Heath

by Nikki Ash

  “Okay, I’ll talk to him.”

  “Or we could just throw it.” I giggle, imagining the shocked look on Heath’s face when he sees hundreds of teenagers all over his house, playing beer pong, drinking his expensive liquor, fucking on his couches. “Please!”

  “Fine!” Theo relents. “We can throw a party if it will make you happy. Now, can we please go inside and celebrate this win?” He lets go of my hand and pulls me into him, tickling my sides.

  “Yes!” I squeal. “Tonight, we celebrate!”

  “Have you seen Theo?” I ask Clifton, one of Theo’s friends and the quarterback of the football team. The moment we stepped foot into the house, Theo was pulled in one direction by his fellow teammates for a game of beer pong, and I was pulled in the opposite direction by Charlotte so she could tell me all about a new guy she met and has the hots for. Several hours later, and I’m exhausted and ready to go home. Being the good friend that I am—and not wanting to be stuck here overnight—I agreed to be the designated driver, so Theo could celebrate the win. Now it’s after midnight and I’m over hanging out with everyone else who is trashed and making fools out of themselves while I’m still sober.

  Clifton bounces the ping-pong ball against the kitchen table—that is doubling as their beer pong table—into a cup of beer and everyone cheers. “I think I saw him upstairs with Anne earlier.”

  “Thanks!”

  I climb the stairs and head down the hallway, opening each door, but not finding Theo or Anne. I do find several couples getting their freak on, though. When I get to the last door, which is Charlotte’s room, I open the door quietly in case there’s another couple going at it. And what I find has me frozen in place.

  Sitting on the edge of the bed with his head thrown back and his eyes closed is Theo. Anne, like Clifton said, is in here as well, on her knees with her lips wrapped around Theo’s dick. His fist is tangled in her hair and he’s pushing her head up and down while she slurps and gags loudly. But that’s not what has me frozen in place. It’s what he’s murmuring while she’s slurping and gagging.

  “Fuck yes, Kitty Cat. Suck me good.” Holy shit! Please tell me that’s the pet name he’s given her. Please, please don’t let it be my name he’s calling out.

  I’m about to back out of the room when he moans again. “Fuck, Cat.” Bile rises up my throat at the thought of my cousin imagining it’s me giving him head.

  Just as I’m about to leave, he lifts his head and locks eyes with me. It must dawn on him that I just heard him call out my name because he pushes Anne off him, completely disregarding her, and stands, coming straight toward me. I glance down at his dick, which is still hard and hanging out, and wonder why in the world Anne was gagging. It doesn’t seem like it’s big enough to cause someone to gag…but then again, I’ve never had one in my mouth…or in any of my holes for that matter.

  Following my gaze, Theo’s eyes go wide before he quickly tucks himself back into his pants and zips them up.

  “Tell me I misunderstood,” I say, and he at least has the decency to look at me sheepishly.

  “Dammit, Theo!” I thought he had gotten past his feelings for me, or at least understood nothing was going to happen between us. He’s been such a good friend these last couple weeks. He hasn’t tried anything. I thought we were on the same page.

  “Let me explain,” he begs, and that’s when I remember Anne is still in the room. She’s now standing and watching our entire interaction, and she doesn’t look the least bit confused or upset that the guy she was giving a blow job to was not calling out her name.

  Feeling ridiculously embarrassed and not wanting to have this conversation in front of one of my best friends, I turn my back on Theo and run down the hallway. I hear him bellow my name as I descend the stairs and run out the front door, but I don’t stop or acknowledge him. When I reach my car, I jump in and drive away. I chance a glance in my rearview mirror and see Theo standing there with his head hanging down, his body bent at the waist, and his hands resting on his knees. A minute later, my phone vibrates in my pocket, but I don’t check it. I know it’s him.

  Turning the music up, I try to get lost in the lyrics, wanting to forget about what just happened, but I can’t stop replaying the way Theo moaned out my name. The look on his face when he realized I heard him. He wasn’t mad or upset. He was embarrassed. All this time, I thought he had some weird crush on me that would go away in time, but now I’m beginning to see it’s more than that to him.

