“Wow…. That was amazing.” April closed her eyes slowly, as Brent stretched out beside her. Both naked beneath the covers, she took a deep breath, counting down the minutes until she could make up some excuse to get out of his bed. The mattress dipped, as he snuggled closer. “You were amazing.”
“Yeah,” she muttered, clearing her throat and glancing up at him when she sensed a pause. He always wanted to cuddle after sex. April, meanwhile, thought of nothing but escape, her body numb with mediocrity. “Yeah, that was fun.”
He bit his lower lip, studying her face. The guy had been dying to ask her out—she could see it in his eyes—but she had been firm about their relationship. Brent was for fun. There was too much riding on her grades this semester—the final one of her university career—to screw it up by taking on a boyfriend. Her future depended on her graduating with an honors degree in business, and there was nobody here worth sacrificing that for—definitely not Brent. Brent was for late-night booty calls and study breaks. He lived two floors below her in their student residence; occasionally, they had half-decent sex. For the most part, he was a distraction, something to take her mind off exams and grades and work.
The sex tonight, which had started with her showing up at his front door with two bottles of beer, was middle-of-the-road for her. Not good. Not bad. Just… blah. She’d even almost climaxed. It didn’t matter. He’d served his purpose, for now, and April planned to finish herself off in her own bed in exactly ten minutes: five minutes to loll around in bed, three to argue about her leaving, and two to get back to her apartment upstairs.
A part of her felt bad. Brent was a good guy. Sweet. Pleasant. Sometimes he made her laugh so hard her sides ached. When all this was over, she knew he’d be a better friend than a boyfriend. She’d never admit it out loud, but he was convenience—an attractive guy who lived in her building and hopped into bed with her whenever she wanted. It worked. This worked. No need to make it complicated.
“Want to move this to the shower?” he purred, sliding his lips up her neck and nibbling her earlobe. It should have excited her to have a guy kissing her neck—but with Brent, it didn’t. All she could think about was getting out—now.
Because the longer she stayed with him, the more she thought about their average sex life—which reminded her that the best sex of her life had been in high school of all places. It was a shame she hadn’t realized at the time—because she definitely would have enjoyed it more. She might have even stuck around afterward instead of sneaking off from Van Palmer’s guest house on his family’s property.
She remembered it, clear as day, even after almost four years had crawled by. Van had hosted the prom after-party. It made sense, given his dad’s sprawling estate on the north end of Cascade Falls. Even back then, everyone knew his dad had such a huge house and massive property because he was a shady guy, running a motorcycle club and whatever else he could under the law to fund his lavish lifestyle.
But back then, no one had complained; they wanted to party at the Palmer place. Just about every girl in her class had wanted the honor of screwing bad boy Van Palmer too; yet, she was the one to snag him that night. It had started innocently—as these things always did—with some too-close dancing on the porch under twinkling lights then moving to the grounds for a private tour. They’d barely made it to the guest house before they were tearing each other’s clothes off. From there, the rest was history. She’d been almost a virgin at the time, and they spent hours together.
April had never considered herself naïve. Back then, she knew Van’s reputation going in. While she had a few drunken fumblings with classmates under her belt, Van had helped himself to half the girls in her class and those at their rival school one town over. So, before he could ditch her, she’d gathered her clothes, her mind foggy and body tingling from her first-ever earth-shattering orgasm, and disappeared into the night.
That weekend, she left for college. Van hadn’t tried to contact her, and while it stung, April had held her head up high, fully expecting that college boys would be different. Better. Too mature to be womanizers.
How wrong she was. She’d seen plenty of Vans in her four years, and she avoided them like the plague. Van’s dismissal of her after their night together had been fresh in her mind every time she spoke to some bronzed rich boy—and there were plenty of those in her business classes—who clearly just wanted to fuck her then hit the bars with his friends. Never again.
And that was why she kept Brent in her life. Just because she had no time for romance didn’t mean she needed to be a sexless blob. He was always kind to her—though their sex life left much to be desired.
So, rather than snippily shooting down his request to join him in the shower, April merely smiled and kissed his cheek. She apologized, switching up her words so that it wouldn’t sound like the same speech she gave last time. Then, she grabbed her things and disappeared. She’d promised to text him in the morning, as she shut his front door, because April—unlike womanizing creeps like Van—wasn’t cruel. She wouldn’t date Brent, but she wasn’t heartless either.
She’d banished heartlessness from her life years ago, which included Van’s type. There was no room in her life to be used, abused, and tossed aside. So, for now, Brent would have to do.
Brent and her vibrator, that is.