by Toler, B N
“Funny, he doesn’t look like a dickhead, Sophia,” Jill noted giving Brandon an inquisitive look. I wanted to kill her right then and there. I should’ve never told her about running into him at CVS and helping him clean the marker off his face.
Brandon sort of moaned and ran a wide palm over his face. “She told you about that, huh?”
“It was too funny,” Jill giggled.
“Lucky she was there to help me or I’d probably have a shit ton of zits from rubbing baby oil all over my face.”
“Well, you’re not the first guy she’s done it for. Her last boyfriend had it worse. Not only did they draw all over him, they shaved one eye brow off. Seems all you frat boys like to play art on each other’s faces.”
I gave her a wide-eyed look warning her to shut it, but it was too late. Jill was a good friend and she was worried about me. There was no reason for her to mention anything about guys from my past. She did it to torture Brandon a little.
Brandon tensed momentarily, but shrugged. “Yeah, we all dread it, but still do it to one another.” His answer was followed by a moment of awkward silence so I quickly stepped in.
“Well did you want to have a drink before we leave or would you rather just go?” I quickly changed the subject, knowing Jill would continue to give him a hard time until I intervened.
“We can just go,” Brandon answered a little too enthusiastically, and I could tell Jill was making him nervous.
“Alright, you two kids have fun and wear a rubber,” Jill said as we headed towards the door.
“Jill,” I groaned. “Come on.” I took Brandon’s arm and pulled him out the door before Jill could say anything else to embarrass me. “Sorry about her. She likes to get a rise out of people.”
“I can take it.” He shrugged as he led me to his car.
The drive to the restaurant was awkwardly silent. Other than an extreme attraction to one another, what did we really have in common? Once we arrived and were seated I decided to take the bull by the horns.
“Why did you pay four hundred dollars to do a body shot off of me?” I asked after the waiter took our drink order.
Brandon ran a hand through his hair and smirked. “It wasn’t so much that I wanted to do a body shot off of you,” he paused. “I mean, I did,” he quickly added. “It was more about I didn’t want anyone else to do it,” he groaned. “This isn’t coming out right. You must think I’m crazy.”
“Some girls might think so,” I answered honestly. His gaze immediately met mine and made my body clench. Holy shit, this man is sexy.
“Well you’re not just some girl,” he replied with a deep tone that vibrated through me. “Something tells me you’re worth acting crazy for.”
Heat covered my face with his words. Every girl wants a guy to be crazy for her, yet it can be scary when you find that guy. “You barely know me, Brandon. How could you know that already?” Our gazes remained fixed on each other and slowly his mouth curved on one side and I had to squeeze my legs together. I knew that look was the one. The one that hooked, lined, and sinkered women and made them willing to climb into bed with him without any promise of tomorrow. It was a dangerous look. A look that promised to destroy me if I fell victim to it. But how could I not? I’m pretty sure a nun would at least second-guess her convictions if she saw Brandon Dalton look at her the way he was looking at me.
“Because I’ve never reacted this way over a woman. It’s like you put a spell on me, because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since that day at the lake.”
“So you just want sex. To hook up?” I asked blatantly. Might as well lay all the cards on the table right out of the gate. I hated to pussyfoot around.
“No,” he answered quickly. “I want that…” His sentence trailed off as his eyes shifted to his hands briefly and his sexy smirk turned into a soak my panties smile, before they met my gaze again. It wasn’t hard to tell the thought of having sex with me had just rolled through his mind like a rip tide. It sure as hell rolled through mine. “I want to know every bit of you. But yes, I want sex, too—eventually.”
His answer seemed very honest and even though I asked for it, I was still surprised he admitted he wanted to have sex with me. “Maybe you’re just attracted to me. Lust is often mistaken as…something else.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. The discussion got intense fast. I guess that’s partly my fault as I didn’t want to ‘pussyfoot’ around. I wanted to be direct with him, find out what his intentions were, but it only intensified the need growing inside of me for him. The need to have him on me, in me, touching me everywhere.
