Withholding Nothing

by Victoria Bright

  “Do you…want to talk about it?” she murmured. I met her soft gaze and sighed inwardly.

  “Nothing to talk about really.”

  “Well, what was she like?” she asked, taking a sip of her wine before putting the glass back down on the coffee table. My heart skipped a beat as memories of Kayla flooded my mind. From that beautiful smile of hers that made me fall in love or the way she would come up behind me and wrap her arms around me while I cooked for her, it made me realize how much I’d missed her despite everything.

  “She was perfect,” I admitted quietly. Ashton’s gaze softened as she pulled her knees to her chest. My eyes briefly fell down, noticing the bare skin on the back of her thighs. Is she even wearing anything under that? “But um…yeah, sometimes things just don’t work out no matter how bad you want it to.”

  Ashton nodded. “Trust me, I know,” she mumbled. “I mean is there a way you can fix things with her? You seem like you still really care about her.”

  I shook my head. “She wants to work things out, but I don’t think I want to be in that situation anymore.”

  Ashton’s forehead crinkled as her face twisted in confusion. “I don’t get it. You just said she was perfect and seemed sad at the mention of her…and you don’t want to be with her?”

  “Ashton, I’m not getting any younger. I’m not going to spend the rest of my life casually dating someone. One day I want a wife, to have kids and all that. Even if I were to get back with her, I wouldn’t be dumb enough to propose to her again,” I stated bitterly.

  “Again?” she repeated, realization dawning on her. “Ah. I’m assuming you proposed to her and she said no.”

  “You’ve solved the case, Detective Ashton,” I joked, trying to hide the negative emotions trying to bubble up within me. She didn’t crack a smile. Instead, sadness reflected in her eyes.

  “I’m sorry,” she murmured. I shrugged.

  “Shit happens,” I said with a sigh.

  “Well, to make you feel better, my ex dumped me on accident,” she said with a sheepish grin. I cocked an eyebrow at her.

  “How the hell do you accidentally break up with someone?” I asked.

  She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I witnessed him proposing to my ex best friend,” she said. I stared at her, a bit confused.

  “Uh…what now?” I asked.

  “He’d been having an affair behind my back with one of my friends. He said he was going out of town on business for the weekend, which sucked because it was our anniversary night. I was supposed to work that night, but was taken off the schedule. Decided to get out of the house and go to Mickey’s and low and behold, he was there with my best friend. Proposed to her right in front of me and the only thing he said to me was that he’d been meaning to tell me about their relationship and that we were done.”

  She looked at me with glistening eyes and gave me a small smile. “And while he’s preparing to get married to his now pregnant fiancée, I’m forced to move on with my life and piece together my broken puzzle. He sued me for $10,000 for the damages I did to his stuff, I’m drowning in bills and was forced to get a roommate, now I’m stuck with being a phone sex operator right now because no one around here wants to hire me after what happened.” My heart broke for her as a few tears slid down her face. She quickly brushed them away and shrugged. “But whatever. Like you said, shit happens.

  “Damn,” I said. Here I was thinking that my rejected proposal was the worst thing in the world, but I couldn’t even begin to imagine what that was like for her. Having someone you were supposed to be in a relationship with not only break up with you publicly, but to also propose to someone else in public? I took her hand in mine and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”

  She shyly pulled away, giving me a small smile. “Heartbreak is a part of life, it seems. All we can do is just roll with it,” she said, sadness lacing her voice.

  “Maybe we’re more alike than we thought,” I said.

  She slightly cocked her head to the side. “How so?”

  “I proposed to my ex at her birthday party. She was a rich girl with a ton of equally rich, stuck up friends and family. Got on stage and proposed to her in front of everybody, but she said no. I'd never been so embarrassed in my entire life.”

  “Man,” she said softly. “Did she ever tell you why at least?”

  “Unfortunately,” I muttered, bitterness seeping into my heart. “Long story short, I wasn’t who she wanted me to be. Her dad owned this accounting firm or some shit and I didn’t want to do that kind of work. She claimed we had to accept that we were just pretending to ourselves to think our relationship would work when we came from two different income classes.”

