Rebound (Pro-U Book 3)

by Ali Parker

  Horror filled Tasha's face, and I thought for a minute that I'd made a mistake.

  The sound of a door opening behind us caused me to jump up. I moved into the kitchen as she walked back across the living room.

  "Mom. What are you doing up?"

  "I'm getting something to eat. I told you I didn't need your help. You can go now." The sickly voice sounded nothing like the Professor McCraven I'd heard make announcements and speeches for the last few years. Why in the world would Tasha's mom not want her help? What happened between the two of them to create such a large void?

  "Let me get it for you and I'll go after that."

  "Promise? I don't want to be a burden. I don't need you holding something else against me." She coughed softly.

  Tasha's voice was a pinched whisper. I could almost feel the pain in her words. "I promise."

  I moved back and pressed my back to the counter as Tasha motioned for me to stay back. She worked on getting a sandwich put together and cutting it up into small bites. I watched her with awe filling my insides. For someone that didn't care much for her mother, she sure seemed to be fully engaged in helping her. I could understand. My mother and father had become a distant memory to me, and yet if something were to happen to either of them, I'd forget all wrongs and rush to their sides without question. It had to be the same for Tasha.

  She walked back out a few minutes later and paused by the door to the kitchen. The sadness on her face was only outdone by the dark circles forming under her eyes.

  "I'm going to head back to campus. I'll be okay if you want to go back to whatever you were up to. Honestly. I don't-"

  "I'm coming with you for pizza and movies unless this is your way of telling me you're not interested in spending the evening together. If that's the case, I totally understand." I moved toward her and reached out, squeezing her shoulders softly. "You do whatever you need to do."

  She nodded and let her head drop to her chest. "I'm so tired, but I don't want to be alone."

  "I'll come back to the dorm with you." I pressed my fingers under her chin and forced her to look up at me. "We'll watch a movie until you pass out and then I sneak out."

  "And if I don't want you to leave?" The neediness in her voice caused my body to wake up. It was the worst timing possible, and yet I had no control over the power she had to stir my hormones and drag them from the deep slumber they had been in.

  "Then I'll spend the night and hold you while you sleep. It's what friends do, Tasha."

  "I wouldn't know." She slid her arms around my waist and pressed her cheek to my chest. "How are you becoming important so quickly?"

  "Because I get you? I understand your personality and your drive like most people can't." I wrapped my arms tightly around her and kissed the top of her head again. "I'm not going to be anything you don't want me to be, but don't give me an inch you don't want me to take from you, okay?"

  "You don't even know me. You wouldn't like me if you did." Her voice grew small.

  "You don't know that, and it's unfair for you to assume what I would or wouldn't do." I kissed her head again and moved back. "Come on. Let's get out of here and try to make something out of the night. If you want to talk about all of this, or about Lyndsay, I'm willing to."

  "Lyndsay was your sister?" She reached out and brushed her hand down my chest slowly.

  "Yeah. She was only seven." I glanced around the house. "My parents blame me for her death, and I blame them. It's been a fun ten years of avoiding each other."

  "Shit," she mumbled and moved back from me. "You get the pizza and I'll get the movies. I might have just found the one person that could make me feel normal."

  I chuckled and followed her out of the house. "I'm not sure that's a compliment."

  "It wasn't." She stopped beside her car and glanced over the top of the roof at me. "Thank you, Micah. I meant it. I wasn't sure who to call and after I tried Emily, you were the next name that popped in my head. Why, I'm not sure."

  I winked at her and got into my truck. I didn't care about the why. I was just grateful that I'd somehow already started to worm my way into her thoughts. Her heart and then her body were next on my radar. I wanted all of her, but I would bide my time as best I could.

  No need to push her and have her running from me like everyone else in my life had done. I'd learned my lesson too many times to repeat old mistakes. At least I hoped I had.

  Time would tell the truth of my conviction.

  Chapter 16

  Natasha

  What the hell was I doing? I was in no shape to take Micah back to my dorm room with me. I was too beat up by the shit surrounding my mother. Had he heard her refuse my help? Surely he had.

  A sadness that seemed capable of crushing me rested on my shoulders as I took the long way back to campus. Why couldn't I just have basketball and grades to focus on? Why did life keep throwing bombs my way, as if I didn't have enough to overcome?

  I parked the car and let out a long sigh before glancing over toward Micah's truck. I yelped and let out a short laugh to find his face almost pressed to my side window.

  "Stop thinking and get out of the car. You're going to reason away the night together, and this nice guy isn't standing for it." He opened my car door and offered me his hand as he balanced the pizza in the other one. "Come on. I don't bite unless that'll make you feel better."

  Don't let me fall in love. Please. Anything but that.

  "Keep your teeth to yourself, buddy." I swatted his hand away and smiled at him as I got out of the car. "That pizza is probably ice cold by now."

  "We'll just heat it up. You got a microwave in that box you live in?" He moved up beside me and wrapped his strong arm around my shoulder, forcing me to walk closer to him.

  I slid my arm around the back of his waist and tried not to enjoy his warmth too much.

