The Side Project

Author's Note: This story will make more sense if you read the first few installments, but it's pretty easy to pick up what's going on here from context, I believe.

Ten Cent Pistol

Ten Cent Pistol

With Reed off to hook up with Ashley, it was time for me to make my way to Lexi's for the evening. I closed out my tab and ordered a rideshare.

A few months after moving to Houston, I met a couple guys at work who played rec league soccer and joined their co-ed team. Lexi was one of the team's stalwarts in central midfield, which was also the position I normally ended up playing, and we became fast friends.

A few post-game happy hours later, along with the discovery we had a ton in common, and friends progressed to friends with benefits - a status we had maintained ever since. I had expressed my openness to us being more than just friends with benefits a few times, but Lexi seemed reticent, so I was happy to let a good thing be. After seeing the dumpster fire that was Reed and Alayna's marriage I had no real interest in the institution. The idea of having children was still terrifying, so this quasi-bachelor existence worked for me.

Lexi knew I was out with Reed, and that normally meant I'd be drinking and interested in a booty call later. When I texted to ask if I could come over the only reply I had gotten was a series of eggplant and squirting emojis. One of the many things I appreciated about Lexi was that she had no hangups when it came to discussing sex.

On the short ride from the bar to Lexi's apartment I contemplated whether to tell her about the revelation that I was suddenly a multi-millionaire. My gut reaction was yes, that I wanted to. Although Lexi had passed on my offers to formalize our relationship status, the fact of the matter was that we had essentially been a couple for over two years. While we did not live together we both had a drawer of clothes and toiletries at each other's apartments and slept over with each other four nights a week on average. In short, even though there were no formal labels, I thought of her as my partner. So my instinct was to let Lexi in on the exciting news that I was now rich beyond my wildest dreams. However, I knew something like realizing I did not have to work another day in my life could completely destroy the delicate ecosystem of our loosely defined FWB relationship. I also was not remotely sober. I resolved not to immediately reveal everything.

- - - - -

- - - - -

"You look like you won the lottery," Lexi said in a joking tone as soon as I walked in her front door. I realized belatedly that I probably had a deliriously happy smile on my face. She was perched on her couch, a glass of wine and a book in hand.

"Uh, I mean, uh," I stammered. Lexi's joking guess was so accurate, I was at a loss for words.

"Wait, what happened?" Lexi asked, suddenly seriously intrigued. She could obviously tell something was up. I tried to think quickly of something to say. I was not a particularly good liar even when I was sober, and I was not sober at all.

"C'mon Ky, I've never seen you looking so goofily happy. It can't be a bad thing," Lexi prompted me.

"So no lottery, but I got an email tonight that reminded me I bought some Bitcoin as a joke back in the day. It's kind of worth a lot now," I said, giving up on my plan to withhold the news from Lexi.

"No shit? That's awesome, I'm stoked for you," Lexi said. I realized she probably didn't understand the scale of wealth I suddenly had access to. I decided to let that be for the night and revisit in the morning as needed.

"Thanks, we'll definitely have to at least take a fun trip or something if you're down," I suggested. Lexi and I had traveled together a couple times - weekend trips and serving as each other's dates to weddings. We were very compatible travelers.

"Sounds fun, any ideas?" Lexi asked.

"Maybe Napa? I could show you my old stomping grounds in the Bay Area. And wine tours, obviously," I offered.

"You had me at wine," Lexi said with a smile. I noticed the mostly empty bottle of Petit Verdot on the coffee table and realized Lexi had probably been having a little fun of her own while Reed and I were out and about.

"Need help finishing that?" I asked.

"I don't, but help yourself. It's Friday, I'm hardly opposed to cracking another bottle," Lexi said. I grabbed a glass from her cabinet and poured the rest of the bottle.

"This is damn good," I commented after taking a sip. "As good as what we had with dinner and trust me, that was not cheap."

"Felt like treating myself, so got something a little nicer than normal. May also have been a little jealous you were going out for a fancy dinner," Lexi admitted, taking a sip from her glass.

"Oh sorry, you could have come, Reed wouldn't have minded, he likes you."

"I know, but you earned it doing him a solid with the work stuff, plus when I tag along you never come home with any good stories," Lexi said. I laughed at that. I had not quite figured out why, but Lexi loved hearing about our adventures trying to pick up women. She was never jealous of the other women even though the stories often led to sex. I think she got some kind of voyeuristic thrill out of it.

