“What? About us? No. No way. Are you?”
“No. I’m just really feeling it today. Missing you.”
“Pretend I was there,” he tells me. “What would we be doing?”
“Well, since we were both free from practice, games, and classes, my guess is you’d be lying next to me.”
He groans. “Have I ever told you that I lie awake at night thinking about you lying next to me, skin to skin?”
“No,” I whisper. “You’ve never told me.”
“It happens a lot. I mean, I’m always thinking about you. You never leave my mind, but at night when it’s quiet, and just me and my thoughts, I can almost feel you here in my arms.”
“What are we doing? I mean, when I’m in your arms.”
“I’m holding you.”
“Is that all?” I ask. My voice is soft, and I can feel the heat in my cheeks at my question. I’m glad he can’t see me.
“No, baby. That’s not all.”
“Tell me,” I state boldly.
“Where’s Karina?” he asks.
“Out with some of the girls from the team.”
“You didn’t want to go?”
“No. I wanted to come home and think about you. Where’s Oliver?”
“He went to the beach with Sam and Daniel.”
“You didn’t want to go?”
“I told them I might meet them later. I wanted to come home and call you.”
“You could have called me from the beach to say hello. You weren’t even sure you would get ahold of me.”
“Yeah, well, sometimes a guy just needs some time away from his roommate to do stuff.”
“He’s your best friend. What kind of stuff?” I ask.
“Guy stuff.”
“Griffin.”
“Fine.” He sighs. “I’m missing the hell out of you, Peyton, and sometimes, well, a lot of times, I pull up the memory of you, of us, and take matters into my own hands.”
“Tell me.”
He groans. “It doesn’t take much. Remembering the softness of your skin or the feel of your tongue stroking against mine.”
“Are you… doing it now?” I swallow hard, and I’m sure he can hear me. It’s more of a gulp as I process what’s happening here.
“No.”
“But you want to?”
“Yes.”
“Are you hard for me?” I slap my hand over my mouth. I can’t believe I just asked him that.
“God, yes,” he moans.
“Hang up. I’m going to call you right back.”
“What?” he chokes out. It’s obvious that he’s confused, but my brain is too jumbled to explain it to him.
“I promise. I’ll call you right back.” My voice doesn’t sound like my own.
“Okay.” The line goes dead, and I jump out of bed, grab my laptop from my desk, and lock my bedroom door for good measure. I pull up the video call and hit send. My hands are shaking, and my breathing kicks up a notch or three as I realize what I’m about to do. This is so unlike me. But maybe this is me with Griffin. What I feel for him, the way I miss him, and that trust that I have in him allows me to be free. Apparently, being free is phone sex or video-chat sex. Hell, I’m not sure what to call it, but it’s about to go down.
“Hey,” he greets huskily.
“Show me,” I blurt out before I lose my nerve.
“What?” He chokes out a laugh.
“Please?” Maybe being demanding doesn’t turn him on?
“Baby,” he breathes. “You know I can’t say no to you.”
“Good.” I smile. That’s exactly what I was hoping for.
“But if I show you, you have to show me too.” He gives me a pointed look, and I realize I didn’t think this through. I just wanted to see him.
“I… uh…” I stumble over my words, and he chuckles.
“Do you touch yourself, Peyton? When you think of me?”
All the time. “Sometimes.” There is no use in denying it. I can tell from the look in his eyes that he can see right through me.
“Show me.” His voice is gravelly.
“I thought I was running this show?” I ask, my face flushed.
“Nah, we’re in this together, remember?”
“That’s what we said.” The words are flippant, but the way my heart thunders in my chest at his sweet reminder isn’t. We’re in this together.
“Peyton?”
“Yeah?”
“Get naked.”
“I…” I start to talk my way out of it but realize I don’t want to. If I can’t be with him, this is the next best thing. “Okay.” Moving my laptop to the side, I climb out of bed. I’d already changed into a pair of sleep shorts and a T-shirt knowing that I was in for the day.
“I want to watch you,” his gruff voice demands. “Turn the camera so I can see you.”
Doing as he asks, I turn my laptop to face me. He can’t see all of me, but when I remove my shirt and unclasp my bra, he sucks in a breath.
“Fuck, you’re gorgeous.”
“Griff?” My voice trembles, but it’s not from nerves; it’s more the excitement of what we’re about to do.
“Yeah, baby?”