by Casey Diam
“Gabby! I didn’t see you come in! How are you?” Nicky danced over to where I’d found a seat at the fireplace with Ash and Averie.
“I’m not a hundred percent yet, but getting there,” I smiled.
“Okay, I can work with that. I’m also not a hundred percent, so come on, I have drinks for us. Averie, you too. Sorry, Loverboy,” she told Ashton, taking Averie’s arm and pulling her up.
She poured me a shot of fireball, and when I chugged it, it was like fire running through my veins and lighting up my senses. I liked it, so I did another one, feeling my skin warm as Nicky dragged Averie and I back to the living room.
“Only Human” by the Jonas Brothers came on, and we began to dance. When that song ended, we danced to the next one and then the next. I threw my hands in the air, my hips swinging from side to side. Averie and Nicky did the same and soon we were bumping hips and having the time of our lives.
Being homeschooled and having graduated high school early, I never really did this, just be a typical teenager, and I should have felt guilty for letting loose and losing focus for a night, but I didn’t. This was the kind of experience I was looking forward to having more of after the Olympics next year.
I wanted to live in a dorm room and be a normal college student instead of being stuck doing online classes so I could stay on a training schedule. I already missed out on high school, and I wanted to make new friends and to have many more nights like these.
“Okay, Okay. Let’s sit down. It’s getting so hot in here!” Nicky said, fanning herself.
“I know. I feel like I want to strip off my clothes,” I said.
We settled onto the bottom base of the fireplace mantel, the soothing heat blanketing our backs, albeit a tad too warm right now.
At first, it was just us three, but soon, others started to join our group, asking about my upcoming snowboarding competitions as well as what homeschooling had been like.
“So, you’re already in college?” a guy asked me. “Does everyone look at you like this super genius kid?”
I chuckled. “No. But it isn’t unusual since I’m actually eighteen now.”
“Cool. So, uh, do you have a boyfriend?” he asked.
I gave an awkward laugh, totally caught off guard. “Uh—”
“The balls on this one,” Nicky said.
“I’m just making sure my hat’s in the ring, just in case.”
“It’s in the ring, all right,” Averie remarked with a smirk.
“I’m serious, it isn’t every day a future Olympian wanders into my path,” he said in front of everyone, and I had to agree with Nicky. The balls.
As he began to say something to the girls, my gaze shifted and stopped on Ryker across the room, half-perched on a bar stool, staring at his phone.
Not many guys can pull off skinny jeans, but his were a perfect fit, with a chain hanging on the right side of it from his pocket and belt loop. A white graphic T-shirt with a black skull illustration was tucked into the front of his jeans. I couldn’t help but notice the familiarity.
He used to draw stuff like that on paper before he got his iPad in the eighth grade.
A girl approached him and touched his arm while tossing her blonde hair back. His head lifted, but instead of looking at her, his eyes caught mine. I quickly glanced back at the guy in front of me, waiting two seconds before I chanced a look in his direction again. He must have done the same. That, or he never stopped looking at me, because our eyes met again, but this time, they held.
Transfixed, we stared at each other, and it aroused that feeling again of a pull between us.
As some sort of commotion came from the front door, I looked that way, but with the wooden wall blocking the entrance, I had no idea what was going on until Tyler appeared around the corner with a couple people who looked to be in their twenties behind him.
“Party’s over, get the fuck out!” he yelled.
Low complaints started among the crowd, like, “What’s going on?”
“Is he serious?”
“Where’s Brody?”
“Who’s gonna drive?”
The music stopped, and I looked up to see Brody on the balcony.
“No one’s leaving. I have dibs here tonight, bro.”
“Oh yeah? Does Dad know you’re throwing a party at his cabin?” Tyler asked.
Brody arched an eyebrow. “You mean, the same thing you’re planning to do?” Before Tyler could respond, Brody continued, “You don’t get to come here and run things like you used to, so why don’t you get the fuck out?”
“Looks like you finally grew some balls. Why don’t you come down here and say that to my face?”
I sobered as Brody headed for the stairs.
“Why can’t you just stay in Los Angeles?” Brody responded as he approached Tyler. “No one wants you here.”
As Ryker started across the room, I stood and hurried into his path, causing him to bump into me.
He clasped my upper arms, steadying me, and when he looked down, the fury in his eyes burned into mine.
As the two brothers continued to fight, my hand moved to his chest. I didn’t know why I did it. An old habit that apparently wasn’t all gone in an attempt to stop him from getting into trouble. I guessed some things never changed. Except maybe he wouldn’t listen to me this time. But I was already standing in front of him like a dork, so to hell with it.
“I know you want to get involved, but don’t,” I told him.
A muscle in his jaw ticked, but the flames in his eyes started to ebb.
“Go party somewhere else,” Brody seethed.
“Nah, I think I’m good here,” Tyler replied.
Ryker stiffened, his gaze lifting from mine.
“Hey.” My palm rubbed over his chest. “You remember how Hunter and Sean used to fight sometimes. Brody and Tyler need to get through this on their own.”
