“It’s empty,” I say at last, because the sound is getting just a bit grating.
“I know.”
Then she goes right back to sucking on the straw.
Okay, maybe she still is trying to piss me off, but it’s gotten a little more discreet. Or maybe she’s trying to recuperate from the hard fuck and harder spanking she got earlier before she annoys me into another session. She’s tilted sideways in her seat, clearly trying to keep the contact with her ass to a minimum.
She’s going to have to try a lot harder for me to fuck her again, anyway, because my chest is aching in a weird, hollow sort of way, ever since she told me not to kiss her. And that strange sensation is not exactly conducive to me getting hard again.
I do still touch her, though. In fact, I haven’t loosened my grip on her hand since the forest fuck. In the diner, I squeeze her wrist all through her milkshake dinner, and then I pull her back to the car, still crushing her hand so hard it’s a wonder I don’t break it.
I know I’m hurting her, and I really shouldn’t be right now, but my guilt only goes so far. I can’t just fucking turn into another person.
I breathe a sigh of relief when we pull up to the musty motel that will be our stop for the night. Though being awkward and silent in a motel room won’t be much of a change from being awkward and silent in the car.
Still, at least we won’t be moving.
I’ve been quietly freaking out with every minute passing, realizing I was a little closer to getting to the end of the trip without having forced Piper into forgiving me.
Ten hours of the forty-hour drive have passed. I only have three more days to figure this out.
At the end of our trip lies the unknown, and I realize I really need to fix things before, so I can focus on whatever is waitingfor us.
Piper scrunches up her nose as she follows me into our room.
“I would have thought, for all your money, that you could afford something a little nicer than this pile of shit,” she snaps as she takes in the small, ugly space that looks like it hasn’t been updated since the 1970s.
Guess her ass is feeling better, and she’s back to trying to annoy the fuck out of me.
I lie back on the bed, focusing on my breathing again.
“You should sleep,” I say, the full sentence feeling like a lot right now. I’ve gotten better at speaking over the years, but sometimes, it’s still hard. With the aching feeling in my chest, it’s nearly impossible.
She turns her freckled nose to me. “Are you going to sleep in the same bed as me?”
I shrug to mask the weird effect those words are having on me.
“Fine. I’ll sleep on the floor,” she says, taking her pillow.
“No. Don’t.” Swallowing to try to get rid of the ache, I grab the pillow on what would have been my side of the bed, and toss it down. Then I find a bag of toiletries in the suitcase Logan left us in the car. I head to the bathroom, quickly brushing my teeth and taking off my jeans and shirt, while keeping my eyes glued on her through the parted door.
She’s sitting on the bed, her head between her folded-up knees.
I know it’s all my fault, but I can’t help but feel resentful for how she’s making things so hard. If only she’d let me in…
Sighing, I head back out of the bathroom, and toss her the toiletries.
“Your turn.”
By now, she’s clearly grasping at straws to piss me off, as she scowls, “You could’ve let me go first. I had to pee.”
“Didn’t realize you needed to, after you went in the woods,” Ican’t resist taunting her.
The red splotches of embarrassment that appear on her face at my words are making it really hard for me not to kiss her. And that only makes the hollowness in my chest feel worse.
“Are you going to… uh, watch me again?”
Is it just me or does she sound kind of hopeful?
