This week, Sunday night is girls’ night. I love my girls like sisters, but I would not have wished bad sex on them if they’d cancelled this time.
We’re in Indie’s garden, because she has the best house out of all of us—out of the whole world, to be fair. I still haven’t told a soul what happened between Reid and me last night. Not that I need to set up a Facebook ad— which I could totally do, thanks to Sally—but this definitely falls in the ‘Tell Besties’ category.
Although it’s been kind of nice to have some time just for us, like we were in our own bubble and nothing else mattered. Reid isn’t just great in bed. He’s awesome out of it, and I can feel myself being drawn closer.
“Promise me that, every summer, we’re going to sit in your mansion’s garden drinking bottles of prosecco,” I say. We’ve definitely lost the warmer nights now it’s November, but Indie has massive patio heaters keeping us toasty. Obviously.
“Makes a nice change from drinking cheap beer at the park,” Wren replies.
“Ah, those were the days.” They actually were. I didn’t have a care in the world. There was no uni, pressure to get a job, or be an adult. I was carefree, and like every teenager, I knew it all.
“You prefer things now, Mila. This is just a bit of a bump for you. Despite the breakup with Liam, you’ve actually come further than you have in a long time,” Indie says.
I feel that to my core. I’m no longer a passenger. I’ve taken the steering wheel. Shame I still don’t know how to drive my life, but I’ve definitely got my L plates now.
“Have you spoken to him since?” Wren asks.
“Nope.” Though he tried with that one text. “I have no plans to for at least a year. Not that it would matter if he turned up here tonight.”
“You want to be his friend?” Indie asks.
I run my finger around the rim of the glass. Things feel different now. “I don’t know anymore. We’ve shared a lot of history and he’s been a big part of my life. I don’t want to meet up and stuff, but I’d like to speak to him if we ran into each other, you know?”
“Yeah, I get that. Just make sure you’ve totally got him out of your system before you do that,” Indie warns.
“He’s as out of my system as the cheap beer we drank five years ago.”
“You haven’t been apart long,” Wren says. Her tone does nothing to hide her doubt. So my track record isn’t fantastic when it comes to Liam, but so much has changed now.
“I’m not the same person I was then,” I tell them with a conviction that shifts something inside of me. “I won’t go back to a failing relationship.”
“Glad to hear it,” Wren says.
“I’ll drink to that.” Indie raises her glass, and we all clink in the middle.
“What have you been doing this past month, anyway? We’ve barely seen you.”
“I’ve been working on my writing, and obviously there’s been my work experience, which is awesome. Apparently, my writing doesn’t suck, so that’s always incredible to hear.”
“Obviously, it doesn’t suck,” Indie says. “Glad working with Reid is going well. You clocking up as much library time as I did?”
“I’d have to move into it to do that, babe. I’ve been at Reid’s most evenings, and some days when he’s working from—” I snap my teeth together when they both look at me with the same expression: eyebrows raised, heads tilted.
Oh, that’s right. They don’t know just how much time I’ve been spending at Reid’s.
There’s a lot of suspicion in those gazes.
“What?” I mutter.
“You didn’t say you’d been spending so much time with the hot neighbour,” Indie says.
Wren slaps the table. “Good. If I was single, I’d totally do him.”
“Well, I am single… and I’m totally doing him.”
“Fuck off!” Wren sits taller, tucking her legs underneath her. “You’re sleeping with him? When did this start? What’s it like? How big is he?”
Indie laughs. “Breathe, Wren.”
“I can’t breathe! She’s screwing that god!”
“Okay, Reid isn’t a god… he just fucks like one.”
They both squeal. I swear only dogs can hear them.
“Tell us when. Tell us everything!” Wren won’t let up until I’ve answered all of her questions. I now know how annoying I was when probing them about Brody and Spencer.
I don’t know if Reid would be happy for me to discuss this with them. He’s not asked me to keep it between us. He knows the girls and I talk a lot.
“Friday, last night… and a lot this morning. I never really thought much about sex with him before we started hanging out, but I assumed he would be a gent in the bedroom. He’s so not, though. Holy orgasms! I’ve never been with anyone who knows exactly what to do. He’s so attentive and he makes sure I’m taken care of. And. He. Takes. Charge.”
When he tied me to his bed, I thought I was going to come on the spot.
Wren’s smile couldn’t get any wider. “This is the sex you’ve been waiting for.”
“I know!” I shake my head and take a sip of my prosecco. “He’s just so… ugh, there are no words. I literally want to jump him the second I see him. It’s crazy how much I want to be around him. Not just in a naked way.”
Indie fans her face with her hand. “Tell us about the first time. How did you go from working over there to sleeping with him?”
Wren leans forwards, her pretty blue eyes wide and ready for all the juicy details. She pushes her long blonde hair behind her ears, as if that was going to stop her from hearing every word.
“Down, girl. You’re acting like a crazy person.”
“I’m acting like you,” she shoots back with a smirk.
“I prefer the term quirky to crazy.”
“That just means weird.”
I shrug. “But quirky sounds so much posher.”
Indie taps the table. “Can we focus?”
Pointing at Wren, I say, “Hold still. So, Friday night, it was kinda drizzling outside, and I was sitting in his bay window reading, like I’ve done dozens of times before. He was at his desk. He didn’t say anything. He just took my book and put it down, then took my hand and pulled me to my feet.”
“This is already hot,” Indie says.
Laughing, I feel the rush of heat as I recall the most erotic moment of my life. “Neither of us said a word. He kissed me, and I honestly thought I was going to pass out. He kissed me like, if he didn’t, we would both die. No exaggeration, like, actual death.”
“Then?” Wren asks, leaning forwards again. I really hope she goes too far and falls off the chair.
“Then he carried me upstairs.”
“Yeah, he did!” she cheers.
“He was totally in charge, and I have never been so turned on.”
“What did he do?”
“Wren, you’re such a pervert.”
Indie fake coughs. “I seem to remember you demanding details before.”
I narrow my eyes. “Yeah, well, now I don’t like it.”
“Mila!” Wren cries.
“Fine. He tied me to his bed. It was the best sex of my life. I’m having the best sex of my fucking life!”
“Wow. Was it awkward after?”
“No, not at all. We fell asleep cuddled up. In the morning, he made breakfast, and we spent the day together. It was…”
Right.
“Yeah, I get that,” Wren says.
“Bit different to you and Brody,” I tell her.
“How so?”
“Erm, you married Brody in a foreign country when you were pissed.”
“Okay, that is different, sure, but we started having sex first.”
“Yeah, well, Reid and I aren’t together.”
“Do you want to be?” Indie asks.
“I… yes. I’m over Liam. Completely. No question. But I’ve not been single since I was sixteen. I don’t want to start stressing over this. I’m going to go with the flow and see where it takes us. Hopefully somewhere exotic.”
“I’m just so happy you’re finally getting great sex,” Wren says.
“I’m certainly getting that.”
“Cheers to great sex,” Indie says, and we all raise our glasses.