“There is the bathroom! See? Not as big as your place but much easier to conduct a tour of.” She nodded and looked into my eyes. She let go of her overnight bag, and it fell on the floor with a soft thud. She took a step toward me, and I backed up out of the bedroom.
“Let’s talk out here,” I said urgently as I walked out to the couch. “Can I get you anything to drink?”
“Water would be great!” She followed me into the kitchen. I grabbed a jug of filtered water out of the fridge and two glasses. I inspected them to make sure they were clean and then filled them with water.
Back on the couch, she slowly took a sip as she eyed me over the rim of the glass. I could see the desire on her face and in her eyes.
“So let’s talk about Jack…” I started hesitantly. She set down her water next to my laptop and waited for me to continue. “Ummm…” I didn’t know how to start this conversation. I didn’t even know what I wanted. I realized that I wanted her to love Jack and leave me in peace. Of course I wanted her now, but I could easily ignore my feelings for her for Jack. Wait… No, I couldn’t. If I could, then we wouldn’t be here right now. Fuck, this was so complicated. I wanted her, and I just needed to know how we did it without hurting Jack. “How do we tell Jack?” I finally spat out.
“How do we tell Jack what?” she asked as she raised a beautiful eyebrow. She was going to make this hard on me.
“How do we tell Jack that… you and I are…” Shit. This was too hard with her next to me. I was totally distracted by her.
“Fucking?” she said with a sly smile. I was about to reply, but she interrupted me. “We haven’t actually made love yet, so maybe we should do that first and then decide how to tell him.” She was smiling smugly. The way she said ‘made love’ made my heart double tap.
“No. I mean. Ugh. Stop looking at me like that!” I frowned and turned away from her. She laughed. I scooted away a bit on the couch and continued, “You need to break it off with him, and then we can try.” I swallowed. I had just signed the death warrant on their relationship.
“Okay. I’ll call him right now. My phone is in my bag.” She stood up and took a step toward my bedroom.
“No!” I said urgently. “You can’t call him now. He’ll think that you are breaking it off with him because of last night.” Jack would have tons of questions for me.
“He’d be right though, wouldn’t he?” She looked down at me.
“Partially. Look, we need to wait a month before you break it off with him.” I said with as much confidence as I could.
“A month!” she said in frustration. She dropped back down onto the couch with a groan of displeasure. At least she was sitting back down. She must have agreed with me on some level.
“Look, help me out here, Aimee. You know this is the right thing to do. He is practically my brother. You have to realize how much he loves you, even if you don’t feel the same way.” Her eyes got big.
“He loves me?” She had to know already, but she said it like it hadn’t occurred to her.
“Yeah. Of course, how couldn’t he? You’ve been in love before right? This has to be done gently.” I thought I was getting through to her.
“Listen Eric, it is better that this is done quickly, like ripping off a Band Aid. I don’t really want to wait a few weeks. I want you. Now.” Her mouth twisted up in a scowl as she thought about it.
“Four weeks isn’t that much time. It’ll be over before you know it. I’ll totally make it worth the wait. Trust me.” We looked at each other for a few seconds. I could see the wheels turning in her beautiful head. Finally, she sighed.
“Okay, you win. I don’t want him to be mad at you. I know this is important to you. Besides, the quarter ends in four or five weeks, and we aren’t going to have any more classes together. It will be Christmas break, and it will be easier to break it off.” I smiled gratefully. I had forgotten that her school was on a quarter system. My school was on a semester system. Having new classes seemed like a good excuse.
I was surprised that I had gotten her to agree, but I think that she wasn’t as tough as she made herself out to be. Breaking someone’s heart wasn’t something most people could do easily. Now I just had to convince her of the next part of my plan.
“Great! Thank you Aimee! Like I said, I’ll totally make it up to you.” I said it as seductively as I could and gave her a smoldering look. She took a deep breath, and her mouth opened slightly. I was going to continue, but she interrupted me.
