Page 45 of The Pursuit of Happiness (Satan’s Angels #2)
Slater
I feel useless. I’ve always prided myself on being tenacious and resilient, always adapting to what’s been thrown at me and rolling with the punches as if they were never thrown.
The one punch that’s actually hit its mark in my life was not being able to do anything to wipe that defeated look from Aria’s face yesterday in Selene’s office.
It’s my job to make sure she feels safe and secure and I feel like I’m failing every day that whoever did this walks free and unnoticed.
After the studio today, I had a few meetings with Steve and the guys and Aria had plans with Brody, Ivory, and Harvey’s younger sister, Lucy.
I think they’re doing some kind of girls night thing and I’m happy that Aria will be able to take her mind off of things, even if only for a short time.
I appreciate her friends and their devotion to supporting her.
They can be there for her in a way that I can’t, which makes this pain in my chest ease only slightly.
I’m currently cleaning out the nightstand on the opposite side of my bed, the side that Aria has been occupying in her sleepovers.
I’m clearing it out for her and filling it with some things she may need for when she comes over.
She made a brief mention about wanting to leave a few things here, and I was ready to clear out space for her in my closet, my bathroom, anywhere.
Anywhere she wants space, she can fucking have it.
She can have the whole fucking house if she wants.
I’d be willing to give up anything if it meant I got to keep her forever, and I fully intend to.
I guess we’ll just start small with a drawer though. I know she had a past tendency to get scared and put distance between us when things moved too fast or if I pushed her too far, so a nightstand is where we start, and the whole house is where we end.
My phone vibrates in my pocket and I slide it out to find a message notification from my girl.
It’s a photo of her and the girls with bright green face mask things on.
They’re all smiling and laughing in the photo and I can’t help but smile at the sight of her radiant face.
My heart warms at the sight of that smile and the lack of tension in her shoulders. A new text comes in from her.
SHOWER BUDDY
Shower Buddy
Girl’s night is a success
Me
Good. You deserve to smile
Shower Buddy
And you deserve show-stopping, world ending,
insanely good head.
Shower Buddy
Oh, and a boyfriend of the year award
Me
I think I’ll just settle for your Muse Award
Me
HA!
Shower Buddy
Head is off the table.
Me
No! I was kidding!
Shower Buddy
Fine. But only because you’re you
Me
Not sure how that works, but I’ll take it
…and the head
Shower Buddy
Just wait till tomorrow
Me
Waiting impatiently
Stop torturing me and spend time with your friends
you need it
Shower Buddy
Fine. I love you
Me
I love you harder
I grin at my phone like a highschool boy texting his crush. I can’t help it. She makes me forget the guilt I’ve been feeling at not being able to find the person who humiliated her. She makes it impossible to be unhappy and to be in my own head.
The name she gave herself in my phone after our fun in my shower is enough to make me laugh at the screen, but the “I love you” at the end has me ready to do backflips. My dick gets hard just thinking about her, thinking about the head I was promised.
An image appears in my mind of Aria on her knees before me, tears streaming down her cheeks as she takes my cock down her throat. I have to shift my cock in my pants to ease the tension of my swelling length against the zipper. Fuck.
My doorbell rings and I’m immediately brought back to reality where Aria is not in front of me and she’s at Brody’s house.
Someone is at my door and the highs of talking to her settle, leaving me with an irritated feeling and a dick that needs major attention after I get rid of whoever that is.
I abandon the drawer, leaving it open, and rushing down the stairs.
When I open the door, I’m not expecting Rogan to be on the other side.
Infact, I think he was the last person I expected to see.
He pushes past me and enters my house with an excited look in his eyes, “Bro,” he turns around in the foyer and I close the door behind him.
He’s clutching something to his chest and I can’t make out what it is until he extends his hands to me in an offering, “Look what I got! A week before it comes out, too!”
I look down at the video game in his hands.
I’ve never been a huge fan of games, I just don’t get what the hype is about.
Rogan and the others have always been really into them and when they play, I usually just tune them out.
I want to dismiss him and that dumb ass game he has, but we’re working on our relationship and he did just apologize to Aria, so I think I should play nice. “Uh, cool, bro.”
He waves it around in the air, “We have to play.”
I give him an exhausted look, “Rogan, I’m beat. I’ve been at the studio all day and I just wanna sleep. I have that talk show tomorrow with Aria. You know, After Hours with John Sweet.”
Rogan shrugs, “Okay, and you can go to bed later. We have a game to play.” He swats my shoulder, “Come on man, we have to bond like we used to.”
I assess the excited look in his eyes, the desperation I’m seeing. He’s trying to make an effort with me. I can’t be rude. I sigh reluctantly, “Fine.”
He makes a fist and punches it in the air, “Yes!”
I hold up a hand, “But only for an hour or two. I was making a drawer for when Aria sleeps over and I want it cleaned out and stocked for tomorrow.”
He rolls his eyes, “You’ve become so domestic.”
“Love does that,” I tilt my head at him.
“Yeah, whatever. Can we just play the game already?”
––––––––
ABOUT AN HOUR AND a half into this boring ass game Rogan is making me play, he presses pause and rises from his seat on the couch. I look up at him and he announces, “I have to piss, I’ll be right back.”
I nod as he disappears out of the family room and down the hall. I slide my phone out to see if I’ve gotten any new texts from Aria, but there’s none. I’m glad she hasn’t texted me. That means she’s having fun with the girls.
I open a new text thread with Nate and quickly type out:
NATE
Me
Fucking Rogan is here with that dumb ass game
Almost immediately, he answers.
Nate
Bro, are you serious? I know what game he
brought and I’ve been begging him to let
me play first. Before Miles.
You don’t even like games! Why did he bring it to you??
Me
I think he’s trying to bond
Nate
Well…I guess that’s nice of him…?
I’m about to type out a reply when Rogan returns looking slightly flushed. “You good, bro?”
He nods, waving me off, “Yeah, I’m good. It just feels really hot in your foyer.”
I groan, “This California heat has been insane.”
He throws himself down on the couch beside me, “No shit. I feel like my balls are sweating all day every fucking day.”
I give him an extremely disgusted and uncomfortable look, “What placed you under the impression that I want to hear about your sweaty balls?”
He smirks, “You don’t have to play pretend, Sly. I know you care about my balls.”
I pick up the controller to the game I have no interest in playing and press resume. “Not even in the slightest of bits,” I huff.