Page 13

S he’s a virgin. A fucking virgin. What kind of sick joke is her god playing on me? God, something I have never believed in, but now here I am, sitting across from one of his most forbidden fruits, and what? I’m not supposed to take a bite? Our conversation turns back to safer territories, as Aubree grills me about growing up in England and the places I have visited in Europe, as our food arrives, but the only thing I can focus on are those six words that blew my mind.

We’ve done nothing of the sort.

She’s a virgin, never been touched, not by her precious boyfriend or anyone else, and fuck does that make my dick hard. I’ve been with more women than I can even count, let alone name, but the thought of fucking her, being the first to take her, well fuck, it has my heart pounding in my chest. Fuck. This is bad, so bad, because as she laughs at my stories and teases me for my sheltered rich upbringing, I realize I don’t just want to fuck her, I want so much more than that too.

We stay in the diner until after it closes, Callia locking us in while she cleans, but when Peter's little sister falls asleep at the counter, he pulls her into his arms and promptly kicks us all out. Archer and Daemon left a while ago, no doubt ticking another surface of the house off their invisible fuck it bucket list, and when Josh states he will be taking his sister and her mom home, I spy Nova and Maddie sharing a conspiring look about the empty house they are going to have. As they all depart it leaves just me, Aubree, Jake, and Evie, and I offer all of them a ride back to Aubree’s apartment.

Jake and Evie are barely coming up for air in my back seat once we start the drive, and when I spy the tense set of Aubree’s shoulders, I tap the brakes to pull them apart. “Come on you two, surely you can wait the five minute drive back to your apartment, you’re making Aubree uncomfortable,” I snap, and the girl in question whips her head towards me.

“What? No, I’m fine, ignore him, he’s being an asshole,” she seethes, glaring at me, and my cock jumps to attention at her sweet cruelty. Fuck. I love it when she is mean to me.

“Oh please, like you won’t be all over Ben the second you see him tomorrow,” Evie laughs in response, and my heart slams against my ribcage at the mention of her boyfriend.

“Your boyfriend’s coming to town?” I ask, hearing the outrage in my tone, but I’m not able to control it, not when I feel like my heart is now in a vice. Fuck. What is that?

Aubree moves her gaze back to her lap as she quietly admits, “Yes, he’s coming for a short weekend break.” She smiles as she says it, but for some reason it appears forced, and my knuckles whiten as they tighten around the steering wheel at the thought of the two of them together.

“I can’t wait to meet him,” Evie cuts back in, and I’m guessing as Aubree’s roommate she has heard all about him. “They’ve been together as long as us,” she tells Jake, and fury begins to burn beneath my skin, and when I slam the brakes this time, all three of them jolt.

“Fucking hell, Reign,” Jake snaps, throwing out a protective arm in front of Evie. “I don’t know how they drive on the other side of the road in England, brother, but here we brake slower,” he adds, leaning forward and smacking me on the shoulder, and I grit my teeth.

“Home sweet home,” I say, louder than necessary, and the two of them instantly start to climb out, but when Aubree lingers, I turn to meet her gaze. She doesn’t say anything, not until Evie and Jake are both out of the car with their doors shut.

“Are you okay?” she asks gently, and it takes everything in me to not grab her and kiss her. It’s all I’ve thought about since the moment I laid eyes on her weeks ago, and I have to fight against that urge every second I am in her presence. So no, I am not okay.

“Yep, all good,” I reply in a clipped tone, nodding towards her building. “Come on, I’ll walk you in,” I start to move, but she reaches out and grabs my arm, my brain short circuiting at her touch.

“Actually, if you’re not busy, is it okay if we just sit here for a while? I’m hoping to wait them out,” she laughs, blushing slightly, and when I meet her stare in confusion she adds, “Jake is spending the night, so you know…” she trails off, and it’s only then I understand what she means.

Jake and Evie will be fucking inside and she doesn’t want to intrude.

It takes a few swallows for me to clear my throat and force a smirk. “What’s the matter, is it too rated R for you and your pesky little sky daddy?”

She shakes her head, shoving my arm. “No, you asshole, I just don’t want to hear my roommate orgasming through the wall again, thank you very much,” she snaps, and then blinks back in surprise as if she can’t believe she just said that.

