Page 51 of Rescued By Midnight

I cry out, my hips lifting, pumping against my own fingers to increase the friction on my clit. “I’m coming?—”

I reach out blindly with my free hand. He takes it in his.

He groans, squeezing my fingers and moving his hand up to the tip of his length so he can catch the seed that erupts.

We come together, holding hands. Our breathing seems suddenly loud in the quiet of the dark car.

Cody gives my hand another squeeze before letting me go. He reaches across me to get some tissue from the glove compartment, which he uses to wipe off his other hand. “Alice, that was amazing. How do you feel?”

“I feel bad.” I didn’t realize it until I said the words, but it’s true.

“What?” He looks puzzled as he faces me more fully. “Why the fuck would you feel bad, Wonderland?”

I think back to how all of this started. How Brayden grabbed me, and Cody came to rescue me, and then I yelled all of that stuff to Brayden about how I was sleeping with Landon and Cody and they’re better than him. Not my finest moment. I’m usually calm, cool. I don’t lose my shit like that.

Then I follow it up by…by masturbating with Cody in his car? What am I doing? I’m insane.

“Because I used you,” I say. “We did this because I was mad at Brayden.”

“No, we did this because we wanted to. Brayden had no fucking part in it.”

“I guess.”

“Were you thinking about Brayden when you were touching yourself and making those sweet little noises?”

I look down, embarrassed at how he noticed my sounds. “No, I wasn’t thinking of him.”

“I didn’t think so. And if that’s ‘using me,’ then you should use me as often and as selfishly as you desire.” He reaches for my hand and brings it to his mouth.

I watch, transfixed, as he licks up and down my fingers, cleaning them off.

“You taste fucking good, Wonderland.” His gaze meets mine, and I can’t look away.

ALICE - THEN

Cody’s light brown eyes met mine over the picnic table. “Please, Alice. I’m not saying to break up with the guy, but maybe give it some more time before jumping into an engagement?”

“He said you’d be jealous.” I shook my head and pulled my hands out of his reach. “He said you’d try to talk me out of it.”

Next to him, Landon gave me the kind of look a father would give his wayward daughter. “Alice, it isn’t that we’re jealous. It’s that we’re worried.”

“Can’t you be happy for me?” I pointed to my ring. “I’m going to get married. I’ve dreamed of this forever.”

They were incredibly handsome, sitting across from me at the picnic table in Blackberry Park. Landon’s beard made him look like royalty, like one of the Caperna princes. Cody, as usual, looked flirtatious, like the kind of playboy my mother used to warn me about.

Together, they spelled danger for my libido, revving me up, inciting treacherous fantasies.

Those fantasies could ruin everything Brayden and I were building together. A future, a family. Status within the church, and security.

“You have your whole life in front of you,” Cody said, his flirtatiousness fading as he focused on my face. He looked earnest, concerned.

“I know.” I stood up abruptly. “I have a life with Brayden. I love him, and all I wanted was your support. I guess I don’t have it.”

I tried not to cry as I walked away, but I couldn’t help my tears. I was crying partly because I was walking away from my two closest friends. Partly because they didn’t stop me.

ALICE - NOW

Back then, Cody had looked at me with a softness in his eyes, a vulnerability.