“You know no matter what you do, she’s never gonna be with you?” Leo says to me, and I find it hard not to laugh at him.

“Yeah, because she’s my best friend, dumbass.”

“I see what you’re doing here, bro.”

“You’re fucking delusional, man, you know that?”

I tower over him, and it takes every ounce of control I have not to snap his neck, he deserves it.

“You keep telling yourself that. She’ll come to her senses soon enough; she’s meant to be with me.”

“Not happening this time, bitch.”

“Who you calling a bitch, bitch?”

This guy’s a joke. He tries to shove me backward, but all it does is remind me of the time he put his hands on Fallon. I smirk at him. “I’ll give you one clean hit,” I tempt him by sticking my jaw out, wishing he would do it so I could lay him clean into the dirt.

“Nah, you’re not worth it.”

“It’s your only chance, if you’re so tough, do it.” I know if I were to hit him, he’d be out cold, seeing stars for a week.

“Fuck you.” He waves me off, not taking me up on my offer.

“I forgot you only like to put your hands on girls!” I say through gritted teeth, hoping it’ll piss him off, but he doesn’t budge. I bet the dumb fucker didn’t know she told me. He turns his back, and I spit at his feet. Turning away, Fallon’s eyes are all over me as I get in the truck.

I don’t look toward Leo again; I’m sure my words have his mind in a tailspin, thinking I didn’t know what he’d done.

“What did he say?” she asks, clearly not able to hear any of our argument.

“Nothing, just being a bitch, like always.”

"I’m sorry you had to deal with him,” she says as I pull off and head toward my place. My palms are sweaty as I grip the steering wheel, and I have no idea how I stayed composed and didn’t hit that motherfucker square in the jaw.

“Don’t be sorry. I’m sorry for you. I don’t know what you ever saw in him.”

“He had his moments, but they were few and far between by the end.”

“I really don’t understand guys like Leo. It’s like they want what they can’t have. When he had you, he cheated on you. Now that he can’t have you, he’s fuckin’ sick without you? I’m not buying it, Fallon.”

“Me neither, so don’t worry . . . I’m never going back to him.”

“Good, that’s what I want to hear. So, what do you say we drop your stuff off and then do something fun to forget all about what happened?”

“Oh, like get my nails done?”

“Fuck, no. How is that even remotely fun?”

“You love pedicures, and you know it.”

“You may love them, but I don’t. You made me go one time, and it freaked me out.”

“Okay,” she says in a mocking tone, and I shake my head.

“You know what? Maybe I don’t want to hang out with you today after all,” I tease her.

“Fine, I have to get my nails done anyway.”

Once we have all her stuff inside, she sits on the bed in the guest room and plugs her cell phone charger into the wall. I watch her, and I don’t think she has a clue how fucking beautiful she is. I swallow, letting my eyes scan her body while she focuses on her phone.

“You’re staring,” she accuses me, glancing in my direction.

“No, I’m not!” Biggest fucking lie of my life.

“Okay,” she responds, using that mocking tone again, and I walk away feeling like a bit of a weirdo for gawking at her when I thought she didn’t notice. But I can’t help it.

Opening my laptop to try to look busy, I have to learn to let go of the feelings I have for her. She doesn’t feel that way about me at all, and now that we are living together, I really have to keep myself in check.

Maybe it’s a good thing that she’s going to go and get her nails done. I can catch up on some work; then maybe rub one out, and hopefully, that’ll help keep my cock down.

“You mind if I shower?” she asks me from the doorway.

Motherfucker!

She’s not helping one bit. I thought she was leaving, but instead, she’s gonna be naked just on the other side of the wall from me.

“Parks?”

“Yeah, whatever, you don’t have to ask. You can help yourself to anything you want.”

“Thanks.” I hear her call out from her room, and I fight the urge to look in after her. I break, and my eyes find her just as she bends over to dig through a suitcase. Her tight ass in the air makes my cock throb. Slamming the lid on my laptop, I storm into my bedroom and sit on my bed. Looking down at my cock, which is rock hard, I let out a deep breath.

She’s gonna be the death of me. I swear to God, I will not be able to keep my hands off her for long if she’s living here. What was I thinking asking her to move in?

I close my eyes and try to stop all the blood from rushing to the tip of my shaft, but all I can picture is her tight ass. Dropping my shorts to my knees, I give in. Gripping my shaft tightly at the base before I pull up on myself, stroking toward the head. Pleasure pulsates throughout my entire body, and I turn around, resting back rubbing slowly up and down my length. My eyes are still closed, and the vision of her ass is as clear as day.

Oh fuck.

I imagine Fallon looking back, stripping naked as she begs me to fuck her. I toss her on the bed, her legs are spread open, and her sexy pink pussy is wet and ready for me to take. With our eyes locked on each other’s, I rub her clit with my shaft and then slowly enter her body.

Fire radiates to my balls, wanting to explode, and right as I do, she knocks on the door. “Do you have some toothpaste I can borrow?”

Cum blazes out the tip of my dick, and I tense, trying not to make a noise. Seizing my shaft sternly, I bite back a groan as my orgasm—more like a fucking halfgasm—is cut short.

