“Shit,” I whispered.
I grabbed the pizza from the driver, thanked him, shut the door quickly, and started tiptoeing back toward my room. From the den, I could hear the football game and their voices bouncing over one another. But all I really heard was Reek.
I made it back into my room and shut the door with relief. Then I climbed on the bed and set the pizza beside me.
I hated how my body still reacted to him. Even hearing his voice from another room undid me. Knowing he was that close had need creeping through me because I remembered every perfect stroke and moan. I couldn’t get out of my head the way he touched me, the way he looked at me, the way he had me open, wet, and purring his name. My clit started pulsing at the mere memory.
I missed his touch, but I knew his touch was temporary, emotionless, and something he could give and walk away from like it meant nothing.
I opened Hulu on my TV, found a documentary about missing girls from Chicago, and grabbed a slice of pizza. But I couldn’t focus. All I could think about was how I needed to tell Reek, how he was going to react, and how ugly that reaction was probably going to be.
My heart was beating too fast by the time my bedroom door opened. I looked up so quickly I almost dropped my pizza as Reek stepped inside and shut the door behind himself.
I sat up fast, and the oversized shirt pulled against me, so I shifted to hide my stomach.
The air changed immediately with him so close. The tension came crashing down like it was waiting on this very moment.
Reek leaned against the door for a second and just looked at me. His stare was so intense it made me want to hide, but I couldn’t look away. There was something about the way he stared that always felt too perfect and direct, like right there in his line of sight was exactly where I belonged.
Finally, he spoke, “I smelled the pizza and knew it was you at the door since Zahra is asleep.”
“Mm-hmm,” was all I could mutter.
He tilted his head as he kept his eyes locked on me like he couldn’t look away if he wanted to. “You just gon’ ignore me now that you’re back?”
I set my slice down in the box. “What is there to say?”
The irony in that almost made me laugh.
He pushed off the door and came farther into the room. “Why can’t we be cool like we were?”
I looked at him like he was a fool. “Our friendship is exactly what it always was. We weren’t besties, on the phone gossiping and braiding each other’s hair, Reek.”
“We were cool. We had conversation. You didn’t speak to me at the shower.”
“You didn’t speak to me either.”
His jaw tensed as he replied, “I didn’t know what to say.”
I looked away first because if I kept staring at him too hard, I was going to keep focusing on how good he smelled, how his Prada tee fit so perfectly, how his beard looked, and how much I wanted him despite all my common sense.
Unfortunately for me, he stepped closer. “I missed seeing your pretty—”
“Don’t,” I cut in quickly. “Don’t do that. Don’t flirt. Don’t say things you can’t back up.”
His eyes stayed on me, and when he moved again, it was slow enough to make my breath hitch.
“I can’t help it.”
Yes, he could. But he was being pushy because I had ignored him when we were at the shower and he didn’t like that Wise was flirting with me. He didn’t like being shut out. That was all this was.
But, still, my body was reacting like I didn’t know better.
I kept my stomach angled away from him as he came to the side of the bed. “You need to get out before Saint and Big A catch you in here.”
He looked toward the door and back at me. “They’re out back smoking a blunt. They’ll be gone a minute.”
“That doesn’t matter. Leave.”
