by Hughes, Maya
Nix was gracious and snapped pictures, signing a few things people thrust in his face, but his eyes locked with mine over the heads of the crowd. With a slight tilt of his head toward the car, he extricated himself from the people who acted like they hadn’t seen him a hundred times walking across campus—not that I’d paid attention to that or anything.
* * *
“What’s with the lights over at your place?” I stepped around the front of his car. There had been a few cases of laptops being stolen from unlocked townhouses a few months ago.
Nix glanced at his house. Flashlight beams arced across the front windows and shone out of the one at the top of the stairwell.
“Is someone breaking in?” My hand tightened on his arm.
His muscles flexed under my hold. “I’m not sure. Let’s go check it out.” His eyebrows were furrowed, but he looked more like a Scooby-Doo character going to investigate, not someone worried their house was being broken into.
“What do you mean go check it out? Are you going to be that guy in a horror movie?” I dug my heels in as he tugged me closer to the house.
“I’m sure it’s nothing. The circuit breaker is probably out. Let’s make sure the guys are okay.”
“Dude, we need to call the cops.”
He dropped his chin over his shoulder and stared at me.
My cheeks heated and I cringed. “Campus cops, not the city.”
“We’ll be fine.” He climbed the steps and kept his arm wrapped around my waist, holding me beside him. I tried not to feel like I was about to be sacrificed to the burglars. Perhaps he’d throw me at them to knock them off balance. Maybe this had been his plan all along: lull me into a false sense of security and then chuck me at a robber the first chance he got.
The front door was cracked open, and my heart pounded in my throat.
Nix put his hand on the wood, and his arm tightened around me. I tried not to think about how good he smelled even after working in a kitchen all night, how his arm wrapped around my waist was like a solid wall, protecting me from everything else around me, and definitely not how much of my racing heart had nothing to do with the possible breaking and entering we were about to walk in on.
14
Nix
A soft and chunky pop sliced through the eerie silence in the house. I hauled Elle against me and out of the way of direct fire. A Nerf dart hung in her hair. The hint of her strawberry shampoo lingered under the layered scent of the food we’d been making earlier. My stomach tightened, and it wasn’t from hunger. Down boy. I was supposed to be playing it cool, not that she hadn’t been running through my mind a hell of a lot for someone who’d only very recently professed not to hate me.
There was a lot going on in my life right now, complicated shit, but damn did I not care one bit when I was with her. Whether she got my blood pumping with some verbal sparring or her laugh that was halfway between a strained cough and a full-out wheeze, everything that came after didn’t seem half as scary.
Her gaze shot to the blue and orange dart dangling from her strands.
“What the hell is going on?” she whispered, her eyes glancing over my shoulder.
“We’ve walked in on a battle the likes of which you’ve never seen.” I kept my voice low and serious and struggled to keep my lips tight and even.
Berk jumped down beside me from the top of the stairs. A blue bandanna was wrapped around his head, and there was smudged black paint under his eyes.
Elle jumped and her hands tightened on my chest. I shouldn’t have been loving this closeness as much as I was. Her eyes widened with confusion and an edge of panic. Did I take advantage of this to hold on to her a bit tighter? Damn right I did.
“Where the hell have you been? We started without you. I’ll cover you so you can get up to your room.” Berk peered over his shoulder with his dart gun at the ready. “You brought reinforcements too—good man.” He clapped me on the shoulder before his serious face slid back into place. “We’re up against three. Freaking jerks said because we won the last few rounds on our own, they deserved the extra person. Now it’s time to kick their asses.”
I coughed to keep my laugh under wraps. Turning to Elle, I stared into her eyes. “When I say go, go.” I grabbed her shoulders and stared into her wide, questioning gaze. “Run on three, two, one—go!” Wrapping my arm around her waist, I pulled her up the stairs. Someone shouted and darts flew past us. Diving to the top of the steps, I held her against me. We ducked into my room and I kicked the door shut behind us.
She pushed herself up off the floor and brushed her hair out of her face. Her chest rose and her cheeks were flushed. “What is happening here?”
I grinned. “You may or may not have stumbled into our monthly—well, semimonthly…actually, more like whenever-the-hell-we-want Nerf war.”
“Stumbled into or was dragged into? You scared the crap out of me. I thought we were about to get shot.” She shoved her hands against my chest, but the curve of her lips didn’t lie.
Dragging the basket out of my closet, I chucked the clothes covering it over my shoulder and uncovered my arsenal. “Are you in?” I crouched down and peered at her.
She scrunched her lips up to the side and crossed her arms over her chest. “If I am, which one of those is mine?” Her knee brushed against my side. We’d been so close the entire night, the small touches and gentle brushes driving me out of my head. She didn’t put that distance between us. Even now, the rough grain of her jeans rubbed against my body through my t-shirt.
I peered up at her. “You get your pick.” Scooting the basket closer to her, I licked my lips.
She crouched beside me and her arm brushed against mine. We’d been working side by side all night, and every time she touched me, it felt like the first time. The deep tug in my gut only got more insistent with every instance of contact.
She reached into my stash and pulled one out. “How about this one?” She turned her head, her lips inches from mine.
