“If I needed them, I’d call, and they’d come.” I pushed his hand from my face. He cupped the side of my neck instead. “My two closest guy friends are away at school. With their girlfriends. So, the sex part of our relationship is finished—and honestly, it was a small part anyway—but they’re still my boys. Ride or die. They always treated me right.”
Gabe and Sebastian did, at least. Other boys, periphery friends, hadn’t been as good to me. They were history now.
“I’m glad you have that.” Theo tugged me close, his forehead resting on mine. “I feel like I’m messing this up with you, Helen. You’re cool, you’ve always been cool. I’m the one being stupid.”
“You are being stupid. We had sex one time and you think I want to meet your dad. Get a grip, dude.”
I did not want to meet Theo’s dad. Ever. But I also really hated everything about this conversation.
Theo exhaled heavily against my lips. “I’ve had one girlfriend. I don’t know how to do anything but be a boyfriend. So excuse me for being a jackass. That’s all I know.”
“You were doing fine up until about five minutes ago. I mean, the stalking was kind of heavy handed, but you’re cute, and you eat pussy like a champ, so I can look past that.”
His smiling lips touched mine. “Thanks for being such a goddamn awesome girl. There’s no one like you, baby.”
“I know that, dude. Count yourself lucky I’m allowing you in my presence.”
I didn’t really understand why there was a knot wrapped in barbed wire in my throat, but damn, it did not feel great to swallow.
Theo kissed me again, and I let him go deep, because that felt better than listening to the words that kept coming from his torturous mouth. It went on too long and got too hot for a Sunday morning in the dining hall, but we didn’t stop until someone, somewhere, dragged a chair across the tile floor, creating a long, loud screech.
He pulled back, but not far. “I have so much to do today.”
“Me too.”
“Are you working tonight?”
“No, not tonight. I’m going to hang out with Luc and take her to dinner.”
“Tell me when you’re working. I don’t want you on the bus. I’ll drive you.”
I sighed and slumped away from him. “That sounds like a boyfriend thing.”
He leveled a hard stare at me. “You’re telling me the guys, the ones you call your ride or dies, would let you take the bus at two in the morning?”
I chewed on the corner of my lip. It had never come up while they’d lived in town, so I wasn’t completely sure. Chances were, I’d do what I needed to do without letting them know.
“If they found out, they’d probably be pissed, but I do my own thing and don’t answer to anyone. That’s how I like it.”
“Our friendship is going to work a little differently, baby. I won’t allow you to do shit that endangers you. And before you get pissed at me using ‘allow,’ let me tell you what I mean.” He tucked a stray lock of hair behind my ear and ran his hand down my braid. “I like this.”
I rolled my eyes even though that little gesture sent a mini arrow straight through my chest.
“What I mean is I’m going to be there for you, so endangering yourself is not a choice. I don’t have anything going on at two in the morning, so you tell me the days you work, I’ll drive you home.”
“And end up in my bed?”
The look he gave me could have burned down the ocean. “That’s not why I’m doing it, but if you’re offering that sweet, tight little pussy, I’m never going to turn it down.”
“You know how to charm a girl, Theodore.”
He didn’t grin like I expected. His thumb stroked the center of my throat while his eyes swept over me, from lips to forehead.
“It’s not about charming you, Helen. I’m telling you like it is. This works between us because we don’t play games. We’re straight with each other. It’s a relief to have that with someone—with you. I think we get one another.”
I nodded. “I think you’re right, which is strange. You’re the last person I should get.”
His mouth tightened. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, but you will. Then I think you’ll see.”
“Cryptic.”
“Yeah,” he breathed out. “I don’t mean to be. I really do have to run.”
“All right. Let’s hit it.”
We dumped our trays, then Theo took my hand. For a guy who didn’t want to be a boyfriend, he really had a bad habit of acting like one. But I guess that was his point. This in-between kind of thing was brand new to him. It was new to me too. I sure as hell had never held hands with Bash or Gabe. The idea made me shudder, and those boys would have probably died of laughter if I suggested it.
Not that I ever would. Ew.
Back at my dorm, Theo walked me backward into the same wall Amir had trapped me against just over a week ago. Hidden by a tree, Theo went at me, wrecking my mouth, grabbing my ass, my belly, my tits—everywhere he could get his hands. I attacked back, shoving my hands under his shirt, biting his lips, sucking his tongue, grinding my pussy against his dick.
Just two pals saying goodbye. Nothing special.
He groaned with my breast in his hand. “Gotta stop. I need to go. I don’t have time to take you upstairs.”
“’Kay. Then you’re going to have to get your hand out of my pants.” Yeah, his other hand was currently down the back of my pants, gripping a handful of my ass.
“You’re going to have to get your hand out of my pants, Helen.”
Oh yeah. I was totally feeling up his butt too, but it was such a nice one, all bubbly and muscular.
We stepped away from each other, me zipping up my hoodie, Theo adjusting his dick. Watching him do that, I wanted to jump him again, so I stuffed my hands in my pockets and hurried out from behind the tree to the sidewalk.
It took Theo a minute, then he joined me. “I’m gonna go.”
I smirked. “You should.”
He stared me down. I stared right back. With a pained groan, he grabbed me by the back of my head and pulled me into his chest, kissing me hard and fast. Then he dropped his hands and walked away, shaking his head the entire way to his car. I had to clamp down on my bottom lip to keep the smile at bay.
Theo Whitlock wasn’t going to be my boyfriend. That was a fact. But whatever this was, it was nothing like my friendships from high school.
I swiveled on my toes, heading back to my dorm for a shower and study session. No need to analyze the hell out of anything. I’d let this ride while it was fun and hot. When it changed—which it inevitably would—I’d end it.
* * *
Theo had me on all fours. He was behind me, driving into me relentlessly.
“You can’t be loud,” I panted.
“That’s you being loud.”
“But you’re making me loud.”
He smacked my ass. “Shut up. No one’s home.”
I arched my back, and he went impossibly deeper. “They might come home. They’ll hear us.”
He smacked me again. “I don’t care,” he said, punctuating each word with a thrust.
“Oh god,” my neck arched when he hit something raw inside me, “who knew you’d be a bad influence?”
One more slap, then his arms banded around me, pulling me upright and onto his lap. My knees were on the outside of his, but he controlled my movements, bouncing me on his cock. Every time my butt slapped his thighs, breath knocked out of my lungs in frantic pants.