Here & Now

by Melyssa Winchester

  Learning. Keeping up not only with the action on the field, but also making the time every night to crack down and hit the books so you don’t find yourself out on your ass.

  In high school, things were so fucking easy or at least they were for me and the people I called friends.

  If you had money and it was well known, you could pretty much buy yourself out of any situation you wanted. You could pay other kids to do your homework, sometimes even ignoring it altogether until it was due. You could even bribe a few of the teachers. I shit you not, at Wexfield High, there were a couple of teachers more than willing to be paid off for their silence or even looking the other way.

  It’s another reason it was so easy to bully the people we did. Not saying there was a damn thing right about it, but when there are adults that fear you added with the ones willing to look the other way just because of who your mommy or daddy are, it made things a whole lot easier.

  Doing that same stupid shit here though? Definitely out of the question. With the look in his eyes, my professor is most definitely not pleased with my lack of caring where his class is concerned, and he’s not in the least bit afraid to let me know it.

  It makes me miss Toronto a little bit more. Even though the city was hockey central, you could easily find the teachers that were more concerned with winning a game then they were your position in their class and I could definitely use some of that now.

  “I am going to assume that wanting to meet with you like this isn’t coming as a surprise.”

  “No sir.”

  “Then it should also come as no surprise that your cavalier attitude has landed you at the bottom of the class and as such affects your eligibility to play on the football team.”

  “Yeah, Coach said something to me about it yesterday after practice.”

  “Have you been able to ascertain a way you might go about fixing that?”

  “Yes sir. Coach told me that if I didn’t look into getting some help with the work, I wouldn’t be playing, so I’ve been looking into a couple of people that might be able to help.”

  Bullshit comes easily to me, that’s another way I haven’t changed. It was obvious when I tried to use it on Cadence’s mom and it’s even more so now. If I can talk enough shit out my ass to get them off my back, I’m gonna do it. Reformed or not.

  The only real truth to anything I just spouted off is that I did ask someone for help. The one person I know who’s ten times smarter than me and I can actually tolerate.

  I asked Belle.

  I’m not about to admit to the guy that she turned me down though.

  “Well, given the severity of the situation, I do believe if you’re willing to do something to change it, I might be able to help you. Give you a few names of people that I have used in the past with fantastic results. Is that something you might be interested in, Mr. Murphy?”

  God damnit. What is it with these people and calling me that? The fucker might be in prison but it doesn’t mean I gotta sit here and be okay with someone calling me a name reserved for my piece of shit father. I don’t think there’s ever going to be a time where that’s gonna fly with me. It’s either Dillon, or Murphy. No damn mister needed.

  “Of course. Lay them on me.”

  He lifts a paper out of his bag and hands it over, which I can see as I take it is a list of five names, none familiar. At least none are until my eyes fall on the last one.

  Isaac Crawford.

  Despite going out of my way to distance myself from what happened a few months ago, there’s no denying the fact that me and this guy have history and none of it is good. I haven’t exactly interacted much with him, but even with my limited knowledge of the guy, it’s obvious he’s the only choice for me.

  I don’t do well with letting people get close and not even tutoring is gonna change it. So Isaac it is.

  “Can I ask you something, Professor Davis?”

  “Of course.”

  “Why is Isaac’s name on the list? You do realize the guy can’t speak right?”

  Way to open your mouth and insert your foot, jackass. Special needs and differences don’t mean shit and you of all people should know it.

  The verbal lashing I’m taking in my head is expected, but my question is still valid. I’ve got no doubt that Isaac is probably as smart as Belle, and I also know how bad I misjudged her when I spent all those years making her life miserable. I just don’t see how I’m supposed to get help from a guy that can’t even speak.

  I’m acting like a first class jackass.

  “His inability to communicate verbally has not presented a problem for me yet and I have been using him as a tutor since his arrival here. But if you feel as though he is not a viable option for you, there are four others.”

  He’s not coming right out and saying it, but even he thinks I’m being an insensitive prick and he’s right. My girlfriend is deaf and somehow we still find ways to communicate, so reacting so badly toward this kid, it’s wrong.

  I definitely need to pull my head out of my ass.

  “No, it’s cool. I guess I just wasn’t sure how it all worked.”

  “If Isaac is someone you are seriously considering, I can guarantee that with his guidance, you could easily pull yourself back up to manageable place in my class. Text him, let him know that you got his name from me and take it from there.”

  Nodding my acceptance, I fold the paper in my hands and slip it into the back pocket of my jeans. I’m definitely going to break it out later and text Isaac to set something up, but for now, it has to wait.

  I have somewhere more important I need to be and now that class is done, and there’s no practice from hell looming on the horizon, nothing is going to keep me from it. It’s been too damn long already.

  Tonight, I’m gonna enjoy a movie night with my girlfriend.

  Cadence

  “Come on! Please? You’re so much smarter than me.”

  “Which is exactly why I can’t do it and I don’t care how sexy you look when you beg.”

  He grins when I call him sexy, but the pleading look is still there in his eyes, making him a lot more irresistible then I want to admit. If he knew how close he is to breaking me down, he’d never let up.

