Withholding Nothing

by Victoria Bright

  *

  After my shower, I wrapped a towel around my waist, grabbed my phone from the shelf, and stepped out into the hallway, colliding into Ashton as she came down the hall. She stumbled a bit, finding support on the other wall as she looked up at me. Her eyes moved along my body, lingering longer on the towel around my waist. I cleared my throat.

  “Eyes up here,” I said and snapped my fingers, mimicking her earlier actions. Her cheeks turned a bit pink before she looked away, nervously biting her lip. I chuckled.

  “I mean if you’re curious as to what’s under the towel, I’m more than happy to show you,” I joked.

  She blinked and frowned at me. “Is that what you like doing? Showing your cock to random women?”

  “Eh, only if they’re sexy as hell,” I said with a shrug, a smirk on my lips. She stared at me for a brief moment before straightening her posture.

  “Yeah, well, I’m not interested,” she said and walked away. I licked my lips as I watched her, her leggings cupping her ass perfectly. I wanted to watch her blush as my hands squeezed her ass. Perhaps she wasn’t a difficult woman at all; maybe she just needed to get laid. Just give me a little more time and you’ll be interested, I mused to myself before entering my bedroom.

  My phone vibrated in my hand, displaying my mom’s picture on the screen. I closed my door and removed my towel, flopping down on the bed as I answered.

  “Hey, Ma.”

  “Hey, baby. You okay?” she asked. Her familiar voice was comforting to hear after a long day. I’d admit it was hard to be away from my family, but it was for the best right now. Everyone still thought I should give Kayla another chance, mostly because they thought it would bring me back to Virginia. I didn’t know what would happen in the future, but that definitely wasn’t an option right now.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Just getting out of the shower.”

  “I wish you would just come back home. I hate that you’re living in a hotel.”

  “Well…I’m actually not in a hotel anymore,” I started slowly.

  “Oh you found a place?” she asked, a hint of disappointment in her voice. She’d probably held on to the hope that I’d get tired of living in hotels and would eventually come back home if she begged me enough. Although she wasn’t rooting for Kayla, I knew she’d sacrifice her own thoughts and feelings about the situation if it meant I’d be closer to her. I knew she’d be glad that I wasn’t in a hotel anymore, but she wouldn’t be too happy to know that the chances of me coming home now were slim to none.

  “I found a roommate. Just moved in a couple days ago,” I said.

  “I see. How many of you are there? Is it a house or an apartment?”

  “It’s just me and her. It’s an apartment,” I said, standing and walking over to the dresser to find something to put on.

  “Her? Your roommate is a woman?” she asked. I slightly cringed. I hadn’t necessarily meant to disclose that fact. My mom was one of those people that didn’t believe men and women could live together without fucking each other. At the rate things were going with Ashton, it would probably be a long time before that opportunity ever came to light.

  “Uh yeah.”

  “Are you two dating or something?”

  “Nah. Just roommates.”

  “I see. And how did you meet her?”

  “I’m working on her car,” I said, deciding to leave out the fact that I found out about her apartment online. She was silent for a moment before she finally sighed.

  “Well, be careful. You just got out of a relationship, so you don’t need to rush into anything.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I know, Ma. I’m not ready for anything serious anyway.”

  “Good. Well, I’m glad you’re out of that hotel at least, though I’d rather have you here with me.”

  “I know, Ma,” I said, pulling out a pair of shorts and a tank top from a dresser drawer.

  “Oh, and Kayla asked about you.”

  “I’m sure she has,” I muttered.

  “Have you talked to her yet?”

  “Briefly.”

  “What did she say?”

  “I don’t remember. It was brief,” I said, though I did remember. Bitter memories of our conversation trickled into my mind. It made me both frustrated and upset that Kayla thought she could rip my heart out and then try to use her rich girl charm and words to try to wiggle herself back into my life. I hated that she thought her privilege worked in every aspect in her life. Little did she know, her money had no influence on me. I didn’t care who she rubbed elbows with or how much she was worth, it would take a lot more than saying sorry to reverse the damage she’d done, if that were even possible.

