Tricky Girls (Girls of Hazelhurst #1)

22. CHAPTER 22

CHAPTER 22

Tilda

Because of the freakout I have pretty much every time I think about going back to Portia House, Haz and Elly suggest we film the opening hospital scenes first. Which makes total sense in terms of chronology, I’ve just been hoping to put them off for preferably forever.

I get the gist no other groups have even started filming yet but it would be nice to get a head start before breaking up for Christmas.

I feel like the world’s biggest idiot entering the building in my dead witch attire, especially when someone calls out that Halloween was two months ago.

‘Ignore them,’ Elly murmurs, stroking my backcombed hair. ‘You look sick.’

Haz nods silently to my other side. She’s catching some looks too, dressed in blue hospital scrubs. She’s our male nurse, returned to the town of her ancestors for a job. I’m the witch who mistakes him for her lost love.

I open my old bedroom, musty from disuse. We shove our shit inside whilst Elly sets up the camera. There’s not much to film luckily. I want to get in and out before either Ryan or Natasha spots us.

We film some shots of Haz walking up and down the corridor with a clipboard, peeking into patients’ rooms.

‘She’s getting too into this,’ Elly murmurs from behind the camera, making me smile.

Haz has her hair in a bun, the style that makes her look the most masculine. I love it on her. She has the best jawline I’ve ever seen on a girl. On anyone, to be honest.

‘What’s this?’ Elly asks, tapping a scene on the storyboard.

I glance at it. ‘My shitty drawing. That’s me and the boyf hugging. He can’t see me though.’

‘Spooky. Haz is gonna love that.’

Oh, she will judging by the smile on her face as I approach for my scene.

‘Pretend you’re an octopus,’ she says. ‘Wrap yourself around me.’

I come up behind her, winding my arms around her torso, just under her boobs, my cheek flush against her back.

I pinched the idea from a film, the name or plot of which escapes me. The guy in it is admitted to a mental institution on account of forever thinking he’s being stalked by some obsessed female entity. There’s one scene, right at the end, where the doctors leave him bent over on the bed. The camera pans out and there’s the woman, wrapped around him from behind.

It was freaky as fuck and I loved it.

I close my eyes, trusting that Elly will shout cut when she’s done. Haz’s skin is feverish beneath the thin scrubs, the material smelling mildly of chemicals.

‘This is nice.’ There’s a smirk in her voice.

‘’Tis,’ I whisper, enjoying her solidness. She could crush me with one arm if she wanted but all I feel is secure.

‘I can keep the camera rolling for a bit more,’ Elly finally calls out. ‘If you two need a further moment.’

I pull away from Haz with a laugh. ‘Dickhead.’

I’m glad we’re packing up when Natasha leaves her room, heading for the kitchen. She has to step around our strewn equipment, shooting shy looks at me the whole time.

‘You look cool,’ she says.

‘And you look like someone’s hit you in the face with a pan,’ Haz hisses into my ear, making my lips twitch. It’s mean, but Natasha really does have an unusually flat face.

She turns back around with a frown. ‘What?’

Haz’s hands clamp down on my hips. ‘Stop talking to my girlfriend, you cheating hag.’

My eyebrows shoot up at the same time Natasha sends me a dumbfounded look.

‘What? Girlfriend?’

‘Nothing.’ Spinning round, I push Haz away. ‘Leave it. We’re basically done anyway.’

‘Are you going to the Christmas meal tonight?’ Natasha asks from the kitchen doorway.

‘Yeah. I’ll be there.’

‘Cool. See you later then.’

I watch the door swing shut. When I turn back, the others are watching me with disapproval.

‘Do not engage,’ Haz warns.

‘Do not tell me what to do. Besides, I’m not. Nothing wrong with being civil, is there?’

She snorts. ‘There’s everything wrong with it.’

‘Whatever.’ I pick up the camera bag before they can protest. ‘Let’s get these back. We’ve got a night out to be getting dolled up for.’

It’s times like this when I miss Natasha the most. Haz and Elly never get ready with me since they’re usually done in two seconds flat. Maybe three for Haz.