Her eyes swam with something new that flickered under her lids, a look like the one she’d given me when we’d left the soup kitchen. It wasn’t filled with annoyance or even that resigned-to-my-presence expression she sometimes wore. This was something more, and she wasn’t hiding it anymore.
“Elle—”
My door banged open and she jerked back, landing flat on her ass but whipping the gun around to point straight at the door.
Damn, I think I’m in love.
I shook my head, blindsided by whatever the hell that was.
Berk held his hands up in the air. “Don’t shoot! I’m on your team.” He closed the door halfway and peeked out the crack. “We’re getting decimated out there. Seph’s going all tactical on us. Move it, people.”
I loaded up my dart belt, gave Elle one, and even spread some of the paint we used under our eyes on the field under hers. She locked and loaded and glanced at herself in the mirror. Grabbing three extra dart clips off my belt, she shoved them into the pockets of her sweatshirt. A pop shot out from the gun as she checked to make sure the darts were ready to go.
“How many are we up against?” She leaned against the wall beside the door with her hand on the knob.
Berk stared at her slack-jawed, and the dart he’d been holding in his mouth hit the wood floor with a muted thud.
“Three.” Did I have that dreamy sound in my voice? The way she handled that Nerf gun…why didn’t she just kill me now? My dick strained against the seam of my jeans. I’d have a permanent imprint by the end of the night at the rate things were going.
She scoffed. “That’s nothing.” Lifting her finger, she closed Berk’s mouth. “Let’s do this.”
“You look awesome,” I blurted out like a kid announcing they had to pee. Smooth. Real freaking smooth.
She glanced over her shoulder and smiled wide. “You don’t look so bad yourself.”
“How do we know you’ve got the skills?” Berk tapped his gun against his chin.
; “Three years running in the tutoring paintball championship at the end of every year.” Then she pointed her gun at him and squeezed the trigger, hitting him straight between the eyes. “What do you think?”
Berk rubbed the spot and nodded.
“Now let’s win this thing.” Her competitive edge seemed to extend beyond being a do-gooder.
Turning off the switch beside her, she crouched down and turned the door knob. She darted out, doing a full-on danger roll like she was in Mission Impossible.
I rushed after her. Berk grabbed my shirt while staring after Elle as she slid against the hallway wall. “Dude…”
“Don’t even think about it. You’ll never be able to recover the dart I shove so far up your ass if you even think about it.”
“Nix’s got a girlfriend. Nix’s got a girlfriend,” he whisper-sang while dancing on his knees.
A flash of pink reappeared in the doorway. “Are you ladies in here drinking lemonade? Let’s do this.”
“I’m ready to do it all right,” Berk mumbled.
I slammed the heel of my hand into his chest and he toppled over, coughing.
“I’m on your team, dick.” He rubbed the heel of his hand into the spot.
Following Elle out, we crept down the hall. There was a volley of darts as we hit the stairs. They’d gotten better since the last time we’d played. I’d have to find a way to recruit Seph, Reece’s girlfriend, to our side.
Keyton shot to the bottom of the steps on his back and fired up at us. We returned fire, but he’d sacrificed himself and took out Berk…who then proceeded to put on his Oscar-winning performance of dying. He slow-motion fell down the stairs, hitting every step while holding on to the railing, howling and groaning the whole way.
At the bottom of the stairs, he grabbed Keyton’s hand. “I’m so cold. Hold me, Key.”
Keyton’s shoulders shook and he wrapped his arms around himself like he might fly apart with his case of the giggles. He gasped for breath and held his side. “It hurts.” Each word was on a half-laugh, half-choke.
Berk finally lay completely still, letting his mock death sink in with the required gravitas. Then his eyes shot open, staring right at Keyton. “You’re laughing? I didn’t think you knew how. Totally worth it. You want a drink?”
Keyton nodded, wiped the tears off his face, and held out his hand. Berk stood and clasped hands with him, tugging him up.
“Hurry up and finish this so we can drink! We’ll be in the backyard so we don’t get hit in the crossfire,” Berk called out, ducking into the kitchen and turning the lights off. The house was once again bathed in darkness.
“Let’s do this.” Elle looked to me like we were about to go out Bonnie and Clyde style.
I slid down the steps on my back, shooting darts through the banister dowels. Reece and Seph retreated as Elle covered me and we both made it to the bottom of the steps.
Holding out my hand to wave Elle forward, I sucked in a sharp breath and my heart thundered in my veins.
She slipped her hand into mine. I stopped so quickly, she banged into my back.
“Why’d you stop? I can’t see a thing!” she whisper-shouted.
“What can’t she see?” Seph called out. “Are you two making out?”
“No,” Elle shouted.
“We’re retreating to starting positions. You have ninety seconds,” Seph shouted, her voice getting more distant with each step.
Thirty sweaty minutes later, Elle leaned into me, her shoulder brushing against my chest. “I’m down to my last few darts. How’s your ammo?”
My gaze was trained on her lips, shining in the barely there light from the basement window.
She nudged me.
“Right, I’m almost out too.”
“Next time, I’m wearing pants with pockets. You can never have enough ammo.”
