by the following day he’d call me to tell me how he couldn’t stop thinking about me.
The truth is I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him. I want to. I’ve tried. But no matter how much I push the thoughts of us together to the back of my mind, they always seem to find their way back, front and center.
Anyway, I’m not mad he hasn’t called yet, but I know it’s going to get to me if I don’t hear from him by tomorrow. Tomorrow will be three days since we were together. If he doesn’t call or text me by then, I know I’m going to be fuming. If a guy doesn’t call the chick he boned within three days, it means he never wanted anything to do with her. It means the guy was just horny, looking to get laid. And the girl, me in this case, was just another piece of ass… a quick and easy solution to a problem at hand.
If that’s all I am to him, then fuck, I’m screwed—more than I actually have been screwed by him, the other day in the shop.
The three-day rule is something Aubrey and I came up with back in high school with some other friends of ours. Since most of them were having sex on a regular basis, that was what we’d go by to judge if a guy was sweet or if he was an ass.
So for now, I’m just going to be happy and elated, thinking of the way his hands moved all over my body, the way his lips kissed me, taking my breath away, and the way his eyes bore into me. I don’t think I’ve ever felt like this before.
No, I take it back. I know I haven’t. I’ve never experienced anything like this in all my life. Damn was it good. I get tingles all over every time I think about it.
“It was fucking incredible.” I take a deep breath and lean farther back into the couch of her place.
Her laughter fills the room. “So holding out till you got your Prince Charming was worth it, huh?”
My smile widens. “I’m so fucking glad I did.”
Aubrey takes a sip from her glass and then places it onto the coffee table in front of us. “I had a feeling you would be. Now give me all those dirty little details I’ve been dying for that you’ve been holding out on me.”
***
Three hours later, Aubrey and I find ourselves at Houlihan’s. By the time we finished conversing, and I finished giving her the naughty little details I had been dying to spill, the two of us were famished.
She sits across the table from me, scrolling through something on her phone. Then she gets this stupid grin on her face, and I know something is up.
“What? I know that look.” I smirk.
She looks up at me and smiles again. “Guess who’s in the area?”
Oh, God. I shrug. “Who?” The picayune amount of people we’re close to and typically hang out with swarm through my brain. What if it’s Luis? I’m not ready to see him again since the last time.
Please don’t let it be Luis.
She slices into her herb-grilled chicken and places the fork down. “Xander and Micah. They’re on their way here now.”
Great, it’s not Luis. It’s worse. Micah is the guy she’s been casually seeing for months, and Xander so happens to be his gorgeous best friend. Of course, she wants to set me up with Xander. Why wouldn’t she? Aubrey claims it’s what best friends are for and says she’s just looking out for me, while Prince Charming gets his shit together. She doesn’t want me sitting around, waiting for Preston. She wants the four of us to go on a double date. I’m totally against it.
“What?!” I drop my fork and glare at her. Did she tell them to come meet us here? I’m going to kill her if she did.
Micah and Xander are cute, fine even, but I honestly have no interest in dating anyone other than Preston. And since I know he’s not looking to date anyone, neither am I. I want to wait to see if this thing with him is going to go anywhere. One more day and I’ll know if he’s serious about me. One more day.
“Relax, I know what you’re thinking. I swear I didn’t tell them we’re here.”
“How the hell did they know where we are then?” I furrow my brows.
She looks down and then continues. “Well, they may have seen we checked in here…”
“Aubrey! Why?” I glare at her, sending daggers her way. How could she have done this to me? Fuck, I should have known. She always checks in everywhere she goes. I pull out my phone, and sure enough, I see she tagged me in her post. And yes, there are likes from some of our friends and a heart from Micah, indicating he saw it. Great.
I drop my phone, annoyed, and glance back at her in time to see her snap her head back up and look at me. “I’m sorry, Harls, but in my defense, they were already out. Then Micah messaged me and said he was on his way with Xander. I couldn’t say no.”
I frown. This is not the way the night was supposed to go. Disappointment washes over me, and I know she knows it.
“Oh, come on, Harls. It’s not like it’s a date. It’s just friends sharing a meal together. It’s harmless.” She stabs her piece of chicken and takes a bite, smiling at me.
Her phone dings, and her smile widens. Then she looks up at the front door entrance. “Okay, don’t look now, but here they come! And damn, do they look good.” She waves her arms toward the door, and I try not to spin my head around to see the guys. I can’t believe they’re here.
