AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Auden got the movie queued up and then turned off the lights. They watched the first twenty minutes mostly in silence with the occasional laugh from O’Neal while they finished their tacos. Auden paused it when Len got up to throw away their plates. O’Neal pulled out her phone and didn’t look his way, blatantly ignoring him.
When Len came back from the kitchen, he handed Auden another beer, and then lifted two bottles in front of O’Neal. “Coke orwater?”
O’Neal set her phone aside and lifted her gaze to Len, some unreadable flicker of emotion crossing her face. She glanced at Auden and then back to Lennox. “Definitely Coke.”
Lennox looked pleased for some reason and handed her the soda. “Excellent choice.”
Auden’s spidey senses had already been picking up on some weird energy in the room, but now they were pinging hard. Regardless, he couldn’t help but watch O’Neal open her soda and then slowly bring it to her mouth. He felt hyperaware of everything. The way her mouth looked, the way she licked her bottom lip to catch a drop. It was like one of those slow-motion soda commercials that was supposed to make you thirsty. He was suddenly fucking parched.
And confused.
She set the drink aside and patted the spot next to her. “Thanks for the drink.”
“No problem.” Lennox took his spot in the corner of the couch, draping his arm over the back, and then, to Auden’s horror, O’Neal shifted over and settled herself against his side as if she’d done it a hundred times before.
“You can start the movie back up,” Len said, casual as ever as he twisted a lock of O’Neal’s dark hair around his finger.
What. The. Actual. Fuck?
Lennox nodded toward the TV, but Lindsey Lohan stayed frozen on the screen. Auden tossed aside the remote. “Okay. I suspected it earlier, but now I know. You two are screwing with me.”
O’Neal’s eyebrows arched, a mild expression on her face. “What?”
“Youknow what. Since when are you two so damn cozy?” he asked, setting his beer aside and leaning forward, bracing his forearms on his thighs. “You’re practically in his lap.”
“So?” she volleyed back, challenge in her voice.
That sassy tone did things to him it shouldn’t, but he was too irritated to let the feeling distract him. “Soyou two hardly know each other.”
“Well, that’s not really true,” Len said with a little shrug. “We kind of got all the awkward new friends stuff out of the way early. I mean, we’ve already kissed, and you did some pretty personal things to her in the back seat of the car with me there.”
Auden’s back teeth pressed together.
“Plus,” Len went on, “we hung out for a good while the morning after you two hooked up. Got to know each other. Connected, honestly.” He wrapped the lock of her hair round and round his finger like a taunt. “Then when you decided you were no longer interested in helping O’Neal out on her quest, she came to me to see if I was open to being that person for her.”
“The hell she did,” Auden said, his gaze pinning O’Neal to the spot. “I don’t believe that for one second. That you—O’Neal Lory—went up to Lennox, a guy you barely know andmybest friend, and asked him to just step into my place and fuck you instead?” He scoffed. “Yeah, okay. Sure you did. You can’t even say the wordfuckwithout blushing.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I know how to sayfuck youjust fine.”
Len coughed.
Auden’s attention swung back to Lennox. “Don’t, dude. You’re messing with me. You put her up to this. This has your fingerprints all over it.”
“You don’t know anything,” O’Neal announced. “We’ve kissed since that first time. I like Len.”
“Bullshit,” Auden said, getting angry now. “Look, you don’t have to do this, all right? I get it. You’re upset, and Len’s helping you get back at me. Message received. I know I deserve it. I was a dick. But you don’t have to continue to pretend—”
Before he could finish, O’Neal shifted on the couch, turning her body and climbing onto Lennox’s lap, straddling him. She grabbed his loosened tie and then dipped down and kissed him.
Auden’s words died on his lips.
Lennox slid his hands onto O’Neal’s hips and held her there as they kissed—kissed like two people who were into each other, two people who had done it multiple times before. The glow of the TV had turned them silver, and Auden couldn’t look away.
Part of him was so pissed at himself, so horrified that it was happening. He’d done this. He’d driven sheltered O’Neal Lory to this—whateverthiswas. But another, darker, deeper part of him had a sharp bolt of arousal ripping through him.
Andthatwas a big part of the problem.
O’Neal broke away from this kiss, her chest rising and falling with heavy breaths, her hardened nipples visible points beneath her T-shirt. Her focus was firmly on Lennox. Len reached up and tucked a hair behind her ear, tenderness and heat in his eyes.
