Slowly We Trust (Fall and Rise #3)(33)
Author: Chelsea M. Cameron

“Oh, right. Sorry about that.” He let me go, but I grabbed his hand and pulled him up with me.

I gave him a kiss on the cheek before grabbing some clothes and throwing Will’s back at him.

“You know, I should just keep some clothes here, if I’m going to be spending the night,” he said, putting his shirt over his head and covering up his chest and stomach. I almost pouted at the loss of the visual.

“Oh, so you’re moving in now?”

I put on a bra and a tank top, then a pair of panties and a ratty pair of shorts.

“You look so good like that,” Will said, staring at me. “I mean, if I hadn’t seen you naked, this would be my favorite look for you. Have I told you how much I love your ass? Like, seriously love it.” He stood in front of me, reaching around and grabbing said ass, squeezing and massaging so much that I wanted to throw him back in bed. Hadn’t we had enough of each other for 24 hours? How could I still have the energy to want him inside me again?

“Hey, I have a crazy idea. How about we skip class today and go have breakfast and then do . . . whatever we want.” I had a feeling I knew what he would want.

“That is a crazy idea and, while I love it, I can’t. I can’t miss class, Will. Remember our New Year’s resolutions? There’s no way I’m losing.” I really wanted that money.

“One day isn’t going to sink your GPA, Aud.”

“They also said an iceberg couldn’t sink the Titanic and look what happened there.”

He sighed, and I smelled defeat.

“Please? It’s Friday. No professor does anything on Friday. Please? Please?” Oh, if only he hadn’t said please. I looked up at him as he rubbed his hands up and down my back.

“Please?”

He kissed my cheek and then lowered himself to his knees, lifting my shirt and dipping his tongue into my bellybutton.

“Please?”

He kissed lower, his hands slowly dragging the shorts and underwear I’d just put on down my legs. And then his mouth was busy and I was the one begging.

14

I should have felt bad for making Audrey miss class. A little part of me did. But she had a tendency to be, hmm, a little, uptight? Not that her being academically driven was a bad thing. I loved how smart she was and how she cared so much about school.

Sometimes, though, you needed a break. A day to be young and foolish. A day spent in bed with ice cream and bad movies, or running around outside, or driving around and listening to the radio.

I didn’t care what we did today, as long as I got to do it with her.

“You are such a terrible influence,” she said as she ran a brush through her hair after her shower. I’d begged to shower with her, but she’d finally said no to me.

“What would everyone think?” she’d said.

“That you have an awesome boyfriend?” It was the first time I’d called myself that, out loud to her face.

“Be that as it may, I don’t want to be one of those girls who takes a shower with her boyfriend in the dorms.” With that, she’d skipped off and I’d been left waiting in her room for her.

I’d been surprised she’d given in so easily to my plan for playing hooky. Granted, I had gone down on her to make her say yes, so I’d played kind of dirty to get what I wanted.

“So what are we going to do today?” she asked, running a brush through her silky hair.

“I didn’t plan that far ahead,” I said. “But I am hungry and I’d like to get something to eat.”

“Okay.” She looked over her shoulder at me, a towel loosely wrapped around her. All I’d need to do was tug a little and she’d be naked in front of me, her skin still damp from her shower. Breakfast could wait.

And then my stomach growled.

“We should probably hurry. I wouldn’t want you to starve.” She turned on her hairdryer and that drowned out conversation for a minute. I decided that I should probably take a shower as well. And clothes. I needed new clothes. Simon was already in class, so I could definitely sneak back to my room without anyone knowing.

I’d already texted Simon that I’d stayed over at Lottie and Zan’s. He knew how much I hated sleeping in a room by myself. I was going to have to come clean tonight at dinner, but for today, I wanted it to just be Aud and me.

“I’m going to go shower,” I said loudly. She nodded and I grabbed a towel from her closet and her shower caddy. I definitely wouldn’t mind smelling like Aud today.

A girl was also leaving her room at the same time I left Aud’s and she gave me a look as I headed to the shower. I just grinned at her. Earlier this year, I would have found her attractive, but now it was like I had blinders on. I could appreciate that other girls were pretty, but it was like they all dimmed in comparison to Aud. She glowed like a firework.

After I’d washed with all Audrey’s products and rinsed, I wrapped the towel around my waist and headed back to her room.

“Hey,” I said, closing her door. She was in the midst of putting her hair back in a ponytail. Her mouth dropped open.

“What?”

“You walked back here like that? Why didn’t you put your clothes back on?” She seemed horrified.

“Uh, yeah. I didn’t want to put my clothes back on because, you know, they’re from yesterday; but then I was thinking that the only way to go get more clothes is to put these ones back on because my other clothes are back at my dorm, and then I thought maybe I could borrow something of yours, or something, and then I just decided to wear the towel.”

Audrey shook her head and burst out laughing.

“You’re so much like your sister sometimes,” she said, giving me a kiss.

“I am not. She rambles all day. My rambles are an isolated incident.” Her hands dragged down my still-wet chest.

“I can go get some clothes, if you want to wait here. I don’t mind. As long as you don’t care what I pick out.”

That could be interesting. Aud always looked nice and I definitely didn’t care about fashion.

“I don’t want to make you walk all the way up the hill to get me clothes.” That would be stupid.

“No, really. It’s fine. I think I need a walk anyway.” She’d been so there with me since she’d told me she loved me and now, all of a sudden, I could feel her pulling away again.

“Aud?” She just smiled at me as she slipped her boots on and her heavy peacoat. Shut up, I know what a peacoat is because my sister wears one.