Grasping his arm, I pulled a few times before he allowed me to lead him into the kitchen and out of sight of what was happening.
“I’m not going to stand in here and let him get beat up.”
“To be honest, even then I think you should still stay out of it. You’re leaving, and for football, so you can’t risk injuring yourself. Plus, Brody needs to learn to fight his own battles. If his brother wants to beat him up, at least they’ll know where they stand. But at the end of the day, they’re still brothers.”
He leaned against the counter, his head shaking. “It still pisses me off.”
“I know.”
“Tyler always just—” His fists curled and his nostrils flared.
“You haven’t changed.”
He looked at me, and I explained, “I kept telling myself you were now this huge selfish asshole. But for the most part, you’re the same as you’ve always been, the person who looks out for his friends, no matter if it means making you look like the bad guy.”
His gray eyes scrutinized me until I grew anxious and fidgeted, wishing he would say something.
“I thought this was a party. Where’s the fucking music?” Tyler shouted in the other room.
I tapped my fingers on the counter. “Sounds like they worked it out.”
“Sounds like it,” he agreed, his eyes never leaving mine.
Desire inched across my lower belly, settling between my thighs.
I swallowed. “Did you have more of that whiskey?”
He nodded. “I hid it.”
“Where?”
“The bedroom.”
“Can I have some?”
“Yeah, I’ll come with you.”
I inhaled a steady breath as he touched my side and guided me out of the kitchen. Something tickled along my spine the entire way up the stairs that left me speechless until we got inside the bedroom.
He went to the dresser and retrieved the bottle from the bottom drawer before handing it to me.
“Thanks. This is a better alternative to those fireball shots downstairs.” I unscrewed the bottle and too
k a small swig. “I feel like if I have another one of those, I’m going to start doing crazy things like stripping or something.”
His eyebrows lifted. “I feel like this is where I should step in and cut you off. I don’t want you doing anything you might regret.”
“Yeah, I think that list is already getting a bit long, and without the help of alcohol. Anyway, why have you been so unsociable, this is your last night with your friends, you should be hanging out with them.”
“I loaned them to you for the night, remember?”
He had remained true to his word and had been leaving me alone to hang out with the girls, but that had also included his guy friends for about half the time.
“I thought we called a truce and were co-existing?”
“Are we?” His bluish-gray eyes seemed darker than they had been earlier tonight.
“We are,” I confirmed, giving him the bottle. He drank it down like it was light beer.
“Geez, what is your stomach made of, steel?”
He gave me a lopsided grin as he handed me the bottle.
“I think we’ve both had enough.”
I went to the dresser to deposit the bottle back into its hiding place, when really, all I could think about was the soft, pink shape of his mouth . . . and the way I was bent over, maybe it was liquid courage flooding my system, but I liked the idea of him checking out my ass. I wanted him to, so I took my time setting the bottle just right before closing the drawer.
“Gabby?” he asked as I pushed the drawer closed. “Who took your virginity?”
I should have known that question was coming since I’d admitted to lying about it years ago, but a part of me didn’t think that he would care.
I turned to face him. “Why do you want to know?”
“Is it anyone that I know?”
When I remained silent, he drew back, “Please don’t tell me it was Jax. What do you even see in me in douchebags like him?”
There was no use lying anymore, list of long regrets and all, so I swallowed and let the truth fall from my lips. “I tried to find you in him.”
For what felt like a whole minute, he stood there, at a loss for words, before his shoulders relaxed.
“Why me?” He walked toward me and stopped mere inches away, trapping me between him and the dresser. “I’m a bomb waiting to detonate. How can you not see that, Gabriella?”
Forcing my attention away from the heat radiating from his body, I said, “Because I see your passion.” He stepped closer, causing my breath to catch for a second before I added, “You pretend like you don’t care, but you do, you always have. I’m not the only one who sees that.”
“You’re wrong.”
“I’m right, and you know it. But, so what if I was wrong?”
My eyes searched his for his truth.
“Then liking me is a mistake.” His head lowered, inching toward mine, and a need rose up in me, so strong that all I could see or feel were his lips and body on mine, and he still hadn’t even touched me.
Chapter 18
Ryker
Kissing her would be wrong.
She was too precious, too good.
“You can’t tell me anything that I don’t already know, Ryker. I’ve already thought about it being a mistake, a lot. I’ve had a lot of time to think.”
“Then if you like me as you say, why did it take you this long to tell me?”
“Because I can’t erase you and her from my mind. Every time I—”
Don’t kiss her. Don’t kiss her.
My lips pressed to hers, and when I tasted the sweet softness of them beneath mine, I knew I wouldn’t be able to do this and forget it ever happened. Tipping up onto her toes, she kissed me back, rendering me powerless as the caresses of our mouths synchronized.
I’d been a fool.
Gabriella Taylor had always been mine, I just hadn’t known it, and she hadn’t figured it out yet.
Fuck everything.
