“Oh, no! Remember what happened last night?”
“I remember someone coming to defend your honor.” She smirked, and I didn’t have a response.
***
We danced the night away into the early morning hours, our bodies slicked with sweat. When I could barely stand any longer, my calf muscles burning, I begged Gigi to take me home.
“I’m not ready to go yet,” she whined, her lower lip jutting out in a pout but her eyes were at half-mast.
“I’ll take you,” Lucas’ gravelly voice whispered in my ear. I turned around to see him standing alone with his hands shoved deep into his jean pockets looking just as exhausted as I felt. I stuttered trying to come up with a witty response, but the fog of the alcohol was preventing me from having any thought but how sexy it was when his tongue ran out over his lower lip.
“That is a great idea,” Gigi said with laughter in her voice. I glared at her as my ears burned and I could feel myself beginning to flush.
“No, thank you.”
“Come on.” Before I could protest, he grabbed my hand and pulled me behind him toward the door. I put my other hand on his back, his muscles flexing beneath my palm, as he led me through the crowd of people. I wondered if beneath the fabric was more intricate swirls of ink.
The cool air of the outside was refreshing. I took a deep breath, happy to be out of the stuffy, overcrowded building. He nodded to his friends across the parking lot and we slowly made our way to the dark SUV.
“Want to go to my place?” he asked, his lips curled up in a smile.
“You think I’m that easy?” I blurted out as I rolled my eyes and pulled my hand back, but he squeezed it tighter.
A deep laugh rumbled from his chest as he placed his hand over his stomach. “It didn’t even cross my mind.” I felt humiliation twist my gut. “I know you’re not like that, Henley, and your bladdered. I wouldn’t take advantage of you,” he added as any hint of a smile faded. I let my shoulders fall. I was relieved and disappointed by his remark. Gigi was wrong. This guy wasn’t looking at me like a potential conquest but maybe it was better that way. “What have you got to lose... besides your preconceived notion of who I am?”
“It really bothers you that badly that I don’t fall all over myself when you smile, doesn’t it?”
“Like I said... you just don’t know me yet.”
“Won’t your friends mind?”
“Nah, my flatmates won’t care,” he said with a shrug, his face sullen as he rubbed his palm roughly across the back of his neck. “They don’t stay home very often. It gets too quiet.”
I looked him over, worried that it was another one of his tricks to get me to agree, but he didn’t have the slightest hint of one of his smirks. In fact, he looked like his mind had momentarily drifted off to somewhere else with an air of melancholy surrounding him. I’m going to regret this. “Let’s go,” I said, thankful for the alcohol that gave me courage.
We slid into the Durango and pulled off into the night. I tugged at my skirt wishing I had not let Gigi dress me. I glanced over at Lucas whose eyes were on my legs. He quickly looked away, grinning.
“You look... uncomfortable.” His hesitation made me wonder if there was something else he was going to say before changing his mind.
“Gigi made me wear this stupid outfit,” I groaned. “So, what happened to the girl?” I asked, trying to fill the awkward silence and take the attention off of myself.
“Which one,” Beef laughed from the front seat, the deep bass of his voice causing me to startle.
“Laney, the blonde... she went home with some redhead with fake tits,” he explained.
“Oh,” I muttered under my breath, shocked that Gigi was telling me the truth about Laney and not just trying to make me feel like less of a loser. “And Harper? Was it past her bedtime?”
“That was a misunderstanding... thanks to Laney.” He laughed quietly as he ran his thumbnail across his eyebrow. “She thought she was texting you, actually.”
“Me?”
Lucas nodded but didn’t elaborate. He wasn’t as bad a person as I made him out to be. Sure, he was a womanizer, but as a friend, he was very easy to get along with, and he looked out for me, which was sweet. But I would never admit any of that to him.
We pulled up to an apartment building just off campus. Lucas slid out of the car and stood by the door waiting for me. I got out of the car as gracefully as I could in the ridiculous outfit and waved off Beef who was heading back out for some fun. We walked, hand in hand to the door. As he pushed it open, I sighed at the giant set of stairs ahead of me. I slipped off my heels and followed behind him.
The apartment was nice. It had minimal, mismatched furniture but was clean with an open floor plan, which made it feel larger than it actually was. It looked like the guys had spent most of their money on an oversized television.
“Fancy a drink?” he asked as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle from above the fridge.
“Sure,” I said, looking around. “You play?” I pointed down at the video game system hooked up to the large flat screen television.
“Do I play?” He scoffed and drank back his shot. I walked over to the counter and took my drink, slamming it back before gagging on the thick licorice flavor. It burned, but I had drunk enough that it did not bother me anymore.
“Want to play with me?” I asked. He smiled and poured another round for us.
“Of course, I’d like to play with you.” He winked.
“Bye,” I said and turned toward the door. He hurried around the island and grabbed my arm.
“I’m sorry. I can’t help it.” He laughed again as his arm fell to his side. I rolled my eyes and went back to the counter to drink my shot. “It’s just funny watching your face turn pink. We can play. Let me change first. You want something to wear?” he asked, and I bit my lip wondering if I should borrow clothing from someone I barely knew. “You can’t kill zombies in an outfit like that,” he joked and headed back the hallway.
