CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
BLAKE’S POV

I don't know what was wrong with my hands, but I couldn’t stop touching Anthony for the life of me!

All through the ride back home from the hospital, my hand kept moving up to touch his face, shoulder, thigh! I don't know what came over me. Maybe the few days we spent not talking to each other contributed to it. I didn’t know it before, but I sure did miss him a lot.

I was so glad when he agreed to sleep over at my place just like our mothers initially intended when the renovation of Crystal’s room began. When he rejected the offer the first time, I felt a little pang in my chest and I was sad about it for days. Now, my joy knew no bounds and just thinking about living with him made me all forms of excited!

“One more thing,” Anthony said, bringing me out of my reverie. “You cannot tell either of our parents or Crystal that I’m staying with you.”

The request to not inform our parents of our living situation sounded reasonable. My mom for one was going to make a big deal out of it and start teasing me about it. The request to not inform his sister, my girlfriend, was another thing altogether. I waited for him to explain why, but he never did, and I didn’t ask. I just knew that he and Crystal had an argument a while back and it didn’t seem like they had reconciled.

We arrived at the front of my house and I stopped the car.

“You wanna go home and pack a bag...or would you rather wear my clothes?” Anthony stopped fiddling with the seatbelt when my question came out and he stared at me, a nice shade of my favourite colour on his face.

“I...”

“Or is that too intimate for you?” I asked, making emphasis on the word ‘intimate’ mocking him for when he said it earlier. His reaction was priceless! I loved how his brows furrowed in annoyance and how his lips curled in distaste.

“I don't think your girlfriend will be too pleased about that.” He sounded irritated, and with the way he pulled at the seatbelt like he wanted to rip it off its handle, I could tell he was mad.

Gently, my hand rested over his and it stopped his frantic movements.

“What the hell happened between you two?”

He looked like he was about to say something, but changed his mind halfway through opening his mouth.

“C’mon, Pearce, talk to me. I know something happened between you two. You guys are acting weird and Crystal keeps talking about you like you were some random stranger she just met.”

“Well,” he drawled. “Other than the fact that you had sex with my sister and your mom caught you guys, I don't think there’s anything else we could be mad at each other for. You see, I confronted her about it and she did not take it lightly.”

“First of all, the hell d’you find out about that?” I was trying my possible best to not laugh in this situation especially since Anthony wasn’t too pleased about it. The way his face was twisted in contempt made him look so adorable, I almost touched him again.

“Secondly, you gotta stop pouting like that. It’s hard to take you seriously when you look that fricking cute.”

I couldn’t help myself – I touched his lip. Something like a spark coursed through my veins and made me feel all tingly inside. My heart beat at an irregular pace and I found myself itching to do it again.

“Look, I’m going to let you in on a little secret.” I leaned in closer than necessary and inhaled my scent bouncing off of him. His lips were a few inches away from mine and something faraway in my brain chanted and urged for the gap to be closed. I ignored it. “Crystal and I have never had sex before.”

It seemed to take him a minute to process. When he finally did, his eyes widened like saucers.

“What? That’s not true.”

“It is. I have never had sex with your sister. She’s still very much a virgin.”

He still looked disbelieving and it was hilarious to watch him try to figure it out.

“But how? I caught you guys...doing it when I came over to get her before. Also, she told me that your mom caught you guys in your bedroom.”

“We weren’t exactly having sex. Yes, we did take off our clothes, and I did strongly wish I had done more than kiss her all over.” He squeezed his face in irritation. “But no, we didn’t do more than making out hotly. Every time we came close to doing it, I backed away.” He did a double take at my confession.

“What? Why?”

“You seem to want me to engage in coitus with your little sister,” I said teasingly. His face brightened.

“Of course not! I just...think it’s weird that you...didn’t.”

“Tony, Crystal is fifteen and I’m eighteen. I may be an asshole, but I’m not that much of an asshole. I really, really want to have sex with her, but I’m gonna wait till she’s at least seventeen – if I can’t hold it in anymore. I just thought that it was funny to make you think that we used to do it. And yeah, I was right. It was funny watching you freak out about it.”

His entire expression was unreadable. His eyes were blank and his face even more so as he tried to let the words I just uttered sink in. Finally, after taking his sweet, precious time to understand and appreciate my morality, he said, with the brightest smile on his face, “You really are full of surprises, Blake Lindell. I’m wearing your clothes.”

