by Chloe Morgan
“Serenity, don’t,” I said.
“I have to go,” she whispered.
As she pulled from my grasp and walked away from me, I just sat there, unsure what to do next.
11
Serenity
I hung up the phone and jumped off my bed. I couldn’t believe it. CSU was calling me back for a second interview! I rejoiced in my room as I clapped my hands, my mind spinning a thousand times a second. I hoped and prayed this was the break I had been looking for. If I could snag this position, I’d break even on all my bills, be able to put some away in a savings account, and get my own place. I was one step closer to achieving what I needed to piece my life together!
I ran downstairs and rejoiced with my parents.
“We’re so proud of you, sweetheart.”
“When’s the interview, honey?”
“Do you know what you’re going to wear?”
“Do you want someone to come with you?”
“What happens after this interview?”
“How long will you have to wait?”
My parents bombarded me with questions, and I answered them at lightning speed. The interview was at the end of this week, and if all went well, I’d hear back from them before the end of the next week. I hugged their necks and jumped up and down with them, excited that things felt as if they were finally falling into place.
Except with Chase.
I couldn’t help but think about how things had ended with Chase a few nights ago. I felt terrible for walking out on him. He already was stressed by what was going on with his mother. I should have stayed and talked to him. I didn’t need to add to his stress. I didn’t need to be throwing around my stupid emotions and putting more on his plate. If anything, I owed him that conversation after walking out on him.
I made my way back upstairs and called Chase, prepared to invite him out for lunch on the last of the money I had at my disposal, but he didn’t pick up.
All I got was his voicemail.
I needed to talk to someone. I needed help sorting out my mind. I called Kayla and got her to pick up after the first ring. I invited her out to lunch, and she was more than happy to meet me at our coffee shop.
But she also knew something was wrong.
“Okay, sweet cheeks. Cough it up. What’s going on?” she asked.
I sat down with the mint chocolate Frappuccino that matched hers and pulled out my cinnamon roll.
“Well, the good news is that I got a call back for a job. A second interview,” I said.
“Holy shit, that is good news! So why do you look like someone just ran over your hamster?” Kayla asked.
“Because I had a fight with Chase this past weekend.”
“Uh-oh.”
“After Shawn saw us together at a pizza joint.”
“Double uh-oh.”
“And after we had confirmed to him that it was a date,” I said.
“And you’re still breathing?” she asked.
“It was all so much at once. Chase defended our point of view with regards to it being a date. Said we were both adults. I told Shawn I wanted it to be a date, and the two of them got into it. After Shawn stormed out, I admitted to Chase that my brother had told me the reason he didn’t want us together was because of Chase’s reputation with women.”
“Well, it’s not the greatest. Even I know this.”
“He asked me if I thought he’d treat me like that, and I wasn’t sure how to answer him,” I said.
“Uh-oh.”
“Yeah. Uh-oh. It devolved from there, and I ended up point-blank asking him if things would have been different years ago if we had opened up about our feelings.”
“I’m not going to even ask how that question came about. What did he say?” she asked.
“He didn’t say anything. He just…paused.”
“Fuck.”
“The only thing I could think to do was get up and leave.”
“You left him there?”
“I know. I know. It was shitty, okay? I shouldn’t have left,” I said.
“You shouldn’t have fought with him at all. You’re already not like the other girls because he’s come back for seconds, Serenity.”
Her words slammed into me and made me feel like an idiot.
“Shit,” I said.
“Yeah. You know damn good and well the two of you belong together. Hell, I knew it all those years ago.”
“Belong together?” I asked.
“Stop playing dumb. I get that you have this weird thing about not wanting to jinx things, but you really gotta face facts when they’re staring you in the face. Or fucking you in a janitor’s closet.”
“Seriously?” I asked.
“Seriously. Look, Serenity. You know I’ll never sugarcoat shit for you. Ever. So there are two things I take away from this. One, you’re an idiot and you never should have left. And two, Chase won’t stay mad at you for long, if he’s even mad at all.”
“I know he’s mad. I called him before I called you and he didn’t pick up.”
“Ouch. Okay. But still, you know he’ll call you back eventually and the two of you will work things out. And you will work them out. Which means you’ll talk. Right?” she asked.
“Right.” I sighed.
At least, I hoped she was right.
We finished our lunches, but I didn’t touch much of mine. Chase was on my mind the entire time. I hugged her neck and made my way back to the house, tossing my half-eaten cinnamon roll out. I left my Frappuccino on the kitchen counter to melt as I walked out onto the porch. I sat out there with a blanket wrapped around me, gazing into the distance.
I didn’t come to until the sun was setting and my cell phone rang in my pocket.
“Hello?” I asked.
“Hey, it’s me.”
“Chase?” I asked.
“I’m sorry I’m just now returning your call. I had to go into work at the last minute.”
“No, no, no. It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. It was just a lunch invite.”
“Well, I hate that I missed it,” he said.
“You do?”
There was that damn pause again, only this time I heard him take a breath.