  "Nope, but we can walk up to the athletic building and heat it up. My microwave hasn't worked since I got here freshman year. I've put in a ticket on it more times than you can imagine." I pulled away from him as we rounded the corner. "Prepare yourself."

  "For?" He lifted his eyebrow as I turned and glanced at him over my shoulder. He couldn't have been more attractive.

  "It would seem that Em and Jacob can't control their hormones for the short drive out to Omega, so they use my place when the mood hits them." I turned back and unlocked the door, enjoying the sound of his laugh almost too much.

  "Are you kidding me? That's the tackiest thing I've heard all day." He moved in behind me and closed the door as I dropped my keys on the table and turned to face him.

  "Must be nice, right? Just pop in to any old place and let yourself go because the hormones inside you are running rampant and controlling your brain."

  He snorted and set the pizza down. "I think Jacob might like people to think that so he can get away with shit, but I can't fault him for it."

  "No? Wish you were more like him?" I moved closer and opened the pizza box.

  "Naw. I'm happy being me." He ran his fingers over the small of my back and gripped my side, pulling me a little closer to him. "You okay?"

  "Yeah. I think so. I'm just trying hard not to think about it too much. You wanna walk up to campus and heat this thing up?"

  "Naw. I'm good with it cold if you are." He released me and picked up a piece, folded it in half and took a big bite.

  "Suits me." I grabbed a piece and closed the box before walking to the small refrigerator by the bed. "I have one Coke left. You weird about germs?"

  "Not yours." He chuckled and moved to sit on the small couch I'd wedged into the room.

  "I'm sorry about your sister. I never would have guessed in a million years that you had anything in your past but sunshine and roses." I sat down beside him and shifted to face him a little more. He reached down and squeezed my knee as he reclined and took another bite of his pizza.

  "It is what it is." He shrugged. "I think about her all the time still. Emily reminds me so much of her.
I think that's why we're close. She feels like a little sister to me though she's older."

  "Only by a year, right?" I set my pizza down on the couch beside me and popped the top on the Coke, taking a quick sip and handing it to him.

  "Yeah. I'm a junior this year. You're graduating in May, right?" He took a few sips and leaned forward to set the drink down.

  "That's the plan." I ran my fingers through my hair. "I'm getting my degree in business, but I'd really love to take all I've learned and open a shelter or maybe a pregnancy care center. Something to help people who are in need and have no one."

  "And you know how that feels because..." He reached out and brushed my hair behind my ear. "You don't have to answer that."

  "I've had a rough life so far." I shrugged and leaned forward to put my half-eaten pizza beside the Coke can on the coffee table. "My mom and I have never gotten along, and my dad just came back into the picture maybe four years ago."

  "Wow. I figured something was up with your mom seeing that she's never at the games and shit, but I didn't know you parents were split."

  "My dad was a basketball player at Providence back in the day." I paused and smiled at the thought. "He and Mom dated a little, slept together and poof! There I was. I guess he didn't want kids, so he split and left my mom to leave college for a while to have me. It ruined her life and she's been quite bitter ever since."

  "Ruined her life?" He shoved the rest of his pizza in his mouth and tried to talk around it. "How?"

  I smiled, unable to help myself. "I guess she couldn't follow her dreams of being on Broadway. Kinda hard to do as a single mom with a small income and no help."

  "And are you and your dad close now?"

  "Not really. We talk more than my mother and I do, but it's still tense." I stood up and walked back to the kitchen to pick up the movies. "Enough about my bullshit drama. Let's put on a movie and go live in another world for a while."

  "I'm down." He sat up and leaned over to pick up the soda. "I'm going to finish this if you don't come take it from me."

  "Finish it." I winked at him before bending down to put the movie in. "You sure you want to watch The Notebook? It's supposed to be insanely sad."

  "I'm good, but if you need something a little more uplifting get the other one. It's supposed to be funny."

  "I've seen Bridesmaids about ten times." I chuckled at the memory of it and put the disk in the DVD player. Nervousness raced through me as I stood and turned to face him. The way his eyes moved across me left me feeling bare - exposed. It wasn't going to take long and he would have me spilling all of my secrets. That would be the end of it. The end of the friendship that was growing between us.

  "Come here, pretty girl." He sat up and pulled his t-shirt over his head. "Mind if I get comfortable?"

  The thick muscles of his chest and tanned skin stretched across his tight abs left my body tingling in all the right places.

  "No, kick your shoes off." I cleared my throat and tried to play off how incredibly attracted to him I was. "I'm going to put on pjs."

  "Good. Bring a blanket with you when you come back if you have one."

  "Yeah, sure." I walked toward my dresser and pulled out a tank top and pj pants before disappearing into the bathroom. I was lucky to find it empty seeing that I shared it with the party animals that lived beside me. After locking the door, I slipped off my shorts and put on my pj pants and stopped. Indecision raced through me. I wanted to take my bra off and wear only the tank top for comfort, and to be a little sexy if I was being completely honest, but would it be too much?

  I pulled off my shirt and bra and put on the tank top. My nipples were more than obvious through the material, but we would be wrapped up in a blanket. Would it really be that big of a deal? I didn't wanna give him the wrong impression, and yet I did in some ways too.

