Page 63 of Devil in Disguise
“Well, underwear,” she said. “Sorry. Not naked. Reality bites, huh.”
“Want to show me?”
“Owen. I’m in thestairwell.”
“Lots of people hanging out in there tonight? That a big Saturday-night destination? Also, we’ve done some of our best work in stairwells.”
“Yes, but …”
“Come on,” he said. “Tip the camera down a little and show me.”
“There are security cameras in here,” she said. “I’d get kicked out for sure. And somehow, I don’t think Pavani’s mom is going to let her room with an exhibitionist. In case that’s still an option.”
Man, dideverybodyhave to rain on his parade?
She said, “They don’t have microphones, though. I don’t think so, anyway.”
“Hmm,” he said, feeling a whole lot better. “Better safe than sorry. Tell you what. I’ll do the talking this time.”
“Owen,”she said. “If you stir me up this bad … I live with two girls whohateme. If I want to do anything, I have to do it late at night, and be so quiet.”
“Uh-huh,” he said. “Sounds rough. I’m guessing you do it anyway. How often?”
“Umm …” She’d pulled her legs out from under his T-shirt, and now, she was sitting cross-legged. He couldn’t tell the color of the thong she had on under there, but he could see her pretty legs all the way up her thighs, because she’d moved the phone enough to show him. “Uh … most nights? OK, every night. Hey, I have to practice my Kegels! It’s boring, so I think about you, and I’m squeezing things down there, focusing my attention, so …”
He sighed. “Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. So you have to be really quiet, huh? You have to hold still and not make a sound? Want me to help you practice that? And remember, I’ll be watching. I’ll know if you do it wrong.”
She gave him a little grief about it, because she was the world’s biggest tease, but he got there in the end. That was what determination would do for you. They got interrupted twice by people using the stairs, and watching her try to keep it together while they passed was another of those things that would end up imprinted on his brain, because he didn’t stop talking. He finished up with his best effort, and once he did, her eyes were all the way unfocused, her legs were trembling, and she was breathing hard.
He loved wrapping it up on a high note. “Got to go,” he said. “Night.”
“Owen …” It was a breath.
“Nope,” he said. “We’re done. Go take that energy and put it to use. I have to go to bed. I’ve got a football game tomorrow. Always a good way to get rid of those aggressive impulses. I’m not sure what you’re going to do, but I’m guessing you’ll come up with an answer. There’s just one thing.”
“What?”
He smiled. “Assume I meant everything I said.”
28
Change of Plan
When she’d thoughtabout engaging in extracurricular activities during college, she hadn’t planned to earn a medal in sexual fantasy. When she was in the dorm lounge watching Owen start his game early the next afternoon, though, she wasn’t fantasizing. She was right there with him, feeling his focus and his determination as he shouted at his offensive line, as he snapped the ball and came up fast enough to make his block, over and over again. She couldn’t see any evidence at all of injury, but he wouldn’t even be feeling it now. Now, he was giving everything he had.
His strength made her weak.
A timeout, a commercial, and she blinked her eyes back into focus and thought,Go get changed and head to the Rec Center for the rest of this.If she didn’t run while she watched, she got too tense. She’d barely made it back from work in time to grab her laptop, though, not to mention dry off, because it was raining hard, the day outside as cold, gray, and dreary as only an autumn Seattle Sunday could be.
No doubt because of the rain, the lounge was full of students clustered in groups, sipping endless espresso drinks, chatting and laughing or pretending to study, and she took out her earbuds, closed her laptop, and reminded herself that the second the game was over, she wasactuallystudying. New leaf, and all that. In fact, she had a study date with Pavani tonight.
That made her pulse race again. Pavani’s parents had picked her up to do her laundry today, and they might be talking about Dyma right now. She was practically hyperventilating at the thought, so she decided,Rec Center,and stood up. If her heart was pounding, she might as well be getting a workout.
She didn’t realize that the lounge had been noisy until it wasn’t. She looked around to see what was going on, but all she saw was Avery, coming in the door with two people who looked exactly like parents, the man shaking the rain off an enormous black umbrella, the woman settling her long, fashionable cream wool coat more securely over her matching cream-colored wool trousers. She was an extremelywell-groomed woman, but that generally wasn’t something to make a group of college students drop their jaws in awe.
Oh. The quiet was coming from the Bush School crowd, who were over in the corner, hanging together as always, probably comparing their parents’ designer dogs or ski chalets or something. She forgot about them, because Avery and the Well-Groomed Parents stopped in front of her chair and Avery said, “This is Dyma. She’s the one who’s tutoring me in Shakespeare. These are my parents. And hey.” He held out a pink box. “I brought you some dim sum. Bribe, because I’m hoping you’ll give me a half hour tonight.”
Dyma took the box, thought about the timeout clock ticking down, and said, “Wow. Thank you. And hello. Avery’s told me a lot about you.” Well, he’d told her his mom had texted him threats on the drive home after freshman dropoff a couple years back, anyway. That was something.
