“You smell amazing,” she whispers against my skin, before she moves away, walks out of the room, and down the stairs until I hear her bedroom door shut.
“What the fuck was that?” I say to myself, while trying to shake off the feelings she has just caused in me. I can still feel the tingles where she touched me.
“Ladies, it’s half seven, and the taxi is waiting; hurry the fuck up,” I shout through Molly’s bedroom door. I have no idea what they have been doing in there all this time, but I’m hoping for something awesome. It took me ten minutes flat to be dressed in dark jeans and a polo shirt. I ran some wax through my hair, and I was ready. I’ve spent the rest of the evening waiting. I haven’t been able to shake the feelings Molly ignited in me earlier, and I can’t wait to see her.
Suddenly, the door flies open, and Megan comes walking out, ready to go. She looks good in her black skinny jeans and glittery silver top. Her normally tied up hair is hanging straight around her shoulders, and I notice it’s a brighter red than the last time I saw her. She is taller than Molly, which isn’t hard, and has more curves thanks to her cute little boy.
“Please tell me she is ready,” I say to Megan.
“Yes, she’s coming, it’ll be worth the wait, I promise. She looks seriously hot.”
Shit!
I turn away from Megan when I see movement to my left, and see Molly appear from her bathroom. I feel my chin drop to the floor as I watch her sashay towards us. I don’t think Megan’s description of seriously hot actually covers what I am seeing. Her hair and make-up is the same as I saw earlier, but she now has on a tight, deep purple short dress that hangs down slightly to show a small amount of cleavage, making me lick my lips. On her feet are high glittery silver shoes, which make her exposed legs look extraordinary.
“See what I mean?” I hear Megan say beside me.
Molly then turns to grab her bag off her bed, revealing the back of the dress, or lack thereof. I actually suck in a breath at her exposed back. I can see almost down to the top of her arse. The desire to go and run my hands across her back is almost painful; almost as painful as my dick staining against the fabric of my jeans. I have to clench my fists to stop me reaching out and touching her.
“Ry, you okay?” Molly says as she moves towards me.
I swallow before nodding my head and saying, “Uh huh,” as she walks past me and out the front door. As she moves past, her scent fills my senses, making my mouth water. I don’t think I have ever been as turned on as I am right now, and I haven’t even touched her. I watch as she disappears out the front door.
“Shit, you’ve got it bad, haven’t you?”
“Sorry, what?”
“Molly, you want her.”
Fuck, what do I say to that?
“Um, she’s my best friend, Megan.”
With that, I walk out and lock the door when she leaves the house, putting an end to the conversation. But I can see by the look she is giving me that I haven’t convinced her of anything, other than how true what she just said is. Fuck, tonight is going to be awful.
The others are already seated when we arrive, which is no surprise as we are late. We quickly say hello to everyone and get sat down. I don’t know whether it’s a good thing or not that I’m sat opposite Molly. It means that I am not close enough to touch her, which is a good thing, but every time I look up, she is all I can see. Shane and Chris are busy filling Molly in on their wedding plans on one side of me, and Megan and Emma are talking about Cocoa’s on the other, and all I can do is try to concentrate on not just staring at Molly. The guys have tried dragging me into their conversations, but I wasn’t really paying attention to anything that was going on. They seem to have given up on me now, though.
As the meal comes to an end, I get up and go over to the bar to settle the bill. I know if I’m not quick that Molly will beat me to it, and she is not paying for her own birthday meal.
“Hi, can I settle the bill for the table over there?” I say, pointing in our table’s direction.
“Sorry Sir, but it’s already been paid for. The lady in the purple dress came up here when you first came in, gave me her card details and told me not to let anyone else pay for this meal.”
“Oh, I should have known she would have beaten me. Damn. Thanks, anyway.” I turn my head and look back to the table before going to the toilet, and see Molly grinning at me. I just shake my head at her and walk off.
I’m washing my hands when Shane walks into the men’s.
“She looks hot tonight, doesn’t she?”
“Who, Molly?”