  The first tear pricks my eye as the realization hits that this isn’t something we can just bounce back from. This wasn’t him trying to cop a feel or sneak a kiss. This was my cousin moaning out my damn name while getting his dick sucked by another girl, who seemed all too okay with everything. I’m almost back to Windy Hills when my phone goes off for the millionth time and I lose it. How am I supposed to look at Theo after this? How am I supposed to live and sleep under the same roof as him? He promised to be there for me. Now I’m just supposed to what, act like it didn’t happen? Pretend like he doesn’t have some weird infatuation with me? Am I supposed to just take him to school like everything is okay? Oh my God! School! What if Anne tells everyone what happened?

  With my eyes filled with tears of embarrassment, I pull my still-vibrating phone out of my pocket and chuck it across my car. It hits the window and falls to the floor, continuing to vibrate.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” I yell out as my cries get harder. Not able to take another second of the taunting vibration, I lean over to snatch the phone off the floor, so I can turn it off.

  When I extend my arm and see it’s still out of my grasp, I look back up at the road, and after confirming nobody else is on this road but me, I unlock my seatbelt, so I can extend my reach. I’ve almost gotten it when I feel something hit the bottom of my car and I’m jerked forward. Momentarily forgetting about the cell phone, I put both hands back on the wheel as my car continues to drive up onto the median. In fear of my car flipping over, I grip the steering wheel tighter and try to gain back control of my car. But it’s too late. The car grinds up against the middle of the median and bottoms out. I press my brake pedal and the car comes to an abrupt stop.

  “Dammit!” I pound my fist against my steering wheel. I put the car in reverse and slowly back up off the median, flinching when I hear a loud screeching sound coming from under my car.

  “It’s okay,” I say to calm myself. “That’s just the bottom of the car. It’s low to the ground and the median is kind of high.” I continue in reverse until my car is back, safely on the road.

  “All right.” I take a breath of relief and put the car in drive. I press my foot against the gas pedal and drive forward a few feet. The screeching noise has now added a grinding sound to the mix, but it seems to be driving okay. Figuring I’m only a few miles from home, I continue to drive slowly down the dark road, the ear-piercing noise getting louder the farther I drive. And that’s when I hear the rumbling of a motorcycle behind me. Briefly, closing my eyes, I send a quick prayer up to God that it’s anyone but Harrison on that bike. I look behind me, but I can’t make out who it is.

  He’s wearing a black helmet over his head, so I can’t see his face, and suddenly I’m nervous. If this isn’t Harrison and I’m on this deserted road alone with a broken car and this stranger following me, there’s a good chance I’m about to become one of those people on a milk carton. I pick up my speed—my car now completely shaking under me—but the guy on the bike is obviously able to keep up.

  I drive for another half a mile when I reach one of the few streetlights on this road. Of course, it’s red. I consider running through it, afraid if I stop, I’m going to become another statistic. Instead, I lightly tap my brake and let my car coast slowly, praying the light will change quickly.

  When I glance back and don’t see the bike behind me, my heart begins to race. Where the hell did he go? Still hearing the rumbling of his bike, I look to my left and see he’s now next to me—in
the wrong lane! The streetlight shines brightly over the both of us, and I’m finally able to get a better look at the man on the bike.

  And I would recognize that body anywhere. His neck, a collection of thick, manly tendons that are connected to his powerful shoulders—which are covered in beautiful art that extend down his muscular biceps all the way to his thick forearms ending at his wrists.

  “Pull over!” Harrison yells, knocking me out of my drool fest and confirming what I already know—that it is in fact him on the bike.

  Can this night get any worse?

  “Pull over!” he shouts again, and I do as he says. After crossing through the four-way stop, I pull my broken Mustang over onto the shoulder of the road, then turn it off and get out. Harrison pulls up in front of my car and cuts his ignition. He pulls his helmet off, revealing his familiar buzzed haircut, and I stifle a moan, still wishing for the opportunity to run my fingers across the top and see what it feels like.

