They weren't supposed to be alone tonight.

Rhea's best friend, Madison, had finally arrived that morning with her usual high energy and iced coffee obsession. She'd barely dropped her suitcase before dragging Rhea and Beck into town for groceries and gossip.

But by nightfall, Madison was passed out upstairs after three glasses of cheap sangria, face-first in a guest bed with her AirPods still in.

So now, it was just the two of them.

Rhea and Beck.

On the oversized couch, with the lights low, the stormy summer sky flickering every few minutes through the glass windows.

"I'm bored," Beck had said.

"You're always bored," Rhea replied.

"So let's play something."

"I'm not playing Monopoly with you again. You cheat."

He grinned. "Truth or Dare."

She gave him a look. "You're nineteen."

"And you're stalling."

She raised a brow. "Fine. Truth."

He didn't even blink. "Have you ever touched yourself thinking about me?"

Silence.

She reached for her wine without answering.

"Red cheeks," he muttered. "That's a yes."

"Dare," she snapped.

"Take your panties off."

She choked on her sip.

"Beck-Madison is upstairs-"

"She sleeps like a rock. And I'll be quiet," he said. "Can you?"

Rhea stared at him. That smug tilt to his mouth. That unbothered slouch of his long legs. And the way his eyes pinned her down.

Slowly, her hand slid under her blanket. Then under the hem of her shorts. She pulled them off inch by inch, letting them slide down her legs. He watched every movement.

Her panties dropped to the floor.

His eyes dragged up from her bare thighs to her chest.

"Truth or Dare?" she asked, breath catching.

"Dare."

"Kiss me. But not on the mouth."

He didn't even hesitate.

Beck shifted forward, closing the space between them. His hand slid under the blanket. Then over her thigh. Up. Up.

He pressed his mouth to the inside of her knee.

Rhea's breath hitched.

Higher.

A kiss just above the joint.

Another, mid-thigh.

Her fingers curled into the blanket.

He didn't go where she expected.

He leaned up, mouth at her neck now, breath against her ear.

"Can't stop thinking about how wet you were in the bathroom this morning," he murmured.

"Beck-"

He pulled back just enough to look her in the eyes.

"You want me to stop?"

She couldn't speak.

"Truth or Dare," he whispered.

She swallowed. "Truth."

"What would you do if Madison walked in right now?"

Her legs tightened instinctively. "I'd kill you."

He smirked. "But you wouldn't tell me to stop."

His hand moved under the blanket again.

This time, it landed between her thighs.

Two fingers.

She gasped.

"Keep your voice down," he said, kissing her neck again. "Or do you want her to hear how desperate you are?"

Rhea's nails dug into the cushion.

His fingers worked slow, deep, with an obscene kind of patience.

"Fuck," she whispered, forehead pressed to his shoulder.

"I knew you'd sound like this," he murmured.

"Please," she moaned.

"Please what?"

"Please keep going."

He groaned softly, kissing her harder, biting her shoulder gently.

"Next time she leaves the house," he whispered, "I'm going to eat you out on this couch until you forget your own name."

Rhea came shaking in his arms.

And Beck just held her. Smirking against her skin.

Because upstairs?

Madison had no idea.

But down here?

Her best friend's cousin had already won.

___

It wasn't even midnight.

Rhea was in her room, pretending to read, when she got the text.

Beck: You moan like you're trying to get caught.

Her stomach flipped. Instantly.

Rhea: Go to sleep.

Beck: Say my name. Just once. Beck: Bet you won't.

She didn't respond.

Three minutes later, a soft knock at her door.

Not loud. Not urgent. Just... there.

She opened it without thinking.

And there he was. Barefoot. Hoodie on. Grey sweats. Hair still messy from the couch.

"Madison's still asleep," he whispered. "So keep your voice down."

She opened her mouth to scold him. But he was already stepping in. Already locking the door behind him. Already walking her back with nothing but his stare.

"Beck-"

His hand wrapped around the back of her neck.

Not hard. But firm.

And then his lips were on hers.

No hesitation. No build-up. Just filth and hunger and possession. His other hand slid around her waist, pulling her against him.

Rhea moaned. Quietly.

Beck broke the kiss, mouth barely apart from hers.

"That sound," he whispered. "That exact sound you made last night when I slipped two fingers inside you."

Her knees buckled. He caught her.

And backed her up until her legs hit the bed.

