= Chris POV =

12 Hours Earlier

I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t. It was wrong, no matter how I looked at it. Sarah’s soft hands on my skin were too much. I bent over her, my face in the pillow next to hers. Her breath was warm against my neck, her arms wrapped around my waist in a loose, trusting hug.

“You are my best friend, best person in the whole wide world, do you know that, Chris? I love you so much,” she whispered, and my heart cracked.

What kind of scum would take advantage of someone this precious? Someone who believed in me this much, who was this vulnerable and trusting?

I bit my lip, forcing my body to obey reason, and dragged myself out of her grip. Sarah blinked up at me, wide-eyed and dreamy, her lips parted as though she couldn’t quite grasp that I was leaving her side. I brushed strands of curls away from her face, and for one agonizing second, I wondered if she knew that to me, she was heaven itself.

“You. You are my heart,” I said softly, my voice trembling. I reached down and gently pried her small hands off my back, tucking them under the sheets. She pouted, half-conscious, and I swallowed hard against the lump forming in my throat.

“Aren’t you sleepy? Don’t you want to take a rest? Drift off a little?” I asked, trying to sound patient, even though my pulse was pounding. My skin felt raw where her fingertips had grazed it.

“Hmmm… that sounds nice, since you’re sleeping with me,” she giggled, and then, to my absolute horror, she rolled over and pressed her hand against my crotch like it was the most natural thing in the world. I grabbed her hand and sighed, raising it higher up my body. If she had to remain in contact with me, it couldn't be there.

‘F*** my life,’ I thought, gritting my teeth.

I patted her back in the same way I had countless times before when she cried herself to sleep after breakups, and within moments, she was out cold, snoring softly. It was almost impressive how quickly she succumbed to sleep, leaving me there, half-crazed and painfully turned on.

Slowly, carefully, I peeled myself away from her grasp and replaced my body with a bolster. She immediately hugged it, pressing her face into the pillow with a small, contented sigh.

I slipped out of the room and fell against the closed door, knees buckling as I hit the floor.

Straight girls are the worst.

Do they even know what they’re doing? What they’re saying? Does she know what she does to me?

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and without thinking, I pulled it out and scrolled through my contacts. My body was screaming for release, my nerves frayed, and I knew exactly who could fix this.

“Hey, sweetie, need something?” Jenny’s voice purred over the line after the second ring.

“Free up your day from now until midnight tomorrow,” I said curtly, and then hung up.

I grabbed my keys and left the house without another thought.

The next six hours were a blur. Alcohol. Smoke. Bodies tangled together until I didn’t know where I ended and Jenny began. I moaned and cried out Sarah’s name by accident more than once, and Jenny didn’t even flinch.

Instead, she lit a cigarette, her lips curling into a knowing smirk as I paced the room, talking in circles about Sarah.

And then we did it again.

Every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was Sarah reaching for me, touching me. It drove me insane. By the time the sun rose, Jenny was sprawled across the bed, glowing with satisfaction, while I sat on the edge, my skin buzzing and my thoughts tangled.

“Let’s go see her,” Jenny whispered gleefully when I finally got up to go to the bathroom.

I turned back, half-dressed, my nerves still raw.

“No, that’s messed up,” I said, but my voice wavered.

“Why?” Jenny stretched out lazily, letting her robe fall open as she reached for her cigarette. “Doesn’t she have work? It’s not like she’s going to be there. I’ve seen pictures of her, and honestly? I get it now. I just wanna f*** in her bed. Do me like you wanna do her… in her bed.”

My stomach twisted painfully. The way she said it, like it was some dirty fantasy made real, should have turned me off completely. But instead, her words burrowed into my brain, igniting something dark and desperate inside me.

Jenny caught my hesitation and grinned.

“Isn’t it gonna be more fun if you can smell her instead of just fantasizing about her?”

I froze. My breath hitched, and Jenny saw it. Her grin widened as she crossed the room, her tawny skin glowing in the morning light. She grabbed my chin, forcing me to meet her eyes.

“Don’t try to play games with me,” she said, voice low and teasing. “I know you only f*** me because you can’t f*** her. If I’m gonna be used as a prop, the least you can do is take me to the right stage.”

She released me and walked past, her robe slipping even further as she stubbed out her cigarette.

This was a bad idea.

A very, very bad idea.