  It’s been like this since he got here a half hour ago. After spending some time going through my DVD collection, more than a little upset at how truthful I was about the sickening amount of romantic comedies my mom owns, he flipped gears and tried begging me for my help, before flat out asking me to do it for him.

  Dillon hates anything that’s not me, his friends or football and I knew it was only a matter of time before he tried getting me to help. I could easily sit down and work on the stuff he’s told me he’s behind in, but that wouldn’t help him. It would just cause more problems.

  If he’s serious about going to school, he’s gonna have to suck it up and deal with it himself. I’ve got enough on my plate as it is with my own work and the load of it I’m going to have after the surgery.

  “You think I’m sexy?” He asks before leaning in and nuzzling his face into my neck, turning up the heat in my body a few hundred degrees. This is another noticeable change since we slept together. Every touch, no matter how small, is heightened and once it happens, everything else fades away and all I’m able to focus on is what I can do to make him continue it.

  “You know I do, so stop pretending it’s a bombshell.”

  Pulling back just enough for me to be able to see his lips, focus on the way they curve up and how just the smallest lift to them seems to change his entire face, I sigh. Every single time I get to look at Dillon this way, it’s exactly like the first time all over again.

  “Your mom isn’t gonna be home for another hour, so how about you show me how sexy I am?”

  “Not enough time.”

  “Since when?”

  After our talk last week, my mom has been backing off a bit, giving Dillon and I time alone where before she always seemed to be around every corn
er waiting for the right moment to interrupt. We’ve taken advantage of it of course, the hour before she gets home from work or when she’s out running errands, but as awesome as it’s been, it’s not enough. At least it’s not for me.

  “I want more than an hour with you.”

  “Well, the feeling is mutual baby, but unless we can talk her into letting you come back to Kayden’s overnight, I don’t see that happening any time soon.”

  That won’t happen. She’s been pretty lenient lately, letting Dillon stay an extra hour over what he used to when we’re hanging out together, but an all-nighter is out of the question. I might have the best mom in the world, but she’s still a mom and she’s not going to willing promote me having sex.

  “Maybe I should just do your homework for you.”

  His eyes lift, the prospect of me coming to his rescue and keeping him stay on the team enough to cause a stir, but that’s not at all what he focuses on when he speaks again.

  “Or,” he suggests with a sly grin. “We could stay right where we are and I could just spend the next hour showing my girl how much I love the way she tastes.”

  There’s got to be something seriously wrong with me. Just the thought of kissing Dillon for the next hour is enough to send my already over the top hormones through the roof. It’s almost like it’s the summer and we’re at the carnival again, him walking up to the strongman machine and smashing the hammer down until the weight lifts up and slams right into the top. His words are turning me on so much I can barely think straight, much less breathe.

  I really need to find a way to get unlimited time alone with him soon, or the volcano of need inside me is going to burst and it’s not going to be pretty.

  “Dill?”

  “Yeah baby?”

  “Less talk, more action.”

  His body is leaning back into the sofa within seconds, pulling mine over until my knees are resting comfortably on top of him. His lips crashing onto mine, nipping at them with his teeth before his tongue moves forward and pushes itself deeply into my mouth, while his hands slide up into my hair and grip on tighter the deeper he drives himself into me.

  With our tongues swirling, our breathing erratic and completely out of sync, my hands move quick, touching every part of his body I can get access too, making quick work of the clothing that’s between us until they’re resting comfortably on the hot skin underneath. A growl emanating from his chest the minute my hands make contact.

  “Fuck Caddy. Let me take you upstairs.”

  My body, with a mind of its own is screaming at me to give him his way, pushing even closer into his and my need, it mirrors his as another vibration erupts from the place where my hands rest on his chest.

  What I wouldn’t give right now to hear the sound of Dillon when he’s on the brink of losing control.

  Shaking my head, not wanting to move an inch, I grip my hands around his shirt and I pull, making sure I’m leaving no room for doubt about where things are about to go. Sliding his hands out of my hair, he meets them and pulls his shirt the rest of the way off, exposing his bare chest, giving me permission with the look in his eyes, to touch every part of it.

  Lifting my own shirt up and over my head quickly, he leans me back flat on the sofa before sliding his body down, his hands reaching out and popping the button on my jeans, making quick work of sliding them off until I see them come out around him and down to the floor.

  Catching his lips as they start to move, I shake my head immediately, not wanting him to finish what he’s asking. We’re in too deep now, I want him too badly. There is no way in hell I’m giving him what he’s asking me for.

  “Caddy,” he says, repeating my name again. “Tell me to stop.”

  I imagine the way his words would sound, the need in them, how forced and rough they would be, the obvious desire he has for me written all over his face and hard as hell to contain. I am definitely not telling him to stop, but he can ask me for it as much as he wants with how hot it makes me.

  “No.”

  I feel the heat from his exhale across my face and looking up am met with him shutting his eyes forcefully, an attempt at swallowing something down, but confused as to what.

