Chapter 6
Hot and smokey breath is what entails the hair on the back of my neck to rise. I feel so breathless when ringed and inked fingers trace like a feather from my sternum down to my stomach filled with anticipation. It isn't until I'm being kissed in the place reserved for his tongue only.
"Ah! Fuck-"
It feels so warm and so fucking erotic—his desirous for my taste. My eyes remain tightly shut as my fingers find a fistful of hair. I'm not used to hanging onto so much hair, but I think I've developed a new like for it.
I want to close my thighs in on his head, but he won't let me. His large hands are planted on my thighs to keep me spread. Though, being under his grab only heightens my burning pleasure. I'm moaning the minute he makes me tremble with only his godsend tongue.
But he parts before he can finish me. He hums so low as if his meal had been that good.
Panting, I open my eyes and look down to find the greenest eyes staring back at me. He's smirking so devilishly. His stubble tickles my skin as he bites my inner thigh. In his thick accent, he then says, "How your boyfriend won't fuck you numb is beyond me."
I gasp myself awake from my very amiss dream. I feel hot and sweaty, but it's only my cheeks that are in the deepest shade of red; it burns.
I did not just dream about that man.
I'm anxiously breathing, trying my best to understand what went wrong. From me being inexplicably terrified of him to becoming aroused as I think back to the hands that had been around my neck.
I need a shower.
Matt had left my apartment sometime in the middle of the night. He had brotherly duties that involved driving his sister to school in the morning. It meant I had to sleep alone, but it was alright. I sleep just fine alone.
I throw on my bathrobe and walk barefoot across the cold flooring to get to my shared bathroom. I shut the door after turning the lights on. I look into the mirror only to see a tired girl in a place she doesn't want to be in. There's only so much to look forward to, I have to remind her.
With a sigh, I take my robe off and begin to undress out of the t-shirt and underwear I fell asleep in. I then take my hair out of the bun I had it in when I decide it's time to wash my hair. I turn away from the mirror and head for the shower.
After I finish, I comb through my wet hair as my bathrobe hugs at my body. I don't have anywhere to be, not until my shift at the bar, but I still decide to blow dry my hair.
There's a knocking on the bathroom door that I heard faintly over the sound of my blow dryer. I turn it off as my hair is pretty much dried and in its natural wavy state.
August.
I huff because I have not seen or spoken to her at all. My mind thinks back to what Harry said. I feel a little betrayed over her actions of talking bad about me. I'm having trouble deciding whether to confront her about it or not.
"JoJo! I need to pee."
I reach for the knob and open the bathroom door for her. "I-"
"Oh, thank god!" She walks right into the bathroom with me. "Don't look."
I unplug my blow dryer as August so freely uses the toilet while I'm still there. I don't look, of course. I only clean up after myself, something she fails to do.
"All done!" She says. I hear the toilet flush. "Babe, I haven't seen you in forever, it seems like."
I want to remind her she saw me the other day but didn't feel the need to say hi. She was all over Harry. I shrug instead then look at her as she comes to the sink to wash her hands. "I know. It's like we keep missing each other."
"I was thinking we could hang out today? I don't have class! Well... I do, but I'm not going."
I grab my dirty clothes from the floor where I left them. I then scrunch my nose. "Oh, I don't know. I need to catch up on my coursework. Also, I need to clean the place, Aug."
She groans and turns to look at me after drying her hands off. Her wild curls are admiringly all over the place. How she looks so pretty so early in the morning always baffles me. "JoJo," she says my name. "What's up with you? C'mon, I wanna hang out."
I can't confront her. In all honestly, I'm afraid to. I know how defensive and a little aggressive she gets whenever we get into the tiniest argument. I bite my lip. "There's just a lot going on, you know... I'm sorry, August."
"Baby," she steps closer to me and cups my cheeks. I look up since she's a bit taller than me. "Are you having boy troubles again? Please tell me you dumped Matthew."
I shake my head. "No," I tell her. "Matt and I are good. He was over last night and we-"
"Fucked?"
I let out a breath and look away. A slight laugh escapes me because I'm not quite sure if what we did counts as fucking. Her hands then slide off my cheeks.
"Wow, at least you're finally getting dicked down," she says, though with a tone that sounded a bit sarcastic.
My cheeks feel flushed over her comment she made. I watch her step out of the bathroom. I hate that she told Harry my business.
"So are we hanging out or not, Jo?" She asks from the hall.
