the way out. Steven’s eyes are glued to my ass. Point for the home team.
_______________
I’ll swallow every ounce of pride in my body and apologize when he gets home from deployment, face to face. I told him that we shouldn’t be friends, and the level of groveling to get back that status will be immense. If he even agrees to it in the first place. Perhaps he’s realized when to cut his losses.
It’s easy to say now that I don’t have his hulking frame lumbering in front of me. I’m not witnessing the smile that brings me to my knees or his sculpted body that makes me want sex with just a glance. Mental images of him dominating me from every angle, his body melding with mine in perfection, rush my thoughts any time I think of him. With him gone, I’m detached. Because of that, it also made it easier than it should have been to write off the relationship as a mistake.
My cell phone pings, alerting me to a text. Dinner tonight? It’s Alex. I sigh. “Why can’t men just go away?” He’s done his fair share of messaging me over the weeks and months that Steven’s been gone. It’s like he knows the internal struggle I’m having and he’s dangling himself as the alternative lure in my own twisted game. It’s tempting to try with Alex. The thought has crossed my mind more than once that a romp in the sack with him might be all I need. That I’m so messed up in the head and lust drunk from Steven because I haven’t experienced an orgasm from sex since he left.
Alex has been nothing but patient and kind. He’s busy and I’m busy and I’ve made our friends status quite clear on several occasions, and he’s accepted it whole heartedly, only asking for my time.
I text back. Sure. I’m not going out tonight, though. Take out at my place?
A woman does have to eat. Contemplating gargantuan mistakes tends to make me hungry.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Steve
THE FLIGHT FROM Germany, where we decompress before entering the United States after deployment, is always the most nerve-wracking experience. It’s wild with anticipation and excitement. This time the top emotion taking over my body is anxiety. Our job is finished, it’s time to go home and relax. I should be carefree and making plans with Morganna. Instead I’m left wondering if and when I’ll ever see her again. I could storm her front door the second I get home, but what good would that do?
She’s made her choice. It’s not me. I’ve heard from Cody, who’s heard from Lainey that she’s seeing the sexually transmitted disease Alex again. She might as well nickname me Nancy the Bitch Slapped Glutton. I’m not sure in what capacity, but I know she’s not happy with him. Her eyes, when I’m the one fucking her, don’t lie.
Morganna needs something specific that only comes from me. I know this. Who the hell knows how long it will take her to figure it out for herself. I’ll make her miss me. Starting with our friendship, but my cock will come in a close second. Minutes before touching down in Virginia Beach, these are the thoughts running through my mind. The raging hard-on in my pants has the completely wrong idea and I know I’ll need to do something about it as soon as possible. There is no way I can call Chloe. I e-mailed her while I was gone to say hello, and she typed back fire and acid in the form of a professional letter. I understand, though. Even I can’t get away with burning bridges from time to time.
Sasha would be an easy lay, but with only one woman on my mind I’m not sure Sasha would suffice. When our plane gets low enough, I text her as a backup plan.
“Already back to your old ways, huh? Not even going to try again?” Mav says from beside me, like a damned mind reader.
I tilt my phone screen away so he can’t be so fucking nosy. “I need pussy. Fast, easy pussy. It’s been months, Maverick. Which word would you use to describe Morg? Fast or easy?”
Maverick laughs, his baritone voice echoing the large cargo plane. “Touché. I just think there may be something you don’t know. She might be both fast and easy if you play your game right.”
I shake my head. “I’m done with games. I’m done. Clean slate, dude.”
“I can respect that.” His face turns