“Are you okay, cupcake?”
“I’m okay. I just want him to leave me alone. Ellie’s gone and no matter how hard he tries, nothing will change that fact.”
We were quiet for a few minutes. “So about this boyfriend thing.”
I groaned and he continued. “You didn’t even ask me.”
“Don’t be a dick.”
“I just think I should have some say in—”
I cut him off by smashing my lips against his. He cradled my face and my hand grasped at his collar. A few seconds later I pulled back and he grinned at me.
“I think I like this boyfriend thing.”
I rolled my eyes and turned towards the front of the classroom. A grin tugged at the corners of my lips though.
____
“When are you going to tell me where you’re taking me?” I asked, smiling.
Nate smiled and looked over me. His hand was draped over the steering wheel and he looked more relaxed than I had seen him in weeks.
“It’s a surprise, cupcake.” I rested my head on his shoulder and wrapped my arms around his. He kissed my forehead and I snuggled in. “We’re fifteen minutes away.”
The pier came into view and I looked at Nate in shock.
“What is this?”
He pulled into the parking lot and turned to me. “I know you love carnivals and I heard about this one last week.”
I grabbed onto his arm and squealed. “The last time I went to a fair was my sophomore year in high school.”
He grinned and kissed me quickly before jumping out of the truck and running around to open my door. I grabbed his hand and we took off towards the entrance.
I wanted to do everything at once. Nate laughed as I looked in a million different directions. He took my hand and led me down the midway. The bright lights and bells were enough to make my cheeks hurt from smiling. We inched along, looking into every stall that was open.
Nate stopped at one, staring at the bottles standing on a pedestal just waiting to be knocked down. All those games were rigged, but when I tried to stop him from wasting his money, he winked and knocked down the bottles in one shot. I stared in awe as the carnie told me to pick out a stuffed bear that was as big as me.
I chose a white bear with light brown paws and nose. Nate laughed as I hugged it tightly to my chest. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and we walked to the ferris wheel. The man took our tickets and we climbed in. I tried to put the bear between us, but Nate threatened to throw it over the side if I didn’t sit next to him.
I rested my head on his and kissed his neck. He shivered against my lips.
“Nate, this has been an amazing day. Thank you for bringing me here.”
He kissed my head. “I’m glad you’re enjoying it, cupcake.”
“How did you know I loved carnivals?”
“Finn. We were talking about it and he told me about the one you guys used to go to when you were younger.”
I handed him my phone and when we reached the top, I asked him to take a picture of us. We took one where we were both smiling and then another of us kissing. The view of the ocean from the top was absolutely breathtaking.
I breathed in the salty air and grinned. “What’s so funny, cupcake?”
“Why are you so good to me? If I could have dreamed up the perfect man, you might win the award.”
He laughed. “I wish. You know I’m not perfect, but I want to be for you.”
“Seriously, you’re patient with me on days that I feel like I can’t get out of bed, you intentionally find things that I love to do by bugging my brother, and you always know how to make me smile.”
He pulled me into his arms. “I do it for you. I told you I want to help put you back together when you need it. I don’t want to take you for granted. Liv, you’ve done a lot for me too.”
I snorted a laugh. “I’m not sure what you think I’ve done.”
“You’re snarky and sweet, and you constantly keep me on my toes. If it weren’t for you I probably would have lost my mind this semester. You push me when I need it. This is all new for both of us, but I’m happy that Finn wouldn’t shut up about you last semester. I think I wanted you before I even met you.”
“Why’s that?” A smile curled the corners of my lips.
“When Finn talked about you, everything he said made me want to get to know you. Something about the way he described you spoke to me. He had to have known, but I’m just thankful he didn’t warn you off of me before you got here.”
“Who said he didn’t?” I teased.
He laced his fingers with mine. “He didn’t because you wouldn’t have given me the time of day if he had. You two are close and I know that if he said anything, you would have listened. Finn protects you and you protect him.”
“Guilty,” I whispered. “He always talked about his friend, but he never mentioned you by name. I think he did it on purpose.”
“I think we got set up by your brother.” He smiled against my lips.
“I think you’re right.”
His fingers tangled in my hair and his lips finally found mine. We lost track of time as we sat on the ride. Someone cleared their throat and we broke apart. I blushed when I realized we had reached the bottom and the man running the ride was waiting for us to get off. Nate laughed and shrugged. It probably wasn’t the first time and it definitely wouldn’t be the last the man dealt with something like that.
We walked through the rest of the pavilion slowly. Nate bought me cotton candy and groaned as I licked it off my fingers while staring him in the eye. The rest of the evening was a battle of who could turn on the other more.
My ass rubbed against him as he helped sight a pop gun. He groaned in my ear and rested his forehead against my back.
“Giving up yet?”
“Not for a second, cupcake.”
When my turn was over, he nipped at my back and I turned in his arms threading my fingers in his hair. Our lips crashed together and his hands ran up my hips. I broke the kiss, giggling against his lips.
“What’s so funny?”
“You’re tickling me. We have got to get out of here before we scare any kids that see you doing inappropriate things to me.”
