by Ali Parker
I turned a little, putting my face impossibly close to his. “You’ll touch the bugs?”
He laughed and pursed his lips, nodding. “I’ll touch the bugs.”
Chapter 10
Lucas
I wasn’t sure if Jayce was waiting for me or Aubrey as we walked out of biology, so I did the prudent thing and nodded to acknowledge him and then turned to walk alone to practice. He caught up to me a few seconds later.
“Can’t wait on anyone, bitch?”
“Your momma’s a bitch.” I smiled, feeling like a million bucks over the agreement I’d made with Aubrey. She needed my help with the project, and I wanted the chance to get her alone in a hotel room at least once before I left to start life. If she didn’t want to fuck, I was good with that, but I planned on digging a little more into her in some manner of speaking. She was an interesting character, and I couldn’t help but crave the emotional high she drove me toward each time we spoke.
“She actually is a bitch.” Jayce laughed and pushed the door open for us. “What’s up with you working with my sister on this Bio thing? You really think that’s wise?”
“Why wouldn’t it be? It’s just a school project, bro. I’m not trying anything on her. You know I wouldn’t do that.” I ran my hands through my spiky dark hair, hoping like hell that I could hold true to my promise. I wasn’t sure what I was doing with Aubrey just yet, if anything.
“All right, but keep that promise. I know you’re leaving for some distant place soon. I don’t want her hurt. She already thinks a lot of you.” He pointed in front of us and smirked. “Look at William. I swear that fucker wants to have his heart torn from his chest.”
“What?” I followed Jayce’s focus to find William standing a little too close to Aubrey. “What the fuck is he doing?”
Jayce grabbed my arm to stop me from walking over there. “Hey. Let him learn his lesson.”
“And what lesson is that?” I turned to my only friend and hovered over the top of him aggressively. “I don’t want him near Aubrey. The fucker has a drug problem. Who knows what he’s capable of?”
“You sure you don’t have feelings for my sister?” He put a hand in the center of my chest as his tone darkened a little.
“She’s like a sister to me too, Jayce. I care about you. Therefore, I care about her. William’s a prick. A user. No way are we letting him talk to our head Ice Queen.” I turned and started over there.
“Shit.” Jayce moved up beside me. “Forget the Ice Queen crap. That idiot isn’t getting anywhere near my sister.”
“Shit is right.” I pulled at the back of his T-shirt as we walked by, forcing him to join us. “Leave her be. She’s way out of your league, and if you’re late to practice again, I’m going to have Lizzy tie you up and tease you until you pass out from blue balls.”
“Fuck, guys. I was almost there.” William laughed as I stopped and turned around to wrap my hand around the top of his T-shirt.
Jayce pushed at my shoulder, knocking me a little off balance as he moved in front of William and gave the poor kid a good tongue lashing. Aubrey was off-limits for anyone on the team unless she chose to give one of them a chance, and even then, it was highly unlikely that Jayce wouldn’t make the poor guy’s life hell.
He would make my life hell. I’m the guy. Right?
“Okay. Fuck. I get it. Jeez.” William jerked away from Jayce and stormed off in front of us, mumbling about us being pricks or something of that nature.
“Why is that guy on the team again?” Jayce let out a sharp sigh and nodded toward the rink. “Let’s go. Coach will have our balls if we’re late too.”
“He’s a great player but still such an immature kid.” I rolled my shoulders before lifting my hands toward the sky. I wanted to turn around and see Aubrey one more time, but Jayce would know what I was up to. No chance explaining that one.
“Hey!” Layla walked up and joined us, staying on my right where Jayce was on my left.
“Hey, Layla. What’s up?” I glanced down at her, admiring how naturally pretty she was.
“We were thinking that maybe one of the money-making events for the car wash could be a strip tease dance by you guys.” She gave us a funny look.
Jayce responded for us. “Not only no, but hell no. We’re not getting naked in public. Coach would hear about it, and we would probably go to jail.”
