by A. J. Moran
"He was offering them." He gestured at Mario with the half-eaten cookie before taking another mouth full. Then he moaned around the mouth full of warm cookie and closed his eyes in happiness. I could have punched him.
"Perfect man." He told Mario and leaned towards me, completely invading my space, to reach around me to grab another one. He took his time. He was close enough for me to see the light brown flecks in his jade green eyes and the soft smattering of freckles on his cheeks and nose. I leaned back onto the counter as he loomed over me.
It was called personal space.
I caught the hint of his soap, a tangy lime smell, as he moved back with another cookie in his hand.
Thief.
“Marcus!” Someone called from the hallway. “Damn this house is huge, where the hell are you?”
"Follow your nose brother, follow your nose," Marcus replied and brought the cookie up to his nose and inhaled. I couldn't take it anymore, and I snatched the cookie from between his fingers. Childish I know but the look on his face was worth it. With a swift move, I took a bite of the warm cookie and rolled the flavor around my mouth savoring it. I closed my eyes just as he had moments before and let out a low moan. Triumph. How sweet the taste, a happy smile spread across my face.
"Classy," Marcus replied as he leaned over me to get another cookie off of the now discarded plate. Mario had abandoned me. "Maybe you could do that with something else in your mouth. Bet it would be just as good." He whispered in my ear, and I almost choked on the cookie as his brother came skidding into the room.
Marcus straightened and took a bite of his new cookie innocently, while the dormant butterflies in my stomach tried to escape. I was not feeling the warm and fuzzy's at his words. That was just mental.
I was utterly not feeling that.
Nope.
Those words would not cause that reaction in me.
Not ever.
“Fresh baked cookies? I could get used to this.” Wade laughed as he went around the counter to grab his cookie, unlike his brute of a brother. “You done throwing a fit yet?” He eyed me with a smirk identical to his brothers, his golden eyes glimmering with humor. Maybe they were both brutes.
"I do not throw fits." I huffed out still entirely out of sorts from Marcus's comment. The images that popped into my head when he had whispered that in my ear made me feel like running back to my room and locking the door or dropping to my knees and finding out right here and now. And the chill that ran down my spine spread goosebumps across my skin.
“You could have fooled us.” He laughed and elbowed his brother trying to get him involved. Marcus just stood there finishing his cookie with a smirk on his face.
I hated him.
I hated both of them.
"Whatever," I said and stalked out of the room after grabbing up the plate full of cookies.
"Hey, leave some for us," Wade called after me, and I could hear Marcus's deep chuckle at my actions, it followed me down the hall, and I could still hear it as I went up the steps to my room.
Chapter 6
Marcus
I watched as Taylor ran from the room with the plate of cookies. She was beyond sexy. Her large dark doe eyes and full lips painted in a deep red combined with the rest of her subtle curves had made my blood start to heat with attraction the moment Taylor cocked her hip out and planted her tiny hand on it in irritation. Not to mention when she mimicked my moan with a sexy one of her own. That had been hot.
The memory of the blush that stained her cheeks made a grin cover my face, and my laughter fades away. She was going to be the death of me. I could feel it now.
“Dude.” Wade smacked me in the arm. “What did you do to her?”
“Me?” I laughed again. “You just came in here and insulted her. It was way worse than what I did.” Well maybe. Mom would’ve completely beaten my ass if she had heard me talk to her that way.
“What did you do?” He asked with a smirk.
"I was just having an innocent conversation with her," I said defensively. It was definitely not innocent. Wade knew me too well.
“Dude.” He smacked me again. “You can not hook up with our new sister.” Like he hadn’t had the thought before seeing her.
"Not our sister," I growled. I wasn't sure why those words bothered me so much, but she was never going to be my sister. Not with the way my blood heated when I was around her even when she was acting like a spoiled bitch like she had this morning. "And I'm not planning on hooking up with her." I lied.
Wade's laughter made my temper spike again, and I pushed him harder into the counter behind him.
"Shut it, Wade." I was in his face, and a grin spread across his face as his hands went up in surrender.
"I won't repeat it." He promised.
It was a lie. Wade pushed buttons just as well as I did. It was a Frost trait. Once we had a button to push we would use it again and again until it wasn't fun anymore. I would be using the button I had discovered about Taylor. The blush that covers her cheekbones at my teasing and the way her dark eyes seem to get darker with my words made it a new type of drug I could become addicted too.
It was completely wrong.
Chapter 7
Taylor
I was out of the house before the sun started to rise the next morning. There was no way I was spending another full day inside my new personal hell. I drove out to the coast. The three-hour drive was beautiful. I had my favorite Starbucks skinny latte, and the radio was playing all of my favorite songs. For a little while, it felt like before my mom had gotten sick, back when I was normal. The beach was our place.
My phone buzzed with a text from my dad as I pulled out onto the beach with the other people arriving at the beach for the day. After I parked I clicked on the phone to read the text.
‘Where are you? When are you coming home?’
I quickly typed out an answer, ‘At the beach, be home tonight.' I may be mad at him, but I didn't want him to worry.
A response came almost immediately, ‘When you get home we need to have a family meeting.’
