Space was pretty much at a premium in Riley's tiny apartment.  Both my girl and Brynn didn't have the wide wingspan I had, so they probably didn't even realize how suffocating the it felt.  Even with a ceiling twice my height, the walls felt like they were closing in on me.

There weren't many options available for me to hang out, so I ended up pacing back and forth in the hallway in front of Riley's bedroom door like a caged tiger, waiting for someone to let me out.  Each second I spent without Riley in my line of sight made me that much more agitated. She was going out tonight—without me.  She was fucking leaving me behind and I didn't like it one bit.

If I had my car with me and wasn't puking my guts out every thirty seconds, I would hop in it and follow her to her parents when she left.  Without that option, I was tempted to ask her if I could ride along and hide in the car until she was done. None of her family would even have to know I was there.  I wouldn't even barge inside and make a scene.

Probably not anyway.  

Grabbing her doorknob every third time I passed, I gave it a jiggle, hoping like hell she had finally unlocked it to let me in.  I wasn't purposefully being a clingy asshole, but there was a biting, constant urge to put my eyes on her.  Just having the ability to check that she was still here would calm me for a few more minutes.  I couldn't trust that she wasn't some mind-fuck inception bullshit that I invented in a drug hallucination to ease my suffering.

Ten fucking minutes.  She locked me out for ten god-awful fucking, torturous minutes.  

I needed to see her.  To hold her in my arms for just a few seconds because everything inside me felt so off-kilter that I didn't even know what I was doing anymore.

Out in the living room, Brynn was more than eager to keep pushing my buttons.  As soon as Riley disappeared, the spawn of Satan flipped on the television.  It was clear she knew what she was doing when she turned the volume up every few minutes until it was blasting around the cramped space.  The jarring noise felt like a marching band inside my skull.  The base of my head began to throb and ache, which kept intensifying until I couldn't even focus on what Riley was doing any longer.

When I went out to the living room to take some of my aggression out on the blood-sucking mosquito, she was sitting cross-legged on the couch with a satisfied smirk on her face. Brynn had her eyes glued to the television, watching some shitty drama unfolding on the screen.

The small flatscreen was lit up with a close-up of some poorly constructed plastic lady.  She resembled something a toddler would put together in art class.  The lip injections alone reminded me of one of those rubbery Mr. Potato head mouths with the prong attached.  Adding in the unnatural way her skin was tanned and inflated didn't help the evidence of her true identity.  She was, in fact, the one and only— Mrs. Potato Head the third. 

Judging by the scowl on her face, Mr. Potato Head was about to get his ass handed to him.

It was the most unnerving thing I have ever witnessed, yet I couldn't seem to turn my eyes away even as she threatened the sweaty, spud man with a high-pitched shriek.

Before I knew it, I was sitting on the couch, engrossed in the utter stupidity. The back of my neck prickled and it was definitely because eyes were on me. They were coming from the general Brynn vicinity. When I glanced her way, she stared at me like she had just won whatever game she was playing.  The stupid fucking cuntbag needed to wipe that smug expression off her face before I smacked it off of her. 

"You seriously watch this stupid shit?" I muttered, imagining how glorious the crack would be. The satisfying way her head would spin around like a top would be something I would pay money to watch. It had to be better than the Mr. And Mrs. Potato head show.

I was a sick, twisted bastard for thinking about hitting a girl and it wasn't sitting very well with me. The drugs were really starting to wear off.

After watching my Dad abuse my mom for years, it was unsettling that my mind kept going back to violence against Brynn so casually. I would be the first one to admit I wasn't innocent when it came to putting my hands on a female, mainly towards Riley—actually only ever towards Riley—which was fucked-up in itself, but I didn't want to really hurt someone who didn't stand a chance against me.  Male or female, I fought because I had to to protect the people I loved.

So instead of using my fists, I had to settle for using my mouth to piss Brynn off as much as possible until she disappeared.

