“It’s going to be okay, Jenna,” Travis said. “Please don’t worry.”

I couldn’t help but to worry. Casey was my best friend and one of the most important people in my life. I loved her and I didn’t want to hurt her. I had seen the look in her eyes when she’d confronted us—she had felt betrayed and angry, so hurt, and the expression had put a lump in my throat that still hadn’t gone away.

“Come into my room to sleep,” Travis said, leaning into me, taking my mouth in a kiss. I shook my head no but he took my hand anyway, leading me up the stairs to his room.

“We don’t have anything to hide anymore,” he said as we went inside, closing the door behind us. He pulled me into bed, though he didn’t try to take my clothes off or touch me beyond wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me against him. He could sense that I wasn’t in the mood for sex. What I really needed from him was comfort, and I felt that the moment he took me into his arms. It didn’t matter how comforted I felt, though; my heart was still racing, the knot still in my chest. I couldn’t stop thinking about Casey.

Travis kissed my forehead, stroking my cheek with his thumb.

“Tell me what you’re thinking. Let me make it better.”

“I think—I think I ruined my friendship with Casey.”

“You didn’t,” he said. “I know Casey. You know Casey. She probably just needs some time to sort out her feelings. She knows that we love her.”

“But did you see the look on her face?”

He frowned as he remembered it. “Yeah,” he said with a sigh. “Yeah, I did.”

“I just hope she’ll forgive us. I don’t know what I would do if she didn’t.”

“She will,” he promised. “How about you come out to LA with me this weekend? Just you and me. We’ll get away from all of this.”

I thought about it, a little hesitant to say yes. On one hand, I didn’t want to show off my relationship to Casey. On the other, the chance to get to know Travis’ world was tempting.

“It would save me from having to sit next to her on the plane all the way back,” I said. That would be a nightmare, I knew. I didn’t think I could take that many hours of stony silence from my best friend. “Okay.”

“Okay?” he asked, grinning at me. I smiled back at him, leaning forward to kiss him. He responded by slipping his tongue into my mouth. I found my body rubbing up against him, desperate for some relief from the tension that was building up inside of me. It wasn’t only the situation with Casey that was getting under my skin—my desire for Travis was overpowering. The two combined created a nervousness in my body that could only be soothed by Travis and the way he touched me.

Travis wrapped his hand around my hip and pulled me close, his cock pressed against my pussy through the fabric of our clothes. I wanted him so bad that I tried to undress him, but he took my hands and held them still as he grinded against me instead. I felt like a teenager going to second base for the first time; even touching him like this outside of our clothes was a wonder to me in how good it felt. He took my mouth in another kiss, the length of his cock taunting me. I squirmed out of his gasp, taking my dress off before he could stop me. I could tell by the look on his face that he hadn’t wanted to stop me, anyway. I hadn’t worn a bra and my breasts were bare under my dress, firm and heavy in his hands as he cupped them and stroked my nipples with his thumbs.

He pinched them between his thumbs and forefingers, tugging on them lightly while I wiggled out of my panties, kicking them off so that I was naked. Every time I tried to undress him, he stopped me. I wanted our skin pressed together and hated every bit of fabric between us.

“Travis,” I whimpered, his cock grinding against my clit. “Please don’t do this.”

He groaned softly at my words, pulling back slightly to strip himself of his clothes and put on a condom. When he was naked, he pulled me against him again so that we were lying face to face on the bed, our bodies pressed together. I wrapped my leg over his hip, parting my legs for him so that he could slip his cock inside of me. The moment he filled me up, I sighed, feeling relief from the pressure that had been building inside of me. He held onto my leg, digging his fingers into my hips as he rode against me, sliding his cock in and out of my pussy in a tantalizingly slow way.

“You fit me so perfectly, Jenna,” he said. “So tight and wet on my cock. Your pussy was made for me.”

I kissed him in agreement, wrapping my leg around him tighter to pull him deeper. The way he was moving against my hips was making me feel out of control, my eyes rolling back as I took his cock over and over. He pulled out of me then, leaving me empty and bereft, and I pouted at him as he grinned and kissed my throat.

“Turn around,” he said, twirling his finger so that I knew to flip over. I turned on my other side so that my back was to him, pressing my ass back against his cock and wiggling it against him. He growled and I gasped in surprise when he brought his hand down on my ass to spank it, sending a surprise sting of pain through my skin.

