29. Vaughn
CHAPTER 29
VAUGHN
N ow
I’d never stopped at just one kiss—not when I really thought about it. I always kissed twice or got greedy and wanted more, so why was that one stolen kiss in the dark the only thing I could think about for the next twelve hours? Brady nearly gave me another concussion because I wasn’t paying attention during practice, and twice, I forgot my helmet.
What the hell sort of witchcraft happened last night?
Her lips were so soft.
Perfect, actually.
“Yo.” Brady ran up beside me and grabbed his water bottle. “Is it that time of the month or something? You look ready to cry.”
I smacked him on the back of the head. “That’s offensive.”
His jaw dropped. “Are you serious right now?”
I tossed my water bottle back onto the grass. “Some might say it’s an honor to be compared to a woman—I mean, could you give birth?”
He leaned in. “Bro, you can’t get high before practice. They’ll kick you off the team.”
I shoved him away. “I’m not high. I’m just in my feelings.”
“You need to get laid.”
That was true. “Whatever. I’m thinking a lot of thoughts.”
He snorted out, then sobered a bit. “Did you fix things with Tru?”
I couldn’t help the stupid-ass smile that spread across my face. “I kissed her.”
Brady slammed his hand down on my shoulder. “Wow. Did you hold hands before or after class? Ask her to skate night? Go to the movies and order only one soda and one popcorn? I bet your hands grazed each other too.”
“Eat shit.” I shoved him away. “I’m trying to make amends, turning over a new leaf and all that. Plus, what I did was the dickest of dickest moves. It doesn’t matter that I was wasted.”
“Yeah, I kind of wanted to kick your ass out of the house.”
“I would have deserved it.”
“But,” he continued, “you kind of own it, so that wouldn’t have worked.”
Coach blew his whistle. “Are you two done gossiping?”
“Never!” Brady announced while Coach just cursed under his breath. He was losing hair faster this season—I needed to look no further than Brady and my own reflection in the mirror.
“Vaughan!” Coach yelled.
“Sorry, Coach. Coming, Coach.”
The rest of the day went by so slow that it actually felt like I was going back in time. I evaded at least five texts from my dad, all telling me that we needed to talk and that I needed to decide what grad school to apply to, which made the last half of practice complete shit. I was dropping balls and in a shit mood, and Tru hadn’t so much as texted or at least said something to me.
Every time my phone went off in class and it was my dad and not her, I got more annoyed until I wanted to break it in half. Grad school. He could suck it. I was still mentioned on the news as being a possible draft pick. I knew it, he knew it, but this kind of shit messed with my confidence. I was still a free agent, but as long as my name was whispered around draft circles, I still had hope. I mean, Brady was what? Sixth draft pick?
I needed to get out of my own head.
Maybe I’d make good use of the house hot tub. God knows it got its use during parties, but I hadn’t been in it in forever.
Mind made up and house empty, I grabbed a beer, stripped out of my practice clothes until I was completely naked, and walked outside, only to see Tru sitting in one of the lawn chairs reading.
Oh shit, she was going to think I was trying to get laid.
Just as I was going to turn around, she looked up.
And double shit.
I waved my beer at her.
She burst out laughing. “Um, skinny-dipping?”
Whatever, she’d seen the goods and experienced them multiple times. No shame and all that. I walked over to the hot tub and flipped off the lid, then sank down and let out a moan. “Sorry, I needed that, and no, I’m not skinny-dipping. It would be weird to call it skinny-dipping when you’re by yourself. I had a shit day, Dad won’t stop calling, and Brady’s an idiot.”
“But he’s a cute idiot,” she pointed out.
“He’s not cute. Don’t ever call him cute, especially to his face. He takes it seriously, and his girlfriend would pull out your hair. I like your hair too much for you to lose it, not that I wouldn’t like you if you were bald—I’m going to stop talking now.”
Tru’s eyes lit up as she closed her book and walked over to the hot tub, leaning her body against it. “Is this what happens when sex is officially off the table? I thought it would make you grumpier. Instead, you’re like this sad little puppy that talks too much about his feelings.”
“I don’t.”
“You do.”
“Not true.”
“You’ve always been that way,” she whispered.
The air caught between us like it needed time to digest all the tension swirling between our bodies. I licked my lips and avoided staring at hers. “Wanna go out tonight?”
“For our date?”
“Yeah.”
“Will there be a second kiss?”
I smiled and floated back to the other side of the hot tub. “A man never tells.”
“Wow.” She reached for her T-shirt and pulled it over her head.
Panic seized my chest. “What are you doing?”
