Avoiding Temptation

by Rachel Van Dyken

  She nodded her head. “I’ll talk to him first—might save your life.”

  “Ah, how noble, falling on your own sword,” I teased.

  She grinned. “I’d rather fall on yours.”

  “Hell, you’re going to get me killed, aren’t you?”

  “You were my therapist when I needed it, my friend without me even asking, and now, I want more…” She shrugged. “Are you man enough to handle that?”

  I dug my fingers into her ass. “Do you really need to ask?”

  “Just making sure…”

  “Making sure?”

  “That you aren’t going to say something cruel in order to push me away, that you’re going to grow a pair and kiss me, not because you can’t help it, but because you genuinely want to.”

  Hearing it like that was a punch to the gut.

  I pressed a soft kiss to her mouth. “Forgive me?”

  “Forgiven.” She grinned against my lips, and then her tongue snuck out and licked my bottom lip, licked the water from the shower right up.

  I groaned and captured her mouth with mine, turning with her in my arms and pressing her up against the shower tiles. Her fingernails dug into my back.

  I wasn’t stopping.

  I couldn’t, even if Finn held me at gunpoint—well, maybe I could, but I wouldn’t want to.

  She wrapped her legs around my waist and rubbed herself up and down right where I needed her to.

  I was so hard I could cause physical damage.

  Out of control, I deepened the kiss, and when she tugged my hair, I bit her bottom lip and sucked, then slid my tongue against hers. She tasted like berries.

  “Slater?” A male voice called. “You in here, bro?”

  I nearly dropped Tatum on her ass.

  “Finn?” she whispered.

  I nodded my head, my eyes wide. “Yeah, bro, give me a few minutes, and I’ll be out.”

  “You know where Tatum is?”

  She gave me a panicked look.

  “N-no, bro. Hey, why are you back so early?”

  “Long story.” He sounded livid.

  Now was so not the time to let him know I had his sister in the shower naked.

  “We’ll take tequila shots, just give me two more seconds, and try Tatum’s phone—”

  She shook her head no at me.

  “I mean, don’t try her phone, sorry. I remember she texted about studying at the library, she was supposed to be back by eleven.”

  He sighed heavily. Shit, he was right outside the shower.

  He would see my clothes but thank God, not hers. She had arrived in the towel.

  How the hell was she going to get back into the room?

  My clothes. I’d give her my clothes and hope that her brother just assumed she was doing laundry.

  After studying.

  On a Friday night.

  Damn.

  “All right, I’ll see you in a few. You want to order pizza? I’m starving.”

  “Sure.” I choked out when Tatum grazed my dick with her hand by accident.

  She mouthed, “Sorry.”

  And I was ready to strangle her brother with my towel and finish what we’d started.

  The door to the bathroom sounded like it shut, but to be safe, I poked my head out.

  Sure enough, it was empty.

  “What the hell are we going to do?” Tatum shrieked.

  “My sweats.” I quickly turned the shower off. “Put on my sweats. No, wait, that’s too much. Wear my T-shirt. It should be long enough, but my shoes…” I quickly looked around. “Okay new plan, I distract him while you wrap yourself up in this towel like a Christmas goose make a beeline to your room for clothes; I’ll give you five minutes, then you walk out as if you’ve been taking a nap, got it?”

  She nodded her head.

  I took a deep breath, “Okay, good. I’m going in first, give me at least two minutes to get him in the bedroom.”

  She winced.

  “Yeah, I know how that sounded. Not the time, Tatum, not the time.”

  She hid a laugh behind her hand while I quickly dried off, put on my dirty clothes, and grabbed my shower caddy. I tried not to think too hard about the fact that I was clean and putting on old clothes.

  When I made it back to the suite, Finn was sitting on the couch watching some Marvel movie.

  “H-hey, man.” Smooth. “Order pizza yet?”

  “I was gonna let you do the honors since you get pissed when they don’t add enough pineapple.”