Riley wouldn't like it much, but she didn't know what I did about Brynn and the lengths she was willing to go to feed the need to be validated.  I should know—we were a lot alike in that respect.

I slumped down on the couch, burrowing into it like a nest.  The soft, billowing fabric was my only hope to calm my soul enough to deal with this shit.

"This is epic. Watch her. She's about to take off her shoe and throw it at him." Brynn lit up at my misery.

"This is complete garbage. This isn't even real, it's scripted and it's not even good!" I argued, throwing my hand up to point at the poorly cut scene. The woman's hair was styled completely differently from one second to the next.  I could splice footage better than that with just my phone and I wasn't even a trained film editor.

Fucking amateurs.

"When you start paying the bills around here, you can pick what's on my tv. Until then, suck it, Miller."

I sunk back down on the couch, not sure why I was letting Brynn strong-arm me into round two of another pointless back and forth when I didn't even want to be near her in the first place.  Unless I could find a way to run her off, she was an unfortunate consequence I had to deal with if I wanted to stay here tonight with Riley.

"Do I need to cancel my plans tonight?" Riley strutted into the living room with her best 'put us in our place' stance.  Hands secured tightly on her hips, tapping her foot like she wanted to kick a hole through the floor— Riley was all hellfire on legs.

So fucking feisty in the best way. This girl was the absolute love of my life. Everything she did made me fall deeper and deeper. As soon as we figured things out between us, I was going to fuck that little attitude out of her system. When she had no strength to keep going and was unable to take any more, I was going to keep making her come all night so she never forgot what she meant to me.

What was the Guinness World record for Orgasms in one day?  I bet anything we could shatter it tonight.

"He started it." Brynn accused , attempting to make me look bad in front of my blond.

"Did not." My mouth hung open. Brynn couldn't help but stir shit up.

"You two are impossible."  Riley gave us an exasperated eye roll and walked to the table next to the kitchen where her purse was still sitting Form last night. She grabbed it and started rummaging through it, huffing the whole time under her breath.  I knew what she was looking for and she wasn't going to find it in there.

During my first lap around the apartment, I found her keys on the little half ledge that divided the kitchen from the main living space. I pocketed them in my cotton shorts without a second thought.

Riley wasn't going to sneak out the door without having to actually say goodbye to me. 

Feeling pretty pleased with my foresight, I stood up from the couch and strutted up behind the distracted blond, who had her nose buried in her bag.

"It figures. Where the hell did I put..." She grumbled out with a slight pout.

"Looking for something?" I hurried up behind her, trapping her between my arms so she had no chance to get away. I leaned in, teasing her neck with my breath, sending shivers rocketing down her body. 

There she was—my girl needed to play a bit.  I knew she couldn't hide from me forever.

I casually brushed my growing excitement across Riley's ass. Her heart-shaped cheeks looked so delicious in her tight jeans.  I wanted to sink my teeth into them and never let go.

Riley arched her lower back towards me, searching for more pressure. I gave her just enough to remind her what I had to offer, but not enough to satisfy her thirst.  

"Keys." Riley yelped.

I lifted my hand off the table to pull out exactly what she was looking for.   Well, not the "exact" thing, but I didn't want to pull my dick out in the middle of her living room while Brynn was no doubt watching us from across the room.

"Oh, you mean these?" I teased, jingling, the key chain near Riley's ear. She spun around and went straight for them, attempting to pluck them out. But, being the selfish prick that I was, I kept a tight hold on them, refusing to let them go. I wanted to keep her here as long as I could. 

Riley used her superpowers, batting her long eyelashes at me and I lost all my senses. She sniffed out my weakness and snatched the keys out of my hand, but couldn't get away fast enough before I leaned down to kiss her head near her hairline.   Her hair still smelled citrusy, like she had just freshly washed it, even though I knew she wasn't getting ready long enough to have gone entirely through the routine. She had time to clean herself up, but not enough to dry her thick locks.

