CHAPTER 11

GOOD WITH HIS HANDS

 

Charlie

 

 

I don’t know why I agreed to come to Livy’s tonight. I knew the girls would be grilling me about my date with David, but once I got here, I found that I really didn’t mind.

“Did you have fun?” Staci asked as she set a giant bowl of chips down on the table.

“Yeah. It was fun, but I haven’t heard from him since then.”

Part of me was worried that Brandon was the reason David hadn’t called or text me since our date, but an even bigger part of me was worried that it had nothing to do with him at all.

“He’s an idiot if he doesn’t call you.” Livy plopped down on the couch adjacent from me after setting three beers down on the table.

I wasn’t much of a drinker, but the beer was a welcome distraction. I held the cold bottle in my hand before forcing a drag down my throat.

Parker, Mason, and Brandon were outside on the back deck grilling hamburgers, and I knew I was going to need more than a soda to make it through this night.

It was their weekly Riverdale night. I almost felt like an intruder, but the girls were adamant that I come. I wasn’t sure that the guys would feel the same way. I hadn’t even been outside to see them since I got here.

I may have been avoiding it, but I was calling it taking a chance to catch up with the girls.

“I can’t believe Brandon was such an ass either. What a jealous jerk?” Staci popped a chip in her mouth before she snuggled into the same couch as Livy.

“He definitely wasn’t jealous.” I took another drink of my beer.

“Oh, he most certainly was.” Livy paused the TV before looking at me. “You think he just goes around stopping most people’s first kiss for shits and giggles?”

“I think he just doesn’t really like David.” I wasn’t sure how they couldn’t see that. I hadn’t seen him be anything more than civil to David.

“Right.” Staci looked at me like I was dense. “Because David is going on dates with you.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Sure, Brandon seemed a little cavemanish, but he definitely wasn’t into me for anything more than what he was apparently into most girls for. “I made it clear to Brandon that there were no benefits in this friendship. He knows that’s not going to happen.”

“Does he?” Livy cocked her head. “Who said he was only interested in benefits anyway?”

“You all did!” I practically screeched.

“What?” Staci laughed.

“That day at the Mexican restaurant. I said that I thought you’d be with a guy like Brandon and you called him a manwhore.”

“Shit.” Staci laughed again. It was starting to get on my nerves.

“I don’t understand what’s so funny.” I gripped my beer harder in my hands.

“I just meant that Brandon didn’t do serious relationships very often. He’s not actually a whore. We just say shit like that to each other because we’re so close.”

I didn’t generally call my friends whores when they weren’t being one, but the more I thought about it, I didn’t really have anyone to call that if I wanted to.

“Brandon just hasn’t been in a serious relationship in a long time.” Livy was trying to help me take it all in. “Sure, he’s slept around some, but who hasn’t. That doesn’t mean he isn’t interested in something more with you.”

Hearing her say that Brandon had slept around at all made me irrationally angry, and I prayed they wouldn’t notice the blush I knew was forming on my skin.

“Are you interested in something more with him?” Staci asked the question so nonchalantly.

“No. I don’t know. I just…” What the heck was I even saying. “I don’t think I’m the kind of girl for a guy like Brandon.”

“Why not?” Livy asked almost angrily, and I had to quickly explain that it was all about me and nothing to do with him.

“Look at him.” I waved my hand out into oblivion. “He is so far out of my league that we shouldn’t even be discussing it.”

Staci scoffed, but I kept going.

“He’s all badass and a tattoo artist and a total bad boy, and I am not any of those things.”

“I would hope you’re not a bad boy.” Staci laughed, but I rolled my eyes and kept going.

“You know what I mean. I’m the total opposite of everything he is.”

“That’s not a bad thing.” Livy grabbed her beer off the table then settled back into the couch.

“Plus, you just said how experienced he is. I am… well…” I knew I was blushing now. “I am not.”

“Are you a virgin?” Staci leaned forward like this was the juiciest conversation she’d had in years.

“No. I’m not a virgin,” I whispered to make sure no one overheard us. As far as I knew, the guys were all still outside, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I would absolutely die if any of them overheard this conversation. “But I’m not that far off.”

“Having an experienced lover is a good thing.” Staci apparently wasn’t picking up on the whole whispering thing. She could be talking through a blowhorn and it wouldn’t have made much difference. “It just means that they know how to pleasure you. It’s refreshing really. You don’t have to twist and turn like they are performing an exorcism just to get them to hit the right spot.”

“What the hell are you all talking about?”

Holy Hello Kitty.

I was going to die.

I didn’t turn around to even acknowledge Brandon. Instead, I stared down Staci and Livy and prayed that the two of them were aware of how close I was to running out of this house and never talking to any of them ever again.

It would be better than facing this conversation.

“We were just talking about bad sexual experiences,” Staci said it as if it was the kind of conversations they had on the regular. “Your sex can be so bad at it. We were just talking about how we all had considered switching teams a time or two.”

“Mason not taking care of things at home, Stac?” Brandon said with a laugh as he made his way around the couch. The couch I was sitting on.

“Oh, fuck you, dude,” Mason said from behind me. “She is more than taken care of.”

“Hear, hear.” Staci held up her beer in comradery with her man.

“Hey, Freckles,” Brandon said quietly as he sat down right beside me.

“Hey.” I smiled up at him. I suddenly felt more awkward around him then I had ever felt before, and that was saying something.

I shouldn’t have even talked to Staci and Livy about him or David. Now they have planted things in my head that probably weren’t true, but I knew I was going to obsess over them.

I was fine when I thought that Brandon maybe, possibly wanted to sleep with me.

But more?

There was no way.

This wasn’t some nineties romcom where the super-hot high school quarterback fell in love with quirky, odd loser that he had barely ever noticed before. Those things only happened to Freddie Prinze Jr. and whatever lucky costar that managed to land the loser role.

