I shake my head, trying to keep strong but with him standing so close, all I can think about is that kiss that absolutely rocked my world. “No, I don’t, but I’m not stupid. I’m not about to tell you no when it could make my night a shitload easier. Think of it as me taking advantage. You know, kind of like the way you did to me.”
Puck’s playful expression changes into something a little more serious. “Babe,” he says, taking my waist. “You know I never meant to hurt you. It’s been killing me that you haven’t been talking to me these past few weeks.”
“Don’t,” I say, pressing my hand against his chest and trying to push him back. “I can’t do this again. Can we please just…focus on the tire and forget this ever happened?”
“Courtney,” he whispers.
I look up into those bright blue eyes that have kept me captivated since the beginning of senior year and will myself not to cry. “Please?” I beg.
Puck watches me for a beat with hurt flashing behind his eyes as he refuses to step away despite my hand on his chest. After what feels like a lifetime, he dips his head and steps away, leaving me gasping for air.
How does it still hurt like this? We weren’t even together.
Puck instantly gets to work. He gets the spare out of the back and finds a little bag of tools that I probably couldn’t have found in a million years. I bring up my flashlight app once again and try to help him the best I can.
Each nut removed from the tire gets tossed on the road behind him and I swiftly pick it up, knowing if they get lost, I’m probably even more fucked than when I started. I hand him tools while he chats and flirts and I try my best to hold back my smile.
This is nice. It shouldn’t be, but damn it, it is.
Puck gets the flat off the car in record timing and I watch him in awe. How is it boys just know how to do this shit? Is there some kind of ‘how to be a boy’ textbook that they keep hidden from the female population? Who knows, but watching him do this out of pure kindness has me desperate to ease the ache building between my legs.
Puck gets the new tire onto the car before grabbing a wrench. Seeing that he’s ready to put the nuts back on, I lean in to hand him one when he turns to find them. My forehead slams hard into his, instantly bringing tears to my eyes. “Oh, fuck,” I screech, throwing my hand to my head.
Puck’s eyes go wide. “Shit, babe. Are you alright?” he demands, getting to his feet, only in doing that, it forces me back a step and naturally, I trip over the damn curb.
A gasp sails out of me as I fall back to my ass. Puck dives for me. His arm curls around my waist as he tries to break my fall. He comes down on top of me, but the added weight has my ass slamming down onto the concrete, no doubt leaving a nasty graze.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I cry as Puck stares down at me in horror.
Puck searches my face with his eyes constantly coming back to the lump I feel already coming out on my forehead. “Are you okay?”
I nod, letting my head fall back into the grass as I mentally take note of each of my body parts and apart from my ass and forehead, I think I’m actually doing alright. “I think so,” I tell him. “But the same can’t be said for my ass.”
“Trust me, babe,” he says with a grin slowly spreading across his face. “Your ass is more than fine.”
I burst out into laughter as my hand comes up and rubs against my sore head. “Seriously though, how bad is it?”
Puck shakes his head ever so slightly as though my question is absurd. His eyes drop to mine with a tenderness that would knock me on my ass if I wasn’t already there. “It’s fucking perfect, Courtney.”
I place my hand against his strong shoulder and instead of pushing him away like I should, my hand skims across the back of his shirt until it’s wrapped around his neck.
His eyes drop to my lips and I see the hesitation in his eyes, but after knowing just how good his kiss can be, I can’t possibly deny myself the opportunity. I pull him down to me, raising my head off the ground to meet his just so I can close the gap quicker.
Our lips crush down on each others with fierce desperation which has me positive that I must have hit my head a little harder than I thought. This seriously can’t be happening. The only logical explanation for this is that I’m imagining it, but hell if I’m imagining it, I’m not about to do something stupid and wake myself up.
His lips on mine are euphoric, but more than that, it feels right. What the hell have I been doing holding back from him these past few weeks? I should have been going after what I want instead of running scared. How could Puck deny that this isn’t meant to be?
My hand slips up the back of his shirt and explores the strong muscles of his back and damn, I’m not disappointed. He’s just as sculptured as I had always thought he’d be. Puck takes my waist as my legs fall open and hook around his hips and within the next second, he’s lifting me off the dirty ground and laying me down in the backseat of my car, not once taking his lips off mine.
Puck’s lips dive to my neck and a gasp comes sailing from between my lips as my back arches off the backseat of my car, pressing up into him.
My fingers dig into the tight muscles of his back as one of his hands slip under the hem of my shirt and skims across my skin, raising goosebumps and making me want him more than I possibly knew. “Puck,” I breathe. “What is this?”
He shakes his head. “All I know is that I can’t stay away from you anymore.”
I look up, meeting his lust-filled eyes. “I don’t want you to.”
A softness creeps into his expression and a million messages pass between us before his lips drop back to mine, but this time, it’s not the raging desperation from before, this is something different, something a little…more. Whatever it is, it has me needing him in a way I wasn’t prepared for.
