Chapter 14
CHAPTER 14
“Wait a damn minute.” I walk out of Blondie’s hold on me and head for the door. The second my feet hit the top step, I slam the door closed behind me and shout with my hands in the air, “I thought you wanted to talk?”
“Not anymore,” she grumbles as she begins down the sidewalk.
Not wearing any shoes, I jog down the sidewalk after her, feeling the cold dampness seep through my thin socks. “Legs, would you stop walking for a damn minute?”
She finally stops with her back toward me.
“What?” she huffs.
I catch up to her and grab her arm to spin her around to face me. “Why are you so pissed?”
“Do you remember the first night I met you when you got pissed because I was wasting your time?” She crosses her arms. “Well, now you’ve wasted mine.”
“Come on now,” I chuckle airily. “I’m fifteen minutes late. No reason to get mad.”
I give her a quizzical look, wondering how heated she’d get if I called her out for what I think is actually going on right now.
She crosses her arms over her chest and grimaces. “My time is precious.”
“Is that what this is really about? Your time ?”
“Of course it is. When you tell someone you’ll be somewhere, showing up isn’t optional. A person's word means everything. What more would it be?”
I suck my bottom lip between my teeth, lift my wet foot and look at it for a second, then finally say, “I think you’re jealous.”
“Jealous of those girls?” Her cheeks flame before a dry laugh climbs up her throat. “Not a chance.”
“You sure about that?”
With a heavy huff she spins on her heel and continues walking away from me. Unfortunately for her, I’m not letting her get away that easily.
Back at her side, I throw an arm around her shoulders, knowing it’s going to piss her off, but not giving a damn. “Just admit it. You’re jealous.”
She tosses my arm off of her like it’s a dirty rag. “Hey, if you wanna sleep with all the puck bunnies that show up on your doorstep, have at it. Just don’t expect me to be one of them.”
This attitude she’s giving me is a big change from the way she was talking last night. Part of me knew she wouldn’t follow through with it. I think the other part of me was scared she actually might and I’d have to decide between listening to my dick or my brain. Maybe this needed to happen. Maybe Brogan needed to get a glimpse into the life I live to realize she doesn’t want any part of it.
“I assume this means you don’t want to make the video now?”
“Oh, no, Hayes,” she scoffs. “We’re making that damn video.” She takes a few steps forward, leaving my mind spinning. Suddenly, she stops and shoots me a glare. “Are you coming or what?”
I look down and point at my feet. “I don’t even have fucking shoes on.”
“Jesus, Hayes. Why didn’t you put them on before you walked out of the house?”
“I didn’t have time,” I shout. “I had to chase after your stubborn ass.”
“Well, what are you waiting for? Go get them!”
“I will when I’m goddamn ready! For Christ’s sake, woman. Give me a break.”
“Woman?” she growls.
I grip the sides of my head. “You’re so damn infuriating.”
“And you’re…” She growls as she searches for the word.
“I’m what?” I curl my fingers, snarling as I howl into the rain. “Let me have it, Brogan.”
She looks at me with disgust in her eyes as she shakes her head. “You’re such an ass.”
“I’m an ass?” I gasp. “Aside from the first night we met, I've treated you with nothing but respect and kindness while you’ve insulted me and judged me. But I’m the ass.” I can’t help but laugh about it because it’s actually fucking hilarious.
She steps into me, her baby blues peering up. “Yeah. You are.” Her voice is soft, tranquil almost.
I blow out a heavy breath, tossing my hands in the air. “You’re impossible, Legs.”
“That’s better,” she whispers.
I quirk a brow. “What’s better?”
“You called me Brogan. You never call me Brogan.”
“I thought you hated it when I call you Legs.” I can’t keep up with this girl. She talks in fucking circles and her moods swing like fucking Tarzan.
“I do.” She pauses for a beat. “But I hate it more when you don’t.”
