Fool Me Once

by Ash, Nikki

  The movie ends, and we exit the theater, our hands still threaded together. When we get outside, the resort looks like it’s been transformed into a college students’ party oasis. Music is pumping from somewhere. Several people are in the pool horsing around with beach balls and inner tubes. There’s a table set up in the corner where college-age kids are playing beer pong.

  “Hey, Keegan!” someone yells, and we both turn to see where the voice is coming from. “Get over here, man.”

  I spot the guy from earlier standing in the shallow end of the pool with a girl tucked under his arm. Without a shirt on, I can tell he’s fit like Keegan but without all the tattoos.

  “Those are the friends I came with,” Keegan tells me.

  “Oh, well, you can go hang out with them.” I pull my hand out of his. “I should probably get back to my hotel anyway.”

  “You could invite your friends over here,” he suggests.

  “I’m not exactly on speaking terms with the person I’m here with,” I admit. When he gives me a confused look, I shake my head. “It’s a long story.”

  “You’re here with someone you’re not speaking to?” he clarifies, not letting it go. “So why do you have to go back to your hotel room then?”

  Reaching back, I scratch the back of my neck, unsure of how to answer him. “I guess I don’t have to go back,” I tell him. “I just figured you’d want to hang out with your friends. I’ve kind of monopolized your entire day.”

  “Only because I made you.” He smirks playfully.

  Taking my hand in his, he leads me away from the music, yelling to his friend that he’ll be back soon. “Why don’t you grab your suit and we can hang out for a little while?”

  Not wanting to push it, I shake my head. “I think I’m going to head back.”

  Keegan tries to hide his disappointment, but I can still see it when he nods and says, “Okay. Can I at least walk you back?”

  “It’s just right next door. I promise I’ll be okay.”

  “All right.” He leans down, and his lips brush against my cheek. “Thank you for today,” he murmurs, and it takes everything in me not to beg him to take me back to his hotel.

  “Thank you,” I whisper before bolting away from Keegan—and temptation.

  Blakely

  “Watch out!” a deep voice hollers. It’s nearly 2:00 p.m., and since I haven’t seen or heard from Keegan all day, I assumed I wouldn’t be seeing him again. So I’m slightly shocked when I find the man the voice belongs to is, indeed, Keegan, and he’s running toward me.

  Only this time, unlike the other times, there’s no ball headed in my direction. “Very funny.” I laugh, closing my book and setting it back into my bag.

  “I figured throwing a ball at you for a third time may not be the best way to go about getting your attention.” He drops onto the sand next to me. “How’s it going?”

  “Good… relaxing.” I don’t admit that the entire day I’ve been glancing around, hoping to see him again.

  “My friend Mitch and I are going surfing. His girlfriend wants to learn. I was thinking I could give you those lessons we talked about yesterday, if you’re interested.”

  Not even bothering to play hard to get, I nod. “That sounds like fun.”

  I have no intention of going back to the room any time soon anyway. This morning, when I woke up, to my surprise, Sierra was awake and sitting on the nasty balcony overlooking the greenish-blue pool. When I asked her if I could join her, she told me she wasn’t in the mood to reminisce over a life we’d never get back, then stood up and walked back inside. I hadn’t planned to reminisce, but her saying that leads me to believe it’s what she was doing. I wanted to follow her inside and beg her to let me in, but I was afraid of pushing too hard, so instead I grabbed my beach stuff and came out here.

  “Cool.” Keegan helps me gather my things.

  I tell him the umbrella is the hotel’s, so he can leave it there. Just as I’m slipping on my sandals, someone calls my name, and I notice Brenton’s heading my way.

  “Who’s this?” Brenton asks, eyeing Keegan, who has my beach bag over his shoulder.

  “Brenton, this is Keegan.” When I look over at Keegan, his brows are knitted together. He must think this is who I came with. “Brenton is here with my sister and their friends,” I explain to Keegan. To Brenton, I say, “Keegan just offered to teach me how to surf.”

  Brenton’s one brow rises. “You work here?”