He leaned across the table and placed his hand over mine. The touch sent shocks through me, like current zinging my skin.
“Sophia.” He said my name softly as he stared into my eyes. My heart thundered in my chest. “You’re the kind of girl that makes a man want to be his best. I don’t want to just take you for one night. I want you for all nights.”
Damn, he’s good.
The waiter dropped our drinks off breaking our conversation, forcing Brandon to pull his hand from mine, and I let out a deep breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding since he touched me. I quickly took my wine and gulped down a few sips, needing any reason not to look at him for a moment. A way to break the spell I was drugged from where I believed every damn word coming out of his mouth. After we placed our orders, Brandon took the lead with the conversation, changing it to more basic first date topics.
Our conversation turned into twenty questions which had us laughing hysterically and earning us many dirty looks from the people at other tables.
“Siblings?” he questioned as he cut his steak.
“A sister. She’s twelve and bossy, but I love her to pieces. You?”
“Only child. What do your parents do?”
“My mother stayed at home with us, my dad is a police officer. Yours?”
“My dad is lawyer and my mother is a doctor.”
“So that’s where you get your brains from,” I laughed before sipping my wine.
“Still surprised I’m a science major, eh? I guess it’s hard to see my big brains behind all of my good looks.” He waggled his brows at me and I rolled my eyes.
“Maybe it seems like you think too much with the wrong head,” I blurted out and immediately regretted it. Brandon was so good-looking, funny, charming, everything I would want in a man, but his reputation was shit and even though I barely knew him, I liked him. But his past gnawed at me. His smile faded quickly and he sipped his high ball before changing the subject.
He talked about his plans for the future, and I talked about my plans for the summer. We talked long after we got the check and paid, laughing at each other’s stories and jokes and when we headed back to his car he placed his hand on the small of my back and it made me tremble. From my peripheral vision, I thought I saw him smile slightly. He felt what his touch did to me. He knew he had me baited and I hated it. Any plans I had of playing it safe to make sure he had the best intentions were melting away.
“Are you ready to go home or are you up for some fun?” he asked as we walked to his car. He drove a shitty Ford Focus which I appreciated. He had money, but he wasn’t spoiled like a lot of the kids at Alabama.
“Depends on what you mean by fun,” I challenged. “Will we be wearing clothes?” The wine was short-circuiting the filter to my mouth and pretty much letting me say anything I wanted, even if I sounded like a bitch.
Stupid filter.
But Brandon didn’t miss a beat and went right with it, taking my verbal punches with finesse. “Trying to get me naked already? It’s only our first date,” he quipped, and I blushed. “Geesh, at least wait until date three.”
I fought the urge to snap at him and tell him, it would take a lot more than three dates to get in my pants, but he was trying to be funny and lighten the mood, so I let it go. In spite of my inhibitions, I had enjoyed myself hanging out with him and really didn’t want the evening to end. “I�
��m game for a little fun. What’d you have in mind?”
“My friend is having a party. We could stop by,” he offered almost apologetically, as if it was a lame idea and he hoped I wasn’t insulted by it.
“Okay.” I shrugged as he opened my door and I slid in. Maybe being around a lot of other people would help break some of this intensity going on between us. A party sounded like a great idea.
His friend Jake’s apartment was packed and the bass from the music playing inside could be heard from the parking lot. When we entered the apartment, I saw a few of my friends and waved to them. “I’m going to go say hi,” I shouted to Brandon.
“Okay, you want a beer?”
“Yeah. That would be great.”
“Sophia!” My friend Rachel hugged me tightly as I approached the group I knew. “Are you here with Brandon Dalton?”
“Yeah.” I nodded and hugged her boyfriend Jason that stood beside her.
“Be careful with that one,” Jason warned.
“He’s a nice guy, Soph, don’t get me wrong, but he is a bit of a player.”
“So I’ve heard.” I rolled my eyes. Would this be the other downfall to trying to date Brandon Dalton? Not only would I be struggling with my own worries regarding his reputation, I’d have to deal with everyone constantly reminding me about it. Could I deal with that?