“Yeah. I do,” he said.
I smiled as I watched the sun set over the tops of the trees.
“Chase, I’m sorry about how I behaved over the weekend. I never should have—”
“I get it, Serenity. I get why you got up,” he said.
“I still shouldn’t have walked out on you like that.”
“Then why don’t we try the date night again?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m free Friday night. Will you let me take you out to dinner? Can you do that?”
I smiled as I wrapped up tighter in the blanket.
“Yeah. I can do that,” I said.
“Good. I’ll pick you up around six.”
“I’m looking forward to it, Chase.”
“So am I, Serenity.”
There was something in his voice that made me believe he meant it.
12
Chase
I pulled into the driveway at Serenity’s parents’ house and felt my hands shake. I was nervous. I’d been nervous on the entire fucking ride over. Which was weird, because it was Serenity. I’d been out with her before on several occasions. We’d had a thing for two entire months. Seeing each other every day. Hooking up every day. Spending every waking moment we could squeeze in on the weekends together. Why did it feel different this time?
Probably because I’d been looking at apartments to rent all week.
I watched Serenity come out her front door and make her way to my car. I wasn’t ready to tell her I’d been looking at them until I actually signed for one. It was still nothing but an idea. An idea I hadn’t settled on because of my mother’s condition. I reached over and opened Serenity’s door, and she slid in.
The sigh that left her lips ripped me from my mind.
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“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Nothing, just hungry,” she said.
“Serenity.”
She slowly turned to look at me and her eyes said it all.
“What happened?” I asked.
“I got a call a few days ago for a second interview with a job at CSU. I thought things went well. They seemed to like me. But I heard from them this morning, and they informed me that they were going with someone else,” she said.
I reached over and took her hand.
“It’s their loss, Serenity,” I said.
“You don’t have to try and—”
“No, I’m serious. Look at me.”
Her eyes locked with mine, and I saw the hurt swimming around behind them.
“It’s their loss. You’re intelligent. You wouldn’t have a Master’s degree if you weren’t. You’re amazing at what you do. And passionate. I see it in your face whenever you talk about it. You’ll find the job that’s right for you, and when you do, we’ll go out and celebrate. I promise you that,” I said.
I watched a smile trickle across her cheeks and it seized my heart.
“What was the job for?” I asked.
“Research in a clinical psychology department,” she said.
“See? Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise. That doesn’t have shit to do with child psychology, which is what you want to do. Right?”
“Right. Wait, you remembered my degree?”
“Of course, I did. And, fuck ’em.”
“Chase,” she said, giggling.
“I’m serious. Fuck them. They don’t know what they passed up, and it opens you up to finding the job of your dreams. One where they will appreciate you for the knowledge you’ve cultivated over the years.”
She leaned over and kissed my cheek while threading our fingers together.
“I appreciate it, Chase.”
“No thanks needed for the truth. Now, come on. I’ve got a nice evening planned for us.”
I took her out to a nice restaurant where we ordered our food and listened to live music. I sipped my beer while she nursed a colorful martini, and the two of us eased into things like we hadn’t skipped a beat. We laughed, and we opened up. I told her my worries regarding my mother and her health. How I was petrified to lose her, but how I sometimes laid in my bed at night and thought that her passing away might be the only way for her to find peace. Serenity opened up to me as well. She told me about her fears surrounding her career. That she would get stuck in a desk job and not make a damn bit of difference in any child’s life.
I felt closer to her than I had anyone in a very long time, and I was excited for the second half of our date.
“Ready to blow this Popsicle stand?” I asked.
“Where are we going?” Serenity asked.
“Why don’t you come with me and you’ll see?”
I stood up and held out my hand. I gazed into her beautiful eyes, smiling as she took my hand. She was trusting me with her night, wherever I decided to take us. I walked her out to the car and opened her door. I helped her into her seat before I drove us across town to a club I was familiar with. The pounding of the bass moved our hips. The alcohol we held in our hands loosened us up. Her hips swiveled and my arm wrapped around her, pulling her effervescent body to mine. She ground those sweet ass cheeks into my cock. My face fell to the crook of her neck and I breathed in her earthy, sweaty scent. The bass kept time with our hearts. With our want. With our pulsing bodies that writhed against one another. Three hours into the dancing, we were so close people began to give us funny looks. My leg slid between hers. Her arms slipped around my neck. I nibbled her earlobe, and she sighed into my shoulder.
I felt the air mounting between us again, pulling me into a darkened corner of desire I couldn’t deny. I kissed her neck. I felt her mold to me. My arms slid around her back and we stopped dancing, just holding each other on the dance floor as people gyrated around us.
“Got the energy for one more stop?” I asked.
When she nodded against me, I scooped her up and carried her out of the club. I knew exactly where I wanted to take her. Somewhere that would make us feel like teenagers again.
I wanted to take her to my bedroom.
Which meant sneaking her past my parents while they were asleep.
13
Serenity
“Oh my gosh, that tickles,” I said, giggling.
