by Lisa Simmons
"Eight, mate," Luke said suddenly. I hadn't even noticed he had pulled a card and slid it effectively beneath the tab of the center beer without cracking it. "Abigail, would you be my mate?"
He grinned widely at me, tipping a pretend hat on top of his head. I tore my gaze from Reece's but I could feel him watching me as I grinned back at Luke. He was so friendly, how could I not?
"Of course I will, Luke," I said. "That means I drink when you drink, right?"
"Correct," he said, raising his can in a cheers before taking a long sip. I followed the rules and copied him, not stopping until he did and drinking another half a beer in the process. The liquid was bitterly cold as it slid down my throat so I was thankful when he finally stopped drinking.
"Your turn, Samuel," Luke instructed, nudging him with his arm. Samuel didn't say anything as he leaned forward, pulled a card, and looked at it. A sneer spread across his face before he flipped it over and put it effortlessly under the tab. A nine of hearts showed on the card.
"Truth or dare," he said, grinning suspiciously at the group. I didn't like the way he was smiling- it sent a chill through my veins. Luke pumped his fist excitedly by his side.
"Yes, this is my favorite," he cheered, clearly excited. He seemed to be easily excited, which I liked. I just wish I liked Samuel even a fraction as much as I liked Luke, but he was making it extremely difficult. "Samuel, truth or dare."
"Dare," he said flatly, glancing at Luke.
"I dare you to shotgun a beer," Luke said, turning to us with a satisfied shrug. "Gotta start somewhere."
I laughed and took another sip of my beer while Luke fished out another beer from the case. He busied himself with finding something to stab the can with while I turned to Reece.
"You okay?" I whispered, my face inches from his own as he turned to look at me.
"Yeah..." he trailed off unconvincingly. I leaned forward to press my lips into his shoulder.
"Just have fun, babe," I said quietly, hoping to ease some of the tension he was holding on to. I knew it was because of how Samuel was acting, but I didn't know if he knew his motivation for doing so. I was completely in the dark, but I wondered if Reece knew better.
A soft smile pulled at his lips as he ducked his head to my ear, my face hiding his lips from his friends' view as he whispered to me.
"I'd be having more fun with just you... naked in my bed." His voice was quiet and raspy and it sent a shiver down my body. I suddenly wanted to tell his friends to leave so we could go do just what he'd suggested, but I knew I couldn't. He pulled back and shot a smirk at me as his hand slid down my side to squeeze my butt lightly. I jerked into him at the unexpected touch and his smirk widened even more as he slid his hand up my back.
"Hey!" Luke shouted, making it clear it wasn't the first time he'd tried to get our attention. My head snapped toward him, eyes widening as I took in his amused expression.
"Pay attention you idiots," he teased. I grinned guiltily, attempting to focus as Reece's hand slid slowly up my back and up my neck before his fingers tangled through my hair. I tried to stop my body from shuddering uncontrollably as Samuel slammed his now empty beer down on the table. Reece's hand trailed down my back again, his gentle touch raising goose bumps all over my body and making me squirm. He could turn even an innocent touch into something that set me on fire and made me want to rip my clothes off.
"Abigail," Samuel said suddenly, once again ripping me from the little bubble I seemed to fall into whenever Reece touched me.
"What?" I said too quickly. I didn't want them to see how much Reece was affecting me. I knew he was doing it on purpose too from the low chuckle that left his lips, easily observing how I was reacting to him.
"Truth or dare?" he asked me, eyes flicking back and forth between Reece and I. Something was, once again, off in his expression.
"Um, truth," I said lamely. I didn't trust the look on his face enough to choose dare.
"You really think he's gonna change for you?" he asked instantly, as if he'd had the question ready since he'd suggested the game.
"He already has," I said coolly. It was the honest truth, and I didn't like the smug expression on Samuel' face at all. I didn't even give him time to absorb my answer before I shot my own offer back at him. "Samuel, truth or dare?"
