Page 37 of Dire Straights

I immediately thought of the conversation I’d had with Kelani about how a lot of the girls would warn each other about staying away from the guys on the swim team. Was harassing girls like that something they did often? I wanted to stand up and tell them to leave her alone, but I didn’t want to cause issues for Maddy. Relief washed over me when another girl walked over and tugged her friend away. I couldn’t hear anything she was saying to the guys, but her body language wasn’t very positive.

The next text from Gwen came through.Suuure you didn’t. Are you already that lonely in college? You are kind of bad at making friends on your own, so I’m not surprised.

My anxiety sharpened as I considered her words. She was basically right about that. I’d gotten lucky having Aspen as a roommate, since he’d been willing to introduce me to his friends. Without him, would I be stuck in my dorm room alone? Myfingers clenched a little on the side of my phone as I moved to answer her.

“Hey.” Maddy’s voice was sharp, pulling my attention up to his face. He grabbed my phone out of my hand, tucking it into his jacket pocket and out of my sight. “She’s a stupid bitch. Just ignore her.”

“Maddy.” A shocked laugh burst out at his crude descriptor. “Come on.”

“I’m serious,” he said flatly. “Ignore her. It’ll drive her crazy if she thinks she isn’t bothering you. And you know she’s full of shit, anyway.”

“Well… Technically, I haven’t really made any friends on my own, so-”

“What about me?” He interrupted. “Aren’t we friends?”

“Are we friends, Maddy?”

He smirked, raising an eyebrow. “Of course, bestie. What did you think?”

“Now you sound like Arie.”

He laughed. “That’s probably the first and only time anyone will ever say that to me.”

“Are you going to give me my phone back?”

“No. If I promise to make you forget about your phone, do you want to get out of here?”

“Mm…” I pretended to need to think about it, until he scoffed, playfully shoving at my shoulder in mock offense. “I’m kidding. Let’s go.”

We went the long way around the restaurant to avoid the swim team, paying our tab so we could rush back to his house.

Later, after my soul had been sucked out through my crotch, I lounged on Maddy’s bed with him. He’d set his laptop up on his computer chair, streaming the game so we could finish it.

“So did you forget about your phone?” He wondered.

“What phone?” I answered, grinning when he laughed. I really, really liked his laugh.

When he pulled me to him, locking our lips together so he could tease me with the tip of his tongue, I slid my hand up his side, resting it in the indent of his waist. His skin was always so warm and smooth.

“Aren’t you going to miss important plays or something?” I asked, growling appreciatively in my throat when he nipped at my bottom lip.

“Don’t worry. I’m a very, very good listener.”

Well, I couldn’t argue with the logic. And if he kept this up, he was going to get us both horny all over again. Not that I wasn’t completely fine with that. His fingers tensed on my jaw, stroking my skin as we made out. After a few minutes of that, my mind was on another planet and my dick was stiff and ready to go for round two of whatever Maddy wanted.

When his phone rang, I almost didn’t recognize the sound. He groaned lightly, panting a little as pulled his delicious mouth away from mine.

“Shit, it’s my dad,” he said, fumbling a little as he tried to pick it up off his nightstand.

“Do you have to answer it?”

“He’ll call a billion more times if I don’t,” he said, rolling his eyes with obvious annoyance. “Just… Hold that thought,” he said, stroking his hand down the front of my boxer briefs in one quick motion.

“Holding,” I responded obediently.

“Hey, Dad.” I didn’t want to eavesdrop on his conversation, so I turned my attention back to the game on the screen, but in such close quarters it was kind of impossible to tune him out. “Yeah, it went fine. I placed second for freestyle… Yeah. It’s fine. Whatever.”

I assumed that part was him telling his dad it was fine that he hadn’t shown up for his swim meet, which I personally thought was kind of lame. We hadn’t been talking at the time, and I hadn’t had a way to get there anyway, since it had taken place a few hours away, but there was no way I was missing the next one.

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