Gradually some of the tension and wariness left her as she walked the halls, but not all of it. Greer suspected she would have this feeling of walking into a war zone for the rest of the year. She was more at ease with the presence of her escorts, but her body was still on alert, ready for the next confrontation.
The uneasiness between her Beckett was also gone, but the synergy still crackling between them—every time she linked arms with him or he grabbed her hand to lead her somewhere her body stood up and paid attention. She didn’t want things to be uncomfortable between them again, so she ignored her body’s craving for more touching.
The more time they spent together she realized she not only craved his touch, but also his company. Sometimes he would wander down to her room and they would find something on Netflix to watch. The connection and contentment she felt when Beckett sank down into the bed and she cuddled by his side was something she had never experienced before.
They still rode to practice together every morning and sometimes they would chat. But usually, she listened to her books while they rode. It was a compatible silence. Greer didn’t mind getting up early, but she didn’t like being social. It was about finding your Zen and settling in for the day.
This morning, Pepper appeared toward the end of practice and Greer watched as her eyes widened when they landed on Mark. Her mouth formed a silent ‘O’ and Greer busted a gut laughing.
Some of the guys turned to look at her, so she quickly reigned it in. Pepper still had her eyes glued to the field, so Greer gave her shoulder a nudge.
“Come on Pepper let’s go.”
“We will, as soon as practice is over. Look at him, Greer.”
The awe was evident, but she got it. On Mondays, the guys didn’t wear pads. They walked through the plays from the Friday night game and then determined what went right or wrong and tweaked them. At the end of practice, it was all about running. The half jerseys and tight pants only highlighted how in shape they were.
So, they sat in silence, appreciating the view in front of them. Greer was never in a hurry to leave anyway. Once they started walking toward the halls of Oak High, her muscles started tensing and her senses were on high alert. She was never alone, but she still felt like she was being watched.
After a few days of Beckett being with her almost all of the time, heads had stopped swiveling their way. They still turned, but now they watched and whispered. She really hated being the center of attention and tried to tell Beckett she was fine walking in the middle of the hall, but he had said, ‘Shut it. If I’m not here than Jason or Mark will be.’
She had taken a breath to argue and then stopped. She would rather be the center of attention than getting slammed against the wall, so she sucked it up and let Beckett walk her. What she didn’t tell Beckett was as soon as he left her at her classroom door, she felt the loss of his shield. People stared when they were together, but when they were apart the stares were cutting.
What had her on high alert were the mean girls, aka, the cheerleaders. There was usually at least one in every class, and they didn’t try to hide their hatred. All of them managed to murmur a nasty comment as she passed. Except the cheerleader with the pair of emotionless, cold, blue eyes. She never said a word, but her silent scrutiny always froze her to the bone.
There were good things that had come out of this mess. Pepper and Mark were officially boyfriend and girlfriend and sometimes it was hard to be around them. They loved PDA, which normally didn’t bother Greer, but when they started kissing her lips started tingling and her mind went to Beckett in the towel when he had brushed her lips.
Once, the six of them, were in Pepper’s movie room, watching one of the Transformer’s movies. As the movie progressed, so did Pepper and Mark’s PDA. Greer forced herself to look away from Mark’s increasingly wandering hands, aware that her body was craving the same treatment. She made the mistake of looking at Beckett.
Fire was leaping from his eyes as his hooded eyes caught hers. She inhaled sharply and her mind started conjuring up images of Beckett’s hands on her needy skin. One moment she was breathing heavily, unable to break his stare, and the next Beckett stalked from the room. He was gone for about fifteen minutes and when he came back Greer kept her eyes on the screen, but her attention was always with Beckett.
Lexi was spending more and more time with the group and Greer was ecstatic, even if most of the time she was with Jason. With Lexi and Jason together more and more and Pepper and Mark always together, that left her and Beckett.
Beckett wasn’t an ass to her anymore, but she was confused. Sometimes they were completely at ease with each other. There were also times time Greer thought the air between them would combust, but then she would blink and Beckett’s gaze would be cool. It was like she imagined everything. Only, she knew she hadn’t because her body would be aching from the absence of his heated stare.
Then there were times she still felt his anger, but she never completely understood why. After class one day, Gerald Hensen, a guy in her calculus class, stopped by her desk to ask her if she had notes from the day before. He had been sick and wanted to borrow them. She looked up and Beckett was glaring at her from the doorway. The rock returned to rest in her stomach and after she handed Gerald her notes she had walked to Beckett. He walked her in stone-cold silence to her next class and left. Jason or Mark had picked her up for the rest of the day. It had taken a couple of days for Beckett to lose his icy demeanor. Greer didn’t have the guts to ask what had happened, she just breathed a sigh of relief they were talking again.
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Chapter 19
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Two weeks before homecoming, Greer was holding the phone away from her ear, listening to a squealing Lexi. “Greer, I am going to homecoming with Jason! I am going to a school dance! Me, Lexi Phillips!”
