I smiled too, but his laugh abruptly stopped, and he pulled out his phone.

He swiped over the screen and sighed audibly. “I gotta handle this. My mom’s throwing a fit.” The screen lit up, and he hit a button, putting it next to his ear. “Mom.”

A pause.

“I’m hanging out with friends.” More silence, then a small growl. “Don’t even start with that. Mom! Mom.” He stood, his drink in one hand and the phone in the other. “I swear to God, Mom.” He stopped, his head falling back to look at the sky. His voice rose. “I didn’t ask him to come out here. I don’t want him here. That douchebag’s not here for me. He’s here for you. He’s sniffing around you, hearing you’re shacked up with your real baby daddy. I’m the goddamn excuse, and I ain’t dealing with it. Let’s go back to New York. Let’s pretend we’re back there, and the same shit would be happening. You and him are fighting about stuff that’s got nothing to do with me, and I’m gone. I’m not even in the house, and here you are calling me, trying to get me to come back, so you and him have a reason to be fighting. He doesn’t want you, but he doesn’t want to let you go either. It’s called a toxic relationship. I’m eighteen. I’ve got my own money. You’ve got nothing to ‘make me’ come back, so I’m not coming. As long as he’s there, I ain’t.” He stopped, listening again. Then his next words came out softer. “I know you’re hurting. He cheated on you, but I knew he was going to decide he wanted another go with you. That’s why I was going out there this summer. I wanted to see what he was going to do to mess with you. I can’t imagine what Stephen is thinking, and Stephen seems like a decent guy. Don’t let Griffith get in there and damage what you have with Stephe—” He stopped.

I could hear a female voice speaking on the other end.

He gave another sigh. “Mom. Mom, listen to me. No.” A pause. “I’m not coming back tonight. I told you, I’m with friends. Yeah. I’ll be back tomorrow. Don’t let him sleep there, Mom. I mean it. If he’s sleeping there when I get back tomorrow, I’m going to beat his ass. I’m telling you what I’ll do.”

They kept talking, but some of the fight had left him, and after a few more minutes where he was just silent and listening to her, they hung up.

He sat frozen for a second before turning and throwing his drink as hard as he could across the campsite.

“That was an excellent throw.”

He barked out a laugh. “Shut—” He caught himself, raking a hand over his face. “Sorry. Bad habit.” His shoulders heaved up and down. “I called him Dad all my life, thought he was my dad. Then my mom finally walked in on him after five years of cheating on her. She declared they were getting a divorce. We moved back here, ’cause she likes it here, and the new boyfriend starts coming around. The new boyfriend looks a lot like me. The new boyfriend, as I found out, was my real dad, so what do I call the asshole who raised me? Griffith? He ain’t Griffith to me, but he’s not my dad anymore.”

He scowled, going back to the table and pouring another drink for himself. He looked over. “You want one?”

Did I?

I was almost done so I finished it and stood, taking my cup to him.

I handed it over, letting our fingers brush. I didn’t look at him, but I could feel his eyes on me. They were smoldering, and I felt my body heating.

Then he pulled the cup away.

“So we’ve established that you’re out here because you were hoping to be camping with a ghost.”

I looked up.

That stung, but he was right.

That was why I was out here. He studied me until I nodded.

“And I’m out here avoiding talking to a guy that I don’t even know what to call anymore because he ain’t here for me. I’m just the excuse.” He whistled under his breath, finishing my drink and handing it over. He picked up his cup and held it out. “Let’s toast.”

I frowned, but held my cup up to his.

“How about we toast to losing our virginity in a tent?”

I coughed and sputtered out, “What?!”

“Just kidding.” He clinked his cup to mine and took a sip. “I’m not a virgin. Don’t worry.”

14

Blaise

She lay in front of me, and all I wanted to do was touch her.

That wasn’t true. I also wanted to lift her shirt up, show more of that little bit of waist she’d revealed as she turned away from me. She wore tight yoga pants to bed, and I wanted to move in, slide my hand inside them, and push them down. Then I wanted to cup her ass, because I could see a glimpse of her thong—pink and dainty looking. I groaned to myself.