My eyes widen, and my breath catches in my throat. As hard as I try, I can’t control myself. It’s as if I have to verify they really are here. What am I going to do now? I have to pretend like I’m happy they’re here? Ugh. The only thing I want to do is disappear
or run outside and head back home.
I spin my head around and see Xander and Micah walking toward us. Both are smiling with each step they take. I feel like I’m about to have an anxiety attack.
Turning back to face her, I give her a sideways glance and wait for her eyes to meet mine again.
“Shh, it’ll be okay.” She’s trying to reassure me, but it’s not working. I have no idea how any of this is going to be okay. I’m in no mood for this shit tonight.
“Hi, ladies,” Micah announces as the two of them finally reach our table.
Instinctively, Aubrey and I both rise from our seats and greet the guys. Micah places a kiss on Aubrey’s lips, and she’s glowing now. While he does so, Xander makes his way to me.
“Harleigh, hi. You look beautiful.” He places a kiss on my cheek, and I don’t miss a beat when his hand casually lands on the small of my back.
“Thank you.” Chills run down my spine. He’s not a creepy guy, but something about this is just not sitting right with me.
Micah and Aubrey finally pull their lips apart and then he says hello to me.
I smile politely and take my seat. If my face doesn’t scream annoyance right about now, I don’t know what does. Still, I try to pull myself together and not be a dick. Honestly, it’s not their fault. They’re trying to be nice, and Micah is dating Aubrey, sort of. I don’t even know if they’re officially dating or just hanging out. She hasn’t mentioned what level they’re at yet.
“It’s so nice that you and Xander were able to join Harleigh and me tonight. We had no idea you’d be around,” my best friend says as the three of them take a seat at the table.
“We wouldn’t miss it.” Micah smiles at Aubrey. “We’ve been trying to get you two together for weeks now,” he says, looking toward Xander and me.
I smile nervously, but I want to cringe when Xander’s hand lands on my thigh. Whoa. Not okay.
“Excuse me for a second.” I shoot up from my seat and throw my best friend a look telling her I no longer want to be here.
Aubrey furrows her brows and rises too. “Harleigh? I’ll come with you.”
“No, no. It’s okay. I’ll be right back.”
I don’t wait for a response from her. I don’t even look at the two guys occupying the other seats at our table. Instead, I spin right around and make a beeline for the ladies’ room.
Once I enter the bathroom, I lock myself in one of the stalls and turn my back toward the door. My breathing is erratic. My stomach is in knots, and my hands are shaky. I’m freaking out. Xander had totally misread my signs. What exactly was it about my actions that exclaimed to him I wanted him to touch me? I was as stiff as a board. Nothing about my demeanor was relaxed. Maybe he thought placing a hand on my thigh would help me relax? Fuck out of here. I want to be gone.
I pull out my cell phone from my back pocket and skim through my call list. Nothing from Preston, of course. I go to my messages, and it’s the same. The last message I got from him was in a group text with my brother, thanking us both for trusting him with the shop the day after he had been given the papers—before we had been intimate.
I’m so tempted to text him now. I want to reach out. I want to hear his voice.
I back out of the group message and click on the compose button on the top right and type his name. When it populates, I click on the empty box and start writing to him.
Me: I need & miss
“Harleigh, are you in here?” Aubrey’s voice booms from outside the stall.
“Huh? Yeah, I’m here.” I don’t get to finish typing what I wanted to say, but maybe it’s a good thing. I was texting Preston on impulse without thinking much about it. I need to wait for him to reach out to me. If he does, then I can reply. If he doesn’t by tomorrow, I’ll know exactly where I stand. And then it won’t be okay to text him at all. Then it won’t be all right to hit him up.
I close the app and place the phone back into my pocket. I open the door and see her standing against the sink.
“You all right?” Her arms are crossed across her chest, waiting for my response.
I shrug. “I don’t know. I’m sorry for just taking off, but I kind of freaked out. This whole thing with Preston is really getting to me. Why hasn’t he called me yet?”
Aubrey walks toward me and gently grabs my chin, willing me to look into her eyes. “Hey, it’s okay. I know how you’re feeling. Not all guys are good for us. And you know how Preston is… how he’s always been. Give it another day before beating yourself up, okay? I don’t want you sitting around waiting for him to realize what an awesome chick you are, especially when Xander is so into you.”
Yeah, too into me, so much that he thought it was okay to place his dirty little paws on me. But I won’t get into all that with her. She’ll probably tell me he didn’t mean anything by it and I’m just overreacting. Am I? “Yeah, I know.”
