by Blair Holden
“So I think I’ve got it. This is my ‘touch my man and I’ll hack you with a cleaver’ outfit,” Cami yells from the other room.
“Wonderful, that’s exactly the soft, romantic look I want for tonight,” I mutter to myself and head on to my doom.
***
“I look like a perverse Polly Pocket.” This is so wrong.
“I think you look great.”
“You’re not trying to pass on lingerie as an actual piece of clothing, so shush.” Megan zips her lips and goes back to curling her hair.
I’m wearing nightwear to a party. Nightwear, what you’re supposed to wear to bed. Not pajamas either, this is a lacy, black silk camisole, and I’m pretty sure you don’t wear it out unless you’re posing for a Victoria’s Secret catalogue.
“Keep up with the trends, Teresa, lingerie is the new crop top and high-waisted skirt. And what you’re wearing isn’t even racy.”
“I feel like I need to accessorize this with a blanket. Can I?”
She makes a face and I stop trying to annoy her, because she’s currently gluing false lashes to my eyelids and I’m in a vulnerable position.
“You look hot, smoking hot. So hot, that ice princess is going to incinerate if she tries to come near you.”
Cami has cyberstalked Kimmy and is now an expert. She’s been coaching me all evening, telling me how to best conduct myself around her. I’ve told her that the girl has a tendency to act like a leech around hot guys.
“She has an aversion to high fat, carbs, sugar, and well anything that tastes remotely good. Keep Cole where all the food is and you’ll be fine. She’s one of those people who thinks they can gain five pounds just by smelling grease.”
“Gotcha.”
“Also, tell her that her roots are showing or worse, tell her that her hair looks brassy. It’s a fake blonde’s nightmare.” She flips her own naturally blonde hair.
“But if you really want to go for it, I suggest asking her about Chad.”
“Who’s Chad?”
“Chad is her boyfriend who just Instagrammed a picture of himself kissing someone who looks like she’s pushing forty but damn, the chick’s working it.”
My face scrunches up in confusion. “So he’s cheating on her?”
“Not just cheating, he made it Instagram official. He’s banging his former teacher and get this, she’s pregnant. He’s very happy to be a father.”
“Ouch, no, I don’t think I’m bringing up Chad. That’s got to hurt.”
“But if she tries to maul Cole, I’m bringing in the big guns.”
“You will do no such thing. We’re not bringing up Chad.”
I’m impressed by how contained Cole has managed to keep the night’s activities. While the music might have been loud, inside everything seems to be civilized enough. I know the people invited tonight are a mixed bunch, Cole and Lan’s friends from military school, some from Brown, others from Lan’s school, and a few stragglers.
And then there’s Kimmy. She’s on one of the couches, in some guy’s lap, and looks well on her way to being drunk. I’m amused to see that Seth and Jameson are standing quite close to her with stoic expressions on their faces, as if keeping guard.
“Remember, Tessa, you need to get back into the sheriff’s good books after your brief stint in prison. Let’s not kill anybody just yet.” Megan has evidence of me sucker punching a mean girl at a club. She’s shown it to me twice before coming here, just so I know that if I want to, I can pack a punch, and I probably don’t have enough money to pay for Kimmy’s cosmetic procedures if I end up doing damaged to her lip fillers or destroy her nose job. “Right.” I take a deep breath. “Walk with me, Sharp, I’m going to need you to be the voice of reason.”
Cami, Megan, and I get some looks as we walk in, and Cami basks in the attention; she’s completely in her element and has every eye in visible distance locked onto her. Her outfit is certainly making the kind of impact she wanted, and the belief is cemented when I catch a glimpse of Lan, whose jaw seems to be stuck to the floor.
But there’s one pair of eyes that aren’t watching Cami, and I can feel them on my body, heating up my skin by how intense they are. My Cole radar never fails me and I see him, leaning against the wall away from the crowd, hands tucked in his pocket and devouring me with his gaze. I realize that we match, he’s in all black too, looking so sinful that I have to avert my gaze so that I don’t do something that I’ll regret. His eyes take in the black slip I have for a shirt, they go down to my skintight pants, and end at my heeled black boots. It seems like he retraces the pattern a hundred times before I’m able to move.
