Chapter 14

My bed was too warm when I woke up, and so was I. Slowly regaining consciousness, I blinked the sleep away.
The memories rushed in and I froze in place, realizing that I wasn’t alone. My back was pressed against Cristo’s strong chest, his hand draped over my stomach. His breath brushed over my collarbone and I realized his head was in my neck, lips pressed unconsciously to my jaw.
I was going to be turned on and ready for round two if I didn’t get out of his hold quickly. My face flushed as I remembered the way he flipped me onto my side to fuck me from behind, grabbing my waist to hold me in place and caressing my breasts. He’d made me orgasm so violently that I fell asleep as soon as I came down from my high.
How loud was I last night?
Cristo grunted softly in my ear as he shuffled a bit. I closed my eyes immediately and pretended to sleep, deepening my breath to make sure he couldn’t tell.
His head lifted off my skin, his hand moving to rest on my hip for a moment. He didn’t move, except for his thumb that brushed my skin slowly. It was unsure. With a sigh, he moved away from me carefully. I laid still and listened to him move around. The door shut softly.
He was gone. Just like that.
I was left in a daze trying to process if it had all really happened.
I sat with the girls at the table, blankly staring at the view outside as we were served breakfast. The three of them talked, but I knew there was a strain in the air. They probably knew.
Jenna touched my shoulder gently and I turned to her. She gave me a concerned look.
“You want to get away for a bit after breakfast?”
I only nodded, looked at the omelet before me and decided to dig in. Twenty minutes later, I found myself by the pool with Jenna. She’d changed into a white one-piece and sat beside me with her feet in the pool. I stuck to shorts and a sports bra, my hair thrown into a bun.
“How are you feeling right now?”
“I’m not sure.” I sighed. “Mostly empty and confused.”
Silence.
“I, um…” I began, “I came here to get away from all the drama back home. Away from Marcus and Cristo. I just needed some me time with the girls, you know?”
She nodded in understanding, so I continued, “And I haven’t dated in a very long time. I’ve never felt for anyone so deeply that makes me want to build on those connections. I don’t know who I like and don’t like.”
“What’s Marcus like?”
“Entertaining,” I said with a small smile. “We can talk about anything and everything. We work hard and have coffee together. We’re getting to know each other well.”
“And…Cristo?”
Blank. I didn’t know him as much as I would’ve liked to before everything that happened last night. But I was the one who initiated it so…I couldn’t really complain.
“I don’t know him very well.” I sighed. “I don’t know him the way I know Marcus. He and I have barely talked. We’re not even really friends, we just keep randomly bumping into each other ever since the Alexakis and Caron’s party.”
She nodded. “I think Cristo cares for you a lot.”
“I’m not sure I feel the same for him,” I sighed, “nor would I want to.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “I just…Marcus doesn’t ask me to let my guard down, you know? But Cristo makes me want to when I don’t even know what he’ll do next.”
Jenna gave me a confused look, and rightfully so. I was confused, too.
“I just can’t let anyone in like that.” I tried to explain. “Not right now at least. I don’t feel ready for any kind of like…commitment or even a casual arrangement. Whatever happened last night was on a whim and I shouldn’t have allowed it.”
But you liked it, a part of me whispered. I pushed it away. As much as I wanted to acknowledge, that for the first time ever, I’d really enjoyed sex…I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.
I needed to stay away from Cristo. As far as I could.
“Would you like me to ask him to keep his distance?”
“Yes, thank you.”
Coward, said my conscience. Yes, I was a coward. I didn’t want to confront him, or talk to him, or see him, or even be around him with a blindfold on.
My phone vibrated, and I saw Marcus’s face pop up on the screen. I felt so annoyed that I wanted to throw my phone into the water. Jenna must’ve seen the expression on my face because she reached down and locked my screen.
“You’re busy right now,” she said nonchalantly. “He’ll understand. Come on, let’s swim.”
I gave her a grateful look and she smiled back, slipping into the water and reaching out to pull me in. I let her and we splashed around for a while until Aubrey and Alex joined us. And soon enough, I’d forgotten about everything that had happened before.
We spent the rest of the week visiting cute restaurants, popular tourist spots, and shopping for clothes. When it was time to go back, I almost felt sad that it had to end.
And then I remembered Marcus had said he’d wait for me at the airport. I groaned immediately when we landed, hoping he wasn’t being serious. As much as I wanted to hang out with him, I still wanted to relish the time away from him.
“It’s not like you told him when we were landing, right?” Jenna whispered to me as we walked through the terminal. “I mean, I’m sure he wouldn’t be determined enough to wait a few hours just to make sure he’d catch you.”
“The guy gives me stalker vibes,” Alex announced in a matter-of-fact tone. Aubrey smacked her arm. “But it’s true. I can tell!”
“You can’t just assume stuff like that about people,” Aubrey huffed. “Besides, he’s a fairly attractive and rich doctor, I don’t think he needs to chase after anyone.”
“If we see him, can we run the other way and you guys just drop me home?”
“Too late.” Jenna sighed. I turned my head and saw Marcus standing in the waiting area, waving over at me. In that moment, I kind of hated him. I wished he could read between the lines and pick up on cues.
“Maybe you need to be more open with him about your boundaries,” Jenna suggested, “because men are a little slow.”
“He’s kinda like a golden retriever.” Aubrey stroked her chin.
Alex scoffed. “More like a psychotic Chihuahua.”
Jenna laughed while I rolled my eyes at the two of them bickering with each other. Marcus approached us slowly, and I broke away from the girls to walk toward him. He opened his arms, which I wasn’t expecting. I gave him an awkward hug, pulling away quickly.
“You didn’t have to come.”
“Of course I did.” He chuckled. “I can’t imagine how tired you must be from a flight that long.”
“It was all right.”
He took my suitcase, and I waved the girls away. Alex gave us suspicious looks and signaled me to call her when I got home. I smiled at her in assurance and walked away with Marcus out of the airport and into his car.
I closed my eyes and rested my head on the headrest, hoping he wouldn’t want to make small talk as he drove. He turned the radio on and lowered the volume, the deep bass of rap music reverberating around the car. That was annoying.
He was kind of annoying. This was weird. We were fine when I left last week. Was it because of the kiss? Was that why he was doing all this? Perhaps he still expected something to happen.
“How was your trip?”
“It was nice.”
The music filled the silence, but it lay heavily on us.
“Anything eventful happen?”
I turned my head away as heat crept up my neck, memories from the wild night with Cristo resurfacing. I realized with horror that I needed to go to Barry Hall’s wedding in two days. He would be there, and I wasn’t sure if I was ready to face him on my own yet.
“Speaking of eventful,” I muttered, unable to believe what I was about to do. I looked at him, perhaps a little too desperately. “Do you want to attend a friend’s wedding as my plus one?”