Breaking Joseph (9 page)

“You too,
petal.”

I made my way
back and perched on the armchair opposite Joseph. The coffee cup
wobbled in my hands.

“I’m sure
they’re very proud of you,” he said.

“Yeah.” The
coffee had gone cold. I set it back down. “Not that I did much of
the work, though.”

“You’ll make up
for it when we get back.” He shrugged. “And you know I would have
had you pitch if it hadn’t been for…circumstances.”

I nodded. He
couldn’t be seen to favour me, not when Poppy and I had applied for
the same spot on his team and the result had yet to be announced.
“Thanks.”

My
chair-for-one was so damned isolating. In public, we were Punch and
Judy in daylight bondage, trying to ignore the crocodile’s teeth
gleaming in the corner. In private, it was so natural to brush past
him and be savaged by my own urges, and while things were strange
between us, it didn’t stop flesh triumphing over logic–or at least,
it hadn’t as he’d shoved me against the shower wall several hours
ago. To sit apart like this was to be severed.

Aidan appeared
by the revolving doors and I shot him a smile.

“I’m off now,”
I said, jumping to my feet. “Is that okay?”

Joseph blinked,
somewhere else entirely. “I’ll see you back here in a couple of
hours–for the club, remember?”

“I will.”

Blood surged
beneath my skin in the stampede to get to him.
Go on, kiss him
goodbye.

He stared up,
drinking me in, his lips just slightly parted. “Later, Leila.”

I found myself
blushing. “Yes, Sir.”

“Lei-Lei! Get
your arse over here!” Aidan waved like an idiot and I cringed as I
strode over.

“My boss is
just–”

“Like I care.”
He grabbed my shoulder with his spare hand. The other held a large
box of doughnuts. “We have a date with a very handsome man.”

“I thought we
were going for dinner?”

“We were.” He
ushered me toward the lift. “But then I managed to injure Mattman,
so I have to comfort him.”

“More
homoerotic wrestling?” I pressed the button for Matt’s floor.

“Pah. I wish.
No, we set a little challenge at the gym.”

“Aidan!” I
scolded.

“What? He’s a
big rugby boy–he can handle a few press-ups.”

“You train for
three hours a day!”

“I…well, yeah.
I’m superior.” He flashed me a mischievous grin. “But those shorts
he was wearing…nom. I would wear him like a hat.”

“There’s an
image I didn’t need.”

I grew uneasy
as we reached Matt’s door. No longer a couple, he and I were in
limbo, barely friends–if we ever would be again. I knew I made him
uncomfortable.

“Does he know
I’m coming?” I whispered as we knocked.

“Yeah, checked
with him. It’s fine.”

“Oh.”
Really?

Matt appeared
in the doorway, his hair even messier than usual and his t-shirt
creased like a Welsh landscape. He nodded at us and limped back
toward the sofa. His room was smaller than mine but had a cosy,
intimate feel that the suite didn’t have. It smelled like him
too–spicy shower gel with a boy’s edge of musk, the kind he’d once
smothered me in straight off the rugby pitch.

“What did he do
to you?” I perched on the bed.

Aidan landed
heavily beside me.

“Circuit
training.” Matt groaned. “Bastard.”

“You’ll heal,
you whinging fairy. It’s only a pulled muscle.” Aidan snorted.

Matt clasped
his thigh, wincing as he lifted it onto the sofa. “It still fucking
hurts!”

“Best have a
doughnut, then.” Aidan passed him the box. “Keep up your strength
and all that.”

“Just to be on
the safe side.” Matt scooped three up in one large paw and
deposited them next to his laptop.

“Lei-Lei?”
Aidan waved the box under my nose and the sweet, yeasty smell made
me nauseous.

“I think I’ll
give them a miss.” Any more junk food this week and I’d need a
forklift into the airplane. “Mind if I order room service?”

Matt waved a
doughnut in the air. “Go ahead.”

The boys
chattered about the American football match on the television, and
I called down to order smug, virtuous chicken salad.

“What did you
two do last night?” I asked.

“Candlelit
dinner,” said Aidan, not looking at me. “We shared a plate of
spaghetti so we could have sloppy bolognaise snogs.”

“Then we went
out to kick some bums,” Matt added.

“You stayed in
and watched internet porn, didn’t you?” I asked.

Aidan stuck his
tongue out at me.

“Only for some
of it,” Matt muttered, blushing slightly. “We had dinner with Poppy
and Sadie downstairs.”

