Of course, planning to meet Toni here, now, after what had happened, was going to be different than it had been before. No one could tell, just by observing them, he told himself, but he wondered if that was true. They’d found every opportunity to see each other, even on days they weren’t supposed to meet. Toni’s office was safe enough, it seemed, if they could be quiet. They’d also found refuge in her car, parked under a broken streetlamp. They both knew their actions were like a ticking time bomb, but it just felt too good to stop.

  “Hey.” Henry sat, dropping his backpack. Val scrutinized him. The fluorescents were out back here, and he hadn’t seen that she’d been crying. Her mascara ran down her pale cheeks in black streaks. He noted she’d dyed her hair again too. It was black and blue streaks this time. Maybe it more fit her mood.

  He sat beside her, held out his arms, and she was in them before he could even ask, “Aw damn. What happened?”

  “I found this.” Val dug into her pocket, producing a folded piece of notebook paper. Henry took it, still hugging her, and read it over her shoulder as she sobbed.

  “Wait a minute.” Henry got the gist—some girl had written Marcus a letter all about how she couldn’t wait to see him again. There was a lot of stuff he skimmed over in the middle, but it was signed, “I love you, xoxoxo Jen.” “You guys have an arrangement remember?”

  Val sniffed. “The arrangement doesn’t involve I love yous.”

  “Oh.” Chicks. She was fine with sleeping with other guys, and even with Marcus sleeping with other girls, but three little words made her crazy? Of course, he tried to imagine how he might justify his relationship—if you could call it that—with Toni, to Libby, and couldn’t come up with anything that might placate her.

  “Do you know if he feels the same way?”

  Val howled, burying her wet face in his neck. “He’s never even told me ‘I love you.’”

  “Why in the hell do you stay with this guy?” Henry asked incredulously, shaking his head. “Val, you’re better than this.”

  She sniffed. “This from the guy who was perfectly willing to fuck me in front of his sixty closest frat brothers?”

  “I didn’t know you then,” Henry countered.

  “What good does that do me?” She laughed at the irony in his statement. “You don’t even want me anymore now that you ‘know’ me.”

  “I do want you.” Henry slapped her hip playfully, but still hard. She yelped. “As a friend.”

  “Gee, thanks.”

  “Look, I may not be the guy for you…” Henry tilted her chin up so he could meet her raccoon-rimmed eyes. “But I personally think you could do a hell of a lot better than Marcus.”

  Her lower lip trembled. “He’s such a dick.”

  “You said it.” Henry looked pointedly into her eyes.

  She pouted. “But I love him.”

  “I’m sorry.” He pulled her head back down to his chest, feeling her relax.

  “I am, too.”

  Henry stroked her black and blue hair. It was incredibly soft. “Do you want me to beat him up for you?”

  She laughed at the thought. Marcus was more than twice Henry’s size—and Henry was no lightweight.

  He didn’t take offense to her mirth. “How about chocolate? Would that make things better?”

  He felt her sniff against his shirt. She was probably leaving streaks of mascara there. “Chocolate always makes things better.”

  “That’s it. It’s you and me, then. We’ve got a date with Baskin Robbins and some Rocky Road.” He kissed the top of her head. “Think brain freeze will make you come to your senses?”

  “Something should.” Val wiggled in his lap quite intentionally and the soft squirming of her bottom was getting just the reaction she was looking for. “You’re helping.”

  “I can’t help too much,” he warned her.

  “She’s forgotten all about you, you know,” Val blurted. He’d confessed his feelings for Libby to her, and considering he was here to console her about her own love life, her comment was rather mean, but he forgave her.

  “Maybe.” Henry shrugged. “But I haven’t forgotten about her.”

  “Whoever you end up with is one lucky girl.” She went to kiss him and he turned his head so it landed squarely on the cheek.

  “Henry.” The sound of his name, spoken sharply, made him stand almost immediately, nearly spilling Val out of his lap onto the floor. She caught herself, standing too, glancing up.

  “Professor Franklin?” Val gazed first at her and then at Henry.

