But this fury didn’t strike me as being directed at me. He may have lashed out over the phone, but I could see how tense his shoulders were. This was all about Peter, and if it was about Peter, it was also about his mother.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I tried touching his arm, but he walked to a new stretch of carpet in front of the television and started pacing there. I would not be deterred, however. I followed him, parking myself in his direct path so when he turned, he was forced to stop and look me in the eye. “Do you need to talk about this?”

I expected him to shrug me off or tell me he was fine again. I even thought maybe he’d just walk around me and keep pacing. I wasn’t prepared for the fury he unleashed on me over the stupidest thing. Derek’s eyes bulged the way my father’s had when I told him I scratched his new Mercedes. His face turned a shade of red that looked unnatural.

“Why the hell can’t you return a call? I texted you all day. I even sent a fucking email. You had me worried sick. Even Barb was upset you didn’t come in. She baked a chocolate cake and—”

I grabbed the sides of his jaw and pulled him down, covering his lips with mine. He didn’t kiss me back at first. He was rigid, bordering on resistant. But I pushed my tongue against his bottom lip, opening his mouth to sneak inside, and felt the slightest bit of encouragement. So I pressed on, my fingers crawling around to the back of his neck so I could relax off my tiptoes and continue kissing him.

I felt his hands rest on my hips, his greedy fingers pulling me closer to his body. His kisses grew fervent, like I was the fix he needed to make everything right in his world again. I wanted to make his world right again. I wanted tobehis world.

Derek leaned into me, backing me away from the TV and toward the couch. His hands firmly gripped my hips, squeezing my love handles and directing me where to go. And when the backs of my legs hit the couch, he gave me a gentle push and I fell back to a sitting position. For a tense moment, I stared up at him. He stood there with a scowl, saying nothing. I didn’t know whether he was angry or if the look in his eyes was desire until he reached for the button of his jeans.

Maybe this was a booty call.

The way he seductively unzipped the fly of his jeans and extracted his dick had me licking my lips. I hadn’t intended this to happen, but I was not shying away from it. There was something strangely erotic about an angry man unleashing his rage in a sexual release. He didn’t even have to ask. I leaned forward, taking his cock in my hand and stroking him. His gaze washed over my face, landing on my lips, and I gladly took him in.

Careful not to nip him with my teeth, I whirled my tongue around his head. He leaned forward and placed his hands on the wall above me. He grunted softly as I let him slide deep into my throat and worked his pants down at the same time. I knew it was helping him relax. I could hear the stress escaping his body through soft, guttural breaths.

His hand smoothing down the back of my head, guiding me to take him deeper as I sucked and stroked him, was encouraging, but I withdrew, holding his cock with my lips, and looked up at him. Derek smirked and pushed me back, pulling himself free from my grip. Then, sliding his hand between my legs, he pushed my sweatpants against my clit. I could feel the moisture from my pussy soaking into them. He said nothing, just pressed the fabric into my clit, rubbing me.

I let out a gasp of pleasure, thankful that he was starting to calm. “I want you in me,” I whispered to Derek as his fingers grabbed the top of my pants and hauled them down.

I kicked my foot and shook them free as his fingers penetrated me. He leaned down and kissed me, fondling my breasts, until I felt his dick. I wasn’t expecting that the moment his fingers withdrew, his dick would be in their place. I was so wet he slid all the way in and slammed against me.

Derek knelt between my knees and pulled my hips toward him. I felt a tinge of pain as his cock pressed hard against my back wall. He grunted again, and all I could do was lie there as he pounded me, over and over, like a toy. I wasn’t complaining, but I’d never been fucked so hard in all my life. His eyes were fixed on my tits as they bounced, but my attention was centered on what was happening inside my pussy.