  His hand smacks down on my hood and he bends at the waist to check out the underside of my car. I use the moment to check out his ass. Unlike the boys at school who either wear khakis or baggy ripped jeans, Harrison is always in jeans that fit his perfect ass and muscular thighs just right. He stands back up, and reluctantly I force myself to focus on his face and not check out the front of him.

  “What the hell happened?” Harrison snaps.

  “I think I broke my tire.” I shrug, unsure.

  “You think you broke your tire,” he repeats my words slowly.

  “Yeah.” I nod. “I was driving and my tire hit the median.” I don’t bother to tell him it was actually the entire underside of my car that hit it. Semantics.

  Letting out a loud sigh of frustration, Harrison’s eyes close and his head tilts up to the sky like he’s praying to God to give him some patience. His hands come up to scrub the front of his face, and that’s when I lose the internal battle within myself to not check him out. My eyes leave his face and land on the delicious six pack of abs that are peeking out from the bottom of his fitted shirt.

  Why does this man have to be so damn sexy?

  “Hey, mustang girl, eyes up here!” He snaps his fingers in my face, breaking me out of my trance. I guess he’s done praying. “Are you sure just your tire hit the curb? Because it looks like your axel is hanging from under your car.”

  “Isn’t the axel part of the tire?” I ask. Harrison’s hand reaches back and scratches the back of his scalp, and I will myself not to see if his shirt is riding up again. But then when his head falls forward and his hand rubs along his nape as he lets out what sounds like a growl, I can’t help myself. My eyes dart back down, and sure enough, I’m able to get another glimpse of the bottom two tight abs, which are peeking out from between the bottom of his T-shirt and the top of his jeans.

  “All right, let’s go,” he says, and my eyes jump back up to meet his.

  “Huh?”

  “Let’s go. I’ll give you a ride home on my bike.”

  “What about my car?”

  “Did you not hear everything I just said?” He glares at me. “The axel looks like it’s broken. Your car isn’t drivable. I’m going to have to get a tow truck out here to pick it up…” His words trail off, and he goes silent, his eyes locking on my body for a brief moment.

  “What the hell is that?” he asks, motioning at me, as if he’s just now noticed the outfit I’ve been wearing this entire time.

  “My cheerleading uniform.” I tilt my head to the side in confusion.

  “Please tell me that’s not what you wear to the football games.”

  “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” I look down at my royal blue and white top. Sure, it dips down low, showing a bit of my cleavage, but it’s not inappropriate. There’s a white capital H directly underneath my chest and the top stops just above my belly button, revealing the belly ring I got done for my sixteenth birthday. My skirt is the same color blue with a single white diagonal stripe across the front and two thin slits that go up the sides to allow movement in the otherwise skintight outfit. And finishing off the outfit are my white Chucks.

  I stand in place, waiting for him to answer me, but instead, he remains silent as his eyes slowly rake down my body. He’s more than a couple feet away, but it feels as if every inch of my skin is being heated from just his gaze alone. And when his eyes stop on my legs and he lets out a low groan, I bite down on my bottom lip to stifle my own. How is it possible to be so completely turned on just from the way he’s looking at me?

  Squeezing my thighs together, I attempt to relieve the ache between my legs, but it does nothing to tamper down my sudden need to find my release. I’ve never thought about getting myself off before, but right now, the only thing on my mind is getting home, shutting my door, and touching myself to the image of Harrison and the way he’s eyefucking me right here on the side of the road.

  “Jesus, let’s go.” He steps toward his bike.

  I remember my cell phone and purse are still in my car. “Let me grab my stuff.” I climb back inside my car and toss my phone and keys in my purse before getting back out. Harrison takes my purse from me and throws it in a bag on the side of his bike, his eyes never leaving me.

  “Here, put this on.” He hands me his helmet. It’s so big and heavy I almost drop it. Not wanting to argue, I do as he says and place it over my head. The thing must weigh a good thirty pounds! My head falls to the side and I force it back up, only to have it fall the other way. Harrison notices and for the first time allows a small smile to grace his lips.

