After a while, the rain slows down, and she looks up at me through wet lashes, so I run my thumb over her cheek. “We should go before Stiles catches us driving his precious baby without permission and starts yelling at us through his megaphone like that one time.”
She smiles against my lips, before kissing me and climbing around to the back to wrap her arms around me. “He was just having a bad day, because he got dumped by that crazy chick he was dating. What was her name again?”
“Freya Prescott. She dumped him for some dude that lived in his parents’ basement and spent his days playing videogames.”
“Wait. That’s the old Stiles you’re describing,” she says, confused.
“Exactly. Which is why he got dumped for another dude that played videogames in his parents’ basement all day. The other guy was slightly better looking, so he had the advantage.”
She throws her head back and laughs, and I can’t help the huge smile that takes over my face. It reminds me of the days before everything became so complicated. Before Quinn and I became a couple and before I wanted to kill Justin for having Dakota when I couldn’t.
When we make it back to her car, she reaches into the trunk and pulls out a couple of blankets to cover her front seats with. “You can drive.” She jumps into the passenger seat and smiles over at me when I climb into the driver’s side and shut the door behind me. “Now you have to let me drive your truck for real this time. Deal?”
I hesitate for a few moments before glancing over at her. “As long as you let me decide where we go next without you worrying about someone seeing us. We can still be friends to everyone else, Kota, which means they can’t say shit about us hanging out together.”
“Fine.” She smiles big, as if she’s just won the lottery. I love that she’s having so much fun she doesn’t seem to be worrying. “But don’t try to get out of it later.”
“I won’t.” I look over at her. “But you have to wait until it’s clean. This week feels like a damn good week to get the job done too.”
“Fine. After work sometime this week and then I get to drive it. You promise?”
“If that’s what you want.” I grab her hand and pull it into my lap. “Then yes. You can drive it.”
As expected, when we pull up at Myers’ Speedway there are no cars in sight. It’s just the two of us as I had hoped. Dakota smiles and gets out of the car, running to the gate. I take off walking after her, laughing as I watch her sit down in the same exact spot she always has since we were kids.
She pats the spot beside her. “Are you going to sit or stand there and look at me like a weirdo?”
“I always want to look at you, Kota. You have no idea how many times I’ve stood in this exact spot, watching you look up at the sky when we were kids. You’d always get lost in thought and I’d get lost in you.”
She reaches her hand out and grabs mine when I get within reach. “I wasn’t always staring at the sky,” she admits. “I stole glances your way whenever I knew you weren’t looking. I always wondered what you were thinking but was too afraid to ask. I hated that I was afraid.”
I sit down and pull her into my lap, looking up at her. “I wish you would’ve asked.” I place my hand on the back of her neck and move in close to her lips. “I would’ve said you every single time. It was pathetic sometimes how much I thought about you. Being around you and not showing you how much I wanted you was the hardest thing I had to do on most days.”
“Really?” she whispers.
I nod. “It’s the truth.”
“And Quinn?” Her voice breaks.
Guilt hits me right in the gut. “I thought about you even more when I was with Quinn, because I knew then that I would never have you as mine.” I bury my face into her neck and close my eyes. “I’ve been a mess over you since the first day I laid my eyes on you, when you were looking up at me with those big gray eyes. I knew in that moment that you’d be important to me. I wasn’t prepared for just how important.”
She kisses the top of my head, her breath blowing my hair around when she says, “I love how peaceful it is out here just looking at the track. You have no idea how many times I came here to think about you.”
I look up and grab her face, smiling at her. “Oh yeah? Is that what you were doing all those times I caught you here?”
“Embarrassingly so, yes.”
“Did it help you picture me naked better, or what?” I tease.
She pinches my nipple and I reach up to grab it with a laugh. “It’s cool. You can admit it. I promise I won’t laugh.”
“You’re a moron!” She goes to pinch me again, but I grab her wrist and pull her in for a kiss before she can.
She wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me back, us both getting lost in the moment, until the rain comes again.
“Still cold!” she shrieks, jumping from my lap. “Let’s go back to my car where it’s dry!”
She takes off running for the car, and I take off walking, enjoying the sight of her running through the rain, only stopping to smile back at me and yell every once in a while. “Can you walk any slower?”
I wrap my arm around her and lift her up, my lips meeting hers as I carry her the last few feet to the car and set her down. “Want me to drive?”
Instead of answering, she hops into the passenger side and shuts the door behind her. Smiling, I open the door she just closed and lean in, kissing her. My hands cup her face as I climb halfway into the car, not ready to stop. I could kiss her all day if given the chance.
After a while, she finally smiles against my lips and pushes me back out into the rain. “We should go. It’s about that time.”
“I don’t care.” I press my lips against hers again, moaning against them when she kisses me back.
“Okay, for real this time,” she mumbles against my lips. “Get in and drive us to my house before I hurt you.”
I smile and back away. “Watch your arm.” I shut the door and jog through the rain to the other side of the car.
The car ride back to Dakota’s is spent in silence, the sound of the rain hitting the windshield, keeping us company as I hold her hand in my lap. Going back to Dakota’s house right now is going back to reality, and I’m not ready for this day with her to end. It doesn’t look like she is either.