“Not naked. Jeez. Aubrey’s in charge. She wouldn’t allow that anyway.” Layla worked to get something out of her backpack as we stopped in front of the rink. “You would wear these.”
She dangled a pair of light blue and silver Speedos in front of our faces as she grinned like a villain might.
“I won’t fit in this.” I grabbed them and held them up in front of Jayce’s face. “You might, but I’m a man and you’re still a boy.”
“Give me that.” He grabbed it from me as Layla and I laughed. “I’m not wearing this. None of us are.”
“We’re pretty sure we can raise a thousand dollars or more by simply putting that event on the flyers for the car wash.”
She barely got her sentence out before Jayce nodded. “Yep. Put us down for it. Coach is always saying we need to get out of our comfort zones more anyway. This would be a good exercise for the guys. Lucas?”
“I’ll shake my ass for a thousand dollars. Just make sure you have security available. I’d hate to have to beat off a hundred women.” I laughed and headed for the door, leaving the two lovebirds to figure out the details. They might both deny that something existed between the two of them, but the rest of us could tell just by being around them for more than ten minutes. Too bad they were clueless.
I walked into the chilly air around the rink and stopped to breathe in deeply. The day had gone much better than I’d expected, and the pressure to be anyone but me almost seemed muted for the time being.
“Hey, son. How’s it going? You wanna give the guys a pep talk about the upcoming game? It’s going to be a make ‘em or break ‘em situation. I know you know that, but let’s make sure everyone else knows it as well.” Coach patted the side of my upper arm before turning and walking back to his office. The dark circles under his eyes told me something wasn’t right.
“Hey. What’s up Coach? You okay?” I followed him into his office and closed the door behind me. “You look like shit.”
He laughed and dropped down into his large leather chair. “Yeah, I’m all right. I had a long talk with my staff this morning, and we’re just trying to figure out what to do about a few issues that keep cropping up. Seems like any time you have large personalities to wrangle, you also get the rest of the shit that goes with it.”
“Such as?” I pressed my hands to the back of the chair in front of his desk and leaned forward.
“Drugs, women, rape, liquor, allegations of theft. You name it, and it seems like I’m always dealing with something.” He shrugged. I couldn’t understand why he didn’t just coach the hockey team and leave the athletic director position to someone else. It seemed like nothing but a headache.
“Not with the hockey guys, I hope.” Concern raced down the center of my chest. I was supposed to be in charge of the Friars, and any bullshit they pulled first came to me as a means of dealing with what we could as a team first.
“Not yet, but I’m sure it’s coming soon.” He reached out and moved a few papers around on his desk. “One of our best baseball players just popped positive for steroids, so he’s off the team, and, of course, McMillian wants me to give up Jayce fully to him. I’m not doing that. I can’t.”
“Jayce needs to make that decision himself.” I stood and pressed my hands to my hips. “We aren’t filing cabinets that you guys can just shuffle the fuck around when you want to. You need to talk with him and see what he wants to do. It’s his opportunity to choose.”
“No. It’s really not, Lucas. Because of the scholarship money the school puts into you guys and the grant funds we use for the athletics program, it’s my department�
��s choice as to what opportunities you guys get and those that you don’t.” He shrugged and ran his hand through his hair. “It’s the way things are done. Do me a favor though.”
“Yeah, sure.” I deflated, thanks to the shittiness of the conversation. I hated the fact that most days of the week, I was a puppet dancing at the end of my parents’ wishes and desires, but to hear that Jayce was headed there soon thanks to the bullshit rules of the university made my stomach hurt.
“Talk to Moore and see what he loves about each program. Find out what he wants without directly asking him and report back to me. I know you guys are close. I’ll see what I can do.” He gave me a tight smile and nodded toward the door. “Now, get out there and pull together that team of misfits to make sure we win another title. You’re tied with both your brother and your father at this point. Let’s tip the odds in your favor?”
