Page 4

I had to jump through so many hoops to get this girl’s phone number. When I sent her my phone number in the email, I expected an immediate reply.

I checked my phone every five minutes and every time it beeped with a notification, to see if it was her. What is wrong with me? I am not someone who mopes over a girl. But she is not just any girl. Her eyes…that tiny mole under her eyes and her red lips…I could go on and on.

I was pissed at myself when I fell asleep and she left my place last week without telling me her name. And then she pretended that we didn’t even know each other when she met to interview me. That hurt.

I had called up Beck to ask about her, and he said that she was his frat brother- Jake’s girlfriend’s best friend. He gave me his number. So I called up Jake and asked him for Riya’s phone number.

He was hesitant at first, but he agreed to give me the number after I made a reservation for him and his girlfriend at one of the finest restaurants in Boston and he couldn’t refuse. He sent me Riya’s number and said that he was going to take his girlfriend out on a date tonight and thanked me.

Works for me. That means that Riya is then probably free tonight. I hung up and saved her number as Raven immediately in my contacts.

◆◆◆

I hit the call button and wait as the call rings.

“Hello?” I hear a panting voice.

“Are you at the gym?” I ask her.

“Sorry, who is this?” she asks and it ignites something competitive in me. She didn’t save my number.

“You didn’t save my number, Raven?” I say in my signature cocky voice.

“James…” she says and I freeze. It’s like all the air in my lungs escapes and I suddenly forget to breathe.

“Hello?” she says after I don’t respond for a couple of seconds. I shake off that feeling.

“It’s Marcus.” I correct her, taking in deep breaths.

“Yes, Marcus.” she pants softly and then clears her throat.

“Are you at the gym?” I ask again. Curiosity killed the cat and blah blah.

“No. I …am at home.” she says hesitantly.

“What are you doing?” I ask and there’s a long pause. Is she with someone who is making her pant like this? My blood boils. I can’t bear the thought of other men touching her.

“Nothing…um…I was just…reading.” She lies.

“You are panting. If you are with your boyfriend, you can just tell me that.” Then I remember her mentioning someone named Raj twice during the interview. The way she smiled to herself after saying his name made me feel…what? I barely know this girl!

“I don’t do boyfriends and no, I am alone. Like I said…I was cycling.” she says.

“You said you were reading before, Raven.” I laugh with…relief? She doesn’t do boyfriends… Interesting.

“Yes. I was reading and cycling. What’s with all the questions? Are you my dad or something?” She sounds annoyed.

“No, but you can call me daddy.” I smirk. Okay… I admit it! Even for me, it was cringe. But the words had left my mouth and I couldn’t take them back.

“If your smirk had a noise, I’d be able to hear it through the phone right now. And ew. That was cringe. Does that line work for you?” She says, sounding intrigued. Man this girl knows me and it makes my heart race. A wide smile spreads across my face.

I rub my hand through my hair, smiling to myself. “Is it working?” I ask.

There’s a long pause. “You wish.” and I just know that she is smiling ear to ear right now.

“If your smile had a voice, I’d be able to hear it through the phone right now.” and she chuckles. I wish I was there to see her smile like that.

“What do you want, James?” she says, clearing her throat.

My brows furrow and my heart paces again as she calls me James! Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate it, it just…drives me crazy in a way that I’m still figuring out if I love or hate. “Why do you call me James?” I ask her out of curiosity.

“Why do you call me Raven? At least your middle name is James. Raven has nothing to do with my name. Anyway, what do you want?”

“I was–”

She cuts me off and her tone is now that of realisation. “James, how did you get my phone number?” Shit. How do I tell her?

Jake had specifically asked me not to tell her that he gave me her number. “I have my sources.” I say, not wanting to explain how many hoops I had to jump through and I definitely did not want to out Jake.

“Sure. What do you want? And no, I am not tutoring you.”

“We’ll talk about that.” A challenge. I like that.

“I’m hanging up now.” she says.

I had received a “prompt out” email from Professor Bart, regarding this situation and I told her that I had no issues whatsoever and was in fact looking forward to all the interviews. “If you don’t tutor me, I am not doing the interview. And I know that you cannot change your partner unless I complain about it. So, Raven, be a good girl and help a man in need here.” She sighs.

Maybe I am evil. But I love being evil, as long as I get what I want.

“You can dream on, Marcus. I’ll gather information about you from the internet for the interview. Now stop wasting my time and lose this number. Bye.” she hangs up on me.

I am speechless. This is the first time someone hung up on me. No one hangs up on me. I call her back and she picks up on the last ring.

“I thought I told you to lose this number.” she grunts.

“Send me your address. We’ll talk about this in person.” I say as I pick my car keys and head outside.

“I am not telling you shit, Williams.” I stop in the middle of the flight of stairs.