“Oh no, you said the word orgasm, quick let me call the church,” I tease, reaching for my phone and she shoves me again. “And Jake must be doing a great job if you can hear Evie through the wall, want me to join you upstairs and we can make it a competition?” I ask, cocking a brow with a smirk, and the slight hesitation before she responds has my cock thickening even more.

“You’re impossible,” she laughs, shaking her head at me, as I will my heart rate to slow down.

“So, you and Ben never,” I start, and she instantly groans.

“You’re the last person I should have admitted that to,” she huffs, giving me yet another glare, but when she meets my stare she lets out a long exhale. “It’s really not that deep,” she begins slowly, spinning the ring on her middle finger again. “I grew up going to church with my grandma, she was always big on the whole God thing and well, I liked spending time with her. I knew that me going made her happy, so I kept it up. Did the masses and church youth group, and when we turned fourteen, a few of us decided we were going to abstain until marriage.” She pairs her words with the wave of her hand, showcasing the ring, and I cringe inwardly.

When I was fourteen I lost my virginity, and here she is saying that’s when she chose to not fuck anyone until she found a damn husband.

“The longer I wore it the more faith I had in it I guess, and then,” she cuts herself off, but I don’t let her drop it.

“And then?”

“Then my mom and grandma died, and my faith in everything felt just a little…” she trails off again, only this time it’s because she can’t seem to find the right word.

“Pointless?” I offer, but she shakes her head.

“Broken,” she corrects with a shrug, before taking a deep breath. “Anyway, Ben and I have been friends since we were kids, I was already wearing my ring when we started dating, so he understands most of the time.”

“Most of the time?” I question, a bead of anger fluttering beneath my skin at the thought of him pressuring her.

“Well, he’s still a red-blooded male, so he struggles more than I do,” she laughs, as if something as important as her faith in her purity is laughable.

“Well I think it’s brave,” I tell her truthfully, there have been many conquests I’ve regretted because I’ve been too drunk or high to care about the aftermath. Hell, I let Cap’s girl suck my dick in a game of Truth or Dare, and I didn’t need the black eye to make me feel bad about it.

“Even if I’m not sure if I’m wearing it for me, or to remain close to my grandma?” she asks quietly, and at this moment I wish I could understand her faith and her grief, but all I can do is shrug.

“A ring is just a ring, Aubree, it means nothing, it’s what's inside that counts,” I reply softly, and the answering smile she gives me threatens to take all the air from my lungs. “Anyway, I think we’ve given those horny assholes long enough, shall we?” I ask, but I already have my door open and I am rounding the car before she can protest, because I need to get away from her before I do something stupid, like kiss her.

I open her car door and usher her across the road in silence, letting my eyes trail over the building I now own. Aside from the fact that it’s a good investment, I’m glad that in the next couple of weeks she will be at home in a building that is nicer and safer. Once we reach the door, I guide her through it and let it close behind me. After tonight there will be a guard on the door between the hours of 7 PM and 7 AM, which gives me a little peace of mind about her coming and going alone. It’s not like I can find an excuse to walk her home every night, I’m not her boyfriend.

The silence between us is slightly awkward, and when we reach her front door, she moves straight to unlock it, stepping across the threshold, as if she is desperate to get away from me. “Thanks for making sure I got home safe,” she starts, just as a loud feminine moan echoes throughout the apartment, and we both freeze.

“I guess they’re not done,” I laugh in response, and I watch as the blush starts to creep up her neck and across her breasts.

Fuck. What I would do to be the one putting those stains there.

“It’s okay, I’ll just ignore them,” she rushes out, reaching to close the door.

“Or start your own one-woman show in your room in response,” I joke with a wink, but then she pauses and looks at me in confusion, and I watch as her eyes dance between my own before my meaning registers, and she blushes even harder with a cringe. “Let me guess, you don’t do that either, do you?” I sigh, feeling like a prick for even suggesting it.

“Nope,” she laughs, and I stamp down on the images of all the ways I could teach her to touch herself. She isn’t fucking yours, Alexander. “Not because it’s against the rules or anything,” she quickly adds. “I just don’t really know where to start,” she admits, trailing off before her eyes go wide as she realizes what she just said. “And I don’t know why I am talking to you about this, so if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go inside and smash my head into a wall. Goodnight.”

This time she slams the door in my face and all I can do is stare at it in disbelief, because what the fuck am I doing? She’s a virgin, she has a boyfriend, she has told me multiple times she is not interested in me, and she has a ring on her damn finger that signifies abstinence. There is no realm where she and I are ever going to be a possibility, so again what the fuck am I doing?