It’s lonely kneeling before the mirror on my own, putting on my makeup with music blasting to make me feel like I’ve got company.

Me and Natasha always made a thing of it, piling into her room with the big mirror, makeup and alcohol strewn around us as we chatted about the night ahead.

There’s no alcohol tonight; no doubt the bubbly will be flowing freely at the meal. Last year there was so much left over I was able to sequester a whole unopened bottle back to halls.

I vaguely remember Haz and Elly sitting at the other end of the table. They’d only taken notice of me when we started playing a course-wide game of Never Have I Ever and it came to light that Natasha and I had snogged. The only two on the course to have done so, drunken though it might have been. Haz had raised her drink at us whilst Elly grinned charmingly, fluffing up that hair of hers.

And that had been that until Halloween.

I have to wait a few moments to put on my mascara, blinking back tears. Despite what Natasha did, I really do miss her sometimes. It’s like grief, it comes in waves. And tonight there’s a whole tsunami of it.

Makeup done, I jump up and smooth down my dress. I ordered it online, terrified it either wouldn’t fit or wouldn’t make it here on the ferry at all. But it did and it’s perfect, a red, slip-like velvet number. It’s a bit short at the back but I’m sure that’ll be appreciated by the others.

I layer it with some silver necklaces and my Docs. Then I’m done, clunking down the stairs to the living room.

I’m the first there which surprises me. Well, first apart from Nic who’s got her back to me, fiddling with the TV. She turns to look, eyes flitting quickly over my outfit. When they return to mine, there’s none of that guardedness in them. There’s an open bottle of whiskey on the table, a tumbler on the TV cabinet. She’s making a night of it too.

The longer her gaze lingers on me, the more uncomfortable I grow. I sit on the sofa, pulling my dress down as far as it will go. I’m not used to this, this heat in her eyes where there’s usually ice.

I’m the first to look away, fiddling with the strap of my bag as the other two make their way down, dashing in their twin suits.

‘Fuck me,’ Haz blurts when she sees me. ‘No really, fuck me.’

I smile, glad for her irreverence to break the tension. ‘Maybe if you’re lucky.’

‘You’re gonna freeze,’ Elly says, her brow puckering despite her wandering eyes.

‘You’ll have to keep me warm then.’

I stand up, careful not to flash Nic who’s still staring, holding that tumbler of whiskey to her lips.

‘Have fun, kids,’ she murmurs. ‘Be quiet when you come in.’

Haz

I don’t know where the fuck my suit jacket went but I’m too pumped up to give a shit. Vipers is hopping tonight, their official Christmas event bringing in the entire student body.

The only body I’ve got my eye on tonight is the one under my hands right now. I guide Tilda into the club by her hips, shouldering out the way all the other assholes who dare come too close. The feel of velvet makes my clit twitch. She’s a vision, a fucking vision. Don’t know how I’m gonna survive the night without putting my mouth to those merlot-painted lips.

At least Elly’s struggling just as much. As we left the lodge, she sent me a look over Tilda’s head that practically screamed I can’t fucking take her.

Yeah, me neither buddy.

Shit, why can’t that girl be gay? We wouldn’t even be at Vipers now if she was. She’d be in one of our beds, that skimpy dress in a heap on the floor.

I smother a burp as we wait at the bar. I’m stuffed as a turkey, full on Christmas dinner, champagne and crème br?lée. It hadn’t been as fun as last year—the staff kicked us out before we could get to the party games—but it was still a good time, especially with this little vixen pressed between us.

That pan-faced bitched tried to nose her way in but I promptly put a stop to that, driving her to the other side of the table.

She snuck looks at Tilda all evening, the two of them trading little smiles that made me want to vom. Someone hurts you like that, you don’t fucking go back to them. Well, apart from with Nic. But that’s different. We’re family. Family fall out. At the end of the day, she’d fucking kill for me. Die, even. And I for her.

Fuck, this festive cheer has gotten to me too. Before I can get all misty-eyed, I order a tray of shots, cute Christmas ones with hats of squirty cream.

Tilda eyes them dubiously. ‘You’re gonna get me fucked up.’