“Livy has never even considered playing for the other team. I keep my woman satisfied,” Parker said with a cocky grin before sitting down next to Livy and wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

Livy rolled her eyes.

“You do remember that you broke my heart, right?” She looked up at him playfully.

“Yeah, but then I healed it.” He ran his nose along her jaw, and I felt like I was peeking in on something I wasn’t supposed to see.

“Get a damn room.” Brandon chuckled before looking at me and rolling his eyes. “You’ll have to get used to it. They are always like this.”

I chuckled and looked back at the couple in time to see Livy flip Brandon off.

“What about you, Charlie? Have you ever considered leaving men for good?” Mason said from the arm of the couch he was perched on beside Staci.

I almost choked on the sip of beer I was already trying to choke down.

“Ummm.”

I wasn’t used to having conversations like this. Especially not in front of a bunch of super-hot men. I could feel my skin turning red before I could even form an answer.

“If she keeps dating construction workers, she will.” Brandon’s knee gently pushed against mine. “I heard that the only tools you assholes know how to use are the ones that you have on the job.”

Staci laughed, and Mason turned his sharp eyes down to his girlfriend. She held up her hands in surrender. “I didn’t say it was true, but it was funny.”

“And tattoo artists are better?” Mason said with a smirk.

Staci smacked him in his stomach, and he let out a small oomph before rubbing what I was sure was a six pack of abs.

“Of course, we are.” Brandon wiggled his fingers in the air. “We’re really good with our hands.”

Just the thought of those tattooed hands on me made me squirm in my seat. Brandon’s gaze moved to me at the movement, but I avoided it and took the final sip of my beer.

“You want another?” he asked, motioning to the empty bottle in my hand.

“Sure.” I nodded my head even though I knew it was likely to be a mistake. If they had an inkling of how big of a lightweight I was, they wouldn’t have given me the first.

Brandon stood from the couch, and I watched him walk away. His dark jeans hugged his butt like they were made with him specifically in mind, and I wondered if he ever wore anything that looked bad on him. If I was to bet, I would say not. I’d bet he looked even better without them.

He probably looked like some sort of fantasy.

My fantasy to be exact.

A fantasy I had been having about him since the first day I laid eyes on him.

I finally pulled my gaze away from his butt when he turned the corner into the kitchen, and I jolted in my seat when I finally noticed the four pairs of eyes that were watching me.

They had all just watched me check Brandon out for a solid minute.

“Told you.” Livy smirked and took a sip of her beer.

Parker grinned at me and I found myself dying to look away from his stare.

“Can we not.” I motioned to the hallway Brandon had just disappeared down.

“Don’t worry.” Parker pulled Livy farther into his body. “Your secret is safe with us.”

Then he winked at me.

He winked.

And I instantly knew why Livy was so smitten. If I wasn’t already having a come apart over Brandon, I would have swooned.

He was that good looking.

Brandon brought back two beers, one for me and one for him, and I avoided looking at him as I pressed the bottle to my lips. Liquid encouragement seemed like the smartest option to make it through the night without making a complete ass out of myself.

Brandon smiled down at me as Livy turned up the volume on the TV as Riverdale started.

I avoided his gaze like the plague.

But I couldn’t ignore the feel of his body so close to mine. Why did I sit on this loveseat? That wasn’t the smartest idea.

His thigh pressed against the outside of mine, and I swear I could feel the heat of that touch throughout my entire body. It was either that or the beer, but I was pretty certain the source was not the alcohol.

I stared at his profile as he watched the show so attentively. His jawline looked so hard. I wanted to reach out and touch it just to see what it would feel like against my fingers. I had an even stronger urge to press my lips against it.

I had never kissed a man who let his face get scruffy with a couple days growth, but I knew I would love the feel of it. Against my lips, against my thighs.

Dear God. I had to stop looking at him.

I took another sip of my beer and turned my attention back to the TV. I didn’t have a clue what the hell was going on, but Jughead was on the screen which was all that really mattered.

Brandon shifted in his seat, his hand tugged at his jeans near his knee, and just like that, my attention was back on him.

He had to have women clamoring over him. He was so damn handsome, and even though I called him an asshole yesterday, he could actually be sweet if he wanted to be.

And God, I just knew that he knew exactly what to do with a woman in the bedroom. Or against a wall. Or in a bakery. Or in the backseat of the car.

Dear God.

“I need to use the bathroom.”

Everyone turned to look at me as I stood up and announced my business right in the middle of the show.

“It’s the second door on the left.” Parker pointed with his beer down the hallway.

“Thanks.” I quickly moved past Brandon and made my way into the bathroom.

I sat down on the edge of the oversized bathtub, and I stared at myself in the mirror. My eyes looked a bit wild, and I guessed they matched my hair that was all over the place.

I was a mess.

There was no way Brandon was interested in dating me. I wished that I could go back to before tonight when Livy and Staci hadn’t planted that absurd thought into my head.

It didn’t matter whether or not they thought he was into me. He hadn’t given any indication that he wanted that.

I had to stop thinking about it.

I was tipsy and way too deep into my own head.

This was how girls screwed things up. You know what I’m talking about. They get all these fancy thoughts in their head about someone, thoughts that should have never been there in the first place, and then it all comes crashing down on them because they make a move and get rejected.

That wasn’t happening here.

No sir.

I was going to get myself together, and I was going to march back out into that living room. I was not going to give two thoughts to the way Brandon would watch me as I made my way back to the couch, and I sure as heck wasn’t going to think any more thoughts about his scruffy beard against my thighs.

I was going to watch Riverdale then I was going to go home and think about Jughead and feel guilty about it like any grown woman should.

There. That was a foolproof plan.

What could go wrong?