Sticks (Black Addiction #2) (12 page)

“Sure, as long as I get to pick.” His hand swooped down onto the coffee table and picked up the remote. “I’m giving up sex; there is no way I’m going get stuck watching bad TV as well. Oh and no
Gossip Girl
, that’s like a rule.”

“Fine, you can choose.” It was a small concession given I’d probably fall asleep after an hour or so anyway. “And how do you even know about
Gossip Girl
, let alone have such strong feelings against it?”

Not that he’d have to worry about me wanting to watch it, but the mention of the teen hit drama had me curious. I should probably learn anything goes when we’re talking about Joey’s mind and his mouth. It was a crapshoot as to whether or not it would be relevant.

“Long story.” He dismissed it with a wave of his hand, his finger hitting the remote to bring my television to life. “But just so you know, it’s personally offensive to me. So as my friend, you should avoid it too.”

I didn’t bother pursuing it further, not sure I wanted to know and too tired to care. “No sex and no
Gossip Girl.
All good.” I stifled a yawn, the fatigue I’d been feeling earlier coming back to rear its ugly head.

“You want to do it here or the bedroom?” He shot me a sideways glance of concern. “The movie, I mean,” he clarified, in case I’d misunderstood his intention. “We can go wherever you’re most comfortable, and I won’t even touch you even though your rack looks amazing in that top.” His eyes dipped down to my fitted cotton sleep shirt, my lack of bra catching his attention.

“I wasn’t expecting company.”

“Hey, no hardship here.” He let his eyes linger a little bit longer, the grin on his face indicating he was enjoying the view. “I noticed earlier but we were talking about serious stuff so I didn’t bring it up.”

“You definitely deserve a medal, I’m sure it was very hard for you.” The words slipped out of my mouth before I’d had a chance to really process what I’d said, the double entendre no doubt wouldn’t be missed.

“I mean difficult.” I tried in vain to offer a more appropriate word substitution. “Do
not
make some wiseass comment about your penis, you know that’s not what I meant.”

“We can talk about him if you want, babe.” The chuckle found its way out his throat. “You know that shit doesn’t offend me. Actually, it’s pretty awesome.”

It was with an effortless calm that we fell into a more normal conversation, my body snuggling against his as I got comfortable on the couch. Any weirdness I had been worried about was AWOL as he put his arm around me and accepted my weight against him.

“You’ve been without sex for around five minutes and you’re already begging to talk about your cock. You want to rethink that vow of celibacy, Joe?” I laughed, loving how easy it was to be around him. It was as it had always been with him. Uncomplicated.

“Babe, you brought up my
cock
not me, and don’t pretend you aren’t just as bad as I am. Ten to one says you cave before I do. Just remember our agreement when you do.” He lost interest in channel surfing as he pulled me closer, his eyes fixed on mine.

“We aren’t betting on which one of us is going to be begging for sex, Joey. And if anyone will cave, it’s you my friend. I’m rock solid,” I answered with no hesitation. It would be uncharitable to take that bet, I wasn’t heartless.

“Well then, put your money where your mouth is. A little healthy competition should make it interesting.” His eyebrow rose, daring me.

“Money is boring, what’s the ante?”

If he was so hell bent on proving me wrong, who was I to deny him the opportunity? And he was right about one thing, it would make it more interesting.

“Ooooooooh. I’ve got something. The loser can’t jerk off for a week.” He smiled proudly, like he just offered the Kanye of all suggestions.

“What?” I laughed, the idea possibly the most ridiculous I’d ever heard. “How can you even police that?”

“Honor system. I’ll trust you, if you trust me.” He smiled, the ease of his answer made it sound like it was me who was being ridiculous. “But I can tell you, I’m not losing this bet. Jerking off is all I’m going to have. I might as well giving up breathing, it would be easier.”

“Well, you better start learning to hold your breath, because I’m not losing either.”

Ha! If I wasn’t in a generous mood I would have suggested two weeks but I was willing to keep playing nice. Besides, any more than a week would be a crime against humanity, he’d be climbing the walls by day two. For his band’s sake I hoped they weren’t on tour when he cracked.

Actually, that could be interesting.

I was so going right to Hell.

“I’m
not
losing.” He held out his hand, expectantly. Big smile on his face.

“We’ll see.” I accepted his hand, and shook on it, my smile doing its best to match his.

