Selena Kitt - Baumgartner Generations - Henry

“Thanks, Henry.”

Val was already there when he showed up, sitting in the corner on one of the plastic chairs, her knees drawn up to her chin. There was no one else down there and they had some privacy, which was a good thing-and a bad thing, he supposed. It was the same place he’d met Libby in the stacks, and whenever he came down here, he always hoped he might run into her.

Of course, planning to meet Toni here, now, after what had happened, was going to be different than it had been before. No one could tell, just by observing them, he told himself, but he wondered if that was true. They’d found every opportunity to see each other, even on days they weren’t supposed to meet. Toni’s office was safe enough, it seemed, if they could be quiet. They’d also found refuge in her car, parked under a broken streetlamp. They both knew their actions were like a ticking time bomb, but it just felt too good to stop.

“Hey.” Henry sat, dropping his backpack. Val scrutinized him. The fluorescents were out back here, and he hadn’t seen that she’d been crying. Her mascara ran down her pale cheeks in black streaks. He noted she’d dyed her hair again too. It was black and blue streaks this time. Maybe it more fit her mood.

He sat beside her, held out his arms, and she was in them before he could even ask, “Aw damn. What happened?”

“I found this.” Val dug into her pocket, producing a folded piece of notebook paper. Henry took it, still hugging her, and read it over her shoulder as she sobbed.

“Wait a minute.” Henry got the gist-some girl had written Marcus a letter all about how she couldn’t wait to see him again. There was a lot of stuff he skimmed over in the middle, but it was signed, “I love you, xoxoxo Jen.” “You guys have an arrangement remember?”

Val sniffed. “The arrangement doesn’t involve I love yous.”

“Oh.” Chicks. She was fine with sleeping with other guys, and even with Marcus sleeping with other girls, but three little words made her crazy? Of course, he tried to imagine how he might justify his relationship-if you could call it that-with Toni, to Libby, and couldn’t come up with anything that might placate her.

“Do you know if he feels the same way?”

Val howled, burying her wet face in his neck. “He’s never even told me ‘I love you.’”

“Why in the hell do you stay with this guy?” Henry asked incredulously, shaking his head. “Val, you’re better than this.”

She sniffed. “This from the guy who was perfectly willing to fuck me in front of his sixty closest frat brothers?”

“I didn’t know you then,” Henry countered.

“What good does that do me?” She laughed at the irony in his statement. “You don’t even want me anymore now that you ‘know’ me.”

“I do want you.” Henry slapped her hip playfully, but still hard. She yelped. “As a friend.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“Look, I may not be the guy for you…” Henry tilted her chin up so he could meet her raccoon-rimmed eyes. “But I personally think you could do a hell of a lot better than Marcus.”

Her lower lip trembled. “He’s such a dick.”

“You said it.” Henry looked pointedly into her eyes.

She pouted. “But I love him.”

“I’m sorry.” He pulled her head back down to his chest, feeling her relax.

“I am, too.”

Henry stroked her black and blue hair. It was incredibly soft. “Do you want me to beat him up for you?”

She laughed at the thought. Marcus was more than twice Henry’s size-and Henry was no lightweight.

He didn’t take offense to her mirth. “How about chocolate? Would that make things better?”

He felt her sniff against his shirt. She was probably leaving streaks of mascara there. “Chocolate always makes things better.”

“That’s it. It’s you and me, then. We’ve got a date with Baskin Robbins and some Rocky Road.” He kissed the top of her head. “Think brain freeze will make you come to your senses?”

“Something should.” Val wiggled in his lap quite intentionally and the soft squirming of her bottom was getting just the reaction she was looking for. “You’re helping.”

“I can’t help too much,” he warned her.

“She’s forgotten all about you, you know,” Val blurted. He’d confessed his feelings for Libby to her, and considering he was here to console her about her own love life, her comment was rather mean, but he forgave her.

“Maybe.” Henry shrugged. “But I haven’t forgotten about her.”

“Whoever you end up with is one lucky girl.” She went to kiss him and he turned his head so it landed squarely on the cheek.

“Henry.” The sound of his name, spoken sharply, made him stand almost immediately, nearly spilling Val out of his lap onto the floor. She caught herself, standing too, glancing up.

“Professor Franklin?” Val gazed first at her and then at Henry.

“She’s tutoring me,” Henry said quickly, adding, “In English.”

Val nodded and then moved in to kiss Henry’s cheek again. “Call me later?”

“Sure.” He wiped the lipstick from his face, ignoring the look Toni gave him, but feeling it anyway, in his gut. “I’m not kidding-Baskin Robbins. Tonight. They don’t close until nine.”

“Kerwins is better,” Val countered, heading toward the elevators. She waggled her fingers at Toni as she passed. “Bye!”

Toni waited for the elevator doors to close before she took a seat next to Henry. “So, who was that?”

“Val.” Why did he feel so damned guilty? “A friend.”

Toni opened her satchel without saying anything else about it, but it was there, the whole time. They’d decided to meet in the library for a reason-it wouldn’t afford them any opportunity to do anything but work. But now Henry couldn’t concentrate again, not because he was thinking about sex-although just the smell of Toni’s perfume got him hard now-but because he was worried about what Toni had seen.

“She’s really just a friend,” Henry blurted the fifth time he’d blanked on the same word. “I swear.”

Toni sat back, her arms folded across her breasts. “Well, it’s not like we’re dating or anything.”

He blinked at her. “I guess.”

“Okay, I admit it.” Her eyes softened, her hand squeezing his knee under the table. “I was jealous.”

He swallowed, meeting her dark eyes. “You don’t have anything to be jealous of. I don’t want her.”

Which was true. Of course, he didn’t mention Libby. He kept her like a secret.

“Do you want me?” Toni’s hand slid upward, cupping his crotch. He was half-hard, had been since Val was sitting in his lap, and with Toni next to him, his cock seemed to simply respond, Pavlovian, as if she were his bell.

“Always.” And that was true, too. Since they’d started, he could hardly think about anything else. Henry glanced around, seeing no one, and stole a quick kiss. She tasted good, her mouth warm and soft and opening under his, her hand massaging his cock from half-there to all-the-way-there in a matter of moments.

“We shouldn’t,” she murmured, looking over her shoulder, but her hand moved faster anyway, rubbing him under the table.

“I know.” Hadn’t they been saying that all along? But he couldn’t stop himself, and apparently neither could she.

“Come on,” she whispered, reaching for his hand. They left their stuff and he followed her down the back aisle, the one closest to the wall, deep into the stacks. It was quiet back there, the only sound the buzzing of the flickering fluorescents overhead as Toni pushed him against the shelf and sank to her knees.

“Are you sure?” he whispered, biting his lip as she unzipped him, yanking his jeans down and pulling his cock free of his boxers.