“Pffft… whatever.” Damon waved his hand in the air. “So anything happen in here? The bed rock at all?”
Nico covered his mouth, laughing. He put his finger over his lips and motioned Damon to follow him. They headed into the kitchen to find Damon and Tyler making breakfast.
“Well, good morning, sunshine.” Tyler mussed Damon’s hair. “How was your date?”
“I kissed her goodnight.”
“Oh how awful for you, having to kiss Arielle.” Tyler rolled his eyes.
“You did what?” Tanner stood in the doorway. “Please tell me I heard you wrong.”
“I kissed her goodnight.” Damon looked at his brother.
“Damon!” Tanner smacked him upside the head. “You were just supposed to take each other to the dance!”
“What is the big deal? So, I kissed her.”
“You liked it.”
Damon blushed. “I did. I don’t know what happened. One minute I was dropping her off and the next minute…” Damon trailed off.
“Oh, great.”
“What?”
“You can’t mess with Arielle’s head, okay? She’s my best friend.”
“Who say’s I’m messing with her head?” Damon turned in his chair. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Hello? Does the name ‘Lily’ ring any bells?” Tanner arched an eyebrow.
“It’s not going to happen, Tanner. She’s made that painfully obvious. I need to move on.”
“Does it have to be with Arielle? I don’t want her hurt.”
“What the hell, Tanner?”
“Hey guys, come on. Stop it.” Damon looked at his sons. “If Damon has feelings for Arielle, he should explore them, as long as he’s honest with her from the beginning.”
Nico looked at his watch. “I have a plane to catch in two hours. Can I take a shower?”
“Can we watch?” Damon asked.
“Damon!” Tanner smacked him.
“That would be a no.”
“Damn.”
Tyler watched his son and smiled. It was so obvious he was in love with Nico. Over the years the bond had become stronger, and Nico was realizing Tanner was no longer a little kid. The way he looked at him with a mixture of complete love and lust indicated Nico finally seemed to be getting the message.
“Get dressed. We have a run to take.” Tyler smiled.
“Crap.”
Arielle sat on the deck drinking coffee and replaying the events of the night before. She had kissed Damon, and the worst part was that she liked it… a lot. She’d had boyfriends before, but none of them had kissed her the way Damon had. She had felt it in her toes. Even now, she knew she was blushing just thinking about it.
She closed her eyes and tried to block it out. It couldn’t happen with Damon and she knew that. His heart belonged to Lily. Oh God… Lily. Lily was one of her best friends, and if she knew what happened last night it probably wasn’t going to go well. Arielle stood and looked out over the valley. She was going to have to go see Lily and tell her in person.
The drive was short, and Arielle smiled at the guys running the neighborhood. Anyone else would have thought it strange that the Santorno-Youngblood extended family had their own community, but not her. She had known Tanner since she was ten years old and had gotten to know them all in that time. Lily was outside on the dock this morning, feeding the ducks. Arielle walked over and sat down.
“Hey.”
“Hi. How’d your date go?”
Arielle got straight to the point. Lily was her friend, and she wasn’t going to lie. “Damon kissed me. And I kissed him back.”
Lily closed her eyes and sighed. “I knew someday he would move on. I just didn’t expect it to be with you.”
“God, I’m so sorry, Lily. I won’t see him anymore if that’s what it takes to keep you as a friend.”
“Don’t be stupid, Arielle. If you like Damon, then go for it.”
“But I know you like him, Lily. Why don’t you just tell him?” Arielle took her hand.
“That was a long time ago. If he makes you happy, then date him.”
They talked for another hour or so about school and cheerleading, and then Arielle went home, leaving Lily with her thoughts.
She wouldn’t lie. This hurt more than anything, but she had made the choice not to be with Damon and she wasn’t going to begrudge Arielle’s happiness.
Tanner was saying goodbye to Nico. They had been in a tight embrace for a few minutes now, and Nico was contemplating telling Tanner what he had told him last night — that he wanted him, wanted to date him. He didn’t know if it was the adrenaline from last night or what, but as badly as he wanted to say them, the words wouldn’t come.
