Jax

“Is this the same chick you were sucking face with against the house earlier?” Graham asks as we stop outside Maze, a club, to show the bouncer our IDs.

I stick my license in my wallet when he lets us inside and shove it in my back pocket. “Dude, shut up.” I hit his shoulder as he walks with me down the first long hallway. “I told you, it’s nothing. She’s my partner.”

“But you did ditch Luke and me for her…” He trails off, his eyes glued to me, waiting for a response.

Yeah, I did ditch them, but I’m not apologizing for it. “You’d have done the same thing.”

He chuckles, slapping me on the back. “You’re right. If her friend is hot, I’ll forgive you.”

I shake my head at him as we curve through the second hallway packed with people.

“If not, there are plenty of other women here,” I assure him as we step into the crowded main room.

A bar spans the back wall, which is over fifty feet long, with red neon lights lighting up the bar top. This place is massive. Six hallways split off from the main dance floor that has booths lining the walls. I know, from experience, all the hallways are littered with people getting drunk, not much different than the scene laid out before me. The hallways are all dead ends, but it provides a space that’s a somewhat quieter than the main room.

I scan the room, searching for Raegan. Hundreds of people dance and mill around making it hard to spot her. My eyes finally find her, and I pause as my pulse picks up speed. She’s sitting in a booth with Arya, who is dressed in some frilly pink dress, across the room with more than fifty people separating us.

The bass thumps through the club, making it impossible to hear anything other than the music streaming through the speakers.

I jerk my head, motioning for Graham to follow me. I push through the crowd, keeping my eyes trained on Raegan as much as I can. But people keep waving their arms around, dancing or calling for a waitress, cutting off my view.

I step around the last two women in my way and stop a foot away from their table. Raegan doesn’t notice me at first as she slides her beer between her hands.

The outfit Raegan’s wearing hugs every inch of her body, and I hope she doesn’t flinch when I move to touch her because I know I will. When I’m around her, I can’t control what I do.

The day I showed up at Raegan’s house, looking for her, and she was at work, Arya convinced me to give her my number. She said she was on my side—whatever that meant. But, when she sent me a text earlier today, informing me she was forcing Raegan to go out tonight, I replied that I would be there. I didn’t take a second to think about it. I just responded, wanting to see Raegan again after what had happened this morning.

She’d left me in a daze as she walked away after our second kiss. I’d let myself get lost in her, forgetting all my responsibilities. When she’d ditched me, not letting me mold my mouth back to hers, I’d found myself wishing I could make her stay for a lifetime.

She ignored me in class, and I admit it stung but not enough for me to back off.

Arya sees me first, and her eyes widen as she waves like I’m not standing directly across from her. The pink drink she’s holding sloshes in her glass from the movement. She brings her hand to her mouth and licks the alcohol from her skin.

Raegan’s eyes shift to me, and when recognition lights her eyes, she puckers her lips like she bit straight into a lemon.

Graham claps me on the back, and I peer over my shoulder at him. He’s wearing an amused grin, his eyes on Arya. He doesn’t say anything to me as he slides into the booth next to her, but I can see that he approves.

I sit in the vacant spot next to Raegan, and she picks up the shot glass that was hidden behind her beer. She throws her head back, the alcohol moving down her throat.

I clasp my hands on the table to keep from leaning into her and tasting the alcohol on her wet lips.

She slams the shot glass back on the table as she stares at me. When I don’t say anything, she takes a pull from her beer, emptying it, before she places it at the end of the table, next to the wall she’s propped up against.

Raegan’s lips move as she pointedly looks at me, but I don’t hear what she said.

I lean forward, pressing my mouth next to her ear. “I can’t hear you, Red,” I say at a normal volume though I can barely hear myself. I should be given an award for not scooting closer to her when she has a mile of space between us.

She grabs the back of my head and speaks in my ear, “What are you doing here?”

“Same thing you are.”

I feel her groan rather than hear it, her throat vibrating against my shoulder.

“How’d you know I was here?”

Leaning back, I point to Arya, selling her out. I’m not ashamed that I’m only here because Raegan is. My stomach turns, knowing I should be with someone else instead of chasing a girl I have no business getting involved with.