He sat down. Spread his legs. Pulled her between them.

"You don't have to say yes," he murmured, lips brushing her stomach. "But if you stay standing here in this t-shirt, looking at me like that, I'll take it as permission."

She didn't move. Didn't stop him.

He tugged her shorts down first. Then her panties.

One knee bent on the bed, the other foot still on the floor. She was standing in front of him, trembling.

"Sit," he said. "Right here."

She lowered onto his thigh.

He guided her with both hands-one on her waist, the other between her legs. Until she was straddling him, pussy against the soft cotton of his sweats, hips grinding just slightly with every breath.

He groaned. "Fuck, Rhea. You're soaked already."

"Beck-"

"Say my name," he whispered.

She shook her head.

"I won't go any further until you do."

His hand moved. Rubbed her against him. Slow, circular, cruel.

She whimpered.

"Say it."

She leaned forward, forehead against his. "Beck."

"Louder."

"Beck-"

He slid his hand between her legs again. This time, two fingers slipped in-slow, but deep.

She cried out, clamping her lips shut as he smirked.

"Again."

She gasped. "Beck."

He kissed her. Hard. Then laid her back on the bed.

"Keep saying it," he growled. "I want to hear how many times I can make you scream it without waking your best friend."

His mouth trailed down her chest. Tongue flicking over her nipple, fingers curling deeper inside her.

She twisted in the sheets.

He moved lower.

"I want to taste you," he whispered against her hip. "But you're going to look at me while I do it."

Her legs were already shaking.

His mouth reached her core.

Tongue flat. Slow. Groaning like he hadn't eaten in days.

She arched off the bed. He held her down.

One hand on her stomach, one under her thigh. His mouth worked like sin itself. Sucking. Flicking. Cruel and perfect.

"Beck," she moaned. "Oh my god, Beck."

"That's it," he breathed against her. "Say it again. Say it until you come."

She did.

Once. Twice. She lost count.

When he finally slid up her body, mouth slick, pupils blown wide, she kissed him without thinking.

Tasted herself. Tasted the trouble. Didn't care.

"Do you still think this is wrong?" he asked.

She exhaled. "I don't know what I think anymore."

He leaned down. Whispered into her ear.

"Then let me show you until you forget how to think at all."

And that night-she didn't whisper his name.

She chanted it.

Morning came like nothing had happened.

Sunlight spilled across the sheets. Rhea woke with a sore throat, sore thighs, and the lingering echo of Beck's mouth between her legs.

But he was gone.

No text. No note. Just a faint warmth on the other side of her bed and the smell of him on her pillow.

She didn't see him until noon. In the kitchen. Shirtless. Cooking scrambled eggs like he hadn't made her sob his name five times into the mattress just hours before.

"Morning," he said, like he wasn't the devil.

"Morning," she said a beat slower, enjoying the view.

He raised a brow. "Did you want breakfast or a round two?"

Her stomach clenched.

Madison walked in seconds later, all sunshine and cluelessness.

"I slept so hard," she yawned, completely unaware.

Rhea nearly dropped her coffee.

---

That night, it started again.

She walked out of the bathroom wearing only a tank top and underwear.

Beck was sitting on her bed. Waiting.

"You shouldn't be here," she whispered.

"I know."

"You can't keep-"

"I won't touch you," he said, standing, "unless you ask."

She didn't move. Didn't breathe.

His fingers brushed her cheek. "But if you do... I'm not stopping this time."

Her hands gripped his hoodie. Pulled him forward.

And he took her.

Onto the bed. Onto her back. Onto the edge.

His mouth was everywhere. Tongue at her nipple. Teeth on her neck.

She reached down, needing more. He caught her wrist.

"No," he growled. "Not yet."

His fingers circled her clit. Featherlight. Relentless.

Then stopped.

She cried out.

"Please," she begged.

"No."

He slid two fingers inside. Curled them. Then stopped again.

Her hips bucked. Her breath caught.

"Say you want to come."

"Beck-"

"Say it."

"I want to come," she whimpered.

"Not enough."

He kissed down her body again. Tongue slow. Hands holding her open.

She shook.

"Please," she gasped. "I need it. I'll break-"

"Then break," he whispered.

And he kept her there. Right on the edge.

Again. And again. Until tears pricked her eyes.

Until her thighs were trembling and her voice was cracked.

Until her hips lifted and her mouth begged and her eyes begged and her soul begged.

