Reese:You up? Just saw you read the messages. Everything okay?
Fucking Reese. Should’ve known that insomniac asshole was up and prowling the group chat like it’s his only hobby.
Zach:Yeah. Looking at Coach's notes. You're right about those extra reps. How's 7:30 instead of 6? Need to make sure Honey's good first.
His reply comes instantly.
Reese: 7:30 works. Bring her if you want. She's always welcome.
I push out a laugh because even though Reese is perpetually single, he gets it. He knows that Honey’s it for me in a way the others don’t. She’s more important to me than any of this because ultimately, I know she’s the thing I’m coming home to when this all ends.
I just wish she got it, too. I wish Olivia were here. I wish she had a loyal friend she could talk to about anything because sometimes I don’t feel like I can ever be enough. Sure, she’ll brush off how bad it really is with people here, but I want her to have someone she can vent to. Someone who doesn’t think she’s breaking when she complains.
Thinking about the way her face lit up when she mentioned that girl, Jenni, stepping in for her gave me the smallest bit of hope that maybe she’sfinallystarting to believe she doesn’t have to fight this place alone.
Maybe if she sees that and gets comfortable with walking around campus without a target on her back, she’ll get more comfortable with the attention she gets because of me.
“Zach?” Her low, sleepy tone cuts through the noise in my head and can make anything better. Honey, just like her name, is an elixir, soothing my soul with her mere presence.
I look up and there she is.
Barefoot, messy hair, drowning in my South Point Prep shirt.
And fuck me. My dick twitches like it has a mind of its own because she doesn’t even have to try. Honey’s mere existence is enough to wreck me.
“Marry me,” I whisper, not even thinking as I drop the iPad on the coffee table.
She rolls her eyes, but her smile’s already forming. That’s still not a no. Her body perfectly fits against mine as she drops into my lap like she’s always belonged there. Because she does.
I just wish she saw it.
I grip her hips to shift her, angling her so her perfect ass isn’t resting directly on my already semi-hard cock, because the last time I got hard from just looking at her, she threatened to sleep in a different bed. Not that she followed through.
“What time is it?” she mumbles, rubbing her head against my chest like a sleepy kitten.
“It’s 2 a.m.”
“Then why are you up?” Honey’s voice is thick with sleep; she’s dragging out each word like she’s fighting to stay conscious. Her body melts against mine, and I drop my hand to her thigh, rubbing lazy circles over her soft skin.
“Couldn’t sleep.”
With her eyes still closed, she shifts in my lap, pressing down. She knows what she’s doing. Or maybe she doesn’t. Either way, my dick is getting harder.
“Does that happen often?”
“Not really,” I lie. One of the many I’ve told her lately, not because I want to deceive her, but if I tell her the main reason I can’t sleep, she’ll ask what’s bothering me.
It’s her. I’m worried about her. Aboutus. I have no idea where her head is because sometimes she feels like a vault. Sometimes I worry she doesn’t want to tell me things because she’ll think it will disappoint me.
She’s curled in my lap, lifting her thigh to push my hand closer to her center, but sometimes I wonder if she’s really here with me. I ask her to move in. I ask her to marry me. I do everything short of tattooing her name across my dick, and still, I worry I’m losing her one thought at a time.
My fingers drift to her hair, and I softly stroke the tendrils until I feel her breath evening out. A little smile plays on her lips, the one she doesn’t know she gives me when I touch her like this. For just a second, I don’t care about time, or the fact she still hasn’t said yes. She’s here, wrapped around me like she loves me.
She grabs my hand and slides it under the large shirt.
No panties. Of-fucking-course.
“You sure nothing’s wrong?”