Just Good Friends (18+)

Ch. 18: Unhinged

"What did you do?"

I stared at Michael with eyes wide-open and watched his Adam's apple bob up and down when he swallowed.

"Nothing!" he said, but I didn't believe him for a second. And my voice was a loaded threat that made him scratch his arm frantically.

"Michael?"

"Okay! I might have purposely provoked Axel during the double-date to show you what an idiot he is."

I knew that already, but I somehow also knew that there was more to it.

"And?"

"And nothing."

"Michael!"

"Okay, okay! I might have told that German dude and a couple of other guys to stay away from my girlfriend. And I gave some other dude a bottle of whiskey if he promised to block your number."

I swear I'd never gasped that loud in my whole life. He paid someone off to stop him from dating me? With whiskey?

"Trevor!" I exclaimed and slapped both my palms against my cheeks. And even though I should be mad, I couldn't help but burst out laughing. Then I got serious again when I thought about what happened in Germany. "Wait a minute, you called Carl and threatened him to get lost? Seriously?"

"I didn't know you had planned to travel halfway across Germany all by yourself to meet him!" Michael exclaimed and held his arms up in defense.

"You knew I was—" I snapped back, but Lisa stepped in between us and held up her hand.

"Woah, guys! Calm down now. It was cozier when you were all love-struck and lip-locked, so can you please shut up and continue with that? You have no idea how long we've been waiting for this," she said loud enough to make everyone listen. Even me. Then she snapped her fingers and pointed at Kaitlyn and Wada. "Pay up, girlies. I won."

I gasped again, not believing my own ears.

"You guys betted on this?"

The three of them shrugged and tried their best to stay serious, but since I saw they were close to bursting into fits of laughter, I got an unbendable urge to dig a hole in the ground so I could jump in and never come back up. And it got even worse when Zeb made a similar gesture moments later and made a couple of his friends pay up, too. If I had a shovel...

"I can't believe this!" I groaned and tried to cover my red face in my hands, but Michael wouldn't have it. He grabbed my wrists and pinned them behind my back, sporting a smug smirk.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that," he said, trying to look innocent for about two and a half seconds. Then he leaned close and lowered his voice so nobody would hear what he said. "Feel free to punish me when we get home."

His chuckle was a deep rumble in his chest when he heard my spontaneous moan. If I was my normal self, I'd fight him and everybody else who would try to claim that sound came from me, but half of my alphabet was limping around with multiple kinds of disabilities, while the rest were locked up in a mental institution. There were simply no letters left to form intelligent words. All I could do was listen when Michael whispered words that had way more meanings than one, and none of them were innocent like he pretended. And when he pushed a solid erection right above the burning apex between my legs, I was close to combusting on the spot.

"You're goddamn sexy when you're mad," he murmured, and I could feel his cheek pull up into a smirk when he said it. He knew the effect he had on me. He had to. He probably knew that in Germany, too. Or even before that. And to know people around us obviously knew, too...