Hidden Feelings (Quick Bites #1)

Chapter 2

The Party

“I don’t know what to wear!” I shouted from my bedroom, panic finally seeping in.

Clothes were flying back in Derek’s direction. He had been fully dressed and ready for about half an hour now. Both he and Sam were waiting for me.

“Fucking find something already, dude! Nobody cares,” Sam yelled from the living room, where he was lounging on the couch while Derek tried to help me settle on an outfit.

“The white shirt looked fine,” he offered, pointing to the shirt that was now on the ground and covered in wrinkles.

Absolutely not. “There was a stain!”

“As long as it wasn’t a cum stain, there’s nothing to worry about,” Derek joked, but when I gave him the side-eye, he quickly wiped the smile off his face and cleared his throat. Did he forget the only reason I was doing this was because he suggested it?

Derek looked at the bed, where all my clothes were currently laid out. “Try on the gray one again.”

“The gray one was too tight!”

He let out an exasperated sigh. “Okay, what if you borrowed my brown T-shirt? The one you like.”

Oh, that shirt. If only he knew it was one of my favorites because he wore it the night he took me out after my breakup to help me forget everything. He’d looked so good that night, I couldn’t help but let him know.

“First of all, it’s not brown. It’s maroon.” I corrected. “And second, it won’t fit me.”

Compared to him, I was practically a twig ready to be carried away by the wind if it blew too hard. There was no way my skinny ass could pull off that shirt.

“Nah, it might,” he said. “It shrunk a bit in the wash and I haven’t worn it since. Hang on.”

Derek dashed off to his room, telling Sam we were almost ready, before he arrived back in my bedroom and closed the door.

It was kind of cute, I guessed. Like he was protecting my modesty from Sam.

Who—also straight—was definitely not looking.

Cute, but pointless.

He looked at me expectantly as I started to strip out of the stupid navy-blue button-up I was wearing.

“This is it or nothing,” I mumbled, taking the shirt from his hand.

His scent. It hit me instantly as I pulled the T-shirt over my head. It smelled like his cologne mixed with something warmer, something unmistakably Derek. I couldn’t stop myself from breathing it in.

I tugged the T-shirt down, and when I glanced up Derek was still watching me. A muscle ticked in his jaw like he was fighting back a thought he didn’t want to say out loud. His eyes rolled up and down my body and I felt the heat creeping up my face fast. I turned away, pretending to check myself out in the mirror, but really it was just to buy me a second to breathe.

The shirt was a little big, but it looked nicer than any of the options I’d tried on earlier. Plus, it seemed to match well with the black jeans I had on. Not sure what it was about the color of the shirt, but it did make my green eyes pop, and contrasted perfectly with my fair complexion and black hair.

Derek stepped up behind me, so close I could feel every inch of his presence. His breath lightly brushed the back of my neck, sending a sharp chill down my spine. The tiny hairs there prickled.

I swallowed hard, dragging in a deep breath with it.

I caught his gaze through the glass. “How do I look?”

Firm hands landed on my shoulders. “It suits you.” He held my gaze in the mirror. “You look good. You always look good.”

He didn’t mean it. I knew he didn’t. Oh, he might have meant it in a hype-up-your-friend type of way, but he didn’t mean it like a compliment .

He didn’t mean it like I heard it.

And yet there was that heat again, causing flutters in my chest.

“You’re just saying that so we can leave,” I teased, arching one brow, and he shook his head, smiling.

Derek’s gaze returned to the shirt. “Nah, I mean it. You can even keep the shirt if you want.”

“Really? You’d give me your shirt?”

He shrugged. “Looks better on you. Besides, as I said, it shrunk in the wash.”

“You sure it shrunk and you didn’t just bulk up?” I chuckle. “I mean, look at you! Your muscles have muscles. I don’t know what you’re benching, but you’ve definitely gotten bigger—like, in a good way. I’m not calling you fat or anything.”

Derek huffed a laugh. “Right.” His eyes did that rolling up and down thing again. “You look great, Kyle.” He gave my shoulders a squeeze. “I think we should get going before Sam gets mad.”

As if on cue, Sam yelled from the living room for us, and we moved along, my cheeks still tingling warm from Derek’s compliment.

