“Seriously, I appreciate you so much. I was so anxious about this weekend, and you’ve made it all so manageable. Yeah, I’m laughing and I’m having fun here, but a big part of that is because of you.” I pause. “And the weed, but mostly you. You’re the one who encouraged me to come here, to be brave enough to stand up for myself. You make me laugh, and you make me come so hard I scream,” I murmur, my lips tugging into a grin. “You know, Matt’s mom hasn’t said a word to me yet today, and you deserve full credit for that.” Eris snorts into my collar, and I add quietly in zis ear, “And you look gorgeous in that dress tonight, and I’m really looking forward to taking it off of you later.”
“Shut the fuck up, Bambi,” Eris scowls, cheeks darkening under the dim light of the dance floor. That’s all the warning I have before ze kisses me, hard and hot. Zis fingers tangle in the curls on the back of my neck. “Stop being so fucking sweet.”
“But you like it.”
“Too much.” With a glare, ze kisses me again.
“You want to get out of here?” I ask.
Eris’s glare falters, biting zis lip and looking away. “Don’t you want to spend more time with your friends?”
I glance over to where Matt and Allie are dead on their feet, pretending to dance. Matt is holding her against his chest, letting her hide from everyone demanding too much from her, because that bitch can never say no. “I think they want to leave even more than we do.”
Fourteen
There’s Only Now
Themomentourhotelroom door swings shut, I shove Eris back against it, kissing zim like I need zim to breathe. Zis tongue against mine tastes of champagne and coffee and chocolate cake and raspberry drizzle as we devour each other. Our kiss is dizzying, both of us breathing through quick gasps and moans as our hips roll together.
Eris’s hands fist at my shirt, pulling it from my slacks. Zis nails scrape my bare skin to pull me closer, making me shiver from how eager ze is for me, how desperate we are for each other. “Bambi,” ze hisses when I nibble zis lower lip.
“Eris,” I murmur, moving to zis neck.
“Fuck, you’re…” ze trails off. “God damn it, Blake. Wait.”
That’s not what I like to hear when I’m leaving a hickey, especially not in such a serious tone. I pull away. “What, what’s wrong?”
“We shouldn’t do this.”
My heart drops, and I step back. “What?”
Eris slumps back against the door, looking at zis feet.
I wait, burning with mortification. Perhaps I’ve misread something, and Eris actually is mad at me. But ze stays silent. “Talk to me Eris. If I did something wrong, I’m sorry. But can I at least know what I did?”
“It’s not you. Allie said—”
“What the fuck did Allie say?” I snap.
“Nothing!” Eris shakes zis head, raking a hand through zis long hair. It’s been thoroughly messed up from me already, and seeing zim smooth out the snarls I made hurts. “I just…” Ze groans. “God damn it, I have to talk about feelings and shit! I hate this.” Ze pushes off the door and stalks past me, kicking off zis heels. Dress swishing with every stomp, Eris paces around the bed we slept in last night, zis bed technically.
Giving zim space, I sit on the end of the other bed, the one we fucked in, waiting.
“Okay, so here’s the deal.” Eris bunches zis skirt in zis fists. “I have kind of had a little—well, no not little, but whatever—little thing for you for a while.”
I blink, more than confused, because Eris has always been pretty condescending and rude to me. Then again, ze is condescending and rude to everyone. I’ve always admired how ze can be so enviably unapologetic about it. “How long is a while?”
Eris winces. “Like, since we met.”
I choke on my surprise. “Two years?!”
“Yeah. I know. Stella and Dream give me shit for it constantly.” Eris sits on the bed we slept in, too far away. “At first, I thought it was just, you know, attraction or whatever. But then you never let me get away with shit like you do with everyone else. Like, you were so nice and sweet to everyone but me, and I thought that was funny.”
“You liked that I was a dick to you?” I ask skeptically, not daring to look up, instead staring at the snake tattooed around zis ankle.
Eris scoffs. “Like you’re one to talk.”
“Fair.” I nod for zim to continue, burying my hands under my thighs.
