Benjamin Michael Jockey
Hey, r u almost home
Walking up now
I’ll meet u outside. Something came up
“Jessie?”
“Oh, hey, Sheila!”
She was dressed very nice, obviously not in work attire. More like date attire. Had she put salad dressing on her legs to make them that shiny?
“I didn’t know you still lived here!” she said with a too-big smile.
“Oh, yeah,” I said, fearing where our conversation was headed.
The elevator dinged and we walked in together. I pushed the button for my floor and she didn’t press any other floor. There were only two units on our floor: Cole’s and Mikey’s.
My stomach sank. Was this what came up for Mikey? Not only was Sheila a temptress for Cole, but she also was seeing Mikey?
“Are you... here to see Mikey?”
“Who?”
“Oh. You’re here to see Cole.”
“Uh, yeah. He told me you two were, ah—”
I gave a tight smile. “Yep. We are.”
My mind took off at a sprint. He wasted absolutely no time in getting with Sheila. I always knew he liked her. I joked with him about it once, but he got suspiciously defensive about it. Though it wasn’t a surprise, it still stung. Had they been involved before we broke up?
“So how long have you two been... ?” I asked, carefully arranging my face to be pleasant.
“Oh, you know. A couple of months now. Nothing too serious,though,” Sheila said, like that wasn’t a big detail.
I could have vomited on my own shoes. He was accusing me of cheating, which I hadn’t, while he was actually cheating on me. Why a couple of months? What made him start? I was too shocked to even cry.
The doors opened on my floor, and there stood Mikey and Cole in their respective doorways. Mikey’s eyes bounced between Sheila and Cole, then to me, assessing the situation. I rounded my eyes at him, a silent plea for help that I hoped he understood. Recognition flashed over his face and he jumped into action.
“Hey, honey,” Ben said. “How was work?”
Ben Miknevicius. Mikey. The guy who would do truly anything for me, doing something for me yet again. I was overwhelmed by the role he instantaneously assumed, pretending to be my boyfriend without question. I cracked a smile at him and gave out a breathy, “Oh, ya know.”
I stepped to him as he reached for me. Our eyes met for a slight beat before we both knew what was going to happen. He bent and his mouth was on mine for what was supposed to be a quick hello kiss. But once we were in the kiss, there was no way either of us was backing out. Because even what was supposed to look like a routine kiss felt like the most monumental kiss of my life. The first kiss was quick, but we hardly pulled away. He hovered at my mouth with a slight smirk before going back in. Ben tugged my bottom lip between his teeth, sending a jolt of lust through me. I had to taste him, and he damn well knew it. Could he read my mind? He dropped his jaw open and slanted his mouth to give me the access I wanted. His chest was firm under my hands. I already knew that his body was rock solid from all the snuggles we’d shared but combining it with the kiss had a synergistic effect.
And the kiss itself. My God, I hadn’t been kissed like that in far too long. There was both restraint and wildness as his tongue roved over mine, my stomach a tickled-up mess. I played with theends of his long-ish hair that reached just above the nape of his neck, the stubble around his mouth grazing my skin. Realizing we’d been at it probably a hair too long, I pulled out. Ben stroked his hands over my hair and held us nose-to-nose, giving me another soft kiss.
“Missed you,” he whispered.
“You, too,” I said, feeling Cole and Sheila’s eyes boring into us. My senses returned. I smelled the curry that Cole usually made special for me. I turned to look at my old apartment’s doorway, finding Cole pushing Sheila inside and glaring at me.
“Fucking whore,” Cole murmured before he slammed the door.
Mikey’s eyes rounded, lunging like he was going to go after Cole. I instinctively held him back, which snapped his attention back to me.
“You okay?” Mikey asked. He wrapped me in a tight hug as Cole’s harsh words broke over me. “He’s a liar, you know.”