“You better! After last night I’m not going to be able to sleep until we are lovers. I want you so bad.” Her eyes closed halfway as she recalled what I had done to her last night.
“I want you too. This isn’t easy.” Oh God it wasn’t easy. I wanted to rip her clothes off right now and fuck her till I died. She was the epitome of my desire. “But I need you to agree to one more condition…” I trailed off.
“Okay. What is it?” she said with hesitation.
“We have to give it some time after you break it off with Jack. It has to look like our relationship developed while you weren’t dating him. That makes sense, right?” She had to agree. If we just got together the day after she ended it with Jack, it would look pretty suspicious.
“I suppose it does, but it depends on how much time you are talking about.” She was glaring at me a little bit. I knew she wasn’t going to like this, and she probably guessed she wasn’t going to like it.
“Two months.”
“No way! Absolutely not!” She got up off the couch and started to pace around the room. “That would be like the middle of February by the time we can be together!” She wasn’t as pissed as she had been at Beth last night, but she was pretty upset.
“Sorry Aimee, I don’t know of a better way to do it. Jack is really important to me. I know we did some stuff last night. And it was really good. But I need it to be this way.” Our eyes met. “If you want me, if you want to be with me, this is how it has to be. Three months isn’t a long time, right?” I’d found my spine again. This felt right. Jack couldn’t be angry with me if he thought that we had started dating a few months after they split up. She looked so amazing across the couch from me. Images of the pleasure we could give each other flashed through my head. I’d drawn my line in the sand though. Last night, I was under her spell, but I could think clearly now. I still wanted her, of course I did, but it had to be this way or no way.
“It just doesn’t give us much time.” Her eyes were pleading with me. She must have seen the resolve in my face. “Can’t we just wait a few weeks after I break up with him? We can just not tell him for a few months.” I shook my head.
“We’ll have plenty of time! Weren’t you telling me last night about keeping options open and how we’re young?” I smiled and started to feel more confident. This was the best outcome for the situation.
“Well…” She fidgeted with her hands. “I’m going to be gone this summer. We’ll only have a few months together before I leave.” My heart sank. I’d planned on us being able to spend time together over the summer. If we even lasted that long. I should have realized that she would be gone. Rich people normally did something exotic over the break, right?
“Where are you going?” I couldn’t hide the disappointment.
“We are going to go all over Europe. Then we’ll spend a few weeks in Italy getting Beth set up at school. I should have told you, but I didn’t think you would want to put us off for so long.” She scooted closer to me on the couch and gave me a seductive look. “I know you don’t want to hurt Jack, and I think that is sweet. He is a nice guy, and I don’t want to hurt him either. But I want to be with you now. I don’t want to have to wait till next fall. It’s too long. Can we compromise?” Her hands grabbed mine. She started to rub my palms with her fingers. It felt great.
“What did you have in mind?” Uh oh. I was starting to slip.
“Well… I want you tonight. We could just keep it a secret for three months. But I know you won’
t go for that. Is there a middle ground between what you want and what I want? How about see start seeing each other four weeks after I break it off with Jack and don’t mention it to anyone?” She had mentioned something like that a few seconds ago. I had already done what felt like lying to Jack. I didn’t want to do it any more.
“Sorry Aimee. I’m firm in this. I’m sorry to upset you. You know how I feel about you. It has to be my way.” I’d stuck to my guns. For a second there, I didn’t think I would. I felt like I was a passenger in my own body.
“What if I don’t want to do it your way?” she asked. Her voice was angry. I could see the conflict in her face.
“Then we can’t be together. It will make me sad, because I do want to be with you. But I don’t want to betray my friend. I think this is the only way to do it.”
We stared at each other for a few minutes. She had stopped rubbing my hand, but still had it grasped in her delicate fingers. She was thinking, and I worried that she would out-maneuver me.
She finally sighed in defeat.
“Fuck. Fine.” She got to her feet and walked back to my room. “I need to get my bag.” I waited for her to return.
