Chapter 14
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Tessa
Breathe in through your nose.
Out through your mouth.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
I squint one eye open, stand up slowly, and let the calm wash over me for. . . about all of five seconds. Then my heart kicks into overdrive and my thoughts ping pong a mile a minute as I wipe my sweating palms across my jeans.
Chase texted me that they will be here any minute to pick me up for the double date. I kick a shoe across the room and hear a satisfying thud when it hits the wall.
Meditation is bullshit. I’m not enlightened, I’m enraged.
I cannot believe I agreed to a date. Not two seconds before, I had been one hundred percent sure that being friends was what we needed. Two seconds before that, I was positive he would hate me forever. Then something happened, and this is where my memory gets a little hazy. I’m not sure how he convinced me to agree to this date, but my money is on Jedi mind tricks.
There’s a knock on the door. I stand up quickly, straightening my black tank top and wriggling my skinny jeans back up into place. Chase. Finally.
“Fucking finally, god, please tell me I look oka—” I swing the door open, but it’s not Chase’s eyes I’m looking into.
The wind’s knocked out of me as I take him in.
All of him.
He stands before me in a crisp white button up and faded blue jeans with the sun angled just right so it casts a glow that highlights strands of his blond hair. He looks like an angel.
A really fucking sexy angel.
I’m not the only one taking inventory. His eyes rake down my body, I can almost feel the trail of heat his gaze etches as it travels across my curves. He bites his lip, and I grip the doorframe to prevent myself from vaulting into his arms. God, how has he gotten even more beautiful over the years? My eyes are drawn to a white strip of gauze that wraps around his knuckles. Before I can ask what happened, his soft voice distracts me.
“Yes.” He nods slowly, dragging his eyes back to mine.
“Huh?”
“You look okay. More than okay, you look gorgeous.” He gives me a dazzling smile that’s like sunshine on a bleary day. My body warms and a blush creeps up my neck.
“Oh. Thank you,” I mutter as I fumble for my keys and purse to lock up. It gives me time to try to collect the senses that dropped right out of my head and scattered.
We walk to the car in silence, but his eyebrows furrow when we reach Gus.
It’s clear that Marybeth and Chase are somewhere in the back seat, doing something.
I see Andrew counting silently from the corner of my eye before he jumps forward and pounds on the glass. They both straighten in their seats. Chase gives us a lazy grin, and Blossom flips out a mirror to fix her smeared lipstick. I open the backseat door and nod for Chase to move up front. There’s no way I’m going to listen to them suck face the whole ride to wherever the fuck we are going when I am already this nervous.
“But—” he starts. I give him my best “I will flip the fuck out right now” look.
“Fine,” he grumbles and moves to the passenger seat in a huff.
“Hi Tess, thanks for the invite.” Beth pats the seat next to her, and I slide into the back.
Once I’m sitting, her tiny claws hook into my arm as she yanks me closer to whisper in my ear. “What are you doing? Why did you invite me? I’m trying to stay away from the man meat.” Her frantic eyes make me cough out a laugh.
“Heard that,” Chase calls back before he returns to his conversation with Andrew.
I grin over at her. “You sure? Because you guys have been looking pretty chummy to me.” I smirk.
“You have to help me,” she hisses. “He’s like this sexy drug that I’ve gotten addicted to. I can’t stop, Tess—just look at him. No, don’t look at him, that’s how this happened. Friends don’t let friends do drugs,” she demands with big green eyes.
I laugh and lean in closer. “You still liiike him,” I whisper in a sing song voice.
“You are going to be absolutely no help, are you?” she scowls.
I shake my head, a smile blooming across my face.
I missed this. I missed the nonsense and her bubbly spirit that chips away at my dark heart. I missed a lot of things, apparently. My eyes slide up to the rearview mirror and meet Andrew’s gaze. In those few seconds before he looks away, his eyes reveal the truth.
He missed me too.
Before long, we pull into the parking lot of Alder Grove’s sad excuse for a shopping mall. It’s an old building in bad shape, but it’s the only mall for miles around making it a town hotspot.