“Yes, Molly. Don’t pretend like you haven’t noticed. I’ve watched you watch her the whole time we’ve been here. You’ve been so distracted by her you have barely joined in any conversations.”
“Um…”
“Look, Ryan, if you’re into her, then go for it. I want to see you both happy. You both deserve that after the year you’ve had. But I should warn you that whilst you have been drooling over Molly, Emma has been shooting daggers from across the table. She doesn’t look happy.”
“Nothing will happen between us. She is my best friend, I can’t do anything that will risk losing her. Emma rang and had a pop at Molly the other day because she found out second-hand that we were living together, and that we had gone on holiday. She went crazy down the phone, accusing Molly of going behind Hannah’s back. Molly made it quite clear on the phone that I was like a brother to her, and she wouldn’t go there.” Shane raises an eyebrow at me, “Yes, I was eavesdropping on their conversation. I wanted to make sure Molly was okay.”
“I’m not saying what she did was right, but you’ve got to understand where she is coming from. She’s lost her twin, the other half of her, and she suddenly finds out you’ve moved Molly in. It must have been a shock.”
“Yes, I know that, but I’m struggling to forgive how horrible she was to Molly. Some of what she said was uncalled for.”
“Maybe. Ryan, even a blind person could see how much you and Molly care about each other. Emma will be able to see that as well, and if something is destined to happen between the two of you, then it will all work out. Just give Emma time; she will come round to the idea. She’s just still hurting.”
“We’ll see,” I say, going to leave. “Like I said before, I can’t do anything to risk losing my best friend, if that means me having to put my feelings for her aside, then I will.”
“What if you making a move only makes things better between you?”
“I can’t risk it, Shane. I’ll see you out there.” I say, before leaving him to it.
“Was my fiancé trying to turn you gay in there or something? You’ve both been gone ages,” Chris says, laughing, as I get back to the table.
“Yeah, we had a quickie in one if the cubicles. Not sure what the fuss is all about; you can keep him,” I deadpan, as they all turn to look at me with shocked looks on their faces. I can’t help but laugh at them.
A couple of hours later, we are all on the dance floor of one of Oxford’s biggest clubs. We are all nicely buzzed, thanks to the shots Shane and Chris ordered for us all.
I’ve tried my best to stay away from Molly. I don’t want to cause any more problems with Emma. She is one of Molly’s best friends - I don’t want to be the reason they argue.
I watch as a guy who has been eyeing up Molly for a few minutes plucks up the courage to come and dance with her. I don’t like the look of him - he looks like one of the dickheads she would have got with before. He goes up right behind her, puts his hands on her hips, and starts grinding her arse into him. She looks up and tries to shrug him off, but he’s not having any of it and pulls her tighter to him. I can tell she is getting pissed off, and it makes me want to break the fucker’s nose. I move from where I’m dancing across from her, and stand right against to her side, removing his hand from her hip.
“Hands off,” I growl at him loudly so he can hear me over the music. He looks me up and down and must realise he
wouldn’t win if he started something with me, and begrudgingly walks off back to his group of mates.
I turn Molly to face me. She puts her arms around my shoulders, leans into me and whispers ‘thank you’ in my ear. I grab on to her hips and pull her against me so we can dance.
I am aware that what started out innocent has quite quickly turned in to something resembling dirty dancing. Molly turns in my arms so she has her back to my chest, and shoves her arse into my groin, making my already throbbing dick instantly rock hard. Molly must be able to feel it against her, but it’s not stopping her. She flicks her head around and smiles wickedly at me over her shoulder. Yes, she definitely knows what she’s doing to me.
I look up when I feel eyes on me to see Shane smirking at me while he dances with Chris, Emma, Megan and Daniel, who showed up for a drink earlier. He nods at me encouragingly, which Emma notices and looks our way. She’s really pretty drunk, and until now hasn’t paid our dancing any attention. She instantly stops moving and looks us up and down. When her eyes move back up, she looks murderous.