“So we can still hang out together right? I’m going to have a birthday party in a few weeks, and I really want you to go. I couldn’t stand this if we weren’t able to see each other at all.” She had grabbed my hand again as we walked down the stairs from my apartment to the street. I saw that the front gate had been left opened. Her car was parked across the street. She opened the trunk and put her bag in.
“Of course we can still hang out. I still want to see you too. We just have to keep it under wraps. Okay?” She nodded as she walked back over to me.
“This is going to totally suck, you know. I can’t believe you want to do this, but I think you are right. It is the best thing to do. You must really love Jack.” I nodded. “Okay. Well. I’m a little upset that we aren’t going to have amazing sex all night tonight, but I guess I can wait for three months. Will you give me something to tide me over till then?” Her mouth turned into another sly smile. Her eyes looked at mine, down to my lips, then back up to my eyes.
Then we were kissing. I don’t know who made the first move. It was probably me. Her lips tasted like apricots, and her tongue danced passionately against mine. I felt her nails dig into my chest and shoulder as she grabbed against me. My hands were on her lower back, crushing her body against mine. She moaned into my mouth as my tongue flicked across her teeth, and then I bit her softly on the lower lip. I was about to disengage when her hand flew off my chest and tangled in the hair on the back of my head, pulling my mouth to hers again.
We both made soft cooing sounds as we explored each other’s mouths for a few more minutes. Finally, we became so hot and urgent for each other that we had to part or we would explode.
She leaned against me as my arms cradled her.
“Wow,” she breathed in a whisper. I nodded. It had been one amazing kiss. She pushed away slightly and looked back up into my eyes.
“I think we should go back up to your apartment, kiss like that a few more times, and see where it takes us. Let me get my bag again.” I laughed at her attempt. It covered up the struggle of emotions on my face. I almost took her up on the offer.
“Bye Eric.” She opened the door and sat in the car. “If you change your mind…” I smiled at her as I grabbed the door and prepared to close it for her. “Are you free this weekend? We were all going to hang out.”
“I’ve got plans, sorry.”
“Darn.” She put on a pouty face. “Okay… Well, I’ll call you for my birthday party. We are just going to have it at the house, I think. It will be in a couple of weeks. You’ll be able to meet my parents!” She paused for a bit. “I’d like to unwrap you for my present, but I guess I can wait three months.”
“This won’t be easy for me either. Bye Aimee.” I shut the door to her car when she was in. She started her engine, looked out her window at me, waved, and then drove off.
I had done it.
Chapter 2
The rest of the week passed uneventfully. Brent called on Thursday to apologize for missing the show. He was really embarrassed about throwing up in front of Sam on their first real date. Sam had stuck around to rub his back while he gave worship to the porcelain gods. I gave him my best Mike Meyers impression: “If you hurl and she comes back, she’s yours. If you blow chunks and she bolts, then it was never meant to be.” We laughed.
“You gonna hang out with us this weekend?” he asked after we finished laughing
“Have plans already. Aimee is having a party in a few weeks right? I’ll definitely see you then.” We chatted a bit more about the band and then wished each other well. Brent and I were starting to become friends.
Katherine and Kim both texted me separately on Friday morning. They said they wanted to see me soon but were still busy with volleyball. I didn’t know what to do about them, so I was glad they hadn’t called.
Friday night, I had eaten a light dinner and finished packing for the weekend trip with Kelly. It was only a little after six, so I had some time to kill. I opened up my laptop and a few books to prepare for some studying, when my phone rang. I thought it was going to be Kelly, but it was an unknown number. It was a 310 area code, so I knew it was in Los Angeles.
“This is Eric.”
“Hey Eric! It’s Beth.” I opened my mouth in disbelief.
“Hey Beth… what’s going on?” I hadn’t given her my phone number.
“Nothing much. I wanted to see if you were busy tonight. You promised to see me again. Tonight would be good for me.” Jeeze. I never thought a guy could have too many women. I was pretty much tapped out.