"I just played wingman tonight, I was in a Lexi mood," I said. She rolled her eyes at my cheesy line.

"Sure, so you struck out with the girls at the bar and now I'm your late night sure thing." There was no malice or anger in Lexi's words, just amusement. I wondered if she would have invited over another guy if I hadn't texted. I assumed that, like me, she still hooked up with other people, but it wasn't something we ever talked about. Like Lexi, I was not much of a jealous type, but hearing about her sleeping with other guys was not something of interest to me.

"No for real, honestly I was so shocked by the Bitcoin thing, I never really considered trying to meet someone new. I wasn't in the mood to play those games, just to hang out with you and celebrate a little once we found Reed a girl," I said.

"At least Reed doesn't have to turn in his man card," Lexi teased. I had the sense she sometimes got uncomfortable when I tried to act too much like we were a real couple. It was odd to me because we basically acted like a couple for long stretches but then she would suddenly tease me for being happy with just her. I had not quite figured out her aversion to commitment but it was hardly the right time for a serious conversation.

"Good luck getting mine off me," I replied playfully.

"I'll let you keep it if you get ME off," Lexi joked.

I rubbed my chin, feigning careful thought. "I accept your terms," I said after a few moments.

"Excellent. So what game did you idiots use to charm this girl?" Lexi asked.

"So the full backstory is Reed and I actually bought each other Bitcoin as like a joke gift. This is back when we lived in Dallas and it was like a haha thing that we were buying each other something useless on our respective exes birthdays because they always wanted the most expensive dumb shit for presents. Anyways, he had as much money as me, so he paid for a round for the entire bar and made a deal with the bartender if any hot women asked who was paying he would send them our way. Lo and behold, we had our lucky lady 20 minutes later. Did my normal thing to talk up Reed and they were headed back to his within like 15 minutes," I explained.

"Dang, lot of money, pretty smooth though," Lexi remarked.

"Ha, you know Reed's rules."

"Right right, no expense spared in the pursuit of ass," Lexi said with amusement. "So was she cute?"

"Oh yeah, and definitely dressed for a night out. She had a date that didn't go well so was on the prowl, I think. Here I got a pic," I said. One thing I learned early on about Lexi was that she loved pictures. Dinner, drinks, friends, sporting events, concerts, random animals she saw, she took pictures. I'd picked up on that and made a habit of taking pictures to share with her as I went about my day. She enjoyed getting to follow me through life vicariously. I pulled up the picture of Ashley and showed it to her.

"Dang. Nice. Very cute. Lucky Reed," Lexi said. "So despite giving you shit, I may have been sort of planning for you to come over and I may have gotten a little surprise for you."

"I'm glad you can admit the truth. Where's the surprise?" I asked, intrigued.

"Come on," Lexi said and nodded towards her bedroom. I set down my wine glass and followed her.

"Ok turn around for one second," she requested once she had turned on the lights. I did so and heard rustling behind me. "Ok you can turn around now." I did so. Lexi had discarded the baggy t-shirt and sweatpants she'd been wearing and now stood proudly before me wearing a fantastic looking set of purple lingerie.

"Wow, you look amazing," I said, eyeing her. The cups of the bra were transparent lace. The panties were tiny, barely covering her shaved mound and also mostly transparent. The look on her face was the mischievous smile that I learned normally meant fun, and her soft features were slightly flushed. Lexi was petite, barely over five feet tall with long, lustrous brunette hair and between B and C cup breasts. I generally thought of her as more 'athletic girl next door' cute than bombshell, but the lingerie really suited her. Lexi also knew I loved seeing her in sexy underthings and had told me how much wearing racy things made her feel hot. She had never directly told me, but I had the impression she sometimes got off looking in the mirror.

I took two steps across the room and began running my hands up her sides until they rested on breasts over the bra. I leaned down and we kissed as she began working on the buttons of my shirt. In short order Lexi had me naked, with a hard on that was bordering on painful.

Lexi was a little different in the bedroom from most of the girls I had been with before. She loved having me go down on her, but disliked giving head. At first there had been some tension over the imbalance but it had stopped bothering me once I realized I would rather fuck Lexi than get one of her mediocre blow jobs. And if I went down on her she always wanted sex after, which was usually slow and sensuous. If we were in a real relationship I would have called it making love.

