“Competitive in every aspect of your life, are you?”
The man has more drive and perseverance than anyone I know. Hell, that’s how he ended up here.
The corner of his mouth twitches. “You could say that.” Pulling on his sneakers, he juts his head back up at me with a hopeful expression. “Would you like to come?”
To his house with his friends? Well, doesn’t that sound freaking cozy?
My face screws up. “I don’t know. Are these the same guys who came here before?”
“Yep. They’re good guys when they aren’t trying to land me in the ER.”
And then he does it. He winks.
A wink? Do people even still do that anymore? I’d laugh in his face if it weren’t the fact that any and all of my brain power is being used to regulate my breathing. Ridiculous or not, being on the receiving end of that wink made my knees go weak.
“C’mon,” he says after I take too long to give him a definitive answer. “It’s more fun than it sounds. And it won’t be a date, I swear.” He rushes to get the last part out, as if he knew that was the first direction my mind would go in. It definitely was.
That megawatt smile spreads across his face. The one where his entire face lights up and a small dimple in his cheek appears. I wonder how many sets of panties have burst into flames as a direct response to that smile.
The thought comes unbidden, and I have to grit my teeth to keep from grimacing. He’s probably been with more girls than I can even—oh my God, why do I care?
Zack and I are friends. Friends hang out together, sometimes in groups. That’s all there is to it.
“Sure, sounds like fun,” I mutter, though my tone lacks the enthusiasm my answer would imply.
His eyebrows jump as though he’s genuinely surprised. Then his entire face lights up. “Awesome, I’ll text you the time and address.”
“Okay.” I’m honestly surprised I was able to keep such a casual tone in my voice considering my heart is about to beat its way out of my body.
Grabbing his duffle, he flashes me one more smile. “See you in class.”
It’s become our usual form of goodbye, but somehow, it feels different today.
“Mmhm,” I mumble with a curt nod. My damn jaw is getting sore from clenching my teeth so tightly.
The second he leaves, I release a long breath, dragging a hand through my hair as my eyes dart around for my phone.
If I’m going to Zack’s apartment, I’m not going by myself. This is drifting far too close to potential relationship territory, but if I bring a friend, that’ll blow the ship off course, right?
I open a new text message under Lexi’s name.
Me: Any plans next weekend?
Her reply comes just a few seconds after.
Lexi: Not a damn one
Well, Lexi, your weekend just got a helluva lot more interesting.
“DUDE, GET YOUR NASTY FEET off the coffee table.”
Keith shoots me a scowl, a Tootsie Pop poking out from his cheek. “It’s my fucking apartment too.”
Like I give a rat’s ass. I’ve been running around like a maniac trying to clean this place up. I may not be the portrait of tidiness, but I look like Martha fuckin’ Stewart in comparison to Keith. He may not be dirty with regards to his personal hygiene, but he leaves his shit everywhere—dishes, protein shake containers, empty chip bags. Not to mention the occasional half-naked girl sprawled on the couch. With Dahlia and her friend Lexi coming over tonight, I’d like it to look as though two civilized human beings live here, not two cavemen. Though that does sum up Keith in a nutshell.
Figures Dahlia would invite her friend to come with her. I was kind of hoping it would just be Dahlia, but I knew asking her to hang out anywhere besides the studio was a risk. Even then, we weren’t actually hanging out. I was paying, for Christ’s sake. Oh well, I have to take whatever moments with Dahlia I can get.
While “Mo Money Mo Problems” by The Notorious B.I.G. blares through the apartment, I stash glasses and plates in the dishwasher. Keith has a serious hard-on for nineties hip hop, so much so that it was his brilliant idea to throw a nineties themed party for his birthday in two weeks. I would have objected, but I was on my way to training with Dahlia. He could have decided on a fucking quilting party and I wouldn’t have cared.
I squeeze between the kitchen counter to where Dave and Aaron stand bitching about how Coach has been riding their asses this season. It’s their own fault. Dave always lands his ass in the penalty box for letting his temper fly, and Aaron can get lazy. They’re both great players when they can get their shit together.