  A growl left me as I picked up my clothes and held them in front of my chest. I was overthinking it and being stupid. He was sitting in the other room without his shirt on. What the hell was I worried about?

  "Do you always pick up chick-flicks to watch with your girl friends?" I grabbed a blanket and walked toward him.

  "Are you my girlfriend now? I didn't realize." He smiled and reached for the blanket, pulling it from me and leaving me standing in front of him. Where my breasts were too large, they were big enough to draw attention.

  "I meant girls that you're friends with." I crossed my arms over my chest and dropped down on the couch beside him.

  He covered us up with the blanket and wrapped his arm around the back of my shoulder, urging me to move closer to him. "I know what you meant. I just have to take every opportunity to tease you. Forgive me?"

  "Nope." I laid my head against his chest and let out a soft sigh. "I hate sappy movies."

  "Then don't focus on the movie." He glanced down as I turned my face up toward him. My breath caught in my chest as he moved down slowly, taking his time to draw out the anticipation of having his soft lips pressed against mine.

  "What are you doing, Micah?" I whispered softly before he brushed his lips by mine.

  "Kissing you. It's all I thought about all weekend. I know my boundaries. No hormones eating my brain cells, thank you very much." He touched the side of my face and kissed me a few more times. The softness of his touch unraveled me.

  "Just friends, right?" I slid my hand over his chest under the covers and forced myself not to let my fingers travel any lower. I couldn't be like everyone else and jump in bed with him the first night he was over. It wasn't me. Now, the second night was fair game, but not tonight.

  "Yeah. All great relationships are built on friendships." He ran his fingers through my hair and gripped it softly. "God, you're beautiful."

  I smirked. "That's what you tell all the girls you wanna be friends with?"

  "Not sure who all these girls are. I haven't dated since my junior year in high school." He leaned down and brushed his nose by mine.

  "Why?" I whispered and lifted up to kiss him again. Passion tore at me, pushing me to move into his lap and lay waste to whatever was starting between us. It was sweet and soft, it was everything I needed at that point in my life, but desire played along my nerve endings, making it hard to catch my breath.

  "Because I'm not interested in just sex, Tasha." He kissed the tip of my nose. "Come on, let's watch the movie and then I'll snuggle you up if you want. If not, I'll get out of here before Jacob's disease lays waste to my control."

  I laughed and turned back toward the TV as my heart hammered inside my chest. "Snuggling sounds good."

  "Yeah it does." His fingers played along my back, and before I knew it, I was out like a light. The high of the emotion of the day won out over my plans to casually rub up against him during our innocent 'snuggling'.

  Chapter 17

  Micah

  My phone buzzing woke me the next morning. Tasha was on her back, her arm thrown over her head, breasts jutted out and nipples tight and beautiful. I stifled a groan and rolled out of the bed as quietly as I could. Had she really let me spend the night with her?

  The phone buzzed again, and I jogged toward the living room to pick it up. My parents.

  "Fuck," I mumbled and looked for my t-shirt and a shoe. I propped the shoe up in the door to make sure I could get back in and slipped out into the hall as I pulled my shirt over my head. My dick was so hard it hurt, but what else was new. I repositioned myself as best I could and hoped like hell that my t-shirt would cover up the evidence of my attraction to the beautiful woman I'd spent the night trying to not rub all over. Taking advantage of her in any way was out. If she wanted me to worship her long into the night, she'd let me know. The minute she did... I was all in.

  "Why didn't you answer on the first ring?" My mother's voice was sharp, strict, unkind.

  "I was asleep, Mom. I live in a house with a bunch of guys and I was in the living room. Waking them up this early on a Friday morning would get me stoned. Forgive me." I ran my fingers through my
hair and cursed myself. I should have let her go to voice mail and not thought about it until later in the day. Starting out the day talking to either of my folks was a sure way to fuck me up for the rest of it.

  "Well, you need to think about moving into your own place. You're a grown man. You don't need to be shacking up with a bunch of boys like you’re ten years old." She cleared her throat.

  "Mom, did you need something? If I wanted to feel like shit, I could just watch a sad movie or read my journal from childhood." I hated how quickly she could turn me into a bastard. I couldn't stand myself around them. Like the worst parts of my personality waited in anticipation of my mom or dad turning the key and unleashing the darkness they created deep inside of me.

  "Right. Thank you for that." The sound of shuffling filled the phone. She was passing it to my father no doubt.

  "What did you say this time?" he barked into the phone.

  "I'm hanging up. Great talk. See you at Christmas." I moved the phone from my face as my heart ached with the loss of what could have been.

  "Micah. Just a second, son. We're coming into town today. Come have lunch with us."

  "No. Thanks for the offer." I dropped the call and slipped the phone into my back pocket as anger burned up the center of my chest. Two more years and I'd never have to look back again. I could recreate a part of myself and say goodbye to my parents forever. As much as it pained me to do it, it hurt far more to have to endure their disappointment and disgust over an accident that happened ten years ago. They should have been at the fucking house with us. I was twelve with a video game addiction. I didn't even know Lyndsay had gone out back. Why wasn't there locks on the doors? On the pool?