He grinned. “Let’s go do inappropriate things back at the house.”
I grabbed his hand and we made our way to the car quickly. Nate drove with my hand rubbing over his cock. His husky groans filled the car and I was thrilled that I could get him so worked up.
“Cupcake, you’re killing me,” he said, as he stopped at a red light.
“I promise I’ll make it worth it when we get back to your room.”
I leaned over and nipped at his ear.
“Just remember, turnabout is fair play.”
I shivered at his words and hoped he was telling the truth.
____
The cool, crisp fall morning was beautiful. Cora and I were spending the day together doing all sorts of girly things. It was the first time in forever that we spent time just the two of us. We had woken up early and went for brunch, which was quickly becoming a weekly occurrence, and then we decided to go shopping. Finally we ended up at the nail salon, treating ourselves to amazing pedicures.
Our conversations had ranged from what we were studying in class, to what people we graduated with were doing now. It was fun catching up, even though Cora and I lived together we were both so busy that we didn’t see each other as often as we would have liked. When the conversation turned in a direction I didn’t expect and I mentally winced.
“Are you going to go to the Halloween party at the frat house?”
I groaned. She knew how much I hated those parties, but insisted I go with her each time. Even if Nate was there, they were almost torture. Since Christian had showed up and I wasn’t a big fan of spending any amount of time at the frat house unless I was in Finn or Nate’s rooms. Parties were worse because he just stared at me the whole time I was there.
“I wasn’t pl
anning on it. Maybe I can just stay in and read, or make Nate have a scary movie marathon with me.”
Cora frowned. “It seems important to Nate. This is the first party I’ve ever seen him get excited about. Maybe you should think about doing it for him.”
I sighed. She was right. Nate had been talking about Halloween since the beginning of October. He’d told me repeatedly that it was his favorite holiday.
“I guess I could, but I don’t have any clue what to dress up as and most places are sold out of costumes by now. I’m going to get stuck in something stupid and slutty.”
“I’ve got you covered.”
“I hope literally.”
“Isn’t that the whole point of Halloween? To be something you wouldn’t normally be? You don’t have to be a slut to dress sexy.”
I stared at her for a minute. “You planned this didn’t you?” She looked around innocently.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“You bitch, you totally did.”
“Finn just told me how important it was to Nate.”
“Fine. I get it, I’m stuck. So what am I going to be for this stupid party?”
“That’s a surprise.”
I groaned. Cora had never been subtle or mysterious unless she didn’t want me to veto her normally outrageous idea. I just hoped my ass would be covered in her vision of Halloween fun.
“Finn, you can’t beat the shit out of him,” I yelled as I grabbed his arms and pinned him against the wall.
Christian had a death wish apparently because he was stupid enough to start taunting Finn as soon as we walked back into the house after our workout. This was the third time this week Chris had tried to start something with him.
“You know Olivia’s a slut. She’s moved on from banging one of your best friend’s to another,” Chris yelled from the top of the stairs. Little bastard made sure he was far enough away that he could get to safety before Finn could reach him.
This time it was Finn holding me back. If that little shit didn’t shut up, I was going to beat him until he bled out on the rug in the living room.
“What the fuck is going on out here?” Erick asked as he walked out of his room.
“Christian thinks it’s fun to talk shit about Olivia. I told you this was a bad idea. I told you,” Finn screamed. He punched the wall and I winced. That shit had to hurt. “I fucking told you. I’m going to kill him if he keeps running his mouth.”
“You’ve been here three days, Chris. What the hell is going on?” Erick said in disbelief. He grabbed Christian’s arm and shoved him into his room. It was probably better that way because Olivia wouldn’t want to come visit her brother or boyfriend in jail. And she really wouldn’t like it when she found out the reason why he was there.
“I’ve got to get out of here.” I turned towards the front door.
“I’m right behind you.”
“Fuck,” I groaned. “I need to be studying, but there’s no way that’s happening. I’m too worked up after that shit.”
“Should we tell Liv?” Finn asked wincing.
“Not unless we have to, but if I hadn’t grabbed you that would have ended very differently.”
“No kidding. I’d feel a hell of a lot better if you hadn’t stopped me.” I glared at him. “Fine. Maybe I would have felt a little bad because of Liv, but only because of her.”
“We have to figure out what to do to keep this away from her. If Chris tries to start something else in the house I don’t want her finding out. She doesn’t need this stress after everything else.”
“Agreed, and we’ll figure something out.” He sighed. “Are you calm enough to try to get some work done?”
“I have to be because I have a test next week.”
We walked to the library in silence, both of us trying to rein in our tempers. It was amazing how alike we were at times. I could appreciate the fact that he wanted to kill Christian. Hell, I would probably even help him if it wouldn’t get me kicked out of school. No amount of donations from my grandparents would keep me here if I screwed up that badly. Although I didn’t fight often growing up, I still knew how and if Chris continued to run his mouth, I might be brushing up on my skills soon.
I led the way up to the stacks and we sat down at one of the old tables. Finn nodded once before as he shoved his earbuds in his ears. That was the thing about hanging out with him, most of the time there was no need for words. He just understood without me. Grabbing my own earbuds, I pushed them in and started to work.