"Truth," he responded, his icy glare gliding over me once more.
"Are you always such a dick?" I asked sharply as I raised my eyebrow at him. Luke let out a snort of laughter into his fist, the drink of beer he just took fighting to free itself from his mouth before he managed to swallow and belt out a cackle of laughter. I could feel Reece's gaze on me, but I didn't think twice about him potentially being mad at me for asking. I returned Samuel' stony gaze now, waiting for him to respond to my question.
"I'm no different than your boy, babe," he said sarcastically. Reece visibly tensed at his degrading use of the word 'babe' and he leaned forward into my peripheral vision.
"Fuck off-"
"See, you're actually wrong there," I cut Reece off, my hand gripping his thigh tightly in hopes of calming him down. "He's not an asshole at all but it's pretty clear to me that you are."
"You keep on kidding yourself, doll. This thing between you guys is going to be over by this time next week," he chided, the somewhat bored expression on his face turning to one of irritation and derision as he took another gulp of the beer he'd opened.
"What's your fucking problem?" Reece demanded. "Seriously, you've always been a dickhead but this is taking it to another level."
"Hey man, I'm not the one trying to be something I'm not. You look like a fucking tool," he responded with a sarcastic laugh. Reece rose to his feet, his arm leaving my back as he stood angrily.
"Fuck you, get out of my fucking house," he spit angrily, glaring down at Samuel. "You don't know what you're fucking talking about."
"Have it your way, bro," Samuel said before bringing the beer to his lips and draining it. He set the empty can down on the table before rising to his feet. "Let me know when you're bored with this slut. Maybe I can get a round with her then."
Reece flew across the table in a blur, his body moving so quickly that I had no time to adjust to what was happening. Before I could blink, Reece had Samuel pinned to the wall, his forearm pressing against his throat as his fist clenched tightly on to his shirt.
"Don't you ever fucking talk about her again, you hear me? Don't look at her, don't talk to her, don't even think about her," he growled. The muscles in his back were flexed tightly beneath his t-shirt as he held Samuel against the wall. I had never seen him so livid, even after everything we'd been through. I was frozen in place, as was Luke, apparently, because we both just gaped at them from where we sat.
"Jesus, she must be a really good fuck if she's got you this fucking crazy," Samuel dared to say, his sneer still firmly in place even though Reece had him against the wall by his throat. Before I could blink, Reece released him, pulled his fist back and sent it flying into Samuel' jaw. A sick thud of fist hitting skin resonated through the air. I was vaguely aware of my jaw hanging wide open as I watched, unsure of what to do or say to stop it, not that I really wanted to.
Samuel fell from the wall, his legs buckling beneath him as he slumped down. His hand rose to his jaw, his fingers brushing across it gingerly as he tested the damage. He rose to his feet, a livid scowl now pressed to his potentially handsome face.
"Fuck you, man. It only took you an hour to pick her over me? Fucking pathetic," he spit, casting one last blazing look at me before returning it to Reece. "Fuck this."
With that, he pushed past Reece and stalked out of the living room and out the door, slamming it loudly behind him. My eyes turned back to Reece, who stood seething on the spot, his chest heaving as he breathed heavily.
"Well shit," Luke said, breaking the silence. I couldn't tear my gaze from Reece's to look at him, though, because Reece stood staring at me, his green eyes burnin
g into mine. It was hard to think about what had just happened as I took in the livid man steaming in front of me, but slowly the realization seemed to take place.
Reece had just chosen me over one of his friends. Not only that, he'd punched him for something he'd said about me.
This was getting very real, very fast, and it didn't look like either of us could stop it.
"...and I'm bound to fall, bound to fall for you."
Chapter 33
Reece's POV
My blood boiled in my veins as I stood seething on the spot, certain I had never been more angry in my entire life. This was a different kind of anger that I had felt for Abigail at any point in our relationship; that anger had been driven from hurt or pain, while this anger was derived from pure rage. Samuel' words kept dripping through my brain, my vision blurring in flashes of red with each despicable word.