I cocked an
eyebrow at him. “Sounds cosy.”

“It all went a
bit downhill when I suggested a four-way.” Aidan sighed.

“Please tell me
you didn’t.”

“Oh, he did,”
Matt said. “We’d never have got rid of them otherwise.”

Aidan laughed.
“That blond girl wanted me. Seriously. She kept staring at my
crotch.”

“Sadie?” I
giggled.

“He’s
delusional.” Matt licked sugar off his fingers. “He’d probably got
spaghetti on it or something.”

“My cock gets
hungry,” Aidan insisted. “I have to feed the beast. You’re just
jealous, Mattman.”

He scowled. “I
think I’d rather wank with sandpaper than screw Sadie, cheers.
She’s probably still crusty with Joseph’s–”

I cleared my
throat loudly.

“Sorry,” Matt
mumbled, looking away.

“You’ve been
hanging around with
him
too much,” I chided, poking Aidan in
the ribs.

“Lei-Lei–are
you suggesting that I’m a bad influence?”

“You are!”

Aidan pouted.
“You spend all day with your poxy law stuff…you need lightening up
a bit.”

“Maybe I like
my poxy law stuff,” I grumbled.

The door
rattled with a knock and I went to fetch the tray from the bellboy.
Aidan eyed my dinner with distaste.

“That looks
disgustingly healthy,” he complained.

I chewed a
spear of raw pepper. “I’ve got a long night ahead. I need proper
food.”

“Argh. Crap. I
forgot about this stupid celebration thing.” Matt slapped his
forehead. “I’m going to look like a prize twat. Can you get into
nightclubs on crutches?”

“Maybe if
you’re Lady Gaga,” said Aidan.

I glanced
around the room. “You don’t have crutches.”

“No…but I’d
need them.” He blew the hair out of his eyes. “I look ridiculous
limping like this!”

“You’ll just
have to forgo that cha-cha you’d planned, and we’ll make up a story
about how you did it. Something heroic. Aidan?”

He swallowed a
mouthful of doughnut. “Ace. How about…Sadie dropped a fork and you
had to dive under the table before it was swallowed by her
cavernous minge?”

Matt shook with
laughter, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. “Get me drunk
and I’ll so say that.”

“You’ll get
fired, Matt,” I said.

“It’d be worth
it.”

“Ooh, ooh!”
Aidan bounced and the tray on my lap rattled. “We could say you got
injured crowd surfing at one of our gigs.”

I looked up.
“One of your gigs?”

“Me and Aid
have formed a band,” Matt explained. “We’re electro-punk
fusion.”

Aidan stole a
crouton from my plate. “We’re called Cockspank. We just need to get
a synthesizer and we’ll get snapped up in no time. So you see, when
you introduced us, you did something monumental for music.”

“Your parents
will be so proud.”

Aidan glared.
“Yeah. Well, my dad can go fuck himself anyway.”

There was a
nerve I’d never known existed. “Sorry, Aid,” I said quietly.

“Oh, don’t be a
moron.” He brightened with suspicious speed. “Anyway. Where were
we?”

“My stupid
leg,” said Matt.

“His stupid
leg. Let’s see. Ooh!” He grabbed my hand and my knife clattered to
the floor. “Lei-Lei gives excellent massages.”

Matt and I
exchanged awkward glances.

“I don’t
think–”

“I don’t
know…”

“Ugh. You’re
both so bloody stubborn. Mattman, she’s hardly going to rape
you.”

“I like the
able-bodied ones,” I protested. “They put up more of a fight.”

“I’m broke
anyway.” A shy smile emerged from beneath Matt’s mop of hair. I
didn’t know whether he was being good-natured or sarcastic, but it
was uneasy either way.

Aidan glanced
at his watch. “I have to cut loose in a bit.”

“Where are you
off to?”

“I have an
appointment with my hand,” he said, straight-faced.

“I’m going to
assume that’s for a manicure,” I said drily.

He and Matt
exchanged conspiratorial grins.

“Maybe the
swimming will help your pain a bit, Matt?” I said.

He pulled a
face. “Oh, for crying out loud. I forgot about that as well. What
kind of club has a pool, anyway?”

“A fetish
club,” Aidan said helpfully. “It’ll be full of blood and cock
yogurt.”

I swatted him
around the back of the head. “It’s a private member’s club. It
sounds…well, a bit classier than London clubs, actually.”

Matt’s upper
lip twitched. “Woo-fucking-hoo.”