Next time…so she planned on doing this again. It shouldn’t have made me half as happy as it did to hear her say that.
There might have been a bit more hands-on assistance throughout our game, a few stolen opportunities to shield Elle under my body when I thought I heard someone coming. She hadn’t tried to knee me in the balls once, which I took as a good sign.
She might have also leaned into me a bit more than needed at least once. My fingers skated across the gap between her shirt and her jeans, and she didn’t pull away.
Reece and Seph had us pinned down behind the pool table in the basement. They had the high ground in the reject stadium seating LJ had created down there with some old recliners he’d scored from sidewalk abandonment and some wooden pallets.
“I don’t think we’re making it out of this.” Elle rested her back against the table, her breath coming out choppy after our dive-and-cover for our current safe haven. Another volley of darts showered us. Reece and Seph must have grabbed the extra ammo from Berk and Keyton.
Throwing myself in the way, I covered Elle. Her back slid off the polished wooden pool table and she toppled over. I wrapped my arms around her to cushion her fall and braced myself. Our weapons clattered to the floor and there was nothing but the adrenaline rush and the thundering of my heart.
She stared up at me in the dim light coming from the half-sized basement windows. The pale green glittered with a new emotion I hadn’t seen in her eyes before.
The heat and softness of her body beneath me should’ve been why I got the hell up before I embarrassed the crap out of myself, but I couldn’t move. Her chest rose and fell between us, pushing her breasts up against my chest. I wanted to touch them, wanted to wrap my fingers around them and toy with her nipples until she told me exactly how she liked to be touched. I had no doubt she wouldn’t hold back.
She lifted her hand…a moment of hesitation…and then she slipped it to the back of my head. My hair slid through her fingers. The electric sparks of desire shot straight down my back, pulsing where our hips connected.
I bridged the gap between us, capturing her lips with mine. She tasted like vanilla with sprinkles on top. A shocked gasp shot from her lips and then she parted them, her tongue running along my bottom lip and sending a shiver down my spine.
This changed everything.
15
Elle
Nix unleashed his sexual artillery on me, starting with the light fire: a kiss that made me forget my name and want to beg for more. My fingers fisted his shirt against his back. His hips pinned mine to the ground, and I was half pissed they did and half relieved because if they hadn’t, I’d have wrapped my legs around his body and ground myself against him.
What the hell was wrong with me? Why did he taste so good, like strawberries and chocolate? I ran my fingers through his silky strands. He nipped my bottom lip and we broke apart, panting like we’d just run a 5K.
I stared into his eyes, my chest rising and falling and trying to figure out how the hell that switch had been flipped. We’d been playing a game, finally having some fun, and here I was trying to ride him like a prized horse in the Kentucky Derby.
The pool table shook and our heads snapped up at the chunky plastic reload just above our heads. Reece leaned over with his barrel pointed right at us.
“We surrender.” I slid my hands from Nix’s chest and put them over my head.
Seph peered over the edge with her chin propped up on her hands. “What are you two doing down there?”
Were my cheeks on fire? Was steam coming out of my ears? Nix lifted off me and held out his hand to help me up.
I hesitated, not sure touching him wouldn’t lead me straight to trying to climb him like a lumberjack.
“Thanks for the extra cardio, guys, but I should probably get going.” Before anyone could say another word, I ducked my head and rushed out of there to escape the embarrassment, sprinting up the stairs.
“You guys finished yet? The food’s ready,” Berk called out from the door leading to the backyard.
I didn’t even stop. I just kept going until I was back outside. The warm spring air didn�
�t do much to cool me off or make it easier to breathe. The heavy press of Nix’s body on top of mine had stirred things in me I’d never wanted to feel for someone like him.
Darting between the cars parked on the street, I headed over to my side of the road where it was safe and Nix-free.
Sleep—that was what I needed. I needed a good night’s rest. I had a few days off. Although there was a mountain of coursework I’d been putting off and needed to finish, maybe I’d just sleep in and convince Jules to bake me treats so I didn’t have to leave the house, because leaving the house would mean possibly running into Nix.
My foot caught on the busted freaking plank on our porch. I swore I’d strangle our landlord if he ever deigned to show up to our house. I didn’t brace myself against the front door like I usually did, though. I barely stumbled at all because I wasn’t walking up there alone.
Strong arms wrapped around my waist. Nix’s warm, rough fingers skimmed across my skin, taking expert advantage of the gap that appeared between my jeans and my top, tugging me against him. Was I still kiss drunk? How had I missed him following after me?
“You okay?” He steadied me on my feet but kept his fingers against my hip.
I braced my hands against his chest. My heart rate spiked again and I kept my gaze trained on his chest, not that that was any better. The way the fabric molded to his body only made me want to peel it off—with my teeth. What the hell? This is what happens. I’d been warned. This is what happens when you enter a state of sex deprivation. It starts to make you go a little crazy.
Our kiss from earlier was running through my head like an 80s movie marathon. My grip tightened on his shirt, the soft cotton bunching under my fingers. Unable to stop myself, I lifted my head.
He stared into my eyes. In the dim light from inside my house, I saw the swirl of emotions in his eyes.