Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
Back in my presence, I now had to deal with the aftermath of my bad decisions.
I shook my head, gripping his wrist and pulling it from under my dress as I hurriedly straightened my attire, sliding off his lap.
“Cat, what—”
Before he could say anything else that could tempt me into another spell that would get me to do even more, I opened up the door and practically rolled out onto the pavement. The chill of the night air hit me, and I finally felt like I could breathe properly. I got to my feet, glaring at Elio, though I wasn’t really mad at him. I was mad at myself for getting carried away like this.
“Good night!” I slammed the car door, ignoring his bewildered look as I ran from him and into the house.
I barely took a moment to catch my breath and make sure the door was locked before I rushed upstairs, taking the steps two at a time. Back in the safety of my room, I pulled out my phone from my pocket and immediately dialed the first number I saw.
I paced around my room, listening to the ringing as my heart thumped loudly in my chest. But finally, I heard the line pick up and the grumpy voice of Anna.
“I thought I told you I was with Daniel, so why—”
“We need to talk.”
“About Elio?” she asked with no hesitation at all despite the urgency in my voice.
I heard shifting on the other side, mumbling from a distinctly male voice, and then silence.
“How—” I sputtered, my face flushing at her direct answer. “How did you know?”
“Please.”
I could almost see her rolling her eyes even through the phone.
“It was blatantly obvious to anyone with eyes. So did you finally make a move, or did he wake up and realize you had the hots for him?”
“I don’t have the hots for him!”
“Uh-huh.” Her disbelieving tone said everything.
“Look, I got emotional at Thanksgiving, and he came and comforted me and somehow, it may have ended with our lips together—”
“And you’re only now telling me?” she gasped. “I’m your best friend! I need the deets, Cat!”
“Well, I was hoping we could both ignore it, and it would go away!” I defended myself, realizing how ridiculous it sounded outside of my mind. At the time it seemed like a good plan, one that had absolutely betrayed me in the end.
“That’s not how these things work, babe,” Anna said, disapprovingly.
“Yeah, yeah, but then tonight he called me out for a drive and a walk in the park—”
“At night?”
“So, we did and he brought me home—”
“You went?” Her voice kept getting shriller, the sheer incredulousness in her voice making me feel even more like a child getting scolded.
“And he kissed me on the cheek, and I don’t know what happened from there. I lost my mind or it was witchcraft or something because the next thing I knew, we were in his car and….”
I trailed off, cheeks flaring up like a tomato as I remembered his hands and body so tightly bound around me.
“You had sex with him… in a car?” she demanded, sounding horrified.
“No! We were just… making out… and his hand went under my dress but—”
I fell silent, realizing there were no excuses I could give. Maybe we could ignore a simple kiss, but this… even I couldn’t deny we had started down a path neither of us was ready for.
“Well, at least there’s that,” Anna hummed indifferently, “though making out with him in his car wasn’t the best idea.”
“I know,” I groaned.
“But then again, considering how long you’ve liked him and kept denying it to yourself, I’m surprised you lasted this long. A less dense woman would’ve exploded and full-out fucked him.”
“Anna!” I scolded her.
“Please,” she scoffed. “You’re both grown-ass adults. If it’s something you want to do, then go for it. Sounds like he wasn’t complaining and even started this shit, so I say just see where this takes you. Though, is that really what you want?”
“I… I don’t know… I—’
I couldn’t help but glance at my wrist, the one with the mark that was slowly fading but also still a reminder to me. “I don’t have the best judge of character. Maybe it’ll… turn out the same.”
“Cat,” The sympathy in her voice was also mixed with a sharpness. “You can’t think every man is the same as that bastard. Not every relationship will turn out like Paul’s. Elio is… he’s nothing like him.”
“I know,” I said quietly.
And she was right. While Elio was effortlessly charming and handsome, with a sense of responsibility that was bone deep despite how much he may have playfully complained about it, Paul was everything he wasn’t.
Paul had been kind of like the sun—bright and kind of harsh yet having a way to guide you and light your way, until it was too late to realize how utterly destructive getting too close could be. The sun could burn at the slightest glimpse, let alone being right next to it. A person would be devoured.
Elio, on the other hand, reminded me of the moon. He had always been there, even when I couldn’t see him. Even after the fight where I’d left for university, he would always send me text messages, emails, and packages to make sure I was doing well.
I ignored most of his calls, but I had saved those voicemails. They had gotten me through some sleepless nights better than any medicine.
Elio was cool and calm, like a ripple on a lake. He and Paul were nothing alike.
But that didn’t mean being near him was safe, either. There was a reason I had avoided my feelings all these years and had denied them so vehemently.
“I know Elio’s a good person,” I said cautiously. “I know he would never treat me badly like… but me and him together? It can’t happen, Anna.”
I glanced out the window through the curtains, where I could spot the light in the window from the house beside us. I swallowed, wondering what he was thinking right at that moment.
I steeled myself, locking down the feelings that had just started to slip out back into their cage.
This wouldn’t happen. I couldn’t let it.
“I know a bad idea when I see one.”
*Caterina*
I flopped over on my bed, tossing the magazine I was reading onto the floor. I quickly realized that finishing out the semester online was not nearly as time-consuming as I had thought it would be. Or maybe it was just the fact that my life here wasn’t nearly as time-consuming as my life in New York. Without the distraction of the city that never sleeps, I found myself finishing my work before lunch most days, and I quickly realized that it was a lot harder to make new friends when I wasn’t going to classes in person.
I really needed to get a hobby to occupy my time, or maybe a job. Anything would be better than laying around in my room for half the day.