Dare You To Keep Me: HawkRidge High II

by Akeroyd, Serena

  A shaky sigh escaped me. I couldn’t stop myself from moving forward and doing as I’d done earlier, press my forehead to hers. It was the most intimate connection we’d had before our kiss this evening, and I wanted it again. Wanted to feel it again, because it was innocent and pure and what I felt for her was that. Sure, there was more to come, but at the base of this simple touch was proof that she was warmth, home, love, and softness. That was what she represented in my mind.

  That didn’t take away from the fact that I wanted inside her more than I wanted my college scholarship, but there were more things going on here. Sam was right in one sense. We did need to stop keeping secrets from one another, and even though our friendship had been forged a long time ago, if we were going to survive this strange configuration, we did need to be open.

  “Whatever you need, I’ll give it to you,” I whispered, the words fervent, and though they were technically unnecessary, I couldn’t stop myself from telling her that.

  “Same, Drew.”

  My forehead rocked against hers as I shook my head. “You were right earlier. You were both right today, and hell, if that doesn’t mean pigs are gonna start flying soon, then I don’t know what does.” I grinned when she chuckled, and my smile only widened when I heard Sam join in too. “You can save me. It isn’t just me who can save you or Sam, and I was a dick for keeping you out of the loop.”

  Though she tensed at my statement, she blew out a breath that brushed over my lips. It made me want to taste her, to explore her mouth in a way I hadn’t been allowed to thus far. But that wasn’t for tonight, that was for another time. “I was mad.”

  “Don’t take away from what you said, because it was the truth. This is the twenty-first century. The guy can be a damsel in distress too.”

  She snorted, then reached up and cupped the back of my neck. “I just want us to be together.”

  “And to do that, to do that forever, we need to be honest.” I released a shaky breath. “If you want Max too, then it might drive me crazy for a little while, because what if you want another guy a few years down the line too? What if it never ends—”

  This time, I was stunned out of my panic when she began giggling. She giggled so hard that she broke the connection with me, falling back until she splattered against the mattress. As she laughed, she rocked from side to side, as though her amusement was impossible to contain.

  “My God.” She snickered even harder, giggling to herself, and I shot Sam a look, wondering if this was true amusement or just outright hysteria. When he shrugged, I guessed he didn’t know either, so we just stared at her, watching until she eventually calmed down and stopped laughing like a lunatic. “How many men do you think I need in my life?” she eventually managed to get out, but she snickered at the same time as she asked the question. “I mean, I probably can’t handle the two of you, but Max too?”

  “This isn’t porn,” Sam told her softly. “We’re not going to gang bang you or anything, Jessa. It’s a relationship.”

  She reared up at that, leaning on her elbows as she stared at him and then me. “You watch that stuff?” She cocked a brow, peering at both of us, skewering us with a look.

  I shrugged, but my cheeks did burnish a little bit with heat. “Sometimes.” I hadn’t had sex in months—but I wasn’t about to admit that my right hand and my dick were the best of friends.

  “Most of the time,” Sam admitted. “Babe, my house is never empty and yours is rarely, so it’s either jack off or go nuts. But even though it’s hot, it’s not what I imagine us doing. It isn’t reality, and the reality I want is better than any fantasy.” He bit his bottom lip, a lip that I wanted to suck between my teeth and bruise with my mark. “I mean, some of it is, but it’s just not as… I guess there’s just no feeling there.”

  She frowned. “I’m supposed to be the girl here. Who watches porn for feelings?”

  He shoved her leg with his hand. “Shut up,” he complained, grousing with a very masculine pout.

  “No, but seriously?” When he grunted, she giggled again then, her amusement waned, and it was her turn to admit, “I watch that stuff too. I mean, I’ve been aware of what you guys want for a long time, so I guess I was preparing myself. But I’m just not sure why you want to talk about Max tonight of all nights.”

  “Because—” Sam blew out a gusty breath. “I think my mom is cheating on my dad.”

