• • •

I moved closer to the arm wrapped around me, wanting to be under Jaxon as much as possible.

He shifted slightly, pulling his lower half away from me to which my brows creased in confusion, "Why are you moving?" I mumbled with my eyes still closed.

"I'm tryna be respectful." Josh replied, "You making it hard as fuck though."

Josh?

I sat straight up, looking down at him who was shirtless, only his boxers on. That made me look at my attire, and I was wearing a pair of pajamas I didn't even know I owned.

"What the fuck?" I asked nervously, "Why are you naked?"

"I wasn't finna sleep in no rough ass jeans."

Resting my head in my hands, I tried to remember everything that happened last night, but my memory would only go to eating strawberry pancakes.

What's a good way to ask if we had sex, I wondered.

I turned to look at him, who had a look of amusement on his face.

"What?" I asked.

"Ian that desperate that I gotta have sex with a drunk girl."

Thank you Jesus.

"You can't go out with nobody else." He laughed, "And if you do, don't drink bro."

"So we really didn't have sex?"

"Nah. You was kissing on me and shit in the Uber but like I said, you was too drunk. Plus you ain't never tried me while you was sober so I figured you was just mad 'cause you got dumped."

I nodded, relieved that it was him and not someone else who would've taken me up on the offer.

Then I thought about the end of his sentence, "Who said I got dumped?"

"You was blowing somebody shit up last night."

My worrisome ass was probably texting Jaxon.

"Why are you in my bed?" I asked.

He laughed again, "'Cause you asked me to cuddle with you. I was on the couch and you came and got me."

"I'm so embarrassed." I said while flopping back on my pillow, "I can't hang."

"You good though. I've seen wayyy worse than that before."

We were quiet as I watched him reach for his phone. That made me wonder where mine was but I was too lazy to get up and find it.

"You gone go cook us some?" He asked without looking at me.

"Does this look like a bed and breakfast? Take your ass home."

"If I knew you was gone be this ungrateful, I would've hit."

My laugh was cut short by what I thought was the sound of my door opening. I looked at Josh, "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

The sound of it closing couldn't be mistaken.

"Get in the closet." I said while jumping up.

"The closeettt? That's the dude you was texting last night?"

He was doing too much talking and not enough moving. I closed and locked my room door to give him time to hide.

He was barely out of the bed when the door handle jiggled, followed by a knock, "Kyser?"

"Can I go out the window?" Josh whispered.

"In your boxers? Just get in the fucking closet."

He sighed and tiptoed to the closet. If I wasn't nervous I would've laughed at the sight of it.

Taking a deep breath, I pulled open the door to see Jaxon standing there looking like he hadn't slept.

I decided this conversation would best be had away from where josh could hear, so I stepped past him into the hallway, pulling the door behind me and walking to the living room.

We stared at each other while I waiting for him to speak.

"I um." He paused to clear his throat, "I wanted to talk."

"We can talk later." I replied, surprised by the hostility on my voice.

"Look, I know you're angry but-"

"I said we can talk later. I'm not in the mood right now."

Even If Josh wasn't hiding in my closet, I still wouldn't want to talk. I put myself out there and got my feelings hurt.

Maybe it's time for him to feel the same way.

I wasn't about to keep being readily available to a man who chose when he wanted to be available to me.

"Are you here for sex?" I asked.

He shook his head no.

"Okay. Since talking isn't a part of our arrangement, there's no reason for you to be here."

"Well I'm trying to tell you the reason for my being here."

"Is that anger I hear? As if I were the one who left after you told me how you felt?"

He sighed and dropped his head, looking up again and stating in an almost pained voice, "I'm trying to tell you how I feel right now."

My heart skipped, only for me to remember that what he was about to say wouldn't necessarily be a good thing.

How he felt could be the same way he felt from the beginning, that this was just us having sex.

A small part of me didn't believe that though. I knew there was no way I was the only one who experienced the passion, happiness when we were together.

As I was debating whether or not to hear him out, his eyes focused on the floor, a look of confusion on his face.

Josh's clothes and shoes were lying in a pile on the floor.

I'd forgotten he told me he was initially on the couch last night.

I tried to keep my face blank, not showing the slight panic that I felt, because I knew I'd done nothing wrong.

The look of uncertainty in his eyes told me he wanted to ask but didn't necessarily want to know. I could've let him worry, let him think I'd had sex with somebody else.

But that's not who I was.

"He's a friend. We didn't have sex."

He continued to look at the clothes, "I'm going to text you an address. Be there in an hour."

How does the sound of someone's voice make you wet?

I didn't have a chance to respond before he walked out of the door.

________

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