Page 58 of Trick Play
“Shut up, dude,” I tell him, making him snort. “I didn’t invite her. She just texted and said she was coming over. And besides, you haveyourgirlfriend here tonight.”
Ellie holds up a finger. “One, I’ve been staying here all week, so that’s not exactly surprising. And two, since when are you calling Piper your girlfriend?”
“I’m not,” I grumble. “You’re missing the point.”
She puts her hand under her chin, a coy look on her face. “Am I, though?”
I ignore her in favor of staring at my phone in case Piper texts again. But she doesn’t. About ten minutes later, there’s a knock at the door. Simon pauses the movie while I answer it, surprised to see Piper’s hand wrapped around the handle of a suitcase.
“Hey,” she says, her voice wavery.
“Hey,” I return, my brows drawing together, my eyes flicking between her and her suitcase. “What’s going on?”
“Um …” She clears her throat, and a tear slips down her cheek. She wipes it away with a furious brush of her hand, sniffing hard and clearing her throat again. “Sorry,” she says, “I know … I’m just …”
“Piper?” Ellie says from behind me. “What’s wrong? Are you okay? Cal, invite her in. Why are you making her stand crying in the cold?”
“What? I’m not—”
But Ellie completely ignores me, elbowing past me and reaching for Piper’s suitcase. “Come in, come in.”
Ducking her head, Piper follows Ellie inside, glancing at me as she passes.
I close the door behind her, taking the suitcase from Ellie and dragging it to my room. When I’m done, I find them in the kitchen. Ellie has Piper seated at the table, and she’s plying her with drinks. “Do you want tea?” Ellie asks as I enter the room. “We have, umm …” She pauses as she searches our cabinets for tea. “I could’ve sworn they hadsomekind of tea.” Closing the cabinet, she turns back to face Piper. “I could text Autumn. She’s the queen of teas to help with anything. And then I can send Simon to the store to get whatever it is.”
Piper lets out a soft, spluttery laugh, taking off her coat and draping it over the back of her chair. “That’s okay, Ellie. I don’t need tea. I appreciate the offer, though.”
“Water, then? Or …” Ellie darts a glance at me, then at Simon who’s lingering in the hall behind me. Lowering her voice, Ellie leans in close to Piper. “I know where the secret cookie stash is. I can liberate one for you.”
My eyebrows shoot up. There’s a secret cookie stash? I glance over my shoulder at Simon, who just gives me a bland look.
“I don’t need cookies. I’m … I just …” She raises her eyes to me. “I didn’t know where else to go.”
“It’s fine,” I tell her. “You can stay here. Do you want to …” I finish the sentence by tipping my head toward my room.
She nods, the chair scraping against the vinyl floor as she scoots back. “Yes,” she breathes. “That sounds good.”
Ellie watches me wrap my arm around Piper and lead her to my room, and I can hear her and Simon murmuring to each other in the kitchen behind us, but I don’t really care what they’re saying. All my attention is focused on Piper right now.
When we get into my room, she sighs and sinks onto my bed, kicking off her shoes. She offers me a tentative smile. “Thanks. I had a fight with my parents. I needed to get away.”
I sit on the bed next to her and rub a hand down her back. “Do you want to talk about it?” I’m not really sure what the protocol is here.
But she shakes her head, and I have to hold in my sigh of relief. I’m not good at this kind of thing—the talking and the caring and the “boyfriend” type duties. Which is why I’ve never really tried to be anyone’s boyfriend.
And that’s not what I’m doing here, either. Not exactly. But she clearly needs someone, and for whatever reason, she decided to come here. Because she didn’t have anywhere else to go. All her friends are home for break. The dorms are closed. It makes sense.
Before I can say anything else, she turns to me and cups my cheek, bringing my mouth to hers. Her lips are soft, tasting of salt. I kiss her back, but don’t move to deepen it. I’m not sure what she’s looking for from me, but whatever it is, I’ll do my best to provide it.
She pulls back from the kiss, her eyes flicking back and forth between mine. Then she stands and faces me, edging over my lap. With her hands on my shoulders, she presses me back, climbing over me. This time when she presses her lips to mine, I open for her.
This is new and different. I don’t think I’ve ever comforted someone with sex before, but if this is what she wants, I definitely have no objections.
She settles over my hips, pressing down on my quickly hardening cock, grinding against the bulge in my jeans.
When my hands slide to her hips, reaching around to grip her ass, she moans into my mouth, pressing harder, moving more. I push my hips up, and holding her tight to me, I flip us over so I’m on top, propped over her on one arm, gently brushing her hair out of her face.
She looks up at me with impossibly wide eyes, dark, deep pools of sadness. “Are you okay?” I whisper.