Raegan scowls across the table. “Traitor!” she shouts at Arya, who just shrugs with an innocent smile on her face.

The volume on the music is turned down a few notches, making it so I can hear myself think.

“It’s for your own good,” Arya says, sipping on her drink.

I frown, knowing I won’t have an excuse to be so close to Raegan since I heard Arya from across the table. “This is my friend Graham.”

“I’m Arya.” She sticks out her hand for him to shake, but instead, he kisses the top of it.

Smooth. Real smooth, dude.

He clasps his hands together on the table, smiling at the girl next to me, who’s still hugging the wall. “You must be Raegan. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Really?” she asks, leaning forward. “Like what?”

“That you kiss—”

I stomp on his foot under the table, and he narrows his eyes at me before looking back to Raegan.

“That you’re nice.”

“Uh-huh,” she says, not believing him.

A waitress appears at our table, wearing skimpy black shorts and what looks like a bra, but she doesn’t hold my attention like the girl next to me. “Can I get you guys anything?”

“Four beers,” Graham says, waving his hand to the four of us, “and two rounds of tequila shots.”

“I don’t like beer.” Arya scrunches her face as Graham moves closer to her.

“It won’t give you as bad of a hangover compared to whatever you’re drinking, which I’m positive is half-sugar.” He nods to the half-empty drink in her hand.

She pats him on the arm. “You have no idea whom you’re talking to.” She downs the rest of the drink, placing the glass on the table. “I bet I can drink you under the table.”

“Is that a challenge?” he asks, flipping her long brown hair.

Raegan laughs next to me. “You don’t know what you’re getting into with her.”

“I think I can take her.” He smirks, running a hand over his buzzed light-brown hair.

Arya grabs two of the shots the waitress just placed in the middle of the table and throws each of them back before the rest of us can reach for one. “I don’t think you can,” she retorts, grabbing one of the beers.

“This is gonna be fun. Thanks for the invite.” Graham tips his beer toward me before taking a swig.

I slide two shots over to Raegan and hold one in my hand, waiting for her to clink it with her glass, but instead, she downs hers, disregarding me.

I chuckle before I tilt my head back, emptying the shot glass.

I feel like I’ve spent a lot of energy trying to ignore this girl, and I’m not sure I can do it anymore. But, if she wants to fight me, she can as long as she knows she’ll eventually fail. We’ll get lost in each other because, since our first kiss, my obsession with her has gotten worse, growing to the size of Texas.

I maneuver out of the booth and step behind it since it’s the last one in the row. I lean over the back of it, her short blonde hair inches from my nose. I inhale, taking in her warm vanilla scent. She peeks at me over her shoulder.

I say, “Come dance with me.”

She shakes her head.

“Please,” I beg, jutting out my lower lip, not above groveling to get this girl to spend ten minutes with me.

She sighs as she slips out of the booth. She walks to the dance floor, and I follow her, letting her lead me wherever she wants to go, as I watch her hips sway.

She moves to the middle of the crowd and stops, waiting for me to catch up. When I reach her, she’s hesitant, biting that damn lip again and shifting on her feet.

My lips curve up as a new song plays, and I break out in the most ridiculous dance move, doing the robot and earning myself a smile. Her body relaxes as she laughs at me. I don’t care how many people are watching me dance like I’m a fifty-year-old in a club that’s playing top-forty dance music.

She joins me, doing her own lame dance move, waving her arms around as she twirls in a circle. The crowd around us gravitates away, giving us space as we dance together, standing more than a foot apart.

A waitress walks by, selling test-tube shooters, and I pull cash out of my wallet, buying four of them. I hand two to Raegan, and the waitress hands me the other two. I wink at Raegan before I down the first shot, and she follows suit.

She quickly does her second shot, giving the waitress still standing nearby her shooters, and I do the same.

Feeling lighter than a minute ago, I bring my right hand to the back of my head and gyrate my hips as I hold my left arm out, doing the sprinkler. She counters my move, breaking out in the running man. I smile wide at her. The people around us gawk at our atrocious moves, but I don’t care. All that matters is, she’s happy and free.

