my eyes closed as I pounded into her, secretly reveling in the way she said my name, as though I actually meant something to her. I’d never been on this side of things, and admittedly, I didn’t like it, but this I understood. I didn’t need the rest; sex would be enough.
If and when she was ready to let me in, I had the disturbing feeling that I would be there for her. Not that I had any intention of telling her, but I would take Presley Abrams any way she would give me.
“Harder,” she pleaded, her hands planted on the arm of the sofa above her head, keeping me from slamming her into it as I continued to deliver punishing thrusts just as she requested.
“Fuck.” I groaned the word, the tingle in the base of my spine intensifying, electrical pulses shooting through me, my balls tightening up against my body as the need to come grew increasingly more painful by the second.
“Jake! Oh, God.”
Presley’s cunt clamped down on my dick, milking my release from me.
But the moment the adrenaline began to ebb, I couldn’t pretend anymore.
Anger ignited, and I didn’t know how to deal with it, so I pulled out of her, then headed for the bathroom to clean up. I glanced back at her a second before I stepped inside, considered telling her that if she left, we were done.
Only I couldn’t get the words to form, so I slipped inside and closed the door.
Just like the first time, I didn’t hurry, because I knew when I came back, Presley wouldn’t be there.
And this time, I couldn’t bring myself to care.
Chapter Sixty-Six
Presley
When I stepped into my condo after leaving Jake’s, I had the sudden urge to turn right back around. I was an idiot and a coward, and walking away was the asshole thing to do, but I’d felt in the way Jake touched me he was retreating from me.
Not without good reason. It was what I’d been doing to him. But for some stupid reason, I had hoped he would fight for me just a little.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
“Hey,” Gavin greeted, coming to a stop just outside the kitchen doorway, his full attention on me.
I swallowed hard, staring back at him.
Jake hadn’t been the only one I’d been putting off this week.
“Can we talk?” Gavin asked. “And before you say no, you should understand that’s the wrong answer.”
That made me smile, despite myself.
“Gil here?” I asked, glancing around.
“No. Want a beer?” he asked and I nodded.
With two beers, we went to the couch and Gavin pulled me down beside him. I flopped back, dropped my feet onto the table, and put a death grip on my beer bottle. Rather than look at Gavin, I stared up at the ceiling, fighting all of the emotions that were swamping me.
I didn’t want to fight with Gavin. I didn’t want to push Jake away. It seemed everything was falling apart and I knew it was my fault. I was good at this part of relationships, letting them fall apart and never fighting to save them.
Gavin and I had been best friends since we were kids. I had come to rely on that, to rely on him. He’d always been a part of my life and a selfish part of me thought he always would be. Now, I wasn’t so sure that was the case.
“I want to apologize,” he said quickly, drawing my eyes to him.
That certainly wasn’t what I’d expected him to say.
“For what?” It wasn’t that I didn’t know what this conversation was referring to, but I didn’t think Gavin owed me an apology.
Although I hadn’t liked Jake’s response when I told him about what had happened with Gavin, it had put things in perspective for me. We’d both been protecting our friendship by pretending things hadn’t happened the way that they had. The lies and deceit had been unnecessary, to say the least.
“For interfering with you and Adrian. I just thought you deserved to know.”
“Not like that,” I mumbled, the anger and hurt reigniting.
“Exactly like that,” he countered hotly. “In case you haven’t noticed, you’re not the easiest person to talk to, Presley.”
That got my back up. “Why do you say that?”
“Since your dad died, you’ve managed to carefully guard your emotions.”
“I have not,” I argued.
“You have. Hooking up with my asshole brother was proof.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because you knew exactly what Adrian was capable of. In fact”—his tone softened somewhat—“I think you were expecting it.”