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I thought for a moment. “I definitely want to vent. I don’t want to hold this shit in. Ineverwant that to happen again. It was terrifying, honestly.”
Both of them looked at me with pity in their eyes. Then without speaking, Luna stood to get the liquor, and Justin headed into the kitchen to grab glasses. It was weird how they could do things like that without verbally communicating, but it was interesting. I guess it showed how close they were.
When he returned, we each poured a measure of bourbon and sat on my bed, back against the headboard. I told them everything from what happened with Damian in the hall to me doing my best impression of Cersei Lannister. As expected, they’d heard all about the walk of shame, but as usual, it was twisted as hell.
After venting, having a couple of drinks, and smoking a little, I felt a thousand times better. Given my mom was an alcoholic, I knew not to let this become normal for me—drinking to numb my pain. However, I didn’t see anything wrong with this one particular instance. That being said, when I met my therapist in a few days, I was sure he’d have something to say about it.
Oh, well. That was a problem for another day. I’d never heard of anyone accusing eighteen-year-olds of having excellent problem-solving skills or any type of management skills. Money, time, emotional, etc.
Around one, the three of us curled up in my bed, and I slept soundly for the first time in months.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
TEMPERANCE
Morning came way too soon. I woke up at 5:45 AM, just a few minutes before my alarm was due to go off at six. When I did, I found Justin’s arm wrapped tightly around me. My first thought was of how comfortable it was, but that was immediately blown out of my mind when his hard dick throbbed against my ass.
I involuntarily inhaled sharply as heat rocketed through me. Suddenly, I felt conflicted. It wasn’t like he could help it. He was asleep. So, I figured I should wake him up and let him know he needed to roll over. Then again, would that be embarrassing? My alarm was supposed to go off in fifteen minutes, anyway. I wondered if I should just letitdo the embarrassing work while I pretended to still be asleep, but that seemed wrong.
His arm tightened around me, pulling me closer as he ground his hips into me from behind. It took everything I had not to make some god-awful, humiliating noise. My hand made the decision for me as it jerked back to his hip to still him.
He groaned, and again, I had to fight one of my own because it sounded sexy as hell. Justin was my best friend. I didn’t want to think of him like that. Especially when I already had Damian and Asher up my ass all the damn time.
Justin didn’t even blink when I told him what happened with Damian and me in the hallway the day before. He really didn’t judge at all. Or maybe he just didn’t care at all because he sure as hell didn’t think of me the same way I thought of him right then—and I knew that to be true.
Holy hell, I’m a terrible person.
“Mmm,” he moaned and shifted as he started to wake up. “Good morning.” His voice came out sleepy and rather adorable.
“Uh, good morning,” I said quietly, trying not to wake Luna yet.
“Why are you holding me like that?” he asked.
That’s a good question. “Uh… well… you were kind of… grinding into me.”
There was a pause. “Oops. Sorry. I was having a sexy dream. I guess that carried over to the real world. I apologize.”
“No, it’s okay. No worries. I just… yeah. I wasn’t exactly sure how to handle the situation,” I said.
He rolled over on his back, causing me to both sigh in relief and also mentally groan at the loss.
“You have enough guy troubles. I wouldn’t want to add to it. It’s whatever. I’m not embarrassed. You shouldn’t be, either.”
“I see,” I said. The almighty god of indifference. Of course, he wouldn’t care.
“How did you sleep?” he asked.
“Well,Islept a whole lot better before the two of you started in,” Luna complained as she rolled over to face me. “But since we’re all awake now, did you have any nightmares? I was passed out pretty hard, but I didn’t hear you screaming or feel you jerking around.”
“I think I actually slept through the night. I don’t remember dreaming about anything. Not sure if it was the two of you being here or the goodies you brought. Whichever it was, it worked.”
“I’m just going to throw this out there… From a purelyresponsiblepoint of view, I’d recommend contributing it to us sleeping over,” Justin said. “I don’t want you to think it was the liquor and you start using that as a coping mechanism.”
I huffed an unamused laugh. “My mother was a raging alcoholic. Tempting as it may be, liquor is for recreation only. Last night was the first time I’ve ever drank when so upset. I think it’ll be the last, too. I don’t want to accidentally fall in the same pitfall she did. No, I think I’ll stick with my new unhealthy obsession of flirting with guys who are assholes.”
“And getting fingered in the hallway. Don’t forget getting fingered in the hallway.”
I looked over at Justin, my eyes narrowed. “Yes. Let’s not forget that.”