She's getting upset, I can sense it. I know she doesn't particularly like Matt, which is why I avoid speaking about him, but she brought him up. I take in a deep breath to suck it up before stepping out into the hall with her.
"We can hang out," I give in—as always. "But please, help me clean the apartment when we get back. It's a mess, Aug."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" She tells me as she moves to her room. "I'm gonna get dressed now! It's gonna be fun."
I stand in the hallway in my bathrobe with my dirty clothes tucked in my arm. I sigh once more before I head into my bedroom to get ready as well.
___
I sit in the passenger's seat of her car. I'm looking out the window and I squint as rays of sunlight hit my face. Although it rained all night, it's going to be a hot one today, according to the forecast.
I could feel the heat as we drive. I bring my hand up as a shield to keep my eyes from going blind.
"Hey, August?" I then speak. "This isn't the way to The Grove." I look at her.
With her red-tinted Ray-Bans on, a smirk forms onto her glossy lips. "I know," she says with one hand on the wheel. "We're making a quick stop. You don't mind, right?"
"Well-" I do mind. I want to tell her just that, but it's too late. She's already parking near the damn tattoo parlor. I'm feeling my heart race faster than the first time she dragged me to this filthy place.
"Come on! I just want to say hi to my baby."
Her baby.
I cringe at the thought of Harry being her baby as I watch August get out of her parked car. She walks past the parking meter in her jeans shorts that her ass cheeks are hanging out from. I get out, taking my white handbag with me. I step onto the curb with my white sneakers and I tug down the ends of my jade green minidress. I thought we were going to shop or try on clothes that we can't afford for the hell of it. I didn't think she'd bring me to a place I don't want to be at, again.
August leaves me behind as I unzip my handbag to search for a sufficient amount of quarters. I hope we don't take long, as I only have enough quarters for fifteen minutes.
I don't know why I'm stressing over the damn parking meter. It's not like I'll get a ticket. August would. Still, I slide in all the loose change I have into the slot of the parking meter.
I start walking towards the tattoo shop that she already entered. As I walk in, my first instinct is to check the dirty checkered floors.
I think they've mopped since the last time I was here.
I then look up and I don't see August anywhere.
"You're back."
I look at the friendly face I recognize so well. I mean, it's pretty impossible to forget a face like Zayn's. His hair is still in the same shade of baby blue, but it seems as if his dark roots are growing out already.
As he stands behind the counter, he's taking off black gloves as a toothpick is clenched down between his teeth. "To get that butterfly done, I hope," he talks to me again.
I smile and approach him by the black countertop. "No, no... Not getting anything tattooed, yet. Sorry," I say as I meet his golden eyes. "Did you see my friend, by any chance? The one I was with the other time... Curly hair?"
Zayn hums then shoots out his toothpick into the bin by his feet. He then nods. "She went to the backroom where Harry is."
"Oh," I say. I'm not sure what to do now. It's not like I can head back there to be with her. She left me behind for a reason and it's because she wants to be alone with Harry.
It's kinda annoying.
"So are you sure? No tattoo?"
I let myself giggle. "No tattoo... but thank you. I'm sure you're a talented tattoo artist."
He nods in agreement then says, "Mm, it's your loss."
I watch him turn around to the open sink where he begins to wash his hands under. At least Zayn is sanitary. I can't say the same for Harry.
I turn my head when I feel a set of eyes on me. I lock eyes with a man with sunken cheekbones. He's sitting on a chair holding a tattoo gun over his forearm.
Is he tattooing himself?
He breaks eye contact with me when he nudges a built man that stands tall next to him. Then, two brunettes are looking at me up and down.
The longer I look back at them, the more I think I've seen them before. I lean off the counter and straighten my posture as I feel uncomfortable from the obvious stares. I swallow and finally look away.
I step back from the counter and turn to the leather couch. I stop from sitting myself down when I notice magazines of busty women stacked on the coffee table of the waiting area.
Damn August.
"Wait, Harry-"
I hear August's voice after a loud opening of a door. I turn to see Harry storming out of the backroom dressed in all black when it's a hot day. He looks angry and immediate curiosity hits me as to why he's so angry.
"I said, fuck off!" He yells at August.
My friend, with her sunglasses tucked up into her wild hair only looks taken back from how he raised his voice at her. Knowing her, she won't stay quiet for much longer.
"Harry," Zayn says from where he stands. "Fucking relax, yeah?"
