Page 13

Chapter 12

Guy

The sun peeked through the blinds in Kitty’s room. I’d stayed the whole night. I’d also made her come with my hands, and it was really fucking hot.

The way she rolled her body under me, how she used my dick for her pleasure. Her nipples under my tongue, knowing how dark and pretty they were from the night of the wet t-shirt contest. Her little moans and begging. The way she gripped my wrist as I brought her over the edge. Her sweet pussy pulsing into my fingers. The way she tasted when I sucked my fingers clean. The way she begged to please me, too.

But I couldn’t let her. I didn’t want her to think I came over just to get laid, or that I expected anything from her. She was worthy all on her own, whether it was for pain relief or just for the pleasure. Plus, she’d just been writhing in pain in my arms. She was probably in less pain, but I didn’t want to put her to work while she was suffering.

And there was the fact that I’d done her wrong in high school. I owed her a bonus orgasm for her trouble.

Kitty glowed in the morning light, looking almost angelic sleeping next to me. Still just in her underwear, her hair mussed from our activities in the middle of the night. The sheets pooled at her hips, her perfect handful tits exposed. The sight and the memory of how good they felt in my mouth had me achingly hard. I admired her sweet belly that she always had no matter how fit she was. The delicate lines of her collarbones. Her hand on my bicep holding me as she slept.

I was seeing my best friend, who could very well be the love of my life, undressed for the first time. I pressed a kiss to her forehead to see if she’d wake up, but she remained asleep.

I wondered if things would be different between us after what we’d done, if we’d start moving into more-than-friends territory. Was that what I wanted? It was getting harder to think of other women, and even harder to think of her being with other guys.

I leaned over to check my phone and found a sea of notifications. That wasn’t unusual for a party night after a game, especially when I wasn’t there to partake. Half of them were people looking for me. Some girls hoping to repeat hookups. Little did they know I was in bed with the one that I’d forever compared everyone to.

And then the team chat was completely lit up. There was a warrant out for our goalie Pete’s arrest. He’d stolen his townie girlfriend’s dog in the middle of a fight. Kara was twenty-four, a Bostonian who hadn’t gone to Alden. Pete and Kara had gotten their ridiculous chihuahua, Bowser, together, but it was *her* dog. Pete showed up to the hockey house looking enraged with Bowser tucked under his arm, and everyone pried the truth out of him.

Because I was the alternate team captain, the actual captain Colton was looking for me to figure out how to smooth it all over. We needed to convince Kara to call off the police and get Bowser back where he belonged.

Not exactly how I wanted to spend my Saturday morning. I’d rather have stayed until Kitty got up and we could get breakfast together. Maybe fool around again if she was feeling better. She was still fast asleep. I carefully crawled over her and out of bed, rushing to put my clothes back on. I had that anxious, hungover, pissed off feeling, even though I hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol. I didn’t like my time with Kitty being cut short.

She stirred as I pulled on my hoodie, but she didn’t fully wake up. I hated to leave like that, but I didn’t want to wake her when she’d had such a rough night. I looked back at her one more time to see if she’d wake up before I left. When she didn’t, I walked out the door, sending her a text so I wouldn’t be totally gone without a trace.

Sorry I’m not there. Team emergency.

Hope u feel better

Walking into my apartment was like walking into the eye of the chaos hurricane. The living room was packed with the team, filling the huge sectional couch and the floor in front of it. Bowser was dozing, nonchalant, on Pete’s lap, unaware that he was the center of all the drama.

Kitty’s roommate Violet scampered out of the bathroom, Powerpuff googly eyes in one hand. She kept her eyes down and rushed for the front door. A Saturday morning walk of shame. I wondered whether Colton or Mikey hooked up with her. Our other roommate, K-Gar, had a girlfriend, so it wouldn’t have been him. Considering how long Colton stared after her, I suspected it might have been him.

“Bout time,” Mikey said as I sat on the floor. “Where have you been?” He was from Detroit, but he sometimes carried his mom’s country accent. When he asked me a mom question like that, he sounded like his own mom.

“It’s only 8 a.m. I was gone like nine hours,” I argued.

“Did you hook up with Kitty?”

“It’s complicated,” I shrugged, not really wanting to share that I got her off to relieve her period cramps, she offered to reciprocate, and I declined. It sounded pretty bananas when I stopped and thought about it.

Colton sat on the arm of the couch, ready to hold court. “Alright, let’s get started. I’m calling Coach after we figure out a plan. Pete, if you took Bowser back now, would Kara call off the cops?”

“I’m not giving him back! He’s mine, and she’s out of her fucking mind,” Pete huffed.

“Pete,” Colton warned.

I rubbed my forehead. I couldn’t believe I’d left a mostly-naked Kitty for this. “What are you two fighting about now?”

“She said I was looking at one of the Powerpuff Girls at the party,” Pete whined.

I normally would have questioned it, but it was Halloween, so I knew who he meant. Why a twenty-four-year-old was coming to our parties was a bit disturbing to me anyway, but that was Pete and Kara’s odd relationship. It was decided that Colton and I would drive Pete over to Kara’s with Bowser to apologize. Colton and I had to act like hostage negotiators to convince them to kiss and make up.

It was well into the afternoon by the time we were done with Operation: Bowser Return. Luckily, the cops didn’t have to be involved, so neither did Coach.

I still hadn’t heard from Kitty, so I texted her again.

U ok?

