Ice Cold

12

When I got back to the room, I was surprised to find that James was awake. He had the lights off, sitting up shirtless on his bed and watching something on his laptop. He glanced at me with raised eyebrows when I walked in and shut the door behind me before dropping my keys on my desk.

"And where have you been all night?" James asked in a teasing tone, pausing whatever it was on his computer.

"Just went for a drive," I told him, slipping my shoes off and pushing them under my bed.

The two of us stared at each other for a few moments and James started grinning, shutting his laptop and pushing it off his legs.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" he asked, amused.

"I'm not staring at you any sort of way."

"Only you are," he said."You're giving me the eyes. Are you sexually frustrated or something? Haven't gotten any in a while?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "You're ruining your chances at getting anything I was thinking of offering you."

"No," he said, standing from the bed."I promise I'll shut up. I'm not trying to lose one of the very few opportunities you're giving me."

The more rational part of my brain knew that hooking up with James at that moment wasn't going to solve anything. It wasn't going to take away all my thoughts of Landon, physical and emotional ones. But it would give me a moment away from those thoughts. It would let me forget momentarily and let me relax, so I motioned for James to come closer and he obliged.

A moment later, James had his lips on mine. I pulled him closer with my hand on the back of his neck and opened my mouth for him to deepen the kiss.

This sort of thing was easy with James at this stage in our friendship. We each knew what the other liked and we both knew neither of us would catch feelings. It was the perfect scenario for two guys who only wanted sex with nothing else involved. I knew that was why James wanted it with me so often, because too many of the others, guys and girls and anyone else alike, got too attached, and he didn't have to worry about that with me. It was a relief, easy, and less complicated.

James walked me backwards, his hands on my hips as we backed into my bed. He laid me down and pulled his lips from mine to start kissing up my neck and jaw.

"Before you yell at me, I'm not going to leave a mark," he said, breathing against my skin.

"That's what you said last time too," I told him. "Get off my neck."

James obliged and brought his lips back to mine. He put his hands beneath my shirt, moving it up until we pulled it off.

***

I was too busy writing to notice Landon walk into the coffee shop the next morning. My eyes were zeroed in on my screen, my fingers furiously moving over my keyboard.

I only slept for about four hours after hooking up with James, and it wasn't a good sleep. He had fallen asleep in my bed and spent the whole night snoring in my ear. I was waking up every so often until eventually the sun started rising and I made my way to the coffee shop without James even stirring once.

The coffee shop had been open for a couple hours by now and I had already finished my second latte of the morning. I hadn't noticed someone sat across from me until a brand new latte was pushed in my line of vision. I glanced over my laptop to find Landon glaring at me. I looked down at the latte then back up at him and grinned.

"You didn't punch me last night," I told him.

"I know," he said, his voice low. "My anger still got the better of me."