“So I’ll see you in Ireland, then?” Just thinking about how close they had come to kissing made Tanner’s heart race.
“Count on it.” Nico leaned in and kissed Tanner’s cheek softly, catching just the corner of his lips. It would have to do.
“ ’Bye.”
“I love you, Tanner.”
“I love you too.” Tanner wanted to scream that he was in love with him, that he wasn’t a child anymore, and he wanted Nico in more ways than one, but he just stood there like a dumbass, transfixed to the spot, watching Nico get into his car. “Fuck.”
“Chickened out again.”
“Oh, fuck off.” Tanner punched his brother’s arm.
Damon walked after him, making clucking noises, and Tanner turned on him, smiling. “Maybe you should go see Arielle and apologize for kissing her.”
“Why should I say I’m sorry? It was an awesome kiss.” Damon waggled his eyebrows.
“God, you are so frustrating!” Tanner marched back into the house.
“I think you’re sexually frustrated. You should watch porn.” Damon sat down at the breakfast counter.
“God, you are so annoying.” Tanner rolled his eyes.
“As it is, I’m going to go talk to Arielle, if you must know. I’m going to go feel her out.”
“I thought you were going to say feel her up.”
“I might do that too.” Damon smiled wickedly.
“Get out!” Tanner laughed hitting him.
Josh felt bad about having Colin drop Paige off, but seeing as his Jeep was toast, he had no choice but to sit around and wait for the cops to show up. He headed over to her house and rang the bell. Paige answered, smiling. “Hey. How did it go last night?”
“Filled out paperwork.” Josh rolled his eyes. “My Jeep’s in the repair shop, so I’m stuck with my dad’s car.”
“Oh, you poor thing. A brand new Mustang. Must be hard.” Paige rolled her eyes.
“Look, I wanted to apologize for last night. I didn’t want to make you wait around with me, especially in heels.”
“Wow. You have a feminine side, don’t you?”
“I have Kat. That’s the feminine side. After so many times of hearing ‘my feet are killing me’, it clicks, you know?”
“How about we go out when you get back from vacation?”
“Okay, where to?” Josh took her hand.
“Surprise me.”
Josh caressed her face and leaned in. Their lips touched softly, and Josh parted her lips with his tongue. Paige let out a small moan, and Josh pulled her into him, further deepening the kiss, his hands in her hair as he searched her mouth. They broke from the kiss slowly and Josh ran his thumb over her lips, smiling.
“See you then.”
Paige watched him walk to the car and tried to hold it together. Josh Reynolds knew how to kiss, that was for sure. Her legs were buckling.
“Well, I can see now why you’re so taken with him.”
Paige turned to see her mom standing behind her. “God, he’s just so… wow.”
“Wow, huh?”
“Mom!” Paige playfully smacked her. “He’s… Josh.”
“Well, for someone with two gay fathers, he sure knows how to kiss a girl.”
“Mom! Oh my Go
d. I’m going to my room.”
Damon was thinking about what he was going to say to Arielle. The drive to her house was a short one, and before he knew it, he was in her driveway. He turned the ignition off and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. What to say, what to say?
“You going to sit in the car all day?”
Damon turned to find Arielle standing beside his car. “I’m thinking.”
“No wonder there’s smoke in the car.” Arielle walked toward her back yard.
Damon got out of the car and followed her. Arielle’s hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she was wearing shorts and a tank top. Her shorts showed off her incredibly sexy ass. Damon had never noticed it before.
“So, why are you here?”
“I think you know why.”
“Okay, let’s get it out in the open. We kissed, it was good, now back to normal.” Arielle waved her hand in the air.
“That’s it?”
“What more do you want, Damon? I was the back up and I was perfectly fine in that role. Let’s not complicate things.”
“What if I like complicated?” Damon shifted closer.