Aaron furrows his brows as I pass them. “What’s up with you, man? We’ve seen how this place looks post-party. A couple of dust bunnies ain’t bothering me.”
As I open my mouth to speak, Keith cuts in. Big fucking shocker. “Oh, didn’t you hear?” He slings an arm back over the couch to face us. “Z-man invited Chun Li and her friend over for game night.”
Both of them look at me in confusion. Keith had better fucking behave tonight. If Dahlia catches him calling her that, she’s going to rearrange his face. Actually . . . I may want to see that happen.
“Uh, didn’t we stop whacking off to video game chicks in middle school?” Dave asks, garnering a frown from Aaron.
“Speak for yourself, man,” Aaron tells him. “That military chick from Mortal Kombat is hot.”
And that turns into an entirely new conversation about wanting to play Mortal Kombat. They both split up, Dave hooking up the Xbox 360 and Keith digging through our game cabinet for MK 9.
I stand there stunned for a moment over their complete lack of attention spans. Oh well, at least now I don’t have to deal with explaining who Chun Li is.
I’ve just finished wiping off the kitchen counters when the doorbell sounds, and that sets me into a panic, wiping my hands on my black cargo shorts and surveying the room to make sure everything is in decent shape. That’s my first mistake of the evening, because Keith gets to the door before I do.
Swinging open the door, he holds his free hand out wide. “Hey there, pretty ladies!”
My lips part when I see Dahlia step past Keith. Wearing a simple black tank top and distressed dark blue jeans, with little to no makeup, she looks effortlessly beautiful. What does me in though is her hair. It isn’t thrown back into her normal messy ponytail or braid. Her long reddish hair cascades in waves down her back, casting a stark contrast against her fair skin.
Dahlia has a natural beauty. One that doesn’t need any kind of enhancement, and right now, my fingers are itching to thread through her hair. I stuff my hands in my pockets to make sure that doesn’t happen as I approach her. I’m dying to taste those luscious full lips. I fucking love her lips. That little indentation at the center of her bottom lip has occupied my dreams both day and night.
“Hey!” Lexi says, and my eyes snap over to her. I’d completely forgotten she was here, despite her standing right next to Dahlia.
“Hey,” I reply, though my focus is completely on Dahlia. The closer I look into her bright eyes, the more I notice dark blue rings encompassing the iris and little speckles of dove gray scattered throughout. Fucking beautiful.
Her eyes scan mine, a soft hi falling from her parted lips. I might be crazy, but I could swear I see her pupils dilate when her nostrils flare as if she’s breathing me in, and hell if I don’t seize the opportunity to get a whiff of that tart green apple scent that is uniquely her.
Then the moment is broken by a certain loud-mouthed roommate. “You guys gonna eye-fuck each other all night or are we gonna play some MK?” Smooth, asshole, real smooth.
The chilling soundtrack of the game fills the room, and with a small smile, Dahlia walks over to Lexi and the guys. The second Dave and Aaron see her, their mouths fall open as recognition sets in. They look at me, and I slash a finger across my throat as a warning to keep their mouths shut. One loudmouth in the house is more than enough.
�
�So, Dahlia,” Keith starts, and I’m thankful he managed to actually use her name. “I hear you’ve been training our boy. Teaching him some cool karate chop action, are ya?” He slices his hands through the air, making cliché karate sound effects.
Her brows raise and she looks at me as if to ask, “Is he serious?” I shrug, turning my palms out. Yep, he really is that stupid.
She turns her attention back to my goofy-ass roommate. “You’re Keith, right?”
He hands off a controller to Dave sitting next to him. “The one and only. I’m super fly and flyin’ super high.”
She bursts out laughing and holy fuck am I relieved. I rag on Keith constantly over his ridiculous antics, but beneath all the dumb fuckery, he’s a really good guy.
“What planet did you come from?” she asks, wiping the corners of her eyes with her ring finger.
He lifts a shoulder. “Well, you know they were passing out brains and I thought they said trains, so I got outta the way.”
