by Maya Nicole
He leaned forward with his forearms on his knees and looked over at me. "Why is it hard to believe I'd find you attractive? There might be a thousand girls within swiping distance, but that doesn't mean that's what I'm in the mood for." I scrunched my nose, and he flinched before laughing and standing. "That came out wrong."
"I'm not interested in being someone's mood for the evening." I stood and started to walk away.
He jogged to catch up and blocked my path. "Just come watch a movie with me. What else are you going to do?"
"Read." After I binge watched the most recent season of Riverdale with a bottle of Sprite and a shareable-size bag of Skittles.
"Come on, you can't be serious. One movie and then you'll still have time to read before bed." He smiled and shoved his hands in his pockets. "I promise, no funny business."
I looked around as if someone was going to jump out and save me from the awkwardness I felt. "Fine." I rolled my eyes when he did a fist pump in the air.
I couldn't believe I'd given in and gone back to his dorm room with him to watch a movie. I knew deep down inside that this was probably a ploy to try to get in my pants, but he had been too charismatic.
"Can you see okay?" He had put his laptop on a chair next to the bed.
I nodded and sat back against the pillow I’d placed against the wall. My stomach was filled with butterflies as he sat next to me after pressing play. His arm brushed against mine and he looked over at me and smiled.
About twenty minutes into the action movie, he put his hand on my thigh. I kept my eyes locked on his computer screen and willed myself to stay calm. I didn't hate the way his warm hand felt against my bare skin.
What would it be like to kiss him? His thumb moved across my skin in a sweeping motion. My body tingled at his touch and trying to focus on the movie was no longer an option.
I braved a glance over at him and met his stare. His eyes darkened and they moved down to my lips. Holy shit, was he going to kiss me?
I licked my lips in anticipation. I'd only kissed a boy once and it was in sixth grade, during science camp. I inwardly cursed that I was about to kiss a seasoned pro when I had only kissed a prepubescent boy and my hand.
Before I could even process that it was actually happening, he leaned in and his lips brushed mine. I turned my body toward him, causing his hand to move to my inner thigh, right at the hem of my shorts.
If my body was on fire from just a simple kiss and touch, I didn't even want to imagine what taking it further would feel like, but my mind went there anyway.
His lips moved against mine gently, and I tentatively moved mine. I was trembling and hoped I wasn't a bad kisser.
He brought his other hand to my hair and gripped the back of my head, pulling me closer and deepening the kiss. I whimpered as his tongue slid between my lips and found my tongue.
Now I understood why people made out all the time. It was causing my body to burn with desire and a tingling sensation to build in my core. I was no stranger to feeling horny, but this was different. I could almost feel what it would be like to have his hands glide across where only mine had been.
I couldn't let it get that far though. I knew him, but it wasn’t like we'd even said two words to each other before today.
The hand on my thigh moved to the button on my shorts and I pushed his chest to break the kiss. "What are you doing?"
His hand stilled on the button, and his other hand moved out of my hair to caress my cheek. "I want to make you feel good."
My breaths were quick and unsteady as he licked his lips and looked down to where his hand lay against the button. One of his knuckles brushed the skin right above it, and it almost made me give in to my desires. Would it be so bad if I let him?
I scooted off the bed and stood in the center of the room. "I should go." I adjusted my top and shorts as I put on my sandals.
"Did I do something wrong?" He closed his laptop screen and stretched his arms over his head as he stood. My eyes were instantly drawn to his shirt riding up to show his toned lower abdomen with the delicious V that led into his shorts.
"No." I wasn't about to tell him he was my first meaningful kiss and I really did want to let him unbutton my shorts and do magical things with his fingers. "We have an early start tomorrow and I'm tired."
He grabbed his phone and typed something before sliding it into his back pocket. "I'll walk you back to your dorm building then." He grabbed his keys and followed me out of his room and into the cool night.
I wrapped my arms around myself as we walked down the path to the dorm building that was for girls only. He followed me inside, and I stopped to face him.
"I don't think you're supposed to be in here." I looked around, but the building was quiet besides the faint sounds of televisions coming through the thin doors.
"It'll be fine. The adults are probably off drinking." He brushed past me and went up the stairs.
We got to my room and I unlocked the door. "Well, thanks."
I knew as soon as I opened the door a crack that something was wrong inside. The smell that hit me made my stomach curdle, and I put my hand over my mouth as I flicked on the light.
"What the hell?" Jax put his hands on my arms as I backed up into him. "Who would do something like this?"
He moved me to the side and walked into the room. I gagged and brought the hem of my shirt up to cover my mouth and nose.
There were dead fish covered in oil everywhere. They were covering the bed and in my suitcase, which had been shut. I choked on a sob and Jax grabbed a folded white piece of paper from the desk.
"Ms. Kline, you've been canceled." His mouth was set in a tight line and he threw the note onto the bed. "Sounds like a threat. Why would someone do this?"
Tears filled my eyes and I backed all the way into the hall and against the opposite door. "I don't know." My voice was muffled from the shirt and my tears.