I tip my head back to the ceiling and let out a groan, before turning on my heel and going back the way I came.

When I get back to the house I can hear Archer and Daemon groaning in the kitchen, and I roll my eyes as I bypass them and head straight to the stairs. Seems everyone is fucking tonight except me. It’s Friday night after a winning fucking game, and instead of finding some nameless girl to bounce on my cock, I had a perfectly lovely PG dinner with Aubree and then dropped her home like a fucking gentlemen. Fuck. It’s been weeks since I even looked at another girl, let alone fucked one, and all Aubree has managed to fuck is my head.

Why her?

Why the fuck am I trying to pursue someone who isn’t available? I don’t even do girlfriends, so why the fuck do I care? She doesn’t want me, she already has a boyfriend, and will never see me as more than a friend at best. I need to forget about her and go back to fucking the hockey girls, at least with them it’s easy and simple, no feelings involved.

When I get into my room my phone rings, cutting into my thoughts, and when I pull it from my pocket and spy Duchess’ name, I smile as I answer. “There’s my favorite little criminal,” I tease, and I swear I can hear her rolling her eyes at me from here. She is more than used to me and my bullshit, and we did originally meet when we shared a night in jail.

“I’m sure I will be your favorite when you hear what I have to say,” she replies, and I can hear the teasing glint in her tone as I kick off my shoes.

“Is it that you and Lizzie think about me when you’re fucking, because that would definitely give my ego a much needed boost.” Lizzie is her girlfriend, and though she knows I’m only joking, she still curses me out.

“Don’t make me hang up on you, you disgusting asshole, or you won’t get your gift,” she snaps, losing her patience, and I know her well enough to know she isn’t kidding. One time I pissed her off, she hung up on me and blocked my number for five fucking days.

“Okay, okay, to what do I owe the pleasure of this phone call, my sweet puppet master?” I ask, slipping off my watch and jumping on my bed so I can lean back against the pillows.

“Overkill, but I’ll allow it, since I know you’re probably still drowning in the friend zone right now,” she snaps back, and I let out a huff.

“Eurgh, please don’t talk about Miss Callows right now, I’ve had a hell of a night,” I groan, trying not to think about Aubree’s perfect, untouched body, and the way it would move beneath mine.

“Even if said Miss Callows is currently stalking your social media?” she asks, and I snap upright in my bed.

“What?” I ask, needing her to say it again, but already moving off my bed towards my desk where my laptop sits.

“Oh yeah, I got the alert a couple of minutes ago, and she’s about six months deep into your Insta feed right now,” she says, nothing but delight in her tone, and my heart begins to pound in my chest, as my laptop comes to life.

“Mirror your screen with mine,” I demand, and I hear a few clicks and keyboard taps before Duchess shares what’s on her screen with me, and I see a window that has my Instagram feed open. Aubree is now at my spring break pictures from last year, swiping through the photo dump I shared, and when it pauses on a picture of me alone, standing shirtless on the beach, I can’t help but ask, “Is that a glitch?”

“Nope, she is just taking her time leering at that perfect god-like body of yours,” she muses, sounding completely disgusted, but it doesn’t matter, because the longer Aubree lingers, the harder my cock gets.

“I’ve gotta go,” I snap, not even giving her a chance to say goodbye before I hang up the phone, and then I watch in fascination as Aubree stalks all my pictures, only lingering on the ones where I am photographed alone.

I’m not out of the race. Game fucking on.

I open up another window, sizing it so I can still see her stalking capabilities, and then I navigate my way to the website I need. I take my time appraising all the toys, adding multiple ones to my basket, along with a few other things, and when my phone dings with a text I already know who it’s going to be.

Duchess - You’re disgusting but you have impeccable taste

Alexander - I don’t pay you to stalk me

Duchess - Nope I do that for free entertainment for Lizzie and I when we’re bored

Alexander - You’ve both got tits, you should never be bored

Duchess - Again, you’re disgusting but you have impeccable taste ??

I laugh, tossing my phone aside, focusing back on my order. I process through the checkout, filling out a gift note and then entering Aubree’s details when it asks for the address. I’ve never bought sex toys for anyone before, but as Aubree reaches as far back as a year ago on my social media, I come to only one conclusion.

Fuck the friend zone.