I snorted and tossed my phone into my passenger seat before picking up my book, towel, and my latte and making my way down closer to where the waves were crashing against the sand. There was no way in hell I was attending a ‘family meeting' with my new wanna be Mom or her sons. After what Marcus had pulled last night I didn't want to be anywhere around him. He was dangerous in more than one way.
I spread my towel out, under one of the beach umbrellas on one of the plastic lounge chairs. Exactly what I needed today. Book in hand I opened it up and got lost in the story. A story that was not my own.
The hours passed and before I knew it the sun was going down, and my stomach was growling at me. All of the food I brought to eat today was gone. So I'd have to grab something on the way back home. No, not home, back to hell. With that depressing thought, I picked up my stuff and headed back to my car.
When I climbed back into the car, I grabbed my phone to check it for any missed messages and found that Derrick had called a million times and Vee had texted just as many. Followed by a few from Samantha and Quentin too. Samantha probably just wanted the latest gossip at the party on Friday night. She had to miss it; she also had some strict parents. But Quentin was less demanding and probably all tied up with his latest boyfriend somewhere.
I texted a quick, ‘I’m fine,’ to my worried friends and then started the long drive back.
◆◆◆
My dad was waiting for me when I entered the foyer. He was sitting in one of the two chairs that had been put there for ‘decoration' by my mom a few years ago. His stern gaze landed on me. His arms crossed, and his back stiff. Oh no. I swallowed hard and shut the door softly behind me. It was after eleven. It was also a school night, and he may be lax and in some stuff and allowed me my little fit the other day this was not something that was negotiable.
"I can explain," I told him before he could get anything out.
"I
told you that we were having a family meeting. I expected you to be home hours ago. This behavior has to stop. I put up with it for a while because – because" he swallowed back emotion before he continued, "I know it has to be hard losing your mother. But she's been gone over six months now, and you can't keep doing the things you are doing. You never used to act like this while she was alive. Between not being here for the meeting and being so mean to the boys yesterday--"
"Oh, six months! Is that a long time or something?" I bit out. "It must be long enough for you, huh dad?" I nodded my chin up to the landing and towards the hallway that led to his room. All the anger I had been feeling and that I had released at the beach had returned full force. “I’m sorry I’m not your perfect daughter anymore. I’m sorry that it is taking me so long to get over the pain of losing my mother. Silly me I should have just moved on the day after we buried her as if she never lived! It’s what you did.”
“Taylor!” His face looked as though I had hit him. God, I hated the person I had become since she had died. But I hated what he had done even more. I turned from him and ran up the stairs. Tears blurred my eyesight, but I didn't need to see where I was going to know where my room had always been. At least some things didn’t change.
I came rushing around the corner to the hallway that led to my room when I ran straight into Wade. He caught me and steadied me before I fell after colliding with him. "Whoa there. Are you okay?" He asked with concern evident in his face all the humor he had when he teased me about throwing a fit was missing now. So he wasn't a complete jackass.
That was nice.
I ignored his question and pushed past him. I felt his eyes watch me until I reached my room. "If you want to talk-" His words followed me, and I closed my bedroom door before he could finish his sentence. I would not be talking to either brother. Not about my mom. Not about my life. Not about anything.
Sleep didn't come to me all night long. The words I had flung at my dad echoed in my head and guilt ate at me. So when the first light of the sun started to peak over the trees and into my open bedroom window, I decided to get ready for the first day of school and leave before any more horrible confrontations.
I pushed around the different choices for our uniform at school before settling on a mini and a white button up, that was never actually buttoned all the way up, with a pink cami underneath, paired with my cotton candy pink heels and it was as close as I was going to get to myself for the day. I put on the bare minimum of makeup to cover up the dark shadows under my eyes and then I was climbing into my car and heading to my private school, two miles away.
Shortly after arriving I was met by Derrick, Vee, and Quentin. Samantha hadn't shown up yet. They all wanted to know what was up with the radio silence since Friday night, but I brushed off their questions. I tried to cheer myself up by listening to Quentin's latest dating story.
He was so animated when he told his tales, and the way Quentin described some of the guys he dated was always entertaining. Either they were over the top gay or they were so manly you wouldn’t pick them out in a crowd, but either way he always had some great stories about the guys he would meet. None of them kept his attention for long though. He claimed he just hadn’t found the ‘one’ yet. I thought maybe he just liked the variety.
"So Saturday night at that party you missed," Quentin paused and quirked up an eyebrow at me before continuing, "Jacob Young came up to me, and he was beyond drunk. His words were slurring, and he was all ‘aren't you that gay kid from my school?' and I was all, ‘obviously.' Then he grabbed me and kissed me in front of everyone. I swear a quiet settled over the crowd and angels sang. It was glorious. Glor-E-OUS!” He repeated with an over the top wink at me.
"Then he pulled away and said that we would have to do that again sometime before he sauntered off. I had sworn he was going to hit me instead of kissing me, so it was a pleasant surprise. Although, he could probably kiss a little better not being completely drunk. He was a bit sloppy.” He added absently his fingers brushing his lips as if in memory.