Outwardly, she said all the right things and celebrated with her friend because she was excited for her. Neither one of them had ever been asked to a Public Central High Dance. They pretended not to care, but every dance they spent together sleeping over at one of their apartments. The mood was always subdued. They pretended not to care, but they were both disappointed.
And now, she wouldn’t have anyone to be sad with. Lexi was going with Jason and Pepper was going with Mark. As soon as she sat down at the lunch table, an exuberant Pepper declared, “Greer! You have to go dress shopping with me.”
Greer laughed at Pepper, who was having a hard time sitting still on her seat, “Sure, I’ll go with you.”
Greer turned to the smirking Mark, sitting beside Pepper. “It’s about time Mark. I thought she was going to wither away waiting for you to ask.”
“I like to keep her on her toes.”
They all laughed at Pepper’s slack jaw astonishment. Pepper then proceeded to smack Mark’s arm with the back of her hand and roll her eyes. Mark turned to Beckett.
“So, who are you asking, dude?”
Beckett looked across the room at the cheerleading table, and murmured, “I haven’t decided yet.”
She couldn’t believe he was actually going to ask one of the mean girls to homecoming. Ignoring the punch to her heart, Greer turned to Pepper and faked some enthusiasm to plan a dress shopping date.
««« »»»
“You just going to let that happen?” Jason murmured beside him.
Beckett was tracking Greer with a clenched jaw and convincing himself to stay in his seat, as she talked with Scott Folkert, star player of Oak High’s mediocre basketball team. He was too focused on the interaction between Greer and Scott to really give Jason his full attention.
“What?” he absently answered.
His muscles tensed as Scott reached down and helped Greer scoop some ice cream. Scott proceeded to add toppings as Greer pointed out what she wanted. The smile Greer gave Scott when he presented the bowl to her with an over exaggerated bow made Beckett wan
t to punch him. It was the first time he had seen her smile all week.
For most of the week, she seemed distracted—even sad. When he asked how she was, all Beckett got was ‘fine’. He knew no one had cornered her, because he made damn sure she was never by herself. Anyone who looked at her funny got a warning look, and he made sure to do some digging to see if they were responsible for what happened in the bathrooms.
It was driving him crazy that he didn’t know what was going on with her. It further irritated him that it was driving him crazy, but that didn’t stop him from approaching Pepper in the hall earlier in the day.
She looked at him incredulously, waved her hands around like a chicken and then snapped at him, “Get a clue, Beckett. Look around you.”
He looked, but everything was the same as it had always been. With the exception of the homecoming announcements spread all over the school. Still clueless, he looked back at Pepper, who mumbled, “Idiot” before she stalked off.
“I think Folkert is going to ask her to the dance.” Mark side-whispered to him as they both watched Greer and Scott.
Beckett snapped out of his introspection. Hell no. Not happening. Beckett sprang from his chair and strode the short distance in time to hear Greer start to stutter.
“Um, no one has asked me to the dance, Scott.”
Enough. He was done pussyfooting around this situation. He reached out for Greer’s elbow, turned her to face him, and swept down to capture her lips with his.
His lips slowly, but firmly brushed hers and he felt her go motionless. Beckett cupped her neck, tilted her head up and lowered his lips back down. He slowly coaxed her lips to respond back and when he felt her hands come up to his biceps, he tilted her head to the side and deepened the kiss.
The room fell away and nothing mattered more than Greer understanding she was his. His cock leaped and his blood roared in triumph when he heard a whimper escape her. Greer’s mouth unlocked and he swept in, teasing her with his tongue, daring her to follow him.
The catcalls and hollering slowly penetrated and he eased back, pleased when Greer’s body swayed toward him as he stood to his full height. The dazed looked in her eyes when she slid them open made him want to beat his chest. He put his arm over Greer’s shoulder and pulled her into his body. He drilled Scott with his eyes.
“She is going to the dance with me.”
Scott locked his jaw and conceded with a quick jerk of his head. Beckett tracked him back to his table, before looking down at a Greer. She had squirmed out from under his arm and was facing him with her hands on her hips. Her face was red as she hissed at him.
“Why did you do that?”
Beckett didn’t bother lowering his voice. “You are mine and you are going to the dance with me.”
Greer looked at him with huge eyes and her mouth hanging open. He used her surprise to his advantage by grabbing her hand, pulling her to their table, and guiding her back to her chair. Pepper squealed and started talking a mile a minute to Greer. Beckett turned to Jason, who was shaking his head.
“You just couldn’t ask her out like a normal human being? You had to go caveman on her?”
“I’m fucking tired of everyone gawking over her. Maybe I won’t see every moron flirting and staring at her every time I turn around.”
Mark had to put in his two cents as well. “If you would have asked her out then no one would have touched her. What the fuck took you so long?”
He didn’t know for sure. He did know the two parts of his brain were conflicted. The suspicious part of him was still watching and waiting for the sweet, honest girl to be a façade. Every girl he had ever known had one face when trying to hook him, and then did a one-eighty as soon as she thought she had her hooks in him.
When he saw Folkert with Greer, he didn’t even think. He might not be sure of Greer, but until he figured it out, he wasn’t going to let anyone ask her out.
