Yeah, I have no doubt he’ll be the darling of this franchise in no time. Meanwhile, I’m going to have to pick my best friend up off the floor each day for years to come. So, I fucking hate the guy right now.
“Aimer, ce n’est pas se regarder l’un l’autre, c’est regarder ensemble dans la même direction,” I tell her, enunciating each word.
“When you speak French, it helps a little.” She wipes a tear from her cheek. “What does it mean?”
“Antoine de St-Exupéry wrote it. It means ‘Love doesn’t mean gazing at each other, but looking, together, in the same direction.’ I think it fits with you. You’re only gazing at Gannon, blinded by the man you want to see. But he isn’t looking in the same direction. He’s not even looking, he’s got his head buried so far up his own ass—”
“We get it, you poet.” Bevan chuckles. “But she is right, Am, no matter how harsh it sounds. You deserve someone who looks in the same direction with you, at you. Believe me, I know how fucked up love is. But you, out of all of us, deserve happiness. Gannon is a pig. Let’s leave him in the shit and move on.”
Amelie seems to be digesting the truth, and I hate having to be so direct, but she needs to hear this.
“But look at Taya. She got her happy ending.” She points to me.
“First of all, I’ve been seeing Austin on consistent, good terms for like a week. I wouldn’t call that a happy ending.” But in my heart, I know how happy I am and how much I’m counting on this to last.
“Exactly,” Bevan says. “Plus, remember that movie? He’s Just Not That Into You? Taya is the exception, not the rule. And she may become the rule. Hell, she was the rule for like a billion years before he even noticed her.”
“Thanks, Bev.” I roll my eyes, a little hurt at her insinuation that Austin and I are just a fling.
“You know what I’m trying to say. This is about Amelie.”
I love Bevan to my core, but sometimes her dismissiveness can cut deep. I try to focus on our friend though, and what we’re trying to get across to her.
“All I’m saying,” Bevan continues, “is maybe it’s time to get on some dating apps. At least talk to another guy. Text flirt. It’ll improve your mood.”
Amelie looks back at the TV, where Gannon’s face appears again. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s time to move on and look for someone who actually wants to be with me.”
There is a note of hope in her voice, so I’ll take it. But as we settle back into our typical positions to watch the rest of the show, I can’t help but think about what Bevan said and that I was nearly in Amelie’s position just weeks ago.
I can’t forget that. For as much as I’m living in the honeymoon period of hooking up with Austin and hoping for a lot more than that, I can’t let myself get carried away. The trip to Webton was a decent turning point, and I think we saw a side of each other that neither of us previously knew. But I got swept up in his aura before, before I even really knew him, and I have to put that age-old crush in the back of my mind.
Because Bevan could be right. This could dissolve between us because of either party. And while that makes my heart ache, I can’t put all of my eggs in one basket.
I’ll end up like Amelie, sobbing over a boy who will never feel the same way about me.
23
Austin
Reaching toward my bedside drawer, I grab a condom and roll it on.
“Ride me,” I growl at Taya, flopping onto my back and putting my hands behind my head.
Hazel eyes, swirled with aquamarine and mocha, flash with lust. She takes in my naked body, all of her slim curves prowling over me like some kind of panther. Christ, how I worship this woman. She’s flushed, and a little sheen of sweat glistens on her. I’ve had her on her back, my mouth between her legs, for the last ten minutes and she’s already come once. The taste of her remains on my tongue, and watching her mount me and take my cock in her hand to slide down onto is like my holy grail.
“You feel so fucking good.” She runs her hands through her hair, and I will keep this mental picture in my memory forever.
In no time, the way she’s bouncing up and down on my cock has me nearly coming. “Slow down, babe.”
The nickname just slips out, and it’s odd because I typically don’t use it. But with her, it fits.
“Lo desideravo da molto tempo.”
Taya’s words curl into my ear like the most seductive drug. “What does it mean?”
I don’t even know what language she’s speaking, but I want more of it. Every time she whispers those accented words, my cock twitches inside her.
“Now, why would I tell you that?” Her voice is breathy and husky.
Without warning, I flip her, pinning her hands against the bed, and grind into her in long, fluid strokes. “Because if you don’t, I’ll torture you. I’ll go just the right pace to make it feel incredible, but not deep or fast enough to give you that orgasm you’re trembling for.”
Another girl would lie back, beg me, or just tell me what she’d said. Not Taya. Instead, she pulls her hands free of mine and rakes her nails down my back just a little too hard, so the pain morphs into pleasure. Then she bites her lip, licking it after releasing it, and her teeth marks are still on her skin.
“You do not play fair.” I growl, because with every little seduction, I’m pumping harder.
I can’t help it. This girl drives me insane. With every thrust, her hips come up to meet me. My balls slap on her ass. Her eyes begin to roll back, and I can feel the sensation of my climax tingle at the base of my spine.
“Come. Now,” I command her, pistoning my hips as fast as I can.
My cock is so deep inside of her when she explodes that all of her muscles grip my dick like a fist. I come, shouting my release, and nearly blackout from the intensity.
I can barely feel my body and feel it all too much at the same time. Beneath me, Taya is still mewling from her release.
Once we’ve caught our breath, I start tracing her spine with the tip of my fingers. Outside, someone shouts on the street, and birds are chirping. The sunlight shines through onto the carpet, and Taya groans.
“I have class,” she whines but doesn’t move from where my hand is slowly stroking her back.
“Skip it.” It’s an automatic response. “We’ll make this afternoon quickie a true afternoon delight.”
She chuckles into my chest, then looks up at me with a sarcastic expression. “Some of us aren’t seniors and have to go to class. Plus, I love my courses. Where else am I going to speak different languages where people actually understand me?”
“You just love that you can say things and I have no idea what they mean, don’t you?” I swat her butt.
“Kind of.” She shrugs, a sheepish little smile sneaking over her lips. “I mean, let’s be real, you know so much of my inner thoughts from that letter that it feels nice to have an outlet where you have no idea what I’m feeling.”
It’s easier for her to address the time capsule letter now, but I still sense the tension between us when it comes to that.