Antagonym

Chapter 21

It felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I had been hiding the truth from Beck since the second I had sex with him, but now it was all out there and he couldn't have responded better. I couldn't even have responded to myself better. He had a way with words that I just didn't and it was moments like this that made me grateful for him.

Beck had tried to sleep on his couch after he gave me one of his T-shirt's and a pair of joggers, but after a long argument about the seriousness of my injury, he finally digressed and agreed to sleep in his bed with me. I wasn't about to kick him out of his own bed because Sebastian had banned me from the house.

It wasn't until 2am that I calmed down from my frantic events from the night, finally slowing my tears until my cheeks dried and my heart rate to slowed. Beck's apartment was a large bachelor pad with modern furnishings. He had a glass top desk and coffee table, a black leather couch with decorative black and white pillows, and a white and pristine kitchen with stainless steel appliances; it wasn't cheap but I had a feeling his father had picked it out. Freshman year I had lived in an apartment like this until Sebastian and I became best friends and decided to room together in a new apartment the following year. Finn was ready to pay rent for both of us, but I forced him to back off and let us get a cheaper apartment, even if he was paying my part of the rent. I felt guilty, but Finn and Sylvia's father's had payed for their apartment in college too. There was no way we could have jobs while being NCAA athletes, so we just had to accept the help.

The television was on as Beck laid next to me in bed. Despite the joggers most likely fitting me   due to my larger behind and in spite of my short height, I forgoed them, deciding not to inflame my hip any more. I wasn't sure how people managed to sleep flat on their backs, but I guess I was about to find out. "I'd like to point out the lack of sexual jokes since entering your apartment," I teased Beck while playing with his hand, tangling his fingers in my own. "I'm disappointed. Your wit has let me down."

"Excuse me if it seemed like the wrong time to hit on you," Beck scoffed without sounding too serious. I was glad because what I was really doing was testing the water. If he acted oddly then I would know he thought about our time together differently after learning the truth. I was just glad he didn't. It would only make my life more complicated. "But if you're truly that devastated by my lack of sexual innuendos then maybe I should sleep in the other room for my own safety."

I couldn't help but laugh lightly at Beck as he used his thumb try and pin my own thumb down against our intertwined hands. This is what happens when we hung out together for too long; everything because a competition.

Sadly, it was a thumb wrestle I would lose.

I grin broke out on my lips and Beck's own smile tugged at the corners of his lips, my arm muscles trying a lot harder to win than Beck had to. When he pinned my finger down against my hand, I saw the intense claw marks on his right arm. I wasn't into guys with bulging veins, but the one or two visible on Beck's muscular forearms were a huge turn on. The red tinted crescents were slightly raised on Beck's darker medium skin tone in what must have been incredibly irritating and sore bumps. I had noticed the marks in the locker room, but I didn't realize they were that bad. "Oh my God, Beck. I am so sorry," I apologized while raising his arm up with our intertwined hands, putting his arm on display.

"Eh," he brushed it off. "It's kind of hot, to be honest. It looks like I got laid," Beck joked. I can't explain the relief I felt to hear him joke with me like nothing had happened. Maybe for some people they wouldn't want to hear it after something like tonight, but it was my personality and the world I surrounded myself in. This was normal and it felt good.

"Though you should have seen the marks on my back after we had sex," his smooth laugh filled the air, vibrating his bare chest against my arm. "It looked like I lost a fight with my imaginary pet cat."