“What took you guys so long?” Sam was slouched on the couch with one leg draped over the armrest like he owned the place. “Did one of you forget how to tie a shoe or something? Can’t believe I’m late to my own party.”

Derek shot him a flat look. “No one asked you to come over after class.”

Sam scoffed, pushing himself up from the couch.“Are you hinting at something? Is my awesome presence no longer welcome here?”

“Awesome, my ass.” Derek replied, glancing at me. “Ready?”

“Should we Uber, or are you driving?” Sam asked “I’m getting hammered tonight and will probably crash at the frat house.”

“I’m not driving.”

Both of them turned to me, their expectant stares making it clear they weren’t volunteering for the role of designated driver.

“Fine,” I muttered, grabbing the car keys from the coffee table. “Not like I plan on drinking anyway.”

Derek’s grin spread wide as he slung an arm around my shoulders. “That’s the spirit. We need you sharp and ready... for our plan tonight.”

Right. Operation Get Laid.

Just then my phone buzzed, and when I went to look at it, lo and behold, another text from my ex!

I’m at the cafe across from campus. Meet me there?

Before I could text him back, Derek snatched the phone from my hands.

“Hey!” I protested. Of course I’d forgotten he was right next to me when I opened the message. “Give it back. I’m not going to meet him anyway. I’m just going to tell him to fuck off.”

“No! You’re going to ignore it. Remember why you left. Ten guys, Ky. While you were still together.”

His words hit like a punch to the gut, but I needed to hear them.

Derek put my phone in the back pocket of his jeans as he pulled me toward the door, with Sam following behind us.

“You two are like an old married couple, I swear.” Sam laughed. “How you move and read each other, it’s freaky.”

I rolled my eyes while Derek chuckled as we walked out the door.

“No, seriously. He’s always in a hurry to leave after classes to pick you up,” Sam said. “And when we go out with the team, he doesn’t want to stay out late because he says you’ll be waiting up for him.”

Well, that was true. It had become our thing recently to wait for each other at night before heading to bed. There was something comforting about knowing the other was home safe. It was part of the whole domestic-bliss thing, and had started right after the breakup.

But that didn’t mean anything.

Sam’s eyes narrowed at me. “We all wouldn’t be surprised if he told us you’re both going out, the way he brings you up all the time.”

I snorted. “Oh, come on.”

Then the message hit somewhere in my brain. Wait... Derek brings me up all the time when he’s with his teammates?

I glanced at Derek, expecting him to wave off Sam’s comment with a witty remark or something, but what I saw stopped me. His face was flushed, a deep red spreading to his ears, and he was smiling.

He didn’t debunk it.

Maybe he was just embarrassed by Sam’s comment and not because he actually wouldn’t mind?

Nope.

I wasn’t that delusional.

I quickly dismissed the thought as the three of us stepped into the elevator.

Hopefully, tonight would go well. At the very least, I might meet someone who would take my mind off everything.

A fresh start. New beginnings.

To be honest, it wasn’t like me to do the whole one-night-stand thing, but I really needed to relax, and maybe getting my mind off my ex and the hopeless one-sided crush on Derek and moving on to someone else wasn’t the worst idea in the world.

I wanted to go home the instant we arrived.

The party was everything you’d expect from Beta Sigma Phi—lots of drunk people, some sneakily doing drugs, and others not so sneakily fucking in the pool. Sam was a popular guy, so there were a ton of people here.

The house was so crowded you had to bump into people just to make your way inside. Once we were in, Derek got me a drink and we scoped the room for something to do. I eyed the dance floor. I wasn’t much of a dancer, hell, I wasn’t much of a partier, but Derek always seemed to know where the fun was at.

“Oh, epic.” He nodded toward a corner of the hall. “They’re playing spin the bottle over there. That’ll get you started for sure.”

Before I could protest, Derek grabbed my hand and yanked me toward the group of people. We sat down and I noticed most were girls. How kissing girls was supposed to help me hook up with a guy I had no idea, but Derek was so thrilled when it was his turn to spin that I couldn’t bring myself to ruin his excitement. I watched as the bottle spun, slowing to a stop on some blonde girl.

She smiled, looking over the moon to kiss Derek, and I didn’t blame her.

