“There something you need, buddy?”
He seems surprised, but then he shakes his head and walks away without another word.
“Carson,” Felicity chastises.
“What? Dude was being a weirdo, just hovering there like that.”
She laughs and shakes her head. “You never did like him.”
“Still don’t,” I remind her, picking up my beer and taking a drink.
“Why? What problem could you possibly have with the guy now? You haven’t seen him in years.”
“He likes you,” I point out.
“He does not.” She rolls her eyes, thinking I’m just being overprotective again.
I lean forward, resting my arms on the table. “He does. Why else did he ask if you were sticking around town?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. To make conversation?”
This time, I’m the one to roll my eyes. “No, dude wants another turn with you.”
She shakes her head. “Well, he’s not getting it.”
“Is that so?” I ask as she leans in.
She nods.
I’m about to ask her why that is, see if it has anything to do with me, but I get cut off when Greg plops down at our table.
“Look at you two getting all nice and cozy,” he says, placing a hand on each of our shoulders and giving us a little shake. “Chad said you chased him off, Carson. You never did like that punk.” He laughs.
I move my eyes in his direction. “He wasn’t the only one I didn’t like,” I say, hoping he gets the hint.
“Oh, no! You didn’t like anyone who tried sniffing around Felicity, here. Hey, you remember that time. Oh…when was it. It must have been your freshmen year away. You were so worried that all the guys would start asking Felicity out, you made the football team follow her around everywhere she went?” He starts laughing and Felicity’s eyes cut to me.
“That’s why they were following me around?” Her voice is loud and squeaky. “I couldn’t figure it out. It was creepy as hell! They legit tried hiding behind trees and stuff so I wouldn’t see them. But do you know how hard it is to hide a six-four linebacker behind a tree?”
Her description makes me laugh. “I’m sorry.” I laugh. “I wasn’t trying to freak you out. I just wanted to make sure you had someone watching over you while I was gone.”
She shakes her head, her eyes rolling in response. “You were always very overprotective.”
Greg nods his head in agreement. “Oh, you have no idea. Once, a bunch of guys tried sneaking into a slumber party you were at, fuckface here decided to call the parents and let them know. They came out and busted us.”
Her eyes widen. “That was you?” She points at me from across the table.
Greg nods. “Yep, nobody got laid that night.”
We’re all laughing and giggling like old times, but I wish he wouldn’t tell all of my secrets.
“And then once,” he starts.
“Alright, Greg. I think that’s enough,” I say, cutting him off.
“Okay,” he agrees.
“Wait! No, I want to know the lengths you’ve gone to just to keep me pure,” she teases.
I shake my head. “Trust me, you don’t want to know,” I tell her.
The conversation shifts to something else, more high school memories of parties, dances, and football games. Eventually, Greg gets up to go for a beer, leaving us alone. A soft song starts playing through the speakers and I hold out my hand. “I think I owe you a dance, right?”
She looks up at me confused, then acknowledgment washes through her green eyes.
“You promise you’ll dance with me?” Felicity asks as she corners me at my senior prom. My date is off in the bathroom again, primping and fixing her makeup.
“I already told you I would, Felicity,” I tell her as I lean against the wall, rolling my eyes. Most senior guys wouldn’t be caught dead with a freshmen girl, not unless he’s trying to bang her and steal her innocence, but everyone knows that I’m not and believe me, I get plenty of shit over it too.
“I know you did, but you’re drinking a lot and I’ve heard talk of all the seniors leaving early to go to a party. I just didn’t want you to forget about me.”
I look in her green eyes and every time I do, it’s like I get trapped there. “I could never forget about you.”
That makes her smile and pink paints her cheeks. “Okay.” She finally lets it go as she turns and walks back to her friends.
As the night drags on, me and the guys drink more from our flasks we snuck in and the girls get pretty rowdy. Everyone is ready to leave this chaperoned party and find one that’s adult free. I look around, needing to find Felicity so I can deliver on my promise, but Jessica grabs my arm and starts tugging me toward the door.
“Come on, baby. Let’s get out of here and get into something a little more fun.” She starts kissing my neck, making my blurred eyes even more hard to see through.
“Okay, I just have to find Felicity first.”
She rolls her brown eyes. “Ugh, she’ll be fine. She’s in high school now and with her own date. Come on. She’ll understand. Plus, she’ll probably be glad to get rid of her babysitter for a couple hours.” Her lips land on mine and her hand glides across the seat of my pants, brushing across my dick that hasn’t had attention in too long.
Since Felicity started high school, she’s been attending all the same parties as me. That makes it really hard to keep an eye on her and get laid. So my dick has been pushed to the back of my mind for too long now. Every party, I used to get laid. Now, I’m leaving early and taking Felicity home before she gets into any trouble.
“Alright,” I agree, letting her pull me toward the exit.
“Prom,” she says as she slides her hand into mine.
I nod. “I know I’ve said I’m sorry at least thirty times since then, but I really am sorry,” I tell her, spinning her around and pulling her to my chest on the dance floor.
She rolls her eyes. “You were just excited to go to a party without me.”