I press one into her hand. ‘Would that help me get into your knickers?’

She glares but downs the shot anyway.

‘Hey guys, look what I found,’ Elly shouts, proudly holding aloft a floppy Santa hat.

‘No fair, I want one,’ Tilda pouts.

‘You can have mine, babe.’ She plops it down on Tilda’s head and I roll my eyes at the gooey smile Tilda gifts her in return.

‘You motherfuckers gonna come dance or what?’

‘Hell yeah.’ Tilda grabs my hand, Elly’s too, and leads us off.

Indeterminate hours later, I’m stood by the loos waiting on Elly, eyes fixed on Tilda who’s still out on the dance floor. I narrow them as Natasha approaches her, wearing Tilda’s Santa hat, and leans over to talk to her. I can’t work out what they’re saying, Tilda’s face remaining impassive as they converse. Is that her pissed off face? Can’t tell. Sometimes she’s an open book but most times she’s not. My sexiest enigma.

But then Natasha says something that definitely pisses her off, and I have to hide my smirk as Tilda flounces back to me with a face of thunder.

‘Do me a favour?’ she says.

‘Yeah, what?’

‘Plough me up against that wall and stick your tongue down my throat.’

My eyebrows shoot up. ‘Ex-fucking-cuse me?’

‘You heard.’ When I don’t move, she grabs my arm and tries dragging me instead. ‘Chop, chop, Harriet. Offer won’t be around forever.’

By the wall, she lets go of my hand, walking back one step, two steps, until she thumps against it, eyes begging me to follow. Something fast and bassy starts up behind us, Vipers’ red LEDs—since it’s Chrimbo and all—casting both shadow and light over her features. And suddenly I’m sober, so one hundred percent fucking sober, my mind clearer than it’s ever been in my life.

‘Alright.’ I move in, caging her with my palms either side of her shoulders. She looks up at me, a little warily, a lot expectantly. ‘I’m assuming you’re doing this for a reason, but I don’t give a fuck what that is right now.’

I don’t give her the chance to explain herself, don’t care for it, as I crush my lips to hers. I kiss her hard, our tongues duelling, breaths mingling, and oh fuck this is what I’ve needed my whole life. Her lips are moist, she tastes like Baileys, and her body’s like putty beneath mine.

Her hands have a death grip on my shirt but she begins moving them up until they’re flat on my chest, just above my furling to fuck nipples. I think she’s forgetting I’m not a guy but that’s alright, I’ll make her remember in a sec.

I don’t know how long this is gonna last but I’m determined to give her the whole Haz experience—to make her know what she’s missing. I keep my palms to the wall. I don’t trust myself touching her, can’t risk scaring her off. With just my body, I keep her pinned, canting my hips so she feels the hard ridge of my strap. I want to weep when she draws in a sharp breath, her kiss faltering.

I don’t give her the chance to draw back, pressing our mouths together all the harder and keeping up the momentum of my hips. The hundreds of people thronging around us don’t matter, neither does the fact that up until now, this girl hasn’t wanted any of this.

When my lungs start to protest, I pull away, catching sight of Elly from the corner of my eye. She’s watching us, one hand blindly reaching out to rid herself of her drink. I don’t know what’s going on behind those eyes of hers. All I know is that she definitely wants some of this.

I turn back to Tilda, cunt clenching at the mess I’ve made of her lipstick. ‘Can Elly join in on the fun?’

She hesitates then nods glassily. I gesture Elly over. She doesn’t even need to know what’s going on; she doesn’t care either. The rest of the club recedes as I watch her draw closer and closer to our velvet-wrapped temptress.

I huff. Such a fucking tease.

But then her hands are threading through Tilda’s hair, their lips brushing once, twice, then again, firmer this time until she presses forward, moulding herself to Tilda’s length.

Fuck.

I shift, pressing my thighs together. There’s so much pressure there, too much to be dealing with in such a busy place.

No doubt this would all come crashing down if I asked to move it to the lodge. This is Tilda’s game, we’ve just gotta play it.