The things he had called her and insinuated about her had pissed me off far more than I ever would have imagined. He didn't know her at all, yet he'd treated her like she was some lowly person who didn't deserve a second of his time. While I wasn't sure why he'd acted like he had, I had my suspicions. I thought, sickeningly, that there was a part of him that wanted Abigail for himself and had been waiting to see her at some party so he could pounce, seeing as he believed I would hold true to form and never speak to her again.
I also thought he really didn't like the idea of me settling down at all. I was his wingman, after all. Countless times when we had gone out, he'd only gotten laid with help from me. If I were taken, I wouldn't be around to help with that. I think he was afraid of me changing and leaving him behind, which was probably a legitimate fear for him to have because it already appeared to be happening.
These factors along with probably others I would never understand, I suspected, had motivated his even more pronounced asshole behavior, and I was done with him, as far as I was concerned. There was no way in hell he was going to get away with talking to Abby that way, and I certainly didn't want he and his smarmy hands within a mile of her. No, he would stay far, far away from her if I had anything to say about it.
Abigail's blue eyes seared into mine as she stood across from me. She had risen from her seat at some point but that was all the farther she had made it before the shock of me punching Samuel had frozen her into place. Her eyes were wide as she stared at me, her lips parted as her breathing came out nearly as ragged as my own. I was suddenly very afraid that she was scared of me; she had never seen me hit anyone before, and it wasn't something I did very often.
If she was scared of me, I didn't know what I would do.
"Abby," I said gently, completely forgetting that Luke was standing in a similar position as her, equally frozen into place and uncertain of how to react to everything that had just happened. I took a tentative step toward her, praying she wouldn't flinch away from me.
She didn't. She blinked once as she realized I was moving towards her, and it seemed to snap her out of whatever trance she had fallen under. She took a slow step toward me before breaking into a quick jog, closing the space between us almost instantly. A heavy sigh of relief pushed past my lips as she threw her arms around my neck, hugging her body tightly to mine.
"Um, I'm gonna go," Luke said somewhat awkwardly. I waved my hand at him distractedly before I wound it around Abigail's back, pulling her into my still heavily heaving chest. I heard him shuffle from my house and close the door behind him when he left. Abigail's face was pressed into my neck as she hugged me, her breath hot on my skin. Her arms loosened slightly as she pulled back, her elbows resting on my shoulders as her hands pushed my hair back. Her bright eyes studied mine closely, her expression one of concern rather than fear.
"Are you okay?" she asked quietly. My hands linked together and rested against her lower back. For the first time, I noticed a tingling sting to my knuckles from hitting Samuel' jaw. It hurt, but not more than I could easily handle. Anger still flooded through me as Samuel' comments and his irritatingly smug face drifted through my mind once more. I could feel that my muscles were tense beneath my skin.
"Reece, baby, calm down, it's alright," she said, her quiet voice soothing as she let her hands roam down my chest and back up, her palms pressing into my muscles as she did so. I took a deep breath and blew it out, trying to release some of the anger I was holding on to even though he was long gone.
"I'm fine," I reassured her, forcing a calm into my voice. She didn't look like she quite believed me but she nodded. "I'm sorry he said all that shit about you and us and stuff. I hope you kept in mind what I said earlier."
"About not listening to them?" she asked. Her fingers never stopped moving as they pet across my cheek, my jaw, and through my hair. I loved the way it felt when she touched me.
"Yeah."
"I remembered," she said. The tiniest of smiles tugged at the corner of her lips. "You were right- Samuel is a dick."
"I know," I agreed. Dick was an understatement.
"Luke seems cool though," she said, her tone brightening slightly. I tried not to feel jealous because I knew she didn't mean anything by it, but I couldn't stop the momentary flash of green that flared inside me.
"He is," I said, forcing myself to not be so stupid. Of course she meant it as innocently as possible. My breathing had finally calmed down and I didn't want it to pick up again simply because I was being irrationally jealous.