  “Wow, she sounds like a cunt,” Ashton said disapprovingly. “Maybe you’re better without her.”

  I smirked at her. “Hell, you just said you’d want to meet the woman who could deal with my asshole self.”

  “Well, I was kidding. But even you don’t deserve to go through that,” she said.

  “Like I said, things happen and here I am. Now you have the coolest roommate on the planet,” I joked. She giggled and waved me off.

  “Whatever. Looks like we’ve both had exes from hell then,” she noted.

  I nodded. “If I were you, though, I would’ve slashed all his tires,” I joked, trying to lighten the mood. She looked at me, a small grin forming on her lips.

  “Oh, I did much worse than that,” she said as she sat up a little taller.

  “You did? What did you do, Wonder Woman?”

  “So there was this construction site next to the bar, right? Someone left a few tools there, so I took a sledgehammer and smash the windows and the sides really good. Then I took a can of spray paint from Jared’s truck—”

  “Who’s Jared?” I asked, glancing down at her legs again. My eyes widened when they slightly parted, exposing what I was sure was her bare pussy.

  “Ava’s brother. You remember Ava, right? My friend? The blonde?” Ashton stated, breaking into my thoughts.

  “Yeah,” I idly said.

  “Anyway, took a can of spray paint and painted all kinds of bad words on it,” she said, proud of herself. “And then I went back to the house we shared, threw the mattress in the pool and burned the new sod we had put down in the lawn.”

  “Why the mattress?”

  “Because he probably slept with that slut on it,” she muttered, picking up her wine glass and taking a big gulp.

  I swallowed hard. “Ashton, are you wearing panties?” I asked her slowly, bringing my eyes up to meet hers.

  “W-what?” she stammered. I nodded toward her legs, which were still drawn to her chest.

  “Either I’m hallucinating, or your pretty little pussy is trying to get my attention,” I murmured. She swallowed hard, lust clouding her gaze as she blushed.

  “I, um…” she trailed.

  I slid a tiny bit closer to her. “Are you or are you not wearing any?” I asked again.

  “I’m…not,” she finally admitted.

  “And here you were making such a big deal that I wasn’t wearing boxers. Is there a reason you aren’t?” I asked. She looked at me without a word, her entire face turning red. “Hmm…” I inched a little closer to her, my thumb brushing against her ankle. “Is it because you want me to touch you again?” I held her gaze as I ran my fingertip up the side of her lower leg. “Like I did in the hallway last night?”

  “Maybe,” she whispered. Her eyes never left mine, nor did she resist when I parted her legs. I took my cellphone from my pocket and opened my clock app to the timer, setting it for five minutes.

  A sly grin formed on my lips. “Then let’s give you another preview,” I murmured, starting the timer and moving down between her legs. Game on, baby doll.

  Chapter Nine

  Ashton

  I’d bet a million dollars that O’Shea was the devil himself. Ugh.

  My original plan backfired so hard
. From our conversation this morning, I was determined to show him I could be a tease and leave him high and dry. I figured I’d make dinner, get a little wine into him, and then make my plan of attack. I made sure I wore nothing under my robe, showing him bits of skin throughout dinner. Seeing the print of his cock in his shorts made my core pulse with need, remembering him pressed against me last night in the hallway. I was ready to make him eat his words, to teach him a lesson that I could punish him as much as he was trying to punish me. What I hadn’t planned for was that we’d both start talking about our shitty exes.

  And I definitely didn’t expect to feel sorry for him after he’d told me what’d happened to him.

  While I told him about what I’d done to Steve, I’d noticed his eyes drifting to my legs, but I’d thought I’d kept myself well covered from my “surprise.” Sure, I’d wanted to tease the hell out of him before sending him to bed horny and frustrated, but I also wanted another taste of last night.

