Page 10 of Breaking You Open

Louis sits next to me, the couch dipping with his weight. He pours me a cup of juice, but I make no move to take it.

“Don’t feel like eating?” He puts on the TV, then grabs himself a piece of bacon and devours it in one bite.

“No, it’s…it’s not that.” Not only did he save me from Eric, but he also brought me here, held my hair as I puked all over his toilet, let me sleep in his bed without making a single move to touch me, and now this? It’s way too much. I don’t even know him, yet he’d do this for me? Why? He has to have a reason. Few people are this kind without expecting anything in return. Can it be that he doesn’t want me? Is that it?

I take a piece of bacon with the eggs, and even though I was feeling sick just a few minutes ago, the taste makes me moan.

Louis snorts. “So you were hungry after all.”

All the while as we’re eating, I feel him watching me now and again. I sneak glances at him too, and an idea forms in my mind. Time to find out if he wants me or not.

I eat as much as I can stomach, wipe my mouth with a paper towel, and turn to him.

“Thank you,” I say, letting all my gratefulness out in my voice this time.

“No need to thank me, kid.”

“Yeah, there is. I made you leave your friends behind, and I puked all over your toilet, and I—”

“Heated up my bed so I could barely sleep? Yeah.” He lets out a bark of a laugh. “I guess you should be grateful for that.” He wipes his mouth and takes a sip of coffee, turning back to the TV. Great, the TV holds his attention better than I do. This is going to be harder than I thought.

“Louis.”

“Yeah?”

I try to look at him the way Aaron always liked: lips slightly pouted, brows tilted upward. Horny. I try to look horny. With Louis, it’s not a difficult feat, because he turns me on a lot.

“I want to do you a favor, the way you did for me.”

“Mm-hmm. Meaning what?”

Still distracted. Time to go in for the kill.

I slide my hand over his thigh and cast a deliberate glance at the bulge between his legs.

“Oh,” he says, eyebrow raised. “Oh.” Then he throws his head back and laughs.

Laughs.

“What?” I tried to be sexy, and this is how he reacts? I’m too hungover to be truly offended, but my mouth twists into a sullen pout.

Louis wipes his hand over his face. He’s got a few pieces of egg stuck in his beard. I want to crawl into his lap and lick them off.

“It’s just…You’re a little young for me, kid.”

“I’m almost twenty-one.”

“Yeah, that just proves my point. How old do you think I am?”

I shrug.

“I’m thirty-nine,” he says, eyebrows raised.

“Oh, well, that’s…” Okay, he’s a little bit older than I thought. I don’t have a lot of experience trying to gauge people’s ages; it’s just not something I focus on. But what does it matter anyway? “It’s just a blow job.”

“Just a blow job, huh? But doyouwant to do it?”

What does he mean? “Of course I do. I wouldn’t have suggested it otherwise.”

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