Too Fast

by Alexia Haynes

  “Obviously nobody else can hook up with Luke,” Sophie said, exasperated. “That’s part of the whole no impact thing. How’s she gonna move on without any feelings for him if she has to see him here with somebody else?”

  “She wouldn’t see him if he were at my apartment,” Lily murmured, but I knew she was all talk, so I didn’t bother to get riled up.

  “She wouldn’t see him if I brought him home either,” Aubrey said. “He’d be here one night and then gone. I don’t do repeats.”

  I didn’t want Aubrey’s nasty, Chlamydia-riddled claws anywhere near Luke. Oh sure, I knew she was probably disease-free despite the odds, but I didn’t even want her looking at him, much less doing him.

  “Oh, crap,” Sophie said under her breath, and I realized she was watching for my reaction.

  She probably thought I was going to mess up this one-night stand. She probably thought I actually had feelings for Luke. She was so totally wrong.

  “Savannah doesn’t mind,” Aubrey said. “Do you?”

  I minded so much that I wanted to scream for her to get the eff out of our house. Uh oh.

  “It’s against the rules,” Sophie said, her tone signaling that the discussion was over.

  I half expected Aubrey to whine, “You shut up. I’ll do what I want.” But Sophie’s power of influence held, and Aubrey stayed quiet.

  I rushed to share the story and distract them. “Okay, so I saw him at the party, and I didn’t pay much attention at first, but then I caught myself staring at his thighs, they were big but not fat. His thigh muscles kind of bulged against his jeans the way he was sitting on the bar stool, and I wanted to touch them.”

  Sophie hooted, and the others giggled.

  “Touch them, or lick them,” Aubrey teased.

  “Both,” I said.

  After more hoots and cheers, I continued. “He already had like three girls fawning over him, but he didn’t look into any of them. I was trying to get up the nerve to go over there when he stood up, said something to the girls, and started walking to the door.

  “I figured I didn’t have anything to lose since he was already leaving, so I ran over and stopped him.”

  “Very assertive,” Sophie praised. “Well done.”

  Sophie was always telling me I was a wimp and needed assertiveness training. I never argued with her, so maybe that meant she was right.

  “I asked if he was leaving.” I rolled my eyes at my own idiocy. “Which was kind of obvious, but it gave me an opening. Then I asked if he wanted to grab some coffee somewhere.

  “He said yes.” I’d been elated. “Then I had to admit I couldn’t drive because of all the tequila shots and said I could call a cab.”

  “Nice signal that you were drunk and easy,” Aubrey applauded.

  “He said he’d only had two beers in four hours which meant his blood alcohol content was negligible, at worst .02, and that he felt fine to drive.”

  “Wait a minute,” Madison said. “You calculated his blood alcohol content? Or he did?”

  “He did,” I said. “So I decided he was probably trustworthy enough to ride with and we went to the Coffee House.”

  “You couldn’t have been there long,” Madison said. “I thought I heard you come in just before midnight.”

  Yeah, I’d gone full out slut in his SUV, but I didn’t relish telling them about it. “Um. I really wanted to touch his thighs, remember? So I did, and then I had to touch his arms, because they were like something out of Magic Mike, and then he said I shouldn’t do that if I wanted coffee. So we got our coffee to go, and we came back here.”

  “Wow,” Lily said, fanning herself with her hand. “You are my hero.”

  They were all staring at me, waiting, and I just blinked and looked back at them.

  “Well, keep going,” Madison said.

  “He was amazing. It was the best sex I’ve ever had.”

  Madison giggled and clapped her hands.

  “And,” Aubrey prompted.

  “That’s all I’m telling you guys,” I said firmly. “The rest is just for me to know.” And run through my mind again and again. I had two more years of college after this semester. I’d come in with a whole semester of credit from AP classes in high school. I was hoping to avoid dating for at least another year. It just wasn’t worth the time drain or the stress of having the guy complain that I didn’t make time for him. I didn’t want to come right out and tell someone that he wasn’t worth my time, but so far, the guys had really not been worth my time. Things got ugly when I filled them in on that one.