He stalked toward me and stopped abruptly, his eyes falling to my left side. I quickly let go of my shirt and pulled it down to cover the faint silvery flesh of my burn scar. It wasn't bad, but it was noticeable.
"What happened?"
"Burned it on a buoy." It sounded ridiculous, but I didn't need to relive the trauma from that day by explaining further. The burn hadn't been as bad as it could have been.
He looked slightly taken aback, and then he stepped forward and took my face in his hands. I tried to ignore the fact that they had oil on them from him picking up the note. "Why would someone threaten you? You have to have some idea. Dead fish and oil? That's specific."
The tears were falling freely now, and he swiped them with his oily thumbs. "My father, but I-"
"You need to call and tell him. The fish and the note are definitely a threat. He should come pick you up." His posture was stiff and he sounded angry. If anyone should have been angry about the fish, it should be me.
Instead, I was numb.
"What's going on here?" A female teacher rounded the corner of the hall and glanced into my room. "What in the world?"
Jax stepped away from me, his beautiful features marred with a sneer. He was looking at me as if he were disgusted with me, but it was probably from the smell emanating from the dorm room.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Someone broke in."
"Jesus. Let's call your advisor and get you to a new room." She wrapped an arm around my shoulders and looked at Jax. "And you need to leave."
Jax walked ahead of us to the stairs and glanced at me over his shoulder. His eyes flashed with an emotion I couldn't pinpoint, and then he was down the stairs without a word.
Chapter Two
"This year is going to be the best year ever!" My best friend, Ivy, slid into the passenger seat of my car, her long red hair nearly smacking me in the face as she whipped her head around to grab the seatbelt. "My goal this year is to be more organized, so let's hit up school supplies first before we go to the mall."
I laughed and pulled away from the curb.
Ivy and I had been friends since elementary school, when we discovered our shared love for the Jonas Brothers. We both decided early on to stay out of drama at school, especially when everyone was team Nick or team Joe and we were the only ones that were team Kevin.
It had been three weeks since the fish incident and school would start the following week. I was normally excited for school, but my stomach had been in knots wondering what would be in store for me. I was foolish to think that no one would connect me to my father. My last name was, unfortunately, Kline and he was from Salinity Cove himself.
Jax hadn't responded to the texts I sent him asking him if he wanted to hang out. I guess the fish had been a wake-up call that I was not the girl for him. Or he had just been lonely and I'd been convenient.
"Are you doing okay?" Ivy turned down the volume of the music and watched me as I drove onto the highway. "You have circles under your eyes."
"I haven't been sleeping well." I glanced over at her to see concern written on her face. "What if-"
"Don't start that again. It was probably some idiot who thought he was being funny. Nothing else has happened, has it?" She put her hand on my forearm and gave it a gentle squeeze.
The police had been called but wrote the incident off as a stupid high school prank by bored teenagers. I wanted to believe that was the case, but deep down I knew it was because of my father.
I shook my head and focused on the road. I didn't want to talk about my father or the ongoing aftermath of his oil company. It was all over the news on a daily basis. I had nothing to do with his oil business, yet I was starting to feel guilt over it.
I never advertised who my father was, but somehow, people in Salinity Cove still knew. He was born and raised here before moving away to attend business school and eventually became the largest offshore oil tycoon in the world after taking over his family's oil company.
The fish had been a reminder that I was a Kline despite him leaving my mom before I could crawl. My mom did get money from him, but that was as far as our relationship went.
"Jax hasn't texted me back. I've decided that it was a fluke and he must have been high." I twisted my lips to the side. "Maybe it's the wrong number."
He had texted himself from my phone, but the possibility was still there. That made me feel a little better, but not by much. He had left camp the next morning. Mr. Garcia said something about him being double booked.
"Forget about him. You don't want a guy like him, Ri. He'll use you then leave you crying just like every other girl." She sighed. "I wish they all weren't so pretty to look at though."
I pulled off the highway and parked. This shopping trip was just what I needed. I lived for school supplies and would rather spend more on amazing pens and sticky notes than clothes.
We headed down each aisle, taking our time deciding what binders and other essentials we needed. I loved being organized for school, and I couldn't keep the smile off my face.
"Excuse me." I was squatting down when the thick, velvety voice interrupted my contemplation between a white binder and a blue one.
I stood and nearly bumped heads with Blake Huron. I stepped back and winced. Of all people to bump into on an outing that was supposed to be distracting me, a Triton was the last person I wanted to bump into.
Blake was the quietest of the three. He smiled down at me and I was nearly knocked back from how bright and welcoming it was. He might have been the quietest, but in a way he was the loudest.
He rubbed his jaw and laughed softly. "Riley Kline." I didn't know why he was telling me my name, I knew who I was.
With as rich as his family was, I was surprised he wasn't ordering diamond encrusted binders.
"Hi." I lifted my hand in a wave and immediately wanted to crawl into a hole and have staples shot at me. Hi? I couldn't do any better than hi?
Blake was just as skilled at swimming as Jax and was the envy of most males at Salinity Cove High. Swimming ranked above even football, which was saying a lot considering we had a championship winning team.