My hard-on had a life of its own.

It wanted me to move closer, grind against her… And whose fault was it that we had to sleep next to each other? Mine. What a fuck am I? Apparently, you needed more than booze and food for camping. You needed things like sleeping bags and blankets, and things to brush your teeth—not that I was really worried about that. I could slip away to the gas station back up the road and do my business there.

Aspen had suggested we share the sleeping bag. It was that or I had to sleep in my Wagon. California nights could get cold, so here I was, a little drunk, and Aspen looked wasted after her three glasses. She had at least a decent buzz happening.

That was then. This was now.

I was awake and sober. Painfully sober.

Fuck, man. Fuck.

That bathroom make-out sesh was back in my head, replaying over and over again. Every little moan she’d made, the way I’d cupped her breasts, stroked her nipples, and grabbed them with both hands. Who the hell wouldn’t? She had a great rack, but now I was all sorts of regretting that because all I wanted to do was roll over on top of her, lift her shirt, and kiss those breasts while I slipped a finger inside her. Maybe two. Probably three. I wanted to wake her all the way up....

But I wouldn’t. I was fighting a boner the size of the redwoods surrounding us, but I had to be a gentleman. Because apparently, that’s what I’d signed up for when I decided I was going to be Aspen’s friend.

Friend. God.

Gag.

I was not a friend to girls. I banged them, or at least I fingered them. Friends? Hell to the no. So why was I out here? I could’ve gone to Zeke’s. He’d mentioned a rave in the desert, and I could’ve gotten lit up a whole different way. But I was here—in fucking boner rager agony—and Aspen was sleeping.

She was snoring. It was soft and cute-sounding, and there was that word again. Cute. I did not do cute.

“What’s your damage?”

I grinned, hearing my words come from her. Guess I woke her up.

She flipped over to glare at me. “I can’t sleep because I can hear how tense you are.”

My grin deepened, and I raised an eyebrow. “You want to know my problem?”

“Yeah.” She got settled, tipping her head to look up at me.

“Fine.” I looked down. “It’s not me that’s tense. My rager is working double-time, and you’re its techno music, if you get my drift.”

She frowned, glancing down.

“I have a massive hard-on for you.” There. I spelled it out.

She flushed, her eyes going round, but her lips curved up. She enjoyed this attention from me, and fuck me—that just made me want to torture her more. I was starting to live for her reactions, so I moved forward. I went slowly, giving her the option to pull away or stop me, but she never did.

Her teeth sank into her lip. I about jizzed my pants.

Cute.

Fuck.

She was all cute, and hot, and sexual, and I wanted to breathe her in, the more I was around her.

I rubbed against her, and she still didn’t stop me. That felt good. That felt real gooood. Reallly good.

Her eyes closed, and she moaned, and that was it.

I slid a hand under her shirt, moving it up, and rolled her to her back as I loomed over her. I was grinding against her, and I felt her holding her breath as her legs opened a little bit more for me.

Hell yeah. I moved all the way over her.

This was going to go bad fast, but who was I to stop us?

I settled right between her legs, and I pushed in and up. She gasped. It was like touching heaven again. I hissed, needing to let some of the tension out, as my fingers discovered she had no bra.

No bra. Was that a sign? Who was I talking to?

My fingers found her nipple as I thrust against her. Her legs wound around my hips, and she began moving with me. Now we were getting it on, and I couldn’t hold back anymore.

Dipping down, I found her lips.

Lust exploded in me. Shit, I wanted her. I wanted her so bad. This wasn’t like with other girls. She was more somehow, and I groaned. I couldn’t stop touching her. My lips opened over hers, commanding her, and she responded. She was so fucking good at that. My tongue slid inside to find hers, and as we kissed, I showed her how I wanted to be inside her in a whole other way.

I moaned. “You’re amazing.”