by Heather Long
Granted, that was elementary school and he wasn’t as bad about it in high school since we could text and shit, but still a useful skill to have.
“How much did I miss?” she asked, her gaze almost as steady on the PowerPoint on the screen as mine was. The sad part, this guy wasn’t offering anything beyond the details on each of the slides. Seriously, I could copy it all down and get as much out of it as him telling us.
More maybe. I read faster than he spoke.
“Not much,” I told her. “Just introduced himself, said we’d be discussing leadership, then started this on how it’s a choice.”
Seriously, she hadn’t missed much.
“Cool.” Then she was quiet as the guy droned on and on and on.
Kill me.
Please.
I was half-tempted to text the guys to get me out of this. But I couldn’t, not after Archie checked, then re-checked to make sure everything was legitimate and on the up and up. I doubted Ms. Fajardo would have recommended me for a shady program, but Archie wanted to be sure.
It was only after he’d gone over everything twice with us and even Jake seemed to relax that I got it. Archie wasn’t just checking on it to soothe me, he did it to soothe them. The guys worried about me, and after the last few months, I got it. It hadn’t been easy, but this was supposed to be a great opportunity, and they wanted me to enjoy it and not have to worry.
After another fifteen minutes of my life slowly bleeding away, the girl next to me shifted in her seat as she stretched her legs and tried to make herself more comfortable. She’d stopped taking notes ten minutes ago.
I hadn’t, but old habits and all that…
“I’m Mollie, by the way,” she said, and I cut a quick glance at her. She had sandy blonde hair with just a hint of pink on the tips of it. A hint because to be honest, it could be the light in the room. I’d love to be able to color my hair something fun, but school rules said natural colors only. Lucky, her she got to go somewhere she didn’t have to worry about that. “Mollie Barragan.”
“Frankie Curtis,” I answered her intro with my own. “Robertson High.”
“West Arbor,” she said with a shrug.
I had no idea where West Arbor was, not really. I’d heard of it. But then I’m guessing she probably had no idea where Robertson was either. Didn’t matter. It was another monotonous forty-five minutes before he called for our first break, and I leaned back in my chair with a groan.
“This is how I die,” the guy said from across the table. “From absolute boredom. Do you think it gets any better?”
I lifted my shoulders with a laugh. “I hope so. But I guess not everything is going to be interesting.”
“There’s not interesting, and then there’s killing people slowly with your delivery,” Mollie snarked, and I grinned wider. She reminded me a little of Rachel, not a bad thing. She drained her water bottle and stood. “I’m going to pee. Then hopefully find coffee.” She eyed my cup with no small amount of lust, and I curled it closer to me.
It only had a quarter left, but I wasn’t going to risk losing it.
“You mind watching my stuff?” she asked, and I waved her away.
The guy across from us stood and stretched. The other students were up and moving, too. I should probably walk around, but I had a feeling that if I got up and started walking, I might head out to my car and go back to school.
“I’m Bryan,” he said as he walked around the table and offered me his hand. It gave me my first good look at him, too. He had on slacks and dress shoes with a Hawaiian shirt. I almost wished I could snap a picture of him to send to the guys.
You know, maybe not.
He was a guy, and he was talking to me. Jake might show up, and the day would get a lot more interesting.
Biting back a laugh, I stood so he didn’t loom over me. I’d never been a fan of it before, and I was less of one now. I clasped his hand for a quick handshake. “Frankie.”
“Awesome,” he said and let go of my hand. “Gonna get coffee. You want anything?”
Did I want a guy I’d just met to get me a drink? Let me think about that. How about no? “I’m good,” was all I said though. He gave me a little smile and then headed away, and I sank back into my seat.
There were ten minutes on the clock ticking down on the screen, so I pulled out my phone.
Archie: How’s it going? You missed nothing in class.
Ian: I got the homework. It’s not bad. All good there?
Wow, I’d been here long enough to miss two classes.
Blegh.
Rachel: Your idiots look lonely.
There was a picture attached of the four of them sitting around the table in the cafeteria. They did look a little lonely, and I made a face. It was one day. I could handle one damn day away from them. I had one of them in my bed nearly every night, sometimes two.
Maybe if this were more interesting…
Coop: I’m bored. Sneak into the bathroom and send me some pics.
Eyes rolling, I laughed and just sent him back a middle finger emoji.
His response was instantaneous.
Coop: That was the idea.
The last message was from Jake, and it just made me smile
Jake: Missing you.
Yeah. Me, too.
I sent that to all of them, too. I missed them. But…I needed to make the most of it. Orientation was just this all-day thing, and then we had one other day where we would have to have orientation at our ‘assignment.’ Hopefully, we found out what that was today, too.
Mollie wandered back in with a yawn and a Styrofoam cup of coffee. Bryan followed a minute later, and one by one, the others trickled back to their seats.
As soon as the clock ticked down to zero, we were back to dull as dirt land.
Only, at least we got to participate in this next segment.
Yay.
By the time lunch rolled around, I had decided that if nothing else, this morning had shown me what I didn’t want to do in life.
This right here was what I didn’t want to do in life.