“You underestimate me.” I followed behind him as he dug through his closet for something to wear. My eyes danced over his walls that were covered in drawings of various sizes, some black and white and others colored in brightly.
“Well, you’d be too distracting for me.”
“Wow, did you draw these?” I asked as I walked toward the wall, holding up my hand and letting my fingertips ghost over one of the images of an old pirate ship lost at sea during a storm, but the lone person standing on the deck wasn’t panicked. In fact, he was eerily calm. It easily could have been framed and hung in a museum next to other paintings and would have blended right in.
“It keeps me out of trouble.” He shrugged as if it was nothing but as someone who couldn’t draw a stick figure without making it crooked, I was highly impressed. “That one I call Journey to the Truth,” he whispered causing my spine to stiffen. I hadn’t heard him creep up behind me.
“What was the truth they were searching for?” I asked, my voice as quiet as his.
“I’ll let you know. I haven’t found it yet.” I turned around as he retreated to the other side of his room and rummaged through his dresser.
He pulled out a white t-shirt and tossed it at me. I looked around for somewhere to change. “I won’t look.”
His back was to me as he pulled off his shirt. It was broad and muscular and covered in tattoos. He slid off his jeans and put on a pair of basketball shorts over his dark boxer briefs. I bit my lip as I slinked out of my clothing and pulled the shirt over my head. He grabbed a pair of boxers from his drawer and handed them to me.
“You said you wouldn’t look.”
“You also made it clear you wouldn’t be getting naked in my bedroom with me... but here we are with you in your knickers.” He rolled his eyes and turned back around. I pulled the boxers on quickly and headed back into the living room. “Was that a tattoo I saw on your back?” Lucas asked with his eyebrow raised.
“None
of your business.”
“For as much shit as you gave me about my ink, I would have thought you had virgin skin. I just didn’t peg you for the tramp stamp type.”
“It’s not a tramp stamp. It’s my F-holes,” I corrected. His eyes had widened before he let out a long, deep laugh.
“Jesus, Henley.”
“For a violin, you A-hole.”
I turned around, raising my shirt high enough on my lower back to reveal two curved lines on either side of my spine. I jumped when the pad of his finger ran over the design leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake.
“Wow,” he mumbled, and I turned back around to face him, letting the hem of my shirt fall from my hands.
“What? You think it’s stupid.”
“No... no. I think that’s the sexiest tattoo I’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t mind fingering your strings.”
My mouth went dry as my eyes narrowed. “Are you always this much of a jerk?”
“No. In fact, I’ve never had anyone complain about me talking in my sleep.” He winked, and I felt my stupid face heat again.
“Charming,” I deadpanned.
Chapter Twelve
LUCAS
I made my way into the kitchen as Henley settled in on one of the stools on the other side of the island dwarfed by my oversized shirt.
“You hungry?” I asked as I poured us each another shot.
“Starving,” she groaned before giggling.
I pulled open the fridge and grabbed the Styrofoam container with the crab stuffed mushrooms. “You aren’t allergic to anything are you?” I asked as I turned to pop the food in the microwave for a few seconds.
“Just your bullshit,” she joked.
“So you’ve said.” I glanced back at her over my shoulder to find her eyes studying the tattoos on my back.
“Didn’t that hurt?” She asked as I turned my attention back to the microwave as the timer went off.
“You’ll have to be more specific. A lot of things hurt.”
“All those tattoos.”
“No.” I sat the food down on the counter between us, leaning on my elbow as I picked up one of the mushrooms. “Not as much as the reasons behind them.”
“Wow, what is this?”
“Crab stuffed mushrooms. I got them from a restaurant off campus called Swank.”
“Isn’t that place like crazy expensive? What were you like... on a date or something?”
“You think I took some girl on a date, and I’m feeding you her leftovers? Literally sloppy seconds.”
She shrugged, looking down at the food. “I dunno. It wouldn’t matter if you did. We’re just friends.”
“So you admit we’re friends now? Progress,” I joked, eliciting a smile from Henley.
“Whatever.”
“I went there to see someone. Not a date.”
“Who?”
I sighed, rolling my eyes, my head beginning to thump for the copious amounts of alcohol we’d consumed. “Do you want me to get you something else to eat?”
“No way! They smell amazing.”
I shoved a mushroom into my mouth, and she made a face before taking a dainty bite out of her own. “Mm...” she moaned as her eyes fell closed and she savored the bite. When they opened again, her face began to darken as she noticed me staring at her. “What?” She swiped her fingers across her chin. “You eat like a wild animal.”
“Do I?”
“Yes. You should take smaller bites.”
“Like this one?” I grabbed her hand that still held half of a mushroom and pulled it to my mouth, closing my lips around her fingers as I stole her food. “You’re right. That was much better,” I shot her a wink as she sank lower into her seat.
“Hey,” she grabbed the container of mushrooms and hopped off the stool. I hurried around the counter and chased after her as she rounded the couch. I stood on the other side, waiting to see which direction she would dart so I could catch her.
