58

Ryan

When We Break Up

It wasn't that bad.

But I couldn't tell Kassie that the other guy got it worse because she didn't need to find out that Henry Miller would have bruised ribs for longer than six weeks. All she needed to do was check her email and I was satisfied with that.

" Move ." Kassie shoved herself between me and the sink before dropping down to her knees, rifling through the drawers and the cabinets. I didn't know what she was looking for but when I lingered over to help, she ignored me.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

Kassie didn't say anything. She opened the last cabinet and breathed out in relief, whipping out the first-aid kit. Muttering under her breath, she produced an antiseptic wipe.

I gazed down at her hands. "You're shaking."

Her eyes flickered to the bruise at my side again and she started cleaning me up.

It was only a little cut but I swallowed back the words as Kassie worked over me, touching me. I didn't need to stop her. Her dark hair cascaded over my arm as she knelt down, dabbing the antibiotic cream over the scratch.

She's worried about me .

My breathing slowed watching her. She ducked away from my gaze too, intent to stop me from enjoying how deeply she was freaking out about such a small papercut really. Henry had smashed the vase against my side, the only loud sound out of the room. Besides that, I was fine. Tired but fine.

But the way Kassie was spiraling and blushing hard and avoiding my gaze caught my interest more than anything else. I dipped down, watching her, while she finished up. Quickly, she glanced up again and there she was. Only a few inches away. So close.

Fuck, she smells good .

The blush deepened on her face. I'd never get tired of looking at that.

"I think about you all the time," I told her, my voice low.

Her eyes dropped instantly and she tried to go back to the cut again but I placed two fingers under her chin and tilted her back up to look at me. To look at those lips of hers.

"You'll have to get used to that," I murmured.

She hesitated. "Used to what?"

"How I talk about you. Because I like talking about how you make me feel. I'm going to keep doing it. You'll have to get used to it."

Slowly, I leaned down and ran my fingers along the back of her neck. She shivered and the pleasure I got from that was indescribable. I couldn't have tasted how turned-on she was if I fell to my knees in front of her. Fuck. Everything about her was intoxicating.

I captured her lips for a kiss. Even if talking embarrassed her, kissing didn't. Kassie kissed me back like we'd already kissed a million times before. A slow kiss, full of familiarity, where I didn't have to guess what she was thinking or how she felt about me. My girlfriend kissed me like I was just coming home and when she breathed in, I could feel how glad she was to see me.

I tilted her head to the side, deepening the next kiss, prolonging it for a long moment. Fuck. I loved kissing her. I loved how she folded against me and the little breaths she took and I could feel the heat rise to her skin wherever I touched her.

My cock pushed against the zipper of the jeans. How long could I last without pushing inside of her, claiming what was mine? I wracked my brain, thinking of how long team photos had taken last year, before I wrapped my hands around her hips, bringing her up to the counter.

"Ryan," she breathed out. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I—I like…kissing you."

That's progress .

"You know what I like?"

Kassie shook her head.

I slipped my fingers through the belt loops of her jeans and tugged her closer, putting her legs on either sides of my hips and pressing her as much as I could to my cock, straining to get the fuck out of my jeans. Kassie's mouth dropped, gazing up at me.

"I like all of you." A grin tugged up on my lips. "And I really want to eat your pussy again."

Her phone rang from the bedroom and I didn't hold back the groan. Always with the interruptions. Well, after team photos, I had a good chunk of time before my gym slots and nobody could drag me away from her then.

Kassie wrapped her arms around my neck, tugging me down.

"We could use ten minutes," she whispered.

Ten minutes?

It wasn't like the idea wasn't a nice one. It was just impractical.

"How am I supposed to explain why you're limping?" I challenged. "You just went to UrgentCare."

Her eyebrows raised. "Limping?"

"Yes."

"That's presumptuous. You think I can't handle it?"

"What are you handling?" I raised my eyebrows.

She rolled her eyes. "Ryan, we can just do it."

