Page 10 of Yours for the Weekend

Chapter Five

T he bed dips. Casey gently brushes hair off my face. “Wake up, sleepyhead. I brought breakfast.”

“What time is it?” I ask groggily.

“Almost eleven.”

I jolt up, checking the clock Casey keeps on her nightstand. “Holy shit. Sorry I slept in so late.”

Casey smirks. “It’s okay. You were up late.”

Her gaze lowers at the same second I realize I’m still naked. Warmth creeps up my cheeks, and I rush to pull the comforter up to cover my chest.

“Little late for that,” she says.

“Shut up!” I drop back on the mattress with an embarrassed chuckle. She does have a point though. There’s no point in being shy over her seeing my breasts, considering she had them in her mouth only a couple hours ago.

I sigh. “Is this weird?”

“No,” she answers easily, voice full of assurance that I need to hear. “You literally had me choose which lingerie you should surprise Nina with for Valentine’s Day, including that sheer mesh set. So even with last night excluded, an accidental nip slip is no big deal.”

I snort, then facepalm. I completely forgot about that, but she’s right. “Okay, yeah.” I nod, believing the words more and more by the second. “Thank you, Casey. For everything.”

She shakes her head and flips open the white box of donuts. “I told you. You don’t have to thank me.”

She’s been insisting it’s no big deal, but I can’t help it.

Last night was, simply put, the greatest night of my life.

We spent hours cuddling and talking in between rounds.

I’m not sure what time I finally nodded off.

The last time I checked it was almost four am, but, damn, I don’t regret a second of it.

I’m pretty sure Casey gave me more orgasms in one night than Nina gave me in a month.

While one great night doesn’t make me magically over Nina, last night does have me questioning what it is I want when it comes to sex. Casey helped me understand more about myself and opened some doors I didn’t know existed. My mind is blown, and I haven’t begun to process it all.

“So,” I start. “What now?”

“I don’t know.” Casey reaches for a vanilla-sprinkled donut. “After we eat, do you want to take the boat out again?”

“No. I mean, sure. I don’t—I mean, like—” I wave my hand awkwardly between us. “Like, what do we do now?”

She frowns. “What do you mean?”

“Like, um.” My forehead furrows in thought when it hits me. “Okay, so, what would we do if I was Lily?” A spike of jealousy rises in my chest at my own words, and I shove it away.

“If you were Lily?” Casey asks, and I nod.

Abruptly, she stands, head swiveling as she searches the room.

“Yeah, so.” She scoops up my shirt from the floor at the foot of the bed and my running shorts that somehow ended up on top of the dresser near the door.

She tosses them onto the blanket in front of me.

“Last night was fun.” While striding toward her bathroom, she adds over her shoulder, “Text me if you want to hang out later.” She taps the frame twice before latching the door shut behind her.

“Are you fucking serious?” I burst into shocked laughter.

She cracks the door open and peers out. “Yeah?”

“Wow!” And I’m still laughing. “I have never felt so thoroughly dismissed in my life.”

Casey snorts. “Well, to be fair, if you were Lily, you’d have left last night.

And on the rare occasion you do stay the night—because you’re either too drunk or too lazy to go home in the middle of the night—you’d be up, dressed, and telling me you’ll text me later the second you hear me stirring in bed. ”

“Well, damn,” I say. “What do you say when you stay the night over her place?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. I never have.”

“Really?”

She shakes her head while walking back over. She plops down on the mattress and takes a big bite out of her donut.

“How come?” My mind is whirling, still trying to grasp this concept of the morning after casual sex. I don’t know what I thought Lily and Casey did, but it definitely wasn’t the aloof brush-off parting of ways.

“I like my own bed.”

“It is nice,” I concede.

Casey gives me a sly grin. “So. Boat day?” She finishes her donut and spots frosting on her finger.

Her tongue comes out as she slowly licks then sucks the frosting clean off.

All I can see is the way she sucked my arousal off that very finger last night in a very similar way, and I lose my ability to breathe.

There’s a demanding ache between my thighs, and they squeeze together instinctually. And, fuck , I’m still so wet.

“Dakota?” she prompts, amusement dancing in her eyes and … wait. Did she do that shit on purpose? I’m going to kill her.

“Oh, shit. I forgot our coffees. Hold on.” Casey bounces up but catches herself in the doorway. She looks back, a teasing grin on her lips. “Think about it.”