“I am not playing here, Raven. Send me your address. Now.” I say in a more serious voice. Usually women are the first ones to send me their address even when I don’t ask them to, but her… Mmm . She wakes something primal inside me.

“You can fuck yourself. I am not telling you shit, Marcus.” she barks at me. And I am teleported to the night we met, when she was telling me all the things she wanted to do to me. Damnit! I’m hard as fuck now.

I was going to hold onto this card for longer, seeing how she didn’t remember anything about that night. But it’s a shame that I have to use it this early into the game. But I guess, I’d take this win for now. “That’s not what you said that night. I remember clearly what all you wanted to do to me, Raven. And fucking myself was not in the plan.” I tease her and there's silence.

Ah! I got her .

“I…What– I…” she is nervous.

“Your address.” I say clearly.

“I–I’ll text it to you.” a wide grin spreads across my face.

“Good girl.” I say and hang up the call. I have never been so proud of myself for staying sober at a party and not sleeping with the most beautiful woman I have laid my eyes on.

◆◆◆

Her place is about a 15 minute drive from my place. I knock on her apartment door and I hear the sound of dancing bells. The same ones that she wore to the party. I take a deep breath in and out.

When she opens the door, her hair is in a messy bun, she’s wearing loose pyjamas and glasses. I wonder how it would be like to come over her glasses. No, Marcus! We are not going there!

She just points inside the house in an annoying way and groans as I walk inside and close the door behind me.

“That’s one way to treat your guests, Raven.” I chuckle.

“It’s the only way to treat intruders, Williams.” She is feisty. I love that she always has a comeback for whatever I say.

I walk into the living room and see food laid out on the table. There’s enough for four people, but I don’t see anyone and her roommate is on a date with her boyfriend.

I walk towards the table and take a seat. If she is calling me an intruder, I might as well act as one. “Did you order food for me? That was so sweet of you, Raven.”

“Can’t you call me Riya for once?” she pouts.

Adorable.

She is freaking cute.

She sits on the couch and presses play on the TV. Ignoring me completely. I guess she wants me to feel at home! So I sit right next to her and grab a spoon for the food. She doesn’t mind it when I do that, so I play along.

“What are we watching?” I ask her.

“I–” she emphasises. “Am watching Lust stories.” she says as she takes a bite of her food.

“Okay. And whose lusting on whom?” she turns to look at me with that look on her face as if she’s turned on right now. I’m not sure though. It’s difficult to read her.

She grunts in an annoyed way looking at me and turns her attention back on the screen. A woman on the screen starts to pant on screen. Is she–? Yep. She is having an orgasm in front of what looks like her boyfriend or husband, his mother and some other woman. My gaze adverts towards my Raven.

She’s biting her lower lip watching that. I wonder what she would look like, coming on my tongue. And I am more hard now.

She shifts in her seat and crosses her leg over. I know what she’s doing and that’s just turning me on. Fuck. This is torture.

I move closer to her and lean in her ear. “I can make you come better than that.” I whisper in her ear and her body stiffens. I can see goosebumps on her ear and I can’t help but chuckle.

She finally turns off the TV and turns to face me.

“You said that you remembered that night?” she gets straight to the point. “So you’re saying that you weren’t drunk?” I see she’s going to ignore my comment earlier and jump straight to the point.

“That’s exactly what I am saying.” I look straight into her eyes and she’s nervous. And then I remember. I have never done it sober . She’d told me. She probably doesn’t know how sex feels like then. Something primitive inside me awakens. I could make her feel that. No, I want to be the only one who makes her feel that.

“I thought that…” she takes a deep breath in and out. And god, I want to kiss her. “I thought that you were too drunk to remember me, because you didn’t bring it up when we met that day.” she nervously plays with a strand of her hair which falls out of her bun.

I turn to face her. “I didn’t bring it up because it seemed like you didn’t want me to.”

“I thought it was because I was bad at it, that you didn’t have fun.” I’m confused now. Does she think that we had sex that night?

“Raven–”

“I’m sorry if it was bad, or if you didn’t have fun.” she looks down at her feet. How do I tell this woman that she could make me come with just her gaze, with her words. How do I tell her how hard I am, fighting the urge to bend her over right now and make her moan my name until the sun rises again. I gulp hard and bring my hand towards her face and tilt her face to face me.

“We didn’t have sex, Riya.” I say in a monotone.

She looks up at me with that same gaze which could make me come so hard. It’s her big beautiful brown coloured doe eyes! I am definitely going to jerk off to this look when I go back.

I spot a subtle note of disappointment in her tone and her expression. And even though it sounds like relief, I am going to tell myself that it was disappointment. “We didn’t?” she asks me. I just nod to her. Then her expression changes.

She looks away from me, towards the TV and says, “Yeah, I mean it makes sense. Duh! I know I am not the type of girl you would go for.”

If only you could read my mind right now, Raven.