Chapter Twenty-Four

Zoe

He was playing with my fingers; I think that was what woke me up initially, that and hearing his voice murmur my name against my skin. It was just a little more than a whisper that suddenly spurred my heart into a fast beat. It was too damn early to get that excited just because you heard someone’s hot, sleepy voice.
I opened my eyes with a cheesy grin plastered on my face. One look at that bed and you’d have bet money there was no way two people—especially with one of them being Dylan’s size—would fit in there, but we did. We fit perfectly. Sure, his feet and half of the arm that was under my head were off the bed, my legs were tangled with his, and my knees were hanging off the side, too, but who cared? Like I said, we fit perfectly.
“Good morning,” he murmured, and I looked back so I could meet his dark blue eyes. He gave me a lazy grin, one I couldn’t not reciprocate.
“Good morning.”
“Sleep good?”
Still sporting that grin, I nodded, and his smile got bigger. I could feel the heat rushing to my cheeks. My eyes dropped to his lips and I watched the grin turn into the smile I loved the most on him, the one where he smiled with his eyes just as much as he did with his lips. It was warm, genuine, hot. It sounds cheesy, I know, but it was true that it basically took your—okay, maybe it wouldn’t take yours…it better not…but it took my breath away.
Whoosh.
Gone, just like that.
“Don’t move,” I said in a rush then threw open the covers, squeaked, and scrambled to pull them back up.
“What’s happening?” Dylan asked, looking at me with amusement dancing in his eyes.
I pulled the covers higher. “I…just…let me get the pillow.” I didn’t give him a chance to even utter a protest or yank it away before I could get to it. I pulled it right out from under him and his head bounced on the mattress. Muttering a quick apology, I hugged it to my chest and carefully exited the bed. He caught my hand before I could straighten up.
“Where are you going?”
“I’ll be right back. I just want to get something.”
He let me go and I backed out of the room, hoping everything was covered.
When I got what I needed from my bag, I rushed back to him. He was still lying down, using his arm behind his head as a pillow. I took in the muscles, the arms, the chest, the smooth skin, the bulge under the covers—just thinking about his cock made me go all hot inside. You should’ve seen him; he looked so relaxed, so hot, so…other words I couldn’t possibly come up with due to the way he turned my brain to complete mush, but take my word for it, he looked perfect.
Still clutching the pillow to my torso with one hand, holding my camera with the other, I got back in next to him and finally let go of the pillow when I was back under the covers.
“You can’t still be shy, Zoe,” he said, coming up on his elbow and looking into my eyes with a small frown. “Not after last night.”
“It doesn’t just go away like that. Give me a break, there’s daylight now,” I huffed. “But forget about that. I’ve been dying to take your picture and I—”
“You took pictures of me at the game.”
“No, not like that—like this.” I put my hand on his chest. “I want to keep this.”
“Collecting memories, heartbeats,” he murmured, echoing what I’d said to him the first night he’d come to the apartment. Smiling, he pushed a lock of hair behind my ear. “Both of us?”
Excited beyond measure, I bit my lip and eagerly nodded.
He opened his arms and I dove in, deliriously happy to be there.
“Your arm must be dead by now. You should’ve pulled it away after I fell asleep.”
“It’s fine,” he said distractedly as he gathered me closer.
After I played with the ISO and shutter speed until it was all just right, I exhaled and lifted my Sony A7R II high up over us so we could both fit in the frame. The flip screen didn’t flip around so it was going to be a shot in the dark, but I was okay with anything at that moment.
Grinning like crazy, I looked at Dylan, and he smiled. “Ready?” I asked, not giving a damn that I looked like a maniac.
He chuckled and kissed me on the cheek.
That was gold. I took the shot before he even had a chance to back away. Giddy, I turned the camera to check how it looked—perfect. I did look a little crazy with that grin on my face, and my eyes were closed, my head tipped toward his head, but it was perfect. His side of the photo was perfect, and I looked out-of-my-mind happy. If you’d seen the photo, you might’ve thought I was a total loser, but I didn’t think so. When Dylan laughed next to me, I knew he didn’t think so either.
“So beautiful,” he said, and a delicious shiver ran through my body.
Capturing that single moment would’ve been just fine with me. I was planning on putting my camera down, but Dylan stopped me.
