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twenty-one

Knox

“Cheaters. Every last fucking one of you,” Lane says, pointing at each of us around the table. Because what do four professional baseball players do when they have two nights off? They play Monopoly, apparently…

“You landed on a property with hotels, man,” Josh says to Lane. “That’s how the game goes.”

“The hotels are on fucking Boardwalk. You’re robbing me blind, Garro.”

“Damn,” Cole says. “I forgot how much of a sore loser Brooks is.”

“Reminds me of why we never play fucking board games with him,” I grumble.

“Hey, there’s the grumpy Knox I’ve always known,” Josh says, slapping a hand on my shoulder. “Been a while since we’ve seen you.”

“Yeah,” Cole says. “Ever since he started dating my sister, he’s a completely different person, isn’t he?” He smiles widely, clearly amused.

Lane smirks. “Completely different. Had he ever smiled before Harlow?”

I groan, mostly at Cole and Lane, seeing as they know we aren’t actually dating. But Josh has no idea, so they’re milking the hell out of this since I can’t deny it with him here. “Fuck off. I smiled before Harlow.”

“Not nearly as much,” Cole replies, pleased with himself.

“I mean, regular sex certainly puts a smile on my face,” Josh says.

“That’s still my sister, man,” Cole replies as he kicks Josh under the table.

“Who just so happens to be dating this guy over here. Don’t be naive, Cole.”

“We’re, uh…” I rub my neck awkwardly. “We’ve not actually… slept together.”

With Josh’s look of surprise, he misses the smirks on both Lane and Cole’s faces. “That’s… surprising,” he finally says. “Wouldn’t have pegged you for the holding out type, man.”

I sigh. “It’s complicated,” I reply, running a hand over my face. “Definitely not a discussion I want to get into, though.”

Why don’t I want to get into it? Because I can’t say that Harlow is constantly on my mind now. That I jack off fucking daily in the shower to the thought of her. That I so desperately want to know how she moans as I sink my cock into her. I want to know how she tastes, the sounds she makes, the look on her face as she comes.

I don’t know if I’ve ever wanted somebody as bad as I want her right now. My fantasies about her aren’t new, but the way I feel around her is. And whatever that is could surely only complicate things.

We need to keep this arrangement professional. Kisses and affection when people are around and nothing more.

Pure fucking torture .

“So,” Lane says to Josh, breaking the silence that filled the room. “How’s the wedding planning going?”

“Really well,” Josh says with a smile. “We’ve already set a date in December of this year.”

“That’s awesome,” Cole states. “You’ll even have some time for the honeymoon before next season starts,” he adds with a wink.

I stand from the table, walk to the fridge, and pull out four beers. “I say we properly celebrate. We haven’t had a chance to do that yet.”

The men all agree, so I walk back to the table and spread the beers around. We toast and sip before diving back into meaningless conversation. And thank fuck we did because I really need to get my mind off Harlow tonight.

Harlow

Knoxxxx

Wht are doingggg?

Knox

Am I meeting Drunk Harlow for the first time?

I’ve been wondering when I would

Harlow

What if im nt drunk?

Knox

If you’re not drunk right now, I’d say we need to get you checked out at the hospital

Harlow

Awww, yu care about me sooo much

Knox

Can you even stand right now, Freckles?

Harlow

Duh

I cn’t danceee if Im sittin down

Knox

I don’t think there’s anything I can say to that

You good, though?

Harlow

I feel grateeeee

Knox

At least you feel good

Because you can’t spell for shit right now

Harlow

Ella sys to spot talking to u and dnce

Knox

Then go dance, Lo

Then get your ass home to sober up

“How the fuck do you go from bitching about landing on Boardwalk to kicking the rest of our asses, Lane? How the hell is that possible?” Cole yells, tossing the rest of his Monopoly money onto the table.

“And you call me a sore loser,” Lane replies, chuckling and fanning his cash out before him.

“Guys, it’s fucking Monopoly,” I cut in. “Chill the fuck out.”

“I seem to recall you grumbling a while ago, Fort,” Josh pipes in.

“I fucking hate this game,” I mutter under my breath.

Lane’s laughter is silenced by the vibration of four phones. We all reach for our phones in tandem, seeing a group message with a video from Rory on our screens.

“Why did Rory send us a video?” Cole asks.

“Let’s find out,” Lane replies as we all press play. What we’re greeted with is loud cheers from what sounds like Rory and Ella as Harlow is grinding on Lucia. So much for getting her off my mind tonight because I’m sure as hell not forgetting a video that hot.

“Ah,” Josh says. “Just Fort’s girlfriend dancing on our favorite trainer.”

“I could have gone my entire life without seeing Lo dance like that,” Cole gripes.

“Oh, but I bet Knox loved it,” Lane smirks.

Bastard.

“Can we not go there?” I ask, trying miserably to forget the video. What I wouldn’t give to see Harlow move like that on me…

The awkward silence that comes as Cole eyes me suspiciously is broken by a knock at the door. Curious as to who would be here at nearly ten, I go to answer only to find four very drunk women standing in my doorway: Lucia, Rory, Ella, and Harlow… in tight as hell black minidress.

God help me…

“I told you guys he would answer!” she shouts as the other girls dissolve into laughter.

“He’s your boyfriend!” Ella slurs. “Of course, he answered!”

I stand there awkwardly, not quite sure what to do. “Uh, hi? What are you doing here? Didn’t we just get a video of you all still out?”

“That’s no way to greet your girlfriend, Fort!” Rory says, poking me in the chest. “And I forgot to send the video until we got here.” The rest of the guys come to the door now to see what the commotion is.