Fuck giving her the space she’d wanted all these years.
Fuck waiting until everything aligned.
My hands slipped around her waist, and I pulled her against me as my lips caressed hers, soft and unhurried. If we continued like this, I would go mad with desire. I wanted more, all of her, everything that could have been. All the hurt, all the doubt in her head, I wanted it gone. My hands gripped her ass as I ground the hard length of my cock against her stomach, needing her to feel just how much I wanted her.
A small moan escaped her, and my breathing grew ragged as I wondered how it would feel to be inside her.
It would be so fucking good. I just know it.
“Wait, wait.” She released a breath. “I don’t want you to do this because you’re mad at me or something.”
Mad at her?
She was the reason I’d never slept with a virgin. Ever. Not when I hadn’t done it for her when she’d asked over two years ago. Almost everyone knew this rule about me, but they had no idea why, they just thought I was probably scared of a girl getting attached to me or that I was selfish and didn’t want to be with an inexperienced person, but Gabby was the reason. But at the same time, why was she avoiding my question about who she’d been with?
“Who was the guy, Gabby?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Because it seems to be something you’re trying not to tell me, which makes me want to know why,” I countered, my lips brushing against hers.
“Do you really want me?” she asked, dodging my question once more.
My head slanted. “My cock is literally throbbing against you right now, Gabby, and all I can think about is ripping off your clothes and fucking you until you’re gasping my name. Yes, I fucking want you.”
Damn how I wanted that, but she’d never been that girl. I never pursued her when we were younger, because like Ash and my little sister, Gabby was good, and my goal had always been to protect them from all the other assholes in this world, and sometimes, that included me.
“What is it?” she asked.
I took a step back.
“Nothing, just—” Clearing my throat, I brushed a hand through my hair.
“You regret kissing me.”
“No.” No. No. No. Is she crazy? “I liked doing it.”
“But?”
I sighed. “The day you walked out of my life was probably the smartest decision you ever made. I can’t treat you like those other girls, Gabby.”
“I’m not asking you to, but I also feel like we hit a wall every time we get here,” she murmured.
“Get where? What wall?”
“The invisible one that prevents us from being more than friends.” She shook her head. “It’s always there, but sometimes, I feel like it’s wrongfully placed.”
“We’re the ones who put it there.”
“Then how do we break it down?”
She had no idea how much I wanted to demolish it and take that lip that she was biting between mine, but there could be no more kissing Gabby. I was leaving for college, and I couldn’t make any more mistakes where she was concerned.
“I don’t know if breaking down walls is the right thing for us right now,” I said. “I’ve hurt you before, maybe staying away from me is the right thing for you to do.”
I didn’t want that, but I was leaving soon.
She’d meant everything to me once, and that was before I kissed her. Who was to say I wouldn’t somehow hurt her again?
“Well, if tonight is actually goodbye, then there’s one thing you could do that will ensure I stay away, for real this time.”
“What’s that?”
“Sleep with me and never look back.”
Did she just—
“What?”
“You heard me,” she said on a half chuckle.
“I wanted to make sure I was hearing you right because you already know the answer to that. I’m not going to sleep with you like that, Gabby.”
“Exactly.”
My he
ad cocked. “What?”
Smiling, she said, “Nothing. I just made my point.”
“And what point is that?”
Stepping forward and looking me in the eyes, she touched my arm. “That you aren’t like Jax or Brody’s douchebag brother downstairs. You care, and that’s what sets you apart.”
“I don’t care about everyone. Some people can just eat shit.”
“If you say so.”
“I do say so.”
She laughed, walking toward the door, her wavy black hair swaying across her back, and that ass—oh my God, that ass. “One of these days, you’re going to see it too, Ryker.”
See what? Her on all fours on the bed with her ass in the air?
Oh fuucckk . . .
She peered over her shoulder as she unlocked the door. “And the question that you keep asking me? The answer is no one.”
My mouth opened. Was she fucking with me? She hadn’t slept with anyone? How? Why?
Maybe that isn’t what she meant.
No one?
“Come hang out so I can watch you do and say the crap that no one else does,” she said. “I kinda miss that.”
While Tyler and his friends were on the upper level, I ended up joining a sock-sliding contest with a little persuasion, mainly from Gabby.
Ash slid farther than I did on the wood floor, but Gabby, I’d won against her twice, and she wanted to go again.
“That was just a warm up,” she argued, but I knew that wasn’t it. Like me, she was a competitor. She didn’t just want to win for the fun of it. There was this determination in her to keep doing it until she got better.
“Fine.”
Before the person counting down could give us the go-ahead, Gabby took a few steps forward over the technical starting line.
“What are you doing?”
“Making it fair,” she replied with an innocent smile.
“Right,” I said. I decided to give her this win, slowing my jog and hoping it would kill my momentum enough that I wouldn’t sail past her this time, and it worked.
“Yes!” she exclaimed, and I wish she wouldn’t because, in my head, it was more like yes, yes, yes, as I thrust deep into her.