“Just to clarify.” I thought it best to probably go over the fine print, “We should probably define losing.” Wondering if it meant him having sex with someone else.

Funny how I hadn’t really thought about it until he’d offered it and now, I really didn’t want him being with someone else. I’d even go a step further, and say the idea of him with some other girl made my blood run cold. The joy of winning not as appealing anymore.

Fuck, these mood swings were a bitch.

“I thought we already agreed. Losing is an admission.” He’d seemed to read my subtext. “The first person to admit they can’t go on any longer without is deemed the loser.”

“Okay.” I eased back into him, pushing aside the tug-of-war I had going on in my head. Did I want to keep talking or just enjoy being with him? I was really glad he had decided to stay.

“Fuck, yeah.” Joey’s attention turned back to the television we’d all but forgotten. “Scarface is on, I love this movie.” He grinned at the screen. “
You wanna fuck with me?”
He echoed Pacino, reciting the move line for line as it played out. Usually that would have been grounds to punch someone right in the face, but strangely, I didn’t mind.

The commentary continued as I struggled to keep my eyes open. The battle to stay awake slipping from my grasp as my lids finally closed. The gentle rock of his body when he laughed, lulling me to sleep.

“Kenz,” Joey whispered in my ear in my dying moments of awareness, the dark tunnel of REM chasing me down like an unrelenting wave.

“Hmmm.” I murmured, unable to get my lips to move and give him something more tangible. A word was going to be too much to ask.

“I’m gonna stay tonight, okay? Just try and remember not to freak out in the morning. I haven’t had a chance to hide the knives.” I felt his hand brush against my hair, my eyes refusing to open.

“Yeah, I’ll remember.” I felt my lips curl into a smile. “Don’t touch my boobs while I sleep,” by some miracle I managed to say before I finally drifted.

If any further conversation took place, I didn’t remember. My breathing evened out as a calm washed through me. And despite my body not being tucked up in the perfectly good bed not very far away, I was more comfortable than I’d been all week.

Sleep.

I felt like I could sleep for a hundred years.

And right now, that’s what I intended to do.

Kenzie had been a
lightweight. She’d punk’d out on the Pacino marathon within the first half hour. Completely missed my amazing impersonations—and my stellar recollection of the script—but from what I could make out, she really needed to sleep.

Instead of leaving like I probably should, I decided to stick around. I may or may not have completely taken advantage of the fact she wasn’t exactly coherent when I asked. But there had been an exchange and she had agreed so it counted.

The couch got old by the time the credits rolled around and as much as I wanted to hang around and watch the Godfather Trilogy, I figured we’d move our snuggle-party-of-two to the bed. She didn’t even wake up when I’d carried her into her room. It felt nice to have her body tucked up tight against me until I’d laid her on the mattress. First time I took a girl there
without
the intention of fucking. Wonders would never cease.

Not going to lie, but seeing her splayed out in front of me wearing a top that did little to hide those gorgeous fucking tits didn’t help the situation. My dick stirred in my jeans even though both of us knew nothing was going to happen. And unlike the chick I’d felt at the bar, Kenzie’s body hadn’t come with a price tag. Every inch of her the same God-given perfection she’d been born with. But true to my word, I didn’t touch. Looking couldn’t be helped unfortunately; a man can only be strong to a point.

She rolled over onto her side as I got undressed, tossing my clothes on the floor as I pulled them off— my boxers the only thing I left on.

Her sheets felt nice as I slipped in between them, obviously not the same Target special I had lying on my bed. Clearly that bullshit about thread count wasn’t a scam after all. Who knew?

Realistically, I didn’t give a rat’s ass about the sheets. It was the fact I was in them that was important. And while usually I would have made sure I had a comfortable perimeter separating me from my fellow sleepee, I didn’t even flinch at sidling up close to her. Not quite spooning. More like a ghosting, my body in a similar pose along side her with a couple of inches between us. Close enough that if my dick suddenly decided to take an interest, I’d be tapping her on the back. And I don’t mean with my hands.

Rather than risk waking the Beast and having to deal with the inconvenience of having to jerk off—sacrilegious to even think such things, I know—I shut my eyes and fell asleep.

The morning unfortunately was a completely different story.

