Page 17 of Pleading Innocence

I wasn’t sure if I should’ve been upset with how rude he was being toward her or grateful. Gratitude seemed like the better option, as bad as it sounded. I’d rather her feelings be trampled on by him in this way instead of him showing the only type of interest in her he was capable of showing to women and trampling on her feelings afterward.

As her door closed, I was able to breathe just a little bit better as Anthony stood before the elevator, checking his phone while he waited on me.

“I’m sorry, man. I should’ve told you that I was stopping by here first. Probably shouldn’t have agreed to the drinks. I know you were probably looking forward to unwinding,” I said, coming to stand beside him.

He glanced over at me. “Yeah, I wish you would’ve told me so that I wouldn’t waste my time coming here. No offense,” he said, cocking his head to the side. “I kinda wanted to be in a better mood when I got back to the office, but I guess it’s all part of the whole best-friend package, huh? Doing family house calls, being all supportive and shit.” He patted me on the arm with a grin. “You know I’m not the mushy type, but I guess in a way, it was pretty nice to hang out with you, even if it was boring as hell.”

He put the phone in his pocket as the elevator door opened in front of us and we stepped inside. “Tell me, why are we friends again?” I asked with a grin.

“Because I know how to have a good time,” he said, punching me on the shoulder. “And when you’re down you can count on me to pick you up. Something like that. Speaking of good times,” he looked at the digital clock in the elevator, “I’ve still got like fifteen minutes to spare, and since I’m already here, I think I’ve just thought of a way more fun way to spend my time.” He curled his brow and smiled.

I wrinkled mine. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you can head on out without me. I think I’m going to pay one of my friends a visit,” he said.

Panic settled within me again, until the elevator came to a stop and I saw that he got off on a whole other floor. I closed my eyes and tried to remain still, attempting to convince myself that he wasn’t trying to pull a smart one on me. He wouldn’t think I was that naive. But relaxation wouldn’t be possible until I was able to see for myself that he wasn’t just pretending to stop off on another floor to trick me.

I stuck my hand out between the closing elevator doors and pushed my head out to see Anthony walking down the hallway and knocking up a random apartment. Out came a leggy blonde, older but still attractive, who smiled upon seeing him. He leaned forward on the door frame and gave her that look I recognized all too well. I’d seen it many times before on our nights out when he was on the prowl. He looked her up and down, smiling on one side of his face, saying something to her that had her laughing and running her hand through her hair. He turned around and saw me looking so he winked and waved me away before reaching out and touching her leg as she touched his chest.

Okay, breathing just got a whole lot easier. He seemed to be well on his way into her bed. Maybe I was overreacting after all. Yeah, I definitely was. Besides, I needed to unwind myself before heading back home to my wife and kids. I didn’t need to be overthinking and making something out of nothing if there was nothing to worry about. The additional stress was not welcome. So I was going to take my relief and choose to trust Anthony. Maybe go on a drive or something to relax for an hour or two before clocking into dad and husband mode.

Chapter 13

Anthony

Whew!Ah,shit.Iwas so relieved that I’d made it out of the apartment in one piece. I’d thought I was a goner there for a while. As soon as I’d realized that it was just my guilt making me jumpy, I’d had to think of something fast to get out of there before things revealed themselves. But once I was out and safe in the elevator, my dumb ass couldn’t resist the element of danger. Let me not pretend it wasn’t my plan from the get-go though, because it was.

The plan was to get out of there and calm Chris’s suspicions so that I could find a way back to Tiffany’s place. But now that I was standing in front of Suzie—or Sandra, whatever the hell her name was—I was thinking about the way my life flashed before my eyes just minutes ago. Maybe it would be best to stay here with Sasha and keep up my good streak of avoiding Tiffany. Sasha was down for it, for sure.

I wasn’t even going to pretend that this blonde wasn’t a good lay because she was. She was older and had a lot of experience. The way her voluptuous ass bounced on my dick, slapping my hips like a fucking water balloon, was seared in my memory. And dang, I wouldn’t even mention the way it suffocated my face, much to my contentment. I reached out now to grab a handful of it, squeezing and jiggling it as I bit my lip, grinning.

She moaned and threw her body against my chest. “Why don’t you come in? The kids are at school, and I don’t have anywhere to be for the next few hours,” she breathed against my neck. I was tempted, for sure, don’t get me wrong. She didn’t even ask me what I was doing there or why I’d just popped up after so long. She just grinned when she saw me and was ready to fuck because she knew that was all this was.

Sure, she had a husband and shit, but it wasn’t my business whether she did or not. As long as he didn’t catch us. It wasn’t likely that he would since he traveled for work and was gone for weeks at a time. She didn’t expect anything from me. I didn’t have to think about ruining a marriage because I didn’t have a fucking commitment to her husband. That was on her. I had no jealousy when it came to her because it wasn’t like that between us. She was just a freak and a good fuck.

