“You know what this is about.”
“Don’t play games with me, Grant. Say what you have to say.” If you want to break up with me, do it already.
“You’ve been seeing someone else, Princess? You been with that ex of yours?” he growled.
I was so blindsided by his comment that I just laughed. I shouldn’t have. It clearly just made him angrier, but it was such a ludicrous suggestion that there was nothing else for me to do.
“This isn’t f**king funny!”
“You think I’m cheating on you?” I covered my mouth with my hand to keep from laughing again. “Dear Lord, please explain to me how it makes sense that I would be cheating on you, the self-proclaimed manwhore.”
“What? Because you’re a virgin, you can’t be seeing someone else?” he asked.
“God, how drunk are you?”
“Just answer me straight, Princess.”
“No, Grant. I don’t remember the last time I saw my ex. Actually, I might have been with you. Why do you think I’m seeing someone else? Have I ever made you think that?”
Grant rubbed his hands over his eyes. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know? Or no?” I prompted. He better be messing with me.
“I don’t f**king know, Ari! Someone told me that she sees you with your ex all the time. What am I supposed to think?”
“Who told you that?”
“I don’t know. Some girl.”
“So, you just believe some strange girl who is probably trying to get in your pants instead of me?” I asked in disbelief. “Did I miss the part where I became your girlfriend?”
Grant cleared the distance between us in a second. He grabbed my shoulders roughly and stared down into my eyes as if he was trying to find the truth buried within. I’d never lied to him, and I didn’t want anyone else. I knew it was crazy. I knew we didn’t really make sense, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“You’re mine?”
“I’m your girlfriend.”
“No, Ari, you’re f**king mine.”
It wasn’t a question, and I didn’t have to respond. Nothing else was truer in that moment.
Chapter 27: Grant
The next week was hell for Ari during finals. I barely saw her, but at least I had the ski trip to look forward to. Vin and I worked out everything that had happened between us. He’d admitted that he wasn’t actually pissed that I’d found a girl, but it kind of sucked that he no longer had a wingman. If I wasn’t chasing ass, then he was kind of f**ked over in that department. There wasn’t much I could do there, but it helped knowing what was up. And maybe I hadn’t changed, but the thought of Ari with someone else had knocked the nonsense out of me.
With Vin on board again, we started on my new song. The guys liked it enough that they wanted to use it in the lineup for the music festival. Miller thought it might draw some attention from label scouts. I wasn’t holding my breath after the last incident.
I was just happy to get away with my girl and my friends.
Two days before we were supposed to leave, I received a call from Sydney.
“Hey, cuz. Pick me up from Newark on Thursday.”
“Find your own way. I’ve got plans.”
“Cancel them. I’m going to come visit before I go home for break.”
Apparently, her Jersey accent had only gotten thicker when she moved to the South. It seemed contradictory to me.
“I can’t cancel, Syd. We’re playing the Poconos music festival.”
“Poconos, eh? Vin going with you?” she asked with a giggle.
“He’s still in the band, last I checked,” I said dryly.
“Change of plans. Pick me up, and take me with you.”
“You are not coming with me to the Poconos.”
“So, my flight gets in around eleven in the morning. Don’t park. I’ll just meet you outside. Are you going to be in your big, black, jacked-up truck?” she singsonged.
“It’s blue.”
“Whatever. Eleven o’clock. See you then.” And she hung up on me.
I told Ari that Sydney was coming with us, and Ari was excited to meet her. I didn’t know how to prepare Ari for my cousin. Sydney was really one of a kind.
I stopped by Ari’s place Thursday morning on my way out of town. The guys were driving the van out around noon, and Ari’s group of friends was leaving around the same time. I’d meet them there after I stopped in Newark.
“Come in!” someone called after I knocked on the door.
“I could have been a burglar or a murderer,” I said. “You just letting anyone inside without seeing who it is?”
“We let you in,” Ari said, walking out of her bedroom.
Her blonde hair was tied up into a tight ponytail that I was looking forward to using as leverage this weekend—or at least, that was the goal.
“Darlin’, I’m no stranger.”
“You’re going to be if you keep calling me that.” She closed the distance between us.
I bent down like I was going to kiss her, but instead, I grabbed her legs and wrapped them around my waist. She latched on to me as I carried her into her bedroom.
“What are you doing?” she demanded, sounding only half-irritated.
“You keep talking back to me, woman, and I’ll have to put you in your place.”
Ari laughed at me. “Put me in my place? And where exactly would that be?”
“Do you want me to show you?” I asked, sliding my hand down her thigh.
She squirmed and tried to get out of my grasp, but I had her secured against me. Her eyes fluttered closed, and I chuckled softly at how easy she was to rile up. Her reaction was only turning me on. I’d be happy to show her exactly where her place was.
Lowering her until she was resting right over my dick, I bounced her up and down over it.
Her eyes flew open. “Grant—”
I kissed her lips to hold back whatever comment she had been about to throw my way. “That’s your place, Princess.”
Her pupils were dilated, and I could tell she was fighting with herself for the right reaction. She bit down on her lip to stop herself from spitting out whatever she was thinking.
“Come on, just admit it. You want my dick, and you want it bad.”
She flushed at my vulgarity, but she didn’t deny it.
I smirked and leaned forward to speak huskily into her ear, “Don’t worry. I’m going to give you what you want.”