Page 35 of What Are the Chances
“What do you want, Caufield?” I asked, surveying the leftover snacks on the counter.
His nauseated expression was amusing.
“I’m good.”
Scooping up a packet of potato chips and a candy bar, Ryan slapped his friend on the back. “You’re a bore, man.”
“He really is,” I agreed.
We all, sans Will, carried our snacks to the living room, where Parker had the movie ready to go. She killed the lights before eyeing the spare seat beside me, then the one next to Ryan.
Be a good friend, RileyI reminded myself. I tapped the couch cushion next to me.
“Come on, Caufield. You won’t catch sugar cooties from sitting beside me.”
Our couches weren’t small by any means. When it was just Parker and me, they were big enough for both of us to lie down. But add a six-foot-four hockey player, and the two-seater felt more like an armchair.
*
My heart hadn’t stopped pounding. This movie was terrifying. I’d watched most of it from behind my fingers. When Parker suggestedGhost SlayerI’d expected people running around in sheets, not invisible ghosts that slithered under the blankets when people were sleeping, or moved the main character’s hair off her shoulder, or rocked beside the baby while it was in its crib.
Freaking. Terrifying.
I was not sleeping tonight.
I tugged the blanket up to my chin. I wasn’t above hiding behind it altogether.
Parker and Ryan had alternated between watching, cuddling, and making out. Right now they were partway through optionC. If they weren’t watching, it didn’t seem fair that I had to. But what was the alternative? Turning the TV off and cockblocking my best friend? I couldn’t do that.
I jumped instinctively as an unseen force hurled a saucepan at the male character, knocking him unconscious, while in real-life a loud clap of thunder shook the house.
A storm had landed just as the movie had begun. Through the gap in the drapes, lightening continually flashed, and the rain hadn’t let up. Before I could dwell on the storm outside, creepy music began in the movie as thewife and baby, who were in the basement waiting for the husband to return, listened as footsteps descended the staircase.
“Run!”I shouted at the TV. “It’s the freaking invisible ghost coming.”
Beside me, Will snickered. “As opposed to non-invisible ghosts?”
This time when the jumpy moment happened, my wandering hand landed in Will’s lap. And not just in his lap. On his dick.
My hand, arm and soul froze, and I think time slowed to a complete stop too. Was I really touching Will’s dick? And if so, why wasn’t I moving?
I’d partly known he would be collateral damage during this film. As the dent in the wall implied, I was fairly skittish when it came to scary movies. But I’d assumed I’d accidentally punch him, which I wasn’t impartial to. This wasn’t what I had in mind.
When he shifted his head slightly, his questioning grey eyes finding mine in the darkness, I snapped my hand away as though he was poison ivy. Life would be easier if I pretended he was.
Now like some kind of prisoner, I was forced to keep my focus on the terrifying movie, because looking at Will Caufield was certainly not an option.
What’s worse than accidentally groping your ex-boyfriend? Lingering. I’dlingered.And judging by the way he’d instantly hardened beneath my palm, he’d noticed.
My thoughts betrayed me, taking a trip down memory lane to other times I’d had my hand there. Though in those memories, there hadn’t been a pair of jeans between us.
Then because I enjoyed torturing myself, my thoughts kept skipping until they located memories when his dick had been in me. When he’d used that body part to draw moans and cries from my lips.
I sealed those same lips together now when his large hand slipped beneath the blanket draped across my lap and came to rest on my bouncing knee. Whether it was in comfort or not, I wasn’t sure. Though something I was sure of was the instant effect it had on me. It’d been the same when he accidentally clasped my leg this morning. Nothing good came from those hands being on my body.
Well actually,only goodcame from them. But that wasn’t something I was allowed to have anymore.
When I didn’t shrug his hand off, Will accepted the silent invitation and gently massaged my knee. My traitorous body responded immediately. A tingling sensation started in my core and danced lower. I inhaled deeply, my chest expanding beneath the blanket.