I knock into the guy behind me, and he stares me down, blowing out an irritated breath. Raegan throws her hand over her mouth, her eyes crinkling at the corners, as she contains her laugh.

I step away from the guy and slide my arm around Raegan’s waist. She drops her hand to my shoulder, her laughter dying off, as she stares up at me. I look at the girl who’s slowly stealing my heart without my permission, wishing I could have more with her. If there was a girl out there who could make me change, it would be her.

Her blue eyes shine as the lights from overhead flash. I see her in bursts, the lights making her brighter and then darker as they fade away. She looks at me with apprehension one second, and the next, I see a wall crashing down, her body relaxing. But I feel like I have more barriers to break down as she keeps several inches between us. She’s not going to give in to me all in one night, and I shouldn’t expect her to.

I brush her hair away from her face, and her eyes close briefly before she stares up at me again.

She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met, inside and out. Her looks might have caught my eye when I first met her, but her personality is what drew me in and took hold of me. Her confidence hasn’t wavered since the last time she encountered Travis. Though she threw attitude at me in the beginning, I can tell she’s fighting to hold on to whatever’s keeping most of her walls firmly in place.

The song switches from a fast beat to a slow, sultry rhythm, and I spin her around, not wanting to see her struggling to let me in, perfectly forming her back against my chest.

I keep my arm around her waist and use my other hand to intertwine our fingers. I move my hips behind her. It takes her a second to move with me, but when she does, my eyes close, rolling to the back of my head. Her ass rubs against me as the rhythm of the music flows through us, binding us together.

If she were facing me, she’d be able to see the lust written across my face.

Her arm snakes around my neck, and I bend my head down, burying my face in her neck. She untangles her hand from mine and winds both of her hands behind my head.

My nose runs down the length of her neck, inhaling the scent of vanilla, and I tug her body closer, trailing one hand along the curve of her body.

God, she feels so good, wrapped around me.

Unable to take the tension anymore, I flip her around and seal my mouth to hers before she has a chance to protest. Her mouth immediately opens for me, and I swallow her whole, not wasting a single second. Her hips rub against me, and I growl in her mouth as my hand fists in her hair.

Her hand travels up my chest, putting space between us, as she frees her mouth from mine. Grabbing my hand, she drags me through the mob of bodies, running into several people. As they direct their scowls at me, I wince, silently apologizing for the girl latched on to my hand.

Once we’re through the throng of people, she leads me down one of the hallways on wobbly feet, weaving us through the twists and turns. She veers right, directing us down a vacant hallway, and doesn’t stop until we’re at the very end, all alone.

“What are you doing?” I ask her, wiping the sheen of sweat from my forehead.

She fists my shirt, stepping closer her eyes half-mast. “What does it look like?”

She crashes her mouth to mine before I can question her.

She backs me against the wall and fits herself between my legs as her tongue sweeps over mine. My hands land on her ass, pulling her fully against me so that she can feel what she’s doing to me.

As her hips move, I slink down the wall, aligning my hips with hers, giving her something to grind against. I rip my mouth away from hers, running open-mouthed kisses down her slick neck.

“Raegan,” I murmur.

“Yeah?” she says, sounding out of breath as little moans slip from her throat.

It takes everything in me to stop kissing her as I study her eyes. They’re full of desire, and I commit the image to memory, never wanting to forget the hunger in her eyes as she looks up at me.

“You’ve been drinking.” I run my hand up her arm and over her shoulder, letting it rest on her cheek.

“So?” she breathes out, still moving against me.

I let out a low chuckle, but it transforms to a groan as she rocks harder against me. “You’re not thinking clearly.”

“I am.”

I shake my head. “I won’t take advantage of you.” This isn’t how it’s going to happen because I know, when she wakes up in the morning, she’ll regret everything.

I want more than this with her. I want all of her mornings and to hear her laughter and know I caused each of her smiles. I don’t want just this night.

“Then, stand there and let me take advantage of you.” She presses her lips to my neck before she bites down, causing me to hiss.

I drop my hands to her waist, keeping her still. “Why are you making this so hard?”

I’m fighting my desire to be with her, but she deserves my self-control when her defenses are down.

