Ru_Snack_XXXplores: I have a suggestion of where I’d like to put my mouth …
It went from sent to read immediately, and then for a very long time there was nothing. I swallowed back my nerves. What if he thought this was crossing a line? What if his PG rule went as far as our DMs?
Setting my phone down, refusing to dwell over what he might be thinking, I got to my feet, heading into my bedroom and returning with a pair of socks. I’d forgotten how cold this apartment got in the evenings once autumn hit! I’d gotten so used to the comfortable luxury of the yacht over the last fortnight. This place felt unfamiliar and unwelcoming.
And I’d have to sleep alone for the first time in two weeks! Therewas no Abernathy here. No warm, vibrating mass on the pillow beside me.
My phone buzzed, and I practically dove for it. Any chance of containing a giggle went out the window when I read his response.
M_Jay: I think about your mouth, and what it can do to me, more than I care to admit
M_Jay: I just admitted it, didn’t I?
It tickled me that he was playing along, even though I knew it was only to build our backlog of proof. The silly, fluttery part of me decided that, just for tonight, I could pretend this was real.
I took an inch and decided to run a mile with it.
Ru_Snack_XXXplores: Tell me exactly what you’d like me to be doing with my mouth if I was home with you right now?
My heart drummed a frantic beat as the little dots appeared. And stopped. And then appeared again. And kept moving for a long time. I could barely breathe with anticipation by the time his message appeared.
M_Jay: What I’d really like for your mouth to be doing is making that pleading little moan that gets me so worked up I can’t think straight, while I kiss my way down your body, part those pretty thighs of yours, wrap my tongue around your?—
“Okay, I’m back!” Kat announced, plonking down on the couch beside me. I squeaked, fumbling my phone as I frantically tried to close Tickle. Instead, my phone popped out of my hands and arced across the coffee table, landing with a clatter on the floor at the other side.
“What was that all about?” Kat asked as I clambered awkwardly over the coffee table to collect my phone. “Who were you texting and giggling over, Irina Rusnac?” Her mouth formed an O, her eyes popping. “Are you seeing someone from Trickle?”
I rolled my eyes, heart buzzing. “It’s Tickle. And no, I’m not seeinganyone. I was just … responding to DMs. I get a lot of them, you know.”
Not as many as I had been to begin with. I’d noticed a decline in not just my DMs, but my views over the last couple of weeks. I’d been posting just as regularly, and my engagement was fantastic, but it was almost like the app was suppressing my content.
I’d been meaning to talk to Henry about it, but while I had no problem teasing him when I was heading into my room to film, something stopped me from outright asking him why my views had tanked.
“Do you reply to all of them personally?” she asked, tucking her legs up under her Oodie. “Isn’t that massively time consuming?”
I shrugged. “I have all the time in the world at the moment. It’s not like I’m studying, and rehearsing for the musical of a lifetime, and banging my hot professor in his classroom.”
Kat sighed, and a pang of guilt wracked me. She wasn’t just doing those things. She was navigating her life with a parent who had an illness that would eventually kill him.
“Sorry, Kat. That was a shitty thing to say,” I mumbled. “I know life’s not all roses for you, either.”
“I wish you’d just talk to me, Ri,” she pleaded, reaching out and taking my hand. “I’m not stupid—I know you’ve got some stuff going on with your family back home, and you’re trying to avoid it. And I know you think that I can’t help with that but …” She rested her head on my shoulder. “You’re my best friend, and sometimes a problem shared is a problem halved.”
My throat clamped closed, robbing me of breath. There was zero chance that my Romanian problem would be lessened in any way by talking to Kat about it.
She took my silence as stubbornness and sighed, pulling away. I snatched her back to me, crushing her in a tight hug.
“I love you, Kat. You know that, right?” I rasped.
“I know you do, you crazy bitch!” She squeezed me back just as tightly. “And you know I love you back just as hard, even when you’re being mysterious and elusive.”
My phone pinged—not a notification from Tickle, but a text message. Reluctantly I extricated myself from Kat’s arms.
Stefan: Dad just got off the phone and he’s in a foul mood. He’s frozen your bank account. If I’d known earlier, I would have warned you to go withdraw some cash. Are you going to be ok??
“Who is it?” Kat asked. Maybe this was the truth that I could give her, without telling her the real horror …
“It’s my cousin. My uncle’s not happy about the … delay in my return home. I’ve just been cut off.” I tapped out a reply.