“I can’t tonight, Beth. How did you get my number? I don’t remember giving it to you.” I forced myself to smile so I didn’t come across wrong.
“Oh, I just looked in Aimee’s cell phone for it. What are you doing tonight? Can I come with you?” She was like one of those yappy dogs that wouldn’t let go of a favorite chew toy.
“I’m going to go camping and dirt bike riding with some friends. I don’t think you can come with since we are only bringing tents enough for us.”
“Oh… hmmmm. Yeah. I could just sleep with you in your tent right? Aren’t sleeping bags big enough for two people? I want to spend some time with you,” she said it sweetly. I admired her perseverance, but I imagined the look on Kelly’s face if I brought Beth with us. I almost laughed at the thought.
“It’s just not good tonight, Beth. Sorry.” Didn’t she realize she was sixteen? She can’t be making passes at me.
“Yeah, okay. I’m not much of an outdoors person anyway. If not tonight, then when? You did promise me, remember?” I recalled her standing outside next to my car freezing her ass off. Shit. I had told her I would spend time with her.
“Is this your cell phone number?”
“No. Home phone. I don’t have a cell phone.”
“You must be the only sixteen-year-old girl in Bel Air that doesn’t have a cell phone,” I laughed.
“There is really no one who would call me except for my parents and Aimee. When I am away at school, they just call my land line. I don’t always want someone to reach me though.” She sounded lonely. I remembered Aimee mentioning that Beth did modeling and was going to have a show coming up in the spring.
“Don’t you do modeling work? Don’t they need to get a hold of you for that?”
“Yeah. The agency calls the house here. I don’t see the need for a cell phone now.” She paused for a second and then asked in excitement, “If I got a cell phone, would you call me?” She was making another play to get attention from me. It was a smooth transition, but the excitement in her voice kept reminding me of her age.
“Beth… this is kind of weird. You are just sixteen.” I was going to have to spell it out for her.
“So? What does that have to do with anything? When were you born?” I gave her my birthday. �
��We are only 1,522 days apart. We can still be friends! My parents are 1,643 days apart.” Holy shit, that was some quick math.
“I could get into serious trouble with you, Beth.” As soon as I said it, I realized that the words had come out all wrong. That was not what I wanted to say.
“What do you mean, Eric? I thought we were just talking about spending time together. Maybe you were thinking about something more intimate? That would be interesting. What did you have in mind?” she said her words quickly and with practiced ease. Oh shit.
“Beth, let’s not talk about that right now. I…” I didn’t know what else to say. How could I get off the phone with her?
“You’re right. It would be better to talk about that in person. The phone is no place to have an intimate conversation. When do you get back from your dirt-bike riding?” I thought that Aimee was smooth, but Beth manipulated the conversation like she had the silver tongue of the devil. Did she say ‘intimate conversation’?
“Aimee is having a party in a few weeks, right? I’ll see you there.” I feared that she would push for a sooner time. She did.
“That is really far too long, Eric! I want you to meet my parents and look at some more of my art. Can you come over next week?” Aimee would have been pleading by now; Beth’s voice was full of confidence. She had no doubt that I would come over. It was just a matter of her finding the right lever to pull with me. She would try forever until she was successful.
“Beth, I just don’t think it is proper for me to hang out with you. You’re only sixteen.” There. She couldn’t argue with that.
“So what if I’m sixteen? I am old enough to make my own decisions. I have more undergrad degrees than ninety-nine percent of the population, I have traveled the world and lived in eight different cities, I have read more books than both of my parents combined, I’ve had countless powerful men vie for my affection. Sixteen is just a number. Maybe it applies to most girls, but I am not most girls.” She paused briefly. I couldn’t believe how powerfully she spoke. She was right; she wasn’t really sixteen in the traditional sense. But the law and her parents probably wouldn’t care that much about semantics.
Rock God_Book 2_A Contemporary Harem Fantasy Page 2