  “You look like a bobble head,” he says before he lifts me up and sets me on the back of his bike. Not expecting that, I let out a squeal, which has him laughing. And my goodness, his laugh is just as beautiful as his looks.

  He lifts his leg over the bike and sits down. “Hold on tight, mustang girl,” he yells as he presses his foot down and revs the engine to start the bike. It roars to life, and just before he takes off, I wrap my arms around his hard body and dig my fingers into his rock hard abs, holding on for dear life.

  The ride home is only a couple miles, but as I sit on Harrison’s bike with my body wrapped around his, I wish we lived farther away. I consider asking him to take me for a longer ride, but before I can get up the nerve to, he pulls up the driveway and parks the bike. He gets off first, then helps me off. I pull the helmet off my head and begrudgingly hand it to him.

  “Thanks for the ride.”

  “First time on a bike?” he asks.

  “Yeah,” I admit. And I hope it’s not my last…

  “What’d you think?” His top teeth drag along his bottom lip, almost as if he’s nervous to hear my answer. And that has me smiling on the inside, that I can make a man like him nervous.

  “I think I would rather be back on your bike than standing here about to go inside there.” I nod toward the house.

  “Where’s your sidekick?”

  “Who?” I ask, confused by his sudden change in tone.

  “Theo.” He raises his brows like I should already know who he’s talking about. “The guy is practically stuck to your side like glue,” he scoffs.

  I pause for a moment, trying to figure out where this attitude is coming from. He can’t seriously be jealous. That thought is laughable. While Theo is cute, in a little brother sort of way, he doesn’t hold a candle to Harrison. The man is beyond gorgeous.

  “We, umm…we had a little falling out tonight. He’s still at the party.” I brace myself as I wait for him to ask what happened, but instead he just nods.

  “I’m off tomorrow. I was thinking about taking a ride. Wanna go with me?” His eyes sear into mine, and the butterflies I felt when we kissed come back.

  But then I remember he’s ignored me for the past two weeks, and my guard is back up. “Why?”

  “Why what?” he asks, confused.

  “Why are you asking me to go for a ride with you? You’ve pretty much acted like I don’t exist the last couple weeks. What
’s changed?”

  His lips twist into a grimace as if he’s contemplating how to answer my question. Finally, he lets out a frustrated sigh and says, “You being here complicates shit, and I don’t like complications.”

  I flinch at his words. “Excuse me? You act like I want to be here.”

  “I’m not saying you do, but you asked why I’ve been avoiding you. The minute Heath sees me give you any attention, you’ll become a game to him.”

  I let out an unladylike snort. “I’m already a fucking game to him! Hence me living here.”

  “Nah,” he says, shaking his head. “You haven’t seen what that man is capable of. I have plans to one day get out of here, and I don’t need you and your sidekick complicating shit for me.”

  Wow! Who is this guy? I step closer to him, but he takes a step back. “So, let me get this straight, you don’t want to deal with my complications, yet you showed me the secret closet filled with my mom’s stuff, gave me the best kiss of my life, and now you’re asking me to go with you for a ride on your bike?”

  I see it when his face softens and he steps toward me. “The best kiss of your life, huh?” He grins teasingly, and I groan. I can’t believe I just said that.

  “It was okay.” I shrug.

  “No, you just said it was the best kiss of your life. You can’t take that back now.” His grin widens, and I roll my eyes.

  “Yes, I can, and I do.”

  “Say it again,” he taunts.

  “No.” I take a step back. “I already took it back.”

  “Say it.” He edges closer, and my back hits the brick wall.

  “Fine!” I huff. “It was the best kiss of my life, meanwhile I’m just a stupid complication to you. Happy?”

  I turn my face away, not wanting to look at him. I’m acting like an emotional little girl. Damn him!

  Pressing his palm to my cheek, he forces me to look at him. “Look, I’m sorry. What I was trying to say…it came out wrong.” His fingers push a wayward hair out of my face. “I enjoyed our kiss in the closet, too.” He smirks playfully. “I asked you to go for a ride with me because I want to spend time with you. But that doesn’t change the fact that us spending time together will complicate shit for both of us.”