“He slept with Janice Kelton,” Jason noted and I wanted to smack him. Now I had a mental image. Okay, I get it, he’s slept around, but why give me fucking faces to imagine. Some people have no common sense.
Rachel sipped from her red solo cup. “I heard he’s good in bed,” she whispered to me as she leaned in so Jason wouldn’t hear, but it was a major fail. He heard her and furrowed his eyebrows at her.
“You thinking you want to hook up with him, Rach?” Jason spat at her. They were both wasted and now on top of everything I was about to witness a stupid drunken fight between them. “Go on. I’m sure he’d take you. I mean practically every girl on campus has hit it, why not you?”
I gave Jason a death glare fit to shatter souls, but I reminded myself he was drunk and I just needed to remove myself from this conversation because from the looks of it, it was about to get ugly and I wanted no part of it. “You know, guys. I got this. I’m not an idiot,” I snapped as I crossed my arms. I hated that Brandon had this reputation. I hated it most, because I liked him. I liked how he made me feel; so wanted, but then came his past and it cast a poor light. Did he really want me, as in really really or was I just another conquest?
“No one said that you were, Soph,” Jason quickly added placing a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry. We’re dicks. Just be careful, okay?”
I nodded numbly and started scanning the room for Brandon. I thought he’d come and find me after he got our drinks. Standing near a table where a game of beer pong was going down, he held two beers, his gaze fixed on me. His lip curved, and he winked at me causing me to blush. I reminded myself, once again, this guy’s a ladies’ man and to keep it together.
Excusing myself, I joined Brandon where he stood by the game table and he handed me my drink.
“I thought you’d come and get me,” I said before sipping my beer.
“I thought maybe you wanted some space. Looked like a pretty intense conversation going on over there.” He shrugged. Just as I opened my mouth to question why he thought that, we were interrupted.
“Well, well. Brandon got her out on a date after all.” A tall, broad man with a tight black T-shirt and backwards hat on laughed as he patted Brandon on the back hard. “Only four hundred dollars and a chem paper, huh?” the jock continued.
My mouth fell open. “You had to do a chem paper for Nelson, too?” Holy shit! My mind was on overload. Could Brandon Dalton really like me this much? I mean he could pretty much have his pick of women to take to his bed. Surely he wouldn’t spend so much money and time just to get me to have sex with him.
Brandon cut his eyes at the guy beside him before returning his gaze to me. “I think I got a steal of a deal.” He winked and my stomach flipped. God, he’s good. Brandon barely knew me, yet he pursued me so intensely. While I was extremely flattered, I once again reminded myself this could all be about him trying to get laid. That’s what he did. It’s who he was. But that inner voice was starting to fade as Brandon broke through my defenses.
“I think you did, too.” The guy beamed a friendly smile at me before snatching me into his arms and hugging me tightly. Normally I would’ve been pissed if some random guy just picked me up like this, but his next words left me soft. “Be easy on this guy. I’ve never seen him go so crazy about a girl before,” he breathed in my ear before releasing me.
“Sophia, this is Jake. He doesn’t know the concept of personal space.” Brandon said dryly before sipping his beer.
“No, it’s okay,” I laughed. “Nice to meet you, Jake.”
Jake nodded towards the table where the game of beer pong just ended. “You two young lovers up for a game of beer pong?” Jake waggled his brows, and I blushed with his words.
“I don’t—”
“Sounds fun, but I must warn you. I’m fucking awesome at this game,” I interrupted Brandon who stared at me, wide-eyed. “What? I’m a bartender for God’s sake. Why are you so shocked I’d want to play?”
“I don’t know,” he answered with a shrug.
I smiled at Jake. “I’m a master in the art of beer pong.”
“Is that so?” Jake shot back. “Well you should definitely be on lover boys’ team because he sucks ass.”
“Whatever. I stomp your ass every time we play,” Brandon contended.
