Changing His Game (17 page)

Jared disposes of the condom in the bathroom and cleans himself up before joining me back in bed. He pulls me into his chest and we cuddle in each other's arms. I don't want to ruin the high we both feel, but I have to bring the subject up. He used sex to escape from whatever was going on between him and that Kellan guy, and he needs to deal with it properly.

"Jared?"

"Yeah, babe?"

"Who was that guy in the tent?"

He's quiet, too quiet. I know he heard me so I give him the silence and let him be alone with his thoughts. He'll talk when he's ready.

"I've known Kellan since I was twelve. His family moved to Brentwood from Northern California and moved in next door to my childhood home. I come from a huge family and my parents took a quick liking to Kellan's parents.

"I'm one of seven children so our house was always occupied, but it was only Kellan and his sister, Coral, at his house. Both his parents worked crazy hours so my parents kind of took them in as their own. Kellan became like a brother and Coral was like a sister to everyone, except me.

"Coral and I were... we were close from the second we met. We were the same age and very quickly became attached at the hip. You never found me without her because we did everything together. By the time we hit high school it was just a natural transition from friends to couple. All of our friends were pairing off, and to be honest, I had started developing feelings for her the year before.

"We dated all of high school and I lost my virginity to her at junior prom. I know, so cliché, but it was our plan. I rented a hotel room and our parents pretended to believe us when we said a group of us were spending the night at my friend Tom's house. I knew my dad was on to us though. It's hard to think he was naive to it when he handed me a pack of condoms before Coral and I left in the limo for prom."

I listen to him as he tells me a little more about that night and Coral. I would usually be uncomfortable in a situation where I am listening to the man I just slept with describe his first time. Lucky for me, he doesn't go into descriptive detail.

"After that everything changed, we became more intense. We would blow off our friends and family, we had to be together all the time. Our senior year we applied to the same colleges and we both got into the same one. That was the plan, to go to college together and get married after we graduated.

"I was happy. The happiest I've ever been, with the exception of the past month. The night of our graduation everything changed. Everyone was going to party on the football field of the school. I wanted to stay in that night. My parents had planned a celebratory dinner and low-key party at the house, but one of Coral's friends convinced her to go. We ended up leaving my house early to meet everyone up at the school."

He pulls me impossibly closer to him and kisses the top of my forehead before continuing his story.

"We got there and everyone was drinking, so Coral and I played catch up. Within the hour we were both trashed and the cops had pulled up to the school. They didn’t arrest any of us, but told us we had to leave the private property. No one was okay to drive so we all started walking back home.

"We passed the town water tower and a few people had the genius idea of climbing up to the top. Coral... she wanted to... she climbed up, too."

"No," I gasp. He doesn't have to tell me much more because I'm starting to put the pieces together, but he tells me anyway.

"I tried to stop her... I told her it was a bad idea... but Coral was determined and hard to argue with. She was used to getting what she wanted. She eventually won out and climbed to the top while I stayed on the ground with the others. The next few minutes are blurry. I remember hearing screaming... it all happened so fast."

Tears have started to fall from his beautiful gray eyes and all I want to do is kiss his tears and pain away.

"One minute I see her on the ladder, only a few steps from the top, the next minute she's on the ground. I ran over to her lifeless body and checked for breathing, but she wasn't. It was all just a blur. I know when the ambulance showed up she was in my arms and I was rocking her back and forth, but it was too late. She died on impact.

"I remember not being okay for months. I wouldn't talk to anyone and I wouldn't eat. I ended up not going to college in the fall either. I binge drank and one night I decided to hell with women. If Coral's death could rip me apart the way it did, rip my insides out and make it to where I didn’t want to take another breath, then I never wanted to feel that way again."

He lifts his hand that's making finger designs on my stomach, and moves it to his chest where his tattoo is.

"That's the night I got this. I wanted a reminder of how I felt at that moment. I thought I was going to be with Coral forever, but nothing lasts forever. Someone will always die. I left the tattoo parlor that night feeling different. I knew that once my heartache started to lighten, things would get better. I would never feel that way again because I had made the conscious choice not to.

"Then one night I was at a club and I met a really hot girl. We talked briefly at the bar and then had sex in the bathroom. Afterwards she gave me her card."

He looks down at me and gives me a deep, throaty laugh, "Her card, I mean who does that? Turns out she was in the business and thought I'd be good at it. We kept in touch for a little while; nothing seemed to be going well for me at home, so I decided to try it. It ended up being great. I got to have long, emotionless sex with women who knew what the hell they were doing. What nineteen year old doesn't want that?"

He rolls over and moves his body over mine, resting his weight on his forearms. We're face to face, and his eyes are penetrating into mine.

"Until I met you," he whispers huskily. "I knew from the second I saw you that you were different, that you were trouble. I was dancing at my party, completely focused on the threesome I was about to have, and then you caught my eye. How could you not? You're beautiful."

He dips his face down until his lips brush against mine. I moan at the feeling his warm lips bring to my body.

"I had seen you before, of course. I'd been in Tawny's room several times, but I couldn't believe you were there, in my house. Especially because Tawny wasn't even living there anymore.

"Later that night, when I tried to find you, you weren't there. I thought it was some kind of dream, until the next morning when I saw you in my kitchen."

"You tried to find me?"

"Yeah, I... I wanted to see why you were at my house. Over the last month I've gotten to know you. You're like no one I've ever met before. There's no agenda, you don't want anything from me," he looks down at his naked body hovering over mine in bed. "Or at least you didn't before tonight."