  I rolled my eyes behind him, set my caddy inside the room, and tried to think of something I could say that would get him to come into the room instead of lazily gracing the couch with his presence.

  The door to the suite cracked open.

  Did she not know how to count?

  TWO MINUTES!

  “Did you hear that—”

  “I have a rash, man!” I shouted so loud I’m sure the entire dorm now believed I had crabs.

  Tatum gave me a horrified look.

  Finn gaped at me, “You touched my sister with your mouth, and now you have a rash!” he roared. Oh, shit.

  I held up my hands in innocence. “First off, I didn’t touch her with my dick.” Yet, well not technically-ish, let’s go with ish. “Second, could you not yell? Just come in here and let me know if it looks bad?”

  His eyes narrowed. “You want me to look at your rash?”

  “That’s what a true friend would do,” I challenged.

  “No, a true friend would tell you to go to the doctor and stop sleeping around.”

  “It’s not from sex!” I felt the need to yell. “I uh, my balls—” this wasn’t going well “—you know how balls get sweaty and, I think I’ve been sitting too much.” I would starve if I had to act for a living, wouldn’t I? “Anyway, just look since I can’t maneuver my body in that… er, way.”

  “Selfie mode, bro, learn the tricks.”

  Astonishing how proud he sounded of this trick. I stared at him; my upper lip curled in distaste. “Something you need to tell me?”

  He shot off the couch. “Shut the hell up and show me your balls.”

  “That’s something I should never hear my best friend say,” I grumbled.

  He shrugged. “Hey, you’re the one with the sex rash.”

  “For the last time, it’s not a sex rash!” I jerked him into the bedroom and shut the door. Then I froze. “Something about this feels very intimate, right?”

  “Shut the hell up and bend over.” Finn winced and then shook his head. “I wish it wasn’t today. Can we go back in time?”

  “All things considered, were you expecting me to cough too?” I wondered out loud.

  Finn glared up at me. “I’m the one doing you a favor!”

  “We speak of this to no one.”

  “Bro code.” He held out his fist, I bumped it and repeated “Bro Code,” then promptly dropped my sweats to my ankles, turned around, and moved the boys to the side, while my best friend straight up got down on both knees and turned on his fucking flashlight on his phone.

  “Oh, shit,” I heard the click of a picture being taken. “Sorry, bro, I slipped.”

  “I never want to hear you say those words, ever again, out of your mouth, while on your knees, in front of my dick, got it?”

  He burst out laughing. “Admit it, it’s kinda funny.”

  “I doubt any sort of slippage would be funny in this situation.” Damn it, Tatum owed me!

  “Fine, fine, your skin does look a little red.”

  “The hell?” I looked down.

  “You seem surprised about your own rash, man.”

  “No, it’s just, I thought it was getting better.” I had a fucking rash?!

  “Huh.” He stared at this phone. “Oh no, actually, it must have been a trick of the light.” He offered his phone. “Want to see for yourself?”

  “No.”

  “Well, no rash, you were probably just panicking like you always do about things that
don’t exist, like imaginary hairs in the shower.”

  I pulled up my sweats. “Those hairs are real, and you know it!”

  “Whatever, my good deed of the decade is done. Rash free, now can we please go order some pizza?”

  “Thanks, bro,” I reached for him, only to have him back up. “What?”

  “We can’t hug right now; I just saw your bits.”

  “Call them bits again, and I’m kicking you in yours.”

  He chuckled. “Whatever, let’s go.”

  He opened the door first.

  And on the other side stood Tatum, her face a mix of horror and amusement.

  “Er…” Finn leaned against the door. “We had a medical emergency.”

  “Oh, I heard,” She held out her phone. “And recorded everything. You know, just in case I need to bribe you for something.”

  “Son of a bitch! I was looking for his rash!”

  I put my face in my hands. “Could this not be story time?”

