Come Together (The Cityscape 3)

CHAPTER 25

I THREW AN ELBOW OVER MY EYES and groaned. “What time is it?” I asked when I heard David shuffling around the room.

“Six o‘clock. Sorry, baby.” The mattress dipped, and I lifted my arm. He climbed on top of me in only his board shorts and kissed his way up my neck until he reached my mouth. I moaned sleepily and closed my eyes. “Smell that ocean breeze?” he asked.

I smiled. “Mmm.”

He laughed. “Go back to sleep. I’ll be back in a few hours.” And then he was gone, so I rolled over and pulled his pillow between my arms.

I woke up after nine to a knock at the door. “Who is it?” I asked, disoriented.

“Me.” In that one word, I heard Gretchen’s voice crack.

I sat up quickly and grabbed David’s undershirt from the floor. “Come in.”

Her face was bright red, and she lifted her eyeglasses to rub her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” I exclaimed.

She burst into tears and climbed onto the bed to sit cross-legged in front of me. “He’s gone,” she said between sobs.

“Greg? Why?”

She shook her head and once her shoulders had stopped quaking, she continued. “I don’t know. When we went to bed last night, we were fooling around and he wanted to have sex. I wanted to also – we haven’t done it yet, and it’s been months. But I couldn’t bring myself to, Liv. I don’t know why. I said no, and he got aggressive so I kicked him out of the room.”

My teeth ground together. “He got aggressive?”

“A little. This morning I heard a commotion, so I went downstairs. David and Greg were face to face, arguing about Jordan. Greg looked at me when I walked in, and I felt . . . I don’t know. I didn’t feel sympathetic or anything. So I said, ‘David’s right. You were out of line.’ He called me a frigid bitch and before I even had a chance to respond, Brian grabbed him by the shirt. Greg said ‘fuck this,’ gathered up his stuff from the couch and left. Just left.” She looked like she was about to laugh, but she burst into tears instead.

My mouth fell open, and I scooted close to embrace her. “Oh my God. Have you been crying all morning?”

“Yes, but I’m not even sure why.”

“What do you mean?”

“Greg wants for everything to go back to the way it was, but . . . it can’t.” She looked at me. “He acts like you and Lucy are still his best friends.”

“Me? I’ve barely seen him since he moved to Chicago.”

“I know,” she exclaimed, “and he’s only seen Lucy once!” She pulled her glasses away and rubbed her eyes again. “I don’t know. The fact that he left without talking to me makes me wonder if he’s changed at all.”

“It doesn’t seem like it.”

She sighed and wiped another tear away. “Gross. I’m sitting right where you guys had sex last night.”

“Pfft. No you’re not. We rarely ever make it to the bed.”

She made a strangled noise, and her face crumpled. “Even fooling around wasn’t that great. I remembered it better.”

Just then we heard loud footsteps running up the stairs.

“Crap.” She stood up.

“Don’t go,” I said.

“They’re back, and I’m a mess. I need to change.”

David’s wet, shirtless frame paused in the doorway. “Hey,” he said.

“Hi, honey. How was surfing?”

“Good, fine. Everything all right?”

Gretchen dropped her face in her hands and shuddered with her back to the door.

“Yes,” I said, “but can you just give us a minute?”

Brian appeared behind David and peered in. “Gretchen,” he said softly.

“Just go away, Brian,” Gretchen muffled from her hands.

He ignored her and pushed David aside to enter the room. “He’s not worth it,” Brian said. My mouth fell open when he wrapped his arms around her. Gretchen stilled, and I was afraid she would push him off, but instead she turned into his chest and unleashed a fresh set of tears. I glanced at David and mouthed, Oh my god. He shrugged.

“You guys ganged up on him,” Gretchen said into Brian’s chest.

David crossed his arms over his chest, and his expression hardened. “He crossed a line.”

“He was right,” she continued. “I was frigid not to sleep with him and a bitch not to defend him.”

“Hey!” Brian cried as if he was offended. He lifted her chin with his finger and looked down at her. “That’s a load of shit. He was disrespectful to David and Olivia and to you. You were right not to defend him.”

“He’s a coward,” David added, still in the doorway.

Gretchen laughed softly and pulled away from Brian. She removed her glasses and wiped her cheeks with the backs of her hands. “I’m sorry, this is embarrassing.”

“I didn’t know you wore glasses,” Brian commented.

“Contacts,” she said, nodding.

His eyes darted over her as she cleaned the glasses on her t-shirt. She was red and puffy, but her eyes were shining blue. Just like Brian’s. It struck me then how similar-looking they were. Soft blond hair, tan complexions and striking Windex-colored eyes. How had I never noticed before?

“How about a surfing lesson?” Brian asked her. “David’s taking Olivia, I can take you.”

“What about your girlfriend?” she asked with a sniffle.

“She doesn’t want to get wet. Go figure, we’re at the beach.”

“I guess,” she said, looking at the floor.

“Atta girl. Go put your bathing suit on, and I’ll meet you downstairs in ten.”

She smiled with her eyes still downcast and nodded before leaving the room.

“Thank you, Brian,” I said. “I know you two don’t get along, so I really appreciate that.”

“No worries. She’s not so bad underneath it all,” he said to himself.

“Excuse me?” I asked.

He looked up. “Nothing,” he called over his shoulder as he left.

David sighed and finally entered the room. “I say good riddance.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Did you wake Greg up from the couch just to yell at him?”

“Yep.”

“Do you feel macho now that you’ve put him in his place?”

I expected him to get angry, but he puffed up slightly. “Yes.”

I laughed.

“Brian likes her, you know,” he said. “I can tell.”

I crinkled my nose. “Gretchen? He does not. She made a pass at him, and he turned her down.”

“He’s into her.”

>   “David, they hate each other.”

“There’s a fine line between love and hate, baby.”

Still, I shook my head. “Nope. I believe ‘pompous prick’ is how she once described him.”

“You and your dirty mouth again, Miss Germaine. I never did give you that spanking.”

My eyes widened. “Give it to me now, then.”

He laughed. “No, not now. We still need to talk anyway. You seduced me into forgetting that I was supposed to be restraining myself.”

“So let’s talk.”

He shut the bedroom door and came to sit on the edge of the bed. “I don’t have an answer.”

I crawled over to him and set my hand on his wet trunks. “I meant what I said. I trust you, and I promise to tell you if it’s too much. I should have said something the other night. I was confused because I liked what you were doing to me even though it hurt a little.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Your pleasure turns me on; you taking what you need from me. I love knowing I can give you that.”

“Only you.”

“You won’t go overboard because you know, and always have known, exactly what I need. But I promise, if you ever do, I will tell you.”

“Just say stop, and I will, no matter what. I’ll never get so far that I can’t stop.”

I smiled and rose on my knees to kiss his cheek. “I know. Now, are you going to spank me, or are we going to surf?” My laugh turned into a squeal when he grasped my waist and dragged me facedown across his knees.

“Like this?” he asked. Since I was only wearing his t-shirt, he pushed the fabric up and exposed my backside. His hand ran over it tenderly before giving me a hard slap. I groaned with a quick exhalation, and he began to knead my skin, running his hand over the backs of my thighs. “Okay, up you go,” he said suddenly, lifting me onto my feet.

“No,” I protested.

“Yes. It’s time to surf. Let me see that itty-bitty bikini. Although, no, not with Brian around. Actually, do you have a one-piece?”

I giggled and shoved his shoulder before dropping to rifle through my suitcase.