“Alex says he’s doing much better now than he was a few days ago. You’re doing good, Tessa; whatever it is, you’ll figure it out,” Megan reassures me, and her words come at a much-needed moment. We’re building something bigger here, and I can’t let one lustful moment ruin it. So while he gives me his hot looks, I swirl around and head right in the opposite direction.
“Jay!” I’ve never felt so relieved to see him or as enthusiastic, but he’s the best diversion I’ve got, so when I find him hanging around a couple of guys I’ve never seen in my life, I drag him away.
“So good to see you.” My cheeks hurt from smiling so much. “You didn’t bring Stephanie?”
He seems a little, or maybe a lot, taken aback by my happiness to see him, but to his credit, he doesn’t call me crazy. “She, uh, she had to go back home.”
“Right,” awkward pause, “Having fun?”
“I guess…” He sees something behind me that makes him freeze, panic, and then give me the brush-off. “I…I umm I think someone’s calling me. Catch up with you later.”
I don’t even have to turn around. “Will you ever tell me what you said to him?”
“We can add that to the list of things you need me to be honest about.”
“Is it a long list?” His breath is warm at my nape, his body close enough for me to feel the heat he’s exuding.
“Not really, just the two.” His teeth tug at my earlobe. “You look stunning. But every guy here is salivating for you, and I’m going to kick their asses.”
“Let’s go somewhere private then.” I gasp as my back presses against his chest, all the solid muscle beneath me, body heat soaking into my skin.
“Best idea you’ve had all day.”
Cole leads me out to the balcony. Before I go, I catch both Megan and Cami and hope to get some encouragement from them, but Megan and Alex are too busy making out, and Cami, well, Cami’s being Cami and charming the pants off a group of guys. Lan is also there, hovering by her side like he’s ready pick her up and haul her into his cave.
It seems like I’m on my own.
The apartment has a small terrace garden with French doors. The balcony looks down onto the busy street, traffic steady and flowing beneath us. I lean against the railing, Cole behind me as we stare down.
Despite the warm night, I find myself shivering.
“I can’t believe you’ve got Jameson and Seth on Kimmy duty. How did they get sucked into doing that?”
“I owe them a lifetime supply of my triple-Nutella-layered fudge brownies. No big deal, there’ll just be a lot of baking in my future.”
“Sucks for you, awesome for me.” I giggle but stop when he buries his face in my hair. “God, you smell good.”
I’m shaking.
“Do you have any idea what you do to me? What it’s like watching every guy out there stare at you and want nothing more than to claim you in front of them.”
“Anyone with a set of eyes will know that I can’t see anyone but you, Cole. They’re wasting their breath.”
“You turn me into a caveman, Shortcake. What am I going to do with you?”
“Let me in, let me help you. Tell me the truth, Cole.” I turn into his arms, lean my head against his chest, and wrap my arms tightly around his waist. Whatever I may be dressed like, however high the sexual tension between us may be, righ
t now we don’t need the earth-shattering, furniture-breaking, hair-pulling kind of love. We need the innocent touch of comfort, the firmness of security and the promise of eternity.
“All you have to do is trust me with all your secrets, Cole.”
“I do. I will.”
He takes a deep breath and tips my chin up, his mouth lowering to mine. “You win.”
And then he kisses me.
Chapter Seventeen: The Place Has Been Hit with Hurricane Colessa
I’m pressed against the doors leading out to the terrace in a second, and Cole claims my mouth in a drugging, deep, reaches-right-into-my-soul kind of kiss. This could’ve been gentle, a soft kiss meant to represent a moment that’s so sweet and poignant, perhaps marking the beginning of a new stage in our relationship, but it’s anything but. We skip the innocence altogether and with our greedy mouths, grabby hands, and attempts to erase any distance between our bodies make this kiss probably indecent in public. It’s raw, fueled by angst and lust, and I can’t have enough of it. My hands tug at Cole’s hair, silently begging him to kiss me deeper, to be rougher and to let go of control for once. In response he wraps his hands around my back and lifts me up slightly, encouraging me to wrap my legs around his waist, which I do. With our bodies pressed together in the most intimate way possible, I experience the kind of friction that makes my eyes roll back into my head. And as Cole rolls his hips against mine, he never once lets go of my mouth, where his tongue is doing some sinful things.
