by Dawn Doyle
“I just want to lie like this for a while,” he whispered, and Raven was more than happy to oblige.
Her eyes grew heavy, and she fell asleep in Beck’s arms.
Chapter 7
Raven woke up and saw the space next to her was empty.
She looked around the room and Beck’s clothes were gone.
Her stomach churned, and she held her mouth to her hand, thinking that Beck had left.
Hurriedly, she snatched her phone off her nightstand to check the time and saw that she had a text… from Beck. He must’ve put his number in her phone as she slept.
She smiled as she read.
B: I didn’t want to wake you. I’ve just gone for food. Be right back.x
Ps you look beautiful in your sleep. X
Raven fell back down and grinned with a happy sigh. Beck was coming back.
She got out of bed and quickly showered, changing into black leggings and a loose gray V-neck tee. After tying her hair up in a messy bun, she slipped on her black tennis flats and began to the tie the laces, when the door opened.
“Hey beautiful,” Beck smiled as he walked in carrying a square box. “I brought pizza.”
“You are a life saver,” she grinned, as she stood. Her stomach growled in agreement.
“You didn’t eat much earlier, so I got us this,” he said, putting the box down on her desk.
“Neither did you,” she replied.
Beck had hardly touched his lunch, and Raven had thrown away over two-thirds of what Ava had brought for her.
“Well, that’s over now,” he smiled shyly. Raven aww’d inside at his boyish expression.
“Ok, let’s eat,” she said. “I’m starving.”
Beck’s eyes traveled up and down her body, his gaze heating.
“Eat food!” she laughed.
“How did you know what I was thinking?” he asked, looking her over again.
“It’s not hard,” she raised an eyebrow. Beck grinned showing his perfect teeth. “I fell right into that one, didn’t I?” she groaned; Beck nodded.
“Is it safe to come in?” Ava asked, knocking on the door.
“Yes!” Raven laughed when Ava opened the door, and walked in with her hands over her eyes. “We’re clothed, Ay,” she said.
“For now,” Beck whispered into her ear, when Ava dropped her hand.
The hairs on Raven’s arms stood on end when the shivers ran down her spine. Beck still affected her just as much as if they hadn’t even had sex.
“Well, don’t be getting any ideas while I’m here,” Ava pointed at them both. “I’m not a voyeur.”
Beck laughed again. Raven liked hearing him laugh. It was deep, throaty, and sexy all at the same time.
“I’ll try to control myself,” he grinned.
“So…um…now that you…” Ava silently clapped, gesturing them having been together, “are you going to tone down your behavior?”
“Hmmm,” Beck looked upwards, and stroked his chin with his finger and thumb. “Probably…not.”
Raven pushed his thigh, and shook her head. She was smiling, but now she knew exactly how Beck made her feel when he touched her, kissed her, held her hands…
“What are you thinking?” he asked, waving his hand in front of her face. He put his finger under her chin and pushed up, closing her mouth.
“Um..” She blinked quickly, her cheeks heating. “Nothing.”
A lazy smile spread across his face.
“She does that a lot,” Ava said, shaking her head. “I’m pretty sure I know what she’s thinking.” She pumped her eyebrows.
“I bet you’re thinking…” he leant over, his lips next to her ear. “You won’t be able to keep your hands to yourself.”
Raven gasped.
“So I was thinking, we could all go and get…” Kerry paused when she walked in with Leila, her eyes fixing on Beck. “What are you doing here?” she asked, looking between the three of them. “I hope you’re not here to try anything funny with Ray, Beck,” she said, with her hands on her hips.
Raven saw Leila’s eyes scanning around the room landing on the empty pizza box, Ava’s purse -that she still had hold of- and the messed up covers on her bed. They widened, and her mouth opened to say something to Kerry who looked as though she was going to give Beck a telling off.
“I better go,” Beck said quietly to Raven. He looked uncomfortable in the room with three pairs of eyes staring at him.
Raven didn’t want him to leave, but she could see that after their day, it wasn’t the best time to be discussing their relationship, if that’s what it was, with her friends.
The girls continued to stare as they got up off the bed and walked to the door.
Beck stopped and turned to Raven. His eyes glanced to the girls then back to her.
“Can I see you later?” he asked quietly.
Raven nodded. “Yes.”
Beck beamed happily, his eyes sparkling.
“Good.”
His hand stroked down her forearm and gently squeezed her fingers. He dipped his head and softly pressed his lips to hers. Raven’s legs turned to jello and Beck pulled back, smiling. He knew exactly what he’d done to her.
With a wink, he left.
Raven closed the door and turned to see three mouths hanging open wide.
“What. The. Fuck!” Kerry said slowly, still staring at Raven.
“He kissed you,” Leila whispered in disbelief.
“He kissed me a lot, earlier,” Raven said, walking past them and sitting back down on her bed.
“I walked in on them before, and they were both naked!” Ava blurted out, her hand slapping over her mouth. “Sorry Ray-Ray, I couldn’t hold it in,” she apologized.
