Why am I here?
After a grueling thirty minutes on the phone with Aiden, reassuring him that breaking up was the right decision. I needed to get out of the house. So, I left a note in grandma’s kitchen “Studying at my friend, Roman’s.” Vague enough.
I’m a total asshole for ending it with Aiden that way, but I think it’s best for him. He needs to be free of me. I’ve held Aiden back for too long. He’ll understand one day.
With me in a different town, he can focus on enjoying his last year and forget about me.
Shit. Mom is going to find out. She may get weird again and try to be a parent. She does that from time to time. Cringing, I shook it off and began walking up to this huge ass house.
I can’t believe people actually live like this. All over Cape Pleasant.
The house wasn’t as loud as the first time I went. Or maybe this time, I welcomed the chaos to drown out the storm brewing in my head.
Glued to the front door, I scanned the crowd. Nothing horrible. Twenty or so student-aged kids in the giant foyer that spilled over into a formal living room. It could be worse.
“You made it.”
That voice had a weird effect on me in ways that none ever had before. He was standing by the stairs, still dressed in the clothes he wore to school today.
He closed the distance between us, standing closer than I allowed most.
“I have no idea why I’m here,” I said.
His mouth hooked up into a grin. “I do.”
My brows knitted together as I looked up at him. He towered over me by at least six inches, which was saying a lot because at my five-foot seven-inch build, I wasn’t exactly petite. I stuck out like a sore thumb around my friends at my old school, when they weren’t in heels that is.
While I was around Roman, I took in a lot of details about him. Processed, thought, and stored them in my brain for safe keeping. Which is strange because my brain doesn’t slow down to process. I can’t tell you the color of Aiden’s eyes anymore. But I know, without looking, that Romans are a shade of amber.
I don’t like being out of control, and that’s what I feel in my head right now.
“So,” I said, hooking my thumbs in my front pockets. “What do you usually do at these things?”
“Lock myself in my room until they’re over,” he deadpanned.
“You’re joking.” But I don’t think he is.
“I’m not.” He dragged his bottom lip through his teeth before laughing. The world stopped on its axis. I drank him in, like he was a museum exhibit that I’d paid top dollar to see. I could lift my hand up and drag it across that lip. I wanted to.
Holy shit. I wanted to kiss him.
Fuck my whole entire life. I’m a walking cliché. I like the rich, good looking, broody main character in my life.
Focus on a flaw.
Focus on a flaw.
Any flaw.
Anything that would make him less inviting.
I scanned his face. There was a light scar on his forehead. I kind of liked it though.
Jesus Christ.
“So, what am I doing here if you hate parties so much?”
He shrugged his shoulders as he scanned the crowd behind me. When his eyes landed back on me, they lit with amusement. “Making me hate them less.”
Wait. “What?”
“Come with me,” he said.
His hand rested on my lower back. I stopped for a second. I’m okay. This is…nice. He looked at me, questions filled his eyes.
“Lead the way,” I said and was met with a smile that would dim the sun.
She was studying me. The few times I’d been around her, I noticed she did that a lot. As if she thought she wasn’t the mystery, and I didn’t spend the last week trying to figure her out.
“Did you bring me here for the special memories?”
Chuckling, I looked around the library. It was just off the stair landing. Mom’s escape. Old, rich, dark, and smelled of wood. But the most important part? You could see the top of the bookcases, lined with classics and originals, from the front story foyer.
Yeah, mom liked to be envied.
But it was more than that with Raquel. She wasn’t envious, just curious. She slid her fingers along the spines of books before twirling around to me.
“You were up here for a reason.”
“I saw it from the landing.” She shrugged. “And I’m just nosey.”
“You came here with some friends that night. I saw you leave with them.” I was shamelessly pushing for information. She drifted out of nowhere that night, and since then, I haven’t seen her have a conversation with anyone.
No friends. No boyfriend. She was hot as sin, but she had no one in her life. What the fuck is it with this girl?
And more importantly. Why did I care?
My chest tightened when I saw Aiden with a fucking heart saved in her phone today, and I’d never felt relief like I did when I saw that text. Breaking up over a text? Heartless.
Now my interest is piqued above a quick fuck.
“That was Emily.” I didn’t miss the frustration in her voice.
“Who’s she to you?” I leaned against a shelf, folding my arms across my chest. She cut her wolf blue eyes at me.
“Why?” She popped her eyebrow up and narrowed her eyes.
“You don’t seem like the type to have friends.”
Now both of her brows shot up. “Hi pot, meet kettle. Seriously, who do you hang out with?”
I shrugged. “My brother. I used to be on the soccer team. A social butterfly,” I said, smirking. “Not so much these days.”
She twisted her mouth to the side, thinking. She was standing a few feet away from me, positioned to look at more books. Too far away.
If I had it my way, I’d have her pushed up against the shelves, shirt riding up as I explored every inch of her flat stomach that led to those amazing tits she tried to hide under tees.
And those plump lips. What I would do to those.
