Page 36 of Left In The Dark

“Then say no.”

“No?” He looks flabbergasted.

“Yeah. You do know how to say no, don’t you?”

He scoffs, standing all the way up and adjusting his clothes. “Of course I do.”

“Let’s see if that’s true, then.” I lean back, tucking myself back into my pants as he eyes my movements. “You can’t come or see your friends until Saturday.”

His lips rub together and he swallows hard.

“Okay, let’s try again . . . Go home and wash my cum off in the shower. All of it.”

His cheeks flush and mortification comes over him as he opens his mouth. “No.”

My lips tilt. “One more. When you leave here, text Hayden and ask him to come over.”

“No.” He answers faster this time.

“Good . . .” I step forward until the tips of our shoes touch. “Boy.” I grip the back of his neck with my fingers, pressing my forehead to his. “Looks like you can say it after all, and you always should when you don’t want something.”

“I didn’t really get my days mixed up,” he blurts.

I lift my head from his, tilting it to the side. “What happened, then?”

“I sent the wrong email.” His cheeks sink inward. “My dad sent me home, saying only I could fuck something up in less than an hour. I didn’t want to go, but I did.”

“That would have been a good time to say no. Everyone makes mistakes. It’s his fault for the lack of training. You can’t expect someone to get everything right on their first day with zero experience in what you’re supposed to be doing.”

“Doubt he’d see it that way.”

“Doesn’t matter what he sees when it’s the truth. You don’t need that stupid office job anyway. It’s not like it’s what you really want to do.”

“Yeah, but it’s the safe and logical decision,” he retorts.

“No one ever got anywhere by always playing it that way,” I say under my breath.

His eyes blink. “I suppose you do have a point.” He rubs the back of his head. “I don’t think I would really have gone to Hayden’s.”

“No?”

“No,” he says firmly, and a sense of pride comes over me that I can’t help but let sink deeper. When something feels too good, it’s hard to ignore. Great, looks like he might have me hating myself a little too. Except the feeling doesn’t come, especially when he looks at me with those damn lost eyes. “I . . .” He tugs at his shirt. “ I didn’t like being jealous, and I thought if I got off with someone else, I wouldn’t be anymore. That it was all just my hormones out of whack.”

“Was it?”

“I want to say yes.”

“But what word would match the truth more?”

“No. I mean part of it may have been me being horny but . . .” He laughs, looking away from me. “I didn’t want you using anyone else but me.”

While I have the truth pouring out of him, I think about asking him about the new apartment and my dad, but then I change my mind. He’ll let me know Saturday. He’ll show up where I tell him to instead of where he’s supposed to be moving.

A car drives by and Blake jumps, shielding his face. That’s when I realize making him jealous and wanting to wear my cum everywhere isn’t enough. I need others to know he wants these things too. That he wants me. That’s where the true power lies, isn’t it?

“I should see if I get a call back from that agency I’m waiting on. They said no later than next Tuesday, so maybe today will be my lucky day.”

“Could be. Never know. Then you can really give your dad a huge ‘fuck you’ when you see him.”