“More.”
“Can I?”
“Yeah. Take as many as you want,” he said, giving me permission.
I probably took a dozen of the same exact shot of us, but I didn’t give a single fuck. They all consisted of Dylan kissing me while I lay on his shoulder, Dylan kissing me while his palm covered my cheek, me laughing as he leaned down and kissed my neck, me looking at Dylan with sparkling eyes as he smiled at me, camera completely forgotten. Then Dylan took it from my hand, which was already shaking from holding it for so long, and after a little fumbling, he started on the next set of the same photos: him kissing the corner of my lips as I finally looked up at the camera, him reaching my lips and finally kissing me as I turned my body to face him, me with my eyes closed as he whispered words into my ear. Then there was a shot of his arm snaking around my neck, one of his defined torso and my waist as he twisted in bed.
Then it was just silence and him and me.
Reaching over me, he placed the camera on the carpeted floor and looked down at me. Sometime during our impromptu little shoot, the covers had revealed my upper body to him and he could see everything he hadn’t been able to before.
My heart skipped a beat as we stared at each other. Dylan’s expression softened as he studied me.
“Hi, Flash.”
I smiled. “Hi, buddy.”
He bent his head and laughed. “Right, we’re buddies. You’re the best buddy I ever had.”
“Likewise.”
His fingers moved over my bruises, his eyes following along, and I swallowed.
“It kills me that these are here.”
I couldn’t speak.
Looking at me some more, one of his hands stroked over my waist then down my thigh. When he lifted it up and planted my foot firmly on the bed, it took everything in me not to do a full body shiver. Just like that, I was drenched for him. He lowered his hips on me and I remembered how he’d put his briefs back on when he got up to take care of the condom. Still, the fabric separating us meant nothing; I could feel every inch of his hardness just fine, and in a few more seconds, he’d be able to feel how intensely wet I was for him.
I grabbed his arms, closed my eyes, and let out an involuntary moan when he pressed forward and the head of his cock pushed hard on my clit.
Then I felt his lips dancing on my cheek, over the shell of my ear, on my neck, licking, gently sucking, kissing.
Blindly, I reached between us, pushed his briefs a few inches down, and jerked when his heavy, hot cock lay on my stomach.
Feeling a little crazy, I groaned and turned my head so I could kiss him. He returned my groan with his own when my hand wrapped around him and pulled hard. I swallowed his grunts and jerked him harder. A drop of pre-cum dropped on my stomach, making me gasp and shiver, goose bumps traveling all over my body. Then another drop, and another. I renewed my assault on his mouth by rounding my free hand on his neck and pulling him to me. He angled his head and went deeper, his tongue stroking mine, taking and giving, biting and licking, soothing and kissing.
Then I felt his thumb and forefinger on my chin and he pushed himself away, our lips making a loud smacking sound.
“Please tell me Jared gave you more,” he growled, the sound and the tone melting me into the bed even farther.
My eyes only opened halfway and I managed to mutter a low, “What?”
“Condoms?”
I forced my eyes to open a little bit more and my heart sank. “Oh, no.”
He groaned and rolled to his side, his cock slipping from my hand in the process.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, propping myself on my elbow and looking down at him as he rubbed his hand over his face a few times.
“Then I should get out of this bed—hell, probably the apartment while I’m at it.”
I smiled. “Why?”
He gave me a frustrated look, his expression just as dark and tight as his eyes. I lost my smile pretty quick and cleared my throat. Without another word, I got up on my knees, a little breathless and a little unsure, settled next to his legs and swallowed. I wasn’t going to ask permission, and he wasn’t stopping me. I could feel his eyes burning into my skin. Was it uncool to be so fascinated by a cock? Because apparently, I couldn’t take my eyes off of his. The thick shaft, the dark pink head…the way it rested on his hard stomach, that thick vein on the underside…the anticipation of how good he would taste…all of it rushed at me at once and I couldn’t wait any longer.
I chanced a glance at Dylan and saw him swallow, saw his throat moving and how set his jaw was.
I reached to take him in my hand, but he stopped me before I could and linked our fingers together.
“Use the other one,” he said, that thick, needy voice rushing over me and causing goose bumps to explode all over my skin.
I licked my lips in anticipation. “Okay.”