I shrug. “It wasn’t so much the party as it was about getting laid without having to worry that some drunk asshole was trying to take advantage of you.”
“Well, jokes on you because some drunk asshole tried taking advantage of me anyway.”
That causes a whole new memory to form behind my eyes.
It’s going on two a.m. before the limo pulls up outside of my house. As I climb out, I loosen my tie and slip out of my stiff jacket the moment I exit the car. Who can wear this shit all the time? The door closes on the limo but I can still hear the party going on inside. I wave as the limo pulls off, and I turn for the door.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see a black Cadillac parked on the side of the road in front of Felicity’s house. There are no lights on. The car isn’t running. There isn’t anyone in the front seat. I look at the driveway and see that Felicity’s mom must be working another night shift at the store. She won’t be home until early morning. I look at my watch. That’s still several more hours.
With a deep breath, I walk over to the car and peek into the windows. The back seat is empty too. Damn it! Felicity and her date are in the house…alone. I rush up the sidewalk and onto the porch, tossing my jacket down on the porch swing as I open the door. The living room light is on, but nobody is in the room. I head down the hallway and hear music behind Felicity’s door. I put my ear up to it and hear soft moans and whispers.
“Come on, baby. Nobody will have to know,” he says.
My jaw clenches.
“No, Mark. I can’t. We hardly know one another,” Felicity says softly.
“Then why the fuck did you go to prom with me? Everyone knows what goes on at prom.”
“I just, I just wanted to go to prom. I’m fifteen. I’m not ready to have sex yet.”
“Fine, no sex,” I hear him agree and I take a breath to cool off. “But how about a blowjob?”
I can’t stop myself. I throw open the doo
r and flip the light on. They both jump from being interrupted.
“What the fuck, man?” the guy says, standing up from the bed that Felicity is on and rushing to button his pants back up.
I don’t even say anything. I just grab ahold of his shirt and drag him to the door. I open it and throw him out it. Felicity is right behind me and I turn around, pointing my finger in her face. “Stay here.” I slam the door closed behind me and notice that for once, she listens and isn’t following me out.
Her date is working to get himself up. I guess he fell when I threw him. I grab him up and pull him behind me to his car. I walk him out into the street, then slam him against the driver’s side door. Getting close to his face, I say, “Leave. Don’t ever come back and don’t ever let me catch you around Felicity again. Got it?”
He’s out of breath and holding up his hands in front of him, but he nods.
“Next time, you won’t get the chance to walk away.” I step back and he rushes into the car. Seconds later, he’s squealing his tires as he hits the gas, leaving in a rush.
I hang my head and take a few deep breaths, trying to cool the anger that’s burning inside of me. After a few moments, I walk back into her house and find her sitting on the couch. Her dress is unzipped in the back and it’s falling off her shoulders; her hair is a mess, and her makeup is smeared. I look at her with the sternest look I can muster, and she breaks down into tears.
“I’m sorry, Carson. I didn’t mean to…” She sniffles. “I mean, I didn’t know that he would want to…” More sniffles.
My anger melts away and I go to her, pulling her against my chest where she cries into my shirt.
I look into her green eyes and they sparkle and shine, lighting up the dimly lit bar. “Just so you know, there’s no lengths I won’t go to, no lines I won’t cross to keep you safe.”
The corners of her mouth turn up slightly, then her hands that are wrapped around my neck pull my head down and her lips press against mine.
Eleven
Felicity
He says that there are no lengths he won’t go to to keep me safe. I hope he realizes that I feel the same way about him. After his parents’ divorce, things were a bit rocky for him. His mom was depressed and having to learn how to do everything on her own, take care of the house, dinner, keeping an eye on her son, and bringing in a paycheck. It’s a lot for any adult, but especially for her, a woman who went straight from her parents to her husband at the age of eighteen. After the depression wore off and things started to get back to normal, she did what any young woman would do. She started dating, but not all those boyfriends were good. One was downright horrible, especially toward Carson.
I’m outside, playing in the yard alone when I hear a loud crashing sound come from Carson’s house.
“You little shit,” Jared, Connie’s boyfriend, yells. And I know he’s talking about Carson.
The screen door squeaks open and slams shut. I look up just in time to see Carson come running out the door. He’s headed for the backyard where I am.
I stand up. “What’s going on?” I ask.
“He’s coming! Run!” Carson says, running as fast as he can over to me. He grabs my arm. “Come on. We have to escape to the woods where he can’t find us.”
But it’s too late, Jared is now outside, walking up to us with a belt in his hand. He points at Carson. “Your mom won’t beat your ass like you deserve, but I will. Come over here,” he demands.
I look over at Carson and can see him shaking. I don’t know what he did, but I don’t care. I don’t want to see him hurt. So I do the only thing I can think of. I move to stand in front of him. I cross my arms and try my best to look bigger than I am. Carson’s older so of course his head sticks up above mine.
Jared comes to a stop a few yards away. “Move, Felicity,” he demands.
“No!” I say. “You’re not hurting my friend.”
“Well, if your friend would behave himself, I wouldn’t have to.”