“Oh crap,” Dakota whispers when Hope’s old truck pulls in behind us. “I forgot about movie day. I guess it’s time to test that whole friend thing out. Think you can handle it?”
She gets out and jogs through the rain, meeting Hope on the porch. I fight back a smile and do the same. I guess we’ll see.
Hope smiles when she notices me. “Hey, Easton. I didn’t know you were in the car.” She looks between us, checking out our muddy appearances. “Why do you both look like you bathed in mud and then showered in the rain? I totally missed that party.”
“It sounded fun.” Dakota says casually, unlocking the door and pushing it open. “It’s been years since we’ve taken Stiles’ ATV out in the rain.”
“You guys always did love that thing.” Hope laughs and follows Dakota inside. “I’ve never seen anyone who loves getting dirty as much as the two of you.”
“You have no idea,” I say from the doorway. “I’ll be back. Gotta look for some clean clothes.” I jog to my truck and search through the duffle bag I find in the back, returning to the house minutes later with fresh clothes. I shut the door behind me and look down at Hope on the couch as she searches through movies.
“She’s in the shower. There’s one downstairs in the laundry room that you can use. It’s not much of a shower but it’ll get the job done.” She laughs and grabs the towel beside her, tossing it to me. “There should be soap down there already from when Roman used it. Not that I’ve used it before or anything. That’s not how I know it’s there… just, I know.”
I smile. “Gotcha.”
I head downstairs into the unfinished basement and walk into the laundry room to see a shower head and drain. I la
y my stuff down, my thoughts stuck on Dakota upstairs, naked. Hope picked a bad time to show up for movie day. A really bad time.
Stripping down, I turn on the water and step into the make-shift shower. I’m hard. Really fucking hard, because all I can think about is joining Dakota in the shower upstairs and running my hands all over every inch of her beautiful body.
“Shit.” Closing my eyes, I stroke my dick slow and steady. It’s not the first time I’ve touched myself to thoughts of Dakota. Far from it. Except now, I have every curve of her perfect body committed to memory, so within minutes, I’m releasing my cum down the drain with a growl.
Dakota
I got so wrapped up in spending the day with Easton and just letting loose and having fun with him, that it slipped my mind about movie day. Everything’s been so tense since Easton got back to town. It made today feel good, just being with him and not worrying for once.
But Easton is right. We’ve been friends for most of our lives. If anyone has a problem with us hanging out, then they don’t know us at all. I’ve been so stuck on my brother questioning me the first night Easton arrived that it’s been in my head to stay away from him.
If anything, that looks more suspicious than us spending time together, because anyone who grew up with us knows we were together practically every day.
After quickly changing into a tank top and shorts, I throw my hair up and make my way down the hall to see Hope kicked back on the couch, searching through the free movie list.
“Anything good?” I take a seat beside her and look around. “Where’s Easton?”
“He’s downstairs.” She stops on a movie, her eyes growing big. “Sweet. It’s finally free. Think Easton would watch this?”
I nod. “If he hasn’t already seen it, yeah. He’s a Tom Hardy fan.”
“Okay cool.” She sets the remote down and grins. “Who isn’t?”
A few seconds later, I look toward the kitchen entrance to find Easton leaning against the doorframe with a smile, his eyes trained on us. He’s dressed in a plain black T-shirt that stretches across his firm chest, giving us a perfect vision of what’s beneath. Slowly, my gaze lowers to his snug jeans that are so faded they’re almost white, before they land on his Chucks. In my head, I curse him for looking so incredibly sexy right now.
That just so happens to be what the jerk found somewhere in his truck? Figures.
“You ladies want me to pop some popcorn?” he says casually, his eyes on me as his smile turns into a smirk, clearly aware that I’m checking him out.
“That would be awesome.” Hope kicks back, using my lap for a pillow. “In a bowl, please. Gotta have easy access so I can keep my eyes on my man.”
Easton laughs and pushes away from the door to make popcorn.
Hope looks up at me from my lap once he’s out of view. “Is it just me or does Easton look extra cute right now? It doesn’t even look like he dried his hair off. Doesn’t he know how attractive us girls find that on men?”
“Nope. He looks like plain old Easton to me.” I’m a bad liar and I know it. “Have you talked to my brother today?”
She sighs and pretends to faint. “I stopped by the pub after work and he was wearing a plain black, long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves pushed up above his elbows. I’m pretty sure he caught me staring at his perfect chest a few times when I should’ve been listening to what he was saying. I still have no clue what that was.”
“Maybe he needs to catch you staring.”
“I don’t know, Dakota. I doubt that’ll be enough to change his mind about you guys dating each other’s friends… I mean not that you and Quinn didn’t break that little rule and all, but Roman stands strong to it. That’s why he turned Mae down all those years ago, remember?”
“Things change, Hope. We’re adults now, and capable of handling our feelings. If you and my brother ever dated and broke up, we’re mature enough to still be friends. Surely he knows that.”
She huffs and looks away when Easton enters the living room, holding two bowls of popcorn. “Oh sweet. You made two bowls.”
