New Friends (Chloe PoV)

Jake took me home shortly after Natalie and Alexis left. With whatever was going on with Natalie, it didn’t seem right to do anything else. Though, now that I was back home, I regretted it. Being alone was… tough. Odd. I’d spent the past few years alone. Now, I could barely tolerate it. Reflecting back on those times, I don’t know how I did it.

My phone vibrated. Alexis was finally getting back to me.

-Sorry about that.

-Natalie okay?

I sat on my bed, waiting for her to respond.

-A-OK! Just feeling a bit sick

Tension left my shoulders as I read that. Good. The way she ran off had freaked me out. Things were going so well. It was a shame she got sick. Maybe it was a Gift related thing? I didn’t want to pry, considering we had just met.

-Hopefully she feels better soon. We should do this again though. Super fun

-For sure! I’ll tell her you are wishing her well

A devil-face emoji followed with her next message.

-Things were just getting good too

Even when she wasn’t here, she could get me to blush.

Setting my phone aside, I grabbed the book I was reading and tried to read. My mind kept drifting away from the words on the page. Jake was pretty forward today. A groan escaped me as I plopped my head down on the pillow. Even now, I could feel my cheeks heating as the memory replayed again and again. He just out and said it! I know we weren’t exactly quiet when it came to sex, but saying that without even the slightest hesitation... Alexis didn’t help either. I was happy she was getting more comfortable letting out her true self around me, but I was still getting used to all this. Still, Jake tonight was… Different. Alexis had brought that side of him out—and Natalie too. It wasn’t anything bad. Far from it. I wanted Jake to be more physical. He was even trying to tease me—and doing a damn good job of it.

I just wish it hadn’t required Alexis to set the flirty mood.

Then there was him spilling the problems we were having in bed to people I was still getting to know. Not that they were huge problems or anything, but I wish he had been a bit more discrete. Or at least talk to me about it first. Maybe some warning. Thinking about it made a lead weight settle in my stomach because it was me causing the problems there. Jake’s performance in bed wasn’t the cause of our issues, but my Gift. I knew he craved the physical intimacy of making love. Better yet, he seemed to enjoy going down on me, which was amazing. Yet my Gift ruined those things for him. Beyond him passing out every time we made love, he was always exhausted when he woke up and moved like he was in pain. It upset me that he wasn’t opening up whenever I asked him about it. He just gave me that fake smile of his and said he was fine.

He wasn’t, and not telling me was frustrating. I was leaning pretty heavily on him, and it hurt that he wasn’t willing to do the same. I didn’t know if it was a trust thing, or if he didn’t think I was strong enough to handle it. Not sure which one was worse.

Rolling onto my back, I stared up at the ceiling. The only thing that worked was when we were just fucking. God, that was so good. I loved it and was hands-down the best sex I’ve ever had. I knew he wasn’t into it as much as I was though. That he would rather put himself through the exhaustion of oral sex or making love showed how little he thought of just losing ourselves in pleasure.

It sucked because I liked that. Sex without my Gift was great, but it did make a great thing even better. Maybe I would have liked the other stuff more if it didn’t impact him like it did.

I really hoped Natalie was okay. She was so nice and mature, but in a serious way. Sophie was mature in a way that made her wise and observant, but still relaxed and flexible. Natalie gave off the vibe of someone maintaining an iron grip because she was afraid of letting go. Funny considering the personality of her sister. I could only imagine the sibling dynamic there. They must have had some epic fights.

I groaned as I rested my head against a pillow. Shit. Maybe I should have invited Jake up. Mom wasn’t home and wouldn’t be for hours. I wasn’t really in the mood for anything intimate, but his presence would have made the empty apartment bearable.