  “She’s tutoring me,” Henry said quickly, adding, “In English.”

  Val nodded and then moved in to kiss Henry’s cheek again. “Call me later?”

  “Sure.” He wiped the lipstick from his face, ignoring the look Toni gave him, but feeling it anyway, in his gut. “I’m not kidding—Baskin Robbins. Tonight. They don’t close until nine.”

  “Kerwins is better,” Val countered, heading toward the elevators. She waggled her fingers at Toni as she passed. “Bye!”

  Toni waited for the elevator doors to close before she took a seat next to Henry. “So, who was that?”

  “Val.” Why did he feel so damned guilty? “A friend.”

  Toni opened her satchel without saying anything else about it, but it was there, the whole time. They’d decided to meet in the library for a reason—it wouldn’t afford them any opportunity to do anything but work. But now Henry couldn’t concentrate again, not because he was thinking about sex—although just the smell of Toni’s perfume got him hard now—but because he was worried about what Toni had seen.

  “She’s really just a friend,” Henry blurted the fifth time he’d blanked on the same word. “I swear.”

  Toni sat back, her arms folded across her breasts. “Well, it’s not like we’re dating or anything.”

  He blinked at her. “I guess.”

  “Okay, I admit it.” Her eyes softened, her hand squeezing his knee under the table. “I was jealous.”

  He swallowed, meeting her dark eyes. “You don’t have anything to be jealous of. I don’t want her.”

  Which was true. Of course, he didn’t mention Libby. He kept her like a secret.

  “Do you want me?” Toni’s hand slid upward, cupping his crotch. He was half-hard, had been since Val was sitting in his lap, and with Toni next to him, his cock seemed to simply respond, Pavlovian, as if she were his bell.

  “Always.” And that was true, too. Since they’d started, he could hardly think about anything else. Henry glanced around, seeing no one, and stole a quick kiss. She tasted good, her mouth warm and soft and opening under his, her hand massaging his cock from half-there to all-the-way-there in a matter of moments.

  “We shouldn’t,” she murmured, looking over her shoulder, but her hand moved faster anyway, rubbing him under the table.

  “I know.” Hadn’t they been saying that all along? But he couldn’t stop himself, and apparently neither could she.

  “Come on,” she whispered, reaching for his hand. They left their stuff and he followed her down the back aisle, the one closest to the wall, deep into the stacks. It was quiet back there, the only sound the buzzing of the flickering fluorescents overhead as Toni pushed him against the shelf and sank to her knees.

  “Are you sure?” he whispered, biting his lip as she unzipped him, yanking his jeans down and pulling his cock free of his boxers.

  “It will help you concentrate…afterward.”

  She had a point. Henry put a hand on her head, seeing her sly smile before she took his cock into her mouth—and then there was no more protest or even thought. Her mouth was practiced and sure, her tongue teasing the sensitive head before sucking him in deep. She went slow at first, her fingernails tickling his thighs, his balls, making his toes curl in his sneakers.

  When he looked down, he saw her hand moving up under her skirt and the thought of her pussy, wet and getting wetter, made him crazy with lust. He had to have her. A blowjob in the library basement just wasn’t going to be good enough to tide him over. He would have to spend all night in his dorm room without her warmth, the soft press of her body against his, until they met again in her office tomorrow, and he would spend that time remembering. He had been doing just that, every minute they were apart, since the afternoon in her office when they’d first given in.

  “I want you,” he breathed, grabbing her by the hair and slowly pulling her mouth off his cock with a soft, wet popping sound. It wasn’t easy to break the suction. Her mouth was red, lips swollen, chest heaving. She wanted him too. “I want to fuck you.”

  She glanced first right, then left. They both listened and heard nothing but the hum of the lights and their own labored breathing, so Toni stood, putting her arms around Henry’s neck and kissing him. Their tongues stabbed and probed, and he couldn’t keep his hands off her, grabbing her breasts through her blouse, her nipples hard, reaching a hand between her legs to feel her heat.