“Never come between a man and his meal,” I warned. Her eyebrow rose as she fought against a smirk.
“Wait till I tell all the girls that I had Lucas Young eating out of my hand,” she joked as she batted her eyelashes.
“Henley, I will eat off of any part of you that you like as long as you give me back those damn mushrooms.”
“You gotta catch me first.”
I bolted behind the couch, and Henley squealed as she took off around the love seat, slipping on the rug like a cartoon character. Just before she fell on her arse, I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her back against my chest.
“Holy, shit. I thought I was going to die,” she struggled to catch her breath and giggle at the same time.
“I saved your life. Now you owe me.”
“Um...” she grabbed a mushroom from the container and held it up above her head. “Mushroom?”
I leaned forward, taking it from her fingers with my teeth before grabbing her finger and sticking the tip in my mouth as I swiped my tongue across the pad. “Mmm... Absolutely scrummy.”
“Are we even?” She asked as she began to pull away and I let my arms fall. She turned to face me, brushing her knotty hair from her face. Her eyes were wide and wild, and there was a sexiness to miss prim and proper looking so feral.
“Not even close.” I snatched the box from her hand.
She stared up at me incredulously, debating whether or not to go for round two. I held out a bite for her as her eyes narrowed before she leaned in and took it with her mouth, her lips sliding over the end of my finger and causing my cock to harden.
I used my free hand to swipe across her lower lip, catching a drip of juice before licking my finger clean. Her eyes widened fractionally as her tongue darted out to run over where I’d just touched. The air in the room had changed from playful, and I was finding it increasingly hard not to do what I would with any other woman who had been standing before me. But Henley wasn’t any other woman, and the last thing I wanted to do was sending her running from me.
“Sit. Let’s see if you suck at killing zombies as much as you do at pool.”
She swallowed, her cheeks tingeing pink before she sank down to the floor before me on her knees, doing nothing to tamp down my growing need for her.
I turned toward the telly and grabbed the controllers as I struggled to think of anything but her perfect mouth.
Chapter Thirteen
HENLEY
Lucas handed me a controller and turned on the game console before sinking down beside me, sitting close enough that his arm brushed against mine. It was distracting, to say the least.
“So... you play the violin?” He asked, his eyes still locked on the screen.
“Do I play?” I threw his words back at him and from the corner of my eye I could see him shake his head. “I did... I mean... until life got in the way.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
I shrugged as I felt my eyes begin to water. I swiped my fingers under my lashes to dash the tear that threatened to fall. “I outgrew it.”
His eyes cut to me as he rubbed his palm against the back of his neck. “Not many people get tattoos of things they aren’t passionate about.”
“Can you please stop psychoanalyzing me, Dr. Fraud, and just play the stupid game,” I snapped with a little more venom than intended. But the wound from losing my most prized possession was still fresh, and it was the last thing I wanted to talk about.
“I think you mean Dr. Freud,” he replied with a sigh.
“No, I meant what I said. You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I know plenty about having to give up something you love,” he groaned before stretching his neck from side to side. “You know, with some shading, you can give that piece some depth, make it look like the holes are actually carved into your skin.”
“Really? You’re a tattoo expert now,” I laughed as he glanced over at me, completely stone-faced.
He shrugged but didn’t reply.
> “Where’d you learn so much about them, in prison?”
He shook his head as he beat me, advancing to the next level. “You have me all figured out, don’t you?”
“Oh, come on. You judged me just as much as I judged you. It’s human nature. I’m just honest about it.”
“There’s a difference between honesty and being rude.” His eyes cut to me as his lips pressed into a hard line.
“Fair enough. Lay it on me. What was your first impression of me?”
He shook his head, letting out a small laugh. “You don’t want to know.”
“Seriously? I asked, didn’t I? Let me guess... you thought I was –”
“A fit bird. Sexy. You were all frazzled and nervous. It was kind of cute.” He glanced over at me as his tongue ran out over his lips, and somehow I’d forgotten how to breathe. He looked back at the television and clicked the A button on his controller, killing me again. “But then you started talking to yourself in obscure film references, and I thought maybe you were a bit mental.”
“I was not nervous.” I shoved my shoulder against him, and he laughed before nudging me back with his elbow, his body now resting comfortably against mine.
“What did you think of me?” His gaze was locked ahead on the television as he spoke.
“I dunno.” I shrugged as I struggled to move my character away from his. “You looked like you’d just committed a crime or something. It didn’t help that you ran from those security guards. And maybe I was nervous... thinking you might rob me or something.”
He shook his head but didn't respond.
“I mean... you kind of give off this angry vibe.”
“Angry?” The side of his mouth lifted causing a dimple to settle into his left cheek. “You think I’m angry?”
“I did watch you beat up some guy at the bar.”
“Right. I did do that, but it was a one-off,” he conceded before attacking me again in the game, causing me to yell out a string of expletives as I tried to save my character.
“If you don’t count that fight in the dorm,” I corrected.
He shook his head, smirking. “So...”
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