An angry Harry runs fingers through his long curls as he stands in the middle of the tattoo parlor. His jaw clenches so tight, I fear for his teeth. "Don't you fucking tell me to relax. This is my goddamn tattoo parlor. I fucking own it!" He yells at Zayn then knocks over the tray near the man that had been holding the tattoo gun.
As Zayn holds his hands in surrender to stand down, the other man stands up from his chair. "Jesus fuck, Harold! I'm tattooing myself over here!"
"Louis, shut the fuck up!"
I cross my arms as I watch this man's anger unfold. His hands are shaking, I notice. I'm not sure if he's alright at all.
"Why the hell are you so angry at me for?!" August decides to bite back. "It's not my fault you can't get your dick hard!"
Oh, god.
I hadn't noticed I've covered my mouth from what August said to Harry. Louis, as well as the other man that had been staring at me, laughed from the revelation. Zayn, on the other hand, is minding his own business and I think he's sketching on a pad.
Harry, though, is panting. He's undoubtedly ready to burst at any second. "You little fucking-"
"Don't you fucking dare," August warns, cutting him off. "Save your damn breath. I'm leaving!"
My friend starts stomping towards me in her thick platformed boots. She then says, "C'mon, Jo. Let's get the fuck out of here. A man who can't fucking perform is a waste."
I can smell the toxicity in the air the two of them create. I'm in shock by what's going on. Yet, I'm also a little upset to think August dragged me to the tattoo shop for the possibility of sex with Harry.
After what August said, I doubt Harry is going to stop there either.
As I figured, he says, "She's not going anywhere."
I'm not?
I look at Harry. He's stomping right behind August. He reaches for the countertop that acts as a door. He slams it open to get to me first.
August looks just as confused as me. "And why the fuck would she not go anywhere?!"
"Don't act like that... as if you haven't been a horrible fucking friend to her."
"Um-" I begin as I'm caught in the middle of a crossfire, a goddamn war they started. I feel my cheeks warm up again because I have a feeling Harry is about to put me on the spot.
"Go ahead, Jo... Tell her what I told you."
Fuck me.
I begin to slowly shake my head. I don't want to do this. Not right now and possibly not ever.
"What? What the fuck did he tell you, Joelle?" August is looking at me with a hand on her hip. I hate when she talks to me like that—in her condescending tone as if I'm a child. I'm not in the wrong here, for crying out loud.
Damn Harry, too.
"I-" I can't get anything out. It feels like my throat is closing in on me.
"Don't let her walk all over you, angel."
"Angel?" August scoffs as she picks up on the pet name Harry just called me. She lowers her hand from her hip. "Don't tell me the two of you are fucking."
"Yeah, and what's it to you?" Harry smirks when August's face drops.
"N-No!" I manage to defend myself. I will not let Harry take me down like that and imbed the idea that I'm sleeping with him or cheating on my boyfriend in her head. "No, August, I am not-"
"Dammit, Joelle!" August snaps at me in a matter of seconds. "Drop the fucking good girl act. I'm sick of it!"
"Aug-"
"Screw the both of you! No, screw each other as if I give a flying fuck!"
I watch the angriest version of August leave the tattoo parlor without giving me the chance to talk. I fall hurt to think she would believe I would ever sleep with someone she liked. It only adds to the hurt I already felt when Harry revealed she has been talking bad about me.
She left and abandoned me cold in a shop full of men. I hadn't noticed the place had fallen so silent until the nameless man let out a whistle.
"I'm telling you, Liam. We'd make good TV," I hear Louis say to him.
Harry then snickers right next to me. "I did you a favor. Fuck her."
His words only make me frown. Does Harry really think he did me a favor? I turn, looking up at him in pure disbelief. I don't want to cause another scene in front of the men I assume he works with, but fuck does this man make it impossible. "You're an asshole," I felt like I had to say.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me. I said you're an asshole."
Harry is smirking. The devilish look, the same one from my dream, makes an appearance. I almost forget how to breathe when I remember it all too well. Watching him, I'm highly sure he's finding pleasure in my current state of pain.
"You just implied to the girl I live with we're sleeping together and she believed it. She might not be a very good friend, Harry, but she lives with me. You had no fucking right to meddle and mess that up for me. That makes you an asshole."
The smirk has faded and has transformed into a pucker and pursed lips. I'm not yelling and maybe my calm demeanor is making him understand his wrongdoings.
"Do you wanna go on a walk?" He then says out of the blue.
"What?"
"I asked if you want to go on a fucking walk."
_
please, i've outlined this entire story last night and i'm not ready for it.
thank you for joining me. love ya!
mila.