Her hands gripped my shirt and started tugging me forward, pulling a groan out of me. Out of my two options, this was the safest, as long as her husband didn’t decide to pop up early to surprise her. I was pretty sure he was off fucking some other woman wherever the hell he was, but some men had a bit of a double standard when it came to their relationship. Not me, I liked my women to be on the same page with me. Then again, I didn’t get into relationships.

Sophia—damn it,what was her name again?—whipped her long blonde hair over her shoulders and started to unbutton the baggy shirt she had on. It wasn’t the sexiest thing I’d ever seen her in, but I’d popped in on her unannounced. She’d probably just been cleaning or lounging or something in that. But when those buttons came undone, it turned a drab-looking shirt into one of the sexiest things I’d ever seen. Yet I wasn’t bucking over myself to smother my face into her ample breasts, because as much as I could have a quick fuck here to satiate the urges Tiffany had revved up inside of me, get back to work, and avoid breaking my promise to Chris… I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that Tiffany was just several floors up and I was thirsty for her.

“I’m sorry, I should get back to work,” I said, staring into her bosoms.

Blondie grinned. “And when has that ever stopped you?”

She was right. It had never stopped me before. In fact, my work thrived with these breaks. For some people, a power nap here and there helped them to work more efficiently. For Jared, a quick swim got his brain juices flowing. Everybody had their thing, and I had mine. I had a power fuck—I guess that’s what it could be called. A quick fuck to increase my productivity. Really, I would be doing a disservice to my job if I didn’t orgasm at least once today.

“You’re right, it hasn’t.” I grinned as she reached for my hand and checked the hallways to make sure no one was out before she put it in her shirt and underneath her bra. Ah, fuck. Her hard, fat nipple grazed my palm, and I couldn’t help rubbing my hand against her, squeezing her breast, hoping the fuck it would take my mind off Tiffany. But I knew it wouldn’t.

I was beginning to notice a problem here, because when it came to Tiffany, there was some sense of jealousy. Like, I didn’t care that she was fucking my other two best friends. The fucking thought of them going at it now was hard not to think about. It was making me so hard, and Blondie was taking that to mean that she was the one turning me on. She was hot and maybe I could come back and fuck her another time, but damn it, man, I wanted Tiffany’s freckled, orange-tinted skin. I wanted to run my hand through her reddish-orange hair and taste her pink lips. I wanted to gaze into her sparkling green eyes while fucking her. And I wanted to watch her get fucked by Mario.

Fuck it, I wanted her, and the more the merrier. But the fact that Mario was able to see her whenever he wanted, whenever she wanted… He could fuck her to sleep and wake up to her in the morning. That was what had me hesitating. Because the more of her I wanted, the more I’d be betraying my promise to Chris, and the more chances I’d have of getting caught by him. Because I was the only one he had his eyes on. He was just waiting for one little sign, for me to give one thing away, to pounce on me. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he pretended to leave only to return to Tiffany’s flat to make sure that I hadn’t gone back there. A chill ran through my body, especially when I recalled the way he was breaking his neck leaning out of that elevator to see where I was going.

Fear made me lean forward to kiss Blondie. If I could lose myself in her then I could forget about Tiffany. Shit, even with Chris supposedly gone, I could still feel his eyes on me. As soon as my lips touched Blondie’s, she shivered in desperation and delight, moaning. She was thicker than me and she wrapped her arms around my more slender frame. The softness of her pressed into my body and I walked forward, feeling something, enough for me to keep trying.

Kicking the door shut behind me, I moved my beard against her neck, kissing the tender spot there as she worked her hands to quickly unzip and undo my pants. I held her hands back because I wasn’t quite there yet. My thoughts of Tiffany and the fear of Chris staying back to see what I got up to, all while trying to focus on Blondie in front of me, was overwhelming.

In an attempt to turn off the noise in my head, I lowered my head into the cleavage of her breasts. It had her natural smell, which wasn’t a turn off to me. Unhooking her bra, my lips moved to kiss the space between her mountains, right in the center of her chest. She sighed, running her hand through my hair before tugging on it to bring my face back up to her. She kissed the hell out of me, sucking on my tongue, but all I kept thinking about was the fact that Tiffany could be fucking right now and I could be fucking her.

Tiffany’s face flushed with pleasure was all that I could see. Her moans were all I could think about. It wasn’t the first time I’d fucked somebody else while thinking only of Tiffany, but somehow the fact that her fucking apartment was just an elevator ride away made my thoughts of her so vivid that I could almost taste her on my tongue. I moaned and rested my head against the wall behind Blondie as I panted. She was busy getting herself undressed and I was busy arguing with myself in my head.

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