I’d told him he was perfect, more than once, and I meant it. But if there was anything that kind of almost kept him from being flawless in my eyes, it was the fact that he seemed incapable of sleeping in.
“Go back to sleep, Cupcake,” I begged. “It’s still early.”
“I can’t,” he murmured. That sexy little rasp in his voice was always the strongest just when he was waking up.
“You’re lucky you’re so sexy,” I griped, smacking loud kisses over his shoulder and up his neck to his jaw and cheek.
He chuckled, pushing my face away. “Don’t. I have to brush my teeth.”
“I don’t care about that,” I promised, hovering over him. He was finally letting me kiss him, something I’d been dreaming about for what felt like forever. He reached up and cupped my jaw firmly on both sides, holding me in place as he shook his head. “Aspen, I’d drink a cup of your spit.”
He stared at me for several seconds, unblinking and bewildered, before finally letting out a whoosh of breath.
“Creep.”
“Just for you,” I said, hitting him with the big doe eyes and long, fluttering lashes. He sighed, but loosened the grip on my jaw so I could close the rest of the gap between us, capturing his lips in a triumphant kiss. When he shifted to roll out from under me and get up out of the bed, I groaned dramatically, hooking my arms around his waist. “Where are you going?”
“I have to pee,” he said, shoving me in the side to dislodge me. “You can stay in bed. I’ll make you breakfast,” he offered, and my eyebrows perked up.
“Really?” I asked. “What can you make?”
“What do you have in the kitchen?”
“Like, eggs and stuff.”
He smirked, obviously amused at my lack of grocery related knowledge, before sitting up. He raised his arms over his head, groaning as he stretched, the slender muscles in his arms and back rippling and flexing with the movement. He’d just slept in his boxer briefs. Reaching down, he scooped up the closest piece of clothing available, the t-shirt I’d thrown off yesterday.
“You mind if I wear this?” He asked and didn’t wait for my response as he pulled it over his head, his arms popping out from the sleeve holes.
My stomach muscles clenched, my cock giving a hard thump as my blood rushed down to fill it. It was just slightly too big for him, not exactly swallowing his form but just enough that my brain latched on to the fact that it wasmyshirt. It felt primitive, like I was a caveman just discovering fire, but I couldn’t help how much it turned me on to see him in my clothes.
“That is so hot,” I remarked, once he’d stood up. He glanced back at me, looking slightly confused, until he must have realized.
Scoffing, he rolled his pretty hazel eyes up to the ceiling. “You’re too easy,” he said, before picking up his phone. He stared down at it for a few seconds, fiddling with the screenbefore glancing back up at me. “Hey, I have to make a call. I’ll just be a minute, okay?”
“Take your time, Cupcake.”
He creaked open the bedroom door, glancing out and around before retreating into the bathroom across the hall. Everyone else was in class already, so we had the house to ourselves for a bit.
Rolling over, I stretched as well, giving a satisfied grunt when my back popped, releasing the tension that had built up in it over the course of the night. I grabbed my phone to kill time until Aspen was done with his business. Automatically hitting the push notification indicating a new text, my eyes narrowed as I read the contact name on my screen. My father, who I hadn’t had any communication from in well over a year, had messaged me.
I’m very pleased with the progress you’ve made, and what you’ve accomplished while you’ve been away. Call me at your earliest convenience so we can talk.
I couldn’t completely blame him for what he’d done to me, but he was still a pompous, manipulative, cutthroat bastard. If he wanted to talk to me, it was probably only because he wanted to trick me into doing something for him, or to make him look good. I didn’t want to talk to him, on the phone or otherwise, but I couldn’t exactly tell him to fuck off. He was still paying my rent and holding my future wealth over my head.
Taking in a deep breath, I sighed, wondering if I’d ever really be free, out from under his thumb. Maybe when I graduated and he forked over my trust fund. Part of me knew now that I could technically live without it, at least as long as I had the help of people like my friends. I could snag my degree and start in some mail room at some company. And as long as I had Aspen, then we could be happy.
But who the hell wanted to be regular person happy over total luxury? I wasn’t above admitting that. And Aspen deserved to be spoiled and taken care of. He’d never had anything like that in his entire life. I wanted to be the one to give it to him. Even though I was pretty sure he was going to fight like hell against it at first, and I’d have to strategically coax him into accepting every tiny favor and gift. But that was okay with me. My success rate with talking him into what I wanted was pretty much immaculate, even if it had taken awhile for him to warm up to it.
But another part of me, a part that had only just started forming in my brain, felt a little like gloating, too. I was pretty sure my dad had expected me to come back with my tail between my legs, begging for his help and forgiveness. Or at least he’d expected me to wither away in misery and loneliness until he allowed me to come back. But I hadn’t done either of those things. I’d figured it out, somehow.
And I had Aspen now. He believed in me and didn’t think I was some spoiled screwup. He trusted me, not just with his body but with feelings he’d never expressed to anyone before. I was worth something to him, someone hewantedin his life, even if he didn’tneedme. He didn’t care about the money or the lifestyle. He just liked being withme. I bet my father hadn’t known I could do all that.
But as soon as the thought formed in my head, I had to bite back a wave of protectiveness. I wanted to gloat, but at the same time, I didn’t even want him to be aware of Aspen’s existence. I didn’t know what my father would do to him if he found out how completely fucking gone I was for him. Would he use him against me? Threaten to hurt him if I didn’t do whatever he wanted?
No, the last thing I wanted was for Aspen to be anywhere near him. Deciding I could wait to respond until I’d processedmy feelings a bit and figured out what I wanted to say, I closed out the message.
Mindlessly scrolling my social feeds, I tried to distract myself from the idea that no matter how much I hated the idea, inevitably my two worlds would collide. I wanted Aspen for the long run. I didn’t care who believed me or not, but that wasn’t going to change. And no matter how much I tried to keep them apart, eventually I would be back in contact with my family. And he’d be coming with me.