She seemed to pick up on it anyway, however, because she moved closer to me before speaking. "Not as cool as you though."
I smiled, her cheesy statement making me feel better all the same. "Obviously not."
She rose to her tiptoes to press a light kiss to my lips, my own responding immediately. "Thank you."
"For what?" I asked in confusion.
"For... everything. Sticking up for me and not... hiding me from them," she said. Her eyes darted back and forth between mine quickly as she watched me. I could tell it meant a lot to her that I'd actually claimed her as mine and not tried to pass her off as just another girl.
"I told you I wanna be yours, didn't I? That kind of comes with the territory," I told her, tightening my arms and pulling her closer so her chest pressed into mine, eliminating the minimal space between us. She smiled widely, her beautiful lips pulling across her teeth.
"As long as you don't get hurt, then I'm okay with it," she told me. She blinked suddenly as if a thought occurred to her. "Let me see your hand."
"No, it's fine," I said, pushing my chest further into her and keeping my hand firmly around her back so she couldn't see. It didn't hurt that bad, but there was probably some evidence on my knuckles and I didn't want her to see.
"Reece, let me see it," she insisted, releasing her arms from around my neck as she attempted to grab mine from behind her back. I was much stronger than she was, however, so it wasn't hard to keep her pinned between my chest and my arms as she tried to twist around in my grip.
"Reece-"
"It's fine," I told her, grinning at how adorable she was trying to break free from me. She wiggled even more, my grip on her tighter than ever as I stifled a laugh. She shot me an irritated frown as she tried without success to get a good look at my hand.
"Ugh, you idiot," she grumbled, finally stilling and folding her arms across her chest despite being pressed firmly into me, my arms still wrapped tightly around her waist. She leaned as far away from me as possible as she frowned at me in disapproval. I watched her pout with amusement, touched she was so concerned about my hand when really it was fine.
"Don't pout," I told her lightly, my lips pulling into a grin. I tried to lean forward, aiming a kiss at her lips that she dodged, leaning even farther away in my grasp. My jaw fell open in mock indignation.
"Ouch, baby," I said, taking my turn to pout. Her frown softened and I noticed a glint in her eye. Taking a complete 180 from before, she uncrossed her arms and let her palms slide up my chest. Her touch heated my skin through my shirt before th
ey found my neck and hair. Her fingers wove effortlessly into the dark strands at the back of my head as she leaned forward.
Her lips pressed lightly into the base of my neck, and I could feel my pulse throbbing against her gentle kiss. I loved when she did that.
"I'm sorry," she purred quietly, her voice velvety smooth as she let her lips drag up my neck and along my jaw. Her grip tightened in my hair as she pulled my face down to hers and kissed me, her lips molding perfectly over mine. She surprised me by running her tongue along my lower lip before sucking it between hers, taking control of the kiss that she usually ceded to me. She arched her body into mine as she deepened the kiss, and my hands unwound from her back to rise and hold either side of her face.
My pulse started pounding harder in my veins as she kissed me deeper, her tongue pushing lightly against mine as her lips continued to shape against my own. Her hands tugged lightly on my hair, and I quickly felt the haze that often seemed to settle over my body when she so much as touched me rolling in.
When her lips pulled abruptly from mine, it took me a second to realize what she was doing, but by the time I noticed, it was too late. She had spun quickly in my grip, ripping my hand from her face in the process as she held it gently in both of hers. Her back pressed into my chest and she had my arm with my damaged hand wrapped around her as she inspected my knuckles.
"Reece..." she said sternly. I grimaced as I gave up my fight and rested my head on her shoulder, my eyes examining my hand for the first time with her. The knuckles were an angry dark red, hints of purple already leeching into the skin. A few tiny cuts ran along a few of my knuckles, but it wasn't bleeding profusely or anything.
"That was mean," I muttered as I watched her delicate fingers trace lightly over my knuckles. She shrugged lightly as her eyes continued to observe my hand.