  “Nah.” Keegan shakes his head. “I live near here. Surf a lot.”

  When an awkward silence blankets us, I speak up. “Did you need something?” I ask Brenton.

  “Oh,” he says, remembering why he came over in the first place. “We’re going to drive into town for a late lunch. I was going to see if you wanted to join.”

  “That’s okay. I’m not really hungry.” Then, before I can stop myself, I ask, “Is Sierra okay? She seemed kind of off this morning.”

  “You know her. She’s always in her own head. Nothing a beer and a joint can’t fix.” Brenton’s gaze flickers between Keegan and me. “You sure you don’t want to go?”

  “Yeah, but thank you.”

  Brenton looks like he wants to say more, but doesn’t. Instead, he nods once then takes off up to the hotel.

  “You ready to go watch me make a fool of myself?” I ask Keegan.

  He laughs. “Absolutely.”

  We’ve spent the day surfing—or I guess I should say, Keegan and Mitch have spent the day surfing, while Holly, Mitch’s girlfriend, and I have spent the day falling off the board. Unless of course Keegan was on the board with me. Then I was able to stay on.

  We’ve swum and lain out, talked a lot, and laughed even more—just all around had a great time. I can’t remember the last time I spent time with people my age and enjoyed myself. We ate dinner on the pier, and now we’re heading back to their hotel to hang out. Holly begged me not to leave her alone with the guys, and I couldn’t say no—although, if I’m honest, the real reason I’m not leaving is because I want to spend some more time with Keegan. The guy is seriously growing on me. Oh, who am I kidding? He’s already planted and rooted himself.

  “You sure you’re okay hanging out?” Keegan asks me once Mitch and Holly excuse themselves to go grab some drinks from the bar.

  “Yeah.” But then his question has me wondering if maybe I’m overstaying my welcome. Holly is the one who asked me, not him. “But if you don’t want to hang out with me…”

  “No,” he says quickly. “It’s just that last night you didn’t want to, so I hope you don’t feel like you have to. Holly can be a bit… demanding.” He laughs.

  “I’m okay. I want to.”

  “Good.” He hits me with a two-dimpled smile. “Because I want you to.”

  Mitch and Holly return with a platter of shots, setting them down on the table near the pool. Holly hands me one, and Mitch hands one to Keegan.

  “Cheers!” they yell at the same time, throwing their drinks back. Keegan is about to follow suit, but when he notices me not drinking mine, he lowers his glass.

  “Girl, drink up!” Holly yells, grabbing another shot and downing it.

  “Babe, come swim with me.” Mitch pulls Holly away and throws her into the pool. Just like last night, the outside of the hotel is filled with loud music and louder people partying.

  I’m eyeing the shots, unsure if I should drink, when Keegan says, “You okay?”

  “I’m not sure,” I admit with a humorless laugh.

  “You don’t have to drink, Blakely.”

  Sighing, I set the shot down and tell him something I haven’t told anyone else. “The person I’m not on speaking terms with… it’s my sister.” When he looks at me confused, I continue. “She’s always high or drunk—partying with her loser friends.” It’s become her way to avoid dealing with her life.

  “And you’re afraid if you drink you’ll turn into her?”

  “Yes and no. I used to be like her.�
� Before our parents died, when their fighting became unbearable, Sierra and I resorted to acting out for attention. That included drinking and smoking—and getting arrested. After they died, there was no reason to act out anymore. They were both gone. I haven’t picked up a drink or a joint since then.

  Unable to look at Keegan, I focus on the shot in front of me. “I’m afraid if I drink, I’ll go back to the way I was. The way she is now.” I’m not sure why I’m baring my inner secrets to him, but with every word I speak, it feels like another weight has been lifted off my chest. “Since our parents died, I’ve been focused on my future, but my sister, she won’t focus on anything but chasing her next high. I’m going away to school, and the thought of leaving her, it makes me feel sick. I haven’t said it to anyone, but I’m so mad at her. Mad at the decisions she’s making. We’ve barely even spoken in months.”