I glanced up to the wall behind him to see my last name splashed on too many trophies. He had no idea that I harbored extreme resentment toward both of them in different ways.
“Of course, Coach. We got this.” I turned on my heel and walked down the long hall toward the locker room. The sound of laughter and roughing each other up reached me before I opened the door. I could almost remember being carefree like that when I was younger.
Almost.
Chapter 11
Aubrey
“I can’t do this again.” Sara, one of the girls on the dance team, mumbled behind me as we lined up for another round of pirouette piquée. “My toes are going to break.”
I turned and glanced down at her shoes. “When is the last time you replaced your pointe shoes? They almost look too small.”
“I wasn’t talking to you.” Her voice was filled with disgust.
I glanced up, not quite sure what I’d done to offend her. It had been a few months since I’d tried to have a conversation with anyone in the room. They all seemed to run in the same crowd of elitist assholes on campus, and I wasn’t welcomed in, which was fine. I had the hockey team and a few close friends. I didn’t need them.
“Yeah. Turn around and go back to daydreaming about the next cock you’re going to choke on. Disgusting.” Megan, a blond senior behind Sara, gave me a scathing look.
“Excuse me?” I stepped out of line and turned to face her. “What did you just say?”
“Nothing,” Sara grumbled under her breath as she visibly paled. “Get in line before you call attention to yourself.”
“She does that well.” Megan gave me a knowing smile that caused my fists to clench and my eyes to narrow.
“You don’t know a fucking thing about me. How dare you?”
“You’re the head Ice Queen.” Megan leaned up and showed the full row of her white pearly teeth in a shit-eating grin. “You’ve been seen with Lucas White a few too many times, and we all know that he doesn’t date. We’ve tried. With that being the case—”
“Ladies?” McCraven’s voice was shrill, but I was far too lost to the anger building up inside of me.
“So, you think that I’m sleeping with Lucas just because some of the other Ice Queens put out so easily?” I moved up to stand right in front of her.
She took a step back as her eyes widened and her back hit the bar behind us. “I’m just stating the obvious. It’s not like he would be seen with a cow like you for another reason.”
That was it. I slapped her hard as tears blurred my vision.
“You don’t know shit, you stuck up priss.”
She screamed and knelt to the floor, overdoing it like they always did.
“Aubrey. To my office. Now.” McCraven walked by as the rest of the classroom turned to watch us.
I followed the stiff-necked professor without saying a word. Tears ran a track down my cheeks, and some part of me wanted her to kick me off the squad, to toss me out of the program. I would have to face my mother’s disapproval, but she would eventually get over it. It was headed my way in one form or the other, no matter what.
“Sit.” McCraven closed the door behind me and walked to her side of the desk, leaning over and pinning me with a hard stare.
I should have been nervous or sick with concern, but I wasn’t. I was raging pissed and ready to walk back into the studio and punch the blond princess with far too much personality in the face.
“Look at me. Right at me. I want you to hear this loud and clear.” She leaned over farther, and some part of me started to wilt. I was out. Without a doubt.
“You are by far the best dancer I have on this team. Everyone knows that, including Megan Smith. She and every other girl in that room are looking for a way to emotionally tear you down because there is nothing they can take from you where your talent is concerned. You feel the emotion of the music, and where I don’t agree with the dance forms you enjoy most, I know that passion.” She stood up and pressed her fingers to her chest. “I feel it myself every time I walk onto the wooden floor. It’s home to me. It’s home to you. Don’t you dare ruin what you have by letting those catty bitches make you feel anything less than great. You are a great dancer. Don’t forget it. No matter what they say. No matter what I ask of you. Now… clear up your tears and get back in there. We have a performance coming up, and you’re going to win us the competition. I believe that. You should too.”
I sat in stunned silence as she squeezed my shoulder and walked out of her office, leaving me there panting softly.