  Whatever I had expected him to say, it wasn’t that. I gaped at him, and Jessa, surging up from her supine position, flew upright as she twisted on the mattress so she could face him better. The second her feet touched the floor, she slid off the side of the bed and pretty much threw herself onto his lap. She straddled him, then reached up and cupped his cheeks so she could stare into his face.

  “Are you being serious?”

  “Yeah,” Sam mumbled shakily. “I overheard her on the phone one day in the garden when she thought she was alone.” He gnawed on the inside of his cheek before he murmured, “I guess, I don’t know, they spend so much time apart that it makes sense really. Maybe my dad has somebody on the side too. I’m not sure I can blame them, considering how little time they actually spend together, and maybe that’s how they want it to work, but I just… I guess, I’m just facing facts here.

  “This isn’t the seventeenth century and sexuality can be fluid. What Drew and I want with you isn’t exactly considered normal, but what my mom and probably even my dad are doing is wrong. Infidelity is—” He licked his lips. “That’s a game changer. Hell, it ends the game. But that doesn’t mean that the feelings stop there, and it’s just like you said, sometimes you don’t act on them and you stay true, but what if you need something else?”

  For a second, I was speechless. There were so many things wrong with that statement I didn’t know where to start. But then, as fucked up as what he said was, I had to tell him, “I’m sorry, man.”

  Of course, Sam being Sam, he played it down and shrugged. “It’s their life, their marriage. I just don’t want that for us.”

  Because he was going through some shit, I decided that slapping him upside the head would do none of us any good. Still, that didn’t mean I was going to let what he said fly, not when Jessa stiffened on his lap—and not in a good way.

  Raising my hand, I reached over and gripped his shoulder as I murmured, “Sam, I don’t know what you’re going through, and I don’t even pretend to understand. I’m sorry, I know that. But we’re not your parents. We are not my parents, and even though Jessa seems to have relatively normal folks, at least when you take into account that her mom is a Rothskind, we’re not her parents, either. We’re our own people.”

  “Life happens,” was all Sam said, and because he wasn’t exactly wrong, it was difficult to argue with him.

  I didn’t particularly like what Jessa said next, but I understood she was being diplomatic. Especially considering this was another secret Sam had withheld from us. Only hell knew since when.

  God, the secrets were just everywhere.

  Even if this shit about Max was fucked up, he was totally correct about how much we were keeping from one another. That had to stop. Now.

  “Cheating is cheating. If anything changes between us, we need to promise that we’ll discuss it before we do anything else. Agreed?” Jessa interjected.

  Sam blew out a breath. “Agreed. I just don’t want you to feel like you’ve missed out on anything.”

  I didn’t need to see Jessa’s face to know that it would be puckered into one big scowl of confusion. “Sam, shut up and kiss me.”

  I smiled at her demand, then watched in delight as she didn’t wait for him to obey, instead, she had decided to switch off his ‘white knight’ mode by pressing her mouth to his. She tilted her head and began to kiss the fuck out of him. The sight had my dick hardening instantly, and because I could now, because I had the right, I reached down and palmed myself through my shorts. I’d been waiting for this moment for a lifetime, or at least, that’s how it felt
, and the pressure of my hand against my dick provided some semblance of relief, but it was nothing compared to what I really wanted—Jessa’s hand there instead of mine.

  I’d always liked watching them kiss. It had made me feel like a pervert, granted, but it had never stopped me from watching them. They were affectionate, so it wasn’t the first time I’d seen them make out. Especially at parties. The polite thing to do would have been to look away, but I never had.

  I’d watched as longing filled me while I took in the depths of emotion that ping-ponged off them both. As much as I’d wanted to be a part of it, watching it had always turned me on too, and knowing that now, she’d done this with a reason in mind, I was both excited and filled with trepidation.

  This probably wasn’t the best night to be moving things so swiftly ahead, but I wasn’t about to say no, wasn’t about to tell Jessa to stop so we’d go back to sleep. Did I look like an idiot?