  The unexpected turn our phone call took and where it ended lit a fire in me that had yet gone out. Goose bumps rose on my skin at the thought of his strong hands on my body, my heart quickening in my rib cage at the memory of his skilled fingers caressing my sensitive clit. The dark gaze in his eyes as he fingered me remained stuck in my mind all day. That same dark gaze looked up at me as his tongue flicked against my clit, his hands moving to squeeze my thighs. He’d noticed I wasn’t wearing panties and wasted no time taking advantage of the opportunity. After what happened last night, who was I to stop him?

  He licked slow circles around my clit before taking it into his mouth, suckling gently as I squirmed above him.

  “Oh my God, yes,” I breathed as my grip on his head tightened. Jolts of pleasure streaked through my body as he ran his tongue up and down my core. He groaned against me, lapping at my folds as if savoring the taste of my arousal. My eyes briefly drifted to the timer on his phone now sitting on the coffee table, the time quickly winding down. I prayed that didn’t mean that was all the time we had left. I knew all I had to do was say the word and he’d give me everything, but I wasn’t ready to lose so easily.

  I moved my hips, closing my eyes as I bit my bottom lip. He squeezed my thighs tighter, his soft hazel eyes gazing up at me in sexual frustration and need. Now that I knew his pain, he was almost like me, a walking mirror that portrayed the rejection and insecurities I felt. If I weren’t careful, having sex with him wouldn’t be the only thing complicated about this situation. I couldn’t afford to fall for him or anyone else for that matter.

  I focused on the pleasure he put upon my body, lapping at my wetness as I moaned. “O’Shea,” I moaned, moving my hips quicker against his tongue.

  “Mhm, that’s it, baby,” he murmured against my wet flesh, taking my clit into his mouth. The way he’d called me baby sent a chill down my spine. It was possessive and certain, making my core throb with need. I was bound to lose all control tonight and throw the idea of the bet out of the window. We were bound to have sex eventually; if I had to deal with him bragging that I caved so soon, so be it if it meant I’d get all the orgasms he’d promised. I jumped when the timer went off. I guess fate had other plans.

  He kissed my clit and tried to move up between my legs, but I stopped him. “No, please don’t stop.” I tightened my legs around him, hoping that he’d continue his delicious assault on my throbbing heat instead of leaving me on the brink of an orgasm. He released a low laugh and wiggled his way up my legs, settling between them. I bit my lip as his hard cock pressed against my wet flesh through his shorts, a chill rolling through me when he ground into me and growled.

  “Time’s up for your preview, baby doll,” he mused with a smile. “When you’re ready to say the word, then you can have the grand finale.”

  Then he kissed me on the lips and got off the couch, leaving me staring at him in disbelief until he disappeared. When I heard his room door close, I flopped back on the couch with a sigh.

  Yep. The man was definitely the devil.

  ∞∞∞

  The sexual cat and mouse game continued for the rest of the week, him giving me different “previews” that left me on the verge of an orgasm, but never quite getting me there. Even when I’d tried to masturbate on my own afterwards, nothing ever gave me the release I wanted. He walked around the apartment with a cocky smirk on his lips every time he saw me, meanwhile I was so fidgety that I couldn’t keep still and felt as if I could explode at any moment.

  “I’m bored. We should go to that arcade tonight, “ he said as we sat on the couch and watched a movie. The arcade was perfect. I needed to go somewhere so that I could attempt to forget about the sexual tension I had pent up inside of me. The sooner midnight got here, the sooner I could win this bet and then finally have him give me the grand finale he’d been talking about all week.

  I jumped up from the couch. “Yep, sounds good. Let’s go then,” I said, making my way to the front door. The arcade was forty-five minutes away, but I didn’t care. It could’ve been two hours away and I’d still be down to go as long as it got me out of the house and away from his devilish temptation. He stood and laughed, pulling his truck keys from his pocket.

  “You’re in a rush to leave, sex kitten. Scared I’ll tease you again? You can always just say the word and—”

  “I know, I know. You’ll give me the grand finale, not that you’ve already told me a million times already this week,” I mentioned sarcastically with a hand on my hip.