“What?!” The girls shrieked. “You had sex with him again?”
Raven bit her lower lip into her mouth as a huge grin spread across her face. She nodded then covered her ears at the deafening excited screams of her friends.
“We want to know everything, and don’t scrimp on the details,” Leila said urgently, getting herself comfortable on Ava’s bed. Ava sat next to her and Kerry next to Raven.
“He came to talk to me,” Raven began. “He told me he behaved the way he did because he wanted me.”
Raven didn’t want to tell them anything about what he’d said after, because it seemed personal to Beck. She wasn’t about to tell the girls any details without him agreeing first.
“Well, next thing I know we’re kissing. Not just any kissing, it was…” she sighed. “My God, his lips are magnificent.”
“So now the good stuff,” Kerry said, urging her along.
“Let’s just say I’m not disappointed; at all,” she giggled.
“Has he got a big dick?”
“Leila!” Ava chastised her.
“Actually…yes!” Raven hid her glowing face behind her hands.
The girls howled with laughter and fell about, holding their stomachs.
“Oh my,” Kerry wiped her eyes. “What was he doing when you walked in?” she asked Ava.
Ava told them what she’d seen when she’d walked into the room, and Raven flamed in embarrassment.
“If you’d have walked in five minutes earlier…” Raven winked. “You would have gotten a glimpse of his bare ass.”
“Yeah, a bare ass that was pounding into you, I bet.” Kerry rocked her hips.
Raven nodded, her hands covering her face.
“So where do you guys go from here?” Ava asked once they’d calmed down.
“I don’t know. He asked if he could see me later, and I said yes.”
“That’s a good sign,” Kerry nodded. “Sorry for the other night though, Ray. I didn’t get a chance to apologize for what we said.”
“That’s ok,” she waved her hand in dismissal. “If you guys hadn't had done that, then my vagina wouldn’t be happy right now.”
That got Raven another laugh from the girls.
“So you really like him, huh?” Le
ila asked with a knowing look.
“I do. I don’t know how it came to this, but I do like him; a lot,” she sighed.
“Anyway, what were you talking about when you came in?” Raven asked, turning the conversation back to the girls.
“Well,” Kerry shifted as she sat. “I was going to suggest that we go off campus and get our nails done. We haven’t done that in a long time, and I called the salon to see what openings they have,” she checked through her phone as she spoke. “They’ve managed to get four slots together in about an hour. I asked them to pencil us in. I just need to call to confirm.”
Raven and Ava looked at each other. “Yes,” they said in unison.
“Yay!”
Kerry called the salon, and the girls made their way there.
It was a few minutes later when Raven’s phone beeped from an incoming text.
B: Did you get grilled?
R: A little. :)
B: What are you doing now?
R: We’re all going to get a manicure.
B: I wouldn’t bother.
R: Why?
B: Because you’re only going to chip the polish when your nails scrape down my back. ;)
R: Oh my God!
B: See you soon. xx
R: Ok. XX
“What’s going on?” Ava whispered when Kerry and Leila were talking about getting new dresses.
“Beck texted me,” she said, showing Ava her phone.
“Fuck me!” she whisper shouted, her hand over her mouth. “That’s so sexy!”
“I know.”
“What’s sexy?” The girls asked, so Raven showed them her texts. “Dear God!” Kerry gasped. “That man sure knows what to say doesn’t he?”
Raven nodded. If they only knew all of the things he’d said to her over the years, they’d be off to find a cold shower. Hell, she’d needed it often herself.
*****
The girls got back to campus after their manicures, and Raven was ready to go back to her dorm.
The others had tried to get more information from her about what had happened before her and Beck had gotten naked, but she still wasn’t giving anything up.
Ava was texting on her own phone, and smiling like a kid at Christmas.
“What’s gotten you grinning like a cat who got the cream?” Raven asked, bumping her hip against her.
“Donnie,” she beamed. “Apparently he can’t wait to see me, and he wants me to go to his dorm the second we get back.”
“I’m so happy for you,” Raven gushed as she hugged her friend. “He must be doing something good to put that smile on your face.”
“Oh he is,” Ava replied, biting her lip.
Raven giggled along with Ava, even though she was a little envious.
Ava and Donnie had a few weeks behind them, so they were at that stage in their relationship where they admitted they missed one another.
Raven wondered if she and Beck would get to that stage. She already missed him. She’d been thinking about him constantly whilst she was getting a manicure, and with what Beck had told her earlier, she wondered if he thought about her too. If he wanted her, like he said he did, he would… wouldn’t he? He’d told her before, but she hadn’t taken him seriously.
“Hello, Raven,” Beck said, his hot breath on the back of her neck.
Raven’s eyelids fluttered as the shivers ran down her spine, and her knees threatened to buckle from underneath her.
“What do you want, Beck?” she asked after regaining her composure.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” he said with a lopsided grin.
“Actually, yes, so I know what to do to make you leave me alone,” she snapped.