Chase clears his throat when Andrew shuts off the engine. “Honestly, I was expecting a little more romance on our first date, man. Not sure this is going to work out between us.” Blossom and I laugh when Andrew’s hand shoots out to pop Chase in the side of the head.
We all unload out of the car. Andrew gathers us around then hands me and Beth a red envelope each. We look curiously at our envelopes before returning our attention to him for an explanation.
“This is all very mysterious, Brodin, what’s the deal?” Blossom slides up onto the trunk of the car.
Andrew’s jaw tics as he watches her. “No, no. Get your ass off my car right now.”
“Get my ass off who?” Blossom returns with a wicked grin. His eyes narrow at his sister, but she crosses her arms in defiance.
“Get off. . . Gus.” The veins running up his neck start to bulge, and she gives me a playful wink. My hands fly to my mouth to smother the laughter.
“The full name, brother, and speak up, won’t you?” Beth throws her hair over her shoulder and gives him a Cheshire grin. With one fell swoop, he picks her tiny form up and drops her beside me. After shooting her one last glare, he walks over to the trunk and pops it open. Pulling a box out, he turns and gives us each a camera.
“Dirty pictures? I am back on board, my man.” Chase claps his shoulder and shoots Beth a seductive wink.
“I hate you both, now shut up and listen. We are going to be split up into two teams, Tess is with me. In each envelope, there’s a list of things you will need to find and take pictures with. Each task has points, the team with the most points in two hours is treated to dinner by the losing team. Any questions?” Andrew takes a breath and looks at us one at a time.
“A scavenger hunt? What are we, twelve?” Chase pipes in from over my shoulder.
Beth shoves his head away. “Shut up, fuck yes. This is awesome. Why the cameras though? Why not just use our phones?” she asks as she excitedly hops from one foot to another.
Andrew shrugs. “Polaroids are more fun.” I watch him closely, but don’t see a flash of recognition cross his features. I still remember the way his old camera hung in our castle. An old wound cracks open as I wish for the hundredth time he could remember.
“When the hell did you have time to do all this?” Chase looks quizzical as he snatches the camera out of Beth’s hand.
“I was in my room for like an hour, then we stopped by the store on the way to get Tess. How do you not remember that?”
“Guess I was distracted.” He directs a mischievous smile toward Blossom who rolls her eyes.
“Can we switch partners please?” She puts her hands together in a prayer as though some divine intervention might change his obvious answer.
“Nope.” Andrew smiles over at me. “Ready?” I bite my lip and nod. I never went to the mall much as a teenager, I thought it was pointless and had more important shit to think about. But now I’m a little older, a little wiser, and I regret all the youthful activities I didn’t get to experience.
Chase and Andrew decide on a time and place in the mall to meet as we head toward the entrance. Before turning to go our separate ways, the boys grip one another in a tight handshake. I notice they use their left hands as to avoid Andrew’s injured one.
“You’re going down, Hulk,” Chase leers.
“Bring it, Roid Ricky,” Andrew shoots back before grabbing my hand and leading me away in the opposite direction.
Chase shouts out from behind us, “No steroids, baby. I am all naturale!”
I laugh as I’m dragged away. We walk until we reach a bench and Andrew takes a seat. He motions for me to do the same, then nods at the envelope in my hand, encouraging me to open it.
I feel silly. I’m a grown ass adult about to play a scavenger hunt in a mall. Shaking my head, I rip open the envelope and pull out the piece of paper with a list of tasks.
“Take a picture with someone who has blue hair? Find the Kama Sutra and take a selfie with it?” I look over the list at Andrew who is grinning from ear to ear. I laugh and shake my head. “You’re crazy, I’m not doing any of this stuff.” I shove the paper into his chest.
His crooked smile taunts me. “Wow, Tessa Kinsley. Scared? You have changed.”
“Scared of what exactly? Looking like a damn fool? Then absolutely.”
“No, of loosening those reins you grip so tight, of doing something just for the sake of having a little fun,” he challenges. “But if you’re too scared. . .”
I snatch the paper back from his hands and read out a random task. “Take a picture with your teammate wearing three items of clothing or accessories from a shop. You cannot purchase any of it.”