“Joey.” Two hands reached around my shoulders and shook me and I had no interest in anything that didn’t get me ten more minutes of sleep. Where was the fucking fire? There was nowhere I needed to be.

“Joey.”

Again with my name and the shaking. I don’t know why assholes feel the need to wake up people who are obviously more interested in being asleep. You want to be all up-and-at-them like a fucking Pop Tart that’s your deal, don’t be discriminating against those who’d prefer to slumber.

“Hey, asshole.”

Okay, so that got my attention.

“Huh?” I cracked open a lid and saw a fucking angel staring at me.

Of course I wasn’t a moron, remembering I’d spent the night with Kenzie and the heavenly creature was actually the hot guitarist I’d slept beside last night. But as she looked down on me with her clear blue eyes, her dark-blonde hair framing her face, she looked too fucking beautiful to be human. Except she had a lot of tattoos, and probably cussed way too much to have a pair of wings.

“Hey, baby.” My head lifted off the pillow and enjoyed my morning view. That T-shirt I’d been such a fan of last night was still doing a stand-up job this morning. Must be a little chilly in here as well because her cute little peaks were standing to attention. Just the way I liked them.

“You need to take care of something.” Her eyes floated down my body and landed on my cock. The bastard obviously had already received his wake up call, and was alert and ready for action.

“Was that a question or a statement?” I smiled knowing full well unless someone took care of it, I was going to be rocking the biggest set of blue balls for the rest of the day.

“Oh, no. I had it digging into my back for the past hour. It’s all about you. Have fun with it. I’m going back to sleep.” She flicked her hair over her shoulder and rolled back onto her side.

“Wait, so you woke
me
up because my hard-on was bugging
you
, and now you’re just going to go back to sleep.” My hand pulled on her shoulder, flipping her back against the mattress. “You could have just ignored it, you know. Let me deal with it when I got up.”

It’s not like my dick was going to jailbreak from my boxers and demand a blowjob or something. He and I were perfectly content to catch some more Z’s until the natural course of progression woke us up. Then I could do what I usually did in the mornings, and jerk off in the shower.

“I was as polite as I’m gonna be.” She waved it off like it was
me
being unreasonable. “Every time I moved or turned around it poked me like I was a piñata.” Her finger jabbed me in the chest in illustration. “My bed, my rules—and I don’t need your hard-on
trying to play
Marco Polo
while I sleep.”

“Fine, it’s too early in the morning to argue.” I kicked off the covers, the culprit in question sticking out proudly from my hips. “You need anything else while I’m
up
?”

And yeah, I meant to say it exactly like that. We still had our wager on the table and if I got her to fold, I would happily kill two birds with one stone. Efficient and enjoyable, a much better way to wake up than the shake-n-bake she’d given me.

“Sure, if you’re offering. Crackers would be nice, thanks.” She smiled sweetly and then rolled away from me for the second time this morning. Her muffled laughter hinting she knew how much she was getting under my skin.

“Just so you know.” This time it was my turn to grin. “I’m going to think of you.” My feet hit the floor, as my ass lifted off the mattress.

“I’m not sure if I should be horrified or honored.” She laughed, her body shaking gently under the sheets.

“You could be helpful if you really wanted,” I offered, only half joking.

“Thanks but I’m sitting this one out. Besides, no point in both of us being awake.” She yawned, keeping her back to me.

It would have been a minute, two at most before her slow, steady breathing returned. She was out like a light, and I couldn’t help but stare.

I’d never really seen her like that; completely oblivious to how beautiful she looked right now. She seemed sort of vulnerable, her body tucked up tight in a ball as she lay on her side. A complete contradiction to what she was usually like.

Her face was another story. As I moved to the other side of the bed, I got an eyeful of her stunning features. From this side, she didn’t look so vulnerable. She looked fierce, her forehead slightly crinkled in concentration even though she wasn’t awake. Her eyelashes bouncing gently off the top of her cheeks as her sleep deepened. Yeah, it had definitely been my bad missing this.

As much as I would have enjoyed channeling my inner creeper and pulling up a chair, sitting here and watching all morning wasn’t the plan. I didn’t even want to be up in the first place, my renegade dick getting us both kicked out of bed. The sooner I got that taken care of, the sooner I could climb back in. Hopefully I’d be rewarded; a hand on her ass would cover it. I should have asked before I left.