I roll my eyes. All I can think about is what her tongue can do, and her annoying ass knows it. Fuck . I know I’m new to casual onetime hook-ups, but I’m pretty sure we’re not supposed to flirt afterward. Because that was flirting, right? It definitely feels like flirting.

My phone dings, and I glance at it, expecting a text from one of my friends, but it’s not.

My heart drops to my stomach. Nina posted on Instagram.

I open it immediately, because of course I do, and it’s a photo of the two of them.

Jamie’s stupid home-wrecking face is smiling wide at the camera.

She’s wearing a pair of black sunglasses, the morning sun shining in the top right corner of the frame.

Nina is wrapped around Jamie in a tight hug.

Their intimacy stings, but it’s the expression on her face that crushes me.

Nina’s not looking into the camera. She’s staring at Jamie, and it’s her face, all soft and sincere, as she looks at Jamie with so much love and adoration that it sends waves of nausea through me.

My chest is tight. I stare, frozen, at her expression.

I don’t realize I’m crying until tear drops splash onto my phone screen.

“Hey. What’s wrong?” Casey asks. She’s standing at the foot of the bed, her face pinched in concern with a coffee cup in each hand.

“Nothing. It’s nothing.” I rub my temple, exasperated. “Just. A new Nina post.”

Casey’s groan is venomous. “What did her bitch ass do now?”

I scowl at my best friend and debate showing her my phone—I don’t want any more snide comments—but reluctantly show her the screen.

She narrows her eyes then frowns. “This was just posted, like not even a minute ago. Wait, do you have her notifications turned on?”

I recoil, hiding my phone against my chest, but the damage is done.

“Oh, Dakota.” She takes a sip of her coffee. She sets mine down on the nightstand and scratches her head in thought. “Okay. Scrap the boat day. We’re going on a hike.”

I cock a curious eyebrow. “A hike?”

“Yep. Somewhere where cell reception is spotty, and you can enjoy the peace of the outdoors.”

Casey and I both share the joy of walking nature trails. While she takes backpacking trips anywhere from three to seven days a couple times a year, I settle on a five-mile walk as my max. I love nature, but not overnight.

“I don’t know, Case.”

To be honest, I’d rather wallow in bed all day.

The high of last night is over, and that realization has my skin hot as anger floods my veins.

She did this. How does Nina still have so much power over me?

To completely flip my mood? To rip me from my high and crush me until I’m sitting here crying in the very bed I was screaming in pleasure only a few hours prior. Fuck!

And then Casey drags me off the mattress.

“Hey!” I squawk in protest.

Casey’s hands are on my shoulders as she guides me toward my room. “Brush your teeth. Put on some deodorant. You can borrow shoes from me if you need them. Because we’re leaving in twenty, and I’m not taking no for an answer.”

We rode in comfortable silence to a state park forty-five minutes away.

There’s only a handful of cars in the parking lot when we arrive, and we wordlessly head down the opening to the two-mile trailhead.

It’s a warm day, and a light sheen of sweat gathers on my skin halfway through the walk.

Birds sing and, with every step, tension eases out of my shoulders.

The pressure on my chest lightens, and my limbs feel looser.

As we finish the two-mile walk, Casey glances at me expectantly.

“Again?” I ask.

Casey nods and follows me back through the opening.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Casey says as we pass the first bend in the trail.

I sigh. “Is it a good idea? You know—considering?”

“Considering what?”

I glance at her knowingly, and she levels me with an exasperated look. “Dakota, I was your best friend before we had sex, and I’m your best friend after. You can talk to me about anything.”

I kick a loose rock and send it tumbling into a bush. “I don’t know. I can’t stop thinking that I blew my chance.”

“At what?” she asks.

“At happiness. At being with my one true love.” I don’t dare look at Casey. I already know what her face looks like— all disgusted and angry. She insists every time I bring up the breakup, it’s not my fault, and I did nothing wrong, but didn’t I? I’m the one who walked out on her.

Nina and I were fighting a lot at the end. She’d get so jealous if I hung out with Casey or my coworkers, Beth and Mary, yet told me I was overreacting for being upset at how often I caught her smiling and texting her new coworker, Jamie.

It was easier to ditch my friends and avoid the fight with Nina, but after Beth and her fiancé broke up, Mary and I told her we’d bring over her favorite food and ice cream and have a movie marathon.

Since I didn’t run it by Nina first, she was pissed that I was ruining her surprise date night.

She got us tickets to our favorite comedian’s stand-up show.