Unable to help myself, my fingers play with the fabric of his shirt before I throw caution to the wind and start pulling it up his back. He shrugs the shirt over his head and the second my hands come down on his bare skin and feel what should have been mine all along, electricity pulses through me.
Puck props himself up on his elbow, looking down at me as though he’s never witnessed anything quite so beautiful. “Are you sure about this?” he murmurs, watching me adoringly. “We could wait and I can make it…I don’t know, special for you. It doesn’t have to be like this.”
“You mean a random screw in the backseat of my car?”
He grins. “Well, yeah.”
A small chuckle comes bubbling up my throat as I shake my head. “No,” I tell him. “I’m not that girl who gets lost on sentiment. As long as you don’t treat me like a stranger afterward…” I let my sentence fall flat. I don’t need to explain myself with him, he just gets it.
Puck stares down into my eyes. “Never,” he murmurs, watching me as he slowly dips his head back to mine. His lips find mine and newfound energy pulses between us, a new kind of desperation that has me wondering again if it’s possible to love him.
As he rids me of my shirt and begins cherishing my body as though I’m some sort of queen, all thought leaves me. It’s just me and him, and the backseat of my car.
Clothes are torn away, bodies grow sweaty, names are whispered between the sweetest kisses I’ve ever had, and then finally, his fingers lace through mine as he pushes up into me. My legs wrap around his hips and as his lips find my neck, he draws back out and repeats, over and over again, pushing my body to its absolute limits until I’m screaming his name and unable to believe just how good this is.
Chapter 11
Puck
I am fucking obsessed.
Everywhere she goes, I fucking know it. Everyone she talks to, I want to know what’s being said. Everything she needs, I want to be the one to provide.
I’m so fucking lame. I’ve turned into Nate with his pathetic desperation to impress Tora.
Maybe I’m falling for her. It’s the only thing that makes sense to me right now, either that or I’m turning
into some fucked up stalker who can’t leave the girl alone. All I know is that she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid my eyes on, and that doesn’t just mean her appearance. She’s beautiful inside and out and what fucker would be stupid enough not to grab hold of that and never let go?
I was such a fool over these past few weeks, allowing her to get away like that. What was I thinking? I’ve never made such a big fucking mistake, and if she’s as smart as I think she is, she’ll hold it against me.
It’s been a few weeks since that night and while the air has certainly cleared between us, I’ve wanted nothing more than to do it all over again, though maybe next time not in the backseat of her car. I don’t know what happened that night, one minute I was replacing her tire and the next, I was pushing up into her and showing her just how good it can be.
It wasn’t my usual style though. Normally with a girl, it’s about getting in and getting out, usually up against a wall at some random party, but this was different. I couldn’t do that to her, the backseat of the car was already bad enough. I wanted her to know that I respected her and I was worried that she’d think less of me by allowing it to happen like that, but she insisted it was okay, and the way she’s continued watching me over the past few weeks with stars in her eyes tells me that she meant it.
Things since then have been better than I could have imagined. We’re back to how things were at the beginning, only better, and this time, I won’t be letting her slip away.
I would give anything to have something further happen between us since that night, but the past few weeks have been a shit storm where it comes to our friends and asking her out right now just seems…heartless, but don’t be fooled, the second it’s right, I’m making her mine. I don’t know what it is about her, but all of a sudden, I don’t give a shit about the rules I’ve lived by over the past few years. I want to make her mine. I want to be her everything just as she’s quickly becoming to me.
Jesse and Tyson peel out of the school parking lot with a promise to go and crash the girls’ coffee date at Carter’s Coffee House while Maxen dives into the passenger’s seat of Nate’s Camaro. I walk back over to my car before climbing in and considering my options for the afternoon. I could go back to Nate’s place and hang out with them or I could try and get Courtney alone.
I grin to myself as I pull out my phone.
Puck – Want to ditch the girls and go somewhere just you and me?
Courtney – Hmmm…tempting, but what’s in it for me?
Puck – Anything you want, babe.
Courtney – I thought I told you that I wasn’t your ‘babe.’
Puck – Yeah, you are, and it’s about time you got used to it.
Courtney – Fine.
Courtney – You’ll have to pick me up from Carter’s though. I don’t have my car.
I grin wide. Nothing would make me happier.
Puck – Be there in 10.
Courtney - <3
I try not to act like a fucking dickhead grinning at my phone, but fuck it. It’s just me here and if I want to be a fucking pussy over the chick that’s currently making me want so much more in life, then that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
I drop my phone into the cup holder and press the push start for the engine, only the fucker cuts out. Now, I’m no fucking expert like Nate, but I know that shit ain’t supposed to happen. My Escalade is only a year old and it’s never had issues.
I give it a second and third try only to get the same bullshit result. I grab my phone again and pop the hood before climbing out.
After putting the hood up and studying the sight before me, I let out a sigh and send off a quick text.
Puck – Running late.
Courtney – Take your time. The girls and I haven’t finished gossiping about you guys yet!
I roll my eyes and bring up Nate’s number before holding the phone to my ear.
“What’s up, man?” Nate says after the second ring.