“Uh,” she snapped me out of my dazed state. Leaning up, I adjusted my pants and tried to listen to what she had to say. “Emily’s always been a good friend. I just think I held her back a lot. Doesn’t matter now. I’m here. She’s there.”
“Held her back?”
She shook her head, letting out a slight chuckle. “Uh, yeah. We used to be on even playing fields, but she kind of took off when we got in high school. Popular, cheerleader, ya know, that whole thing. She and Aiden both.”
I laughed. “You weren’t holding them back. If anything, they were holding you back.”
She scrunched her nose. “If you say so.”
“I don’t understand the ones who get wrapped up in high school bullshit. It’s all going to be irrelevant in a few months.”
“Is that why you quit soccer?” She asked, turning to fully face me. I’d gotten her attention now. Shit.
“Yeah, something like that.” I pushed off the bookshelf, standing upright. “Don’t worry about your old friends. You’re better off without them.”
Her mouth turned up in a rare smile. She didn’t do that much, but I liked when she did. Even more so when it was directed at me.
“Why do you care?”
Good fucking question, Raquel. I’m trying to figure that out myself.
“Rocki! There you are!”
I’d never heard that voice before, but I was smart enough to piece together who it belongs to. If nothing else was a dead giveaway, the way Raquel winced would be.
Her eyes practically bulged out of her head. She stepped around me but kept her distance. He didn’t get the hint because he got too fucking close.
“What…” She shook her head, trying to find the right words. “What are you doing here?”
“I showed up at your grandmas, she told me I could find you here.”
This clown was actually about to cry in front of her. His eyes were brimmed with r
ed like he’d spent all day losing his shit over Raquel.
“I don’t understand. I talked to you earlier, everything was fine,” she said, her eyebrows knitted together.
“Nothing was fine, Rocki.” He took a step closer.
I clenched my fist but kept myself back. I’d seen the girl hit a guy with a book. I knew she could handle her own, but it wasn’t going to come to that tonight. She was inching back slowly, closing herself off to him.
She looked at me, eyes wide and then snapped her attention back to him. “Can we do this another time?”
For the first time, he saw me. The pretty boys’ eyes bounced between us. Fire showed in them as he glared at me. I don’t know what he was expecting, but his khakis and polo weren’t threatening me.
“Rocki, who’s this?”
“A friend from school.”
He looked at me again, not satisfied with her answer, and I smirked. Step a little closer, prick. You’ll leave here crying and have a black eye.
“Is he the reason?”
He was actually sizing me up. All one hundred fifty pounds of him. He was dry humping my last nerve, but I let her handle it. She didn’t give off the vibe that she ever wanted to be saved by a dude.
She looked at me, mouthed sorry, and faced him. “We went through this, Aiden. Please leave.”
“Yeah, but that was before I saw you alone with him.”
“Let’s talk tomorrow, okay? I’ll walk you out,” Raquel was doing a badass job of handling him, but it still pissed me off that this guy showed up and put her in this position.
“We’ll go to your grandma’s house and talk. There’s nothing going on here, right? Why can’t we talk now?”
And there it goes.
My last nerve.
He dry humped it right the fuck out of me.
“We’re taking a walk,” I said.
Raquel looked at me, horrified as I grabbed the back of the douche canoe’s neck and yanked him down the stairs. He jerked away, attempting to get out of my hold, but he didn’t make a huge scene. Can’t say I blame him; I wouldn’t want an entire party to watch me get thrown out of the party like a ragdoll either.
“You’re going to regret this,” he said through gritted teeth.
“I’m sure I will, pretty boy.” I laughed.
I opened the door and slammed it behind us. We were outside now, away from the breakables, and the prying eyes. I had no reason not to slam my fist in his face, but I was hoping he wouldn’t give me one.
I slung him away, toward the grass and hoped he’d take the hint. He stood up, adjusted his shirt collar, and rolled his shoulders.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. He doesn’t take a hint. “Dude don’t make me kick your ass. Just get the hell off my yard.”
“You’re gonna kick my ass?” He actually smiled at me. “What are you her hero now?”
I took a step closer to him, standing up taller.
“See, that’s the difference between us,” I said, standing inches away from him now. “You think I want to be the hero.” I leaned in closer to drive in my point. “But I just want to show her everything she’s been missing while wasting her time with you.”
He swung and I ducked. When her scream rang through the air, I grinned as I watched his face morph from anger to regret. Raquel saw him lose his shit on me. She didn’t hear what I said, just the reaction.
Call me an asshole, because, well, I am. It only made this whole night better for me.
“Aiden, leave!” That was Raquel.
“Yeah, Aiden, leave,” I whispered, smirking.
“This is the kind of guy you want?” Aiden asked.
Raquel stood at my side. Out of frustration, she rubbed a hand down her face. “This has been over a long time. We both know that. If you need to talk, call me next time, okay?”
His anger radiated off him in waves. Balling his fists, he took deep breaths. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was about to turn green and smash me into the ground.
I could see the internal struggle. He wanted control. He wanted to be good, the golden boy, but all that shit bottled up just exploded all over my front yard. With Raquel and I having front row seats.