Arielle looked at him. There was a hint of excitement in his eyes and she knew she had to get away from him. “I don’t.” Arielle turned to leave and Damon caught her hand.
Damon pulled her around and looked into her eyes. His fingers ran up her arm softly and he leaned in. “If you don’t want me, then stop me. I’ll leave.” Damon traced his fingers up to her neck, letting them flow back and forth over the sensitive area.
“We can’t do this,” Arielle whispered.
Damon leaned in closer, their lips inches away from each other. He could feel her breath on his mouth. “Stop me, Ari.” Damon’s tongue teased her bottom lip. “You don’t want to… do you?”
“Damon…”
And then his mouth was on hers. His arm snaked around her waist, while his other hand gripped her hair at the back of her neck. A soft whimper escaped her lips as Damon’s tongue found hers. It was one of those kisses that made your stomach knot up, your toes curl, and your thighs flame up. She was pretty sure her panties were soaked.
Damon pulled her in closer. His hand gripped her tighter, as if to keep her from backing away. Although, the way Arielle was kissing him pretty much guaranteed she wasn’t going anywhere. She was kissing him with the same intensity he had. Her hands smoothed across his chest and settled around his neck. The feelings he had kissing her weren’t something he had expected, and he was shocked that the kiss was doing a lot more for him than he had anticipated.
“Go out with me when I get back.” Damon broke from the kiss, nibbling her bottom lip playfully.
“No.”
Damon let out a loud growl and took her mouth with force, pulling her in so tightly Arielle was crushed against him. “Go out with me. Please.” Damon smiled at her slightly-bruised lips. She was breathing hard, and her face was pink.
“Okay.”
“We’ll talk about everything then. Deal?”
“Deal.”
Damon watched her go in the house and went back to his car with a raging hard-on from hell. He didn’t know what was going to happen with Arielle, but he knew one thing: he was excited to find out.
Landon Reynolds was getting ready for the family’s annual trip to Ireland for Stefan and Jordan to renew their wedding vows. He had spent Christmas with his parents and now was back at school in New York in order to drop off his gifts and pack for Ireland. He was meeting Juliet here, and they were catching a flight to Ireland together. As he was leaving the locker room with his gym bag, he heard his name called.
“Reynolds!”
“Yeah, Coach?” Landon poked his head in the office.
“I need you to take the team picture down to the yearbook committee.”
“Why me?”
“Because you’re the only one left.”
Landon took it and sighed. “Fine, have a good New Year’s.”
“Don’t drink too much.”
“Ha ha.”
He had to go down quite a few flights of stairs to get to the yearbook office. It was pretty much a dungeon anyway. Landon had never even seen the yearbook committee or talked to them. They weren’t really in the same circle of people. Not that he wouldn’t talk to them. He just didn’t know who they were.
He found the office easily enough and entered, calling out, “Hello?”
It was empty, and a computer sat on top of the desk, the screen saver showing pictures of a group of people dressed for Halloween. He hit the mouse and the screen came up, password protected. Landon was going to scan the football team’s picture in. Knowing the yearbook committee, it wouldn’t go in until the last minute. Just their way of sticking it to the jocks.
Landon looked around the room. There were movie posters everywhere, and guessing by the Halloween costume, he started thinking about possible passwords. Most of the pictures had girls in them. Landon punched in random names and got the same result: wrong password. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He tried two more names, then closed his eyes. What had Aunt Lee said? His head snapped up and he typed two words. The computer went to the home page.
“Ha!” Landon scanned the picture, then hit “save to desktop.”
“What are you doing in here?”
Landon turned to see a girl. She was wearing jeans and a T-shirt, her hair was loosely in a ponytail, and she had glasses on. She looked mad.
“I’m Landon Reynolds. I was just delivering the football team’s picture for the yearbook.”
She strode in, giving him the evil eye. One look at the computer and she turned on him with a fierce look in her eyes.
“You touched my computer?”
“I believe it’s the school’s computer, and yes, I did.”
