Page 48 of Dire Straights

I hadn’t even thought of what things would be like when we got back to school. I couldn’t even bring myself to think about what it would be like in the morning, when we’d have to eat breakfast with my dad and Missy.

For just a little while, I wanted to stay in this gossamer bubble, where the only thing that existed was Ren and I, andthere were no parental issues and no swim team and no one to judge us. And for that moment, things felt really perfect.

REN

WHEN I WOKEup in the middle of the night to pee, I was completely disoriented by the fact that I was in a strange room, and nearly hanging off the edge of a small bed with a snoring guy in it. A really hot guy, with gorgeous bone structure and incredible abs that I’d had sex with just a couple hours before. He might have been my favorite person, but he really sucked at sharing a bed. I had been rationed a very stingy corner of pillow and blanket and just a sliver of mattress. Though to be fair, I don’t think we’d meant to fall asleep together at all. He seemed sure his dad wouldn’t come to check on us, but I wasn’t willing to bank on that fact.

Slowly and carefully peeling off the bed, I tiptoed across the room, giving him one final look before stepping out and silently clicking the door shut behind me. He looked so cute, all plastered to the pillow, with his mouth kind of hanging open.

Images from a few hours earlier kept popping into my head, a quick flash of how my cock had looked sinking into his tight hole, or how his jaw had clenched when he’d been desperately trying to hold back his orgasm. Those thoughts were not very conducive to peeing, so I pushed them away as I finished up and washed my hands.

I spent the rest of the night in the guest room bed, which was okay. I liked the idea of cuddling with Maddy all night, but not in a bed where I was banished to the outer edge. I happened to know his bed at the house back at school was the perfect size for comfortable cuddling. And now that we’d crossed the line intofull on sex, I was pretty sure he’d be okay with me spending the night sometimes. Well, depending on how his housemates felt.

Hours later, when I woke up at a more appropriate time for humans to be awake, I took a shower. We’d briefly cleaned up the night before, but I was probably reeking of sweat and other fluids. After soaping up and rinsing off, I smelled like Maddy, which I definitely didn’t mind.

Creaking open his bedroom door, I saw he was still sleeping like the dead. I felt bad waking him up, since he got up so early all week for swim practices. But I wasn’t sure if Mr. H would get annoyed if we stayed up here too long. Still, I wandered around the room a bit before waking him, curious about his living space. There was a shelf that held trophies and medals and certificates, all sports related. I was surprised by how many there were, and how they ran the gamut of various teams and games. It seemed he’d done everything from baseball to football to basketball. And now swimming.

I felt my phone give one brief pulse of vibration in my pocket, the indicator of a text. I didn’t bother checking it. There was a 99% chance it was from Gwen. She’d been blowing my phone up for days, ever since Maddy had told me to stop responding to her. He’d definitely been right about that. It seemed to be driving her crazy.

Moving on from the shelf, I saw a desk with a few papers and knick-knacks on it, with a cork board on the wall above it. Pinned to it were pictures and keepsakes, some of which were from when he was really young. Something on the desk caught my eye, one of those cheesy little souvenirs that has what news stories were in the headlines the day you were born, how much a gallon of milk cost, and all that.

“Stop going through my stuff, you creep,” Maddy mumbled from across the room. Whirling around, I tried to plant an innocent smile on my face.

“Sorry,” I said. “Just looking around.”

He groaned lightly, clearly not thrilled about being awake, but got up.

“You feel okay?” I asked.

He inhaled a deep breath, stretching, and nodded. “Yeah. What about you?”

“I feel great,” I answered honestly. “Last night was awesome.”

He smirked a little, rolling his head on his shoulders. “You love that word, huh?”

“Only when it’s appropriate for the situation, which it totally has been.”

He stared at me for a few seconds, the corner of his mouth perked up, before leaning in and planting a firm kiss on my lips.

I waited around while he took a shower, finishing my little tour of his room. Noting down some info from the paper I’d noticed earlier, I sent a text to Aspen.

I’m going to need your help with a little project when I get home.

He texted me back quickly as always.Sure. What’s up?

I’ll talk to you about it when I get home later. It’s a surprise for Maddy.

LOL. Maddy???

I meant Maddox!I grimaced as I sent the text. Oops.It was autocorrect,I added, hoping he’d buy it.

Sure. You guys are so embarrassing.His message was followed by a puking emoji.I’ll talk to you later.

Thanks.

Once Maddy was out of the shower, we headed downstairs and ate breakfast. Mr. H seemed mostly over the night before, since it had ended on an okay note between the two of them. I brought up the shelf in the bedroom, filled with trophies and medals,which seemed to perk him the rest of the way up. He went on and on about Maddy’s sports accomplishments, obviously beaming with pride. I definitely wasn’t going to bring it up, but I wondered how he would react to finding out how miserable his son was on the swim team.

He wasn’t dropping us off at the bus stop until later, so we had awhile to relax. They turned the football game on in the living room, so we all sat around and watched that. When I commented on the game using the technical terms Maddy had taught me, Mr. H looked impressed.

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