Page 11 of Under His Protection
As I lie in bed, I run through the events of the day in my head. It’s sort of a habit of mine. I think about what I did that day, and then I plan for what I’m going to do the next day.
I’m looking forward to seeing Philip tomorrow. Once school starts and I have homework to do, I won’t have as much free time.
I close my eyes and recall how it felt being with him on this bed. I can still smell him, his faint cologne, his skin. I remember what it felt like sitting astride him, feeling his erection pressing into me. I could feel the heat of him even through my shorts, and I can’t imagine what it would feel like if we were both naked and had privacy and time to let nature take its course. I think it would be scorching, and I can’t wait to find out.
My phone chimes quietly with a text notification. I glance at the screen and smile.
Philip – Sweet dreams, Hale. miss you already
Smiling, I text him back.
Me – I miss you, too.
“Let me guess,” Melissa says quietly in the darkened room. “That was from your boyfriend.”
I smile. “Yeah. He was just saying goodnight.”
Chapter 4 – Philip
After leaving Haley, I head home. My apartment is on one of the top floors of the McIntyre apartment building, which is owned by my boss, Shane McIntyre, CEO and co-founder of the company I work for. He reserves several of the top floors of the building for his employees. Free rent in an upscale, secured apartment building is one of our company perks.
Haley’s father—Mack Donovan—lives just down the hall from me with his new wife, Erin. Sometimes that’s a good thing, sometimes it’s not. When Haley would come over to visit her dad and Erin, I’d usually get to see her. With Mack and Erin chaperoning, of course. Now Haley and I have her dad’s permission to date, but if she comes over to my place, and her dad gets wind of it, I can’t help thinking he’s wondering what we’re up to.
I really don’t want Mack Donovan imagining what I’m doing with his daughter.
After spending much of today with Haley, I’m way too wired to sleep, so I head to the spare bedroom for a workout. It’s arm day, so I do some serious work with free weights. Then, for cardio, I get in a two-mile run on the treadmill.
I do my best to stay in shape. My job on Jake McIntyre’s surveillance team isn’t usually dangerous. My job consists primarily of monitoring the comings and goings of customers or suspects, but sometimes it gets physical, so I’m careful to stay fit.
After completing my workout, I grab a quick shower. I’m still stoked after the impromptu make-out session with Haley earlier, so I take care of a lingering hard-on in the shower. Clean-up is so much easier this way.
I’m not going to be able to sleep anytime soon, so I pull on a pair of knit shorts and crash on the living room sofa. After flipping through the channels on the TV, I find an old movie I like—Aliens. It’s a classic. And I’ve seen it so many times I could recite the dialog by heart.
While the movie’s playing, I text Haley to wish her goodnight.
She texts me back right away, wishing me the same.
God, I wish we could live together.
For some reason, I feel unsettled about Haley moving into a campus dorm room. It’ll certainly be an adjustment for her, too. My mind drifts back to earlier this afternoon, when I unloaded Haley’s boxes from the back of my pickup. I saw how many guys checked her out as they passed by. I’m not surprised. The girl definitely turns heads. And when you get to know her, and you realize how sweet and kind she is, and then how smart she is, she’s even more irresistible.
I’ve dated a few girls in my life. Some of my relationships bordered on serious, others didn’t. In the end, none of them lasted for one reason or another. I have enough life experience to recognize a keeper when I see one, and Haley’s a keeper.
The problem is, I’m her first boyfriend. That scares the shit out of me, because most girls move on from their first boyfriends. In a lot of cases, first boyfriends arepractice boyfriends. The girls eventually move on to date a few more guys before they finally realize what they want in a partner and are ready to settle down.
Basically, I’m probably doomed.
I don’t want to be Haley’sfirstboyfriend. I want to be herlastboyfriend. I want to be the guy she ultimately decides she wants for life. But is that really fair to her when she’s never had any other boyfriend? She’s had no one to compare me to, good or bad.
The statistics are not in my favor.
God, I’m so fucked.
I just know she’s going to break my heart. Not intentionally, or out of spite. That’s just how it goes. I’ll be her practice boyfriend, and eventually she’ll move on to someone else. Maybe she’ll meet someone at her university. Someone who’s as smart as she is. Maybe another pre-law student or an engineer or a future doctor. I can’t compete with that.
After the movie ends, and the credits roll, I turn off the TV and head to the bathroom to get ready for bed.
My extra-long king-size bed feels laughably huge in comparison to Haley’s new twin bed.
