Xander
“You’re really gonna go through with this?” Travis asks, sitting back on the couch in the pool house with a beer in his hands and his eyes on me.
“Go through with what?”
“Forcing JJ to go on a date with you.”
“I’m not forcing her to do shit,” I argue, pulling out a black t–shirt from my closet to throw it on over my head. “She could’ve said no.”
He rolls his eyes and I check my hair in the mirror, secretly excited for the night I have planned for her.
I’ve never been on a date before.
I’m used to picking up random girls at parties and going from there, but I’ve never gotten the chance to really earn it like I get to do with Jordyn.
It’s fucking thrilling.
I say goodbye to Bear and pocket my phone and wallet, bumping Travis’ fist on my way to the door.
“Don’t you dare fuck her, Xan.”
“Is that a dare?” I joke, laughing lightly when he bangs his head back against the couch and covers his eyes with his forearm.
Such a fuckin’ drama queen.
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I get to Jordyn’s house a couple minutes before eight and pull up on the driveway, jumping out of my car to walk up to the front door. I’m just about to knock, but then the door swings open and Jordyn appears with only one shoe on and her purse clutched under her arm, breathing heavily like she just ran all the way down here to get the door for me.
“Oh, shit, you look ho–”
“Are you out of your mind?” she hisses, angrily walking me back with a hand on my chest. “You were just gonna knock on my front door and say hey, Maryanne, I’m here to pick up Jordyn for our date?”
“What’s wrong with that?”
She glares and holds on to my shoulder while she bends over to wrestle her other shoe on, then she straightens up and takes her phone out to set the timer for six hours. “Let’s just get this over with.”
I roll my lips and she moves her pretty blue eyes over my form, awkwardly tugging on the hem of her dress while I follow her down to my car to open the passenger side door for her.
She’s wearing a little black dress similar to the first one she was wearing at her birthday party that night. It’s skin tight with a low neck line, sitting mid thigh with two thin spaghetti straps meeting at the back of her neck. Her skin is darker than usual and practically glowing thanks to her time in the sun at Kian’s house today, her shiny blonde hair straightened over her shoulders in a way that makes it look even longer if that’s possible.
She’s so fucking beautiful.
And mean.
And a little hesitant, I think.
“Are you getting in?”
She clears her throat and climbs inside, avoiding my eyes while she pulls her seatbelt on over her chest. I shut the door for her and round the front of the car, jumping in beside her to start the ignition.
“What’s wrong, princess?”
“Nothing,” she mutters, sighing when I lean back and raise a brow at her, refusing to move until she speaks up about whatever it is that’s bothering her. “It’s just.. do you want me to go change into something more.. I don’t know, less? Or more? You didn’t tell me what to wear and now I feel a little overdressed.”
“Do you wanna change?”
“I don’t–”
I cock my head and she shuts her mouth, somehow reading my mind without me having to say it.
Speak your words, Jordyn James.
“Uh, no,” she admits, her cheeks heating the way I know they do when she’s embarrassed. “I like this one.”
“Then no, I don’t want you to change,” I say simply, pulling away to drive towards the gate at the end of her driveway. “You’re perfect just the way you are, Jordyn. Don’t let any fucker tell you different.”
She says nothing and I look her way, slowing to a stop when I catch her staring at me with her mouth parted. I lean over to crowd her space and she swallows what looks like fear, but she doesn’t pull away from me.
“Do you trust me?” I ask, lifting my hand to brush my thumb over her bottom lip.
She narrows her eyes and I laugh before I can stop it, lightly kissing the tip of her nose before I pull back to put the car in first. I hit the gas and she squeals, quickly grabbing on to the door handle to brace herself.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
“Driving,” I chuckle, easily maneuvering my way through the streets the same way I’ve been doing since I was tall enough to reach the pedals.
She mutters something I don’t catch and squeezes her eyes shut at every turn, only releasing the breath she’s been holding when I hit the highway, probably because she can’t feel how fast I’m going on a straight road like this. She looks ready to scream at me, or hit me, or both, but of course she doesn’t do either of those things.
“You’re taking me to the city?” she asks, pulling her sun visor down to reapply the lip gloss I must have ruined when I touched it just now.
“Is that okay?”
Her brows dip but she nods, visibly relaxing like she’s relieved she won’t have to worry about being seen with me in Lakewood where everybody knows her. I’m not offended, though, partly because her animosity towards me makes me laugh but mostly because something tells me she’ll be more herself away from that stupid town she rules with a fake personality and a smile to match.
A little while later, I pull up in the parking lot by the beach and kill the ignition, climbing out and rounding the car to open her door. She looks up at me and I hold my hand out for her, purposely making a show of placing hers in mine when she continues to stare at me like I’ve grown two heads.
“What are y–”
“You need to relax,” I tell her, pulling her out to lead her over to the strip of well lit restaurants and bars across the street. “You’re makin’ me nervous.”
“You get nervous?” she asks, clearly not buying it. “I call bullshit.”