  “Gimme that cunt,” he growled, turning her around and bending her nearly in half. She had to grab onto the edge of one of the shelves to keep from stumbling as he shoved the silky burgundy skirt she was wearing up over her hips, snatching down her panties. They were white, see-through, and the crotch was soaked. How long has she been imagining this? he wondered.

  “Henry,” she whimpered as he swabbed the whole length of her pussy with the head of his dick, tickling her clit before finding her hole, lining himself up and grabbing her hips. She whimpered when he entered her, his thumbs parting her behind, seeing her asshole winking at him, his cock sinking into her flesh. He couldn’t get enough of this, couldn’t ever get enough.

  “Oh fuck,” he breathed as she reached a hand between her legs, her fingers brushing his swinging balls, her nails scratching gently along the length of his wet cock as he shoved into her. Then she was touching herself, rubbing her clit, getting herself off.

  “Don’t stop,” she whispered, planting her feet wider, rocking her hips up and back. “Oh, please. Please.”

  There wasn’t a chance in hell. Henry gripped her ass, shoving deep into her cunt, fucking her so hard they vibrated the shelves, and neither of them noticed or cared. Toni was close, he knew her sounds now, and Henry didn’t think he could wait another minute. His cock had a mind of its own, wanting nothing but to bury itself into her wet recesses and give her everything it could.

  “Toni,” he warned, feeling her fingers slapping against her pussy, teasing herself, so close now but wanting to make it last. “I’m gonna come!”

  There was nothing to do but hold on, feeling her shudder in response to his words, unable to keep her own imminent climax at bay. Toni reached out blindly with one hand, grasping books instead of the shelf, letting them fall to the floor before steadying herself, her breath coming in hot pants as she ground her hips back against him, the first wave of his orgasm hitting like a tsunami.

  “Ohhhh!” He couldn’t help his sudden groan, but he stifled it the best he could, his belly contracting again and again, the sensation only heightened when he saw his cock pulsing, emptying itself into Toni’s fluttering cunt.

  They found their way into each other’s arms, kissing, breathless, trying to quickly pull their clothes back on, as aware now that they were in a public place as they’d been oblivious to it a moment before. Henry made sure the coast was clear before they snuck back down the aisle to the table where they’d left their things.

  “Think we can get some work done now?” Toni teased.

  “Maybe.” Henry turned his attention to their lesson, his ears still ringing. Their little rendezvous in the stacks had gone unnoticed by anyone, he was sure of it, but his heart galloped in his chest when the elevator bell dinged and he saw the edge of a library book cart appear around the corner.

  He didn’t think Toni noticed him sneaking glances at Libby as she pushed the cart into the stacks for reshelving. And Libby, thankfully, didn’t see them, at least not until she came back their way half an hour later, the cart empty, and by then both he and Toni had regained most of their composure and were deep into their lesson.

  Libby saw him that time, though—he was sure of it. She half-lifted her hand in a wave and then seemed to change her mind when she saw the professor. Henry half-returned the gesture while Toni was digging in her satchel for her colored transparencies, but he didn’t think Libby saw it.

  Chapter Eight

  “I suck.” Henry slumped on his sister’s bed, watching her gazing into her dresser mirror, twisting her long blonde hair up onto the top of her head. “I didn’t get anyone anything.”

  “No one expects you to.” Janie took out the bobby pin she’d been holding between her teeth and shoved it in her hair. “You’re a poor college student.”

  “Yeah, but Mom put money in my account so I could buy everyone gifts.”

  Janie snorted. “Let me guess. It turned into beer money?”

  “No, I loaned it to a friend,” he admitted. He hadn’t told anyone else how Dean was borrowing money, or why. He’d put it together, of course—Marcus was running the betting ring out of the frat, and Dean had a serious gambling problem. He was a bottomless pit, and the times Henry had said no, Dean had managed to make his life pretty miserable. Socially, it was easier to say yes. Of course, it was harder on the wallet.

  “A girl?”

  He shook his head. “My roommate, actually.”

  “What for, so he could spend it on beer?”

