Page 35 of Dirty Roulette

Chapter twenty-two

Payton

My brain is clearly in my panties. I down my seventh shot of tequila at this after-party and slam the glass on the counter while sucking on a lime.

Loud music booms, cheerleaders marvel at football players, and I’m fantasizing about sitting on Ryder’s face.

Any morals I possessed have been evicted with a pretty pink slip. They packed their bags and left.

Charlie just started playing a round of beer pong with Jared and Nick.

Giving me the perfect opportunity to disappear in the mesh of people.

I’m loopy, stumbling to the couch Ryder lounges on.

My insides boil into mush. Fingers quiver.

I straddled his lap on a whim, taking him away from whatever conversation he was having with other teammates.

The cheesy remark falls from my lips and whispers into his ears, “Your girlfriend wants to lick you.” Biting his earlobes, and nuzzling myself in his neck, I say, “All over. I want to lick you everywhere.”

He chuckles, running a hand over my chin. “Oh, yeah?” He lifts up both brows. His fingers brush the skin on my thighs as they sneak underneath my uniform. He leans into my ear. “Your boyfriend wants to hear you scream his name.”

I want his mouth on mine, and there is no way I’m waiting another twenty-four hours for him to make me explode underneath him. He grabs my hand, and we scurry off and lock ourselves in the bathroom.

Yanking on a fistful of his gorgeous dark hair, we kiss hard. I stumble back, my ass hitting the countertop of the sink. His mouth devours me. The aftertaste of vanilla and whiskey greets the roof of my mouth. There isn’t a second to breathe with the way our tongues are dancing.

In one swoop, he plants me on the counter, ripping my spandex off and spreading my legs with force. Once his lips meet my opening, the back of my head hits the mirror hard, and we both burst into laughter.

“Calm down. Don’t break it.” He laughs.

“Shut up.”

He peppers my inner thigh with kisses. “Don’t tempt me. I won’t let you come.”

“No, I want you,” I whine. His fingers engrave their mark into my thighs.

“Convince me.”

I yank on his hair, bringing him back between my thighs. He kisses my opening like he does my mouth. His tongue dips inside, and brushes against my clit, gentle with care. I thrust my hips into his mouth, whimpering until the sucking and nibbles have me slipping on the marble.

“Don’t stop,” I beg.

I’m cursing and my legs aren’t working as his tongue laps over the bundle of nerves throbbing for a release.

He buries his face, kissing, licking and sucking.

The music outside bumps, and the buzz swimming in my head has me being extra carefree.

I’m moaning. Loud. “Ryder!” It’s building.

My thighs tingle and I’m on the brink of rapture.

“I love your tongue. You’re going to make me. ..!”

Too late. He flicks his tongue faster, and I finally explode.

I can’t think straight as it spreads all over my body.

“Oh, my god, Ryder...” My orgasm lasts longer than I expect, sizzling across my skin through every nerve ending from my head to my toes.

In those seconds, I’m convinced I’m in love with him.

Ryder showers my inner thigh with kisses until my tremors subside.

With a satisfied grin, he licks the edges of his lips.

Oh, my God. Does that mean he likes the way I taste?

Either I’m really drunk or the fuzzy happy smile on his face makes me even hornier.

Before I can overthink it, I’m pushing myself off the counter and fighting with the button on his jeans.

We stumble to the wall next to the towel rack.

“Jeez Payt...”

Ryder slips, righting himself with the rack and knocking off the neatly folded towels to the floor. One hard tug as I drop to my knees, and his jeans are riding low on his waist.

His hard-on springs out of his boxers, and like a cherry popsicle, I take all of him into my mouth.

My tongue worships his throbbing length.

“Oh, shit.” Ryder uses both hands and grabs my pigtails, fisting them.

I’m slurping him up, wanting to hold the title of giving him the best blowjobs this world has ever seen.

His heartbeat pounds in his veins, and it’s beating along my tongue, milking every inch of him.

My lips are soaking wet, slobbering all over his dick. I let him fuck my mouth slow, thrusting in and out. His eyes are glossy, and he’s parting his mouth, groaning in pleasure. “Shit... yes, like that.” The back of his head hits the wall.

He jerks, as he squirts into my mouth, and an endless amount of liquid candy slides down my throat.

BANG BANG BANG. Two fists rap loudly on the door. “Hurry the hell up!” A chick yells from the other side. Ryder’s dick pops out of my mouth and I almost yelp as I cover my lips with both hands.

“Fuck off!” Ryder leans his head against the wall with his brows narrowing.

“Ryder? Is that you?”

“Charlie?” He asks.

“Open the damn door!” The handle rattles. "I need to piss!"

My heart leaps out of my chest, each beat echoing in my ears. The frantic knock on the door resounds, and my back hits the wall.

“You gotta be kidding.” Ryder whispers and pulls up his jeans, buttoning them up. “We need to tell her.” The vein in his neck pulsates, and the pleasure once gleaming in his eyes molds into a serious expression.

“No...” I whimper, and I’m flooded with emotions and a serpent coils around my neck, constricting me so hard I can’t catch my breath. “She’s... she’s…” I’m trembling, nauseous. All the drinks swimming in my stomach are about to resurface.

“I want to be with you, Payton. Just tell her.”

I throw my finger up to his lips, “Shh... no, no. Please.” I’m shaking all over. Goosebumps prickle every inch of my body like the devil just touched my skin. Tears stream down my cheeks. I’m mixed with hot flashes and cold sweats that are ripping out my spine.