"Please let me come, Beck. Please. I'm yours. I'll do anything, just-fuck, please-"

He looked down at her. Smiling.

"There it is."

And when he finally let her fall over the edge?

She screamed.

So loud, she was sure Madison heard.

And for the first time, she didn't care.

___

Rhea avoided him for exactly twelve hours and thirty-seven minutes.

She timed it. Because every second of silence between them felt like its own form of punishment.

She couldn't look at him without remembering the way his voice had cracked against her skin. Couldn't sit without feeling the echo of his mouth between her thighs. Couldn't think without the memory of how broken she'd sounded, begging him to let her come.

But today, she tried.

She wore jeans. No shorts. No tank top. No soft sighs or flushed cheeks. Just full-on denial, wrapped in sarcasm and zipped into a hoodie two sizes too big.

Beck didn't say anything that morning. Didn't text. Didn't look up from his cereal when she walked into the kitchen.

It hurt more than she expected.

Madison, still blissfully unaware, was flipping pancakes and humming along to some early 2010s playlist. The air smelled like syrup and cinnamon. It should've felt safe. Comfortable.

Instead, every inch of the house buzzed with heat.

Unspoken tension. Sex pressed into the walls. The memory of Beck whispering, "Break," still ringing in her ears.

---

By afternoon, Rhea was out by the pool. Pretending to read. Pretending the sun could burn away the ache he left in her. She had earbuds in. Bikini on under a shirt. Legs stretched out, skin kissed by light.

She didn't hear him walk out.

But she felt it.

The second his shadow passed over her thighs, her stomach dipped.

"You look like you're running from something," Beck said.

She didn't look up. "Maybe I am."

A pause. Then the soft rustle of his shirt hitting the ground.

"You think pretending last night didn't happen will make it go away?" he asked, stepping closer.

"Maybe I want it to."

His breath hitched. Then, softer:

"You really think I can forget you?"

That made her look up.

He crouched beside her, eyes intense.

"I've wanted you for years, Rhea."

She blinked. "What?"

"You don't know this, but... when I first met you, yeah, you were my cousin's hot best friend and I tried so hard to act normal. You felt untouchable. You were older, brilliant, already doing internships and winning shit, and I was just this dumb seventeen-year-old who thought you were it."

Her throat went dry.

"You had a boyfriend. Then another. And I just... watched. And waited. I wasn't gonna be some annoying kid trying to get your attention. But last year? I almost told you. The feelings didn't go away."

She stared at him. Mouth parted. Brain glitching.

"Beck..."

"I didn't expect this summer to happen. I didn't think I'd actually get the chance to touch you. But now that I have?"

He leaned in. Lips brushing her ear.

"I'm not letting go."

Madison's voice rang out from the kitchen window.

"Hey, Rhea! We're heading into town in a bit. You wanna come?"

Rhea cleared her throat. "Yeah! Just give me ten!"

Madison didn't see the way Beck's hand slid over Rhea's thigh, slow and possessive.

Didn't see the way Rhea's eyes fluttered shut.

Didn't see how close Beck came to kissing her again.

"You'll come back," he whispered. "And when you do, we'll stop pretending."

---

Two hours later, she was back.

Madison stayed in town to meet a guy she matched with on Bumble.

The house was quiet. Beck wasn't in the living room. Or the kitchen.

But her door was open.

He was sitting on her bed.

Hoodie off. Just sweatpants. Bare chest. And that look.

"Lock the door," he said.

She did.

He stood. Walked over. Took her face in his hands.

"Are you done pretending you don't want this?"

"I'm scared," she admitted. "Of how much I want this."

He kissed her. "Then stop running."

And she did.

They tore at each other. Her shirt. His sweats. Her bra. His mouth.

He dropped to his knees.

"Take off your jeans," he said.

She did.

He slid her panties down with his teeth.

And then?

He devoured her.

Wet. Messy. No pause. No shame.

Tongue deep. Hands tight on her thighs.

She moaned, high and breathless.

He kept going until she was shaking.

And then?

She dropped to her knees too.

Pulled his cock out, kissed the tip, then took him in her mouth.

He groaned-head thrown back, hands gripping her hair.

"Fuck, Rhea... you're gonna kill me."

She sucked him harder. Deeper.

And when he came, moaning her name into the dark room-

She swallowed.

Then stood.

And they kissed. Filthy and breathless. Like there was no more pretending left to do.