Scandalized

by Ivy Owens

“You’re a hot guy. You should be dating.” “You’re a beautiful woman. You shouldn’t be lied to.”

He angles his body toward me, nostrils flared. “Do you blush like this when you come?”

“I liked that I could just be a man with you,” he says. “That I didn’t have to live up to some expectation and that you weren’t nervous with me. I liked that you were real. I never get real, ever.” He stares at me for several tense seconds. “But I’m sorry I lied to you.”

Alec bends, hovering with his lips near mine, staring at my mouth. “You smell so good.” “Do I?” He hums. “I didn’t want to shower you off that morning. Wanted to feel you all over me a bit longer.” He tilts his head, breathing in deeply beneath my jaw. “It’s sugar and sex.”

“I think you should move into my suite for the remainder of my stay.” I feel a pop in my ears as my brain equilibrates.

But maybe what hurts most of all is how it feels like he’s sneaking up to my front door and leaving a bag without knocking. How painful would it have been to open my door and see that there, knowing he’d been here and left without a word? It would be worse than if he’d just kept all my things.

Same girl

“Yep,” I say, daring him to ask where I’ve been. But he doesn’t. He turns his face away, jaw clenched, nostrils flared, and I realize he’s struggling to not cry. “Okay,” he says, finally. “Not my business.” What is he thinking? That he’s catching me at the end of a walk of shame? He knows better. He knows me better.

Lol