Warmth flooded my soul, coating the anger and breaking me down faster than the lies I’d heard only moments before did. I needed to hear that she approved of me. As much as I hated that I needed it, I did. My mother never would, and no one else in my life understood my passion for dance, but McCraven did. She would push me until I broke, but only so that I could become stronger and better in the process.
“Shit.” I stood and wiped at my tears before reaching for a Kleenex. I could do anything I put my mind to, including breaking down Lucas White enough to see the real side of him. “First things first.”
I walked out of the office and took my spot quietly in line as if nothing had happened.
“Vicious bitch,” Sara muttered from behind me.
Turning my face to the side, I smiled. “Don’t forget it either.”
“Hey.” Lucas was waiting for me just outside the dance building after class, which was odd and yet exciting.
“Hi.” I glanced around and smiled at Megan and Sara as they turned to look at us. I moved closer to him and brushed my hand down his cheek. “Those bitches called me a whore today because of our lovely reputations as Ice Queens. They said a guy like you would never really be interested in—”
I didn’t get another word out as he pulled me in tightly and leaned down, pressing his lips to mine.
The world faded into nothingness, and though I only meant to make it look like he and I were more than friends with benefits, the emotion behind the kiss was enough to leave me awake all night, analyzing it.
He cupped the side of my face and tilted his head a little as his tongue brushed across my lips.
I groaned and ran my free hand around his side, memorizing the delicious tightness of his flexed back.
I started to move back, but he tightened his grip on the back of my head and pressed his tongue deep into my mouth.
A moan pulled from the deepest parts of me as I opened up and lifted onto my aching toes to take more of him in. The dark flavor of root beer and cinnamon rushed over my tongue as he lapped slowly at the inside of my mouth. My mind exploded at the possibilities of him taking full advantage of me and working that thick warm tongue over every hidden part of me.
He pulled back with glassy eyes and took a sharp breath. “Fuck. Forgive me. I just wanted to help.”
“Nope. You helped.” I repositioned my backpack as one of my pointe shoes fell from it. We both went down for it and bumped heads—hard.
I fell back on my butt, laughing as he reached for me.
“Damn, Aubrey. I didn’t mean for the kiss to kn
ock you off your feet.” He gripped my hands and pulled me up, tugging me a little too hard.
I reached up and pressed my hands to his chest as I looked up at him with sincerity. “Thank you. Really. It was a shitty day.”
“I’m glad I could help.” He touched the side of my face again as his eyes moved back down to my lips. “Let me take you to the game with me.”
“On your bike? Hell no.” I moved back and took the shoe from him before turning to see half the girls from my dance company staring with open mouths. I couldn’t help but taunt them. “I’m an Ice Queen, remember?”
“She’s my Ice Queen.” Lucas moved in behind me and wrapped his arm around my waist before bending over and kissing the side of my neck as if we were far more than lovers.
Chills raced down my spine, and my pulse started to race to the point of almost feeling dizzy. The hard press of his erection against the curve of my rear drove a spike of lust between my thighs.
I gave them a cheeky grin and pulled from him. “If you have another helmet, you can drive me over to my dorm so I can change. I’ll walk to the game later. You guys have to be there far too early.”
“All right. Come on, ballerina.” He offered me his hand.
I slapped it like I would Jayce’s and walked toward the bike. “The show’s over, and I’m officially turned on, so come on and stop teasing me.”
“Who said anything about teasing?” He smirked and walked to the bike but paused beside it. “You look good in that pink thing. What’s it called? A dance bathing suit?”
I laughed. “No. It’s called a leotard, and stop being good to me. I’m emotionally beat today. I don’t need anything else.”
He got on the bike and offered his hand. “Got it. No more being nice.”
“Really?” I got on the bike and put on my helmet before wrapping my arms around his thick waist. I wanted to reach down and cup his package so damn bad, but it was just residual lust from him playing the part of the sexy boyfriend to fend off my naysayers. He didn’t have feelings for me. He was Lucas White. He didn’t have feelings for anyone.