My third orgasm comes as a surprise. Sneaky and seemingly out of nowhere, it starts as just a shake and ends with me pulling Bryce’s mouth to mine. Closing my eyes and kissing him as he lets go. He pumps up into me one final time, holding himself as deep as he can possibly, and I feel his cock pulse, and I feel Bryce shudder as we both collapse against the wall with nothing left in us but shuddering breaths and limp bodies.
Bryce keeps kissing me. My lips, my skin, drawing his nose along the line of my jaw before moving to my forehead and claiming that as well. The movements are gentle and tender and they make my heart ache in a way that I can’t possibly explain.
It’s without words that we pull apart from each other and put ourselves back together. Slowly. I sense that neither of us want to break the moment. Neither of us will dare.
It’s strange to pull my pants up without my underwear, knowing that they’re somewhere on the ground. Wait, no. They’re in Bryce’s hand, and he tucks them into one of his pockets before tucking his cock back into his underwear and zipping up his jeans.
Even now, the idea of him keeping my underwear turns me on.
I fix the buttons on my shirt and run my fingers through my hair as Bryce finishes buttoning his own shirt. He looks at me then, and he’s reaching for me again when the door from the alley opens. “There you two are,” my dad says. “The game is back up and running. We all want to finish before they close.”
My stomach plummets through the ground into the core of the earth and I can feel all the blood drain from my face. Shit. Shit.
Dad stops short when he sees the two of us and how close we are together. His face falls, and then draws tight. The look of betrayal is the one that I’ve always been afraid of, and I think I might be sick. But he doesn’t say anything about it, just “Are you two all right?”
“Yeah,” I say, putting on a smile I do not feel. “I was getting warm inside and Bryce offered to come out with me. We’ll be right there.”
He nods shortly, and gives us both long, calculating looks before going inside. Bryce especially. He knows. He has to know. There’s no way that he can’t, right? I mean, we just fucked against the wall. The air probably reeks of sex and sweat even if all our clothes are in their proper places. Who knows what my make-up looks like. My lips are probably swollen, and I know that I’m flushed.
This is exactly what I didn’t want to happen. This is why I was staying the hell away from him. “He knows. Fuck, he knows, Bryce.”
He sighs. “It’s fine. There’s nothing to know.”
“Right,” I scoff. “Because you and I always stand too close and look like we just ran the hundred-meter dash. This is why I walked away. He’s going to kill you. Never speak to you again, and it will be my fault.”
He shakes his head. “You know that I’m not asking you to take on that responsibility, right? You know more than anyone, Katti, I’m a grown man. I make my own decisions. Even if Phil does react the way you’re thinking, it wouldn’t be your fault.”
Frustration builds in my chest. Both he and Elle don’t seem to get it. But they wouldn’t be responsible for breaking up a lifelong friendship. They only see what they want to see. What I saw was the look on my dad’s face. The shock, horror, and suspicion. I rub my hands across my face, groaning. This is a catastrophe. If I hadn’t been so weak, felt like I would die without his touch, this wouldn’t have happened. It’s just further proof that this has to be the last time anything ever happens between us.
That hole in my chest opens again, and I know that I’m back at the beginning. This whole week of processing my grief has been erased and I’ll start again.
Maybe, when Elle actually sees the fallout, whatever that is, she’ll be more supportive. Regardless, I know that she’ll bring me more ice cream and vodka if I need it.
“This has to be the last time,” I say. “I won’t survive another one.”
“Katti,” he says. “Everything is fine. It’s okay. I promise.”
He reaches for me and I pull away. “Fine? Bryce, look around. Think about what just happened. None of this is fine. I was thinking in the car on the way up here how cruel the world is. Because you had to be Dad’s best friend. If I could keep you in all my memories and make it so you weren’t so close to him, I would.