  “At least tell us if you got to lick his thighs,” Aubrey said, wiggling her eyebrows.

  Oh what the hell, I thought. “I got to lick all of his muscles,” I said.

  They screeched at my admission.

  “I’m so jealous,” Lily said.

  Madison threw a throw pillow at me, and Sophie drew me into a hug. “I’ve taught you well, Grasshopper,” she said.

  “Even the one that’s six inches long?” Aubrey asked, always determined to press me too far.

  I blinked at her. “He didn’t have anything six inches long.”

  The others groaned in disappointment.

  I grinned. “Did I mention how big his hands and feet were?”

  The question took a minute to sink in, and then Madison said, “Oh my.”

  Aubrey grumbled, “I still say I can do him.”

  Sophie patted me on the head, a smile nearly splitting her face. “I think the student has surpassed the master.”

  Neither of us were the ho-bags we might have sounded like. She had slept with only one guy, and she needed to move on if you asked me. I had slept with three before Luke. My high school boyfriend who I’d called up my freshman year of college and finally done the deed with. I hadn’t been willing to risk it in high school, but I figured he should be my first. Then two guys after him. One I dated for six months before he flunked out. The other was the sheetless blunder, and that had lasted only two months. I’d thought I was spreading my wings and experiencing my sexuality but really I was just lowering my standards to get laid.

  Luke was a calculated, pre-meditated, one-night stand, and besides, I was pretty sure he wasn’t even in school. He had called me College Girl at one point, and I didn’t think he’d do that if he were in school. I didn’t need a boyfriend who didn’t value an education. I was killing myself with work and studying just to get one for myself.

  My phone vibrated on the couch beside me. A text. I picked it up and saw Luke’s picture. Oh my God. He’d asked if I could talk. Oh no.

  “No way!” Sophie snatched the phone from my hand. “He just texted her!”

  “Traitor,” I hissed. She was supposed to have my back. I didn’t want them to know.

  Sophie gave me an apologetic look but she didn’t mean it because she read my text out to the room.

  “Tell him I can talk,” Aubrey said in a suggestive tone. “Tell him I’m a really good talker.”

  “Hell, no.”

  “You should see what he wants,” Lily urged. “What if he’s calling to tell you something important? Like he has an STD or something.”

  “Lily,” Madison snapped.

  “You did not just go there,” Aubrey said, shaking her head.

  I tried not to hiss at Lily, but I had made up my mind finally about her. I officially did not like her.

  “We used protection,” I said. “And that isn’t why he wants to talk.”

  “He doesn’t want to talk at all,” Aubrey said. “It’s midnight. It’s a booty call.”

  I grabbed my phone back from Sophie and reread the text. I should just ignore it.

  When I glanced up, I saw that all four of them were looking at their phones. I could see Sophie’s, and she had Luke’s picture up for her to drool over.

  Did they—

  Oh, no, they didn’t.

  “Soph, did you send that picture to all of them?”

  She didn’t answer or lo
ok my way.

  “You guys are all ogling him right now?”

  Madison sighed.

  How rude!

  My phone vibrated in my hand, and another text popped up. I work at eight in the morning, so call if you get this by one.

  Huh. He had to work early in the morning. He probably just wanted to talk rather than rock my body all night long. Was that better, or worse as far as my one-night stand rule went? Which was the bigger violation?

  I needed to extricate myself from these busybodies anyway. I gave my best fake yawn. “I’m going to go on to bed,” I said.

  Soph smacked me on the arm.

  “Hey,” I said.

  “Don’t hey me,” she said. “We all know he sent another text. What did he say? And why are you ditching us?” Her eyes bored into me like a probing laser. “Oh my God! You’re going to call him.”

  “No, I’m not,” I said, fighting the guilty smile that always betrayed me when I tried to lie. “I’m not.”

  “Oh sure,” Aubrey said. “You can break the one-night stand rules but I can’t.”

  “It’s her one-night stand,” Madison said in my defense.

