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Is it wrong to ask? Or wrong to ignore it?
I don't know.
Val opens the door, steps inside, moves straight to her room.
I stop outside the door.
"Come in. Please." She curls into herself. "If that's okay."
I step inside.
"I know I asked a lot yesterday."
Maybe, but I'm not opposed to being asked for more. Well, my dick isn't. Thankfully, the fucker is neutralized by the subject matter. For now. "Did something happen?"
"Huh?" She moves to the bed.
I close the door and lean against the wall. "With Archie?"
She sits and looks to me. "You mean, did we have sex?"
"No." I want to ask that, but I won't. Not now. "Did something trigger you?"
"No. That… We…" She shakes her head as she laughs.
What the fuck? I'm not following. At all.
"I… Last night, he didn't mean any of that. He figured out that you were listening. He figured out we were trying to seduce him. Well, that you were trying to help me. And he wanted to turn it back around."
I swallow hard, struggling to digest the information.
"It was his idea, but I went along with it too," she says. "To prove him wrong, at first."
"You lied to me?"
"I'm sorry. I feel sick about it. But I couldn't tell you because that would mean…"
That would mean she made me jealous on purpose. "Were you fucking with me?"
"No. Dare. I like you."
Val likes me.
"I didn't see it before. I don't know how. But I do now." She looks up at me. "And I should have said something earlier, but I wasn't ready to face it yet. That's the truth. I never wanted Archie, and I don't think I lied about that. I just didn't want you to say no. I wanted you there. I thought it was because I needed your help, and I do, but not as a wingman." Her eyes bore into mine. "I need you, Dare. I want you. In every way. And I get if you can't trust me. Or you need more time. Or you find my interlude un-arousing. I'm not saying you need to take your clothes off right now, though I wouldn't be opposed to it."
Fuck.
"You're the only person I trust with this, the only person I can trust with this."
"You want to have sex?"
"Yes. And not for practice this time. For real."
Chapter Thirty
VAL
"Fuck, Val." Dare looks me in the eye. "Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"After what we talked about?"
I nod. "I know it doesn't make sense, but that's why I need this. Why I need you. Because I know you'll protect me."
He nods.
"I don't expect you to go right now."
"No?"
"If you want to…" I want that. I really do. But it's hard to explain. I want to replace that memory. I want to share my body with someone I trust. Not someone. Dare. "I needed to tell you. I didn't realize it, but I did. It was weighing on me."
"About Archie?"
"No. That was fucked up, but it moved so fast, I barely caught up. And I am sorry I lied but I'm not too. Because it's what got me to finally see this. And I needed to see this." I swallow hard. "Are you mad?"
"A little."
"Only a little?"
He nods. "You didn't fuck him."
"And that overrides everything?"
"You think I'm not a man all of a sudden?" he asks.
"You said sex didn't have to mean anything."
"It always means something to you." He looks into my eyes. "It would have been a big deal."
It would have.
"I want this to mean something. But I want it to be for us, Val. Not because I pushed you to fuck Archie or because you need to prove something to yourself or because someone else hurt you. Because you need me."
"I do."
"Yeah?"
"So fucking badly." I flush. "I touched myself thinking of you last night. And the night before. And that morning."
"I heard."
"I knew it."
"You walked in on me this morning."
My flush deepens. "I knocked first."
"And waited half a second."
"I really wanted to talk to you, to tell you what happened." I laugh. "I wanted to be able to share everything again."
"That is the definition, yeah."
"That's not what I meant."
"I know." He smiles. "But it qualifies."
"It was kind of sexy. Not to objectify you. Or derail the conversation. Because this is important and I want to… I wish I'd told you earlier. I don't know why I waited. I guess I was worried about how you'd react."
His eye corners turn down. "I would have been stupid then."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, I would have been mad at you for trusting him. For not fighting him. For all sorts of stuff that's not your fault. That wasn't fair to you."
"Fuck, Dare, have you been taking best friend classes?"
He nods. "A Masterclass series, yeah."
"Who teaches it?" I ask.
"Oprah."
"Oprah?" I laugh at the absurdity of the media mogul teaching classes on relationship building. Even if she is known for her intimate friendship with Gail.