“I think Mrs. Wells would like to hear about this when she gets home.” I’m only nine, but already I know that she wouldn’t be okay with her boyfriend punishing her son like this. Ground him, sure. Take away his bike, yep. But hitting him with a belt? No way.
His eyes squint at me as he tries to make up his mind on what he wants to do. “You going to tattle on me, kid?”
“You’re not hurting my friend,” I say again, getting more and more scared the longer he looks at me that way.
My mom must see us from the window because she comes outside. Standing at the door, she yells, “Everything okay out here?”
I look at Jared and he looks at me.
“Yeah,” he yells back to her. “I was just looking for Carson but I found him.” He points his finger at him. “Don’t run off,” he says, loud enough that my mom can hear. He turns and walks away, but to Carson’s house.
Remembering that almost makes tears form in my eyes, but I will them away. That’s the sort of thing that Carson and I don’t talk about anymore. He hated growing up the way he did, and I hate it for him. He’s such a good, caring guy. Sure, he got into some trouble as a kid, but what boy doesn’t?
When the song ends, we pull apart. “I’m going to use the restroom,” I tell him and he releases my hand as he walks in the opposite direction to the table. I quickly use the ladies’ restroom and wash my hands. When I walk out, I bump right into Chad’s back.
“Oh, hey,” he says, steadying me.
I smile. “Hi, sorry. I should watch where I’m going.”
He waves his hand through the air. “You can bump into me anytime.” He offers up a flirty smile and finally, I see what Carson was talking about.
“Well, I should get back.” I point in the direction of Carson.
He nods his head in the same direction. “He doesn’t like me much, huh?”
I laugh. “Don’t take it personally. Carson’s never liked any guy that gave me attention.”
“Ahhh, I seem to remember that.”
“What do you mean?”
He laughs. “I got my first black eye from him.”
I gasp. “What? When?”
“The day after we all went to the Winter Wonderland Festival here in town.”
“That’s the day you broke up with me,” I remember out loud.
He nods. “Yup, he’s why.”
“What happened?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know. I know that you guys left pretty early, and I stayed and hung out with some friends. We were skating and playing hockey once the crowd thinned out. The next thing I knew, he was back and he was pulling me over the wall that separated the ice from the sidewalk. He yanked my ass up over it, threw me on the ground, and demanded that I stay away from you. I was caught off guard. I knew of him, but I didn’t actually know him. I had only heard stories and him threatening every guy to stay away from you. I didn’t think he’d actually do anything, so I told him to fuck off, that I liked you and that you didn’t belong to him.”
“Ohhh,” I say, listening to his story.
“Then he punched me. I got a few hits in on him too though. All in good fun, huh?” He laughs like it’s a fond memory.
I nod and fake a laugh. “Right, right,” I agree. Guys are so weird. Pretty sure if some girl attacked me, I wouldn’t be laughing about it, even all these years later. I’d still be holding a grudge.
“Anyway, I don’t know if you two are still just friends or what, but here’s my number. Call me if you want. We have a lot to catch up on.” He passes me a business card and walks away.
As I walk back to the table, I look at the card. It says, Chad Johnson, Veterinarian along with his business and personal cell phone number.
I tuck the card into my back pocket as I approach the table and I sit down. “So, I just heard the funniest story.”
“Oh, yeah?” he asks, his eyes moving up to lock on mine.
“Yep. I finally found out why Chad broke up with me all those years ago.”
He sinks down into his chair and picks up his beer bottle, taking a long drink.
I place my arms on the table and lean forward. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”
His face is red and he’s trying his best not to smile, but he shakes his head no.
I tilt my head to the side. “Seriously, you beat him up?”
He jumps to tell his side of the story, leaning over the table the same way I am. “He left me no choice. I was just going to scare the little asshole, but he called me out.”
“He said I didn’t belong to you,” I remind him.
His face pinches. “Yeah, that’s why I beat him up. You’ve always belonged to me.”
I smile. “You know, I’m not sure if this relationship we have is sweet or scary.”
He laughs. “A little of both, probably.”
“Probably,” I agree.
We leave the bar and arrive home a little while later and I climb out without thinking. He rushes out of the car and jogs up to me. “Whoa, where are you going?” He grabs ahold of my wrist and pulls me back.
“I’m going home. My mom is probably waiting up to hear how our night ended.”
His hands find my hips and he starts walking me backward, against the side of the house. My back hits the brick but he moves in until I’m pressing against him. “You don’t want to come over?” he asks, moving his lips to mine. His kiss is soft and gentle, but I know there’s so much more behind it. “Come on, for old time’s sake?”
I giggle against his lips. “Oh, are we going to make blanket forts and have a pillow fight?”
He chuckles. “If you want to.” He moves his lips back to mine and his hands move up to unzip my coat. With it open, his hands slide in, landing on my chest and giving a firm squeeze.
“I don’t know, Carson,” I breathe out. “I mean, don’t you have some thinking to do about Gillian?”
“Gillian has not even crossed my mind, Felicity,” he whispers, moving his lips to my neck now. God, this man’s mouth can work magic. My eyes flutter closed as I enjoy the sensation of his lips on my neck, his hands on my body.
Naughty or Nice: A Friends to Lovers Christmas Romance Page 9