"Wow, I wouldn't have guessed he liked guys," I told Quentin honestly. Although I knew by now that it wasn't something that you could pick out of a crowd. Who a person liked, male or female didn't matter much. If someone makes you happy go for it. At least that was my personal feelings on the subject.
Derrick wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and rubbed my stomach absently then propped his chin on my shoulder.
“I knew.” He told them.
Jacob was on the football team with Derrick, and he was always around the guys. Looking back on it I had never really seen him with a girl, at least not romantically, but that didn't mean much in the grand scheme of things.
"No, you didn't. Not even my gaydar picked that one up. I was shocked." Quentin laughed.
“That is great Quen. Get that D.” Vee broke into the conversation with a chuckle.
"Shut up skank, just because you don't like the D doesn't mean other people can't. Gotta balance it out somehow." He snarked at her with a smile to take any bite out of his words, in return she hit him hard in his shoulder, and he groaned in pain.
"Sorry, do you prefer tart?" He gave her the side-eye and then moved out of the way of her swinging fist with a laugh.
As the first bell rang I caught sight of my new housemates heading to the office with Claire and I cringed. Not only would I have to deal with them at home, but I would also have to now deal with them at school. Great. Wade's gaze landed on me, and he nudged Marcus striding next to him then both pairs of eyes watched me as the halls cleared out around us. It was almost as if the distance between us didn't exist and I fell into their gaze like a hapless bug in a spiders web.
Chapter 8
Marcus
I knew she'd be at school. It was a given. But the sight of her standing down the hall a little bit as the whole world moved around her was still a little shock of lightning through my system. She had been scarce around the house since the cookie incident. And I had a slight craving to talk to her, to see her blush. Maybe even hear her laugh.
Then an arm snaked around her waist, and my eyes narrowed in on the linebacker of a guy standing next to her. "She has a boyfriend." I heard the words come from my mouth, but they didn't feel like they had come from me. It was almost an out of body feeling. I was numb. A bucket of ice water had doused the little fire inside me.
"What were you expecting?" Wade laughed his eyes still on the pair. "Lots of cute girls besides her though." He gestured around the clearing hallway, and he wasn't wrong.
"Yeah." I forced a smile and moved my eyes over the other girls still in the hallway. A few smiled back. One winked; it wasn't going to be horrible. I could work with this. I nodded at the redhead that had winked. I'd find her later. Thoughts of Taylor had to be pushed out of my head because I did not go for girls with guys. That was so not me.
"Come on boys. You are already late for your first day." Mom held the door open for the office behind her and gestured for us to go inside.
Chapter 9
Taylor
The whispers about the new guys started just after the third hour. The rumor mill swirled around me as girls gushed over how hot they were and they talked about how nice they were. I snorted at that. Yeah right. There were a lot of words I'd use to describe my new housemates and ‘nice' was not one of them. Arrogant jerk, thief, and jackass were some of the top names I’d use, to name a few.
"Taylor, have you seen the new guys yet?” Samantha turned to me and asked as I sat down in the seat across the aisle from her for fourth hour Chemistry.
She had been one of my friends from grade school. She was also the school gossip. Like for real, her part of the paper was all of the latest gossip for Grandville prep. She was always on top of all the new stuff that happened. Usually, I would eat it all up, but since the new boys were also my new roommates I was not interested.
I could picture her new article. ‘Grandville prep has two new hottie's in its mis
t.' She would try to dig up all the information she could find out about them. I held in a groan. That would be bad, very bad. Her detective skills ranked up there with Sherlock.
“New guys?” I asked, acting clueless. I did not want to talk about them. Ever.
“Oh my gosh! Please tell me you are not serious! They are amazing! They are so nice. Marcus Frost is nice. I haven’t talked to his brother yet. They are from about an hour away from us and had to move here because their mom found love. It was such a romantic story. At least that is what I was told.” She almost swooned in her seat. She knew more about my new housemates than I did; like their last name. “Did I mention they are also what dreams are made of?”
“I don’t think you did.” I gave her a fake smile.
Please just shut up. I could not do this much longer. It didn't matter that we were friends. She was so absorbed in telling me about them that she didn't notice that I was unresponsive.
"Well they are, Marcus is tall and lean, but you can tell he has something going on under his uniform, and his black hair is curly, and he has the deepest greenest eyes I've ever seen. You know they aren’t like yours at all. And his smile, god his smile—" She broke off with another dreamy look on her face, and it made me think of the freckles she didn't mention he had, the ones I noticed when he was so close to me, "—Perfect that is what I would call him."
Not exactly what I would call him. I rolled my eyes.
"I'll have to take your word for it," I told her and opened my textbook on my desk trying to give her the hint that I did not want to talk about them anymore.
That is when it happened. The world seemed to stop turning. Marcus came into the room seconds before the bell rang. He glanced around the room. His eyes fell on me, and caught briefly before he moved down the aisle to the only available seat left, the one next to me at my desk. Everyone knew I worked better alone. Which was why no one sat with me. I wanted to crawl under the said table and hide as he approached. I could not sit with him for the next six months. Not every single day. Nope.