Now, it’s my turn to laugh as I walk the short distance to the couch to stand beside her. When she looks at me, I expect to see some sign of discomfort, but there is none to be found. Her shoulders are relaxed and she’s not smiling in that pinched way she does when she’s uncomfortable. She looks happy to be here. God knows I’m happy she is. Fucking over the moon is more like it.
She’s in my home, with my friends, for the first time and it oddly feels as if she’s been coming here for ages.
“Dahlia and I are up next round!” Lexi shouts, shoving between Dave and Keith, who eye her with a look of disbelief.
“You ever play MK before? I gotta warn you, it’s gory, so if either of you needs to puke, please do so in Z-man’s bathroom.” Keith asks in a derisive tone.
Aaron sucks his teeth. “Keith, your weak ass gags when one of our guys has so much as a scrape. Remember that time with Elliot?”
Keith leans over Lexi to glare at him. “The man needed twenty-eight stitches and you could see the fuckin bone!”
Aaron swats a dismissive hand, but even I wince at that gruesome memory. In Keith’s defense, nearly everyone was grossed out. The only person who seemed relatively unaffected was Elliot.
Lexi scoffs. “Are you crazy? Dahly used to force me to play all the time when we dormed together. She even kicked my older brother’s ass when she came to my house for Thanksgiving last year.”
“Now this I gotta see,” Dave says, sitting up straighter.
Yeah, me too. I nudge Dahlia with my hip. “Dahly, huh?”
That earns me a stern glare and a finger pointing in my face that sort of reminds me of the first time we spoke. “Say anything and you’re dead next class.”
I hold my hands up in mock surrender, but I can’t contain my shoulders as they shake with laughter.
The controller smacks against the glass-top table when Dave loses. He growls in frustration and leaps to his feet while a maniacal laugh sounds from Keith.
Eyeing Dahlia, Keith grabs the discarded controller and hands it to her. Christ, I hope she’s as good as Lexi claims. Keith could use a little humiliation, even if it’s just from a video game loss.
She moves to Dave’s vacant spot, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees. The same intent look as she has during training fills her eyes.
“All right, Baby Dahl, you may have your fighting style, but this”—he holds up the controller—”is my shit.”
Baby Dahl? Well, bye, Keith, looks like I’ll be putting up an ad for a new roommate by morning.
To my surprise, she says nothing, just stares pointedly at the screen as she moves through the character selection and chooses Scorpion, the same character I use, while Keith lands on Johnny Cage.
Lexi rubs her hands together eagerly. “Let’s do this, D!”
And then the first round starts.
She murders him. I mean, within seconds. He managed one uppercut, and that seemed to only fuel her as her fingers moved so quickly with the analog stick and face buttons, I was positive they’d catch fire.
Hell, when I invited her over, I didn’t think I’d care about the gaming in the slightest. Now I’m gripping the back of the couch and focusing intensely on the simulated death match.
Round two she completes with a flawless victory topped off with one of the gory finishing moves.
Keith says nothing. He stares at his character hanging in a chain noose after getting kicked through a portal, dumbfounded and slack-jawed. “What the fuck! Are you some kind of closet MK wizard?”
She offers him a cocky smirk as Lexi throws her fists up in the air.
“Yes!” Lexi cheers before grabbing one of the spare controllers. She suggests a tag-team challenge, to which all of the guys agree.
I give Dahlia’s shoulder a light smack with the back of my hand. “How did you learn to play this well?”
She shrugs, a smirk tugging at those sexy pink lips. “It’s actually good practice in concentration and strategy. You have to gain the muscle memory in your hands so you can dish out the moves before the other player has a chance.”
Keith kicks his foot up against the coffee table with a huff. “You just had to invite Mr. Fucking Miyagi for game night.”
“Serves you right, dickhead!” Dave shouts from the kitchen.
He’s not wrong. Keith could afford to get knocked down a couple of notches on the totem pole every now and then. Especially from someone like Dahlia. Keith has always sort of coasted in life, always assuming things will work out because, more often than not, they always have. Don’t get me wrong, he’s worked his ass off, but sometimes he can get a little too comfortable. Coach has tried explaining that to him more times than I can count, but the asshat never learns. He definitely got out of the way when they were passing out brains.