  “You should call him,” Lily said.

  She could pretend all she wanted that she was concerned about my sexual health, but I knew she’d jump the man’s bones right here and now if she had the chance.

  I stood and stretched, carrying on with my yawning excuse. Then I turned and sprinted for the door to my room, slamming it behind me, and locking it.

  I wanted privacy. I shouldn’t be making this call, but if I was going to do this, I wasn’t going to let those goofballs interfere.

  I glanced at my bed and instantly saw Luke lying there as he had been this morning. I needed more than one night. Wait though. It was Sunday. So it was still the weekend. I could have a one-weekend stand. That was totally legitimate. People did the weekend thing all the time. I pushed aside the knowledge that it was after midnight and thus, already Monday. I also pushed aside the irrefutable truth that I was breaking my own rule. But really, who would have guessed I’d find somebody so drool-worthy for my one-night stand. A guy like Luke deserved more than one night. A guy like Luke deserved more of me.

  I hit call on my phone and waited for him to answer.

  Chapter Three

  Savannah

  “Hey,” he said.

  “Hey.”

  “I can’t leave my house tonight,” he said in that sexy drawl. “I need to be here to make sure everything’s okay.”

  Huh? “So you want to just talk on the phone?”

  “I was, um, hoping I could pick you up and bring you over here. I live just down the street from the party last night.”

  So he was their neighbor. Maybe that’s why he was at the party.

  “I can drop you back at seven-thirty. What time do you work tomorrow?”

  I shouldn’t go to his place, should I? But I wanted to be with him again, and I didn’t want to subject him to the sex-crazed giggle monsters in the living room. “I don’t work until one, but I have a class at nine.”

  “So,” he hesitated, “what do you think?”

  “Come get me,” I said quickly before I could reconsider. “But my roommates have friends over, so text me when you get here, and I’ll sneak out my window.”

  “Oh-kay. Are these friends dangerous?” he asked. “I heard a little bit about your roommate’s reputation—”

  “No, I mean, you heard right. Aubrey’s a real ho, but it’s not because they’re dangerous. It’s because they’re nosy, and aggressive, and they already have been asking me about you.”

  “Oh,” he said. “I guess that’s okay then.”

  I could hear his smile through the phone.

  “Be there in twenty,” he said.

  “See you then.”

  I sprang into action, thankful that I had the master with my own bathroom. No way would I slip past them to get a shower. I jumped in, trying to decide about my hair, I hadn’t washed it this morning, and tomorrow might be just as rushed. I gave in and washed it. Then I dried off, and put the wet hair back in a ponytail since the sound of a blow dryer would alert them to my plan. I checked my legs for stubble and decided I could wear another mini-skirt. I pulled on the blue blouse that I had decided was a bit too dressy for the party last night. Then I took a few minutes to make up my face, working hard to ignore the wet hair. I couldn’t do everything, but I felt better, the faint popcorn odor that coated my skin after the day’s work had faded, and I didn’t look half bad.

  I threw a toothbrush, condoms, my phone, and a change of clothes into my bag, and turned to open the window.

  I almost had a heart attack because Luke was standing there waiting for me. And then my heartbeat raced on at a rapid pace as I took in the sight of him standing there. He was so freaking hot.

  I pushed the locks aside and tried to raise the window. It didn’t budge. Clearly I hadn’t fully thought out this plan.

  Luke held up a finger in a “wait” gesture. Then he pushed several times on the window sash. I guess he was loosening it up, but I didn’t need a broken window in my bedroom. He found a grip on the wood and his muscles flexed to impressive proportions as he pushed up on the warped frame. Crud. It didn’t budge.

  My eyes hadn’t strayed from his biceps, and I was totally busted when Luke finally drew my attention to what he was trying to tell me by waving his arms at me.

  He gave me the “wait” gesture again, but it might have been a “be right back” gesture because he disappeared around the back side of the house.

  Maybe I should just man up and go out through the living room. If he kept his truck running, I could escape before they had a chance to embarrass me.