They kiss slowly, deeply, too fucking slowly for me. How can she take it? Even now my hands are twitching, itching to get back in there and suck the rest of that lipstick off those lips.

They don’t kiss for long, Elly drawing back first. Tilda blinks her eyes open, looking up at Elly through her eyelashes before a slow smile blooms on her lips, and fuck if that isn’t the most postcoital-like smile I’ve ever seen.

Elly returns it, looking lost for words. Can relate. Don’t need words for the things I wanna do to Tilda anyway.

Seeming to come back to herself, Tilda pushes Elly away, her eyes flitting over the dance floor. Her face clears after a moment. She smiles at the both of us, clearly having found whatever the fuck she was looking for.

I check the time on my phone. Almost 4AM. Club lights will be coming on any minute.

I return to Tilda, pushing her back into the wall. ‘Can I take you home, princess?’

She nods once, holding out a hand for both of us to take. I meet Elly’s eyes over her head, that look from before back on her face.

Thank fuck for the long walk ahead.

I whoop at the frigid breeze blowing off the ocean, dragging wind-whipped hair off my face. ‘My nipples are seizing!’

Tilda releases us to wrap her arms around herself. Now I’m really damning myself for losing my jacket when Elly removes hers and enfolds Tilda in it.

‘Thanks,’ she sings. ‘You’re the best. Like liiiiiterally the best.’

I smirk at her slurring. ‘Gonna tell us what brought you over to the dark side tonight?’

‘Fucking Natasha.’ An adorable scowl twists her features. ‘She didn’t believe I was gay so I wanted to prove her wrong.’

‘But…you’re not,’ Elly points out.

‘Yeah, but that’s not the point.’

‘So what is?’ Elly laughs.

‘I dunno, dude,’ Tilda groans, running both hands through her hair and dislodging Elly’s jacket. ‘I’m fucked.’

I put my arm around her, drawing her into me. ‘It’s cool, Tilda. Happens to the best of us. But I think you need a bed and a good lie down.’

‘Wanna lie down together?’ Tilda’s eyes are so bloodshot; I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this cut. ‘Can take some pictures and send them to Natasha.’

‘Sure thing, baby.’ I kiss her temple, enjoying the warm, downy skin against my lips. ‘Let’s just get you all tucked up first.’

In Tilda’s room, I glance at Elly, wondering which of us will get the honour of removing her dress.

Unfortunately it’s neither.

After she manages to get her boots off, her dress rucking up so it’s practically around her waist, she points to the door. ‘Out, please.’

I fold my arms. ‘Not gay anymore?’

She shakes her head. ‘Mm-mm.’

I roll my eyes at Elly. ‘Well, damn. Need us to get you a sick bucket or anything?’

Tilda frowns. ‘I don’t sick.’

‘Alright, seems you got it all in hand then. See you in the morning, beautiful.’ I snort at the state of her. ‘Or afternoon.’

Out in the corridor, Elly shakes her head. ‘She’s killing me,’ she hisses. ‘Fucking killing me.’

I clap her on the back. ‘Suck it up, buttercup. We invited her to live with us.’

‘Yeah, but that was before I kissed her.’

Elly gazes off, the smile she’s worn all night nowhere to be seen now. Clearly she’s got Tilda on her mind as well as on her clit. Like the last one’s not bad enough.

I leave her there mooning at nothing. In my room, I waste no time getting myself unstrapped and falling over my bed with the dildo in my hand.

Feels a little like cannibalism when I do this, but needs must.

And boy, do I need it.

There’s zero resistance as I plunge it inside. Even my boxers had been soaked, making for an uncomfy walk home. I thrust roughly, my other hand disjointedly thrumming my clit. With Tilda’s kiss fresh in my mind, I come in seconds, gasping into my pillow until my pussy stops clenching.

Flinging the dildo to the floor, I let out a sigh.

That helped a bit. Nothing like the real thing though. The sun could come up and I still wouldn’t be done with that girl. Fuck, I hope she can do multiples.

My phone buzzes on my nightstand as I eventually doze off. I squint at the screen as I pick it up.

Elly: Help, I’ve nutted three times and it’s not doing anything

I smirk. Like minds.

