The Best of Friends Ch. 04

Brigid joined the others down in the game room, but Keely wanted to grab a quick nap before dinner. Her first day at the cabin always required a short pick-me-up nap because she would never get a restful night of sleep prior to a trip there; she would be too excited.

Bracing one hand on the four poster bed, she shucked off her jeans. She debated whether or not to leave on her thermal leggings. Pulling them off, she stood to see if the ambient temperature was warm enough. When she decided it was, the leggings promptly fell to the floor. Standing in her long t-shirt, socks, and underwear, she listlessly edged closer to the side of the bed. A nap was what all she needed.

Right before collapsing into the bed, she noticed that she still had her bra on. In the midst of trying to take it off by pulling her arms into her shirt, she missed the gentle knock at the bathroom door. Her bedroom and the other bedroom shared a full bathroom.

Her grunt of satisfaction at undoing her bra was misinterpreted as permission to enter for Craig who used the shared bathroom as an entry to her room. He stepped in only to be smacked with her bra as she threw it over her shoulder on her journey to the bed.

"Ow! My eye!"

This wasn't the first time he had been hit with articles of Keely's clothing. They had lived together all through college, and he had quickly learned that if Keely was tired and wearing too many clothes, it was a safe bet to move away from her. Had he known she was peeling layers when he entered the room, he would have ducked.

With mild irritation about her nap being delayed, Keely quickly spun around and thrust her arms through her sleeves. She crossed over to Craig and gently pulled his fingers from his eye. They had lived together long enough that it didn't even stun her to be in just a shirt and underwear in front of him.

"Craig, sit down, and let me see."

She maneuvered him to the edge of her bed and looked down. He loosened his grip and she noticed that he had a small scratch underneath his eye where the hook must have scratched him, but the eye, itself, was fine.

"It's just a small scratch. Keep your finger on it until the stinging goes away. You'll survive. What are you doing in here?"

"I wanted to talk to you, and when I knocked, you grunted approval."

She thought back to the last few minutes and realized her grunting whilst removing her bra was mistaken for her permission to enter. She knew it was a simple misunderstanding, so she didn't correct him. Besides, they had spent the last few weeks snapping at each other. She didn't want it to become a full-blown fight.

"What did you want to talk about?"

He looked up at her and said, "Paul."

Keely started to back away, but when she had Craig sit on the bed, she had stood between his legs to look at his scratch. He quickly clamped his thighs on either side of her and snaked his arm around her waist. This was going to turn into a fight.

"Keely," he said gently, "what did you mean earlier when you said that you and Paul were 'good'?"

She placed both hands on his shoulder and tried to free herself. That only caused him to tighten his grip.

"Answer me, Kee. Are you getting back together with him after how he treated you? You can't go back to him; he's an ass," he stated sternly.

"What on earth would make you think that?" Her irritation was rising.

"You're not one to forgive and forget when you've been betrayed, so I can't see why you would be talking to Paul unless he's duped you into forgiveness."

Keely was pissed now, and she struggled to pull free. She didn't want to hurt Craig, but she did want out of his grasp and this conversation. How dare he assume she was stupid enough to go back to Paul!

"I'm going to ask you to let go one more time, Craig," she warned as she leaned down to put her forehead to his. "I don't want to talk about Paul, and I'm pretty pissed that you'd assume I was too stupid to avoid falling into the same trap twice."

He pushed back against her forehead. "And I'm going to ask you one more time to tell me why you're talking to Paul."

Keely had wrestled enough with Alan as a kid and when they were teenagers to see an opportunity to get out of someone's grasp. She had even wrestled with Craig when they lived together. Usually that was over the remote. The moment Craig pushed forward with his head Keely pushed herself up from the floor and tried to propel her body over Craig's left shoulder towards the mattress. However, she hadn't factored that Craig would counter her move, and he twisted so they both turned. He quickly pinned her arms to the bed and managed to straddle both of her legs.

He leaned into Keely and his face was a few inches from hers. "Are you going to tell me or are we lying like this for the rest of our vacation?"

"Fuck you!" she hissed as she shoved her hips upwards in hopes of pushing him away. Rage filled her so much that she didn't feel her shirt rise up a few inches.

He bucked back pushing her into the mattress and moving his face even closer to hers, and said, "Oh, you must be very mad to swear at me; you never say, 'Fuck.' Just tell me what's going on. Or are you going to shut me out of your life again?"

It hurt her when he said those last words, and she caved. She told him about her conversation with Paul and that she had called to thank him for taking care of Rhianna's mother. She held nothing back, not even his crying at the end of their conversation when she told him she forgave him. Keely also added how she and Paul had starting talking regularly. It was nothing romantic, but he was really supporting her through all this frustration she felt.

"Frustation over what?" asked Craig as he once again pressed his forehead to hers.

She couldn't tell him it was from dealing with Cat, his Cat, and the love of his life. "I don't know," she lied. "I've just been so frustrated lately, and I've been taking it out on you. I'm sorry."

Tears escaped from her eyes, rolled down her cheeks, and silently hit the mattress. He kissed her tear-stained cheek. He'd done it many times in the past, but it had never affected her the way it did now. Her toes curled, and her heart heaved. At the same time, she felt a piece of it die, for he was going to marry Cat.

"Keely, I think you know why. Just tell me."

"I can't Craig."

Her grey eyes were so dark and clouded with pain that Craig felt it in the pit of his stomach. He wanted nothing more than to keep her safe and protect her. Without thinking, he leaned down and slowly brushed his lips against hers. She gasped deeply, and he pulled back to stare down at her.

At that moment, he became aware of four things: her exposed hardened nipple with its crinkled cap peeking out from the bottom hem of her shirt, his hard-on begging to be released from its confinement, the overwhelming urge to kiss her again, and the unbridled lust in her eyes. He'd never seen that look from her and any rational thought he had vanished.

Without releasing his hold on her, Craig deftly rearranged his legs so they were between hers and languorously rocked against her. His movements were slow and suggestive, and in that simple move, his intentions were loud and clear to Keely. Her instinctive response was to wrap her legs around his waist in hopes of drawing him closer.

"What am I doing," she thought. "This isn't right." As she was battling for a semblance of sanity, Craig rolled his hips more insistently, which brought his clothed cock to rest against her clit. All Keely could do was rock back against him. Throwing her head back, she moaned with such pleasure that Craig lost all thought for a moment.

Her uttering his name in a breathy whisper brought his focus back. He leaned in and kissed Keely again even slower. They were so consumed by that kiss, that neither one of them heard the gentle knock on the door. Nor did they notice the door open.

"What the fuck is going on here?" shouted Cat.