“Did you just say bullshit?”
“I can say bullshit if I want.”
I smirk at her over my shoulder and keep hold of her hand, guiding her in front of me by her waist while we make our way through the busy crowd. We get to the pizza place I found out here a couple weeks ago and I push the door open over her head, amused by the clear look of confusion on her face while I follow her inside.
“You know what you want?”
“Uh, no,” she says, standing up on her tip toes to look at the menu on the counter. “I’ve never had pizza before.”
“You’ve never had pizza?” I echo, pulling my head back in surprise. “How is that even possible?”
She shrugs and drops her eyes, tucking her hair behind her ears while she stares at the checkered floor like she’s fascinated by it. My brows dip and I chew the inside of my cheek, gently lifting her chin until her eyes hit mine. I haven’t known her long, but I’ve never seen her eat anything more than a few bites of lettuce in the cafeteria at school, and I’m betting that has less to do with her and more to do with that bitch of a mother I’ve heard so much about. Her and the asshole ex–boyfriend who made her change her clothes like he had the right.
“Can you not do that?” she asks, pulling her face from my hand. “I don’t need you to feel sorry for me.”
“I don’t feel sorry for you,” I say honestly, walking her along to the front of the line. “I feel sorry for them.”
She stares at me and I turn to the cute girl behind the counter wearing a black and red uniform and a snap back to match. She takes our order and nods along, reaching over to grab a couple paper cups from the stack on her left while she taps away on her screen.
“Pineapple or no pineapple?”
I look at Jordyn and she frowns, bouncing her eyes from me to the pizza girl and then back to me again. “I don’t understand the question.”
“Pineapple doesn’t belong on pizza, princess,” I inform her, taking my wallet out to toss a fifty down on the co
unter. “It’s a thing.”
“Why?”
“It just is.”
“I want the pineapple,” she insists, crossing her arms over her chest like she thinks I’m about to fight her on it.
I give her what she wants and we take our drinks, waiting just a few minutes before I take the pizza box from the guy at the end of the counter. I guide Jordyn to the exit and she frowns again, looking at me over her shoulder.
“We’re not eating in here?”
I shake my head and hold the door open for her with my forearm, shamelessly moving my eyes over her body while she passes me.
“Fuck me, you’re hot.”
The group of good looking guys behind her all voice their agreement and she drops her jaw, gaping at me with a hilarious look of outrage on her face.
I like making her do that.
Without thinking too much into it, I wrap my arm around her back and pull her into me, molding her to my chest while I lean over to tease her lips with mine.
I’d kill for her to let me put a bar through that hot little tongue of hers, to have her look up at me from her knees while she licks the length of my cock with it.
Goddamn.
I release her before I do something that’ll get me slapped and she falls in line beside me, shocked into silence, it seems, but I don’t miss the tiny little smile she’s failing to hide. We get back to my car and I set the food down on the hood, taking her waist to lift her up and place her down next to it. I jump up to sit beside her and flip the box open, passing her a slice before grabbing one for myself. I pick the pineapple off and she shakes her head at me, eating quietly for a minute before she tips her chin at the ocean right in front of us.
“You like the water?”
“I’m from California, remember?”
“Can you surf?”
“No,” I admit, laughing to myself at the memory of Nik trying to teach me when we were little.
I ended up in the hospital with a broken ankle and my parents lost their shit, yelled at Nik for getting me hurt and grounded him for two weeks.
It was hilarious.
“Can you?”
“Can I what?”
“Surf,” I draw out, raising a brow when I realize she’s staring at me again.
She shakes her head no and opens her mouth to speak, but then she changes her mind and looks away.
“Say it.”
She rolls her eyes and grabs another slice of pizza, hesitating a minute before she decides to do as she’s told. “You’re just.. not what I expected, I guess.”
“How’s that?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugs, pausing to take a sip of her drink. “I mean, when I first saw you I thought you looked like a quiet loner boy, but then you opened your mouth and turned into this cocky, big headed player with no chill.”
I chuckle at that, turning my head to tip my chin at the guy walking along the street with a black hood pulled over his head and his hands in his pockets. “What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you look at him?”
“I..” she trails off, confused by the change of subject. “I don’t kno–”
“Don’t think. First thing, princess.”
“Cross the street. He’ll stab me.”
“Alright.” I nod, expecting that. “What if I told you his grandmother’s dying in a nursing home not far from here, and he dresses like that when he goes to see her because he knows she likes it?”
A tiny grin betrays her and she looks away, side eyeing him from beneath her lashes. “You don’t know that.”
“Just like you don’t know he’ll stab you,” I argue, lightly bumping her elbow with mine. “Ever heard of don’t judge a book by its cover?”
“Ever heard of Jack the Ripper?”
I bark out a laugh and she grins for real this time, looking awfully proud of herself while she leans over to steal a small piece of pineapple from the lid of the box between us. The move brings her closer to me and I lift her chin with my forefinger, dropping my eyes to her mouth to watch her eat it.
“You should change the way you look at people.”