We went into the house with every intention of not being seen. Brienne, my mother’s PA, was inside in the living room, sitting on the couch.

“Hey Brie. Nice to see you off work earlier than seven p.m. Did my mother come down with a migraine again? Is that why you guys are here?” Anthony gave a shy wave to Brienne and went up to my room.

“Actually, I was hoping to catch her at home. She hasn’t been to the office in a while and she hasn’t been answering my calls.”

I stood transfixed in the living room, staring dumbly at Brienne. What did she mean my mother hasn’t been to the office for a while now? Every morning, she woke up, put on her expensive pantsuit and went to work determined to put someone behind bars. If she hadn’t been going to work, where the hell has she been?

It occurred to me then that my father hadn’t also been home in a while. I assumed he travelled for some work thing since he did that a lot without telling me, but what if...?

I didn’t allow the thought to fester in my mind. I was certain nothing was happening and my mom just wanted to play hooky like I did all the time.

“Oh, right. I forgot. My grandmother wanted her in Boston with her to help plan their annual Thanksgiving Feast. She wouldn’t be back until Thanksgiving. She didn’t tell you?” I was impressed by how smoothly the lie came out. Brienne sighed in relief and shook her head.

“She didn’t. I had thought something bad had happened to her.”

“Well, she’s fine. I’m going up now. Bye Brie.”

The moment I got to my bedroom, all thoughts about my mother and her unannounced sabbatical left my mind. Anthony had already made himself at home and dare I say, the way he laid sprawled on my bed with my hoodie had me feeling excited all over again. Damn, that boy was fine!

“Michael and I broke up,” he announced. My eyes widened in disbelief and I was by his side in record time.

“What? That bastard broke up with you after I had given him a cheat sheet?” I slapped my hand over my mouth as soon as the words came out. Anthony wasn’t supposed to find out about that.

“First of all, rude of you to assume that he broke up with me. What if it was the other way round, huh? I am very much capable of breaking up with someone. Secondly, I know about the cheat sheet. He told me.”

Tony rarely smiled teasingly, but when he did, it was the most glorious sight ever. Boy, was I glad we were talking again.

“You broke up with him?” My smile was like I won the lottery. He nodded like a little kid trying to impress his parents. “Attaboy,” I said and ruffled his hair.

“To think that you went around claiming you hated him, but you went ahead to help him out with me. You are full of surprises, Blake Lindell.” He tapped my nose playfully and grinned broadly.

“For your information, I only did that because I didn’t want him to keep treating you callously. Your taste buds are as precious as your heart and I did not want him feeding you nonsense with ignorance being his excuse.”

“Oh, so you did that for me, huh? Did you like me that much?”

The question wasn’t anything new, yet somehow, it wasn’t as easy to answer as it was before. Though it was barley a week that we spent hating each other, it had felt like an eternity. I didn’t realise how much I liked Anthony until I didn’t like him, not because I wanted to hate him, but because what he said to me hurt me. I didn’t realize how badly I wanted – needed – him in my life until I saw him fall in that pool.

What was going on in my body was unknown to me. My reaction and gravitational pull towards Anthony was foreign territory and it frightened me. It was to be explored some more for me to completely figure it out, or ignore it completely and avoid it as much as possible. But in that moment, all I wanted was to play along with whichever way my hands wanted to lead me to, and that was to Anthony’s bushy black mane.

“Yes, I do like you that much.” My breathy response made his pupils dilate and his teasing smile evaporated.

“Your hair is very soft,” I whispered as I leaned into him. My fingers trailed down his pink, plump lips and I enjoyed the way they felt underneath my touch. “I am so glad you broke up with Michael. I never liked him.”

He laughed lightly, afraid to fully express himself else the spell would be broken. I wanted to stay like this forever. My body felt inclined to be like this with him forever.

It was probably an accident. Maybe while he was laughing his head jutted forward. Maybe in my attempt to readjust my neck so that it wouldn’t ache so much while leaning against him, it happened. But whatever and whoever caused the accident didn’t matter, because the moment my lips touched his, I felt like I was being electrified.

It was a soft, tender brush against the lips – like an accidental merger – but that didn’t stop the effect from being anything less than The Big Bang.

I wanted to taste him again. I wanted to feel what I felt again. But before I could initiate the kiss, the door to my bedroom flung opened and in stepped...