I wanted him in my mouth probably a bit more than even he wanted it. I wasn’t a pro at blowjobs per se, but I didn’t think I was the worst either. Shaking my head to get rid of all the stupid second-guessing, I grabbed his thick base with my left hand and lowered my mouth over the thick head, rolling my tongue all around it.
Dylan’s hips jerked up and he squeezed my hand with his.
“Sorry.”
Slowly I moved my hand up and down his length, brushing my thumb over his slit, using his seeping wetness to make it easier. He tried to lie as still as possible.
“Fuck,” he hissed, his head sinking into the pillow when I put him in my mouth again. “Zoe, I don’t think I’ll ever let you out of this bed again.”
And he didn’t, not until he had to when his phone started ringing over and over. One of his teammates, Benji, was calling to make sure he would make it to practice.
After that, it was a mad rush. I had no idea when we had woken up, but after I made him come all over his stomach and my hands, he reciprocated, and then I got another bonus one. When his friend called and popped our private little bubble, I felt guilty for being so happy when my friend was going through hell.
Fifteen minutes after the phone call, we were both showered, dressed, and ready to go.
“You’ll call me when you’re coming home?”
“I will.”
“You’re skipping your classes?”
“Yes, both Jared and I are.”
“You’ll call if you need anything?”
“I will.”
“Text me how she is doing when you get there.”
A quick nod from me and I looked away.
He reached up to grab my chin.
“What’s wrong?”
I gave him a half shrug. How was I going to explain to him about Mark and Chris? How did you even start a conversation like that?
So…here’s the thing, I know you hate liars because you told me that the first night you came here, but I’ve been lying to you this whole time. Hey, at least it was a white lie, right? I never had a boyfriend, not since you moved in, and your best friend happens to be my long-lost brother, but we’re not telling him anything because that’s how Mark wants it. Good talk. Bye.
Just like ripping off a band-aid.
To my embarrassment, my eyes burned with unshed tears and I turned away to get to the door before he could see them.
“Nothing. You’re going to be late. Come on.” I pulled on his hand to tug him out and locked the door.
“Zoe, wait.”
He put his hand on my arm, but I was already on the move.
Ms. Hilda’s door opened before we could escape. I swore the woman spent half her day—possibly even more—with her ear pressed to the door, lying in wait for her victims.
“Where have you two been? I needed you yesterday and I knocked and knocked on your door. Did you have a party over there? I believe I told you I wouldn’t like that when you first got here, Miss Clarke.”
If I’d had a to-do list for the day, dealing Ms. Hilda wouldn’t have even been the last thing on that list. Very aware of Dylan’s presence standing tall and strong behind me, I tilted my head and took a deep breath. “Did you hear music or something, Ms. Hilda?”
“No, but I could have sworn I heard—”
“We didn’t have a party, and we’re not planning on having a party in the near future either. I would love to help you with whatever you need, but right now I’m late for class and Dylan needs to get to practice, so I’m sorry, but you’re gonna have to find someone else to check your drapes. Have a good day, Ms. Hilda.”
While she was staring at me with an even deeper frown and an open mouth, I started down the stairs. A second later, Dylan’s footsteps followed.
When I stepped outside, I tilted my head up to the bright blue sky and felt a little better with the wind on my face.
“What’s going on?” Dylan asked from behind me. Then his arms were around my waist, pulling me back to his chest, his lips pressing the lightest kiss on my neck.
That felt even better than the wind, and I relaxed further.
“Nothing,” I answered then tilted my head to the side, shamelessly asking for more. He didn’t make me wait. Gripping my chin, he gave me a long, wet kiss, chasing away every bad thought.
“Nothing,” I repeated breathlessly when we stopped. I looked up to his dizzying eyes and believed it would all be all right.

“Is she asleep?”I asked when Jared walked back into the living room.
He sat on the couch with a huff and held his head in his hands. “Yeah, finally.”
I twisted so I could look at him but was stopped short by a little hand tugging on my hair. “Zoe, no, no, no. You’re messing it up. You can’t move, silly. Now I’m gonna have to start again.” There was a cute sigh behind me, dripping with mock annoyance.