I could feel the pleasure inside me building, enhanced by the hunched position I was already in. He lifted my shirt, freeing my breasts and taking one in his mouth and running his tongue over my nipple. Each flick of his tongue sent shockwaves up my spine. I didn’t know what to think or what to do. He kept going as hard as he could, the sound of flesh on flesh clapping as he didn’t let up.

I curled my toes and grabbed a fistful of his hair with one hand and the couch with the other as my coil snapped. “Oh shit, oh shit!” I muttered, holding my breath as he continued to thrust into me. He didn’t let up, I rubbed my clit, trying to carry my orgasm through to the next wave of pleasure. He was an animal, vicious and unrelenting.

I felt delirious and overstimulated as he kept going until I felt it. He pushed into me hard and stopped. He quivered as his warm seed erupted inside me. He thrust in short successions a few more times, then his arms gave out and he fell on top of me, panting like the beast he was. All I could do was place my hand around him and lie there with him still in me, and the mess we made was leaking out onto the cushions.

There was no talking, no sexy banter. Only his fury being unleashed on me, and I was happy to take it. He lay across me, head on my shoulder, dick buried inside my pussy, for several minutes. I embraced him, feeling our hearts pounding and calming together. I wasn’t sure what he was feeling, but I was feeling a strong connection to him. He’d come in so upset and out of sorts. It had been my pleasure to help him relax and focus on something else.

I knew firsthand the pain of watching your mother die. There was nothing I nor anyone else could do about it. Mom had suffered so badly at the end, which had traumatized both me and Curt. I imagined it had done the same for Derek and his brother, Peter, to watch their mother die so suddenly too. At least my mother’s death was drawn out enough that we knew it was coming and got to say our goodbyes. Derek’s mother had died suddenly—a heart attack brought on by thyroid disease.

“Derek, I know you get so frustrated with Peter, and you have every right to feel that way.” He didn’t move as I smoothed my hand across his back. The cum puddling between our bodies and on the couch beneath me was starting to make me cold. “Peter just got affected in a different way, okay? You’re such a good brother for helping him and caring about him. I’m sorry he makes you so frustrated.”

Derek pulled out, hovering for a moment on his knees as he grimaced at the mess. “Sorry.” He stood, pulling his jeans and boxers back up, and walked to the kitchen, snagging a hand towel and drying himself before tossing it to me. He didn’t say much more, but he did sit down next to me.

Dressed in only my T-shirt and the panties I found randomly lying on the coffee table—so that’s where they went—I curled up next to him. I tucked my shoulder up under his armpit and rested my head on his arm, splaying my hand across his chest. He didn’t shy away, really, but he stiffened. At first, I felt like it was an odd reaction, but we hadn’t done anything emotionally intimate with each other, so this was a first. It didn’t bother me that he acted that way. I just scooted closer.

“I’ll be your safe place any time you need to unload, alright?”

“What do you mean?” Derek pulled away slightly and looked down at me. I froze. Had I said something wrong?

“I mean, you came here to vent, right? So I’m here to listen. It’s what you do when you care about someone.”

He bolted off the couch like I was the lava monster and he was the ten-year-old boy escaping from death. Shocked, I felt suddenly exposed. I tugged at the hem of my T-shirt and tried to cover myself more. It appeared I had upset him again.

“Mags, this is just sex. That’s all this is. Sex and friendship. I have a strong no-dating policy for coworkers. You know that.” He ran a hand through his hair. I stared at him, feeling really hurt. I had never once thought it was just sex and friendship. My heart was tearing right down the middle, and all I wanted him to do was make it stop.

But I smiled.

“I know.” I shrugged it away, blinking back the tears so he wouldn’t see them. “I just meant, friends care for each other. Right? And we go way back.” I refused to let him see me cry. If he cared so little about my heart and how this “sex and friendship” might be toying with my emotions, then he didn’t deserve to see me be vulnerable. “If you need to talk, I’m here. That’s why you came over, right?”

He scowled as if, yet again, I’d said the wrong thing. “I don’t know why I came over. I need to go.”