That was the pattern for probably four out of every five sexual encounters we had. The twist was that the other times, Lexi wanted it hard and aggressive, borderline rough. She was not a submissive, but liked to feel like she was getting properly fucked on those occasions. For me it was sometimes a little difficult mentally since I sort of had to be ready to pivot, but Lexi was never shy about expressing what she wanted.

"So to what do I owe this pleasure?" I asked, stepping back slightly so I could give Lexi's barely clad body another thorough once over.

"Nothing special, I just know you like looking at me in sexy things, and I like being looked at. It turns me on," Lexi said.

"Should have sent me a preview pic, good thing I was in a Lexi mood anyway," I said.

"D'oh, you're right." Lexi slapped her hand to her forehead comedically. "Want to get one now? For posterity and all."

I nodded and dug my phone out of the pocket of my pants on the floor where they had been discarded a few minutes ago. I quickly adjusted some settings. Lexi and I were huge on NSFW pictures, but had strict rules about storing anything in the cloud. The iCloud celebrity nude leak had been big news around the time we originally met, and we had always been cautious.

"Stand over there," Lexi said, gesturing to a corner of her bedroom. "It'll create the best lighting." I complied.

Lexi turned away from me and raised her hands above her head, as if stretching, and arched her back like a model would. I snapped a pic. For the next one she looked over her shoulder with a lascivious come hither expression, going for a smoky look in her eyes, though they didn't meet mine, they were fixed on the camera. After I took that one she turned around and put one arm across her breasts while the other covered her crotch and she switched to a shy expression - the classic shy, embarrassed girl pose. Once I had that one she put her hands on her hips and slightly thrust out her chest, now striking a confident, fully on display pose with the accompanying alluring expression, just the tip of her tongue visible between her lips.

"Fuck Lex, these are some of the hottest pics we've ever taken," I opined.

"Good! I feel so fucking sexy tonight. I'm sure a little of it is the wine, but I just...feel fucking good."

"Want me to make you feel really good?" I offered, suspecting the next step was for me to eat her out.

"Only as long as I get to make you feel equally good," Lexi said with a confident smile. "On the bed with you." I laid down on her bed, expecting she would want to ride my face. I never minded going down on Lexi, she was always immaculately clean and shaven, not to mention having a sweet natural taste that always vaguely reminded me of fresh fruit. Fresh fruit dipped in copious female arousal, anyway.

Lexi surprised me though. She climbed on to the bed facing me and, quickly pulling her panties to the side, sank on to my erect cock. I was not surprised she was sopping wet. It had been years since we bothered with condoms, we trusted each other to be safe and Lexi had an implant.

"Gosh, so good. I love the way you fill me," Lexi breathed. "Do you mind if I look at the pictures while I ride you?"

"Of course not, I get to look at the live action version," I said and handed Lexi my phone. She groaned with pleasure as she scrolled and moved her hips up and down.

"You were right, these are seriously hot, you did a great job with the angles. Fuck I love the way this bra makes my boobs actually look symmetrical and the straps of the panties make my hips look round instead of like I'm carrying ten extra pounds. I mean not going to lie, I'd fuck me," Lexi said, clearly becoming increasingly aroused.

"I can confirm, as someone actively fucking you, it is freaking awesome," I said.

Lexi threw her head back and laughed. She looked at me adoringly. "This is probably weird to say, but I love how fucking fun our sex is. I like fun sex. Sex is supposed to be good. Laughing is good, why can't we have both?"

I smiled at Lexi, appreciating her in a deep, powerful way. "I dunno Lex, it's like there's just something about us. I guess you sort of bring out the best in me?"

"That's not the only thing I plan to bring out of you," Lexi said as she continued moving up and down on top me. I felt her powerful kegel muscles start to milk my cock. The lascivious grin was back. I felt myself begin to approach orgasm even though it had only been a few minutes.

"Careful babe, you are way too sexy and know me way too well, I'm close," I warned. It was one of my personal policies to never let Lexi, or any of my other partners, cum before I did.