It was yet another one of the little Riley mysteries I felt the desire to solve.  If I didn't wash my hair every day, I would smell like a week-old gym sock.  How did she always manage to smell so fantastic with such little effort? I wanted to roll around in it and pick up her scent like an animal. Everyone would know I belonged to her as much as she belonged to me.

Riley stood in front of me in a mix of shock and equal parts lust.  She was so fucking sweet.  Her gorgeous green eyes were dazed, like she was frozen in place and reloading.  My girl wanted more.  I could see it all over her face. 

Riley wanted to kiss me—really kiss me. The idea of her using her new tongue ring on me felt mighty damn appealing.

"Don't be gone too long." I smiled and slid my thumb around the top of her jeans, mapping out every spot I was going to run my tongue over after she got home tonight.  One little flick of my finger and I could have the button undone before she could even blink her hungry eyes. Her lazy gaze lowered to my hand and then flicked back up to meet mine, impatiently waiting for my next move.

I cocked my head and raised my eyebrow at her. We could do this right now, but I would guarantee she wouldn't make it to her dinner with her parents. I would need at least a month in bed with her before I would let her out.

Riley swallowed, realizing it too.

"You're on Ezra duty." Riley yelled to Brynn, slipping away from my touch. 

"Aye, Aye, Captain." Brynn nodded.

I snickered at how backwards this whole arrangement was. The irony was not lost on me that the one person Riley tried to appoint as my chaperone was the same person who had tried to get me to fuck her every time I was within a hundred feet of her presence.

Riley bolted from the apartment and I walked to the window to watch her. I pulled the vertical blinds back and caught her walking briskly toward the spot where her car was parked. 

A minute later, she was inside. I waited and waited for her to back out, but her car never moved.

She was in a hurry to get out of here, so it was fucking weird that she was just hanging out in the parking lot.

"Are you making sure she's really gone so you can finally fuck my brains out? You that anxious to tap this ass?" Brynn snorted.

"Fuck off, whore. I don't want your diseased, sloppy pussy." I bit back.

"You are absolutely pathetic, Ezra. Why can't you see she has you chasing her scraps like a damned stray. Shes not going to let you have it. She's stringing you along." Brynn hissed.

"She loves me." I muttered, staring down at Riley's car. 

Why hadn't she even started it yet? What was the crazy girl doing?

"Yeah, um...ok. Whatever. Keep telling yourself that." Brynn was the absolute embodiment of my own insecurity. I really did have to keep telling myself Riley still loved me because it was the only thing holding me together at the moment. 

"Why hasn't she left? What if she's hurt?" I mumbled to myself.  I was worried that something terrible had happened to her after she got into the car. 

It was a ridiculous assumption, but it was where my head was—all doom and gloom, filled with worry that something or someone would snatch her away from me.

"You are the most paranoid motherfucker I have ever met. Her stupid car probably died again.  I have to pick her up at least once a week because that shitty hunk of junk won't start." Brynn grunted.

"I am going to go check on her." I let the blinds go and they swung violently back and forth.  One of the slats fell off the little plastic holder and hit the floor, bouncing back and smacking Brynn right across the bridge of her nose.

"You asshole." Brynn cursed and rubbed the red spot on her face.  Too bad the thing didn't take an eyeball or two out on the way down. 

I didn't even pause to laugh at her because my focus was on getting to Riley to make sure she was alright. I sprinted towards the apartment door and yanked it open.

"Get back in here and hang that shit back up." Brynn continued yelling as I barreled down the stairs. The metal door slammed closed, muffling the rest of the obscenities flowing out of her annoying mouth.

When I got out into the parking lot, the sunset cast a warm pinkish-orange glow, lighting up my path to Riley. A ray of sunshine beat down on her car like a beacon calling me. 

It was a sign. She needed me.

I stumbled forward and paused just short of tapping on her window when I got to the driver's side of her car. 

Holy fucking hell.

My dirty girl hadn't left yet because she was too busy riding her fingers in the middle of the parking lot.