“Parks?”

“Yup! I’ll bring it to you,” I say quickly and in one swift breath. Looking down at my unsatisfied dick, still hard in the palm of my hand, I shake my head, knowing there’s no point to keep trying.

I adjust myself back into my shorts and wait for my shaft to go down as I wash the cum away from my hands. The tube of toothpaste mocks me from the countertop next to the sink.

It’s all your fault.

I flip it off before taking it to Fallon, and as I hear the water running from her bathroom, I decide to leave it on her bed instead of actually knocking. That is the last thing I need to see. I mean, I’d love to see what she looks like naked, but it would probably have me dropping my shorts. Fuck, I need to get away and clear my mind.

I take out my cell phone and shoot her a text.

Me: Had to meet with a client. There’s a key under the mat you can keep. See you later.

Admittedly, it’s a bit callous, but right now, that’s how I feel.

Driving across town to my parents’ house, I hope my dad can help. I spot him talking to Roger, Fallon’s dad, out front when I pull up. They both see me and wave. “How are you, son?” my dad asks at I walk over to them.

“Good,” I respond and give him a hug before shaking Roger’s hand.

“You seen my daughter lately?” he asks.

“Yeah, I’ve seen her.”

“How is she doing?”

“She’s good.” I don’t bother telling Roger about anything that’s going on with her. When he finds out what Leo did, he’ll be pissed, but it’s not my place to tell.

“What are you up to?” My dad asks me.

“Nothing, I had a client I had to meet over this way, so I thought I’d stop in and say hi.”

Roger’s cell phone rings, and I smirk when he pulls out his huge iPhone and excuses himself before answering it.

“What are you really here for?” My dad questions as soon as Roger is out of earshot. He knows I don’t just drop in without asking, ever.

“Can we talk inside?”

“Sure.” He turns and I follow him inside, kicking my shoes off as I enter.

“Mom home?”

“No, she’s out shopping. You want a beer?”

“Yeah.” My dad is the best person in the world to come to for advice, just having him listen to my problems all my life has given me the answer to so many things.

“So, what’s bothering you?” He hands me a beer from the fridge. I happily crack it open as we stand in the kitchen.

“It’s Fallon,” I tell him, and he gives me a knowing look. “Leo cheated on her.”

“Again?”

“Yeah.”

“When are you going to tell the girl how you really feel about her?”

I give him a crooked glare, and he chuckles. This has been a long-standing push and pull with us. He knows I love her, but he also knows all the reasons why I can’t tell her I’m in love with her. So he’s not helping one bit.

“Dad,” I scold him, and he raises his hands, signaling defeat.

“I can’t control my mind.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s hard to explain. When I used to see her once a week or when we just talked on the phone daily, it was different. So now that break from her I normally have to give myself time isn’t there. And my mind is spinning. I can’t control how I feel for her; my feelings are as intense as they’ve ever been.”

“How long is she staying with you for?”

“As long as she needs. She was so upset after it happened, she walked in on him fucking some chick, Dad.”

“Oh, Jesus, poor girl.”

“Yeah, and here I am with a hard-on all the time like some weirdo.”

“I’m sure you don’t want to talk about this. But do you really think if you tell her how you feel, she’s not gonna reciprocate?”

“I don’t know what I think. I’ve told you before; I don’t want to risk our friendship though . . . not after losing Meg.”

Saying my sister’s name brings an eerie silence to the conversation. We don’t talk about her much anymore. She drowned when I was a teenager, and my parents have never forgiven themselves. Hell, neither have I. It was my idea to lie and tell our parents we were going to the movies instead of the beach, which had been too rough that day, the riptide too strong. We thought we were invincible.

That day we found out just how vulnerable we were. It took Mother Nature less than a minute to pull Meg so far away we barely heard her screams, and by the time I finally got to her, it was too late.

I was her older brother and should’ve been able to save her, but I didn’t. It will always be my greatest regret. It also solidifies my reasoning for not being honest with Fallon about my feelings. She’s all that got me through losing Meg, the guilt was literally fucking eating me alive, but Fallon made me go on, and since then, she is what keeps me going.

“I’m sorry, Dad,” I tell him for bringing Meg up.

“It’s okay. Just consider this, Parks. Telling Fallon could possibly be the best thing that’s ever happened to you. All your stress stems from this elaborate lie you’ve spun, but you don’t actually know what she would do if you told her.”

“I can’t. I won’t risk losing her. Besides you and Mom, she’s all I have.” And that’s the truth. Trust me; I don’t want to be in this situation. I’ve tried to move on with my life. I’ve dated other women. It always starts off great. Then I find myself comparing the girl to Fallon, and things fall apart. No matter how hard I try, I can’t stop myself. It isn’t fair to be with someone and not really care about them, but I just keep trying to move on. It’s wrong, but it has helped me to keep my distance from Fallon.

“So what? Are you gonna live your whole life loving her and never tell her?”

“Yeah. I am.”

“Then I don’t know how to help you, son.”

I don’t know what I was expecting him to say, but that wasn’t it.