Neighbors With Benefits: Chapter 17

I normally enjoyed traveling for work. I liked training people on my company’s software and processes—I could never be an actual teacher for children, but for my job I was only working with adults. People who were genuinely interested in learning. It made it easy, and fulfilling.

But leaving Jazz sucked.

Yeah, we weren’t together like a real couple. Sure, it was supposed to be casual. But I couldn’t help but miss her. We’d been having sex a few times a week for nearly a month, and I had come to look forward to those steamy, romantic nights together.

Maybe it was for the best that I was traveling. It would keep me from getting too attached.

Easier said than done.

On Tuesday night, I stopped by a grocery store after work and picked up some supplies. I had paid extra for a room with a kitchenette and oven. It wasn’t the best baking environment, but I could make it work. I had a list of six chocolate desserts I wanted to send Jazz while I was out of town, and the first was a cookie recipe that was the simplest to make in a mediocre hotel room.

While the cookies cooled, I laid in bed and stared at my phone. Re-reading all the texts we had shared for the past month. Re-living the secrecy and intimacy and sexy fun. I wanted to text her right now, but I was afraid of seeming too needy. Besides, I wasn’t sure what to say.

I’ll miss you.

That was the part I kept reading. By saying that, she had shown a little vulnerability first. It was nice knowing I had someone back home, waiting for me.

But that didn’t mean we were moving toward any kind of a relationship. She probably just meant she would miss all the sex. Which was normal in a friends-with-benefits situation.

Be cool, Aiden. Don’t seem too eager or you might scare her away.

I was still telling myself that when the text thread suddenly updated.

Jazz: I just had game night with Bash. It was fun, but not the same without you.

Me: In the sense that you didn’t get to orgasm at the end of the night?

Jazz: Yes. Exactly in that sense.

Before I could think of something witty to respond with, she texted me a photo.

A sexy photo.

She was standing in front of the bathroom mirror in her bra and panties. It was a push-up bra, giving her a delicious amount of cleavage. And she was pursing her plump lips together in a way that made me think of the last time we had been together.

The photo disappeared; Bash was calling me. I hit ignore and returned to my text with Jazz.

Me: Oh.

Jazz: Oh? All I get is an oh?

Me: You’re extremely fucking sexy.

Jazz: Better.

Jazz: What would you do if you were here right now?

Me: Lots of things.

Jazz: Say more words.

Me: Dirty things.

Jazz: You’d better elaborate right now, or you’re never getting another sexy photo again.

Me: I would bend you over that sink and devour you from behind. My mouth is watering just thinking about the way you taste. When I’ve made you come at least once with my tongue and fingers, I’ll tease you a little bit. Sliding my cock up and down your drenched pussy. By the time I’m done, you’ll be begging me to fuck you. And then, just when you think it’ll never happen, I bury myself in you. I grip your shoulders and fuck you hard and fast. I explode within seconds because you’re so goddamn tight, but I stay inside you while rubbing your clit until you come again.

Me: Was that an adequate elaboration?

Me: You there?

Jazz: Sorry, I was getting myself off. That was hot.

Me: And then we play Scrabble and I beat you by a hundred points.

Jazz: My lady-wood just disappeared.

Me: I get a triple word bonus, PLUS the bonus for using all seven of my letters. It ruins the night.

Jazz: We’re off the rails now. This should help.

She sent another photo. This time she was lying in bed with the camera positioned across the room on the dresser. Her legs were spread and she had two fingers curled up inside of herself, and her head was tilted back in ecstasy.

I began stroking myself through my sweatpants while texting her back.

Me: Okay. Thatw ay too hot, yourr gonna make my phonem elt

Jazz: That’s a lot of typos. Are you having a stroke?

Me: It’s tough to text one-handed 😉

Jazz: Ohhh.

Jazz: I probably shouldn’t send you more, then.

Me: You should ABSOLUTELY send me more photos. There’s no such thing as too many.

Jazz: Hmm, let me see what positions I can get into…

I leaned back on the hotel bed and stroked myself faster. God, I was so into this woman. A single photo and a few flirty texts were enough to make my cock ache with need for her.

But the next text I got wasn’t from Jazz.

Bash: Bro. You think I wouldn’t find out?

Me: What are we talking about right now?

Bash: Don’t play stupid. I saw the text you sent Jazz.

I felt a moment of panic. How could he see what I was sending her? I quickly made sure I had only sent it to Jazz and not to the group thread. But somehow, he knew.

I took a deep breath, put my softening-cock back in my sweatpants, and responded to my friend.

Me: I can explain. Want me to call you?

Bash: You already ignored my first call. Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?

Me: I’m sorry. It just sort of happened after game night. We had been flirting, and then we kissed, and we’ve been hooking up ever since then. I should have told you.

My phone immediately vibrated with a phone call from Bash. He was shouting at me as soon as I answered it: “YOU SLEPT WITH JAZZ?”

“You just said you knew!”

“I was talking about the text you accidentally sent her last month,” Bash replied. “Where you almost spilled the beans about us wanting to find a woman to share! I didn’t know you two were fucking!”