“I’m so sorry, Miss Bluebird,” I drawled, using the new nickname she’d begged me to use as soon as I’d stepped foot into the apartment. Jared’s little sister, Becky, was the cutest little girl, and the smartest, too, just like her brother. “Do I have to pay extra now that you’re starting again?”
Her fingers stopped moving in my hair. “I get paid?”
“Well, you’re my hairstylist, so I think I should pay, don’t you? I mean, you’ve been working at it for how long now? Half an hour?”
“Yes. Yes, you pay me, okay?”
“Okay, I pay, but you have to make me look pretty, okay?”
“I’m trying. How much are you paying?”
“Ouch,” I mouthed to Jared, but he wasn’t even paying us any attention. “How much do you want?”
She turned to Jared. “Jar, I’m getting paid today. How much money do I want?”
I grinned a toothless grin and managed to hold my snicker back. Becky always called her big brother Jar or Jer.
After a long negotiation process, we settled on three dollars because she envisioned me with three braids like her toy horsey had and it was gonna be beautiful because she was the best at braids—Jar had said so—and she was gonna buy all the chocolates with her money.
Letting Becky continue to play with my hair, I glanced at Jared’s bent head.
“Her parents are coming tomorrow. It’ll be good for her to see them,” I said quietly.
Agitated, he rubbed his neck and exploded up to his feet. In the three years I’d known him, never once had I seen him as angry as he was that day. He couldn’t sit in one place longer than a few minutes.
“Fuck! I could kill him! We should’ve said something sooner, should—”
Abruptly, chubby little arms wrapped around my neck and Becky hid her face against my hair. I reached up to stroke her arm reassuringly.
“Jared, sit down,” I hissed at him. “Oh, it’s okay, Becky. He just got upset.”
Hearing my tone, his eyes snapped to me then lowered as he finally remembered that his sister was in the room and sat back down.
“I’m sorry, princess,” he murmured, kissing her cheek and coaxing her out of her hiding spot behind my hair. “You’re not gonna tell on me for using a bad word, are you?” A few more kisses later, Becky was giggling and all was well in her world again.
I put my hand on his knee until it stopped bouncing and stilled. “She knew we didn’t like him, Jared,” I started quietly. “This wasn’t our fault, and it wasn’t Kayla’s fault either. She loved him. There is only one person responsible here, and he’s gonna get what’s coming to him.”
“You think his parents won’t get that”—he shot a quick look at his sister—“b-a-s-t-a-r-d off faster than you can say his name?”
“It won’t be that easy.”
He got up and started pacing the room again. “And he hurt you too, for fu—God’s sake! Why didn’t she call me? Why didn’t you call me, for that matter? If I had been at the library with you two—”
“Okay, you’re gonna give me whiplash. Please sit down.” After the look he gave me, I changed my mind. “Or don’t, fine, but be quiet,” I grumbled. “She’s been like a ghost the entire day, and just when she finally closes her eyes for more than ten minutes, you’re gonna wake her up again.”
“Talk to me about something else then. I’m gonna lose my mind if I can’t smash his face into a pulp.”
“Hulk. Smash!” Becky popped in. “What’s pulp?”
“Is my hair done, Miss Bluebird? Can I look?”
“I get mirror, you see it. You sit here. Okay, Zoe? You sit and you wait, kay?”
As I helped her off the couch, I nodded. “Sit and wait—got it.”
Before she could run away, Jared stopped her with a hand on her arm. “KayKay is sleeping in my room and the door is open, so be quiet when you’re looking for that mirror, okay?”
“Is KayKay sick?”
“No, sweetheart. She just has a little headache so she needs her sleep. She’ll be fine. After you finish showing Zoe her new hair, you’re going straight to bed yourself. It’s way past your bedtime.”
“Okay Jar. First hair, then bed.” Satisfied with her answers, she ran away to her room.
“I should get going, too. It’s past nine and I need to get back.” As soon as Becky was out of earshot, I blurted it out because I couldn’t hold it in anymore. “Also, just in case you want to know, I slept with Dylan, and even if you didn’t want to know, now you know. In his bed, with him, last night—well, more like morning, but let’s go with last night…and then a little bit in the—”
“Wait, wait, wait—hold up,” he sputtered. He was holding his hand up, his eyes blinking and blinking. “You did what?”