The clothes kept coming off until she was completely naked, and I was having a hard time not lunging across the hot tub and mauling her with my mouth while begging her to sit on my face.
I could do this.
Don’t be an asshole. Don’t be an asshole. Keep your hands to yourself, oh fuck look at those tits. No! Don’t make bad choices . She pulled her hair into a messy bun and got into the tub across from me.
Mouth dry, all I could do was take what I hoped was a casual sip of beer. What happened next I would never come back from. “Sup?”
She pressed her lips together like she was trying not to laugh. “Did you just Sup me?”
“It may have slipped,” I admitted. Why was she making me nervous? I needed to focus on the hurt from the past so I didn’t make the same mistake. I was being nice because I’d gone too far. That was all this was, nothing more.
Nope.
“Ah.” Tru made her way over to my side. Please don’t touch me, please don’t.
A hand.
Her hand. Grazed my thigh.
I could have sworn my dick strained toward her hand in such longing that it was borderline pathetic.
She let out a soft moan. “This feels good.”
Want to know what else would feel good? “Yup.”
Stay strong.
“So a date.” Why wasn’t her hand moving from my thigh? “Tonight.”
Dead kittens. Puppies. Hair on the floor. If possible, I only got harder.
She slid her hand upward.
I completely froze. “Let’s go to the beach and eat at that burger place.”
“Sounds good.”
Water lapped around her tits as she slowly moved and straddled me with my poor dick trapped between us just sliding against her stomach. I grit my teeth. I didn’t move my hands or my hips.
Who even was I at this point?
“Interesting,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around my neck.
“What is?” I rasped.
“A week ago, you would have kissed me, taunted me, threatened to impale me with your favorite appendage, and ended it with an insult, but now? You’re the epitome of control.”
I was actually dying. “You have no idea.” I could barely get words out. “How difficult this is for me right now.”
Tru rested her head against my chest. “Yeah, I think I do.”
“Hey!” Chad yelled from the house. “No sex in the hot tub, man! You know the rules!”
“We aren’t having sex!” I yelled back. “Trust me, you’d know if we were!”
He went back inside, leaving us alone. “Why no sex in the hot tub?”
“Germs.” I nodded. “I mean, do you want to swim in someone else’s juices? Plus, it’s hot, meaning a bacteria bloodbath. See, I pay attention in class.”
She moved off me. “I should probably go get ready.”
“Me too.”
Neither of us budged.
I cleared my throat. “It’s going to take me a minute, and I don’t want to poke my own eye out, so just…go.”
Please. Go.
Tru glanced over her shoulder and floated back to me, and grabbed my dick so hard I winced. Why did her hand feel so good? I shuddered when she pumped me so achingly slow that all I could focus on was my own erratic breathing until I suddenly exploded in her hand without warning.
That was embarrassingly fast.
She pulled away. “Technically, we didn’t break the rules.”
Words. I needed to fill the space with them, but it felt like she’d just drugged me. I opened my mouth and closed it again, then nodded my head.
“Wow, like taming the beast.” Tru smiled. “You didn’t deserve that, by the way, but I felt guilty for being responsible.”
“People should always take responsibility for their actions.” I exhaled. “I’m sorry, I know I’ve already said that, but I really am.”
She shrugged. “I’ll see you tonight.”
She still had her walls up.
To her, that was doing me a favor. There was nothing romantic about the gesture. I didn’t matter to her, but I wanted to. I’d gone too far, and now I was making up for it, but it seemed like it was too late.
I wanted the old Tru.
The one that was brutally honest and open.
The one I broke.
But I couldn’t forget that she broke me too. It was a mutual breaking of bad choice after bad choice. That shouldn’t be new, knowing my track record. We had been too hurt at the time to see past anything but betrayal, and I chose not to tell her the truth, thinking she’d walk away, and she walked away anyway without telling me why.
I let her go in the house first and followed her.
I had to make it up to her.
And I knew a stupid burger wouldn’t be enough. A million dates and a million kisses wouldn’t be enough.
I’d have to bury the hatchet first, but it was painful admitting defeat, admitting that I wronged her the same way she wronged me. Because, in the end, it means she somehow won by breaking my heart, and I was the idiot going back to the same poison that would destroy me all over again.
My head said we could do things differently.
My heart said it wasn’t worth the risk.
I walked into the kitchen and nearly fell on my ass because of my wet feet, then casually walked by the guys sitting on the couch.
“Nice legs,” one of them called out.
“Eat shit.” I went up the stairs and slammed my door behind me.
How do you get someone who hates you to open up without it looking fake?
I had no clue.