“I swear he’s a good guy, Harls. Sure, he’s probably wanting to bang you, but isn’t that a good thing? He thinks you’re hot.” She chuckles softly.
“How do you know that?”
Aubrey furrows her brows. “Well, I am sort of dating his best friend.”
I smirk. “I guess.”
She smiles. “Come on. Let’s go back out there and try to have a good time. If after a round of drinks you’re still not feeling it, we’ll make up an excuse, and I’ll take you home.”
“Are you sure, Aub? I don’t want to mess up your night.”
She shakes her head. “You’re not going to mess up my night. I said I’ll take you home. I didn’t say I was going home too.” She winks.
The two of us laugh.
“Come on, girl. Let’s go get fucked up a bit.”
“You’re driving though,” I say to remind her.
“Micah will save me if I’m too buzzed to drive.”
I nod my head, and we walk back out of the ladies’ room and head toward our table. I can give her a little while with these guys. I can be her best friend and let loose for a bit. At least this way I won’t be miserable, wondering if Preston’s going to finally call me.
When we reach the table, I notice Xander has swapped his seat to where Aubrey was sitting. I look over my shoulder, and she winks at me. She knew what happened and what caused me to flip out. Now, she is making sure I won’t be uncomfortable again. My best friend has come through for me once more. She knows me so damn well. I love her to the moon and back.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Harleigh
Raindrops slide down my window panes. The storm continues coming down, but it’s got nothing on the storm brewing inside my head and in my heart.
Three weeks.
Three fucking weeks and not a single call or text from Preston. There I was, all worried about three days, and it’s now been three fucking weeks since he fucked me senseless without a damn care in the world.
What the hell? How could I have been so stupid to believe he’d call me? To think he’d care? After all this time, why would he now when he never did before?
That day was just an easy way for him to have his way with me. Okay, maybe it was me who actually had my way with him, but I’m mad. I’m mad as hell he didn’t even think to call me. It was pretty obvious I wanted him, but how else would I know if he wanted me as well? And I’m not just talking about him wanting to sleep with me. I mean like want me, want me. Sure, I could have called, but I was really hoping he’d be the one to get in touch with me this time.
And honestly, I imagine with me being a virgin at the time, that it was probably major bonus points if he’d gone bragging to his friends. Which I’m sure he did.
Because he’s an asshole.
Once again, I’m hating Preston Scott.
Fuck Preston Scott. Preston Scott sucks. Him and his self-centered, self-absorbed ass. What an egotistical bastard, egotistical douche canoe, egotistical player…
He fucking played me all right. Son of a bitch.
I don’t care I’m calling him na
mes like we’re back in high school. I’m mad and I know the truth, but damn. Why the hell does this have to be so confusing?
I know he never said we were a thing, or that he wanted me more than once, or that he even liked me… But I thought I meant more to him based on what he said that day.
Why? Why had I been so dumb to think he actually might call me after we slept together?
Because we’d known each other forever? Because I’m his best friend’s sister? Because he appeared to care about me as he was getting ready to take my virginity?
Damn, I’m so stupid. Of course a college guy is going to pretend to be into a girl to get into her panties. And Preston? Preston has no trouble getting whomever he wants. He’s probably slept with every single girl on campus.
Ew. Maybe I should go get myself tested for an STD. What if he has something and he gave it to me? I mean, I don’t feel anything, and we had used a condom, but it would be better to be safe than sorry.
I wipe at a lonely tear that escapes the corner of my eye. I hate this. I hate feeling this way. I hate how Preston is consuming me. All I think about is him, and I hate him for it. The man took advantage of me, and now? Now I’m left cursing myself for having fallen for such a jerk.
The buzzing of my cell phone brings me out of my thoughts. My eyes dart to the screen. It’s Aubrey. Fuck.
I cough to clear my throat before answering the call.
“Hey, girl.” I sit up, hoping she doesn’t realize I just spent a good half hour crying to myself.
“Oh, no, no, no, no, no. We’re not doing this tonight, Harls. Go wash your face and get ready. We’re going out and having a girls’ night tonight.”
Shit, there’s no fooling my best friend.
“What are you talking about? I don’t really feel like going out tonight. I’ve got this pounding headache and—”
“Your head is pounding ’cause you’ve been crying. Now get your big booty up off of your bed, make yourself presentable, and be ready within twenty minutes.”
“How do you even know I’m lying down?”
She scoffs. “I haven’t been your best friend since forever for nothing, you know. Now, run along and hurry up. I’m on my way.”