  “Looks like we have something in common,” Keegan says, and I look up at him.

  “You’re mad at your sister too?”

  He chuckles. “My brother… and no. I meant your sister and I have something in common. My brother is mad at me for my decisions too.”

  When he doesn’t explain further, I ask, “Do you want to talk about it?” Even though I don’t think he does. Otherwise, he would’ve told me.

  “Not really,” he says. “The reason I let Mitch drag me here is to let it all go. In less than a month, I have to make a pretty big decision, and right now, I don’t even want to think about it.”

  “Then we don’t.” I pick the shot back up and raise it.

  “You sure?” He lifts a single brow in question.

  “One night of drinking isn’t going to change who I am—who I’ve become,” I say, unsure if my words are more for Keegan or myself. “I know what I want for my future, and one night of having fun is okay.”

  He gives me a hard stare, as if he’s about to argue, but instead shrugs. “Here’s to drinking our problems away.” We clink our glasses.

  “Or at least drinking until we forget what our problems are,” I add, then throw my shot back at the same time Keegan does. He hands me another shot, and we both down them.

  “Dammit!” I yell as the ball bounces off the side of the table and hits the ground. Holly laughs, and Mitch grabs the ball before it rolls too far. Reaching over, I grab my cup and down the entire contents.

  Keegan and I are playing beer pong with Holly and Mitch, except instead of beer in the cups, there are shots of liquor. It’s official, I suck at this game. My ball never makes it inside the cup, and you would think that would mean I wouldn’t be drunk. The problem is Holly changed up the rules since she too sucks at the game. If you miss, you have to take a shot. If you make it, the other side takes the shot.

  “C’mere, Jailbird.” Keegan laughs, gripping the curve of my hip. With every shot we take, the more flirtatious we become with each other. At first, it was friendly and fun. But the drunker we get, the more sensual the touches get. The peck on the cheek turns into a kiss on the lips. The hand holding turns into our bodies grinding against one another.

  When Keegan pulls me toward him, our bodies collide, and the bulge in his pants rubs against the crack of my ass. His arms wrap around my body, and his hand glides down my forearm until he gets to my hand. His fingers lace with mine, so he can help me throw the ball. I’m hot and sweaty from the warm night mixed with the shots of alcohol, and when he whispers, “Let me help you,” into my ear, his cool breath against my hot flesh causes my body to ignite.

  “I don’t want to play anymore,” I tell him, turning around so my body is flush against his. His eyes widen at my sudden brazenness, but he doesn’t pull away.

  “What do you want to do?” he asks, his eyes landing on my lips. I lick them, knowing full well doing so will turn him on. I don’t doubt for a second, the alcohol running through my bloodstream isn’t helping me along, but even if I weren’t drunk, I’d still want Keegan. He’s sexy and sweet. He’s fun to hang out with, nice to talk to. Since the moment I took my first shot, I accepted that I’m going to allow myself to have fun. Because once I leave from this vacation, I’m going to be focusing on my education for the next four years. Six if I decide to become a psychologist like I’m considering. I’m going to have a good time, get it all out of my system one last time, and when I walk away, I’ll leave everything behind me and look toward my future—with or without my sister.

  “Let’s go swimming,” I suggest.

  He nods, and without telling his friends we’re done playing, takes me by the hand and guides us to a dark area of the pool. There’s a huge rock area with a waterfall, and underneath is a grotto. We step into the warm water and swim to where the grotto is. There’s one other couple under there, but they’re on the other side, and with the water falling loudly into the pool, you can’t hear them.

  Pushing Keegan against the rocks, I wrap my arms around his neck and my legs circle his torso. He reaches down and grabs two handfuls of my ass at the same time my mouth slams down on his. His lips are soft yet strong, and when our tongues enter each other’s mouths, they move in perfect sync. The longer we kiss, the more turned on I become. My fingers twist into his hair, deepening the kiss, and his hands massage circles into my flesh, pulling me into him. My center rubs friction against the ridges of his abs, hitting my clit in a way that makes my entire body feel the effects. I’m drunk, I realize, not just tipsy. The alcohol is catching up to me, and every touch has me wanting more.