Jared winks and then rolls back off me so we're lying side to side. "You're innocent and naive, yet I see a little bit of a bad girl in you. Every time I'm with you I want to know more. I think deep down I knew you weren't interested in porn that day I took you to set. It was more of a test, to see if you were infatuated with me. See in my eyes, if you were looking for something from me you would have pretended to be a porn star and had sex with me, but you were so repulsed. I saw how genuine you were when you said you had no idea that's what I did. It was refreshing.

"I've spent the last several weeks getting to know you and you're the closest friend I have. All these other people who claim to be my friends are just in it for what I can do for them. You genuinely like to be around me, or at least I think you like to."

"I do. You're my best friend, Jared."

"I haven't had this since Coral. I didn't realize how much I missed it. I tried to avoid it for so long, but I never realized I would crave it... and I crave it with you."

I smile up into his eyes, taking in the depths of his gray, the sparkle that seems to have taken over the dullness. My hands lift to wrap around his neck and I pull him closer to me.

"I'm glad I met you, Jared," I smile and then pull his lips to mine. I kiss him, satisfying the need I have for him in this moment. Our kiss is intimate and awakens my need for him again. His lips massage mine and our tongues meet in a slow embrace.

We break the kiss and I quickly get up to grab another condom. I get back in bed and slowly roll it over Jared's erection. I move my legs and wrap them around Jared's waist as he enters me slowly. I take him inch by inch, his cock sending my body ablaze.

We don't rush. We cherish each other's bodies with every touch, every sensuous kiss. My body slowly builds up to its release and I whimper as I come at the same time he does. We continue to kiss until our lips are raw from passion and I fall asleep in his embrace. I know this is a one-time thing, but I've never been happier than I am in this moment.

Chapter Ten

I wake up to a continuous buzzing noise coming from somewhere in the dark room. I'm exhausted and my eyes and body do not want to wake up yet. I'm lying naked on my stomach and when I reach out for Jared, the bed's empty. This wakes me up. I roll over and reach up for the bedside lamp to light the hotel room. It takes me a second to adjust to the brightness of the bulb and when I look around, Jared is gone.

"Great," I groan. He probably bolted the second he woke up, regretting his brief indiscretion with me.

I hear the buzzing again and remember why I woke up in the first place. I search around the room, looking for the culprit that woke me from my peaceful sleep. I finally narrow it down to my purse and realize it's my phone vibrating. Before I reach it the buzzing stops, just to start up again a few seconds later. I grasp it in my hand and tap the answer icon on my smart phone.

"Hello," my voice comes out groggily.

"Where the hell are you two? Jared is ruining his career every time he doesn't show up to a shoot!" Kelly's yelling and I have to pull the phone a few inches from my ear to save my eardrums. "You better get him to his shoot today because he can't afford to miss this one."

"Kelly, I don't know where he is."

"What do you mean you don’t know where he is? The one text he so graciously sent me, after my hundreds of texts to him, said he was at some festival with you."

I take a deep breath; I'm not prepared for the wrath of Kelly this early in the morning. "Honest, Kelly. I just woke up and he's not here. I don't know where he is."

"Well, you better find him and get him here within the hour. The address is...," Kelly proceeds to give me the address of a studio outside of Los Angeles. Today Jared is shooting for the largest online distributor of porn.

"Alright, if I find him I'll get him there. I promise, Kelly," as I say the last word I hear the front door of the hotel room open. I look over to the entryway to make sure it's Jared and it is.

"He just walked in, Kelly. We'll see you soon." I hang up before she can yell at me some more and toss my cellphone on the bed. I look back over to Jared and he's showered and dressed in yesterday's clothing. Even in dirty clothes he looks like a sex god. He has a paper bag in one hand and is holding a drink holder with two coffees in the other.

"I brought us breakfast," he says cheerfully. He places the paper bag and coffee on the small table that the hotel room has provided. He looks over at me and a grin spreads over his cheeks. He looks me up and down, approvingly. It's then that I realize I’m still naked and standing in front of him. He walks over to me slowly and places a delicate kiss on my forehead.

"Last night was-"

"We've got to go."

We both speak at the same time, but my words stand out.

"Why are you in a rush?" His hand comes up to gently stroke the long locks of hair that have fallen across my face. He pushes my hair behind my ears, and his touch starts to stir back last night’s feelings for him.

"Kelly says you need to be at the studio in an hour. I figure it will take us that long to get there, so we need to leave now."

"I'm not shooting today."

"Jared, you have to. You've missed so much already. Kelly says this could be the end of your career if you keep missing your shoots, and she threatened to fire me-"

"First of all," he says glaring at me, looking angry. "Kelly doesn't have the power to fire you, only I do. Second, my career will be just fine if I miss today's shoot."

"Jared, you can’t keep missing work. This is important."

"You want me to work? After everything that happened last night between us you actually want me to continue doing porn?"

I don't know what he wants me to say. He has always made his feelings clear in the past. I almost feel insulted that he thinks I would turn last night into more than it was.

I pull away from him and start to search the room for my clothes. I find my panties and shorts first and slip them on. My bra is the next item of clothing I find.

"I'm under no misunderstanding about what last night was. You don't want a relationship, you've made that very clear." I clasp my bra in the back and pull the straps over my shoulders before adjusting my breasts in the cups. "You were having a hard time after running into your would be brother-in-law, and you needed to be comforted. I'm your best friend, so I comforted you in the way you needed. It was great... the best, but that's all it was. You get to go back to being Brandon Boner and I'll go back to being your assistant, and we can put this behind us. I don't want this to ruin our friendship."