“Oh, yeah,” he groaned.
“What else did you imagine?”
“How it would feel to have your mouth on me.”
I scooted my body down the bed, rested one hand on his hip, and swirled my tongue on the tip of his cock. Tackle wove his fingers in my hair.
“Open, drop your hands, and hold still.” His hands were on both sides of my face. He slowly eased farther into my mouth. “Deeper, Sloane. Relax your throat.” When I gagged, he pulled out of my mouth and moved his hands from my head. “Jesus, I’m sorry. You were just sick.”
He rolled out of bed and grabbed his clothes.
“Where are you going?”
“Into the other room.”
When I woke the next morning and went out to the kitchen, it was clean, but Tackle was gone. I told myself it was for the best; I’d been trying to get him to leave anyway. Neither thought made the ache of missing him hurt less.
I called my mom and asked if there was anything she wanted me to pick up for her on my way home. I hurriedly jotted down the grocery list she rattled off.
“I thought you were coming yesterday, mija.”
I told her I’d ended up running errands in the city, and by the time I got back to the apartment, I was too tired to make the drive.
“I’m worried about you.”
“I made a doctor’s appointment, but if you want me to wait to find out if whatever I have is contagious, I can stay here.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Come
home, Sloane. If you don’t feel like stopping at the market, your father can go.”
I laughed, thinking about the number of times my dad would have to call my mom when he couldn’t find whatever she wanted. “I can do it.”
I packed up my clothes, also known as laundry, grabbed my computer, and took the elevator down to the parking garage. Just that, made me think about Tackle and how I wished he hadn’t left.
“So stupid,” I mumbled and shook my head as I loaded my stuff into the backseat of my car. I’d lost count of how many times I repeated those words in my head at the grocery store and out loud as I drove to my parents’ house.
When I came to the Newton town line, I thought about driving by Tackle’s house, but what if he saw me? How embarrassing would that be?
Instead, I stepped on the gas, hoping to catch the stoplight before it turned red. There were two reasons I wanted to. The first was that it always felt like a ten-minute wait before it changed to green again. The second was that the grill was on the right side of the intersection. I tried not to look, but when the light changed and I was stuck there, I couldn’t stop myself. I thought about how I’d picked up Tackle and my brother there on Christmas night.
I was about to turn away when I saw Tackle’s car pull in and park next to the only other one in the lot. The car behind me honked as I watched him get out and greet the woman who had gotten out of the car next to him.
I drove away but could still see in the rearview mirror when he embraced the woman my brother had referred to as Nick.
“What’s wrong, mija?” my mother asked when I slammed one of the bags of groceries down on the kitchen counter.
“Nothing.”
She raised a brow.
“You know how much I hate traffic.”
“There was traffic on a Sunday?”
Actually, there hadn’t been. In fact, I was one of the only cars on the road. Except for Tackle and his girlfriend. I growled at the reminder and then realized my mother was studying me.
“You are acting very strange.”