Stone Creek by Davis, Lainey (reading diary .TXT) 📕

say try because Talon is biting at my neck as I'm typing. "Talon, stop! We already had sex twice today." I swat him away so I can finish the email. "Don't you ever get enough?"

I shriek as he flattens me down against the sheets, blowing a raspberry against my neck. "Never," he says. "I can never get enough of you." But he kisses me once more and climbs out of bed. While he's getting dressed, I set a time with Professor Jacobs.

"Hey, Talon, can you make a 1:45 meeting with Matt to review our draft?" I start to tug on my own clothes, knowing Alissa is going to kill me if I miss another dinner with her.

Talon, his head half in the closet, says, "It'll be tight but I can come right from watching film in the morning. Will you add the meeting into my phone for me?" It's such an intimate request, a small thing like that, but his phone is his personal space. I smile when I see that he set a picture of us as his lock screen and type in "meet smoking hot girlfriend at Professor Jacobs office" into his calendar for tomorrow.

When we walk into the hall so I can leave, CJ and some of the guys are playing a video game on the couch. "Nacho!" he yells to me. I flip him off playfully and make to walk out the door, but CJ beckons me over. He pulls me down and pecks me on the cheek, grinning, and says, "Send that to my girl for me." He winks at Talon, who isn't sure how to respond, but everyone laughs.

Talon walks me to the hall, where he kisses me long and deep. "Why can't you come back and sleep over," he pouts, rubbing my shoulders.

"I told you, it's girls night. Alissa and I are going to watch garbage television and talk about you and your roommate." I peck him on the nose and rub his cheek. "But I'll miss you very much, my Claw." He growls and I laugh, but I know if I don't peel myself away I'll never make it home to my roommate.

Alissa and I spend the evening catching up and making plans for our spring break trip. Since both our boyfriends have two-a-day football practices the whole week, we decided to leave them behind and fly to the beach together. My uncle even shared his hotel points with us, so of course we told Erin, Sara, and Mindy they could crash in our suite. It'll be my first trip with friends and talking about it with Alissa leaves me feeling very excited in a way I haven't known since my dad died.

By next morning when I walk to Matt's office, I'm feeling like I have my life put together. Talon is feeling really confident about his knee and looking forward to the NFL draft at the end of April. We haven't talked about things long term, but most cities with professional teams have big universities with statistics programs, so I know I can take Coach Burns up on his offer to help me with my grad school acceptance. I finally have friends. Classes are going well. I open the door to my professor's office feeling like I know my path forward, like I have my shit together for the first time since I lost my parents.

"Serena! Hey, come on in," he says, closing the door behind me. I sit down and Matt surprises me a bit by taking the seat next to me instead of sitting in his desk chair.

"Talon said he was coming right from film," I start to explain, "so he might be a bit late."

Matt grunts and tosses a folder onto his desk. "Well, we've come to expect that, haven't we?"

Something feels off about this meeting and alarm bells start going off, but I remind myself that Talon did waltz in late and disrupt class for the first few weeks. I look up at Matt, waiting for him to continue.

"Serena, I gotta say, I was really impressed by your work here," he says. "This is all excellent. Seriously--my grad students at Dartmouth aren't writing this well."

"Really?"

He nods, leaning forward. "Truly. You have a brilliant mind for statistics."

Beaming, I begin to tell him how Talon and I worked together so well on this paper. "The whole thing flowed so well for us once we found a topic we both felt passionate--"

"Serena, I get it." He interrupts me and puts a hand on my knee. I stare down at his hand and my body turns to stone. He continues, "You don't have to cover for him. I told you at the beginning of the semester, I knew it would be you picking up the slack for this guy."

I start shaking my head. "No. I was so wrong." Matt Jacobs fingers begin to rub my leg. I flush, not sure what to do. My voice is a whisper when I say, "I…misread him…"

A few months ago, I would have jumped at this opportunity. Hell, I'd thrown myself at Professor Jacobs right here in this office. But now this all feels wrong. I feel violated by his hand on my leg and wish I could figure out how to get out of this room. Matt begins to lean toward me and I recoil, but just as I reach for his hand to remove it from my leg, I hear the door to his office click open.

Talon stands in the doorway looking down at Matt Jacobs' hand on my leg, at my hand on his hand, at him leaned close to my body. I see his face change, the anger flood through his body. His mouth dangles open in shock. "What the fuck?"

I leap from the seat, unfrozen at last, and rush toward Talon, who shakes his head. He holds out his