“Right then.
Going to love and leave you. I’ll see you at the airport, okay?”
Aidan stooped to hug my shoulders tightly, and then clasped hands
with Matt. “Lei-Lei, suck it up and give him that massage. Well.
Maybe not literally.” He had that childish, singsong tone again
that made me want to throttle him, but Charlotte rubbed her hands
with malicious glee.

The door
slammed loudly and Matt and I sat for a moment, the TV filling the
silence with buzz.

“Do you want me
to?” I asked eventually.

He eyed me in
the raw sunshine that poured through the window. “I suppose it’s
worth a go.”

“Do you have
any oil or lotion, or anything?”

“Funnily
enough, no.”

“Hang on. I’ve
got body butter in my bag, I think.” I pushed the tray off my lap
and rummaged around for the little pot. Back on the sofa, he lifted
his legs so I could slide beneath them. “This one, right?” I eased
his shorts up and brushed my fingers over his left thigh.

“Yeah.” He
cleared his throat. “Thanks.”

The thick scent
of coconut bloomed between us as I twisted off the lid.

“Shit.” He
growled softly. “Sorry. It’s cold.”

He trembled as
I spread the cream over his skin. I wanted to look at him, but it
seemed inappropriate. I’d almost forgotten how muscled his legs
were–now, they rippled beneath my palms.

“Tell me if
it’s too hard, okay?” I used the heel of my hand to put pressure
along the inside of his thigh. Head back, eyes closed…he didn’t
look like he was in pain.

I carried on
until the lotion squelched between my fingers and his skin shone.
Matt’s breath gained pace to match the strokes. What would Joseph
make of this? Was that my measure for every situation, now?

Matt began to
shift uncomfortably and that was when I noticed how hard he was. I
ached to be filled and the sudden lurch of it made me gasp. With a
client, I’d have taken his shorts down and started massaging around
his v-section, complimented his cock. God knew, I had enough good
things to say about Matt’s.

But he wasn’t a
client; he never really had been, not in that sense. Fucking him
would be some sort of friendship kamikaze. The carnivore in me
wanted this, and she was the girl who really needed to go on a
diet.

“Sorry,” he
muttered, his tongue prodding his cheek.

“It’s okay.” I
smiled up at him. “Nothing I haven’t seen before, right?”

“Still.”

“Should I
stop?”

He bit his
bottom lip. “No.”

The knock at
the door made us jump, and I tugged my slick hands away. Matt threw
a cushion over his lap.

“Um…come in?”
he called.

The door
cracked open and Poppy’s head appeared. “Gosh. Sorry. Should I come
back later?” She looked slightly mortified at intruding on our
tangle of limbs.

“Is everything
okay?” I asked.

“I was just
wondering if I could borrow a laptop, actually. Mine’s dead and I
can’t find the charger.”

“Take mine.”
Matt inclined his head to where it flickered on the coffee
table.

Poppy darted in
and tucked it under her arm. “Thanks a million. I’ll bring it back
later. See you both in the lobby?”

“We’ll be
there.” The door snapped shut and he let the cushion drop to the
floor. He still strained against the fabric of his shorts. “That
wasn’t awkward at all.”

“Nope.” I
giggled as I resumed circling strokes on his inner thigh. “Is it
working yet, do you think?”

He shot me a
long, lazy smile. “Not quite. Better carry on.”

Things were
thawing between us at a shameful rate. It was just a massage,
right? Charlotte blew bubbles with invisible gum, played with her
hair: shameless pair. I should stop. I should stop. Matt wasn’t
recreational.

I didn’t
stop.

“So how’s it
going, then?” he asked, studying me.

“How do you
mean?”

“With him.”

I licked my
lips to moisten them. “Good…I think. A bit confusing, but then
that’s how he is.” By then, I lingered right at the top of his
thigh. “Have you met anyone over here?”

“There was a
girl the other night.”

“Oh?” Oh.

“Not much to
say really. She wasn’t anything like you, though.”

I gave a
bittersweet little laugh. “That’s probably a good thing.”

“Maybe.” He
caught my wrist midstroke. “Leila.”

“Mmm?”

“Stop now,
okay? I’ll end up doing something stupid if you don’t.”

It would have
been so easy to climb over and straddle his hips, lift my skirt and
mew at the stretch of him. I couldn’t stop thinking of how it felt
to have his fingers jammed right into that sweet spot, how I’d
gushed and throbbed around them. Fucking Aidan, playing the
woefully unsubtle matchmaker. I was going to punch him when I had
the chance.