“Joshy!” Ella says excitedly, running inside and wrapping Garro up in a hug. He’s stunned for a moment before he hugs his fiancée back.

“Rory? Lucia? Harlow?” Cole says. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Cole!” Rory replies loudly. “Lucia said we should visit you guys, so Harlow brought us here! Isn’t that fun?”

“Is that okay, Knox?” Harlow asks, worry in her voice.

“Oh, uh… yeah. That’s fine, Lo. Lane just finished kicking our asses in Monopoly, so you have good timing.”

“Thank God we didn’t get here earlier then.” She comes closer, placing her palm on my chest. How drunk is she? “I don’t want to see my boyfriend lose.”

“Not in front of everybody else, Lo!” Lucia teases from the kitchen where the rest of the group has gathered. “Save something for the bedroom.”

“Fuck off, Luc,” Harlow fires back.

Rory laughs from her place around my kitchen island before she settles on a look of panic. “Lane!” she shouts. “Where’s Sage?!”

Lane chuckles before replying. “She’s hanging with Grandpa Fisher tonight, Rory. We didn’t abandon her.”

Rory sighs a deep breath of relief. What a night this is turning into…

The group that gathered only stayed around an hour before everyone dispersed back to their own places, with the exception of Harlow. Because as much as I wanted time away to think today, I didn’t want her to leave once I saw her here. I’m also sure as hell not letting her take the subway when it’s getting close to midnight and she’s too drunk to walk in a straight line.

After I close my front door, I walk back into my living room to find Harlow sprawled across my couch, head resting on the arm and legs splayed out in front of her. Her dress is riding up dangerously high, making it really difficult to focus.

“There he is,” she slurs as I sit down beside her. “There’s my fake boyfriend.”

I can’t stop the laugh that escapes me. “Just how much did you have to drink tonight, Freckles?”

“Mmm… not sure,” she replies. “A lot.”

“Yeah, I kinda figured.” I smile at her as she decides to sit herself up, almost tumbling off the couch in the process.

“What does that mean, Mr. Slick?” she asks, poking me right in the chest. Hard.

“That means that you’re clearly shitfaced right now, Lo. You almost fell off the couch as you sat up.”

Harlow sighs. “I know,” she says as she leans her head on my shoulder. “But it was fun.”

“Yeah, we saw the video.”

“Mmm… bet you liked that, huh?” she asks in a knowing tone. Because, of course, I fucking liked it.

“Not bad,” I say, smirking down at her as she picks her head up and glares at me. “You’ve got some decent moves, it seems.”

“Well, you and your sexy ass will never get to see them.”

“My… sexy ass?” I ask, raising my brow.

“Don’t act like you don’t know that!” She pokes me in the chest again. “You have like the best ass in the entire damn league.”

The smile that crosses my face is unavoidable. “Is that so?”

“Yes!” she replies, exasperated. “If your ass didn’t look so good, maybe I wouldn’t need to take care of myself in the damn shower every day.”

Did she just say that?

Did that just happen?

“Okay, Lo,” I say. “I think you need to get in bed before the room starts spinning.”

She lays back across the couch. “It started spinning like two hours ago.”

I bark out a laugh and then stand up from the couch, reaching my hand out for her. “Come on, Lo. Let’s get you set up in the guest bedroom.”

We stumble to the bedroom, and I sit Harlow down on the edge of the bed. “Wait,” she says. “I need to take my makeup off.”

“I don’t have anything for that. Do you?”

“I have some makeup wipes in my clutch, but I left it in the kitchen,” she pouts.

I shake my head. “Stay here. I’ll go grab it.”

I quickly make my way to the kitchen, grabbing her clutch from the island before joining her back in the guest bedroom… where she is now lying on the bed, looking confused. “The ceiling is moving, Knox,” she whispers. “Why is your ceiling moving?”

“What am I going to do with you tonight, Lo?” I laugh, crossing the room and sitting down next to her. “Can you even sit up again?”

“Don’t think-” *hiccup* “-so.”

Seeing as she’s too incoherent to do it herself, I carefully reach into her clutch, pulling out a package that I assume is makeup wipes. At least, I hope it is. I don’t really want to have to rummage through her shit to find them.

To my delight, the package says makeup remover.

I pull one of the sheets from the package and bring it up to her face, starting with her cheeks. “First things first, we have to bring those freckles back out,” I say as she smiles softly. I gently rub it across the rest of her face and eyes, removing every trace of makeup I can see. When her skin is clear, I say, “All set, Lo.”

“Thank you.” She smiles a little wider. “You’re so nice to me.”

I chuckle. “Don’t let it go to your head. There’s clothing in the closet like last time. Are you okay to get yourself ready for bed?”

“Yeah,” she replies. “I’ll take the dress off and pass out like that.”

“Okay,” I say, voice wavering. “Good night, Lo.”

“Night, Knox,” I hear as I shut the door to the bedroom. I then make a beeline straight to my fucking shower.

That dress was tight enough to throw me into a tailspin with how it framed her perfect body. But then she had to tell me she likes my ass and that she touches herself in her own shower to the thought of it.

Fucking hell. How do I keep myself away from her?

I doubted that Harlow had any thoughts of me like I do of her, but her drunken confessions proved me completely wrong. Nothing can happen between us, though—this whole arrangement is fake. But that won’t stop me from taking hold of my cock under the running water and pumping myself into delirium.

And when her name slips past my lips as I release, I’m hoping like hell that she didn’t hear.