His eyes gave me a once over before he bent down and pulled a blue binder off the shelf. "Well, see you in a few days."
My mouth parted as he walked away without looking back. I'd definitely be seeing him since the Tritons attracted the eyes of most females, including me.
"Did Blake Huron just check you out?" Ivy grabbed my arm as she squealed a little. "Girl, two of them have now talked to you!"
"I'm not sure that's necessarily a good thing, Ivy." I grabbed the same binder as Blake and threw it in my cart that was already overloaded with more than I needed. "Let's go. More stores await."
We headed to the checkout just as Blake exited the store. I blew out a breath, stirring the hair framing my face.
"This card is declined." The cashier handed me back my credit card. "Do you have cash or another card?"
"That's not possible." I handed her a second card and she swiped it. I was certain I had money on the cards. My mom topped them off monthly, not that I spent a whole lot anyway.
"Declined."
My stomach dropped and Ivy stepped beside me, holding out her card. "Try this one."
Her card went through, and I took my bags as she rang up Ivy's assortment of school supplies. While I was waiting, I sent a text to my mom, hoping she'd respond.
She had left a week ago needing to get away from it all. I understood, and I would have gone with her if school hadn't been about to start. I was almost eighteen and was more than ready to be left on my own for a few weeks.
"You should call the number on the back of the card." Ivy looped her arm through mine and we headed to the car. "That happened to me once when my dad forgot to pay my bill."
I called the number once we got to the car. After waiting several minutes, an account representative came on the phone. "Both cards are empty."
"That's impossible. I haven't used them for anything except gas." I frowned. "What are the charges? Maybe someone stole the numbers."
"It looks like a week ago they were cashed out by the main account holder."
My stomach dropped. "That's not me." My mom was the main account holder. Why would she take all the money she put on the cards?
"Have you spoken to the other person on the account, a Natalia Hernandez Moreno?"
After getting off the phone with the credit card company, I called my mom's cell and it went straight to voicemail. She hadn't replied to my text either. If she was lying on the beach in the Maldives, she probably didn't even have her phone with her.
"When was the last time you talked to your mom?" Ivy looked concerned, but it wasn't like she hadn't left me alone for a weekend here and there in the past year or two.
"She texted me when she got to the airport, but that's been it." Unless there was an emergency, she said she wouldn't text me until she got back.
"I can buy whatever you need and you can pay me back later." Ivy's lips twisted to the side. I hoped it was just a fluke.
I couldn't believe it was the first day of senior year. I was still unable to get ahold of my mom, but it had only been a few days, and luckily, I had a great friend that fronted me the money for clothes and a few other essentials.
I parked my car next to Ivy's and grabbed my bag from the passenger seat. The senior section of the lot was already half-full of excited students greeting each other with hugs and handshakes. We'd made it.
The senior parking lot was where a lot of drama occurred, and it made my stomach tighten as I slid out and shut my door. Last year there had been so many incidents that they had installed security cameras over the break.
"Ri!" Ivy pulled me into a hug and passed me off to Aiden, who lifted me off the ground in a bear hug.
Aiden was another close friend, except he didn't stay out of the limelight as much as Ivy and I did. He strutted the halls as if he was on the hunt at all times.
"Girl. That hair." He clucked his tongue and flicked my ponytail. I hadn't gone to get it cut and refused to let Ivy pay f
or something that could be fixed with a hair tie. "How are we supposed to catch you a man if you wear your hair pulled back like that? You need to let them see what they can run their hands through."
"A real man will see her ponytail as an opportunity." Ivy wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.
I rolled my eyes. "I don't need a man. Especially one that likes to pull hair." The idea of a man pulling my hair as he did unthinkable things did make me curious. "They cause nothing but trouble."
I walked with them toward the gates leading into school and spotted the Tritons and their crew near the entrance.
"Is that why you sucked face with-" Ivy smacked Aiden in the arm and he clamped his mouth shut. "I mean, you're right, Riley. Men are nothing but trouble." He laughed. "Trouble I wouldn't mind getting involved in, if you know what I'm saying."
As we passed the group gathered near the gates, I kept my eyes in front of me. It was mortifying to make out with a guy and have him ghost you. Had I been that bad?
"You know what I heard? Her pussy reeks of dead fish." I glanced in the direction of the nasally voice and almost stumbled over my feet.
The group of four girls was staring right at me. They were the popular girls, and not the ones that were nice. They were the ones that used every opportunity to remind others that they were nothing more than a waste of space. I was glad none of them were ever in my classes.
I increased my pace through the outdoor halls toward the corridor of lockers mine was in. Ivy split from us with a quick wave, and Aiden leaned against the locker next to mine as I unloaded supplies.
I hoped that it had just been a coincidence they were talking about dead fish and looking at me. Who was I kidding? They were, and now it was going to bother me the rest of the day.
I headed toward homeroom with Aiden. Most of our classes were the same, with a few exceptions.
"Stop worrying. We've got your back." Aiden looped his arm through mine and we walked into Advanced English.
We were a few of the first to class, so we chose seats in the back. I might have been a top student, but I liked seeing the entire room.