He hands one to Hope before kicking back on the loveseat and running a hand through his wet hair. “Is this the movie we’re watching?”
Hope nods. “As long as you haven’t seen it. Please say you haven’t seen it, or I might have to hurt you.” She sits up and gives him a side-eye.
“You’re good.” He laughs and digs into his bowl. “I haven’t seen it yet. Even if I had, I’d watch it with you ladies again. You’re the bosses.”
“I knew there was a reason I always liked you so much.”
Yeah, well there’s about a million reasons I always have.
Hope hits play and Easton looks over at me and winks, his cuteness making me want to slap him and kiss him at the same time. He’s too adorable for his own good and he knows it. Always has been.
We’re well into the movie when I glance over at Easton for the hundredth time to find him looking at me. Stop it, I mouth, before tossing popcorn at his head that he somehow manages to catch with his mouth.
Not a fucking chance, he mouths back, before licking the butter from his lips, knowing damn well just how sexy he is doing it.
“I’ll be back.” Hope is so lost in the movie that she barely notices when I drop her head onto the couch so I can stand up. “Anyone need anything from the kitchen?”
“No. Now shush it and get out of here. You’re a distraction.” Hope whisper-yells, waving for me to hurry and walk. “Move!”
I roll my eyes and hurry past the TV to get to the kitchen, where I open the fridge and stick my head inside to cool off. If Easton keeps giving me looks from the loveseat, I’m going to overheat.
I jump, when seconds later, Easton’s arms wrap around me from behind, his body pressing against my backside. “What’s the matter?” he whispers in my ear. “Can’t handle being in the same room as me?”
“Screw you, Easton.” I spin around in his arms and place my hands against his chest, putting some space in between us. “Stop giving me looks from across the room.”
“Why?” he whispers across my lips. “Because you know you want me to pull you onto the couch with me just as badly as I want to?”
I swallow when his hand trails down my throat. “Just stop looking at me before I have to kick you out. I’m trying to watch the movie.”
He laughs against my lips. “I’d just come back when it’s time to go to sleep and you know it. And you’ll let me in just like you have the last three nights.”
“You think so?” I challenge him. “Keep it up and you’ll find out.”
His hand reaches around to grip the back of my neck at the same time his lips capture mine. Despite Hope being in the next room, I kiss him back, my heart racing from the anticipation of being caught. It’s terrifying, yet I can’t push him away.
Breaking the kiss, Easton reaches around me and grabs two beers from the fridge, handing me one of them. “Your brother is on the way. You might need a few of these.”
He walks away and I shut the fridge and twist the cap off, needing a drink. I just hope my brother is too distracted by Hope to pay attention to me, because so far, I’m blowing it tonight. If it weren’t for Hope’s crush being on TV, we would’ve already been caught staring at each other.
“Sit up.” I motion for Hope to sit up once I return to the living room.
“Why?” she complains, looking up at me. “I’m comfortable. Now move out of the way, woman.”
“My brother just pulled into the driveway, that’s why. Do you want him sitting on the loveseat with Easton?”
Her eyes widen and she jumps into a sitting position to look out the window. “Holy shit. You’re not lying.” She turns to me. “Nope. I’m good sitting up.”
“I thought so.” I laugh and sit as close to the end of the couch as possible, leaving room for Roman to sit in between us.
My brother walks in moments later, followed by Stiles, who immediately squeezes his way in betw
een myself and Hope, so Roman plops down beside Easton.
Hope leans back in disappointment and mumbles something under her breath to Stiles that he just shrugs off by throwing his arm around her.
“How long before this movie ends?” My brother grabs Easton’s bowl of popcorn from beside him. “I told Talon to meet us here.”
“He’s the last to arrive,” Stiles says, grabbing Hope’s bowl of popcorn and digging in. “He’s the pizza bitch. Text him and tell him he better not come empty handed.”
“Seriously?” I roll my eyes and snatch the popcorn from Stiles. “Is this a party now?”
“Yeah, why not? The more the merrier,” my brother says with a playful smile. “Now, hit play, babe.” He winks at Hope and she smiles, hitting play. She doesn’t seem so concerned with her man now that Roman is here. I doubt she’ll even be able to concentrate now.
“What the hell movie is this?” Stiles tosses popcorn in the air, missing most of it with his mouth, before doing it again and missing every piece completely. Hope and I nudge him at the same time. “Can you do that again, ladies? I like being double-teamed.”
“You’re cleaning up your mess before you leave here tonight,” I point out, trying my best not to laugh. “I mean it. Every single piece.”
Stiles shrugs and digs back into the bowl. “Whatever. Cool with me.”
Talon’s bike pulls into the driveway just seconds after the movie ends and he walks in emptyhanded, which leads to popcorn flying his way.
“Where’s the damn pizza?” Stiles gets all serious, standing up to look outside as if he’s going to have boxes piled on top of his damn bike. “Dude!”
“Calm down. Shit.” Talon sets his helmet down and runs a hand through his long hair. “I can’t carry pizza on my bike. It’s being delivered.”
Stiles sits down, relieved. “Did you get bacon on one?”
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