She wiggles against me, trying to escape my hold, but she gives up, her body sagging against me, like the alcohol finally caught up with her.

I kiss her, nipping at her lips, and she twines her arms around my neck, her tongue snaking into my mouth. I love the feel of her against me. It’s like I’m finally home, her fitting against me the way no one ever has.

I place one last lingering kiss on her lips before I rest my forehead on hers. I lift my hand to her face, cradling her cheek. When I trail my thumb across her bottom lip, her mouth parts and eyes flutter.

“Let’s get you home,” I whisper.

“Okay,” she relents, peeling herself off me and letting her arms fall away from my neck.

I wrap my hand around hers, keeping her close to me as I head toward the main hallway. I glance at the beautiful girl next to me, her movements easy. “Arya probably thinks I kidnapped you.”

Raegan turns to me and grins, her eyes barely open. I pray she can manage to walk, but I’ll carry her if I need to. She loops her free hand around my arm and leans into me as we navigate our way back to the dance floor.

She stumbles over her feet several times, so I coax her onto my back, not wanting her to fall on the nasty floor littered with beer bottles and shot glasses.

Her legs hook firmly around my waist as I hold her butt in my hands. People stare at me as I stalk past them, but I ignore them, only concerned with the girl who has me wrapped around her finger.

The loud music hits me as I step back into the main room, causing me to wince as my ears adjust to the noise. I spot Arya and Graham sitting in the same booth where we left them. I head in their direction, but my feet pause when Graham sticks his tongue down Arya’s throat. Every muscle in my body constricts. He’d better not break her heart, or Raegan will never speak to me again.

When I reach them, I clear my throat, and they split like the Red Sea.

“I think Raegan needs to get home,” I say, squeezing her thigh.

“What did you do to her?” Arya asks, shoving Graham out of the booth so she can escape.

“She just had too much to drink.” I adjust her on my back, feeling her slipping.

“Raegan,” Arya whispers, brushing her arm, “are you okay?”

I feel her nod her head, her chin hitting my shoulder each time her head bobs up and down.

“Uh-huh.”

“What were you guys doing?” Graham grins, wagging his eyebrows.

If I had a free hand, I would punch him in the arm. “Nothing.”

His eyes move from me to Raegan. He doesn’t believe me.

He doesn’t have to. Raegan knows what happened, and she’ll thank me in the morning for stopping her alcohol-induced actions.

“Did you guys drive?” I ask Arya.

“No,” she answers, keeping her eyes trained on Raegan.

“Get an Uber,” I tell Graham.

He pulls his phone out of his pocket as I walk ahead of him and Arya.

My arms start to burn from holding Raegan up but not because she’s heavy. Her body has gone limp, and she isn’t supporting her weight, meaning I’m doing all the work. But I firmly hold her, not daring to let her fall.

When we make it outside, Graham runs out in front of me, scanning the curb lined with cars. “This way,” he says, pointing to the left.

I follow him as Arya walks in stride with me down the sidewalk.

“When I told you about tonight, I didn’t mean for you to get her drunk.” She crosses her arms and narrows her eyes at me.

“We were just having fun.”

“I’m sure you were,” she mutters, walking ahead of me to the car Graham is standing next to.

Arya opens the back door, and I slide Raegan down my back, keeping a hand on her. I deposit her in the car and scoot in after her. Arya shuts the door and races around the back of the car, hopping in on the other side. Graham slides in the front seat, and the driver pulls away from the curb.

Raegan leans her head on my shoulder, and I wrap my arm around her, pulling her into my side. I let my fingers trail down her arm, placing a kiss to the top of her head, savoring everything about her.

I don’t know how I got here. I never wanted this, but it seems I have no choice in the matter. Raegan has taken the small, unoccupied space in my heart, and if I let her, she’ll take the whole thing without me realizing it.

“You’d better not hurt her,” Arya whispers loud enough for only me to hear.

I stroke Raegan’s hair as her breathing evens out. “I won’t.” I settle my cheek on her head. “I won’t.”

I’m certain Raegan could hurt me a thousand times worse than I ever imagined. There’s no chance in hell I’d intentionally inflict that kind of pain on her.