  Tatum peered around Finn. “Your balls on fire, Slater?”

  I narrowed my eyes at her. “And after everything I’ve done for you. Betrayed, by Judas.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Finn held up his hands. “What did you do for her?”

  “I played bodyguard while you were gone!” I threw up my hands. “What else would I have done?” Insert awkward laughter.

  Finn looked between us and then joined in laughing. “You’re right, you guys have zero sexual tension right now.”

  “It’s the rash,” Tatum explained calmly while I wondered if I would ever have sex again, mainly if I would ever see her naked again.

  Forget limp dick.

  I was sad dick.

  So sad.

  “You.” Finn pointed at me. “Order the pizza. I want to talk to Tatum for a bit, in private.”

  “All right.” I grabbed my phone and watched with curiosity while he took her into her bedroom and shut the door.

  He was back early.

  Which meant only one thing.

  His talk with his parents hadn’t gone well.

  I only hoped that it wasn’t so bad that Tatum would be upset.

  I didn’t have long to wait.

  Fifteen minutes later, he came out, pale as shit, and said that Tatum had gone to bed early.

  He fell asleep soon after his fifth slice of pizza.

  And like an idiot, I couldn’t sleep.

  Because all I kept thinking about was if she was okay.

  So, amidst Finn’s snores and my brain telling me it was a bad idea, I snuck across the suite, opened her door and let myself in.

  Chapter Twelve

  Tatum

  I heard the door open.

  I hadn’t been sleeping anyway, just staring into the inky blackness of my room, listening to music, and holding my pillow like an upset teenager.

  Which is exactly what I felt like.

  Finn hadn’t told me everything, I’m sure it was worse than he was letting on with the parents, but that’s what he’d always done. Protect me.

  I really wish he would have, but he didn’t.

  He went home to absolute chaos.

  Not only had my dad cheated on my mom—but they were getting a divorce, and the reason for all the money grabbing from our trusts was because he’d made some bad investments, and she had a shopping problem.

  Neither one of them wanted to own up to their own issues, so they felt it was our duty as their children to help them out.

  Finn about lost his shit.

  They had a huge fight, which resulted in Finn needing to get a restraining order against his own parents.

  My parents.

  They were never the best, but I still loved them, and now as my birthday neared this summer, as Easter got closer and closer—we weren’t really a family anymore.

  My parents were going to have to sell the house to keep up the lifestyle they were used to.

  And the real kicker?

  My mom hadn’t even asked if I wanted to keep anything from my old room, she literally donated everything because she couldn’t be bothered to deal with it.

  To deal with my memories.

  My yearbooks.

  Pictures.

  And my stuffed penguin that I’d left there over Christmas break and had every intention of grabbing during Easter.

  The one my grandma gave me before she died.

  Gone.

  Was it horrible that I was more upset about my penguin than my parents’ divorce?

  Finn had told me that we would make new memories, and he’d find a penguin that looked identical, but that only made me cry.

  And then the guilt came.

  Because he’d basically raised me, hadn’t he? He’d been my friend, my stand-in father, he’d taken me to all my basketball games in high school, and he’d done nothing but protect me.

  And I’d betrayed him.

  I’d used his best friend against him.

  All of it felt so confusing and wrong.

  “Hey.” Slater sat on my bed, he was holding a stuffed unicorn in his hands. He was at least wearing a white shirt and a pair of Nike sweatpants. “You okay?”

  “No.” My voice was shaky, I’m sure he could tell I’d been crying. And honestly, I knew he didn’t owe me anything—after all, I wasn’t paying for his wisdom anymore, was I?

  “Do you need to talk, or do you just need to be held?” he asked softly.

  “Held.” I felt my lower lip wobble. “Is that a unicorn?” I asked after a few seconds of adjusting our bodies in my small twin bed.

  He shrugged. “I hold you; you hold Horny.”

  I smiled through my tears.

