Page 37 of Girl Like Me

“Cool. I just needed to be close to you and to talk. Is that okay?” He nods and pulls us to lay down, so we are still facing each other. He intertwines his fingers with mine.

“I miss being here so much, I miss being with you all everyday. It feels like home wherever you are. But the longer I’m Bristol, the more I feel like I’m becoming her again, at least the nicer parts of her and I’m making friends, but I don’t know how that will work. I actually really like Chloe and even Echo.” His body goes rigid at the mention of Echo's name.

“Don’t you start with me Maximus. He’s just a friend and one who apparently has my back and I need people like him in my corner.” I rant about my theories about who’s behind what happened to me. I’m still thinking it has to be Sebastian, the pretentious dick.

After what feels like forever I come up for a breath of air and Maximus is staring at me. I don’t move and let him guide the way.

He releases my hand and runs his fingers lightly along my arm. A wake of goosebumps follows. I see the apprehension in his eyes, he is worried he’ll hurt me. I trust him but he needs to do this at his own pace. He leans in and I close the gap, our lips meeting in the middle and I wait. He moves, giving me the sign that he’s okay to continue. Butterflies swarm my stomach when his hand glides up my shirt, coming to rest on my hip. He pulls away from the kiss and sighs. I use the opportunity to sit up and stand from the bed. Maximus watches me as I remove my clothes. I go slowly so I don’t scare him, I want to go at his pace, we both know the safe word.

Standing naked before him he smiles with his eyes and in barely a whisper he says “Perfection.”

He slides across the bed standing before me and hesitates. I know he’s not comfortable taking his clothes off.

“You don’t have to take them off but just know that I love you and that means all of you.” he takes a deep breath in and removes his shirt. He may not have a defined six pack or muscles like the other guys but he still has an amazing body. I lick my lips when he takes the waistband of his sweats and slides them down his legs. I notice the scars on the top of his back as he bends down. I swallow a lump in my throat. I don’t want him to see my reaction.

He steps closer to me. “Banana, okay?”

I nod, now it’s me lost for words. My heart pounds in my chest, that he trusts me enough to get this far, that he spoke to me just to remind me of the safe word. I place my hand over his heart and it booms against my hand. I take his hand and place it over my heart. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. When he opens them again I can see he’s starting to panic.

“Hold on a minute.” I walk over to the bed, giving him a nice view of my ass as I bend over and pick up his phone, opening Spotify and finding Michael Bublé. He played him for me the day I freaked out in therapy and it calmed me down. Maximus is standing right behind me when I turn around, he pushes me back but hesitates. I smile and he crawls over top of me on his knees, holding himself up. His hands explore my body cautiously. His fingers brushing over my mound and I moan with pleasure, the light touches causing my nipples to go hard. I can see he’s in two minds about something but I have to let him deal with it. He moves himself down, sitting between my legs, I feel exposed as he sits at the end of the bed taking me in.

“I…” he stumbles on the words. “Want to touch you.”

“You can touch me. Don’t be afraid.” He nods, taking my hand and helping me from the bed. He runs a hand across my neck, his thumb wraps around one side and his fingers the other and squeezes, not enough to cut off air as he guides me backwards pushing me against the wall. His mouth finding mine quickly. This is the Maximus I expected.

My clit throbs as I take his free hand and guide it between my legs, his fingers find the wetness quickly and he pushes two fingers inside me. We both moan at the same time.

An orgasm builds and I shudder around his fingers, his forehead resting against mine. He gently pulls his fingers from my pussy and his hands come to rest on the wall on each side of me. I slide myself down the wall, kneeling between his legs, his erection staring back at me. I wet my lips at the sight. When my mouth wraps around his head, a brutal sound radiates through his chest and I pull back looking up at him. Something is going on.

“Banana.” he whispers. I nod and stand, giving him a second. I go to get my clothes to redress.

“No.”

I turn back to look at him. “Can’t.” Understanding dawns on me and I nod. He holds up a condom, I know it might not seem sexy to anyone else but he doesn’t realise how perfect this is.

“You know you don’t have to talk to me.”

He opens his mouth and no sound comes out. He takes a breath and tries again. “I want to.”

I walk back to the bed and lay down on my back and watch as he stands at the end and removes the condom, sliding it over himself. I can see he needs to just do it, move past some of the demons in his head. He throws his glasses onto his desk and brings his body down over mine. I know he can’t see well without his glasses on, so I line myself up with him. He gently thrusts himself inside me a little. I’m not going to lie, it burns a lot.

“Just do it.” I whisper and he nods, thrusting the rest of the way. I cry out in pain and he goes to get up but I hold him down lightly. “I’m okay.” I say holding my breath.

He starts slow, his thrusts gentle but deep and the pain eases, even though the burning stays. His hands ball up in the sheets as his demons start to surface. The sounds of skin slapping skin echo throughout the room as his thrusts speed up and I know he’s getting close. Shudders radiate throughout his body as he comes with a groan. He collapses on me, burying his face in my neck for a second before he pulls out of me quickly and jumps from the bed. He looks down and back to me before finding his glasses. I sit up and inspect what he’s looking at. My eyes widen and snap to his, as he drops to the ground.

He sits on the floor and starts rocking back and forth. Shit. I grab his phone and switch it to Post Malone. I slip in behind him, both of us still naked and I rock along with him. “It’s okay, virgins bleed, I'm not hurt. I promise. I’m glad it was with you.” I say in a soothing tone, hoping to convey that everything is okay.

His rocking stops after a few minutes and I stand, helping him up. We both get back in the bed and stare at each other, both of us quiet, recollecting on what we just did. I tuck his hair from his face and whisper, “Thank you. I know how hard that was for you. Do you need me to call Levi?” He shakes his head no, taking my hand again. We just lay there in each other's company, listening to his Post Malone playlist. My eyes start to get heavy and a yawn escapes my mouth. I curl in closer to his body and we both drift off to sleep.

My phone vibrates on my nightstand relentlessly. I’ve tried to ignore it for the past ten minutes, knowing my luck it’s just Sebastian trying to threaten his way back into my life. I’m unsure what he really gains if he marries me but the douche hasn’t stopped calling me for the last few days but I hold onto memories of the night I spent with Maximus. I haven't asked him if he’s told the others yet, but I feel like Rocky would be the first to call me when he finds out. And I know that he’ll tell them when he’s ready. It was a massive step for him and I know the guys will make a huge deal out of it.

I finally give in and reach for the damn phone, I swear I hate being Bristol. This thing just never freaking stops. People want to talk to me or tag me in a social media post, as if seeing me will help them gain followers, even though I haven't posted in forever people still follow my account.

“What?” I snap, already done with this day even though it’s just started.

“Good morning to you to bitch. Did you forget what today is?”

“Happy birthday?” I guess, hoping that it's her actual birthday.

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