“Something is fucking up in my car. She won’t kick over,” I explain, staring down at the engine and trying to figure out if even the slightest thing is out of place.
Nate huffs in confusion. “What do you mean ‘she won’t kick over?’ That shit is practically brand new.”
I shake my head as I look over the engine. “I don’t fucking know, man. Nothing looks out of place.”
“Shit,” he sighs. “I’ll be right there.”
Nate ends the call and I slide my phone back into my pocket so I can start working this puzzle out. I lean over the engine, hating this bullshit. The one time I organize to do something with Courtney, this happens. What are the fucking chances of that?
A shadow creeps up behind me and as I turn to see who it is, a fist pummels towards my face. My head flies back and before I have a chance to right myself, a second and third guy are on me. “Fuck,” I grunt, curling my hands into balls of rage.
Fists and heavy booted kicks come at me from every angle, not giving me even the slightest chance to defend myself and I’m left wondering what the fuck is going on. I haven’t started shit with anyone lately.
I barely have a second to figure out who these fuckers are before my head is slammed into the side of my car with a force that I’m not ready for and I go down like a sack of shit with my body aching from head to toe.
Blood pulses heavily through my ears and it’s the only sound I hear, but something must be coming as the three guys stop their assault and take off like bats out of hell in the blink of an eye.
It’s then that I see the familiar rims of Nate’s Camaro screeching to a stop beside my limp body. Doors are opened and before I know it, Nate is hovering over the top of me screaming something, but I can’t make out the words as my mind slowly slips into a welcomed unconsciousness.
----------
“Mom, I’m fine,” I groan for the twentieth time, hating that she won’t just let this go, though I suppose that’s all a part of being a mother.
“Don’t sass me, Landon Jones. I birthed you, so if I want to ask how you are a million times over then that’s exactly what I’m going to do and you’re going to sit through it with a damn smile on your face.”
I roll my eyes, not bothering to fight her on it. After all, what my mother wants, she usually gets and I don’t doubt that right now is not any different. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like getting a call from your son’s best friend explaining that he’d been jumped.
My mom is one of the strongest women I know and right now, she’s holding herself together and just reminding me how incredible she is. Though, that doesn’t mean I miss the way that her eyes have been red-rimmed since the second she walked in.
It’s been a shitty few hours, waking up in the hospital to find my body broken, bloodied, and bruised. I’ve been pumped with all sorts of pain meds, but the pain is still real and with every flinch or turn of my head, I’m reminded of it. All I want to do is get out of this damn hospital bed and go and find the fuckers who did this to me and then, I’ll be repaying the favor. No one gets away with this shit. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if the boys are already out there searching them out.
“You know,” mom says, using that tone that tells me she’s about to start meddling in my business. “There was a lovely girl out there who sat by my side the whole time.” My brow raises as she turns to my dad. “What was her name again?”
“Umm,” he grumbles, not paying attention to anything that’s going on around him while he continues checking his emails. “I don’t know. Courtney or something like that.”
“Courtney?” I question, focusing on mom. “Is she out there? Did she sit with you?”
“Oh, yes. All your friends are out there. They haven’t moved since the second you were brought in.”
Well, fuck. Courtney sat with my mom.
Emotions overthrow me and I have a hard time hiding it from my parents. “Do you think you could go and get them? I’m sure they’re dying to get out there and figure ou
t who did this.”
“Ok, honey,” mom says, getting up and giving my ankle a squeeze. “But I don’t want your friends going out there and starting any trouble. We should be letting the police handle it. I know those friends of yours will do just about anything to protect the people they love, but you can’t ask them to put themselves at risk like that.”
I sure can and I will.
“Mom,” I say, fixing her with a look that tells her she’s being silly. “You know these guys just as well as I do. Do you really think there’s any way they’re about to sit back and let the cops handle it?”
Mom sighs as she grabs dad’s elbow to bring him back to the present. “I suppose. I’d just hate to see any of them wind up in trouble.”
“They’d probably love it if they end up in the slammer,” I tell her. “At least Jesse and Ty would. You know what they’re like about bragging rights.”
Mom shakes her head and drags dad out of the room, giving me only a moment to myself before the doors are barged and Jesse forces his way in front of the group. “Fuck, man,” he says as he looks me over. “How’re you feeling?”
“Been better,” I grumble as everyone crowds around the bed to get a good look at the damage, though out of everyone here, there’s only one person who’s got my attention.
Courtney steps up to the side of my bed, staring down at me in horror. “Fuck,” she curses under her breath making me want nothing more than to take her fear away. “Who did this?”
A small smile pulls at my lips as I attempt to help her feel at ease. “You sat with my mom,” I murmur, reaching out for her hand and ignoring the pain that shoots through my arm at the movement.
Courtney takes my hand greedily while being careful not to jostle me as I feel the eyes of all my friends watching us closely, making me realize that we haven’t actually said anything about this thing between us, though if they were smart, they would have figured it out by now. Anyone would have been able to see how I feel about her just by looking at me with her.
Puck: Broken Hill Boys (Novella 1) Page 8