  “Maybe you two should talk face to face. It’s hard to really talk about something so serious over the phone, don’t you think?”

  “Ma, if you want to see me, just ask me to come to you. Don’t make this all about Kayla. I have no interest in seeing her or talking to her and I wish you’d respect that,” I said, probably a little more firm than I’d intended.

  “I just want you to be happy, son.”

  “And I am. I don’t need that drama and everything else that comes with her in my life right now. I’m fine,” I said, pulling the shorts on. “I have to start cooking. I’ll call you again soon.”

  She sighed. “All right, O’Shea. Take care of yourself.”

  “I will. Love you.”

  “Love you, too,” she said and hung up. I tossed the phone on the bed with a sigh. It was the same conversation every single time I talked to her since leaving. For someone who was so against me proposing to Kayla in the first place, it was equally baffling and irritating that she was so hung up on me working things out with her. Even in the off chance that Kayla and I got back together, there was no way in hell I would propose to her again, which would make a relationship pointless.

  I slipped the tank top on with a sigh. After what happened with Kayla’s proposal, I didn’t know if I’d ever be confident enough to want to propose to any woman. The pain in rejection alone was enough to cripple my ability to love or to have anything serious with a woman. Either way, now wasn’t the time to think about all that. A relationship was the furthest thing on my mind and after being locked down for five years, I planned to live this bachelor life as long as I could.

  I finally headed back toward the kitchen, hearing Ashton’s voice.

  “I don’t know about this, guys,” she said. I paused, creeping closer and peeking around the corner. She leaned against the counter as she talked on the phone, her eyes fixated on the ceiling. She listened for a few moments before she spoke again.

  “I mean he isn’t doing anything per say…but, I don’t know. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.” She listened some more. “I don’t even know the damn man to like him! That dream I had doesn’t mean anything. His face his happened to show up when I was dreaming of someone else.”

  Having dreams about me already, huh? A grin pulled at my lips as I continued to listen. “And then he came out of the shower in just a towel not too long ago.” She ran a hand through her hair. “Of course I did! He has the body of a fucking god, how could I not look?”

  I snorted, causing her to snap her attention in my direction. “I have to call you back,” she said quickly and hung up the phone. I entered the kitchen, trying to appear nonchalant as I fought the laughter bubbling in my throat.

  “Don’t mind me. Just here to cook some food,” I managed to say as I moved past her.

  “How much of that did you hear?” she asked behind me.

  “No idea what you’re talking about.”

  “You’re a terrible liar.”

  “I have no idea why you think I’m lying. I just came from my room—”

  “I heard you,” she said flatly. I pretended to be busy with opening the pack of chicken.

  “Knife, I need a knife,” I said instead, moving over to where she stood to grab one from the knife block behind her on the counter. She flinched a b
it as I reached behind her, close enough to her to feel the warmth of her body.

  “Why are you so jumpy?” I teased, grabbing the knife and moving back to the island. She cleared her throat and folded her arms across her chest.

  “I’m not.”

  “Whatever you say, Satan.”

  “Stop calling me that.”

  “You don’t want to be Satan anymore? What should I call you then?”

  She glared at me. “My actual name would be perfect.”

  “Eh, that’s boring.”

  “I don’t go around calling you asshole, so I’d appreciate you to just stick to calling me by my name. Not A, not Satan, or anything else you could manage to come up with.”

  I sighed dramatically. “If you want to be boring Ashton, then fine.”

  “You’re so dramatic,” she said, rolling her eyes.

  “And you’re uptight,” I said as I sliced the chicken breasts. “When’s the last time you’ve been laid, girl? You sound like you need a nice roll in the sack to help with that attitude you have.”

  “Excuse me?” she asked incredulously. “I don’t think that’s any of your business.”