I zero in on a clothing store. Grabbing Andrew’s hand, I drag him off the bench. “C’mon, I’m sure as hell not paying for Chase to eat. Trust me, nobody has that kind of money.” As I lead him into the store, Andrew’s laughter rings out behind me.
We enter and start meandering the shop, looking through the racks. After a few minutes, I send him to wait by the fitting room and I collect what we need. It’s obvious he still enjoys getting me riled up and pushing me out of my comfort zone. It’s only fair I return the favor.
While the bored looking attendant is answering a customer’s question, I push Andrew forward into the last stall down the fitting room hallway.
“What are you doing?” Andrew hisses as I close the stall door behind us.
“What’s wrong? Afraid to loosen the reins?” I mock.
He eyes the clothes in my hand with suspicion. “What’s in your hand?”
“Some stuff for you to put on. We really need those twenty points, Blackwell, times a wasting.”
“They’re chick clothes, hell no.” He snorts, trying to move past me.
I place my hand on his chest and give him a pout. “Aww, you scawred wittle Andrew?”
His eyes darken with mischief. “Fine, what’s first?” I wave around the article of clothing with a smirk.
Never taking his eyes off mine, his hands move to the front of his shirt where he begins undoing each button. When the last one is undone, he shrugs it off his shoulders. There’s a small tattoo on his chest, and although I’m curious, my eyes refuse to be dragged away from his stomach. Rock. Hard. Abs.
Oh, my Jesus, Joseph, and Mary.
I was not prepared for him to start stripping for fuck’s sake. I was just going to tease him a little. Now I’m in a tiny stall with a breadth of space between me and his rippling six pack. It’s getting warmer by the second in these cramped quarters. I need to turn around and let him change.
Instead, I bite my lip and devour every inch of his sculpted torso with my eyes.
“You’ve gotta stop looking at me like that,” he groans.
I swallow hard and spin away, keeping my hand on the latch of the stall door. His body moves in close behind me as he presses one palm against the door, and another against my hip. He’s so close his warm breath tickles my neck. My stomach twists with excitement, and I want nothing more than to let myself melt into him. A nagging voice in the back of my head cuts through my lustful haze.
Just friends, that’s it. Being together never ends well for either one of you.
He deserves better.
Just walk away.
But I don’t.
When I spin around, his lips crash against mine without a moment of hesitation. My hands reach for his hard stomach and travel upwards toward his chest. I explore each curve of his muscles, and I barely restrain myself from doing the same with my tongue.
I kiss him like it’s the last chance I’ll ever get, knowing the spiteful universe will find a way to tear us apart. When his lips travel down my neck, I stifle a moan.
He kisses my skin, feverishly licking the curve of my jaw, stopping to tug down the shoulder of my blouse and sink his teeth into my flesh. A delicious mix of pleasure and pain vibrates through my bones.
How does he know what my body craves when I don’t know myself?
With a gasp, I’m lifted into the air as his hands grip the back of my thighs. He throws me against the stall mirror with a grunt. My legs wrap around his waist and I tighten them to close the gap between our heaving bodies. I can feel the full length of his dick pressing against me, hard as a rock.
Grabbing a fistful of his hair, I guide his face back to mine. With a low growl, his tongue pushes into my mouth and begins to explore. Digging my fingers into his back, I squirm against his solid body with need.
There’s nothing romantic about the frantic way we cling to one another, just waves of pent up desire that threaten to drown us. Terrified of getting hurt, we let our bodies do the talking while our words catch in our throats. But my body is screaming, demanding more.
He pulls back for a moment.
Panting, I lay my head back against the mirror to catch my breath.
His green eyes burn into mine and I know he’s found his voice. Fear is no longer holding him back. “Tessa, I—”
“Don’t say it,” I plead in a whisper. I don’t know what he wants to say, but I know it will cause reality to disrupt our dream. I don’t want to wake up. I want to stay in his arms, to feel his body pressed against mine, and to know that in this moment, he is mine and I am his.
A voice rings out and knuckles rap loud on the stall door.
Although I tried so hard to hold onto it, the fleeting moment of abandon is gone.