“Isn’t that dangerous?”
“Sometimes,” I admit, dipping my head to brush my nose against hers. “But sometimes danger can be fun.”
She pulls in a long breath of air and lets it out slowly, mindlessly sliding her tongue over her bottom lip while she stares at mine.
“Hey, Jordyn?”
“What, Xan?” she whispers, choosing this moment to use my name for the first time since I met her.
“I dare you to swim with me.”
13
Jordyn
He must be out of his mind.
“Are you out of your mind?” I voice my thoughts, momentarily stunned by his stupidity. “Why the hell would I do that?”
“Because I dare you,” he says, plain and simple as if it’s just that easy for him.
I blink and he slides off the hood of his car, pulling his t–shirt over his head to toss it onto the back seat.
“It’s really cold in there,” I inform him, gesturing to the water to distract myself from his abs.
“Don’t be a pussy.”
“I am not a pussy.”
“Prove it,” he challenges, looking right at me while he pops the button on his jeans. “Quit acting like a good girl for once in your life and make a fucking mess.”
“I’m not acting.”
“You sure?”
I sigh and swallow the last of my pizza, wiping my hands with a napkin before I decide to stand up and do as he says. I walk over to him and bend over to remove my shoes, placing them down into the footwell beside his, then I pull my dress over my head and toss it onto the back seat next to his clothes. I’m left in a black lacy thong with a strapless bra to match and he’s wearing nothing but his boxers, hard and ripped and sexy as hell.
“I’m not taking my underwear off.”
“That’s okay,” he says quietly, reaching out to run his thumb over the edge of my thong at my bikini line. “I can just pull this to the side.”
My jaw hangs wide open and he lifts his eyes to my mouth, trapping his bottom lip between his teeth to cover his laughter.
“Can you stop doing that?”
“Doing what?” he asks innocently, attempting to keep a straight face but failing.
“Staring at my tongue like you wanna suck on it.”
He makes a noise that sounds like a cross between a choke and a groan, leaning over me to rest his forehead on mine. “You said that on purpose, didn’t you?”
“Maybe,” I tease, backing away from him to make my way down to the water.
He follows me and I take a breath to ready myself, toeing the shoreline for a second to test the temperature, but then the bastard wraps his arm around my waist from behind and lifts me off my feet.
“Xan!” I squeal, frantically kicking my legs out while he walks me forward and drags me into the ocean.
“Don’t you know it’s better to just dive right in?” he jokes, laughing at me when I try to wiggle myself free. “I thought you said you weren’t a pussy.”
“Oh my god, you’re such an asshole!”
“You’re sexy when you curse,” he teases, leaning over me to nip my earlobe.
I squeal again and elbow his ribs, finally gaining enough leeway to spin around to face him. The water’s up to my collarbone now and it’s fucking freezing, but I can’t help the big ass grin splitting my lips. He grins back and slides his hands over my waist, pulling me into him to wrap my legs around his hips. The warmth of his body feels good against mine and I rest my forearms on his shoulders, taking the opportunity to study every inch of his face while he’s this close to me.
He’s hot, but it’s more than that.
I like his energy and the way he talks, the way he does whatever the hell he wants without worrying what other people might think of him.
He doesn’t care.
He simply does not give a shit, a
nd that excites me more than it should.
I wish I could be like him.
“What’s your deal with all the dares?” I ask, running my fingers through his stupid purple hair to emphasise my question.
“Me and my older brother started this game when we were little,” he explains, slowly running his hands over my outer thighs. “Sort of like a running joke. I’d dare him to do some stupid shit and he’d do the same to me, and whoever said no first would lose the game.”
“Who lost?”
“Well, technically, no one did. It’s still going on.”
“For how long?”
“Thirteen years, I think.”
My mouth parts but I close it just as quickly, frowning to myself while I try to sort through what Travis has told me about his family over the years. It’s not much – he never even mentioned Xander to me before he moved here – but I don’t remember him telling me anything about another cousin on his mother’s side.
“Where’s your brother?”
“He was killed in a bar fight when I was fifteen.”
“Oh,” I say sadly, gently sliding my thumb over the water running down his temple. “What was he like?”
His brows jump and I wince, inwardly cursing myself for asking such a stupid question. Most people would say they’re sorry for his loss and move on to something else, which is obviously what I should have done.
“I’m sorry,” I rush to explain. “I didn’t mean t–”
“No, it’s okay,” he cuts in, staring at me for a long minute before he shakes his head to snap himself out of it. “He was.. wild and hilarious and moody and competitive, probably would’ve tried to steal you from me in under five seconds if he were here.”
I raise a brow at that. “I’m not yours to steal from.”
“Yet,” he adds, laughing lightly when I flick a little water at his face.
He flicks some right back and I turn my head away, not considering the consequences of my actions before I lift myself up to dunk his head under the surface. He comes back up to spit the water out of his mouth and I back away from him, raising my hands in mock surrender when I catch the look on his face.
“Xan..”
Little Devil Page 7