“I slept with—”
“Clarify, please. You slept with him in the same bed, or you slept with him, meaning you fucked his brains out? Which one?”
“Well…” I pulled my legs up and hugged them to my chest, lips already curved into a smile. “If we’re talking about fucking brains out, it was probably mine that got fucked out.”
Still with that shocked expression on his face, he dropped down on the couch next to me.
“I guess that means I can’t try to seduce him anymore.”
I burst out laughing and had to put my hand over my mouth to keep quiet. Then I sobered and my grin disappeared. “I feel so bad for feeling this happy when Kayla is going through this. I didn’t plan for it to…”
“Zoe, if it were left up to you, you’d probably wait ten years before you made a move. I already know there was no planning involved.”
“He was so good to me yesterday, Jared. As soon as I walked into the apartment, I just crumpled and he picked up my pieces. And then…” I loved Jared to pieces, and he was one of my best friends, but for some reason I didn’t want to share every single detail of what had happened after we made it home. The way he held me, the way he hugged me in the shower, the way we fit so perfectly—it all felt private, like it was just ours, mine and Dylan’s.
“Then it happened,” Jared finished for me.
“Something like that.”
“Now it makes more sense.”
“What does that mean?”
Before he could answer, Becky came running in, a small pink mirror in her hand as she whisper-yelled at us. “I found it! Zoe, I found it!”
“Oh, that’s a beautiful mirror, Miss Bluebird. Now, let’s see what you did to my hair.”
After she demanded I put her to bed, I checked my hair more thoroughly in the bathroom mirror and had to spend a few minutes calming everything down.
As I was walking past Jared’s room, Kayla called my name.
“Is everything okay? I thought you were sleeping.” I walked in and sat on the edge of the bed as she sat up.
“Heard Becky talking to you guys. You’re still here?”
“Yeah, just wanted to stay around a bit longer.” After a long stretch of silence, I asked, “How are you doing?” I’d been worried I wasn’t coming up with the right questions the entire day.
“I’m good.” She sighed. “I’m better, let’s go with that. You can leave, Zoe. It’s late. You don’t have to wait around.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll leave whenever.”
She sighed but nodded. “Mom and Dad are coming tomorrow.” This time it was my turn to nod. “I’m not sure if I’m gonna come back here in January, Zoe. I’m not even sure I can handle finals.”
I wanted to protest, wanted to say it was the stupidest idea I’d ever heard, but it wasn’t. I wanted a chance to spend ten minutes alone in a room with Keith, but I knew it wouldn’t undo the hurt my friend was going through.
Keeping my eyes focused on the dark gray bedding, I choked up. “I want to beg you to come back, KayKay, but I know I can’t.”
“I just don’t think I want to…actually, I don’t think I can is a better answer. I think, and my parents think…”
“I understand, and I want you to do whatever will heal you and make you happy again. You think you’ll stay in Texas, then?”
“I’m not sure.”
I gave her a quick look and looked down at my fingers playing with the edge of the sheets. “Keith’s family lives pretty close to yours though, right?”
She shook her head. “They moved when we came to school here. They’re in Seattle now, so he won’t come to Texas.”
We fell silent.
“Maybe you and Jared can come visit me during summer break.”
I dashed away a tear that was trailing down my cheek. “Yes, I think that’d be great. I’ve never been to Texas.” I bit my lip and hesitated for a second. “If there is a trial and Keith—”
“I don’t want to talk about him, Zoe.”
“Okay. I’m sorry.” She was fisting the sheet so I put my hand on top of hers. “I’m sorry.”
When Kayla didn’t speak, I looked up and saw she was crying too.
“I just can’t seem to stop it, you know,” she said quietly, her lower lip trembling slightly as she wiped the tears away almost as quickly as they were falling. “It comes and goes. One second I’m just fine, and the next I feel sick to my stomach.” She lifted her eyes up to me then looked down at my neck where my bruises were visible even through the foundation I’d applied. “And you’ve been hurt because of me, too—”
I touched my neck with my fingertips. “What? These? I’m not hurt at all, Kayla. I’m just pissed I didn’t get the chance to hurt him myself, so don’t even think about that part of it.”
So far, her preferred method for how to deal with everything had been to avoid all conversation related to Keith. We weren’t going to pry, anyway, and having Becky around provided a buffer. We all laughed at her antics, and it almost felt like any other normal day for three close friends.