As if she suddenly noticed the rain falling, she looks up at the sky and out of nowhere, she’s bursts out laughing. “Oh my God, we’re insane.”
“Yeah. You are.” I reach for her hand, biting back a smile. “Now get your insane ass inside before you’re drenched.”
She puts up some resistance as I attempt to pull her back to the house. “I don’t wanna go back in there.”
“Why? Because of those girls.”
“You saw the way they looked at me. All judgy and shit.”
“Hey.” I tip her chin up. “What happened to the badass who went live last night and said she wasn’t hiding?”
“It’s easy to pretend when you’re behind a screen.”
“Nah…” I shake my head. “I saw the look in your eyes and heard every word you said. You weren’t pretending. You’re a hell of a lot stronger than you think, Legs. Now put on your big girl panties and come back inside with me. If I go in there alone, those chicks might tie me up and never let me leave.”
“You and that ego of yours.” She cracks a smile but finally walks with me, even if her fingers aren’t wrapped around mine. “Don’t act like you wouldn’t love every second of it, though.”
We walk up the stairs, but I stop before opening the door. “Not anymore.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
My shoulders rise and fall and I cock my head to the side as I try to make sense of it myself. Lately, the desire to have a new girl in bed every other night has faded. Ever since Brogan came back into my life, she’s all I think about and I’m not sure what to make of it. Sometimes I don’t know if it’s because I enjoy getting under her skin, or if it’s because I find more enjoyment in her getting under mine.
“I don’t know yet,” I finally say. “But I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”
Her nose scrunches and she looks at me with those same eyes she did the night we slept together. As if she’s reading my innermost thoughts, or at least trying to. It’s equal parts terrifying and mesmerizing.
Appearing lost in my gaze, she finally says, “You’re such a puzzle, Hayes Madden.”
I chuckle as I push the door open. “Tell me about it. If you find any missing pieces lying around campus, let me know. I need ’em back.”
Once we’re inside and out of the rain, I immediately peel my soaked socks off and toss them beside the door. “Make yourself comfortable. I’ll grab a couple towels.”
Reluctantly, Brogan sticks close to the door. “I can’t stay, Hayes. I’ve got a class at noon and I should probably go home and change first.”
I look at her skeptically. “It takes you two hours to change?”
“Amongst other things.” Her fingers run through her wet hair as she pushes stray strands off her forehead.
She feels uncomfortable here, as she should. This house is no place for a girl like her. You can almost smell the testosterone and I know every guy who lives here would try to get in her pants.
I cross the room toward her and as I approach, I can see the lines of worry etched in her face. “Don’t worry about those girls, or any other girls that might be here. I’m sure they’re all otherwise occupied at the moment.”
“It’s not about them.” Her arms hug around her middle, and I get the feeling that this is about more than the puck bunnies.
“Then what’s the big deal? I thought you wanted to talk about the video.”
She looks away from me, out the window. “And I thought you didn’t wanna do it.”
As I step forward, she steps backward until her back hits the door. I notice the rapid flutter of her heart through the fabric of her sweatshirt.
Something shifts inside me and as I’m watching her, witnessing her defensiveness front and center, all I want to do is make that video. Not because I want to send it to Kamden, but because of the way she’s standing there with droplets of water running down her face, looking sexy as fuck.
A familiar heat shoots through me as my cock throbs against the tight fabric of my boxers. I never thought I’d be turned on by someone who is such a pain in the ass, then she came along.
“Since when do you care what I want?”
"I don’t.” She scoffs, putting on a tough girl facade, but I see right through it. In fact, it’s now become my life mission to peel back her layers of vulnerability, since she’s somehow begun breaking down the walls I’ve built around myself. Walls I swore I’d never let anyone so much as touch.
Chest to chest, I put one hand on the door, then cage her in like a timid mouse with the other. I watch her throat as she gulps, lustful eyes staring into mine.