The act was over. Whatever salvageable relationship he had with her was out the window.
“I don’t want to ever fucking talk to you again.” He stormed off my yard and out of sight.
She let her face drop in her hands. “Jesus, I’m so sorry. He’s never acted like that.”
I grabbed her hands, pulling them down from her face. She had nothing to be embarrassed about, and she has me confused with some other guy if she thinks I’m about to let her take the blame for how her ex-dude acted.
She looked up at me, and back at her hands I’d dropped at her side, a little disheveled.
“He’s probably never been rejected. He was so tightly wound, it was bound to happen eventually,” I said, smiling at her.
She nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. I just hate that he did that to you. He didn’t hurt you, did he?” She scanned my face.
Looking down, I shook my head. “He wasn’t going to lay a finger on me. I don’t think that dude’s ever been in a fight.”
“And you have?” She was eyeing me skeptically.
“A few.” I lied. Okay, more than a few.
“You don’t strike me as that type.”
“Oh yeah?” My brows shot high. “Who do you see when you look at me?”
She laughed, bringing up a hand to cover her mouth and compose the laughter. “I mean, at first you were intense, but now you just seem a little dorky like me. Maybe even boring. Safe. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just what I see.”
I smirked devilishly.
Dorky.
Boring.
Safe.
I took it as a dare.
“You really shouldn’t have said that Raquel.” I grabbed her hand, walking in the direction of the garage. “Come with me.”
I’d already decided his parents had more money than my entire family combined. But as I stood in front of the detached, four-car garage past the courtyard, my heart drummed in my ears.
One door automatically opened, revealing a line of cars. The first one was a large, black SUV, and I was positive it single handedly was ruining the environment by itself. Next up, a smaller SUV then a sedan, and on the very end a car was hidden behind a cover.
With a devilish grin, he pulled my hand. We stopped in front of the covered car. He broke contact, detangling our fingers as he stepped up to it. He bent down, taking the cloth in his hands.
“Boring.” He smirked as he lifted the cover.
The hood of a shiny black car stared back at me. My eyes snapped to him, watching as he pulled the rest of the cover off. He dropped by the front tire, leaning into it slightly as he fished for something. He popped back up with a fob in his hand.
“What is it?”
“Twenty, Twenty-Two Corvette. My brother just dropped it off,” he said, opening the driver door.
I was standing in front of it still. Hands crossed firmly across my chest.
“If you’re looking for the kind of guy who’ll open your door for you, maybe you should stay here.”
That smirk again.
Jesus, what an asshole?!
But I’d be lying to myself if I didn’t like it a little. His mood swings were exciting. I fought to always hide my impulses, highs, and lows, and he embraced his. Whatever his story was, I kind of respect it.
I could run back home, but I didn’t want to.
So, I dropped my hands to my side and walked over to the passenger side. He was leaning on the car, hands draped across the top as I faced him.
“If you’re looking for a girl who can’t open her own door, maybe you should go back inside. Bet you could find one in there.”
Chuckling, he patted the top of the car. “I’m taking you for a ride.”
> I shrugged my shoulders and slid into the passenger seat.
Okay, wow.
I get the enthusiasm of fast cars now. He’s next to me now, grinning as the car purrs to life. I’ve always been shitty at reading people, and I never cared. But I would give my right pinky toe if I could figure out what his motive is here.
The garage door opens, and he stomps the accelerator. Once we’ve passed through the courtyard, he stomps it again and I sling against my door as he turns on the quiet street.
I pushed against it, holding on to the door and console, I adjusted myself. He isn’t slowing down, but at least I’m not flying through the car with turns anytime soon.
I peeked over at the speedometer. “You’re going to get a ticket if you keep this up.”
Chuckling, “No one’s giving me a ticket in this town.”
“You sound awfully sure.” I side-eyed him.
“You’re new here. You’ll learn.”
I actually rolled my eyes. Sometimes he’s quiet, humble, relatable even. And then there’s times like this where he turns into an arrogant asshole.
What’s worse? I like it. I fucking hate predictable. I hate being expected to act a certain way to be a certain way.
Roman doesn’t care about any of that.
Roman is…well…Roman.
Unapologetically Roman. And I envy that. To be me, it’s all I’ve ever wanted.
Focusing on the present, I shake my intruding thoughts away and look at him. He really is attractive. Aiden was the typical boy next door handsome. But with Roman, there’s an edge. Sure, he’s got that strong jawline, perfect mouth, and amber eyes, but there’s more to it than that. I think it’s the way he carries himself that really makes me question everything I’ve thought about myself in the past.
I do want to be touched.
I want to be kissed.
I want to be held.
But I didn’t feel that with Aiden.
I slid my eyes back to Roman again. He’s content, driving at the speed only the devil would challenge on this small suburban street.
Which brings me to the why. He’s being erratic.
I brought my palm to my forehead. “I said you were boring.”
Dare Me: The Pierce Boys of Georgia, Book One Page 5