When I Fall

Ben offers me his hand, keeping his other arm wrapped around Mia. “Kentucky? What brought you here?”

I bring my hands back to my lap. “My momma passed away. I found out I had family here and moved in with them.”

“We met her through Reed,” Mia whispers, turning her head into Ben’s.

His face tightens, then recollection dawns on him. Two massive dimples dent in his cheeks.

“No shit,” he says, grinning wildly. Turning his head, he looks over at the wall covered in Tessa and Luke. “Hey, asshole. Did you meet Beth? She knows our boy Reed.”

“Hey.” Luke lifts his chin in my direction, but keeps his eyes on Tessa.

Ben straightens. “I said she knows Reed.”

“I heard you. Little busy right now,” Luke says, then groans against Tessa’s mouth, “What’s gotten into you?”

Ben bares his teeth. “The fuck? Stop having sex in my kitchen and get over here. You need to meet Beth, the girl Reed knows.”

I look from Ben, to Luke, to CJ, who hasn’t stopped staring at me, to Mia. She gives me a half a smile, then blushes two shades redder than Tessa’s hair. Oh. Ohhhhh.

Luke grabs Tessa’s face, kisses her hard, and then breaks away from her, leaving her whining behind him like he’s just denied her an orgasm. He steps up next to CJ and runs a hand over his buzzed hair. “Hey. So you’re the girl, huh?”

The girl? What girl? Reed’s girl? Is he calling me his girl?

I pinch my lips together through a shrug. I have no idea how to answer this question.

“Are you doing anything tomorrow night?”

All eyes, including mine, dart to CJ. He’s staring directly at me with a lazy-smile, which gets knocked off his face when Tessa slaps the back of his head.

“What are you doing?” she angrily demands. “Were you not present during the introductions?”

He rubs the back of his head, then glares at Luke. “Reel your woman in, or I’ll toss her outside.”

“No, that’s a great idea.” Mia wiggles free of Ben’s arms. He immediately resumes his hold. She turns her head and stares at Tessa for several seconds. Tessa smiles, as if reading Mia’s unspoken words, then nods enthusiastically. Mia looks over at me. “We’re having game night here tomorrow. You should definitely come.”

“Baby,” Ben says against her cheek, his eyes burning holes into the side of her face.

CJ wraps his hands around the back of the chair he’s standing behind. “Yeah, you should,” he adds, nodding. “You should come.”

Mia brings her hand behind her and presses it against Ben’s mouth. “Really, Beth. Please come. It’s so much fun. I promise you’ll have the best time.”

I look around the room, gauging the faces staring down at me. Three of them smiling. Two of them looking like they have no idea what’s going on.

Maybe they aren’t in on game night?

“Okay,” I answer, watching as the girls high-five each other. I give CJ a quick smile, then turn back to the girls. “But I’m bringing something. I’m not showing up empty handed again.”

Tessa laughs, leaning her head against Luke’s muscly arm. “Bring whatever you want, Clapton. This is going to be amazing.”

“You two are crazy,” Luke says, grabbing Tessa and heading for the shrimp salad.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Ben says into Mia’s neck.

She shushes him and directs him toward the food. “Eat up, big man. You need your strength for later.”

He gives her a stunning grin over his shoulder. “Baby, you have no idea.”

I turn to CJ.

He smiles.

I smile.

Grabbing my half-eaten sandwich, I take a massive bite, preventing me from giving him what is so not my Reed smile.

Reed

IT’S BEEN THREE DAYS SINCE that cab pulled away from my house.

Three long, grueling, hand-stuck-on-my-dick days.

I haven’t seen Beth. Haven’t spoken to Beth. But that’s not stopping me from fucking thinking about her every other minute. New images keep filling my head of our night together, making my dick hard in the worst possible places. The job site. The grocery store. My parent’s house. I can’t take this shit much longer. It probably isn’t helping that my sheets still smell like her. That my house is still a fucking wreck, taunting me every time I walk through it. I’ve stripped the bed four times, moved furniture back in place. Not even five minutes goes by before I’m putting those same sheets back on and sitting that goddamn chair back in front of the mirror in the kitchen.

Magic pussy, that’s what I’m blaming.

Magic fucking pussy.

I know I’m only making shit worse for myself. Burying my face in the pillow, inhaling that faint trace of sweet vanilla she left behind. Staring at that chair while I eat dinner and hoping it’ll trigger a memory. It’s like I’m in a goddamn trance, under Beth’s spell after three days of completely useless distance. I want to remember what we did, but I can’t imagine this shit getting any worse. And knowing all of it, every detail of her body, every place I touched her, fucked her, sucked her . . . I will lose my fucking mind with that information.

Grabbing the six-pack off the floor of my truck, I hit the lock on my key ring and head for the front door.

I need this tonight. I need something to break up my routine of getting off work and then getting off at home. Maybe I can convince Mia to have game night tomorrow too. I love my dick. I’d be devastated if I broke that shit off, but that’s exactly where I’m headed if I don’t find a better way to occupy my time.