Chase’s lips fell to mine as he tumbled onto his bed.
“We have to keep it down. We’ll wake up my parents,” he said, chuckling.
“Funny, you said that to me our first night together,” I said.
I looked up into Chase’s beautiful blue eyes and cupped his cheek. I smoothed my thumb over his scruff, watching as his eyes danced between mine. His bedroom. His bed. It was the same spot where we’d first had sex. He snuck me into his house and up to his bedroom, and it was there I’d lost my virginity at eighteen years of age. Underneath the body of a scrawny, lanky young man whose entirety had captured my attention.
Those memories only added fuel to my fire.
Our lips met and my hands ran through his hair. Our clothes came off. They fell to the floor, crumpled up by his bed. He kissed every inch of my body as we rolled around, trying not to tumble to the floor. I giggled against him. He captured my lips to silence me. Every touch set me on fire. Every throb of his cock made me want him inside my body. Between my legs. Filling me up in ways only he ever could.
“Chase. Please,” I whispered.
“That’s more like it,” he murmured.
He rolled over and gripped my ass, shuffling me up to his face. My pussy hovered over his lips as I clung to his headboard, gazing at him from above. He smirked at me, his eyes wild with delight. And when his arms wrapped around my thighs, he pulled me down onto his face.
He growled. “Sit on your throne, beautiful.”
I clapped my hand over my mouth and moaned into it. His tongue sank directly onto my clit, swirling around and making me shiver as my legs locked up. His hands fisted my ass, and he rolled me into him as my forehead fell to my arm. I rested my weakened body on the headboard, riding his face as his lips swelled against my undulations. He sucked at my clit, raced his tongue over it. He sank his fingers so far into my excess I knew he’d leave bruises behind.
But my moans grew. And he stopped long enough to catch my attention.
“Do I need to plug that hole of yours?” he asked.
I looked behind me at his leaking cock. Watching it pulse against his stomach. I groaned at the sight as I turned around, taking the reins and working my way to it. I turned around on his face. I planted my knees beside his cheeks. His hands gripped my ass, pulling me back down onto him as his hips lifted to my mouth.
“Oh—”
My sounds were muted as his cock slid into my mouth. Precome fell on my tongue as he shoved his way back into my throat. I fell into him, collapsed into his body as his dick stuffed my throat. I swallowed him all the way back. I closed my eyes, gagging around his girth as I adjusted to him again. My throat gave way to him as he devoured my pussy, and my moans didn’t make it past the back of my mouth.
I could cry out all I wanted, and no one would be able to hear me.
I planted my hands into his mattress. I rocked against his tongue as he pulled my ass cheeks apart. His heels planted into the bed, thrusting up into my mouth as my lips swelled with my sucking. Spit fell down his shaft, coating his balls and dancing in strands all the way to his bedsheets. I fucked his face. I ground against his tongue as he held it out for me to use. His cock grew thicker against my throat. Thicker against my swallowing. Thicker against my tongue as threads of precome dripped down the back of my throat.
His muffled growls of pleasure shook my rib cage as he buried himself into my pussy.
His tongue flicked in rapid-fire succession. My legs shook as I collapsed down onto him. My throat captured the rest of him, trapping him as it closed itself off. Fir
e shot through my veins. I watched his balls pull into his body. He grunted into my dripping pussy lips, signaling his end as I wrapped my arms around his legs.
I nuzzled my nose into his balls, and it was all he needed.
Muffled chants of his name broke at the back of my throat. I heard him lapping me up, swallowing as my juices poured onto his face. His cock throbbed with every jet stream of come that shot down my throat. Found its way into my stomach and filled me in a way no man had in six years.
Not since Chase had introduced me to this in the first place.
My body locked up. My toes curled so hard my legs cramped. I dug my nails into his legs, swallowing all of him down. And when his hips fell to the bed, I slowly worked his cock out from between my lips. I gasped for air as strings of spit and arousal connected my lips to his tip. I let my body fall off to the side, my heart pounding and my blood racing.
The last thing I remembered was Chase settling against me, his scruff dancing along the crook of my shoulder. He pulled the covers over my weak body as stars kept bursting in my vision.
I felt his arm snake around my waist before my eyes fell closed and I fell fast asleep in his arms.
Like I had the night I’d given my virginity to him.
14
Chase
Serenity and I woke up in the middle of the night for a second round, one that required me to put my hand over her mouth while she wailed into my palm. Watching her beautiful eyes roll into the back of her head took my breath away. Feeling her body pulse around mine as I held her close clenched my heart. We collapsed into my bed, heaving for air and sweating as we gazed into each other’s eyes.
Thank fuck, we got up and put some shirts back on.
“Chase, I’m feeling good this morning. Thought about making some—”
My head popped up as Serenity sank closer into my body. Her leg slipped between mine as my mother came walking through my bedroom door. Her eyes fell onto us, and a grin crossed her lips. I froze, not knowing what to do or say now that she had seen Serenity fast asleep, wrapped around my body.