I don’t bother throwing myself into the ring as Dahlia and Lexi destroy my best friends at one of their favorite video games. They’re pissed at first, but as the night wears on, more laughter can be heard than frustrated groans. As for me? I’m just enjoying the sight of Dahlia in my house. The fact that she’s decimating my friends in a classic video game? That’s the cherry on top.
I AWAKE IN A COCOON of warmth. A steady, strong heartbeat pounds beneath my palm as it rises and falls with deep, even breaths. As the sleepy haze abates, a familiar sweet and spicy cologne invades my nose.
Oh. Shit.
I lurch up, and as I take in my surroundings, I realize I’m still in Zack’s apartment. That means I fell asleep sometime last night and ended up . . . cuddling him. Oh, crap on a cracker, this is not good. Not. Good. I’d been anxious enough about coming here in the first place. It was one thing seeing him at the studio because I could easily do that under the guise of training. But coming to his home and waking up the following morning wrapped in his arms? I can’t excuse that no matter how desperately I want to.
When I lower my eyes to Zack’s sleeping form, the panic ebbs at the sight of him. Lexi was right. He really is gorgeous. The way his thick lashes cast a shadow just beneath his eyes. The sound of his soft exhale passing through parted lips I’m suddenly aching to feel against my own. The golden hue of his skin and the powerful angle of his jaw covered in a shadow of dark stubble that I’m borderline desperate to feel abrading my palm . . . or the insides of my thighs. The mere thought has me clenching my legs together to quell the heated pulse rising between them.
Fuck, what is going on with me?
Propping my hand up on the back of the couch, I survey the room and see no sign of Lexi. Actually, I don’t see anyone else from last night. It’s just Zack and me. Alone.
I have no idea how to handle this situation. Do I stay until he wakes up, or do I simply get up and leave?
The latter option disappears as Zack stirs and opens his eyes with a groggy gaze.
“Morning.” He smiles sleepily, stretching his arms above him. I have to tear my eyes away as his shirt rides up and I get a slight peek of his rippled lower abs. “I told you game nights typically end
up like this.”
“Where is everyone?” I swear to all that is holy, if Lexi deserted me last night, I’ll begin accepting new applications for the best friend position.
“Hmm?” He raises his brows and looks around the room. “Keith is probably in his room, and Dave and Aaron took the spare bedroom after you fell asleep.”
My brows pinch. “What about Lexi?” And if he was awake when I fell asleep, why didn’t he wake me?
“I told her she could have my room.” He digs a finger into the corner of his eyes. “She didn’t want to wake you either.”
Yeah, sure, she didn’t. Especially if I was stuck to Zack like Velcro.
He smiles again, this time more awake. But there’s something different about the way he’s looking at me. His eyes are hooded, but not from the weight of sleep, and they’re flickering between my lips and my eyes in a way that makes my mouth throb and desire to pool deep within my belly.
Feelings like these having been happening a lot lately. And they’re getting worse. Whenever we’re in close proximity, my skin flushes with heat and my heart pounds in my ears. It even happens in training. When my focus and direction are crucial, I’ll hesitate on a countermove or my words will catch in my throat during an explanation. More and more, my mind is consumed with images and thoughts of Zack. I’m losing control, and I don’t like it one bit.
Because what happens if I fall for him? He’s going off to the NHL with scores of women and fans falling at his feet. And where will I be? Teaching in Christos’s studio, hoping that Zack stays faithful—or even comes back, the way I hoped my mother would come home.
I can’t go through that again. I won’t. If Zack wants to be friends, fine, but anything more than that means imminent disaster.
A shadow of caution flashes in his eyes, and he pushes himself upright. “You want coffee?” Even his tone is leery.
Shoving off the couch, I look around desperately for my phone. “Thanks, but I really need to get going.” My hands dig into the plush material of the couch. “Christos must be worried.”
“I texted him from your phone last night,” Lexi calls as she descends the stairway. “Your phone is on the kitchen counter, by the way.”
Sweet Insanity (Sweet Series Book 1) Page 8