Page 27 of Torch

“Thank God, you’re here, Torch. That baked ziti we made was a disaster. You have to teach us how…” she paused when she finally looked up and saw Axel standing next to me with a smirk. Her mouth dropped open, and she gasped. “Torch!” she growled.

“What?” I played dumb.

Kira stormed toward me, with a pointed finger. “Your apartment privileges are revoked!”

Before I could defend myself, Axel grabbed her wrist, pulling her body to his. “Stop that, Tink. You’ve been avoiding me long enough.”

“Tink?” Brittney questioned with her brows bunched together.

Axel looked up from a flustered Kira, smirking. “I call her Tink because she’s tiny like Tinkerbell.”

I raised a brow at him because he’s been cracking jokes for the past hour calling me whipped, but he looked like he was right in the same boat as me. For as long as I’ve known Axel, he’s never given a girl a pet name.

“Awwww,” Brittney cooed, prompting a glare from Kira.

Kira opened her mouth to speak, but Axel leaned down and whispered in her ear. She squirmed, her face flushing red. He headed down the hall to her room, and she hurried after him. Once the door closed, Brit and I laughed and made our way to the kitchen.

As soon as I set the bags on the counter, I turned to face her. “Now, where is my⁠—”

I didn’t even get to finish my sentence before she leaped into my arms, wrapping her legs and arms around me. My hands held onto her ass as she tucked her face into my neck.

There was that feeling again.

My heart was beating a mile a minute. I embraced her, feeling more complete than I had ever been in my life. I knew what I felt about Brittney was the real deal. The two days we spent apart seemed like an eternity. And we talked at least four times a day. But it seemed like not being able to physically touch and see her was harder than I thought it would be.

“You really did miss me, huh?” I questioned with a chuckle.

She lifted her head, staring into my eyes with such intensity. “I really did. Don’t ever go that long without seeing me again. Okay?” she said softly.

“I got you, beautiful.”

She pecked my lips a few times before tucking her face into my neck again. Right there in the kitchen, we just held on to one another, not wanting to let go. I knew we were supposed to take the time to see if this was what we wanted, but as crazy as it sounded, I didn’t need more time.

I was sure Brit was the one for me.

I just hoped she felt the same way.

Chapter Ten

BRITTNEY

Last night, we had so much fun with Axel and Christian. After we ate, we played a couple of card games that eventually turned into a drinking game. We didn’t get nearly as drunk as we did in Vegas, though. Because of that, I was able to pay close attention to my friend.

She likes Axel. A lot.

It’d been years since I'd seen her interact with a man beyond physical attraction. Now, don’t go judging my bestie. About four years ago, her boyfriend broke her heart in the most unforgivable way. From that point on, Kira said fuck love. She didn’t have any interest in being in a relationship ever again.

But last night, I saw it in her eyes. She was digging Axel on a deeper level. That was the reason she had been avoiding him. I didn’t know what would come of those two because Kira could be really stubborn.

The feeling of something hard pressed against my ass broke my thoughts and brought me back to reality. Last night, after we had taken several shots, we settled in the living room to watch a movie. Not even halfway through, Axel and Kira snuck off to her room.

With them gone, I finally built up enough courage to ask Christian to stay the night. After two days of not seeing him, I didn’t want him to go. Once I blew up my air mattress, I felt kind of bad for asking him to stay. For me, this thing was more than big enough. For him? It was shameful how his huge body engulfed my mattress. His legs hung off the end.

Christian assured me he was okay. He wanted to spend the night just as bad. He let me know that he had been waiting for me to extend the invitation. Sleeping in the confines of his arms had brought me the most peaceful sleep I’d had in years. Now that it was morning, I was dreading the fact that it was over.

“Good morning, beautiful?” he grunted into my ear.

Chills ran down my body at his deep baritone voice. It didn’t help that his hands were running amok over my body. He was caressing and squeezing me everywhere.