Kat

Music thumps through the house, vibrating beneath my feet. The air stinks of sex and sweat, a nauseating mixture that causes my stomach to turn as if this house doesn’t smell bad enough on a normal day. Every year, the Strickland Senators throw a party at the house my brothers and Dean share with their teammates. They get everyone together to celebrate the end of their season, sparing no expense for the event. After another championship, the vibe is electric, making the normal off-campus party even more intense.

Dean and the twins have amassed a crowd around them, a mixture of their teammates and girls who want the chance to hook up with them. I guess that makes me the gatekeeper once again. I am always the shrew who has to beat the skanks away from my men. Most of the time, I do it knowing they want my help. But Tucker looks interested in the brunette dangling on his arm, though I’m not sure whether she has decided if she wants Tucker or Theo.

They play these dirty twin games, as I call them, when it comes to girls and school. It’s hard to tell the twins apart if you don’t know the differences in their personalities, and they take full advantage of the situation. I yell at them all the time for duping people into believing that they are each other. Idiots.

Surrounded by a flock of eyelash batting hockey hookers, I spot Dean pounding another beer. He’s been going full tilt since this afternoon to make up for all the parties he missed during hockey season. Dean is just as strict with his workouts and diet as my family and me. We give ourselves a short amount of downtime after each season ends, which doesn’t last long before we get back to work.

But my career as a hockey player is over. My team didn’t make it to the championship round of the women’s Frozen Four this year, ending my final season on a less exciting note as the men’s hockey team. Unlike Dean and my brothers, I have to enter the real world after graduation.

Dean looks up from the crowd around him, and our eyes meet. He smiles and waves me over, moving the people around him to the side. The girls he pushed away glance over their shoulders at me and give me the usual evil eye I get anytime I am with Dean. Having four brothers has given me a thicker skin when it comes to dealing with catty girls, so I pay no mind to them, as I elbow my way through the throng to get to Dean.

“Kitten.” Dean slurs his words as he takes a strand of my hair and tucks it behind my ear.

“You are so hammered,” I tell him.

“It’s a party.” He touches the bottom of the cup in my hand and lifts it to my mouth. “Drink up.”

I tilt my head back and finish the rest of the beer in the plastic cup, and then grab Dean by the hand. “I need a refill. You are coming with me.”

As I steer Dean toward the kitchen, I laugh to myself as the girls mutter rude comments under their breath to me. “You were done with them, right?”

“Who?” Dean narrows his eyes at me.

“Those girls.”

“I wasn’t even paying attention to them. The only girl I see in this house is you, Kitten.”

I flash a closed mouth smile at him. “Real smooth.”

He slides his arm across the back of my neck, weighing me down. “I don’t have to be smooth. I have a big dick and can shoot a puck.”

His stupid comment makes me laugh. “I don’t want to think about your dick. Stop talking like Dirty Dean. I hate when you get like this.”

“It’s not like you haven’t seen it.” He wiggles his eyebrows at me. “I can show it to you again if you need a refresher.”

I roll my eyes at him. “Keep it in your pants. We don’t’ need another incident like last night.”

He grabs me by the shoulder before we reach the kitchen and pulls me to the side. “I didn’t mean anything by that, Kat. It’s not like watching you puke was a turn on by any means. Sometimes, my dick has a mind of its own. We were in bed, you were practically naked under that shirt, and well, I’m a guy.”

“Do you ever think of me as more than a friend?” I blurt out the words before I can stop myself. Duke got into my head last night with his usual interrogation of our relationship.

“Yes. All the time.” He turns his head away from me to glance down the long hallway to our right, before looking at me again. Dean takes my face in his hands and moves his head close enough that I can feel his breath on my lips. “You mean everything to me.”

My entire body comes alive from his touch, sending chills down my spine that causes my toes curl. I shouldn’t feel these things for Dean, but the closer we get to graduation, the more I find myself clinging to him for dear life. I don’t want this to end. I don’t want to lose my best friend because life got in the way.

I shove my hand through his dark, wavy hair and hold him in place. “I can’t get what Duke said last night out of my head.”

He strokes my jaw with his thumb, his blue eyes burning a hole through me. “If I were to kiss you right now, would you let me?”

“Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“I’m kinda drunk, Kitten. My ability to think this through is fading by the minute. What do you want?”