“Everyone knew we would go together, what difference does it make when I asked her?” he huffed.
“Everyone, huh?” Mark mocked him with a shit-eating grin.
“Fuck off.” Beckett bobbed his head to another table. “Carter is looking at Pepper like he wants in her pants.”
Mark twisted around so fast he almost fell off the chair. Beckett and Jason cackled and Mark realized he had just been had played.
“Not cool, man,” he mumbled and went back to eating.
With everyone’s mouth shut Beckett looked across at Greer. She was absently nodding her head as Pepper continued to talk. There was a dazed look on her face and her cheeks were still pink. Half of the people in the dining room were bouncing their gazes between him and Greer, but he was pleased to note not one guy was leering at Greer.
Why that gave him such satisfaction was a question he refused to dig into. It was enough to know that with one kiss, the vultures had pulled back. Hopefully, the bitch intimidating and threatening Greer would also get the message that no one messed with what was his. And Greer was definitely his.
««« »»»
The rest of the day in school went by in a bubble for Greer. Even now, at work, she was still thinking about the kiss. It had knocked the sense out of her and she couldn’t seem to find it again. She desperately focused on every word the customers were saying and it still took all of her brainpower to fulfill orders.
Nothing she had experienced in her short history of kissing, had compared to that kiss. As soon as she had gotten over the shock of Beckett’s lips touching hers, she had been transported to another level of being and all Greer wanted was more—more of the feeling Beckett was stirring inside of her, more closeness, and more kissing.
After the kiss, she should have blasted him for doing it, but her state of shock had been in place for at least the next couple of class periods. It was scary how easily she had succumbed and how often she was reliving it.
She suddenly had some insight on why girls in love, or in her case lust, did stupid stuff. When Beckett had broken the kiss, she had been dazed. She wondered why he had stopped. She leaned back into him to continue the kiss. It had been Beckett’s hands on her forearms that had stopped her.
When she got home from work, she had to talk to Beckett about what was going on, but she didn’t know if she had the courage. Where did she start? It wasn’t too long ago Beckett didn’t even acknowledge he knew her. And today he kissed her in the middle of the Dining Hall and, apparently, they were going to the homecoming dance.
Greer got through the car ride home and supper without her mom catching on that her world was off-kilter. It helped that Beckett and David dominated the supper conversation talking about Oak High football.
After she loaded the dishwasher, Greer walked to Beckett’s room with determination and didn’t allow her thundering heart to deter her. Not allowing herself any time to think, Greer raised her hand and knocked on Beckett’s door.
Her heart stopped and she felt her eyes bulge out of her head. Beckett opened the door with a pair of black track pants hanging on his hips, bare feet, and no shirt. Her eyes ate up the site of Beckett’s bare chest. There was a sprinkling of black hair on his sculpted chest and she dutifully followed it down his six-pack, noted his belly button, and stopped at the waistband of his pants. Holy crap he had that ‘V’ from his hips leading her down to the holy grail.
The next thing she was aware of was her hand being yanked and her back was against Beckett’s closed door. His mouth blanketed hers and she was lost. This kiss was urgent, demanding and she eagerly followed every unspoken command Beckett’s mouth gave her.
Her hands came up and immediately started appreciating the hardness of Beckett’s chest. The skin beneath her hands was heated and smooth, but there was not one ounce of give. Greer wanted more. With her hands at his hips, she urged him to take the final step to eliminate the gap between them.
Beckett followed her direction and while he was stepping forward his hands came under her ass and lifted her from the ground. The junction be
tween her legs was nestled right on top of his stiff, upright cock and her body sighed in bliss as shudders ran through her.
Their kiss was intense, but not urgent. It was creating a buzz in the rest of her body that was demanding satisfaction. Slowly her addled brain realized Beckett’s hands had slipped under her shirt. They were lightly running up and down her sides and then to her hips, where his thumbs caressed her stomach and then teasingly ran under the waistband of her jeans.
All of her attention was focused on Beckett’s hands and where they would go next. He left prickles of excitement with every touch. And disappointment everywhere they left. Her legs were wrapped around Beckett’s waist and her hands were running through his hair. The smooth, thick texture calmed her overwhelmed body and allowed her to sink further into the kiss.
Beckett’s hands were still leisurely moving up and down her sides and she was screaming in her head for more. As if he heard her, his hands moved back up until they rested right below her heavy breasts. Without thinking her back arched and a heartbeat later Beckett’s hands were carefully supporting her breasts and her breath suspended. His thumb swiped over her beading nipple and she jerked back from the kiss and moaned.
The unexpected sound ripped through the silent room and they both froze. What the hell was happening to her? Conflicting emotions were overloading her brain and shame was at the forefront, urging her to escape.
Greer unwrapped her hands from Beckett’s neck and pushed against his shoulders. Beckett stepped back and her feet hit the ground. Just as a breath of relief started working its way up her chest, she realized Beckett had caged her in with his hands.
Greer couldn’t talk and brought her hands up to push down on his arms. She wasn’t confident she could make it through a sentence without breaking down.
Battling Beckett Page 13