“Open the fucking door!” She pounds her fists and I feel the wall shaking all around me.

“Payton,” he whispers in anger.

“Please, please no.” I clench my eyes shut, crumbling into a puddle on the floor. “You don’t get it. She’ll never forgive me.” I clench the base of my pigtails, yanking on my hair.

“Yes, she will! Don’t do this.”

“I can't… I can't.”

Ryder snaps his head away, his cheeks flush as he breathes hard through his nose. He bites his bottom lip, his brows raising up. “Fine.” He tosses me my black spandex, and I put them on, but I’m shaking all over the place. My mouth waters and I can’t seem to stop the tears.

“Ryder...” I beg. The screws on the door knob are coming loose as she shakes the handle again.

“Hurry up!” She screams, and I’m sweating all over.

“Piss off, why don’t you!” He scouts back at her, running a hand through his hair as he glances at every inch of the bathroom.

“Are you jerking your shit or something?” Charlie’s voice breaks through my ribcage. I must be pulling out every hair follicle on my scalp.

He shouts back, “Go find a bush or something!”

“It’s the only bathroom here, dumbass! Are you hiding someone in there or what?

” The bangs are like shotguns ricocheting through the door.

Once she crashes in, she might as well shoot me in the head.

There is no place to hide other than an obvious closet or even more obvious vomit green bathtub. It’s a done deal once we open the door.

Charlie always gave me subtle hints that if I ever dated her brother, we would never be friends again.

I get it. She would be stuck in the middle of a relationship that may never work.

Especially with Ryder fractured by a girl I’ll never match up to.

His disheveled hair. My pigtails are undone.

Makeup and lipstick residue on Ryder’s neck give it all away.

“Hey... hey,” he whispers and picks me up by the forearm. “You don’t need to cry.” Warm hands grasp my cheeks, and he strokes them with his thumbs before kissing me hard on the lips. When he pulls away, he yanks the closet door open. “Get in and leave when she’s done.”

I squeeze into the closet, the dark swallowing me behind with the old musky towels. I cover my mouth with a hand as he pushes the closet door closed.

"Ryder!"

“God, you’re annoying!” he shouts.

“Who are you with in here? Hmm?” she questions, and I hear the shower curtain whip aside.

“No one.”

I’m motionless, not blinking or inhaling a single oxygen molecule. It’s that game I used to play in elementary, holding my breath as long as I could, counting the seconds until I’m blue.

“Have you seen Payton?” she asks.

I stare at the thin seam of light along the closet doorframe.

“No... why?”

“I dunno. Maybe it’s the fact you switched seats with Nick on the flight to sit next to her. Then you’re all over her after the game.”

“Okay, I hugged her after the game. So what?”

“I get you said to trust you but come on. I’m not sure how I feel about you messing around with my best friend.”

“I’m not, but I gotta ask, why? If I did want her, why can’t I be with her?” he asks.

“Why?” She coughs up a laugh. “I know her better than you.”

“You act like we didn’t both grow up with the same person,” he argues.

“She’s insecure with every part of herself!”

“So what? Who isn’t these days?” he asks.

“You’re not over Brittni, and if you were, you wouldn’t be playing both sides.

You haven’t blocked her, you haven’t stopped letting her touch you.

I see the way you look at both of them, and it’s messed up.

You look at Brittni like she broke your heart, and you look at Payton like you know you’re about to break hers. You’re gonna hurt her. Then what?”

“Who said I’m going to break her heart?” he asks.

“She’s not some rebound, you asshole!”

“I don’t see her that way!”

“You can’t date her!” Charlie shouts.

“That’s not your choice!” he screams back.

“You told Brody you weren’t over the night he was with Brittni. You’re going to break Payton’s heart, and nothing between me and her will ever be the same! You’re such a selfish prick.”

There is a pause. “God, you must be drunk. So you’re talking to him again?” Ryder asked.

“Yes...”

“Wow... okay. So now what, you’re gonna take him back like you always do? What about this Noah guy, huh? I’m gonna say it again – Payton needs to talk to you about this.”

“Don’t make me choose between you two,” Charlie says.

“Then don’t. Choose her.”

“It’s not that simple, and you know it.”

“It is simple. You two just make it complicated!”

“Can I pee now?” she asks.

“Yeah...”

The door slams, and the lock clicks. The lid of the toilet smacks against the porcelain tank. A thousand gallons of urine pour out of Charlie sitting right next to me. I swallow, and it’s so loud in my ears I’m sure she can hear every drop of saliva sinking down my dry throat.

A faint dial tone hits my ears from the other side of the closet door. Within a second the buzz on my phone vibrates with her name cruising across the screen. I curse in silence and power down my cell.

“Where are you?” She complains, and I subtly hear her sniffle. “I can’t fucking do this anymore.” Her voice tremors.

One subtle movement and the rubber of my white sneakers will squeak.

“What the hell?! Answer your phone!” She cries. If I move, she’ll see the silhouette of my shadow in the closet. “Why do I even care anymore?” The toilet flushes and water from the sink turns on and off. The door opens and shuts again. “All you do is ignore me now.”

My head spins, in a dizzy, horrifying way. It’s like I’m on a carousel without brakes. I’m saturated with tears staining my cheeks and it’s smearing my makeup. Charlie has always been observant, and her merely saying he isn’t over Brittni’s sinks through layers of muscles and deep into my bones.

Are they really going to mold back together once this stupid game is finished? After several minutes of crouching in the cramped closet, I sit up. My sneakers squeak against the tile as I stand up.