“I’m going to miss my best friend,” I said. “Have you told Jared yet?”
“I’ll talk to him.”
That’s when Jared’s head peeked through the open door. “Did someone say my name? I thought you were sleeping, you little liar.” He walked around the bed and sat across from me. “Zoe, your phone is going crazy in your bag. Maybe you should get it.”
Frowning, I got up. I’d forgotten all about my phone after sending Dylan a quick text to tell him Kayla was doing okay. I had seen missed calls and notifications after reading Dylan’s text when I woke up in the middle of the night, but I’d ignored all of it. The first thing I’d done after Dylan and I parted ways in front of our building was combing through everything Mark had sent. After I’d texted him to say I was going to tell Dylan everything, he’d called countless times, left eight voicemails, and sent a couple texts. I’d deleted all of them without even listening to a word. Though I’d ended up reading his texts, none of them had said anything I wanted to hear, so I’d deleted those too. I was done being a doormat for him, and it was way overdue.
I left Kayla and Jared alone and went to find my phone. It was ringing and I hoped it was Dylan, but unfortunately, it wasn’t. Reluctantly, I answered.
“Yes.”
After a few seconds of silence, Mark spoke up. “Where are you?”
No, I was worried about you. No, I heard what happened at the library. No, Are you okay, Zoe? No Is there anything I can do? No nothing.
But none of it mattered because I’d already talked to my dad. He had already asked the questions a dad was supposed to ask. This man was nothing to me, and it was my own damn fault for thinking things could’ve been different.
“I’m with my friends,” I said coldly.
“Did you tell him? Dylan?”
“Not yet, but I will.” I would that night, as soon as I decided how to go about it. At that moment, I realized I wasn’t afraid to tell him about Mark and Chris. It was just words, and it would’ve been easy enough to sit him down and explain from the very beginning. What I was afraid of was how he would react. Would he be angry at me for letting him think there was something going on between me and my biological father? Would whatever was happening between us end before it had even begun? That was what I was afraid of—losing him. God knew I’d have been angry at him for letting me think the worst of him.
“Where are you?” he asked again, and I could tell he was gritting his teeth. “I’ll pick you up. We need to talk.”
“I’m busy right now.”
“Zoe,” he thundered through the phone. “You are going to tell me where the hell you are and we are going to talk.”
Anger bubbled up inside me. I was pretty close to hating him, not that I’d really loved him before, but at least I hadn’t detested him. I had been curious, and I’d wanted a chance to get to know him. The first time we met, I told him how excited I was to meet Chris, how I’d always wanted a brother or sister. He’d gently told me it was too early to tell Chris, saying we should take advantage of the time and get to know each other before we told him because he was still shocked himself. He said he was trying to protect his family, and I got that. Oh, it wasn’t the best feeling to know he was trying to protect them from me, but at least I’d understood him. As the next three years had passed, I’d slowly come to the realization that Mark wasn’t interested in telling Chris anything, at least not the whole truth, and the realization had come three years late.
So, it was time I told him everything I’d kept inside for so long. We were going to have a talk, and this time I was going to be the one doing all the talking. It was probably going to be the last time I ever saw him, too, and I was more than okay with that. I gave him Jared’s address, and he told me he’d be there in fifteen.
After sitting with Jared and Kayla for another ten minutes, I promised them I’d come back the next day to meet her parents then headed out to wait for Mark to come pick me up. When I told my friends I was going to talk with him, Jared gave me an alarmed look, but I didn’t think anything of it.
I should’ve. I should’ve been just as alarmed as he was because I didn’t know it then, but right that second, Dylan was waiting for me across the street from the apartment building I’d just walked out of.
My phone beeped with a new text and I looked down to read it as I walked toward the sidewalk.
Dylan: I missed you.
When I heard a car, I looked up from the screen and saw Mark’s black SUV coming toward me. Without sending a reply, I stuffed the phone in my back pocket and nervously waited for him to come to a stop right in front of me.
As I climbed up into the passenger seat, unbeknownst to me, Dylan took a few steps forward and stared at the car in shock. I didn’t know he was waiting across the street so he could walk back to the apartment with me. I didn’t know he’d wanted to surprise me.