  “No, it’s not, but you may need to do something about that. No one likes being around a moody woman,” I joked. I could feel her eyes boring into the side of my head before she stormed off. Yeah…probably took that too far. From the looks of it, maybe joking around with Satan wasn’t the best form of an ice breaker. Rocky’s warning of being gentle with her came to the front of my mind. Chris had claimed she’d gone crazy, but after being around her for a couple of days, I couldn’t see her doing anything too reckless. If she did do something insane, I’d bet money she was provoked somehow. Maybe I could get her to talk about it a little over dinner, granted that I hadn’t blown my chance of talking with my previous jokes.

  A little while later, she finally came back into the kitchen, looking at the stove as I stirred the sauce, noodles, and chicken together.

  “I guess you can cook after all,” she mused, leaning against the counter as she watched me.

  “You haven’t tasted it yet.”

  “That makes me nervous,” she said and grinned. That’s a start.

  “Well, you’ll find out in a couple a minutes. Breadsticks will be out in a minute. I’ll bring your food to you,” I said. She placed a hand on her chest as her eyes widened.

  “Oh wow, your peace offering is even being delivered to me! I feel like such a queen!” she said. The smile on her face was beautiful. I think it was the first time I’d seen her really smile at me. Her blue eyes twinkled in amusement before she finally turned and headed back to the living room.

  “Oh, do you want wine?” I called out to her.

  “You bought wine?”

  “Duh. How can you have chicken alfredo without wine?” I teased. She smirked at me.

  “I suppose I can have a little. I have to work after this, so not too much.”

  “Aye, captain,” I said, turning off the stove.

  I plated her food first and popped open the bottle of red wine, pouring her glass half way. Walking it over to her, I bowed slightly when she took it from my hands.

  “My peace offering, my lady,” I said in my best English accent.

  She giggled. “You’re so weird,” she said. I went back to plate my own food and grabbed a glass of wine before joining her on the couch. She took a fork full of food and let out a satisfied moan. “Oh God. I can’t even pretend. This is amazing.”

  “I mean I tried to tell you,” I said and smiled.

  She smirked at me. “I can’t even blame you for being cocky. You definitely know your way around the kitchen.”

  “What can I say? My mom taught me well,” I said, taking a sip a wine. The bitter liquid made me cringe, spitting it back into the glass. “This shit is disgusting.”

  “Um, ew?” Ashton said. “Have you never had wine before?”

  “Yeah, but you get what you paid for. It was only seven bucks,” I said. She picked up her glass from the coffee table and took a sip, making a face as she forced herself to swallow.

  “Yeah, that’s pretty bad. It’s bitter,” she said, sticking out her tongue as if that would make the taste go away. Oh the things I’d have you do with that tongue of yours.

  “Even though the wine was a bust, I’m glad you at least like the food,” I said, pulling my mind out of the gutter. She nodded and took another forkful.

  “It’s been so long since I’ve had a meal like this,” she said with a content sigh.

  I smirked. “Why? Because you can’t cook?” I teased. She returned my smirk.

  “I can cook,” she started, her expression turning a bit solemn. “Things have just been…tough lately.”

  “Tough how?”

  “Just bills and everything and trying to adjust after…life happens,” she said, pushing the food around her plate with her fork.

  Already knowing the answer, I decided to ask her anyway. “So…are you in a relationship or anything?”

  “Nope,” she said flatly. When she didn’t say anything else, I figured that was a topic she’d rather not talk about.

  “Okay then,” I said. “So tell me about yourself.”

  She looked up from her plate, her brows furrowed. “Like what?”

  “I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “Whatever you want to tell me.”

  Her eyes fell back to her plate. “There isn’t really anything interesting about me to tell you.”

  “I don’t believe that. There has to be something interesting in that pretty little head of yours considering that we met at the coffee shop while you were wearing a Go Fuck Yourself graphic tee,” I said with a grin. She met my eyes, her flat expression never wavering. I sighed. “Okay, what do you like to do then?”