“How did you get in it? It’s password protected, and, well…” She eyed him up and down. “You are a jock.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Landon cocked a brow.
She put her hands on her hips and tilted her head. “Someone helped you, right?”
“No. Are you trying to say I’m a stupid jock?”
“I’m not trying to say anything. You just said it for me.”
Landon bristled at the comment, but kept his composure. “What is your name, please? I’ve given you mine.”
“It’s Bree… Bree Sinclair.”
“Like the cheese?”
“Not B.r.i.e.” She sighed. “B.r.e.e.”
“Like the cheese but spelled differently.”
Bree rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Now please explain how you got into my password-protected computer.”
“I have no idea. I’m a dumb jock remember? I think I shouted at it and it got so scared it just popped in there by itself. Me, football player; you, turn on!”
“This is a breach of my privacy.” Bree pushed her glasses higher on her nose.
“Big words… can’t understand them.”
Bree tapped her foot with her hands on her hips and eyed Landon. God, he had to be at least six feet tall, and even under the letterman’s jacket she could tell he was muscular. She never really went to the games. Too much homework and study groups, so meeting a football player — out of the norm for her. His eyes were beautiful, though — big brown saucers — and his hair was short. He had perfect lips, and that’s when it hit her: He had been the football player at the table on the quad that day. Bree shook her head clear and stared Landon down.
Landon smiled. She was so short, and if looks could kill, he’d be on the floor with a hole through his chest. This one was feisty. She had a body on her, though, nice-sized breasts too. Her hair, although in a ponytail, was long and dark brown, and her eyes appeared to be hazel. He looked at her and it hit him: She was the girl at the table that day on the quad.
“Well?”
“If you must know.” Landon sighed. “Your screen saver was up showing you all dressed as Ewoks for Halloween. Then you take the Star
Wars posters on the wall. Now, my aunt has always said her favorite character of all time was Han Solo, so I put it all together and, voila. Password breached.” Landon could see her fuming and smirked.
“Just… go.” Landon left and Bree looked at her computer. “Stupid jock probably doesn’t even know which movie had the Ewoks in it.”
“It was Return of the Jedi.” Landon poked his head back in. “Have a good holiday.”
Bree threw her notebook at him. “Get out!”
Landon laughed and jogged to his room. He grabbed his suitcase and turned to grab his carry-on.
“Hello sexy!”
“Juliet!”
“What’s up?” Juliet jumped on him, hugging him.
“We just saw each other.” Landon flipped her hair.
“Oh, I know.” Juliet studied him closely. “What happened?”
“Just got into a verbal smackdown with a yearbook committee girl.”
“Cute?”
“Feisty, and yes. You could call her cute.”
“Name?”
“Bree.”
“Like the cheese?”
Landon picked her up along with his bag. “It’s off to Ireland.”
Joshua had said an extremely long goodbye to Paige and then joined everyone on the jet to Ireland. He missed Landon and looked forward to seeing him again. Katarina cuddled against his side and he ran his fingers through her hair. Katiana sat with Colin, watching a movie on his laptop.
“Why do we have a theater on this plane when you guys watch movies in your lap?” Jordan asked the kids.
“Do you have anything other than Westerns?” Tanner asked.
“Nope.”
“That’s why.” Damon sat back and closed his eyes.
Nico and Stefan were on the other Santorno jet, and Nico was pacing. Stefan smiled. This was how Nico always was right before he saw Tanner. It never changed. Nico had told Stefan all about Homecoming, and Stefan had tried to assure him that if Tanner had been awake, he would have told him he felt the same way as Nico. Stefan was about to see Phoebe. He was looking forward to it. They hardly spoke anymore, and Stefan had missed her a lot.
Many women had asked him out since their split, but each time he turned the woman down. They just weren’t Phoebe, and no matter how he tried to move on and date, Phoebe would always be in his heart. It wouldn’t be fair to whomever he was dating. He would never love anyone but Phoebe Greystone.
Assassin's Angst: The Santorno Series Page 7