She comes storming over. “What the fuck do you two think you’re doing? You promised me nothing was happening between you two, yet you’re dancing together like that,” she shouts, waving her arms around in front of us.
“Emma,” Molly says, “there is nothing going on, we are just messing about. Right, Ry?” Emma turns her attention to me.
“Yeah, right, we’re just dancing. Nothing is going on.” Listening to myself slur these words to her, I realise just how drunk I actually am.
“You two must think I’m fucking stupid, or blind. The way you two are moving and grinding against each other, there is no way you aren’t fucking each other.”
“Wow, Emma, chill. If they say there is nothing going on, then there is nothing going on. Neither Molly or Ryan would lie to you,” Shane shouts above the music to try to calm her down.
“But you just saw them; you were even encouraging it by nodding at Ryan.”
“Emma, they’re both drunk. Hell, we all are, and we are all just enjoying ourselves.”
“No, you said he was like your brother!” she screams in Molly’s direction.
“Yes, because he is.”
“Fuck off, Molly, never in a million years would I dance with Dec like that.”
“Emma, do you know what, if you don’t believe us, then fine. Go home and sulk on your own. We are doing nothing wrong, so get over yourself.” Molly growls at her, which shocks me. I’ve seen her stand her ground with plenty of people before, but I never thought she’d put Emma in her place. She has always tried to be as understanding as possible, which is why she was so calm on the phone last week when she rang shouting, but I think Emma just pushed her patience too far. I can’t blame her, though.
I watch as Emma huffs out a breath and storms off. Daniel comes over, having watched the whole thing, kisses Molly on the cheek, and says he’s going to make sure she gets home okay. We say goodbye and watch him follow her away from the dance floor.
Molly turns to look at me, and I see a single tear fall down her cheek. I know she feels awful about losing her temper with Emma. I put my arm around her shoulder, “Do you want to go?” I ask.
“Yes please.”
We say our goodbyes to everyone, and apologise for ruining the evening. They all tell us it’s okay, and reassure Molly that Emma will come around. I’m glad the rest of our friends don’t agree with her.
We’re just walking out of the club when I feel Molly get grabbed away from me. I look to my right to see what’s going on, when I see the guy who was trying to dance with her pulling her away from the club entrance.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I hear her shout.
“Are you ready to dance now?” he snarls at her as he grabs her and pushes her up against the wall, pinning her in place.
“Get the fuck off me,” she screams in his face.
This forces me to move. I slam my body into his and watch him stumble to the ground. I turn to make sure Molly is okay before focusing on him.
“He said you’d be a sure thing,” he shouts before my fist collides with his jaw.
“Who said that?” I shout at him before taking another shot.
“Me,” I hear a familiar voice say from behind me. “I thought maybe she needed a real man for her birthday.”
“Max?” I hear Molly whimper from behind me.
I land another punch to the dick on the floor to make sure he won’t come at me, before standing up to face Max. I’m barely at full height when I feel his fist hit my jaw.
“How dare you fucking take that little slut from me? She’s mine; you don’t get to just move her in with you because you’re lonely now your own girlfriend is dead.” I see red and launch myself at him.
“Ryan, stop,” I hear Molly screaming behind me.
Max manages to get a couple more punches in before I have him slumped against the wall, moaning in pain.
“You fucking stay away from her, you cheating piece of shit. I’ll finish you next time. I’ll fucking finish you.” I’m shaking in anger. How dare he treat her this way? I feel Molly come up to my side and put her arms around me. She is sobbing uncontrollably as I drag her in the opposite direction, in search of the taxi I ordered for us on our way out of the club.
Molly
I am an emotional wreck on the drive back home. I’m shaking and sobbing. I refuse to let go of Ryan throughout the journey. I feel safe when I’m close to him. I can’t believe what had just happened; I’m in shock.
Ryan is silent beside me and hasn’t said anything since he threatened Max outside the club. I can feel his body starting to relax against me, though.
When the car pulls up to our house, I throw some cash at the driver and pull Ryan out of the car. He stumbles as we make our way up to the front door, showing how drunk he actually is.
