Page 36 of Withholding Nothing

Chapter Seven

Ashton

Fuck my life. Fuck my life. FUCK MY LIFE!

The last few days had been odd. I spent most of my time in my room hiding from O’Shea and not coming out until I heard him leave for work. We were supposed to go to the arcade on Friday, but after what happened, I couldn’t even bring myself to stand in his presence without blushing my ass off. Maybe my dream was a premonition instead of a nightmare. What are the fucking odds that the person who made me feel something sexually was that cocky asshole?! Never mind the fact that he'd probably watched me masturbate the whole time.

I had no idea what I was going to do. I needed to work, but I was damn near terrified of him calling again. Seeing him standing in my doorway and hearing his voice both in my room and on my end of the phone was the most bizarre thing I’d ever experienced. Did he know about this beforehand? Probably not. Had he known, I’m pretty sure he would’ve let me know about it.

Goosebumps had rose on my skin when he got closed to me, his husky voice dancing along my nerve endings. He’d asked me if I’d really wanted him to do everything he’d said he’d do and I damn near had to bite my tongue to keep from confirming. My body screamed for me to say whatever word it took to see if he was all talk or if he could make me scream just as loud as the woman he brought over on his first night here. But my brain scolded me, reminding me that I wasn’t the type of person to have meaningless sex with someone I barely knew. Steve was the only man I’d been with sexually; how would it make me look to sleep with someone only knowing them for a few days when it took me a couple of months to sleep with Steve after we’d started dating?

I put my head in my hands with a groan. Why was this situation becoming so complicated? Grabbing my phone, I called Alex.

“What’s cooking, good looking?” she said upon answering.

“Hold on, I’m going to add Ava to the call. I’m having a crisis,” I said. I quickly added Ava to the call and waited for her to answer.

“Hello?” Ava said.

“Hey, I have Alex on the line, too,” I said. “I have a problem.”

“What’s up?” Alex said.

“You guys remember when I was texting you about that guy who calls my phone line? The sexy one?”

“Yeah, what about him? Is he married or a creep or something?” Ava asked.

I groaned. “No, it’s even worse than that.”

“Is he in prison?” Alex asked.

“No!” I paused and took a deep breath. “It turned out to actually be O’Shea.”

“O’Shea?” Alex shrieked. “You mean your fucking roommate?”

“Yes! Can you fucking believe it? What are the odds of that happening?”

“Holy shit. So did you guys bang then?”

“What? No, Alex!”

“Then what happened?” Ava asked. I told them the whole horrifying story, excluding the mini conversation we had after the phone call was over. His lustful gaze was still vivid in my memory, as if he was ready to pounce on me the moment I told him yes. I noticed his erection in the shorts he wore and was relieved when the phone had rang again, giving me a reason to send him on his way. Alex’s laugh brought me back to the conversation.

“I totally would’ve fucked him. You’re insane for not doing so,” she said and laughed.

I sighed. “The man had only been my roommate all of two days at that point. Sleeping with him would do nothing but complicate our living situation.”

“Friends with benefits never hurt anyone,” Alex said.

“And maybe it would help you to really get over Steve,” Ava added.

“Really Ava? I expected that to come from Alex, but now you’re even against me,” I whined.

“Hey, he really is hot though,” Ava commented.

“He is. I mean what’s the worst that could happen really? No one said you had to date him. Plus, you even admitted that you liked how the Avery guy made you feel. Why is it so different now that you know Avery is actually O’Shea?””

“Because…” I hesitated. “I mean…it’s him. He’s such a cocky asshole and he gets under my skin every chance he gets.”

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