“Oh God.” My head hits the back of the door as Cole leaves my mouth and places hot, wet kisses down my neck, stopping to suck at my pulse point. He bites the skin and starts to suck hard and I don’t even stop him from giving me a hickey. If he wants to be a caveman tonight, then I’m more than happy to let him be one. I clutch on to his shoulder, holding him tighter to me.
“Missed you so much, Shortcake.”
The satin material of my camisole gives way easily as he pushes it aside, his mouth dangerously close to my breasts. He kisses the tops of them at the same time as he rolls his hips against mine one more time and I nearly lose it there and then. He pushes down the straps of my top, pulling it down until my bra is visible. It’s black, lacy, and does great things for my cleavage. Cole groans when he sees it and his hands slip underneath my top to try to unfasten it. This is going out of control so fast, I can barely keep up, but I don’t want to.
We’re both one hundred percent sober and I’m not against the idea of tearing Cole’s clothes off right here for everyone to see. So as Cole tries to get rid of my top, my hands start tearing at the buttons on his shirt. I’m nearly halfway done when the catcalls and whistles halt my motions. I bury my face in Cole’s neck.
“We have an audience, don’t we?”
He sounds as heartbroken about it as I do, maybe a little bit more. “I’m going to kill them,” he grits out and lowers me down. He glares at the people undoubtedly enjoying the show behind my back and lets me straighten up my clothes until I no longer risk flashing a bunch of strangers. Cole hovers protectively over me the entire time and then leads me into the room with a hand at the small of my back. My cheeks are flaming and I keep my eyes firmly planted on the ground until I hear a very familiar voice hollering.
“That’s my girl! Told you, you got this.”
Cami Hughes is a soon-to-be-dead woman.
I subtly flip her off as Cole steers me out of the crowd and toward his room. But since everyone will assume that we’re going inside to finish what we started, I can’t stomach being here.
“Can we go up? This feels a little weird.”
He chuckles, but we start heading toward the door regardless. And as he’s pulling me away so that we can finally be alone and talk it out, I hear the voice I’d been planning to buy earplugs to avoid hearing.
“You’re still with her? Why?” The whiny, high-pitched voice hurts my ears, and I nearly push Cole out the door just so I can escape traumatizing them more. But my protective caveman stumbles to a stop, with me running into his back.
He turns around, singles her out, and gives her a look so dark, she may have peed her pants.
“I thought I made it clear. You don’t look at her, talk to her, talk about her. You don’t even get to breathe in her direction. Understand?”
Kimmy, in all her airhead glory, doesn’t seem to get the message. She sidles up to us and bats her clumpy, fake eyelashes at Cole.
“But baby, I thought that was role-play. You were the master and I was your submissive.”
I’m going to honestly throw up on her Louboutins, god help me.
Cole seems at a loss for words, because I don’t think he’s as well versed in stubborn hoe as I am. But because I’ve dealt with my fair share of them in college, I’m now an expert, so although I appreciate him trying to care of me and threatening the Yolandas away, this much I can handle.
But apparently I’ve got reinforcements since I see Cami and Megan come up on either side. In my peripheral vision, I see the boys moving forward, Lan, Alex, Seth, and Jameson all in position in case Kimmy decides to bring out the claws. While it’s rather heartfelt that I’ve got so many people willing to tackle a crazy hoe for me, they don’t realize that mean girls like her are made up of a lifetime of insecurities and wanting others to make them feel good about themselves. They’re desperate for reaffirmation from others and when you don’t give it to them, they take it out by being miserable and petty. I’m not here to feed her vanity, but I’m not here to tear her down, either.