KITTY BIRD

Fine

U wanna have dinner tonite

Have plans, sorry

Yikes, okay. No “Thanks for coming over, Guy-Guy?” No “How about a rain check, Guy-Guy?” Why was this weird? I didn’t want this to be weird. I loved touching her, but maybe she thought we crossed a line. It kind of hurt my feelings. I’d thought about what Maman said about us being together a lot, particularly after Kitty drunkenly alluded to it and told me I was the love of her life. Was Maman right? Was it time for me and Kitty to try being together?

I saw her from a distance on campus a couple of times that week, her ponytail swishing behind her as she burrowed down into her coat. She was always too far away for me to catch up to her. I opened and closed my text app constantly, trying to think of something to make her want to talk to me, but came up blank. I didn’t see her up close again until a frat party the next weekend.

Kitty was gorgeous, her long, dark hair in waves swept over one shoulder, and a loose green sweater that showed her entire back. I knew how soft that skin felt and I wanted to put my hands on it again. She couldn’t have been wearing a bra, because there was absolutely nothing on her back. Just miles of smooth, creamy skin. My lips ached wanting to kiss every inch of that skin. I wanted those sweet nipples back in my mouth. I wanted the taste of her pussy on my tongue again. But first, I had to break whatever awkwardness made us stop talking for the past week.

She was talking to one of the frat bros. I strode across the room, ready to break it up, just as the guy stroked his hand down her spine and whispered something in her ear. She had the sexiest smile as she listened to what he said. I wanted to be that guy. I wanted to be the one turning her on.

Kitty turned to face Generic Frat Boy and when I was about ten steps from them, his tongue was in her mouth. I stopped in my tracks, feeling like I’d been punched. Now I really wanted to be that guy. Or smash his face in.

The room blurred. My throat went dry. I scanned my surroundings, looking for a girl who might soothe my sore feelings. There were beautiful women everywhere, but none of them were the one I wanted. I turned to find Mikey, told him I was leaving, and got the hell out.

I cursed myself on the way home. I must have fucked it all up if Kitty was out hooking up with other guys after she’d been with me.

Or did she not consider it being with me? Did she think it was just some kind of favor for a friend? Was that a friends-with-benefits thing I did?

I’d never gotten jealous seeing my past hookups moving on at a party. I never wanted anything lasting with any of them, though. But why didn’t I? Some of them were pretty cool. I might have had fun in a relationship with them. I’d had a couple of girlfriends in high school. But I’d never been in love.

Or had I? That didn’t make any sense either. Kitty and I had never really been together. I loved her, like as family, as my best friend, and I think before I left West Virginia, I really loved her. All the way. But did that ever fade? I was so young then. Was it just puppy love?

I didn’t really know how to name how I felt. I just knew that I wanted to throw things whenever I saw her with another guy.

Kitty hadn’t spoken to me the whole week before. Likewise, I guess I didn’t ask her to do anything with me when maybe I should have. I told myself I was giving her space, though it killed me. And space resulted in her going home with someone else, so look where that got me.

The day after I saw her go home with Generic Frat Boy, I knew I needed some advice. Normally, I’d talk about my problems with Frank, but that would entail fessing up to having fooled around with his sister. Colton would have to do instead.

We went to the gym together and had lunch after. He was the captain for a reason. He always knew what to do. I explained to him who Kitty was to me: a lifelong best friend who I probably would be in love with if we gave it a chance. I told him what happened that night in her room and he slapped his hand over his face.

“Bro,” he scolded me. “You didn’t call her after that?”

“No. Should I have? I thought she needed space. She didn’t want to talk to me.”

“Look at it from her perspective. You got her off. She asked to do the same to you and you said no. Did you at least kiss her goodbye?”

My cheeks burned red. “No. I left to deal with Bowsergate and sent her a text to say I had an emergency. I texted her to ask if she was okay later.”

“Bro.”

“What?”

“She probably thinks you don’t like her! You turned her down and bailed on her, then disappeared. Of course she’s out hooking up with other people. She thinks it meant nothing to you! Hell, she may have hooked up in front of you just to spite you,” he pointed out.

“Fuck.” My mind flashed back to high school, when I’d pushed her away, too. She probably thought I was a real piece of shit.

“Yeah, fuck. You need to take her out for coffee or something and talk about it. Tell her why you did what you did. Tell her you like her.”

“Is that what you do? I don’t know how to date people, Colt. I’m a wham-bam kinda guy. Most girls know that though.”

“Well, now she thinks you wham-bammed her and she doesn’t want to be your friend anymore,” he said. “You need to fix it. I’m into her roommate. I don’t need to be taking sides out here.”

“I knew it!” I said, grateful for the topic change. “I thought you two hooked up.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, she’s pretty fun. Fuckin’ rocket, too. Jesus.”

“Happy for you, man.”

Later, I sat alone trying to figure out how to get Kitty back in my life. I worked myself into a headache wondering if I even had any business trying to have a relationship with anyone. Thoughts of my dad and his rage issues haunted me. Could I even be a good partner for Kitty?

But I remembered that Maman had faith in me and Kitty. She knew us both well and still thought we needed each other. Maman knew me better than Papa did, and I’d spent far more time with her than with Papa. I was my mother’s son, not my father’s. At least that’s what I hoped.

I texted Kitty to try and make it right.

I miss u. Can we talk?

KITTY BIRD

Ok. When?

U free now? I’ll take u for coffee

Can’t now. Kinda busy this week

I tried again and again with her, Kitty never offering another alternative. Finally, I had to force the issue.