Caught In Between

XXIII. The First Time

A few days passed before everything with my dad cooled down. I wanted to make sure he thought we were on good terms before "going to Nat's again." Really, I just desperately needed to talk to Asher. I haven't used the burner phone to contact him since our night at his house because I've been worried my dad will catch me. I haven't told anyone about Josh coming to my house and begging for money or what he said. I've really been wanting to tell Asher though because something about what Josh said has formed a knot in my stomach.

I drive to Nat's house, get inside, text my dad that I made it, drop my phone off, and wait for Asher to text me on the burner phone that he's walking distance away from me. I get the text from him and walk outside to our new usual meeting area, which is a five-minute walk from Nat's house. His car is pulled over to the side of the street, hidden by the shadows of the trees, and I get into the passenger seat.

"I missed you so much." Is the only warning I get from him before he grabs my hips and lifts me onto his lap. Immediately, he crashes his lips onto mine. This is no quick kiss, instead, he's kissing me like we haven't kissed in years. His hands roam from my hips up the side of my body to my cheeks. I let my hands roam down his toned stomach and onto the hem of his shirt. I slowly slip my hands under the bottom of his shirt and allow them to roam up and down the expanse of his chest and torso. With my wild actions, his hands decide to wander back down my sides and make it to the hem of my own sweater. He lets his hands stay at the hem of my shirt, although I know he's itching to let his hands wander. He doesn't want to trigger anything.

I pull away from the kiss, just to move my lips to his ear. "It's okay. I trust you. You're not him." I whisper into his ear as I move my hands to his own and instruct them to go under my sweater, roaming my stomach and sides.

"Tell me if anything's too much. We don't have to rush into anything." He slightly pants into my own ear, before capturing my lips with his again. We continue to practically devour each other's lips while letting our hands roam. Eventually, I begin to rock my hips against his, and I feel him harden beneath me. He groans into the kiss, but returns the action and slightly grinds his own hips in rhythm with mine.

His lips move from mine and begin to go to my neck. He trails kisses down my neck and onto my collarbone as I quietly pant into his ear. I let my hands continue their path down his chest and stomach until they reach the waistband of his sweatpants. Jesus, he's wearing grey sweatpants today.

My fingers slightly go under just the waistband of his sweatpants, fingering my way along his hips. His kisses on my neck get sloppier and his breathing gets more frantic. I continue to lightly trace where his waistband just was when he suddenly stops his assault on my neck and grabs my wrist. Huh?

"You said you needed to talk to me. It seemed urgent." He tries his best to sound composed, but the panting and huskiness in his voice gives it away. He moves his hands from gripping my hand back to my hips and he slightly lifts me off his lap.

"Yeah... I had a surprise visitor show up at my house the other morning." I begin.

"A surprise visitor?" He asks, brows furrowed. "Is this girl code for something? Are you on your period? You should've just said that, baby. It's normal, nothing to use code words for. Do you need anything?" He kisses my forehead.

"No," I chuckle. "That's not what it means. It means that Josh showed up at my house." His grip on my hips tightens and the look in his eyes is lethal.

"Where is this fuckwad at right now?" His voice is icy, nothing like how it was two seconds ago.

"I don't know. All I know is that he came to my house asking for money. He was twitching and beat up and obviously having drug withdrawals. He also said I was in danger and that they'll do to me what they did to Ty." I try to sound unphased by it because this is Josh we're talking about. Druggie, greasy Josh. He doesn't have connections like that. But still, it was eerie; the way he said what he did.