A few heartbeats passed. Then I said, “We’re sorry, but the number you have reached is no longer in service. Please try again.”

“No,” Bash snapped. “You can’t deflect this with humor. What the hell, dude? How long has this been going on?”

“It started the night we made soup at Jazz’s place. You left, and we decided to make cookies. And then… it just sort of happened. Neither of us planned it, but if I’m being totally honest, I think I had been hoping it would happen for a while.”

“Jesus, dude. This is worse than the text message I was talking about.”

“I was so embarrassed about that,” I admitted. “It was the night we were waiting to hear back from Carmen. I got a text from an unknown number saying she had been thinking about my offer and wanted to take me up on it. I was so excited to finally hear back from who I thought was Carmen that I texted without thinking.”

“Jazz was going to ask to borrow dishwasher detergent.”

“I know that now!” I exclaimed.

“How did you play it off?” Bash asked. “Because she thinks it was a wrong number.”

“I acted like I had written down the wrong number. Then I gave her my work cell. I’ve been texting her on that ever since.”

“I was wondering why you’ve been carrying it around more,” Bash muttered. “Dude.”

“I know.”

“You almost scared away our new neighbor on day one.” Bash sighed heavily. “The funny thing is she almost seemed open to the idea.”

I sat upright in bed. “Wait, really? What did she say?”

“She made a joke about how great it would be to have her own harem of men.”

“Holy shit,” I breathed. “You don’t think she’s serious, do you?”

“I didn’t interrogate her about it, no,” Bash said dryly. “But she thought the text was someone messing with her. She didn’t think it was serious.”

My mind was racing now. Bash, Dante, and I had been looking for a special woman for a while now. What if she had moved in next door?

What if it was the woman I was already sleeping with?

“Stop it,” Bash suddenly said.

“Stop what?”

“I can hear you thinking about it. Stop. There’s no way she was serious. Polyamory may be more popular than ever, but it’s not mainstream. If she finds out that text really did come from you, it’ll freak her out. She’ll probably move away.”

“You’re right,” I admitted. “I’m sorry. I should have told you about it sooner. All of it.”

“Why the hell didn’t you?” Bash asked. He sounded genuinely hurt. “You’re my best friend. I’ve never kept anything from you.”

“Because we’ve had a good thing going,” I explained. “Game nights, Sunday dinner… it’s all really nice. Especially while Dante has been gone. I thought that if you knew Jazz and I were sleeping together, you would feel like a third wheel.”

Bash’s laugh held only a smidge of bitterness. “I should have known something was going on. There was a vibe in the room last week. I thought Jazz maybe had a bad day at work, but now I see that it was sexual tension.”

“Yeah, there’s been a lot of that,” I said.

“Wait. Have you guys been, like, fooling around while I’m in the room?”

“That depends on your definition of fooling around,” I replied.

“Forget I asked.” Bash sighed again. “So you two have been sleeping together for a while now.”

“Well… we haven’t done any sleeping,” I said.

The line was silent.

“Still too soon to lighten the mood with humor?” I asked.

“I suppose it’s fine. Have you two talked about it? Is this a real relationship?”

“We agreed to keep it casual. The most important thing for both of us is to maintain good neighborly relations. So whenever this ends, we intend to stay friends. That’s the most important thing.”

“If you end things, and she lights our plants on fire…”

“I already told her about that,” I said with a nervous laugh. “She promised not to do anything like that. And I think we’re both on the same page. This is just a casual fling. No feelings.”

Bash was my best friend. I knew he was going to call me out on it. He would ask if I was capable of keeping it casual, I would say yes, and then he would disagree.

But he only said, “I hope so, for everyone’s sake. And seriously, she had better never find out that first text came from you.”

“I know.”

“We all have a nice friendship. She’s an A-tier neighbor. Hell, she’s in a tier above that. If she discovers you sent that text, it will ruin everything.”

“I know,” I repeated. “Relax. Everything will work out!”

Bash groaned. “I don’t like having my own phrase used against me.”

“Now you know how we feel,” I replied. “And I really am sorry for not telling you. Honestly, I’ve been dying to say something for the past month.”

“Apology accepted,” Bash said. “You can make it up to me by giving me all the hot details. At least the ones you’re comfortable sharing as a proper gentleman.”

“I promise I will give you some tasteful details on a different night. But right now, I’m kind of in the middle of something.”

“Is it work related?” Bash asked.

“…no.”

“Oh God. You’re texting her right now, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. You kind of interrupted some sexy texts.”

Bash’s laugh was normal again. “Fine. I’ll let you get back to your evening of long-distance sin. Wait! Before you go, should we let her know that I know?”

“Umm.” I thought about it for a moment. “That might make things awkward. If you find a good opening, sure, go for it. But I vote keeping it to yourself until I get back.”

“Good plan. All right, I’ll leave you to it, you big pervert.”

“You’re more perverted than I am!” I replied.

“I know,” he said with another laugh. “I meant it as a compliment.”

Sighing with relief, I felt glad that Bash wasn’t angry with me. I resolved to never keep anything like that from him again. And he was right about what he’d said; if Jazz found out that first text was from me, it could ruin everything.

But I couldn’t help but wonder…