Noel comes running in from the other room, where she’d retreated earlier after deciding we were not interesting enough for her to grace with her presence. She barks at Sun, takes a look in Jase’s direction and the aghast expression he’s got on his face, then prances over to lick Nikko.
“You traitor,” Jase grumbles as Nikko laughs.
While everyone else fusses over Noel, Taeha leans over and quietly asks, “So how’s the… predicament?”
“I don’t know how to answer that, to be honest. I think Sun would start a cat fight with her if given the opportunity, and I hate having it hang over my head. But she hasn’t made it worse, I guess? She’s not upping the stakes or anything. Just be seen with her and play along. I think she has an audition coming up?” I shrug. “I don’t know; I’m just supposed to meet her tomorrow night at some party for another entertainment company.”
“Don’t forget what I said about shady connections,” he murmurs. “Just in case.”
“I really hope it doesn’t come to that, but it is good to know,” I say.
“So, what’s next?” Jase questions, looking around at the stack of games piled up in the corner, a mix of Korean classics and ones he says are American favorites.
“How about something without teams?” Nikko suggests and Jase pokes him in the ribs.
Mihyun turns to Jase. “Are there any you might have a chance of being good at?”
I try not to laugh, but I’m not entirely successful as Jase throws his hands up in the air.
“I’m good at lots of things! Just none of these things you have to apparently play frombirthto understand!” he complains, causing another round of snorts and chuckling. “I open up my home to you, and this is what I get in return!”
“You are very good at many things, and I’ll let you do all of them to me tonight after everyone goes home,” Nikko teases with a smirk.
“That’s it. Everyone out!” Jase says, loud enough that he startles Noel into scampering back to her haven in their bedroom.
We don’t leave immediately, but it doesn’t take too long for the feeling of overstaying our welcome to settle in with the wayNikko keeps winking at Jase and Jase getting awfully handsy in return. There’s unanimous agreement that we’ll be doing this again—the six of us getting together—and I even volunteer my apartment for the next one. I have never offered to host anything before, nor have I ever wanted to, but I can see this is a good thing—for all of us—and I want to do my part to cultivate it.
“Be careful down the hall, don’t talk to strangers, drive safe!” Jase calls as he shoos us out of the door, Nikko giggling behind him.
After Sun and I say our goodbyes to Taeha and Mihyun, he grabs my hand and pulls me toward the stairwell. “This way.”
“You want me to walk you the long way home?” I joke, but follow anyway, the all-concrete-everything of the space a sharp contrast to the high-end finishes of the rest of the building.
Sun hops up a step so we’re eye-to-eye and leans in to kiss me, slow and tantalizing, until we both have to pull away to breathe. “I want you to come with me. Want you to fuck me in my own bed.”
I swallow hard enough I can hear it. We’ve never done that, and haven’t done anything at Sun’s place since that first blow job. “You said Chita was at home.”
“He is,” Sun says, all nonchalance. “We’ll just have to be quiet. Can you do that?”
“Canyou?” I counter, because he’s definitely the louder of the two of us. I love all the sounds he makes when he’s out of control and desperate to come. But there’s something tempting about the idea of slow, silent sex, like I’m back in my dorm room at university, thinking I’m being sneaky with the girl I brought back and my roommate sleeping on the other side of a shared wall.
“Guess we’ll find out.” He turns and takes off up the steps.
I’m right behind him.
EIGHTEEN
KIJA
“Hello, lover.”
I stop in the doorway, my jaw dropping as I see what’s waiting for me.
Sun is there, eyes smoky and lips glossy, wearing a ruffled white apron that would not look out of place in a vintage American television show, and a string of pearls.
And that’s all he’s wearing. My mouth waters as my eyes roam over his body, all that exposed skin I want to kiss and bite and lick and…
“Drink?” he asks, giving me a coy smile because he knows he’s got me, as he holds out a glass of whiskey for me. “Let me take that,” he says, reaching for my bag. “You just sit down and relax, okay?”