  The small moans that escaped her as Sam finally began to kiss her back, his tongue thrusting into her mouth, had me clenching down on my dick, and when she began to rock her hips, evidently grinding into him, I whispered, “Fuck, that’s hot.”

  I almost expected her to tense at my words as reality hit her, terrifying her as I spoke, but she didn’t.

  If anything, the little siren, her movements became even more exaggerated. It was like she was giving me a show, and I wasn’t about to complain. Before, she’d wriggled against Sam, now she downright writhed. Her hips popped from side to side, her back undulating almost like she was some kind of goddamn belly dancer as she worked herself on Sam’s dick—she knew what she wanted, and she wasn’t about to hide from that. Did it surprise me? Maybe. But Jessa was forthright in most things. Why not where sex was concerned too?

  There was nothing I wanted more than to cup her ass and slide my hand between her legs, but would that be too much? Was it a step too far?

  She wore a simple pair of shorts, and I really wished now that I’d given her a pair of my own or something when she’d relaxed beside me. I’d never expected her to rest for long at my side, had thought she’d slip downstairs and go and sit with Sam. To awaken with her in my arms, with Sam at the side of my bed, was pretty much a dream come true—her clothes just meant I didn’t have as much easy access as I’d have liked.

  I wasn’t a virgin, but what I’d done hadn’t exactly been momentous. Quickies at parties, sneaky fucking before somebody’s parents came home. Part of me wished, pathetic and stupid as it might be, that tonight was my first time. With them both. Only, I couldn’t offer them that, but I could offer them myself.

  Licking my lips, I rolled onto my side so I could dip down and slide my hand over her butt. At my touch, the moan that escaped her surprised both Sam and me, because he tensed and I jerked in response. I’d almost thought she’d pull away, but she didn’t, hadn’t.

  As I slipped my fingers over that peachy butt of hers, I let them draw to a halt at her core. She was molten hot through her shorts, and the second I began to rub against her fabric-clad pussy, she tore her mouth from Sam’s and pressed her forehead against his shoulder. The sound of her panting breaths made my heart speed up, and I began to rub her a little harder, a little faster, not giving a fuck about how awkward the movement was for me, just rejoicing inside as she whimpered and moaned in Sam’s arms.

  Sam, as always, was her safety net. I didn’t mind, because usually I was that too, but tonight, this was new for us all. We were all going to make mistakes, fumble a little bit. But as much as we fumbled, I intended for her to relish what it meant to be shared by us.

  I didn’t want her thoughts clouded with what happened today, didn’t want her thinking about Max’s or Sam’s parents. I wanted her focus where it should be—on us.

  A slurping sound drew my attention, and I saw that Sam was sucking on her throat, hard enough to leave a hickey. I’d often heard her lament about how often he did that, but seeing it for myself made my dick twitch, and longing hit me as I wished that I could be doing that to her at this very moment.

  Later, later, I promised myself, more intent on teasing my woman because that was what she was. Mine. Ours, to be sure, but mine as well.

  “Baby,” I whispered, surprising myself with the desperation in my tone. “Let me touch you some more. Let me make you feel good.”

  Jessa’s breath gusted from her lips and I watched as she pushed herself into Sam’s arms, clinging to him for a second, before sucking in another breath, and surging to her feet. The movement was so explosive, so abrupt, that I half expected her to storm out of my bedroom, but she didn’t. Instead, with her back to me, she stood there for a second, seemingly staring into space.

  Hell, she stood there for so long that I shot Sam a look, but he just shrugged at me, then reverted his attention to Jessa. When he licked his lips, I glanced back at her and saw her hands had moved. I could only see her elbows, but the motion of her arms told me she was unbuttoning her clothes.

  In a handful of seconds, her top had been flung to the floor and she was wriggling out of her shorts. When I saw the bare expanse of her ass, I realized she’d removed her panties too, and the sight almost blew my mind, because I’d expected some heavy petting tonight, but nothing more. When her bra was slingshotted across the room as well, I was sure I’d died and gone to heaven.

