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Chapter Eight

Charlotte

“What do you mean you’re just now heading home?” Maisie’s voice carries through the car speakers as I merge onto the freeway, having just left River’s apartment a few short minutes ago.

Only a few miles separate us, and yet, every pore in my body mourns the loss of his nearness. I want to turn around and go back so badly I can taste it.

Much to my delight, River seemed as reluctant to let me go as I was to leave, which explains why I ended up staying another night and didn’t leave until this morning when he had to head into the office.

“Lyric said you left Friday afternoon.” Her voice is still thick with sleep and given that it’s not even nine in the morning, I think it’s a safe bet that my phone call woke her up.

“I did. I just didn’t go home.” I smile to myself, remembering exactlywhereI spent the weekend—pinned beneath River, looking up into those hunter-green eyes as he drove into me over and over again, taking my body to places I never even dreamed it could go.

God, just the memory has my skin heating to an uncomfortable level.

“Char?” Her tone is riddled with a hundred questions that she efficiently asks with that one word.

“Yes?” My smile widens to the point of practically splitting my face in half.

“Where have you been all weekend?” she asks, though the way she asks tells me she already knows. Her next words solidify this fact. “You were with River, weren’t you?”

“Yes,” I practically squeal.

“And given that Lyric hasn’t said a peep to me, I’m assuming she doesn’t know.”

“No.” I shake my head, even though she can’t see me. “But she did show up while I was there and I ended up hiding in River’s room.”

“Tell me you’re joking.”

“I wish I were.” I blow out a breath, her statement bringing me back down to reality quick, fast, and in a hurry.

I’ve been so overwhelmed by River, by everything that happened this weekend, that I’ve yet to let the guilt of my actions sink in. My best friend came over to visit her brother and I hid in his room, his cum still warm inside of me. The thought makes me feel nauseous.

“Charlotte.” Maisie sighs audibly. “I was fine keeping your secret when you two were just talking... But this.”

I can see her shaking her head in disapproval as if she were standing right in front of me.

“I know it makes me an awful friend, but, Mais, I can’t help it. I want him,” I admit. “And I know I shouldn’t burden you with this, but I had to tell someone. If I didn’t, I was going to explode.”

“And there wasn’t some friend at home you could tell? One who wouldn’t be betraying one of her best friends just by knowing this information?”

“They wouldn’t understand. Not like you do.”

“You are putting me in an impossible position. You know that, right?”

“I’m sorry... I—”

“So how was it?” she interrupts, a hint of resignation to her voice, like she knows now and there’s no changing it, so she might as well know the details too.

“Incredible!” I practically squeal with the excitement that bubbles out of me like lava erupting from a volcano that’s been dormant for decades. “He is... Oh my God, Mais, I don’t even think I can find the words.”

“That good, huh?”

“Even better than what you’re probably imagining.”

“Fuck me.” She groans. “If he fucks even half as good as he looks...” She trails off. “So, are you two like together now?”

“Not exactly. But he did say he would like to see me again.”