"Do it? " I repeated, running my hands along her thighs. "That could mean anything. Say it out loud."

"You know what I mean."

That's not going to work .

I ran my fingers through her hair. Tightening my grip, I tugged her back until she could look right up at me, right up at the man who needed her to say exactly what she meant.

"Say it," I said, my voice firm.

"I want you…"

I raised my eyebrows. Waiting.

The blush blossomed across her skin. "I want you…to bend me over the bed and fuck me."

God, what a fucking image .

Everything I'd been dreaming about since the beginning of the semester. Pushing Kassie down to the bed, tugging down her skirts or unbuttoning the overalls or yanking down one of those pairs of jeans she liked to draw on, and pushing my cock deep inside her until I had her desperate.

"Bend you over?" I murmured, my voice softer than the raw, primal energy inside me should've allowed it to be. "You want me to shove you down and fuck you. You want me to lose control. Take what's mine ."

Her breathing slowed.

"But I can't do that right now." I grinned, stepping away from her. "Sorry, art girl. I need to see your face when I'm inside you for the first time."

"What the hell?" Kassie called after me and I just grinned wider. " Ryan! "

"Come on. Time to go."

I dug down at the bottom of my dresser for an old box of condoms. Not expired yet. I slipped a few in my wallet and grabbed another shirt. Kassie was quicker than I thought. She strode up to me and cupped a feel of my cock.

Kassie raised her eyebrows.

I was rock fucking hard and we both knew it. But I also knew we had to get the hell out of my dorm before Cleo sent someone to drag us back and I also knew that Kassie didn't have the control or stamina like I did. I wrapped my hand around hers and pressed her harder against my cock through my boxers.

Her breathing hitched up.

"Thank you," I murmured, releasing her to pull my shirt over my head.

"We're not having sex?" she asked slowly, disgruntled.

"Nope."

"Then why did you make me say that?"

I shrugged. "Because I wanted to hear it. Because I get a huge erection when you talk like that. Pick one."

Kassie stalked away. "You're evil."

"You're just upset because you're turned on and you can't do anything about it," I called after her.

"That's a damn reasonable thing to be upset about!"

"If we're counting score, you came on my face last night." I adjusted my jeans and made my way to her. "That counts for something."

My stony-faced, adorable, five-foot-six girlfriend that I'd turn inside out in another hour, made a big show of ignoring me, crossing her arms over her chest. I opened the door and smiled down at her but she bypassed me entirely. She could do that. No worries. She still had my jersey on. With my last name, stamped on her back.

"The benefit friends thing wouldn't have worked out." I chuckled, following after her.

"Friends with benefits," Kassie corrected me and snuck a look up. "Mm…maybe a trial one."

"Yeah. A fifteen minute trial run."

With a reluctant sigh, Kassie reached for my shirt and tugged me down to listen while we waited for the elevator. "You eat pussy too good," she admitted. "I would've done something stupid about it."

"Really?" I smirked. "Maybe we should do a trial run."

"Shut up."

I wrapped my arms around her waist and pressed her back to me. The minutes passed hadn't done anything to bring my hard-on down and I knew she could feel it, jutting against her.

"You can't not fuck me and do this," Kassie muttered.

"I can do whatever I want." Slowly, my hand trailed up to her throat and I wrapped my hand around it. This position…would have me doing something stupid. I made a noise at the back of my throat, pleased.

The elevator doors opened and reluctantly, I broke apart from her.

"When we break up, it'll be so toxic." Kassie pressed the button for the lobby, shaking her head. There were a few other people waiting to go down and she dropped her voice. "I know I'm going to be calling you to come over."

I ignored the compliment. A deep sense of unease took hold.

"When we break up?" I repeated. "Why would we do that?"

"Uh…we're in college? It's the beginning of our real life existence. Sometimes—you know—things happen."

"Not to us."

"You can't just decide that."

I slipped my fingers through hers as we left the elevator. "I already did it. It was an easy decision."