“Fuck, she must have seen that I took my phone off Do Not Disturb.” With a scoff, I hopped off the couch and answered it as I strode to the hallway. “Hello?”
She came into view on my screen, her long hair falling in waves over her shoulders. “Hi, Greyson. I take it you’re home now?”
“I am.” I entered my room and paced to the patio door, peeking at the backyard’s long shadows cast in the setting sun.“We’ve been traveling all day and have a pizza coming, so I can’t talk for too long.”
“Oh. Well, that’s okay.” Behind her, the back of a cream, tufted couch showed along with a dark window. She must be at her apartment. “My apologies if I sounded…well, like a crazy person these last few days. I had a family crisis, and all I wanted was to hear your voice.” She pouted.
My brows raised. “Oh? What happened?” Why would my voice comfort her? Not that I knew her well.
“My father had chest pain, and they rushed him to the hospital.” As her eyes grew glassy, she wiped under one of them and sniffled. “It was horrible, as you can imagine.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Is he okay?” I sat on the edge of my bed, facing the patio doors. I didn’t know how else to continue. What was she expecting from me?
“Yes, he’s fine now.” With a soft chuckle, she said, “It turned out to be indigestion. Can you believe that?”
I arched a brow. “Oh, that’s good then, right?” Wouldn’t they have figured it out in the ER? Though I was not a physician, an EKG would likely have ruled out heart trouble. Was she using this as an excuse?
“Anyway, how was your camp? Did you have fun?” A smug grin curled her lips.
“I did. I learned a lot, and I played well.” Fuck, did I ever learn a lot. Like how amazing another man’s dick could feel. I skimmed my teeth along my lower lip. “Our first game is on Saturday. A week from today.”
“Yes, and I wanted you to know I’ve secured tickets for your game over the Thanksgiving weekend. I’ve got my flights, and I’ll come out on Friday and stay until Sunday.” She smirked. “A friend of mine also attends ASU, so I’ll see her as well.”
“Who’s this friend?” I breathed in deeply, loosening the squeeze in my chest. How would I explain this to Malik? I’d haveto keep my distance from her. It already felt bad enough talking to her on the phone. But hooking up with her? No, it couldn’t happen.
“She’s from New York. I went to high school with her, and we’ve kept in touch on Instagram. I haven’t seen her since graduation, so this will be fun.” She lifted a brow. “I can introduce her to Malik.”
Fuck no. “Okay, we’ll see how it goes. Uh, Malik is…is dating someone right now.” What a fucking lie, but I didn’t want him meeting her friend.
Malik stepped into the room, his forehead wrinkling. “Uh, the pizza is here.”
“Okay, thanks.” Focusing on her, I said, “Sorry, but I have to go. We’ll talk more about this later, okay?”
“Sure. Can’t wait to see you over Thanksgiving weekend.” She gave me a charming smile. “Bye.”
“Bye.” I ended the call and snapped my gaze to Malik, frowning in my doorway. How much of the conversation had he heard? Probably enough.
“Ella is coming here for Thanksgiving?” He stepped toward me. “’Cause I know you won’t have time to fly home. We have a game the next day.” His jaw muscle bulged.
“She…we’d talked about it the week before camp.” After standing and striding to him, I grabbed his hands in mine. “I never told her to come. I left it open, but I guess she took it upon herself to get tickets and shit.” As my chest tensed, my gaze searched his face. He wasn’t happy about this. If the situation were reversed, I wouldn’t be. But then, we were only friends, right? Friends who fucked around? “What do you want me to do?”
He tsked and said, “Nothing. What can you do? I’m sure it’ll make your dad happy.” His gaze dropped to the floor. “It’s months from now, anyway.”
What did that mean? Did he think this thing between us would play out and be over by then? My pulse beat into my throat. Hell, maybe it would. “I don’t, uh, have feelings for her, Malik.”
“I know.” He gave me a thin-lipped smile. “Come on, the pizza is getting cold.” He hauled me from the room and onto the couch, where Tex sprawled at one end, biting a pizza slice on a paper towel. “This is so damn good.”
“Looks like it.” Though, I wasn’t sure I was hungry anymore. I dropped onto the couch beside Malik.
Setting the slice on a paper towel, Malik handed it to me. “Here. We thought we’d watch the latest Jurassic Park. You okay with that?”
He knew I loved those movies. “Of course.” I bit into the pizza, the melted cheese pulling from the slice. “Mmm…”
“Hey.”I lifted my chin at Tex, snoozing on the other side of the couch. I was lying on Malik’s chest and between his legs. His cock had pressed maddeningly into my back throughout the entire movie. It was time for more. “Should we leave him there or wake him?” I rolled over Malik and, with our chests pressed together, placed a lazy kiss on his lips. We hadn’t spoken about Ella since the phone call ended, and we’d returned to normal. Well, the new normal.
“Let’s wake him so he can go to bed. Then, what? Your room or mine?” He gave me a wicked grin. “I have lube in my drawer, but you have a bigger bed.”
Lube…for what?Oh.“How about you grab your lube and meet me in my bedroom after you put him to bed?” As my dicktingled, it lengthened into the band of my briefs. We could do so much more now that we weren’t in the woods.