If he left her alone then she wouldn’t get inappropriately turned on at random times through out the day by him. She didn’t know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. His effects on her were the only decent action she’d ever gotten. Well, except for that one time when she was asleep, but he was still involved, albeit indirectly.
“Well in that case, I won’t tell you,” he shrugged. “I don’t want to leave you alone. In fact…” he got in her space and looked into her eyes. “I think about you all the time, and what I can do to get close to you.”
His brow pinched for a second before he straightened up. It was as though he hadn’t meant to say what he did.
“If that’s the case then you know I couldn’t care less what you did, Beck,” she said as she shook her head. “This is the closest you’ll ever get.”
The quirk of his lips told her she shouldn’t have said that. Beck took a step closer; Raven took a step back.
“Is that so?” he asked with a glint in his eye.
“Yes,” she replied firmly.
As Beck took another step, her back came into contact with the wall.
Why do I always walk backwards? Just turn and leave for fuck’s sake!
It was her own fault. If she’d just turned around to leave then he couldn’t do it. However, she needed to keep an eye on what he was up to. The last thing she wanted to do was to turn away, only to be confronted with a solid object, giving Beck free reign to close in on her from behind.
He would love that and she knew it, but she wasn’t sure that she would hate it…
Stop thinking like that!
Beck continued to close in on her. His chest so close to her face she could hear his heart beating. It was fast and sounded like a bass being stomped on by an overenthusiastic drummer.
His scent washed over her as he dipped his head, coming face to face with her.
Raven wanted to tell him to back off so she opened her mouth to tell him so. “Hhhh,” a shaky breath escaped instead, and she closed her mouth.
That made Beck smile wider.
“Am I closer than before?” he asked. “Or how about now?” He placed his hands either side of her head on the wall, so she was completely enclosed in his presence.
The thing was; she didn’t feel threatened. Beck had never tried to hurt her. He’d never done anything that would make her afraid of him. It was as though he would always make sure she knew that too.
“Yes,” she said. He wasn’t closer than he’d been in the library when their bodies touched. At least then she could lean her head back away from his. But standing next to the wall, he was only inches away from plastering himself over her, making it feel closer.
The pulsing between her thighs and the tightening of her nipples told her that she wasn’t exactly upset about it.
“Beck please step back,” she whispered. A lump forming in her throat.
Beck did as she asked. His brows were furrowed as he moved back. Instead of letting her leave, he took hold of her chin with his finger and thumb and tilted her head back so she would look at him.
“Do I frighten you, Raven?” he asked in all seriousness. “Tell me the truth.”
Raven swallowed. She wasn’t afraid of him at all. If anything, she was afraid of herself and the feelings she had around him.
“No,” she replied, still looking into his concerned eyes.
Beck studied her face. His eyes landed on her mouth, then back up to meet hers.
“Good,” he said, releasing her. “You have no reason to be afraid of me, Raven. I mean that.”
“Hey Ray?” Ava asked, bringing her out of her thoughts.
“Oh, sorry,” she laughed nervously. “What were you saying?”
“I said, do you mind if I pay Donnie a visit? He wants me,” she lowered her voice, “Like, wants me,” she winked.
“Ohh!” Raven realized why Ava looked so keen to take off. “Go get some,” she said, waving her hand for Ava to leave.
“Yes I will,” she purred before leaving to see Donnie.
“Well, sorry to have to leave you, Ray, but we’ve got class in a few so we’ll see you for dinner, honey,” Leila said, leaning in for a hug.
“Bye Ray,” Kerry hugged her too. “And we’re happy for you,” she added before the girls went to the b
uilding across the green for their late lecture.
“Thanks,” Raven replied. Then she was alone.
Raven made her way to the coffee cart. She was going to pour herself a cup to take back to her dorm, and then possibly get some reading in whilst she waited for the girls.
“Hi babe,” Beck said from behind her, making her jump.
“Beck! You scared me!” she squeaked with her hand over her heart.
“I’m sorry. I saw you walking over so I wanted to say hi.”
Just hi?
Raven was about to ask him why just ‘hi’ when she took in his appearance. He had on the same sweats and tee, but he was all sweaty. Really sweaty. He looked as if he’d just run a marathon.
Even with all the wetness on him, he still looked sexy. Raven pressed her knees together. Seeing him like that was turning her on, even covered in sweat!
His tee was clinging to his torso, showing the shape of his muscle lumps. The same ones she was up close and personal with a couple of hours before.
Raven licked her lips and sucked her lower into her mouth.
“Hey, my eyes are up here,” he said, jokingly.
“Sorry,” she blinked. “It’s just…” her eyes ran down his body again. “…Um…”
“I’ve been working out,” he said as though answering her question as to what he’d been doing.
Beck kept eye contact with her as he took a gulp of water from his bottle. An amused expression on his face.
“I see that,” she said. Her voice barely audible.
“I need to shower.”
“Yeah.”
“In my dorm.”
“Mhmm.”
“I might need some help.”
“Ok.”
Raven wasn’t altogether there. Her brain was momentarily frazzled by Beck’s masculine form standing a foot away from her.