Love in Slow Motion

39. Reed

39 REED

The couch in the basement is too small for me. That was sort of the whole reason Quinn and I ended up in the bedroom together that first night.

But I’m not crawling into bed with Amina or asking if I can sleep on the floor in there. I would have spent the week sleeping on that floor to get closer to Quinn. But now, I’m considering moving to the couch upstairs. But I know Lydia will be up before the sun, and I’m not very good at waking up to pots and pans banging around. Not to mention sunlight.

All I can think about is what’s going on upstairs. Chase and I have always been big fans of the bro code, but it’s not like he would know not to make a move on a woman he’s been with for five years. And I’ve seen this film before. People who file for divorce and then go for one last breakup fuck. And sometimes the breakup fuck leads to not breaking up.

But she wouldn’t. Right?

The bedroom door creaks open, and I shift to look over at where light is spilling out of the bedroom. And then I hear Amina’s quiet voice. “Reed? Could you come here?”

I shoot up to my feet, worried that something might be wrong. We sometimes get snakes in the lake house, though it’s been a dry summer, so I haven’t seen any. “Amina? You okay?” I ask, pushing the bedroom door open and taking in the scene before me.

Amina in nothing but her underwear, a red lace bra and matching panties, standing beside the bed. She’s thrown the covers back in an obvious invitation, but I can’t even see her. In my mind, all I see is Quinn, writhing on the bed while I take my tongue to her, shivering with pleasure when I call her filthy names.

“I knew you would probably feel like you couldn’t make the first move since it’s been a while, so I thought I would do it,” Amina says. Before I have a chance to answer, she’s up against me, running her hands down my chest. Luckily, I hadn’t changed for bed yet, so there was still fabric between her skin and mine.

I grab her wrists, and she puffs out a breath in a way that tells me she thinks I’m about to pin her to the wall or something equally sexy. Instead, I let her go and take a step back. “There’s someone…” That’s all I can get out.

Her mouth pops open, and then she’s rushing back to the bed to yank the covers around herself. I feel satisfied when I realize it’s not the same blanket. Lydia changed the sheets, thank God.

“Your mom told me?—”

“My mom doesn’t know.”

Amina’s eyebrows raise. “Oh. Wow. Okay. Is it serious?”

I know she’s not asking in hopes that maybe it’s casual and we can still press forward with her plans. She’s just kind and genuinely curious. “Yeah. At least, it is for me.”

She sits on the edge of the bed and nods. “So, a hookup is definitely not happening on the trip.” It’s not a question. It’s a statement. And she seems to be speaking more to herself than to me.

“I’m afraid not.”

She smiles sadly up at me. “You were never really serious about me. Not even back then. I could tell. There was always…distance.”

I sit beside her, making sure there’s enough space between us. “It wasn’t you. Please don’t think that. It was really complicated. And now I have a chance at something real.”

“Good. You deserve it.” After a beat of silence, she wraps the blanket tighter around herself and says, “Think there will be any hot guys at this party tomorrow?”

I laugh. “I can almost guarantee there will be someone at the party who would be happy to show you a good time.”

We look at each other, neither of us really sure where to go from here, and then she leans forward and kisses me. It’s not a passionate kiss. It’s not even really a romantic kiss. It’s more like...a goodbye kiss. Maybe something she’s needed for a long time.

After that, I leave the bedroom and shut the door behind me, standing in the dark kitchen, trying to convince myself not to go upstairs and kick down Chase’s door. But I want my girl back. I want her in my arms. And not having her here is killing me.