  And Slater didn’t ask questions, he didn’t push me. He simply pulled back the covers, crawled into my bed, and pulled me against his rock-hard body, then in a whisper I would remember forever, said, “Spooning leads to forking.”

  I laughed.

  And that laugh quickly turned into a quiet sob.

  And he stayed.

  All night he stayed.

  And for the first time in my life I knew what it was like, to be in a relationship where it wasn’t just about the physical.

  But the emotional too.

  And I knew in my heart that I couldn’t let him go.

  Even though I should.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Slater

  I held her all night.

  And I did it because I wanted to, not because it was in the job description. Morning sunlight started peeking through the blinds—the last thing I wanted to do was leave her alone, not when she was clinging to me so tight.

  Not when her legs were tangled in mine.

  Not when the sheets were wrapped tightly around both of us.

  And definitely not when I could smell her shampoo and almost taste her skin.

  “Mmmm…” Tatum’s ass moved against mine.

  I’d never been so happy to be the big spoon in my entire existence, but this was so not the time.

  Not when she was vulnerable.

  Hell, I did this for a living. She was exhausted, and her guard was down, her head would tell her it would help her heart. But I knew better than anyone—the heart didn’t heal just because you had a quick romp. If anything, it just heaped more guilt onto an already shitty situation.

  “Are you feeling better?” I whispered, playing with pieces of her dark hair.

  She didn’t answer, just held on to the arm that was draped around her stomach, holding her close.

  I squeezed my eyes shut and tried not to think about how good she felt against me, or about the fact that my body had so many incredible ideas—on ways to spend the morning.

  “I should go before we get caught.” I started to move.

  “Stay.” She flopped onto her back, her eyes red and swollen from crying. They were such a brilliant blue I couldn’t look away. “Please? Just for a little bit longer?”

  “I would.” I smiled. “But, I have a penguin to buy.”


  She sniffled. “You don’t have to buy me a stupid penguin.”

  “Um, first of all, penguins aren’t stupid, as proven by said penguin owner.” I pointed at her. “And second, I know I don’t have to, I want to.”

  Her eyes filled with tears. “Okay.”

  A knock interrupted what was going to be, probably the best kiss of my life. We jerked apart like teenagers getting caught by their dad when Finn’s voice filtered through the door.

  “Tatum, you up yet?”

  Her eyes were wide.

  “I got this,” I whispered, “Just go with it.”

  “You sure?” she mouthed.

  I nodded confidently and then went over to the door and jerked it open. “Hey, best friend… did you make me coffee?”

  “You.” His voice was low, it was menacing, and his eyes flashed like he was possessed by a demon.

  I rolled my eyes and tried to feign ignorance. “Yes me, your best friend, trying to be a good friend since your sister’s sobbing interrupted my sleep last night.”

  His face went from menacing to broken in a heartbeat. “Tatum?” He sidestepped me. “Why didn’t you come get me?”

  “Because…” Her lower lip wobbled. “I don’t know.” She sniffed. “I was thinking about it, but I just didn’t want to move, and Slater came knocking around three a.m., and well, he let me cry all over him which means I probably owe him a favor or at least another burrito.”

  I smirked at that. Because now whenever I thought of burritos, I thought of licking her taco.

  Stop judging me.

  I leaned against the doorframe while Finn pulled her into a giant hug. She mouthed “thank you” over his shoulder. I nodded and then stepped out of the room, fighting like hell with my own emotions.

  I wanted to run back in and confess to Finn.

  I wanted to tell him that someone was going to take his place as the rock in her life—and that someone was going to be me.

  But first.

  I needed to find a damn penguin.

  Thank God for Amazon. Not only did I find a penguin, but since we lived in Seattle, they were able to deliver it within the hour, making me the hero of the day.

  I went to my phone to text her and realized that I actually didn’t have Tatum’s number, so I did the next best thing.

  Slater8: So, I may have found you the most badass penguin on the planet!