  Without thinking, I reach under me and pull Keegan’s dick out of his shorts, and pushing my bikini bottoms to the side, I guide him along the center of my pussy lips. He groans into my mouth as I glide up and down, using his hard dick for my pleasure. He doesn’t move, doesn’t take over. He just continues to kiss me, letting me have all the control. And it feels so damn good to be in control of something, of someone. Years of feeling helpless, feeling out of place as we moved from home to home, school to school. Feeling lost as I try to navigate my way through this life without my sister by my side has me craving control and power, and in this moment, Keegan’s giving it to me.

  Without breaking our kiss, I grind up and down, my clit rubbing friction against his smooth shaft. With every up and down motion, I work myself closer and closer to the edge. I don’t know if he’s close, and I don’t even really care. I’m horny, and I need this orgasm badly. It’s been way too long, and it feels so damn good.

  And with one final rub to my clit, my orgasm rips right through me. My pussy spasms, my body shakes, and my legs become jelly under the water. My lips stop functioning, ending our kiss, and my head drops onto Keegan’s shoulder. We stay like this for several seconds, my orgasmic bliss wearing off and my head clearing. And when I’ve finally come down and my thoughts are no longer fuzzy, I realize what I’ve just done.

  Pushing off Keegan, he lets me go. My body hits the water, and I sink to the bottom like dead weight—thankfully it’s shallow. And then hands grip my biceps, pulling me back up.

  “Are you okay?” Keegan pushes my wet hair out of my face.

  “Yeah,” I splutter. “Oh my God! I can’t believe I just attacked you!” Keegan’s eyes widen with laughter. “I’m clean, I swear. I know that’s kind of stupid to point out now, and I’m not really sure anyone would ever seriously admit it if they weren’t…” I’m fully aware I’m rambling, but I can’t stop myself. “I haven’t had sex in a while. I mean, I know we didn’t technically have sex, but your dick was all up in my…” Oh my God! Someone shut me up now.

  “Whoa, calm down,” Keegan says with a smile. “I’m clean too.”

  His words help calm my nerves, and I take a few deep breaths. “I don’t know what got into me. I’ve never attacked anyone like that before.”

  Keegan smirks. “You’re more than welcome to attack me anytime.” When he pulls me close to him, I feel his dick, still hard.

  “Wow, aren’t you quite the overachiever. Ready to go again?” I joke.

  He laughs softly. “Umm
… I…” He traps his bottom lip between his teeth then drags it out slowly.

  “You what?” I prompt.

  “I didn’t finish.”

  Well, damn, we can’t have that now, can we? After the orgasm I just had, I can’t go leaving him hanging. Plus, it would mean getting more of him, and maybe even another orgasm.

  Wrapping my arms around his neck, I bring my lips to the corner of his jaw and kiss along his stubbled jawline. “What do you say we go up to your room”—I kiss the corner of his mouth—“and finish what we started?” I run my tongue along his lower lip, then his upper lip before I press a soft kiss to his mouth.

  “I would say you’ve had too much to drink and I’m not about to take advantage of you.”

  “I’m barely even drunk.” I pout. “Plus, I’m pretty sure I’m the one who took advantage of you.”

  Keegan laughs. “How about we go up to my room, order some snacks, and see where things go?”

  “I like the way you think.”

  When we get out of the pool, we don’t see Holly or Mitch anywhere, but Keegan says the three of them are sharing a room, so they’re probably up there. Keegan wraps a towel around me, and I grab my beach bag. I consider sending a text to Sierra to let her know I won’t be coming back to the room, but stop myself. She doesn’t care where I am or what I’m doing, and texting her will only give her another reason to remind me of that.

  When we get up to Keegan’s room, I notice it’s not just a room, but a suite. There’s a kitchen and living room. Off to one side, there’s a door, but it’s closed, and on the other side is another door, which is open. Keegan guides me toward the open door.