Lunch had been catered in so we didn’t have to go anywhere. Boxed sandwiches, chips, and sodas. Not bad. Mollie and Bryan turned out to be decent conversationalists, and I only texted with the guys to let them know I was surviving. Still hadn’t sent them smoke signals to come and rescue me. And we only had another four hours to go.
Bryan went to Spencer. That was a more affluent school district, I knew that for a fact. They were also the rivals for Robertson’s football team. Well former rivals, so that little fact would stay out of the notes for Jake and Ian.
They were serious about their dislike for football rivals, and I wasn’t getting in the middle of that.
Still, Bryan was funny and had a dry sense of humor. We debated some of the leadership examples we’d been given, and I had to admit, if we needed to make it a choice, could we at least make it a funny one?
While the morning had dragged by in slow motion, the afternoon passed at a steady clip. It proved to be more interactive and a hell of a lot more fun. Each table was given an example of leadership to tackle as a group project. Not my favorite thing to do, and yes, I did shoot Rachel the mental finger on that one, even if she’d have just laughed at me.
So for an hour, Mollie, Bryan, and I debated the merits of the leadership style we’d been given. None of us liked it. So we worked out our presentation based on all the reasons you should never use this.
We were cracking ourselves up.
The following hour, all the groups cycled through their different styles, and I got more out of those presentations than I had the whole morning. Even doing our own, we managed to elicit more than a few laughs, and most of the kids who’d come in suits had taken off their jackets and rolled up their sleeves.
To say we were more relaxed was an understatement.
During the last hour, our presenter went over some key things we needed to know for our internships. They were still being
sorted. We would receive an email by Friday with our assignments and all the key contact details. We were expected to show up every day of the internship, but because things did happen, there was a procedure to follow if we were gonna be out sick.
Fair enough.
Then he did the best thing all day, he sent us home early.
Mollie and I traded numbers. I got Bryan’s, too. The chances were we wouldn’t see each other again, but social media data had also been exchanged along with email addresses.
“We’ll just have our own little bitch group,” Mollie told me after we said goodbye to Bryan and headed out to the parking lot. “Because after today, I’m not sure whether we should be looking forward to this or not.”
“Well, on the upside,” I told her as I opened my car door. “At least we should have a good grasp on what we don’t want to do.”
“True that.” She lifted her hand in a wave as she disappeared into her own car.
All the way back to the apartment, I jammed out to Torched, singing at the top of my lungs. I was still tickled that I’d gotten to go to their concert. And while my energy reserves had been at zero after the morning, I was bouncing back. That, and I was going to get back nearly an hour before the guys. I’d sent the guys a text to the group chat that I was finished early and on my way home.
I’d just pulled off my shoes when the backdoor opened and then closed. I’d gone to the bedroom to change, and I pivoted and crashed right into Archie, who had his arms around me and his mouth on mine before the words could even form.
Ferocious was the only word I could use to describe the way his lips massaged mine and how his tongue demanded access. I groaned at the lightning sizzle of heat that every lick and nip sent rioting through me. He walked me back to the bed, still kissing, and then we tumbled down. He caught himself with one arm to keep from landing atop me, but then he settled his weight and I was torn between a sigh and a groan.
There was just something about the way they covered me that truly turned me on and utterly relaxed me in the same breath. I had missed them all day today, and Archie was here and kissing me, and I couldn’t breathe as I dug my fingers into his back and then down to tug at his shirt.
He broke from the kiss long enough to sit up and yank his shirt off, and then it was gone before he swooped back down to claim my mouth again. There was no mistake about that. It was definitely a claiming. It scorched right through my system, and I ground my hips up against his.
“You’re home early,” I managed to pant out as he nuzzled kisses down to my throat. He nipped and sucked hard just over my pulse point, and I arched my back and tried to wrap my legs around him.
Jeans did not help me get the friction I wanted though, dammit.
“You said you were gonna be here,” he told me, still licking and kissing until he had me squirming. His skin was so hot under my fingers, and I traced one hand against where his tattoo was. “Ditched last period.”
A smile pulled at my lips, and then he sat up, and I groaned as he pulled away.
“Shh, babe, I just need to unwrap this beautiful package. Do you have any idea how sexy this vest is?”
I quirked a brow at him. “How sexy?”
“Not as sexy as it’s going to be when I have it off.” He popped open the two buttons, then went after the buttons on my shirt. In nothing flat, he had them all open, and he spread it wide as he gazed down at my lacy bra.
I’d found them in my drawer after we got back and I didn’t say a word to Archie about it, but the absolutely delighted smile on his face told me I’d been right about guessing who they were from.
“It would have been weird to give it to you in Colorado,” he whispered as he caressed me with his eyes, even as he traced a finger along one cup. My nipples had pebbled with his first kiss, and they tightened further under his teasing touches. “Mostly because I wanted to be selfish about seeing you in them. After today, I don’t mind if the other guys do…”
Understanding flickered through me. “That was why you tried to get me out of the vest this morning.”
He cast a look up to my face and gave me the more adorable grin, so full of cocky smugness, it made me laugh. “I’ve been checking the drawer just to see if they were gone.”