I want you, my heart screams, but my mind is a traitor. “I don’t know what I want anymore. I’m afraid things will be different between us after we graduate.”

“Same here.” He releases my face and takes a step back from me. “Let’s get another beer.”

“I could use a drink,” I mutter.

He slips his fingers through mine and drags me into the kitchen. We run into my brothers and their girls of the hour, who are throwing back shots of vodka. The brunette makes a quick hand gesture toward the boy behind the bar. He returns with four shots and sets them on the counter in front of them. The girls scream over the music to each other, and I watch as the twins give each other strange looks, as if they want to either ditch their dates or do one of their swaps.

“Watch this.” Dean points at the twins who are trading places without the girls knowing it.

“This always amazes me. How do girls not realize that Tucker has on a red polo shirt and Theo dark blue?”

“They don’t care,” Dean says into my ear. “Girls like that come to parties to get drunk and fuck one of my teammates. The who and where is irrelevant.”

“Because you speak from experience.” My stomach turns at the thought.

“I have higher standards than your brothers,” he counters.

We laugh as the blonde bobs her head, her hair billowing around her face, as she grinds on Theo to the beat of the song. She glances at her friend and shrugs as if she realized what the boys did and doesn’t mind.

“I’m ready for that drink now,” I tell Dean.

He raises his hand to the bartender and holds two fingers in the air. A few seconds later he slides two Solo cups down the bar in our direction.

“I’ll race ya.” Deans hands me the beer with a wink.

“If I didn’t know any better, I would think you were trying to get me drunk.”

“You could use a good buzz.” He takes a sip from his cup, leaving a layer of foam on his top lip.

My motherly instinct kicks in, and I wipe it away with my finger. Dean grabs my hand and sucks the foam from my finger with a sensual look in his eyes.

“Is this what you had in mind?”

He’s doing this on purpose, all part of his mental mind fuck to make me realize that we are good together, even though we have no future. We are better off as friends. But damn my body for responding to him this way.

Once he removes my finger from his mouth and releases his grip on me, I turn away from him and chug my beer. I slurp down a shot of vodka the bartender left in front of Tucker and pound Theo’s after that.

“Hey, Kit-Kat,” Theo says. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I have big sister privileges. That means I get to steal your drinks.”

Theo shakes his head at me. Tucker smiles and orders a round of shots for everyone. Over the next ten minutes, we consume a remarkable amount of alcohol. The burning in my throat matches the rising temperature in my stomach.

“To another championship.” Dean raises his shot glass to my brothers, before bumping his glass into mine.

Past drunk two beers ago, I pull Dean into the living room to dance. With my head foggy and my judgment clouded, I stop thinking about everything—including my unwanted feelings for Dean.

I throw my arms in the air, swaying my hips back and forth to the music. Dean digs his fingers into my hips. Wasted, I lean my head on his shoulder to catch my breath. We stay that way for the next three songs, my mind drifting out of consciousness, until his hands slide under my shirt and over my stomach. I like the feeling of Dean on my skin. And I hate that I want more from him tonight.

Rubbing my backside against his thigh, I don’t miss the reaction I provoke from Dean. As his hand travels lower, Dean rests it just below the waistband of my jeans, making me wet in anticipation. Crammed between at least a hundred people, no one can see as I push his hand further, telling him to keep going. But how much could we do with an audience?

“Are you sure this is what you want, Kitten?” Dean whispers in my ear, taking it in his mouth in the process.

I’m drunk and horny, a mixture that doesn’t work well with Dean. He’s like a walking orgasm. One look at him is enough to add to my lady spank bank for a year. I have to know if something more exists between us. With only one month until graduation, the time I have with Dean could disappear in an instant. He’ll be whisked away to whatever city adds him to their roster, and I will follow in my father’s footsteps and pursue a career in sports broadcasting.

“I want you, Dean.” I purr the words.

He hooks his arm around my back and leads me through the crowded living room. We ascend two flights of stairs, passing some of his teammates as we sneak off to his bedroom. At the end of the long hallway, we stop in front of his door, and Dean inserts a key. Once inside, he locks the door and drops the key on the dresser.

He cups the side of my face in my hands and runs his calloused thumb along my jaw with the other. “I lied earlier,” he says in a hushed tone.