"All good, I'll take care of myself tonight, just play with my boobs a little? Cum whenever you want, you know how much it gets me off." Another reason Lexi and I had outstanding chemistry is that we got off on getting each other off. My hands went to her breasts, tweaking her nipples through the thin material of her bra. One of her hands went to my chest to steady herself as things got intense, while the other went to her clit.

I took charge as much as I could being on the bottom and thrust up into her. She was too consumed with reaching her own climax to keep up the kegel stuff, but it didn't matter, her hot, tight, wet pussy felt fantastic and her sexy body turned me on more than I could describe. With one final upward thrust I buried myself as deep as I could and unloaded with a groan. Seeing and feeling my orgasm seemed to be exactly what Lexi needed. As I fired my seed into her she stiffened and trembled as her own orgasm took over. She threw her head back and wailed in ecstasy.

It took us a minute or two to recover. Both of Lexi's hands braced herself half upright above me. We were both breathing heavily. Lexi's ponytail had come loose at some point during the proceedings, and her long hair created a sort of shroud of intimacy surrounding our faces.

"That was...fucking great," Lexi said as she began to recover.

"Agreed, one of our hottest times ever," I said.

"I'm going to make a fucking mess of my cute new lingerie," Lexi said, no hint of sadness in her voice. She was grinning.

"Yeah last I checked that was a positive for you. And me. Fuck, who cares. Remember, I'm rich now. I'll buy as much as you want." I was a bit punch drunk.

Lexi slowly rose off me and when my softening cock slipped out of her she quickly slipped the excuse for underwear she was wearing back over her slit to minimize leakage. With a delicious giggle she crawled off the bed and made her way to the ensuite bathroom. With a groan I rolled off the bed and followed her, knowing I should pee and clean up a little. She discarded the bra in her hamper then turned on the shower and hopped in without bothering to remove the underwear. I joined her. Giggling, she pulled off the soaked garment.

"All clean now, right?" she asked with a grin. She hung the underwear from the bath fixture to dry later.

"There is nothing clean about you," I responded jokingly. We embraced and kissed. We took a few minutes to clean up, taking care not to get our hair wet, then toweled off and hopped back in bed, under the covers this time. Lexi may have been averse to labeling us as a couple but she loved the couple-like intimacy of a good cuddle. I was the same way. We quickly got into formation with me as the big spoon. She sighed contentedly. I thought perhaps my brain might race with the reality of newfound wealth, but the comfort and warmth of a nude Lexi in my arms settled me. I drifted off after just a few minutes.

- - - - -

- - - - -

I woke up fairly late the following morning. I was a little hungover, feeling the effects of the wine from the previous evening but nothing too bad. Lexi and I were both pretty active sleepers so we had disentangled during the night and she was now on the other side of her queen bed on her stomach. I grabbed my phone from the nightstand to check the time and saw I had a text from Reed:

'Yo, set up another game with Katrina for Sunday morning. I suddenly no longer have the concerns about work stuff, so...yeah, want to see where things go. Natalie can't make it. You know anybody else who plays? Maybe Lex?'

I poked Lexi, who was already stirring. She rolled over and her green eyes flashed open.

"Good morning, friend, what's up?" She asked, stifling a yawn.

"You play tennis?" I asked.

"Oooooo am I getting an invitation to your fancy all-whites club now? I didn't think I would be allowed," Lexi asked, mockingly. We had gotten in a few good laughs at the expense of the fancy club that week while I shared the stories of our matches.

"Maybe, desperate times and all," I told her with a slight shrug.

"Jackass," she said and playfully punched my shoulder. I responded by grabbing her arms and pinning them to her sides. She squirmed around trying to escape and licked my face when it got too close.

"How are you this fucking weird?" I asked, laughing and swiping at where she had left a trail of saliva across my cheek.

"Odd, isn't it," Lexi said, using a narrator voice. "He calls me weird, yet somehow keeps showing up." She mocked one of my typical gestures by theatrically stroking her chin as if thinking deeply.

I laughed. It was impossible not to. This level of playful silliness was one of the big reasons Lexi and I had such an easy, comfortable bond.

"Ok for real, what should I tell Reed?" I asked.

"Depends on how much you're interested in taking me shopping for a white tennis skirt today, I suppose," Lexi said. Her eyes were suddenly smoldering a little bit. She knew damn well how much I liked tennis-style skirts.