  His sexy smile was nearly enough to make my panties melt off. “I just like to remind you since you seem to forget.” He winked, walking past me and opening the front door. “After you, sex kitten.”

  “Stop calling me that,” I stated as I grabbed my own keys from the table near the door and stepped out of the apartment.

  “Whatever you say, sex kitten,” he said with a chuckle. I rolled my eyes and locked the door, damn near skipping down the stairs to his truck.

  “So are you ready for fun and mystery?” he asked, wiggling his fingers in front of my face when we reached the bottom step. I swatted his hand away and giggled.

  “Fun, yes. Mystery, not so much.”

  “Aw, why you no like mystery?” he joked in a terrible accent.

  “Because mystery sounds creepy when we live in the middle of nowhere,” I answered with a smirk. He nodded and wagged a finger at me.

  “You make a fine point there, sex kitten. Thankfully there’s nothing creepy at Frankie’s Fun Park.”

  “I wish we didn’t have to take your air-polluting truck though,” I said as we approached it. He gasped in faux shock and placed his hand on his chest.

  “Don’t say that out loud! She’s very sensitive!” He grinned and patted the side of the truck.

  “Sorry, truck. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” I said with a sarcastic tone, sliding into the passenger seat.

  We made the forty-five-minute trip in silence. I stole occasional glances at him as he drove, having strange thoughts. So many questions bounced around in my mind. What happened after we have sex? How would our roommate situation change? Where would this “relationship” or whatever it was stand afterwards? Most of all, what if I accidentally fell for him? Whether I wanted to admit it or not, O’Shea was fun to be around, despite his annoying ways. He made me laugh and kept me on my toes with his nonsense, almost to the point that I actually looked forward to it. I found myself bored when he’d be at work during the day and enjoyed his company when he’d sit and talk with me or watch TV—until he decided to start teasing me and turn me into a walking sexually frustrated ticking time bomb.

  But we’d both made it clear that we weren’t looking for a relationship, which made me a bit worried. I slowly felt myself attaching to this unpredictable man, but I also wanted to hold back. I was still afraid of giving myself to someone, no matter what my body wanted. I knew I couldn’t logically hold Steve’s mistake over his head, but it didn’t stop me from over rationalizing our current situati
on. He was my roommate for crying out loud. Of course O’Shea had gone through his own heartbreak, so I took comfort in knowing that he knew how it felt to be burned by the one you loved. I just didn’t know just how it had truly affected him and whether or not he was jaded when it came to relationships.

  “What?” he asked, glancing over at me. I’d been so lost in my thoughts that I hadn’t realized I’d been staring at him this whole time.

  “Oh, um, nothing. Sorry,” I stammered. He turned his eyes back to the road with an amused expression on his face for the duration of the ride.

  ∞∞∞

  We pulled into the parking lot of Frankie’s Fun Park. He got out of the truck and walked over to my side, opening the door and bowing as I got out.

  “You really don’t have to do all that,” I protested with a giggle. He shook his head and closed the door.

  “Just showing that chivalry isn’t dead and that I’m not always an asshole, believe it or not,” he said with a wink. Why do I have stupid butterflies? It was refreshing to see that he possessed some manners in public. O’Shea and I filed in with the rest of the entering patrons and stopped in the lobby.

  “What you wanna do first?” he asked. I tapped my chin and looked around at the different attractions and games, my eyes widening when I saw the flashing lights from the laser tag room.

  “That,” I said, pointing.

  He followed my gaze and waved a hand at me as he shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good thing to play if we’re supposed to be having a friendly outing.”

  I put a hand on my hip. “And why not? Scared you’ll lose?”

  “No. Because I’m sure you probably won’t want to come back here with me again after I annihilate your team,” he teased.

  I let out a sarcastic belly laugh, clutching his arm as I slapped my knee. “You are one hilarious man, O’Shea. You should be a comic instead of a mechanic. Obviously you’ve never played against me.”

  “Okay, then let’s bet on something.”

  “What’s up with you and making bets?” I asked, folding my arms across my chest. He mirrored my stance.