“You trying to tease me?” he asked. I wriggled against him again, reaching back between my legs to take his cock and pull it forward. I rubbed it against my pussy with my hand as he lifted my leg up, then guided it into my pussy from behind. The angle filled me with a new sensation, especially when I realized that his every thrust in this position hit me in such a sweet spot that it made me moan aloud, even though I was trying to be quiet. He reached around me and put his hand over my mouth as he rode against me.

“That’s the spot, isn’t it?” he asked. “Does that feel real good, baby?”

I nodded, my mouth still muffled by his hand. I was grinding back against him, taking him deep inside of me.

“Oh my god,” I moaned as he started to rub my clit with his hand. The sensation of pleasure was too much and I tried to close my legs, but he was grasping me tight so that I was forced to keep them open. With him fucking me in all the right ways, hard but slow and deep, I forgot every worry in my head and could focus only on the pleasure in my body. “Oh my god.”

“You can come,” he said. “I’m not going to keep you from coming tonight. I want you to do it for me over and over.”

“Thank you,” I breathed as he sped his hips up. I turned my head to the side and he lifted his face to kiss me as I came for the first time, squirming against him. He kept going, rubbing along each side of my clit when it was too sensitive to touch it directly, teasing it with the tip of his finger once I was ready again. I came again, shuddering, crying out in his mouth. Still, he kept going, until I shattered with pleasure for a third time and was breathing heavily, my body slack and exhausted. He came a little while later just grinding inside of me, his fingers stroking the outer lips of my pussy. When we were finished, he pulled out of me and I cuddled back against him again, pulling his arm around my waist.

“Are you sure it’s going to be okay with Casey?” I asked him a few minutes later. Now that I was coming down from my ecstatic high the worry began to fill my mind again that I might have lost my best friend forever, all because I couldn’t keep myself from falling for her brother all over again. I couldn’t help what I felt for Travis and I didn’t feel like I could change it no matter how Casey felt, but I still felt an almost physical pain when I thought the possibility of us never being close again. He brought his hand up to stroke my hair away from my face.

“Yes,” he said, kissing my neck. “Go to sleep, baby. It’s going to be okay.”

“Okay,” I said, though I hesitated to believe it. I closed my eyes and found myself dozing easier than I thought I would, warm and comfortable with Travis in his bed.

When we woke up in the morning, we couldn’t help but to have lazy, hot morning sex, wrapped up in each other for as long as we could be before we knew that we had to go downstairs for breakfast. Afterward, we got in the shower, and Travis took his time lathering my body up with soap, washing every inch of my skin. I wished in that moment we could stay there forever under the hot water, and I would never have to worry about Casey or school again. I could be happy with Travis just like this for the rest of my life, but I knew that we had to face our responsibilities sooner rather than later.

We went downstairs for breakfast, and Travis’ parents raised their eyebrows when they saw us coming from his room together. I was worried about what they would think at first, and for a split second when they didn’t respond, I was worried that they’d feel the same way as Casey—like I’d betrayed and lied to them in a way, even though I was just doing what my heart told me to do. But then Alice beamed at us.

“Finally,” she said, and Bruce nodded in agreement.

“What?” Travis asked. “What are you talking about?”

“Everybody knows you two have been in love forever,” Alice said as we took our seats at the table. I sat next to Casey, feeling uncomfortable and awkward at the thought that it had been obvious the whole time how interested I had been in Travis.

“Hey,” I said to my friend, hoping to get some kind of response from her.

“Hi,” she said shortly. She didn’t look up from her food, but stabbed at her pancake with more force than was needed, shredding it with her knife.

“Are you ready to go back yet?” I asked her. She shrugged, not answering. I almost felt like crying sitting there beside her. I felt like I would never see the real Casey again, happy and bubbly.

“We’re going to head to LA for the weekend today,” Travis said.

“How romantic. Are you going to show her the office?” asked Alice.

“Yes,” he said. “I thought I would show her all around the city.”

“Sounds fun,” says Casey sarcastically. I exchanged a glance with Travis but my eyes didn’t linger on him, instead talking to Bruce and Alice about my plans for school when I got back.

When it was finally time to leave, I packed up my stuff and Travis carried it over to the landing pad for the jet. He wrapped his arm around my waist when he saw the look on my face, kissing me on my cheek as we boarded the plane. As before, the tables were set with food and sparkling mimosas. I sat down in one of the comfortable seats and Travis sat next to me. I felt myself relaxing as we took off, leaving Casey and our troubles behind. I wanted to believe Travis when he said that Casey would forgive us, but I had a feeling in my gut that it was a long time coming.