Naturally I was a master at clearing the pipes, especially in the morning which meant a few minutes under the spray of the shower was all it took to get the big guy to go nocturnal. No promises he’d stay that way, especially if she let me touch her ass.

After a quick shower—I was there anyway might as well get clean after I’d gotten dirty—I made a quick pit stop in her kitchen. The tour of the house rounded out when I ended back in her bedroom with my ass on the mattress beside Sleeping Beauty.

“You smell nice.” She rolled over to me, her eyes closed despite her smile. “Did you use my shampoo?”

“Yeah. I figured if I smelled like you it would help with the fantasy.” I laughed, my reasoning about fifty percent true. “I got your crackers too. You want me to feed you? I think I have my palm leaf somewhere and I’m already wearing the towel.”

“Is that a joke this early in the morning, Joe?” Her eyes cracked open and gave me a grin. “Wow, you’re in rare form.”

“It’s these sheets I’m telling you.” My hands stroked the whatever-thread count-insert country-here-cotton suggestively. “Best sleep I’ve had in awhile. Whatever they are, I’m getting like a hundred pair. In fact, fuck it. I’m going to wear them like togas. I could easily bring back that trend.”

I put the crackers on the nightstand, more interested in the lady between the kick ass sheets.

“It’s been working for Frat boys for years.” She nodded, giving me her seal of approval. “I think if anyone has a shot. It’s you.”

“The only reason I’m sad I missed college.” I held my hand over my heart. “You feeling okay?” She didn’t
look
like she was going to puke, but I hadn’t seen her toss her cookies, so I couldn’t be sure this wasn’t the face right before it happened.

“Yeah, usually it’s when I get vertical things go south. I try to work my way up to it.” She shuffled up slightly on the bed, her back resting against the headboard as she stayed under the covers. The sheet slipped down enough to give a spectacular money shot of her tits. Sadly, they were still in the top she’d worn to bed but it still was a nice good morning.

“Is there anything I can do?” Not that I had any nursing qualifications or knew what she needed, but I could improvise like a champ and my bedside manner was second to none.

“You can tell me about CJs.” She smiled, spilling she had knowledge on something that currently was supposed be on need-to-know.

“How did you find out about that? We haven’t been announced yet.”

I hadn’t told her. At least I didn’t think I had. I did have a tendency to talk in my sleep, and could spill virtually anything after shooting my load but neither of these things had happened, so I was confident the weakest link hadn’t been me. Write that on your calendar, peeps.

“I know everything, Joey. How many times do I have to tell you?” She held her hands in front on her like she was consulting her crystal ball.

“You know exactly what this means, Kenz. The opportunity, it sort of feels like a fucking rite of passage. It’s up there with playing the Garden, but it means a little bit more because this is all us.”

It was good she knew because other than the band there really wasn’t anyone to talk with about this. We weren’t supposed to tell anyone yet—although obviously someone had failed on that part—and my family had no idea what it meant. Someone like Kenz knew exactly what I was feeling without the long story.

“Yeah, I get that. It’s a big deal.” She grabbed a cracker from her nightstand and bit a corner off, chewing thoughtful. I guess she hadn’t made her mind up if she was going to puke either.

“You’re going to be there, right?” The need to have her there suddenly important. “You’ll come see us play? It’s not for a couple of weeks but I want you there.”

It was going to be a big night, possibly one of the biggest, so yeah I wanted her there. Plus, if she was there my kid would be there too and that was cool in itself; that I got to share that moment with them. Wow. Fuck. My kid. Yeah, I wanted them both there.

“Of course, I’ll be there. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you guys play.” Her hand reached out and touched mine.

“Uh-hmm.” I tried to move the lump in my throat and changed the subject. There were a few acceptable times to have a Kleenex moment, but having a chat in a bedroom wasn’t it. “So, what’s the thing on your kitchen table?”

I’d noticed the greenery on my way through and while I couldn’t be sure it hadn’t been here the last time I visited—we’d fucked in the kitchen but I hadn’t looked—the big red bow was the tip off it was new. Its presence in itself was surprising, Kenzie more known for her fancy finger work than her green thumb.

“Ah, you met Hendrix.” She nodded taking another nibble of the cracker, the first few bites staying put. “He’s a gift from Sara, you know to practice looking after stuff.”

“You named your plant, Hendrix? That is badass. Well done.”