  He appeared in the darkness, this time carrying some kind of tool. He didn’t find that here. We had exactly one tool between the three of us, a pink hammer that we used to hang pictures.

  I leaned close to the window, and said, “I have an idea.”

  He shook his head, rejecting my idea before he’d even heard it. “This will work. Trust me.”

  I nodded.

  “Move back some,” he said. “Just in case.”

  “Luke, don’t break my window!”

  “Trust me,” he said again.

  Then he slid the tool under one side of my window, and then the other. He wiggled it slightly and then repeated the gesture on both sides. He set the tool on the ground and put his hands back where he’d had them before. Then he pushed up.

  The window moved with a loud cracking noise and then slid the rest of the way open.

  He beamed at me.

  “You did it!” I leaned out and kissed him on the lips.

  He started to pull me out through the window, but I stopped him. “My bag. Hang on.”

  I fetched the bag and then handed it to him through the window. I wanted to crawl out on my own, but it was awkward, and I didn’t want to appear clumsy in front of Luke. When he set the bag on the ground and reached for me with both arms, I let him pull me out. He set me in front of him, my feet firmly on the ground, and he smiled.

  Raising up on my tiptoes, I started to go for the rest of that kiss.

  I was halfway to his lips when I heard it.

  The sound of someone clearing their throat, part “Ahem,” part “Harrumph.”

  Luke and I turned toward the front of the house.

  Sophie stood, hands on hips, eyebrows raised, a big grin plastered on her face. “Just what do you think you’re doing, Missy?”

  Thank God it’s only Sophie.

  Or not. Lily and Madison appeared behind her.

  Madison’s expression was pure glee.

  “Now we get to meet him, right?” Lily asked.

  Damn.

  Luke put his arm around my shoulder in a show of solidarity. “Should we make a run for it?” he asked, his lips against my ear.

  “Sophie’s fast and Aubrey hunts men for sport,” I said. “I think we’re stuck.”


  He squeezed my shoulder. Leaning down, I grabbed my bag and handed him his tool.

  “Okay,” I said, taking a step toward my friends. “You can meet him, but we have to hurry. He has to work in the morning, and I have class. So we aren’t staying long.”

  “Come up on the porch,” Madison said.

  We followed them onto the large front porch, my favorite part of this house if it weren’t so damn hot and there weren’t so many mosquitos.

  Luke leaned into my ear again and whispered, “Which one’s the—”

  Aubrey stepped out the front door, and she’d obviously changed when she realized Luke was here because she wore the skin-tight black dress. The one that was so short, you got glimpses of the bottom of her butt cheeks if she moved the wrong way. None of us would go out in public with her when she wore that dress, and she had gone in to put it on for Luke. My blood boiled.

  “—never mind,” Luke said.

  Yes. I thought to myself. This one’s the ho-bag.

  Sophie took one look at Aubrey and busted out laughing.

  I didn’t want to get Aubrey all riled up. She’d had a tougher upbringing than the rest of us, and when she got ugly, heads rolled. “So this is Luke, everybody.” I motioned to the four of them. “Sophie, Aubrey, Madison, and Lily.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Luke said, with a little too much “Georgia” in his drawl.

  “And we’re going now,” I said, tugging Luke’s arm and heading off the porch and around the house to the driveway. “Please tell me you’re parked back here,” I said to Luke.

  “I’m back here. Blocking most of the alley though.”

  When I heard catcalls and whistles from the front porch, I broke into a jog. Luke rushed past me and unlocked the truck, opening the door for me.

  “Luke and Savannah sitting in a tree,” Madison and Lily were singing as Luke slammed the door.

  “I’m sorry my friends are so obnoxious,” I said, when he slid in behind the steering wheel.

  “I kind of liked them,” he said, starting the engine.

  “You can have them then,” I said. Oh crap. That did not come out like I meant it. “As friends,” I stuttered. “Not like, you know, in your bed. I mean, please don’t.”

  He shifted into drive, and then put his hand on my leg. “I wouldn’t,” he said softly.