____
The house had been going nuts over our annual blowout for two weeks now. Everywhere I looked there were cases of beer and kegs stacked around. Halloween was my favorite holiday by far, but damn these boys were looking to get the entire state of South Carolina drunk.
Cora made my fucking day when she said Olivia agreed to go to the party. My whole week could have fallen apart, which it did, and I couldn’t care less. Riley called with more discouraging news about our mom, my first project came back from my organic chemistry class and my grade was less than stellar, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was Liv agreed to go to the party. After we had run into Christian it had been like pulling teeth to get her anywhere near the house, not that I blamed her. That little prick was asking for trouble.
Olivia and I had been sailing along, going on a few dates here and there, but I wanted to make our relationship official. I wanted Liv to be mine. She had already called me her boyfriend in front of Christian, and we had certainly been acting like we were a couple, but for some reason it rubbed me the wrong way that I hadn’t been the one to ask her, or even say it first. She might see it as old fashioned, but it was something that my father did for my mother. He had even asked my mom out on Halloween, which made it even more special in my eyes. Maybe that, paired with the fact that my dad used to go all out, made Halloween my favorite holiday.
I paced around my small room, waiting for it to be late enough to go pick Liv up. Cora had made me promise I would give them enough time to get ready. Finally, nine o’clock rolled around and I couldn’t wait any longer. If they weren’t ready by now, it wasn’t going to happen tonight. Things at the house wouldn’t really get started until ten, but all I could think of was being with my girl.
She said she wanted to surprise me with her costume and when she flung open her dorm room door I was absolutely floored. The sight of her in the Grecian goddess costume was one of the sexiest things I had ever seen. It was worth letting Cora dress me up like a puppet. When I told them I didn’t have a clue what to wear, she took charge and picked everything out. She even went as far as taking me to the store to go pick out the perfect costume. And I was really happy she had.
Olivia’s long legs were on display. Instead of the typical white dress, she had chosen a bright vibrant red with gold accents. One of her shoulders was bare with an intricate looking gold cuff wrapped around it.
“You look fucking amazing.” My voice was hoarse and she smirked.
“I’m glad you like it. Cora talked you into the gladiator costume I see.”
“She did. And I’m really happy she did too.”
She cocked her head. “Why’s that?”
“Because now we match and everyone will know you’re mine,” I said, looping an arm around her waist. The bright ruby red lipstick was like a fucking siren’s call to me. I wanted to kiss it right off her pouty lips. I could imagine a ring of red around my cock and I felt it stirring to life, not a good thing in this getup. “Do you mind if we make a detour before we go to the frat house?”
I laughed as she raised her eyebrow at me. Taking her hand, I led her out to my truck. My lips brushed her temple before I shut the door. We drove in silence with her shooting me questioning looks the whole time.
“What are we doing at the beach?”
“This is where it started isn’t it?”
“Technically I think it started in front of Vance Hall when you kept me from killing myself.”
> I chuckled. “Yeah, but you didn’t start trusting me until the beach.”
She nodded. I could tell she was thinking of the first time we came to this exact spot. We climbed out and I grabbed a blanket for us to sit on. The sand was cool on our feet as we moved closer to the water.
“Liv, you’re amazing.”
“Is this the part where you kill me and hide my body in the sand? Wait, that should be a forest, there’s one not far from here isn’t there?”
“No,” I laughed again. “Why are you being so dramatic tonight?”
“It must be the costume, or the fact that it’s Halloween.”
I shook my head and grinned. She wasn’t going to make this easy on me. I took her hand and pulled her so she was directly in front of me.
“Olivia, stop talking. So twenty years ago tonight, my dad asked my mom if she would be his girlfriend. You never really gave me the chance to do that, but I’m asking you tonight. I think you are so strong, beautiful and I am lucky to have you. Liv, will you be my girlfriend?”
She had a soft smile on her face. “Nathaniel, the past year has been so awful. I feel like I’ve been waiting to breathe again. You changed all that. You help me breathe.”
My hands tangled in her loose curls and my mouth captured hers. Fuck the red lipstick. This girl was everything I wanted and never thought I would find.
“I take it that’s a yes?”
She giggled. “Yes, Nate. I choose you. And I’ll choose you over and over and over. Without a doubt, I’ll keep choosing you.”
“Thank goodness. I was worried there for a second.”
She swatted at my arm. Her fingers threaded with mine and we walked a little way out on the cool sand. I sat down the blanket and pulled her onto my lap. My arms wrapped around her and her head settled on my shoulder.
“This was perfect, Nate.”
I kissed her forehead. I would do anything for this girl; she just didn’t know it yet.
____
We walked into the party forty-five minutes after when I actually told Finn and Cora we would show up. It had been too comfortable in the sand with her in my arms. Cora wolf whistled at Liv when we walked in the kitchen and found everyone standing around one of the kegs. She was dressed as a sexy police officer and somehow she had convinced Finn to be a convict. He groaned as we walked up.
Waiting to Breathe: Book One of the Waiting Duet Page 7