He leaned forward, pecking her on the lips, which got a few boos from the group. Apparently, it had to be a full-on smooch, but that didn’t matter because when the blonde girl spun the bottle, it landed on Derek. He laughed and leaned back in. This time they really went for it, getting cheers from the crowd as they locked lips and mashed tongues and all that gross stuff I didn’t want to see my roommate doing with some girl. Nonetheless, she seemed happy—and hopeful—as Derek spun the bottle again.

Clearly, she hoped it would come to her, like destiny or something fated in the stars.

Instead, it landed on . . . me.

Everyone looked at each other like they weren’t sure what to do.

It was painfully obvious that no one else had been so unlucky to get someone of the same sex tonight. Or maybe the girls did and they just didn’t care, but it was obvious from everyone’s expressions that no one was expecting a guy-on-guy kiss.

“Uh.” I swallowed, looking at Derek with a nervous chuckle. “You can spin again. It’s okay.”

“Don’t make it weird,” he said. “It’s just a kiss, no bigger deal than what I did with... um...”

His expression scrunched as he looked over at the blonde.

“Heather,” she introduced herself with a sultry smile.

“Right.” He smiled. “Heather.”

“You don’t have to kiss anyone you don’t want to,” she said, clearly not into guys kissing or wanting her now obvious crush to lock lips with me or anyone other than her.

“Yeah, you don’t have to,” I added, not wanting to make it awkward.

“No, that’s the whole point of the game, and I’m not one to back down from it,” Derek insisted, rolling his eyes. “If people start objecting, it takes the fun out of the game. I mean, what’s the point in playing if you don’t kiss the person the bottle lands on?”

“Uh, not making out with your roommate?” I answered.

“A peck is fine,” said Heather. Her tone was jealous. “At least in this case ...”

“Nah, rules are rules,” he insisted.

“So . . . we . . . kiss kiss?” I felt my expression scrunch. “I don’t know if—”

He snorted. “Don’t be a bitch.” Then he grabbed me by the scruff of my shirt—or his shirt that I’d borrowed—and then he...

He pressed his mouth to mine.

My heart stopped for a moment ... before it started to beat so fast and loud that I could hear it drum in my ears.

Oh god! . . . Oh god!

Where should I put my hands? Was I supposed to touch him? Where was appropriate?

I didn’t know what to do, because everything inside me was short-circuiting. Haphazardly.

So I just followed his lead, falling into the kiss.

Firm lips folded against mine, coaxing my lips to move in tandem. It was like being kissed for the first time. No wonder I was acting like I didn’t know what to do. This wasn’t just a kiss.

This was like learning how to kiss all over again.

Nothing before had ever been like this . . .

Ever.

I heard cheering in the background as Derek grabbed the back of my neck with his free hand, pulling me in closer. I doubted Heather was one of those people cheering, but I didn’t care to think about that. Not when I was too busy freaking out.

God, what was he doing?

His lips were soft, so soft, and powerful at the same time. I had to make a conscious effort not to accidentally moan when his tongue slipped into my mouth for the briefest second, and before I knew it—before I could catch my breath—it was over.

It felt like the room, and everyone in it, rushed back to us, the bubble that we’d shared during the kiss gone.

And I didn’t know what the hell to do.

Derek pulled back, staring at me a little strangely as people cheered, and then it was my turn to spin the bottle.

I wasn’t ready for it, still riding that dizzying high from Derek’s lips. I wanted a minute to collect myself, or at least try to read Derek’s reaction to this, because holy hell... I was shaken to my very bones from that kiss.

I needed time. I needed space.

I needed to talk to Derek.

But people were smacking me on the back to hurry up, so I spun the bottle, and by some miracle it landed on another guy.

Only this one was gay.

I could tell by his eager smile, and well, the rainbow flannel shirt he was wearing said something too.

The guy leaned in without hesitation, and I did too. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that Derek had gotten up, but I couldn’t back out now. I kissed the guy.

Instant regret.

His sloppy, too-wet kiss couldn’t compare to Derek’s perfect one.

People still cheered around us, but when I pulled away my gaze searched the crowd for Derek’s face.

However, much to my surprise and bafflement, he was nowhere to be seen.

What. The. Hell.