  “Not exactly.” It was a hell of a lot more than beer money, Henry thought.

  “You shouldn’t loan friends money.” Janie turned from the mirror, frowning at him. “Seriously. It’s not good.”

  Henry decided to change the subject. “Hey, Janie, do girls have a code?”

  “A code?” She cocked her head, curious. “What do you mean?”

  “You know.” He flushed. “Like guys have the ‘Bros Before Hoes’ thing.”

  Janie laughed. “Well yeah. Except we aren’t so adolescent about it.”

  If only Dean had respected the code in the first place, Henry thought, instead of making everything into a damned competition. “So let’s say your roommate dated a guy once…would you consider him off-limits?”

  “Yeah,” Janie agreed. “Probably. I assume you’re the guy in this scenario?”

  Henry nodded miserably. “Is there any way to get a girl to break the code?”

  “Sort of.” Janie smiled, coming to sit on her bed next to him. “So, who’s this girl?”

  “Her name’s Libby.” He wasn’t ready to give up too much more.

  “And you dated her roommate?”

  “Once,” he reiterated. “Just one time. Dean set me up.” In more ways than one, he thought bitterly.

  “Well, if I was Libby, and I liked you enough,” Janie said, qualifying her statement. “I’d talk to my roommate and ask her if she minded. It was just one date, after all.”

  Henry considered this, musing out loud, “Maybe I should talk to Elaine…”

  “That’s the roommate?” Janie asked. “Was she into you?”

  He remembered the way Elaine had kissed him, had snuck her hand under the water to stroke him, how she’d practically jumped at the chance to…

  “You could say that.”

  Janie cocked her head at him again, frowning. “But you only went on one date.”

  “Yeah.”

  She made a face. “She couldn’t have been that into you!”

  “We got kind of drunk,” he admitted sheepishly.

  “Just because you had sex with her doesn’t mean anything. Necessarily.” Janie waved the idea away. “Did you have sex with her?”

  “Hang on.” Henry dug his phone out of his pocket. He knew it was Toni—his ringtone for her was Bolero. “I gotta take this.”

  “Is it Libby?” Janie tried to look over his shoulder, but he got up and headed toward the door.

  “Hi,” he said, flipping open his phone and ignoring his sister making faces at him as he went down the hall to his room.

  “I miss you.” Her voice was thick as honey.

  “I know,” he admitted, closing his door. “I miss you, too.”

  Here he was asking his sister advice about Libby, but it was Toni he was talking to. What was wrong with this picture? He’d fallen head first—or maybe leapt was more accurate—into this thing with Toni and it was like a snowball going downhill, just picking up speed as it rolled along.

  “You know I’m right around the block,” she reminded him.

  He hadn’t forgotten. She had an apartment on campus—one he’d been invited to twice now—but the house she’d lived in with her husband was just kitty-korner from his parents’ place. If he peered out his sister’s window, he could have seen her backyard, and maybe even the “For Sale” sign posted out front, from that angle. No one lived in the house at the moment—Toni’s soon-to-be ex had taken a job somewhere on the east coast—but she had mentioned she was going to get it into “for-sale” condition over break.

  “It’s weird. You’re closer now than when we’re at school,” he said.

  “Do you want to come over?”

  He could almost see the smile playing on her lips. “Do you really have to ask?”

  “How long?”

  “Give me ten minutes.”

  * * * *

  No one asked him where he was going.

  The walk around the block was short and Henry left footprints like breadcrumbs leading the way home. The snow they’d predicted was just beginning to fall, a light dusting, making the neighborhood lawns sugary in the moonlight. The flakes were big and fat, though, and he caught one on his tongue like a little kid as he took Toni’s front steps two at a time to ring her bell.

  He waited, glancing around at the other houses, wondering what her neighbors would say. It was dark, though, the streetlights on. No one around. Safe enough.

  “Hey sexy.” She was ready for bed, standing there barefoot, her hair falling all around her shoulders. She wore a silk robe, a red and gold oriental print. “Cold out there?”

 

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