  “I don’t know. Depends on the mood I’m in. Read, be with my friends, go to the arcade when I’m able to—”

  “There’s an arcade here?”

  “Well, not here in town. It’s over in the next city.”

  “Hmm. We should go tomorrow night.”

  “I don’t know—”

  “Come on, it’ll be fun. Plus, maybe being in a playful environment would help us get to know each other or something,” I said. She looked at me for a long moment as she frowned.

  “I don’t have the extra money right now to do that.”

  “Then it’ll be my treat, roomie,” I reassured her. She sighed and shook her head.

  “You don’t give up, do you?”

  “Glad you’re catching on early,” I said and took a bite of food.

  We ate in silence for a few moments, Ashton finally clearing her throat and looking at me.

  “So how’d you end up here of all places?” she asked.

  I shrugged. “I just chose a random place to come and this was it,” I answered honestly. Ashton nearly choked on the food in her mouth, coughing and patting her chest.

  “Wait, what? So you just chose a random place and decided to come to it?”

  “Yep.”

  “That’s insane. Do you have family here or something?”

  “Nope. Just needed a fresh start.”

  She squinted her eyes at me. “You’re not on the run, are you?”

  I laughed and shook my head. “If I were, that would’ve been on the background check you looked over,” I said.

  “Fair point. Are you a drifter?”

  I sighed. It was hard to really dive into the specifics without telling her about Kayla. “No. Just wanted to plant roots somewhere else and get away from all the city noise I left back in Virginia.” That wasn’t really a lie. Kayla was part of the noise I’d wanted to leave, as well as the memories of what would never be. With her stature, I was sure word got around fast about the rejected proposal. The last thing I wanted was for everyone in town to look at me with pity in their eyes or constantly tell me how sorry they were that things didn’t work out, as if I needed the reminder of my failure.

  “I
see.” She went back to eating without another word. When she finished, she stood and grabbed the glass of wine. “Well, thanks for dinner. While I’d love to stay and chat, I have to get to work.”

  I put my hand on my chest. “You really would’ve loved to sit here and chat with me?” I asked in faux surprise. She smirked at me.

  “Of course not,” she teased and walked away.

  “Wait, but you didn’t give me a definite answer for tomorrow!” I called out after her.

  “I’ll think about it!” she responded. I smiled and shook my head. At least it wasn’t a no.

  ∞∞∞

  After cleaning up and putting the extra food away, I headed to my bedroom, pausing when I heard Ashton on the other side of her bedroom door. “I wonder what kind of important work she does,” I whispered to myself, creeping over to her door. Instead, I heard silence for a while until her phone rang.

  “Thank you for calling Erotic Fantasies. This is Natasha; what’s your fantasy tonight?” I heard her say. I felt as if my heart stopped as I listened to her talk.

  “No fucking way,” I whispered. She couldn’t be…no. I dashed into my room and grabbed my phone. Over the last couple of days, I’d called a phone sex line and spoke to someone who said the exact same thing. What were the fucking odds that I’d been talking to the woman who’d be my future roommate?

  Looking through my call log, I found the number and hit call, waiting while it rang. After following the prompts, I waited to be connected, quietly going back out to the hall and listening outside her door. After what felt like an eternity, someone finally answered.

  “Thank you for calling Erotic Fantasies. This is Natasha; what’s your fantasy tonight?” I heard her say both on the phone and through her door.

  Holy shit.

  I’d been having phone sex with my sexy ass roommate. Just the thought of her masturbating the other day when I’d called on my lunch break was enough to make my cock hard. Knowing that I’d unknowingly experienced her at her most vulnerable made me look at her in a different light. I wanted to hear her talk dirty to me as I moved deep inside her, feeling her nails clawing at my skin as I pleased her. This woman sent wild thoughts through my head for hours after talking to her, only to find out I’d been living with her. With a grin, I went back to my room and shut the door. This conversation would definitely be interesting tonight.