  “”I need…” he says, his lips closing tight, his eyes sinking in even more. “I need to be inside you. I need to feel you.”

  I don’t argue. I know I probably should with what I told him not a few minutes ago, but I can’t. I want the same things as him. As badly as he needs to connect with me, I need the same with him too. It’s a need only him being inside me can fix, or at least tame in the moment.

  His fingers brush against my thigh, one slipping in on either side until he’s hooked them around the edges of my panties, moving his body off mine only long enough to slide them down completely and begin taking his boxers off.

  Dillon’s eyes veer away, over the side of the sofa to the floor and before I can lean my body up, see what he’s seeing, he turns back and gives me the answers I crave.

  “Condom. We need a condom.”

  His leans his body even more until he’s gripping his own jeans in his hands and he makes quick work of the pockets, pulling out the package and tearing at it with his teeth until it’s free.

  Turning back to me, he smiles and it’s not soft the way I’m used to. This is a smile created from lust and need and the more I get of it, the more I want.

  “Put it on me.”

  When I make no motion to adjust my body or to sit up and do as he’s asked, he reaches out and touches my face, leaning himself all the way in until our foreheads are touching.

  “Please.”

  Dillon

  I’m going to lose my fucking mind if she doesn’t slip the damn piece of latex on me soon. The way she’s looking at me, her eyes just slightly glazed over, it’s threatening to break me.

  She was supposed to tell me to stop. Push me away and tell me again that there wasn’t enough time. Not this. There is no end to the list of ways what we’re about to do is wrong, but I’ll be fucked if I’m stopping now.

  This is definitely going all the way.

  “Please, Caddy, quick. I can’t hold out much longer if you keep biting your lip and looking at me like that.”

  Her hands shift, slipping the condom from my hands, one gripping my dick tight while the other slips the condom over the tip and I close my eyes in an effort to block out the feel of her hand on me so that I don’t completely erupt before she’s finished.

  She’s nervous, her hands shaking as she begins sliding it down, but I don’t reach out and stop her. It’s too damn hot what she’s doing. I can’t say I’ve ever asked a girl to do this for me before, but now that it’s happening, I know why I waited. Her hands move like magic no matter how often her hand shifts and shakes and there’s no way anyone else in the world could stir this reaction in me.

  No touch in the world can ever compare to the way Cadence touches me.

  Her eyes are no longer on mine, focused completely on the task and even though my thoughts are running a mile a minute, I’m able to contain my reaction just enough not to explode in her hands before she reaches the bottom.

  Sucking in a breath as she finally rolls the condom all the way down, her fingers grazing over my balls I release it, exhaling deeply and pull her back up so she can see what she’s doing to me. Not only from her hands position on my body, but also the one on my face; in my eyes.

  “You’ve never looked sexier than when you did that.” I whisper and her eyes lower, heat rising to her cheeks, adding to her appeal. My dick is twitching, aching just as badly as the rest of me to get on with it. To feel this angel when I’m buried all the way inside her.

  Leaning in until our lips are together, mouths open and ready, welcoming the taste of each other, I lower her back onto the sofa, but resist the urge to push myself deep into her.

  I’m in love with this girl and no matter how much she turns me on, how badly I need to be knee deep in her, I’m gonna fucking take it
slow. She deserves that much.

  “Are you sure?”

  I need to ask this. I can’t be the horny fucking guy I want to be right now. I can tell by the look in her eyes that she’s being driven by the same impulse I am, the same earth shattering need, but there’s no way I’m gonna take this another step further until I’m sure. Hell, I’m not even gonna put my lips back on her until she answers.

  “Yes.”

  Fuck. Her voice. Damn. I’m lost.

  She had a lower pitch than most before, which I attributed to her not being able to hear, but damn, in this moment right now, she’s never sounded sexier. It kind of makes me want to keep the conversation going just to hear her again. Low and melodic, like a love song, breathless from the moment, our kiss and our hands still finding ways to reach out and touch each other.

  Our eyes trained on each other, neither of us blinking, completely and utterly out of control and drowning. Victims to a moment of passion, no matter how brief.

  Sliding one arm around her body and leaning my body down, aware the entire time of how much pressure I’m putting on her the closer I get, I capture her lips again and in the moment, stop thinking entirely and just feel.

  I can feel the tip of my dick at her core, one small movement forward standing between me breaking through and drowning completely.

  “Dillon…”

  I can’t hold back anymore, not with the way my name sounds. No fucking way. Reaching down with my free hand, I grip myself and finally succumb to the desire setting my entire body on fire. Guiding myself into her until the both of us are sucking in breaths and all I can feel around me is her tightness.

  This is what Heaven feels like.

  “Caddy, fuck.”

  I’m frozen in place, the way she feels so god damned intoxicating I can’t even focus and opening my eyes, taking in the way we look when we’re kissing, her features relaxed, her skin so damned soft, I push myself in deeper and feel her lips slip from mine as she sighs.

  “Move please.” She says before using her free hand, the one not resting comfortably on my chest to turn my face toward her until all I can see is the pleading in her brown eyes.