  Earlier this evening, out on the field, when things had felt like they were spiraling down until I was dying, I never imagined this would happen tonight.

  Catalysts didn’t always have to be bad.

  I’d have given my left nut for her to have come to me, for her to have given herself to me without today shadowing tonight, but if it was a step in the right direction for our relationship, then I’d deal with it.

  But, and it was a huge but…

  No more lies.

  No more secrets.

  Only truths.

  Sam was dead-on with that, and I wasn’t about to fuck things up again. Not when I finally had everything I’d been dreaming of for the past two years.

  When she turned around, and I caught sight of her, my heart pretty much went boom in my chest. I’d seen her in a one-piece before, because she never wore a bikini, but the sight of her, even in the shadows, was just more than I’d expected. My tongue cleaved to the roof of my mouth as I stared at her, but knowing that she could get nervous about how silent I was, I reached out and shakily pressed a hand to her waist. She shivered the second my skin connected with hers, and as I traced my fingers over her belly, moving higher, so I could cup her breast with one hand, she started breathing heavily, her chest shaking, her tits jiggling with the motion. That was pretty much all I needed to surge forward so I could press my face into her stomach.

  As much as I wanted to fuck her, as much as I wanted to connect with her, this was Jessa. She was mine in ways she didn’t even understand, couldn’t understand, because I hadn’t shown her yet. With my face against her stomach, I curved my arms around her thighs, letting one hand cup her ass, while the other rested on the backs of her thighs.

  Hers immediately went to my hair, and while she scraped her fingers through it, she whispered, “Drew? Are you okay?”

  Sam’s laughter was husky. “Let him take a second, Jessa. He’s just appreciating the moment, savoring it like a fine wine.”

  She snorted at his corny words. “Shut up, doofus.”

  My lips curved, amusement riding me, as I realized this was how it was meant to be. How it would always be. Smiles and sighs, heart racing emotions combined with snarky jokes.

  I’d never been more grateful for anything in my life than these two people, and I didn’t intend on wasting another moment, didn’t intend on keeping my appreciation for them a secret.

  Dipping my tongue out, I pressed it to the center of her stomach and traced a shape of a heart. I moved my head so I could circle her navel, then slipped down and nipped at the tiny bulge of her lower belly. Before she could do more than squeal, I moved higher, higher still, until I
could trace my tongue around one hardened tip of her breast. The skin tightened even more, impossibly so, growing taut until I could rake my teeth down it and enjoy the bite of her nails as she scraped them even harder over my scalp. As I sucked on her nipple, I loved how she rocked into me, like she needed more and knew I would give it to her.

  I was surprised by her confidence, but then, maybe I shouldn’t have been. Sam had spent the last two years proving that, to him, she pretty much walked on water.

  Jessa had curves, and she wasn’t skinny like a lot of the other bitches at school. I wouldn’t change her for anything, and I knew Sam felt the exact same way. I hoped, I fucking prayed, that in the time he’d had her, he’d worshipped her as she deserved to be worshipped. And if he hadn’t, I’d punch him later, and spend the rest of my life making sure that both of us gave her the praise she deserved.

  Moving my hands, I let one surge higher so I could cup her other breast, while my right dipped between her legs, which she widened once I glided my fingers along her knee and up to her inner thigh. The texture of her skin changed as goosebumps appeared, and I smiled around her nipple before I bit down, hard enough to make her squeal. The movement relaxed her after the seconds of tension, and I took advantage to slide my fingers through the silken wetness of her slit.

  I could feel my heart pounding in my ears, every part of me coming alive, aware, and awake. My cock throbbed with the need to be inside her, but more than that, I wanted her to love this moment, to remember it until the day we died. Until she couldn’t remember anything except for this night imprinted forever on her memory banks.

  As I circled her clit, she whimpered, her hips surging into me in a way that filled me with pride. I heard some rustling on the floor, and from the sounds, knew Sam was getting naked.

  Excitement flooded me, hell, it did more than that. There was nothing I wanted more than to see him, to be able to touch him, but this was about Jessa.