“Kimmy, always a pleasure running into you, but need I remind you of the last time you tried pulling something similar? He’s not interested.”
She scoffs, crosses her bony arms across her massive rack, and cocks a hip to the side. “I’m sorry, do I know you?”
Petty, petty girl.
“What, don’t you remember the time you tried to suck the life out of my boyfriend through his lips?”
She seems embarrassed, but props to her for not giving up.
“Oh, that’s right,” she sneers, “you’re the crazy girl he breaks up with like a million times, the one with all the family drama? I have friends that go to school with you, you know? You’re a joke, nobody knows if you’re a couple or just a piece on the side for him.”
Cole advances and I have to physically restrain him. “Don’t. I got this.”
Then I turn my attention back to the pint-sized pain in my butt.
“So you do know who I am? Great, now that we’ve sorted that out, here’s the thing, and I’m going to be honest with you. I don’t want to play dirty or call names, so for a second try and pretend you can be civilized.”
Is it me or does she look like she’s shrinking?
“I don’t know what your problem is or why you’re hell-bent on being absolutely horrendous to me, but if you’re doing it because you still have a thing for Cole, then let me help you out. He’s not into you, he’ll never be into you. Whatever you had with him years ago is just that, history, so stop embarrassing yourself further. He made it clear from the beginning that it was a fling for him. It’s over, accept it, deal with it, and move on.”
There’s pin-drop silence in the room; somewhere in the back, someone cheers for me, and I hear a “You go, Glenn Coco,” but my focus is on Kimmy. I’m tired of games, of being catty and exchanging insults. She wanted to hear the truth and she’s got it. If she still insists on playing it dirty, then I guess I will have to as well.
She sputters, “You…I can’t…you’re such a bitch!”
“Oh you think she’s bad? If you don’t get away from her right now, I’ll show you bitch. You want to test me?” Cami is intimidating to say the least, and even though I know I didn’t need the extra threat of bodily harm to scare Kimmy away once and for all, I still appreciate the gesture.
Friends who destroy bullies together stay together.
And I guess Kimmy finally gets it, realizes that no one wants her here, so she stomps her foot, gives us
all one last mean-girl glare and rushes out, slamming the door behind her, but she doesn’t manage to escape before Cami gets to yell, “Say hi to Chad for me!”
Savage.
Everyone waits for a sign to continue partying, and I guess they get it when Seth shouts, “Party on, the witch is dead!”
And so is insecure, shy, and timid Tessa. It’s been a good night so far.
***
“Did I tell you how hot you were when you destroyed Kimmy?” I fumble with the key, trying to unlock the door leading to my apartment. But Cole’s got his arms around me and he’s kissing my neck; there’s only so much attention I can devote to any task other than melting into his touch.
“I don’t take pleasure in tearing other women down, but she had it coming.”
“Pleasure? Yes, let’s talk more about pleasure. How to get it, how to extend it, how to maximize it. I’m all up for that, Shortcake.”
“Stop it.” It’s a halfhearted request, but a very nice old lady lives down the hall from us, and I’d like to spare her the visual of two teens grinding against each other.
“Then open the door, because I’m not good at being patient, and it’s been too long.”
I somehow fumble my way into letting us both in, and the moment we’ve crossed the threshold, Cole’s hands and mouth are on me. I hear the sound of a door being slammed shut before I’m lifted into his arms and carried straight to the large sectional couch. He lays me down on it and then hovers over me, his arms on either side of my head, supporting him.
“Never thought we’d be alone tonight.”
He leans down to kiss me and I kiss him back eagerly, the thrill of having the huge space all to ourselves driving me to let myself go. I’m not thinking about anything other than the boy who’s got me all wrapped up around him. My legs around his waist, arms around his shoulders, and lips locked to his, and his touch is about reassuring our connection but also full of heat and promise that before the night’s over he’s going to remind me why exactly we’re so good together.