Making Up (Shacking Up 4)

I’m grateful that the elevator is working today. Griffin plays with the end of my braid on the ride to the eighth floor. “If I win the orgasm battle, I get to pick your outfit for dinner.”

“And if I win, I get to pick yours.”

“I love that you think it’s even a remote possibility.”

“You have yet to experience my oral skilIs, Griffin. I was a twenty-two-year-old virgin until last night, which means I’ve had a lot of practice at everything else.”

His eyes darken. “That turns me on and makes me feel irrationally violent at the same time.”

“You think because you conquered my pussy, it’s yours forever.”

Griffin backs me up against the wall and cups me through my shorts—the ones from yesterday. They’re disgusting, but I didn’t have any other options. Griffin offered me a pair of his boxers, but I’m a lot smaller than he is, so they’d fall off.

“I’ve been all up in this sweet little pussy with every part of me that counts. It’s marked as mine until further fucking notice. Next time I’ll leave a few hickies behind as a reminder.”

I’d like to be affronted by that very possessive statement, but instead, I’m really turned on. Which is unfortunate because as excited as that makes me, I’m sore, and I’m not sure if I can handle stimulation in that particular area for the next twenty-four hours.

Thankfully, or not, the elevator dings. Griffin steps back and takes a deep breath, smoothing his hand down his chest. My knees feel weak as I lead him down the hall to my apartment. I see the peeling wallpaper through his eyes and wonder if maybe it would’ve been better if he stayed in his car. Too late now, I suppose.

I unlock the door and usher him down the narrow hall. It smells like cherry vape in here again. I hate it when Nev smokes that stuff in my apartment. It gets in all my clothes and hair and takes forever to get rid of.

“Nev!” I call out. “I’m just stopping in to get changed. I have company, so make sure you’re decent!”

“I’m decent.”

I find her in the kitchen, putting an empty jug of orange juice back in the fridge. She’s wearing a pair of boy shorts, which cover most of her butt, and a white tank with no bra and gaping armholes. Not my idea of decent, but it fits hers.

Griffin appears behind me. “Nevah, this is Griffin. Griffin, this is Nevah.” I motion between them. “I have to get changed for work.”

Nevah’s expression shifts from curiosity to something more like recognition. I turn to Griffin. His eyes are wide, and I don’t think it’s because my sister is half naked.

“Black Tesla,” Nevah says.

“What?” I ask.

“Oh shit,” Griffin mutters.

I look between them. “Please tell me you two don’t know each other.” My stomach sinks and then rolls, because based on the way they’re looking at each other, they most definitely know each other. In ways I don’t want them to.

“You were at the Lemonade Stand a couple months ago, weren’t you?” Nev says to Griffin, possibly oblivious to how awkward this has gotten. “And you drive a black Tesla.”

“Did you hook up with my sister?” This is so much worse than last night when I thought he was a cheater. Nev will sleep with anyone who drives a nice car. I love my sister, but she has no sense of self-preservation when it comes to men.

When Griffin doesn’t answer right away, I look to Nev. “Did you hook up with him?”

She gives me her sorry face. “He had a Tesla.”

Griffin rubs the back of his neck. “I didn’t know she was your sister.”

“Oh my God!” I throw my hands up in the air then push on his shoulder. “You need to go. I can’t even . . . this is so fucked up.”

“Cosy, please. I was really messed up that night.” He lets me push him out of the kitchen and down the hall.

“And that makes it so much better. You slept with my sister—”

“I don’t know that for—”

“I do. You have a nice car. Oh, God. You fucked my sister in your car! And I’ve sat in there. I need you to go.”

He plants his feet, which means I’m pushing on him but he’s going nowhere. “I think we need to talk about this.”

“I don’t want to talk about this. I don’t want to think about you banging my sister in your car!” I rub my temples, wishing I could erase the image of Griffin, naked, doing it with my sister, but now it’s in my head, and I can’t get rid of it. “Please just go.”

He looks so panicked and remorseful. “Can I at least call you later? Will you answer?”

“I don’t know. I really . . . This is a lot, Griffin.” I motion between us and then to the kitchen. “I had sex with you, and now I find out that you’ve had sex with my sister. It’s a bit of a mind fuck, and I need to figure out how to deal with that.”