“So when I said I was done early…” I shook my head.
Fingers trailing down to my abdomen, he eyed me. “Too weird?”
“No,” I promised, and rubbed at his hip with my leg. “Want to finish unwrapping me so you can see all of it?” Because the panties matched the bra. The scalloped lace was in a sexy red that I happened to know was one of Archie’s favorite colors for me to wear.
When his teeth scraped his lower lip, I licked mine. I wanted to bite that lip, too. But there was an intensity to the way he focused on me that I didn’t want to interrupt either. His fingers were leaving little paths of fire everywhere he touched me, and I had to bite my lip when he undid my jeans with a kind of reverence, peeking up at me once with a silly little grin before he tugged them open and he could see my panties.
I was so wet at this point, they were going to have to be changed regardless, but all the breath backed up in my lungs when he leaned down and pressed a kiss just above the lace band and murmured, “Hello, beautiful, all dressed up for me today.”
After peeling my jeans down, he scooted back off the bed and dropped them where his shirt was before he stripped out of his clothes. I sat up to enjoy my own show, not that he lingered. “Someday,” I murmured. “You’re gonna have to do that like a striptease.”
He eyed me, one corner of his mouth kicking a little higher. “Oh, am I?”
“I think so.” I pulled off the shirt and the vest and sent them flying.
“And why would I do that?”
“Because I won’t object to you taking a picture of me like this so you can see the set you picked out any time you want.” Honest to god, that offer slipped right out of me and it was not what I’d intended to say, but the way his eyes flashed and the pure delight filling his expression made me mean every single word of it.
“You sure?” he checked, already reaching for his abandoned jeans, and I swore his cock seemed to pulse at the offer.
I let my gaze linger on the way his abdominals flexed as he bent to get his phone out of his jeans and then aimed at me.
“You still happy with your purchase?” It was almost mumbled, and his lips twitched, but his eyes were really serious.
“I love my purchase,” I told him. “I love you.”
His smile grew and he motioned me to lie back, so I slid my hands under my hair so I could toss it up and then I sprawled back on the bed, looking at him. This was so weirdly awkward and intimate, but it was Archie, who had an entire locked file of photos he’d snapped of me over the years on his phone.
This was just for him.
Just like those were.
He angled the phone with a sigh and snapped a couple of pictures. “I love you, too, you know?”
“I heard a rumor,” I teased him, and he chuckled before snapping a couple of more.
“Would it be too much to see you roll over?”
I lifted my eyes skyward as if it was such an imposition. There was a kind of fun to the way he watched me, and I said, “I suppose.”
He made a little joyful sound followed by, “Yay.”
Laughing, I rolled to my side and then over, and I paused at his very appreciative inhale.
“Fuck. Me.”
“I plan on it,” I told him over my shoulder as I caught him just staring at my ass. Yes, his lovely lace panties left half my ass hanging out. While not quite a thong, it was damn close.
There were a couple more camera snaps, and then his hands skated up the backs of my legs. “I love this on you,” he said, kissing the back of one thigh, then the other. The scrape of his teeth over the curve of one ass cheek had me wiggling my butt.
“I bet you’re going to say you’d love it off me more…” I didn’t even get to finish the sent
ence before he tugged the panties right off and nudged me back down, then he slipped a pillow under my hips. Ass up.
He massaged my ass, and I could feel his dick prodding just between my thighs, but it wasn’t until I looked back at him that he pushed in with one fierce thrust that had my whole body curling upward. “I want to fuck your ass,” he said as he groaned and snapped his hips forward. “If we’re in a sharing mood.”
“Noted,” I gasped, because he was stroking deeper with every press. He did this little rotation with his hips as he ground inside of me that had me seeing sparks. Still, he palmed my ass. “We can… Oh fuck…” I pushed back to meet his thrusts.
“That’s what we’re doing,” he teased as he ran his hands up my sides, and then he pulled me upward until I was flush with my back to his chest and he could wrap his arms around me. The angle was different, but every bump and grind edged me closer. He bit against my neck and then dipped his fingers down to tease my clit.
I was right there, dammit, so close, and Archie’s hot breath on my neck just seemed to drive me closer to the edge.
The bedroom door opened, and I glanced over to see Coop ducking inside. “Don’t mind me,” he said quickly as he vanished behind us. Archie never slowed once, drilling into me faster and faster, until I wasn’t even trying to hold back my cries. He palmed one hand over a breast, the stroke teasing my already aching nipples, just as he applied pressure to my clit.
Fuck.
“Just needed to grab my shoes,” Coop said as he started to close the door. He paused though, and my eyes locked on his for a breathless moment just before I splintered. “Keep it up, man. Great form.”
Laughter bubbled up through me as the door closed, then Archie added more pressure to my clit and that was it, I was gone. A scream tore out of me, and Archie gave another few pumps, just pushing me through it, before he followed me.
Panting, we collapsed to lie sideways on the bed, still somewhat locked together, and I let out a long sigh.
“Coop was right,” I exhaled the words.
“Was Coop here?” he snarked and bit down on my shoulder lightly.