“What did you lie about?”

“About what happened last night. What you did for my mom and me means more to me than you will ever know. I have trouble separating our friendship. When I have my arms around you, all I can think about is sex.”

I spin around so that our eyes meet. Our faces are so close that the heat of Dean’s breath makes my body tingle. I don’t know what I want to do. We should remain friends and go on with our lives as planned, but I have to know if we have something more. Before I can make the decision, Dean threads his fingers through my hair and pulls me toward him.

His soft lips graze along mine.

I hook my arms around his neck and lean into him, parting his lips with my tongue. What starts out as a slow and passionate kiss, grows more intense as he palms the back of my head to deepen the kiss. Now that I have my hands on him, I can’t resist the urge to explore every inch of his toned body.

I move my hands to his chest to push up his shirt and run my fingers over his six-pack. Unable to peel myself from Dean, I keep going and flip open the button of his jeans. He moans into my mouth when I slip my hand inside his boxers.

“Bad Kitten,” he whispers.

Dean grips my hips, lifting me up to lower me onto the mattress. He crashes on top of me, his lips brushing mine, as he tugs at my clothes. My body shuts down when he sucks on my bottom lip, once again slipping his tongue into my mouth.

I never want his hands to leave my body or his tongue to stop doing whatever he does to make every nerve ending come alive at once. With each kiss, our friendship rips to shreds. The animalistic passion I crave consumes me. As he slides his hand up my thigh, heat rushes over my body in waves, further intensifying when Dean strips me of my jeans.

Leaving my panties for last, he lifts my shirt over my head and throws it on the floor. Dean stares down at me for a few seconds, before he reaches behind me to unhook my bra. Slowly, he slides the straps down my shoulders, exposing my breasts.

“Kitten,” he says with lust in his voice. “You’re so fucking beautiful.”

I smile up at him.

He doesn’t waste time and leans down to massage my breasts, taking his time as he sucks on my nipple, gently tugging it with his teeth. The tiny bud grows harder with each flick of his tongue. Despite the hunger in his eyes, Dean expertly navigates my body, giving every part of me equal love.

“Take this off,” I whimper, tugging at his shirt. “I want you naked.”

He peeks up at me and flashes his usual panty-dropping smirk that goes straight between my thighs.

Sitting up, just enough to unbutton his dress shirt, Dean locks onto me. His blue eyes pin me down, command authority over me. I want him with every ounce of my being.

Kissing Dean wouldn’t feel right if it wasn’t meant to happen. Maybe we are supposed to be together. Maybe we can turn our friendship into something more. And not just sex.

We share a deep connection that I have never felt for anyone other than Dean. He understands me in ways that I never thought were possible. Dean makes me feel like his world starts and ends with me as if no other women are even in existence.

Dean hops off the bed to kick off his jeans and slides his boxers over his hips. I gasp at the sight of him, long and hard, and so ready for me. His body is a masterpiece as if someone had sculpted him by hand and taken their time in creating every single part of him.

With only a dim light from the nightstand illuminating the space, the setting is perfect. Dean climbs back into bed and positions himself between my legs. The thin lace of my panties rips when he pulls on them.

“Be careful,” I warn him. “I need those for later.”

He shakes his head with a devious look on his handsome face. “No, you don’t. I plan to keep you like this for the rest of the night.”

Caught in the heat of the moment, I say, “Then, go ahead.”

Dean takes that as an order, and the fabric falls to the side, now completely useless to me. I lift my hips enough for him to peel the lace away from my body. He breathes against my neck and pushes my legs open wider with his big hand before he shoves two fingers inside me.

“I did this to you, Kitten. Remember that when you come for me.” He emphasizes me, as in he wants me to stop and think about what we are doing. My best friend makes me wet. He’s also the only man I have ever been with sexually.

By the time Dean dips his head between my legs, working his magic on my body with his tongue, my brain stops working. I moan into the pillow that smells of his citrus shampoo, slipping my hand through his hair, as my body trembles with an orgasm that tears me to pieces.

He peeks up at me from between my legs and licks my juices from his lips and fingers. Then, he sits up and takes my hand, helping me stroke his shaft. He covers my tiny hand with his and stares down at me with hunger in his eyes.

“This is what you do to me, Kitten.”