Have one more on me, I text back, getting a bunch of cry emojis in reply.

I toss the phone away, scrubbing a hand over my face as I yawn.

Damn, why did Tilda have to do that? Doesn’t she know there’ll be no going back for me now?

Dangerous, dangerous game to play. I don’t think even Elly’s around to save her now.

Tilda

Maybe a sick bucket was a good idea. There’s an awful churn of liquor, rich food and far too many milk products going on in my stomach this morning. Considering how much I put away, the night before comes back to me slowly.

Damn, that had been fun. Hazelhurst definitely ascribes to that whole work-hard-play-hard thing. It’s nice they let us cut loose as much as they do, even if we end up pissing off staff with our rowdiness.

The night wouldn’t have been the banger it was without Elly and Haz, of course. They’d looked amazing in their suits, Haz’s as black as sin, Elly with her tight chinos and gaudy Christmas shirt. They scrub up well, no denying that, a little frisson of…something shooting through me when I first saw them. All that masculinity, no doubt. I’m hardly immune to that.

I’m cut off from my masc imaginings at the ping of my phone. Thinking it’s one of them two, I’m surprised to see it’s Natasha, a number I’ve not had pop up in a while. I’ve deleted her as a contact but recognise her message from the emojis.

Are you really into girls then?

I huff, the same indignation from last night returning. Why is that so unbelievable?

Yeah I am, I send back.

My phone buzzes again but I don’t read it, suddenly remembering some other aspects of the night. I hadn’t meant to get into another fake dating scenario but I hate— hate —the thought of them thinking I haven’t moved on, that I’m still sad about the two of them.

Which I am. Mostly about her than him though.

I’m not surprised Haz had been so eager to jump in with me. I knew she’d be a good bet, like she’d been waiting for an in this whole time, circling like a shark. If I’m gonna get my kicks, it’s only fair she gets hers too.

Elly, I feel a bit bad about. It seemed decent to share at the time but I don’t want her to feel used. I know her feelings run deeper than Haz’s. Haz is a puddle, Elly’s a whole Mariana Trench.

And me?

I’m definitely something damp after last night.

Haz’s kiss had been everything I thought it would be—hard, dominating, wet. I was still trying to catch my breath when I’d felt that thing touch me, pushing into my too-long-neglected clit. If we’d been anywhere else, if we’d been alone, I probably would have told her to put it in. I don’t doubt she knows how to wield it. Despite my teasing to the contrary, she’s probably a better lay than most of the guys I’ve been with.

But we hadn’t been alone. We’d been with Elly, and when Haz invited her over to take her share…well, I hadn’t expected that . Hands down the best kiss I’ve ever had, never mind lay. The opposite to Haz, she held me like I was precious, like she was scared to break me, her lips dragging so carefully, so perfectly, over my own. It did something to me, some kind of mini fireworks exploding below, my entire body standing up in surprise.

This morning, it’s Elly’s kiss I can’t get out of my mind.

I’m languishing in bed, desperately needing to pee, desperately needing to drink, when a knock comes to the door. Haz’s face peeks round it, a sly smile on her lips when she spots me.

‘There’s our little defector. Bet you’re feeling fresh this morning.’

I roll onto my side, smiling sweetly. ‘Be fresher after a cuppa.’

Haz nods, already backing out the door. ‘Done.’

I sigh happily, burrowing deeper into my pillows that smell of Elly’s washing powder. Christmas music blares from her room to mine, her surprisingly in tune voice warbling along to it. Above us, Nic shouts at her to cut it out but even I can hear the smile in her voice.

I recall Elly’s invitation to the mainland for the markets tomorrow, my stomach doing a little flip at the thought. It won’t be awkward, will it—just the two of us? I couldn’t bear it if it was. But I can’t stop thinking about her kiss, a foreign heaviness taking up residence in my heart. It’s not a bad heaviness, just a weird feeling of anticipation. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to repeat what we did. Just to see if it really was as good as I remember it, in the sober light of day.

Things rarely are though, are they? And despite what that asshole upstairs thinks, I have no desire to lead anyone on.