“Steady, Ry, I’m not going to be able to catch you if you fall.”
I open the front door just as he stumbles through it and crashes into the hallway wall. I grab him around the waist as he starts to slide down, and pull him with me into my room. I sit him on the edge of my bed and place my hands on his cheeks, being careful of the bruises and cuts on his chin, lip and eye.
“Ryan, are you okay?” I ask gently. I’m worried because he hasn’t said anything.
“Yeah, I’m just so angry with how you get treated by people who are meant to care about you.” I feel another tear slip down my cheek.
“It’s okay though, because I’ve got you. Thank you for what you did tonight, and I’m sorry you got hurt,” I say, gently running my thumb over his lip, causing him to suck in a breath. “Sorry,” I whisper.
“I’ll always fight for you, Molly. Always.”
I really don’t know how to reply to that, so I stand up and ask him if he’s going to be okay while I go upstairs and get the first aid kit and some ice for his face and hand. I also need to grab him water and painkillers. He nods, so I get it all as quickly as I can.
When I return, he is sat exactly as I left him but with his head in his hands. I move over to him and he lifts his head to look at me. His lips quirk up at the corners when I smile at him.
“I am not even going to attempt to get you upstairs and into bed, so you can stay here. Let’s get you comfy, then I’ll clean you up and put this ice on you to try to reduce some of the bruising. Arms up.” He does as he’s told, and I carefully pull his polo shirt over his head, minding his cuts and bruises. I lean down and pull his shoes and socks off, and then I pull the duvet aside ready for him.
“Right, lie down with your head on the pillow; then, you’re going to have to help me with your jeans.” He follows my orders, undoes his fly, then lifts his hips so I can pull them off. I cover him over, trying my best not to take advantage of his almost naked state in my bed. I clean up his cuts, making him wince before grabbing the ice bags and placing one on his eye and grabbing his left hand to hold it in place, then I turn his right hand o
ver and rest the second bag over his knuckles.
“Are you going to be okay while I go in the bathroom to get changed?”
“Umm,” he groans, so I take that as a yes, grab a pair of pyjamas, and head to the bathroom.
When I emerge ten minutes later, ready for bed, I’m surprised to see him awake, sat up drinking the water and looking at me. I was sure he was going to pass out as soon as I left the room.
“Hey. How you doing?”
“I’m fine. Come on, get in.”
I walk round to the other side of the bed and climb in. I lie on my back, staring at the ceiling for a few minutes. I can feel Ryan looking at me. I look over to him and smile.
“I really hate him,” Ryan states. “And your parents, and Emma a bit right now.” As he says this, his arm comes around my stomach and pulls me to him, until he is spooning me.
“Ry, can we not talk about them please? I just want to forget them. Let’s go to sleep.” I feel him kiss the top of my head and settle in for the night.
I lie awake in Ryan’s arms for ages, but it doesn’t take long before I hear his breathing slow. My mind is running around all the events that happened this evening. Firstly, Ryan and his reaction to me, then Megan pointing out that he spent the whole time in the Indian ignoring everyone’s conversations and focusing his attention on me. Then, obviously, the dancing. Yes, I knew it was a bit on the risqué side, but we were drunk and having a laugh. And if I’m being honest with myself, having his hands all over me was just too fucking awesome for words. Everywhere he touched tingled with heat. It wasn’t like I was about to drag him down to the loos and have my way with him; at least, I don’t think I would have, if Emma didn’t interrupt us. Emma - she’s my biggest problem. I don’t know what to do about her. Do I try to go and see her and talk to her, or do I let her stew for a while and hope she comes to the conclusion that she overreacted? But what if she tells Susan and Pete, and they are on her side? I don’t want to fall out with them, too. Max and his scumbag friend – well, I really don’t care about them, other than that Ryan is now hurt because of them. I am glad I left him when I did; he really is a dickhead. Then, I’m back to Ryan again. It’s becoming clear the attraction I feel towards him is two-sided, not one, like I initially thought; but what are we supposed to do about it?
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