“Well, let’s do this.” I quirked a brow at Jake before turning back to Brandon and leaning into him. His body tensed slightly before one timid arm wrapped around me and his hand rested gently on my back. “I actually am really good. I’m not just talking shit,” I whispered in his ear and before I pulled away, I felt his lips graze my neck, not a kiss, but it still sent a shiver though me. How would I resist this guy if that’s all it took to get my knees knocking for him?
Jake teamed up with another of Brandon’s friends, Ryan, who he briefly introduced me to. After all of our cups were set and filled, I was allowed to throw first. When I sunk it on the first try, Jake and Ryan glanced at each other before their gazes fell back to me.
“Lucky shot,” Ryan remarked as he pulled the ball from the cup, dipped it in another cup with some water and rolled it back to us.
“Was it?” I countered with a wink.
“Oh this is going to be a good game.” Jake grinned and rubbed his palms together.
“Go on, Brandon.” I nudged him with my shoulder and he rotated his arms obnoxiously, as if stretching his shoulders.
“Give me a break, dickwad. We all know you’re going to miss it,” Ryan groaned.
“Nah, I got lady luck over here. You fellas are going down.” Brandon rubbed the small plastic ball between his hands before holding it out in front of me. “Blow on it for luck, babe.”
Momentarily shocked by the term of endearment, I stared at him blankly before smiling. I hated myself for feeling so elated that he called me babe, but I decided to roll with it. With a saccharine smile on my face I leaned forward, pursed my lips, and blew gently into his hand all while staring up at him from under my lashes.
His adams apple bobbed as he swallowed hard and our gazes were locked.
“Seriously, guys?” Jake moaned. “I mean I get the bedroom eyes bit is an important part of the first stage of dating, but we’re in the throes of a serious game here. People’s futures depend on this shit.”
“If Jake doesn’t make it to the NBPL, his life will continue to be shit and on a track to nowhere. He’ll form an addiction to cocaine, his father will disown him for failing his family, and he’ll have no one,” Ryan added.
“I apologize.” I held my hands up in mock surrender. “What the hell is the NBPL?”
“National Beer Pong League,” Ja
ke said with a duh type tone.
I chuckled and played along. “We should get serious, Brandon. I could never forgive myself if I stood in the way of such a promising young athlete.”
“Don’t worry, Soph,” Brandon sighed. “Jake can always pursue his dream job of becoming a colon doctor if the NBPL doesn’t pan out.” He points to Jake and continues, “That dude is all kinds of fascinated with ass holes. Size, shape, the hair surrounding them…I mean it’s a real passion.” Ryan, Brandon, and I keel over in laughter as Jake’s lips pressed into a flat line suppressing a smile.
“Throw it, dick.” Jake finally laughed and I immediately fell in love with Brandon’s friends. The playful humor between them felt comfortable. In a small way, it reminded me of Tia. They could say anything to each other, rag on one another, but no one took it to heart. Just like me and Tia.
“Here it goes.” Brandon nodded to me and threw. The ball bounced off the table and landed in a cup right in front of Ryan. Brandon and I immediately shouted in unison as we hugged and jumped up and down. I’m not sure why something so silly had us so excited, maybe because although trivial and insignificant, it was the first thing we accomplished together. Our first step as a team.
“Son of a bitch!” Jake laughed in disbelief. “The bastard actually got it in.”
“Oh, it’s time to get real.” Ryan chugged the beer and tossed the red Solo cup to the side. “Sophia.” He said my name with a deep gravelly voice, a great imitation of Arnold Schwarzenegger. “I’d like to introduce you to the Ryonator. Please prepare yourself to get shit-faced because I’m about to school your ass in beer pong.”
“More like the douchanator,” Brandon mocked and this time Jake, Brandon, and I laughed as Ryan grimaced.
When my laughter finally calmed down, I nodded to Ryan. “I’ve been waiting all night for some real competition. Let’s go.” I held my hands up and wiggled my fingers telling him to bring it.
The game ended and Brandon and I won. I couldn’t remember the last time I laughed so hard in one night. Brandon and I stayed a few hours before giving our good-byes and heading to his car. We laughed most of the way to my apartment, Brandon sharing embarrassing stories about his friends with me, making me swear to never tell them he told me.