She didn’t try to hide that she was checking me out. “You like what you see? I didn’t give you enough earlier?”
Bex laughed. She actually laughed. The sound sent electric shocks from my head to my toes and back. I was afraid to move or smile for fear she’d realize what she’d done. “You gave me plenty. Now get in here and let’s sleep.”
I was going to sleep in a bed with a woman. I couldn’t do that. I hadn’t done that since . . . no. This would never work.
She must’ve seen the panic on my face because her smile fell. “Johnny?”
I slid into the bed, avoiding eye contact. Why the hell did I do this? I was so dumb. There was a reason I never slept with a woman in bed. Yet she’d somehow made me lose my mind when she asked me to stay.
She clicked off the light, and I let out the breath I was holding. In the dark, I felt less exposed. “Are you okay?” They were the same words I’d asked her. She’d lied to me, and I was going to have to do the same.
“Yes,” I lied. I’d just lie here and let her sleep next to me. I had to stay awake. There was no option. If I was shocked she’d asked me to stay, I was frozen in place when I felt her rest her head on my chest and sigh heavily. Bex was . . . cuddling with me. I could smell the shampoo we’d used earlier in the shower. It didn’t smell nearly that good on me.
It was mere seconds when I felt her body relax, and I knew she was asleep. I stared at the ceiling, wondering why I’d agreed to stay. Why had she asked me? I knew she’d been having a nightmare when I woke her up. I didn’t even know why I’d stayed in the first place when I’d seen her starting to fall asleep. Something kept me rooted to the chair, watching her. But I couldn’t relax that much now. Sleeping next to her would only end up in disaster.
I thought about what I’d done to Julia when she’d tried to wake me up. No way was I sleeping. The good news was it was already morning so hopefully Bex would have to get up soon in order to get ready to go home.
She was complex that was for sure. I hadn’t thought when I met her that she’d end up being just as complicated as me, but it sure as shit seemed like she’d been given a raw deal in life, too.
I kissed Jill’s full lips, smiling against them as she wrapped her arms around my neck. “I love you, Johnny.” She wrapped her naked body around mine, and I came alive again. No matter how many times we made love, I was always ready for more with her. She was the best thing that had ever happened to me. I’d found my soul mate at the young age of twenty.
“I love you, too,” I murmured. “We’re going to get out of here. Together.”
She nodded. “I believe you. How’s your plan coming?”
“It’s coming. I don’t want you to know anything just in case they figure out something and ask you. The less you know, the better. Just know I’ll always protect and take care of you, Jill.”
She nodded, her big blue eyes filled with love and trust. “I know. It’s you and me, baby.”
“You and me,” I echoed.
The door swung open, flooding light into the room. “What the fuck is going on in here?”
Ray. I hated this prick. Hell, I hated all of them, but him I hated more than most. “What’s it to you?”
Ray crossed the room so fast I only had time to tuck Jill behind me before he hauled me to my feet. “I asked you a fuckin’ question, Frat Boy. When I ask you somethin’, you answer me. What are you doing with this hooker? You fucking her? Or getting high?”
Jill made a small noise from behind me, but I knew I couldn’t turn to comfort her. “Yeah, I fucked her. So?”
An evil smile crossed Ray’s face. “Is that so? She good? Because she looks fucking good enough to eat.”
I shook my head. “She’s alright. Gets your dick wet and does the job.” I knew where this was going. He hadn’t messed with Jill in the months she’d been here, and I didn’t want it to start now.
Ray eyed me, and then looked over me at her. “I’ll be the judge of that.”
“No.” I was bigger and stronger than him. If I didn’t let him past me, he wouldn’t get to her.
“No? Is that what you said to me? You think you have some sort of power to tell me no?”
Ray stepped back to the doorway. “Prince, come here!”
Jill looked at me wide-eyed. I couldn’t show her how afraid it made me to hear him call Prince.
Prince’s large frame filled the doorway. He was a scary motherfucker. “He thought he was going to tell me no, I couldn’t tap a piece of that.”
The two of them laughed. “Will you help me out?”
Prince nodded. He had at least fifty pounds on me, and Ray knew it. Jill whimpered as Ray approached her, unbuckling his pants.
“Hey there, sweet thing. Your buddy said you weren’t any good. I don’t believe him. I think he just doesn’t want to share you. That’s not any fun, is it? What’s your name?”
I lunged for Jill, but Prince stepped in my way. “Move, and I’ll knock you the fuck out.”
“Don’t knock him out,” Ray said. “He’s going to watch me fuck this one. This will teach him that he doesn’t backtalk me.”
Ray leaned over, pulling the covers off of Jill’s beautiful body and pawing her full breasts. The ones I loved. I fought Prince, not even caring what they did to me.
“Stop it! Don’t you dare!”
Ray looked back at me, pulling his dick out of his pants. He forced her legs open and shoved himself inside. Jill cried as he grunted.
“I’ll kill you!”
I sat straight up, my chest heaving. Sunlight streamed through the partially open curtains. It was late. I could tell. Where the hell was I? Then it all flooded back to me.
Bex. I swung my head around the room, but I didn’t see her. I was still in her room, and I had fallen asleep even though I had said I wouldn’t. At least she hadn’t witnessed the embarrassment of my nightmare.
I swung my legs over the bed and stood up, pulling my shorts and shirt on. It was after noon. Julia would probably be wondering where I was. Not that she wouldn’t figure it out.
I looked in the bathroom for Bex but didn’t see her. Okay, then. I guessed this was how it was going to be. I relieved myself and then rinsed out my mouth. Just then I heard the door slam. There she was.
“Johnny?”
I stepped out of the bathroom. “Hey.”
Bex handed me a cup of coffee and a bag. “I got you some breakfast. Hope a bagel is okay.”
I stared at it like it might grow a head and speak to me. “Uh, thanks.”
“So let’s not make this awkward and shit,” she said. “Thanks for helping me last night. It was an overall shitty day yesterday. I have to get ready to head out.”
This was it. I wasn’t going to see her again. “Yeah, no problem. It was nice . . . hell, it was fucking hot to have you for the last two days. You’ll be hard to top.”
Bex snorted. “I have the feeling you’ll put a good effort into trying.”
I shrugged. “Maybe.” I had this weird feeling, mixed with the dream of Jill I hadn’t dreamed in years. It was . . . sadness? Longing? I wasn’t sure.