This is so unlike her. Brogan is always so sure of herself and isn’t easily intimidated. What Kamden did to her left more scars than I think even she realizes. “What is it then?” I rasp, peering down at her. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She blows out a laugh. “Why are you acting so strange?”
In an instant, she ducks down and escapes the cage I’ve put her in. My head drops to the door momentarily, then after a strong exhale, I push myself off it and spin around.
If I don’t agree to making this soon, she might be the one to change her mind. It could very well be my only way of ever having her again, and just the thought of that is agonizing.
It hits me—like a puck out of nowhere. I’m falling for Legs.
Holy shit. I’ve got it bad. I haven’t had feelings for a girl since I was nineteen years old. Maci fucking Grey. Man, that girl was a bitch.
She broke my heart in ways I didn’t know a heart could break. That is until three days later when it literally shattered to pieces because I lost Mom.
I roll my shoulders and work out the ache in my chest.
Taking a deep breath, I spit out, “New deal.” Before Brogan has a chance to intervene or ask questions, I continue, “You’re mine for a two days. Hang out with me when I want, and do what I want, and when my time is up, if you still wanna make the video, we’ll do it.”
Her features twist, displaying her disgust. “Are you serious? You want me to be your sex slave for a week?”
I shrug. “Sex wasn’t on the table, but I’m game if you are?—”
She holds up a hand, cutting me off. “You do realize I’ve gotten twenty-three messages just this morning from ready and willing men who would make this video with me at the drop of a hat?”
My fists clench at my sides just thinking about her asking anyone to take my place. “The fuck they will.”
She smirks. “Now who’s jealous?”
She’s right, I am jealous. This video was my idea in the first place. Like hell will some random punk put his dick in her.
I won’t tell her that, though. She’ll get defensive and claim she can do whatever she wants because it's her body. She isn’t wrong; I just won’t stand for it. Brogan is mine. She just doesn’t know it yet.
I could easily, and honestly, throw the same logic at her. There are just as many girls out there who would sell their souls to the devil for a night with me. Yet, I only want one and she could have me for free.
I won’t tell her that either.
Instead, I move toward her again. “Look, Legs.” I begin reciting some of my smooth words from the first night we met. “Let’s just call it like it is. You’re hot. I’m hot. There’s obviously still some sexual tension burning between us, so don’t even consider asking some stranger to fuck you just to piss off your ex when I’m ready and willing.”
She sputters a laugh. “You need to stop right now before you embarrass yourself further.”
“Ahh. You remember?”
“How can I ever forget? I think I blushed for you that night.”
I smooth my hands down my damp shirt in a slick manner. “Hey, it worked.” Shifting to a more serious note, I say, “Is this really that important to you?”
“No,” she quips. “It’s really not. But following up on my video last night, I may not be as badass as I came off. I meant what I said, though. I’m not ashamed of my sex life, or the fact that I can pleasure myself better than any man ever could. I guess I just want Kamden to see that he didn’t hurt me. Even if maybe he did, just a little.”
I open my mouth to speak, but she shuts me up before I can get a word out. “Don’t,” she stammers. “Don’t try and convince me that your nine-inch pierced cock?—”
“It’s actually nine and one quarter inches,” I say amply as I roll my hand in the air. “Continue.”
She shakes her and tsks. “As I was saying. Even though my body count is on one hand, I’d advocate for women with numerous partners any day. Sex feels good. Humans want to feel good and if they say they don’t, they’re lying. As for me and you, we already did it. You’re my number four and you’ll always be my number four.”
“Hmm.” I nod. “I think I just got a new lucky number.”
“I don’t want a random stranger, Hayes. And I wouldn’t really consider offering myself up to one. I’d only do this with you.”
It’s a little fucked up that she made me feel special just now. She does put up a very good argument. I just can’t shake this feeling in my gut that this will backfire on her.
“No one else sees this,” I tell her. “You send it to Kamden and Kamden only. I think we both know his ego will be too bruised to show anyone else.”
She smirks. “Especially once he sees all nine and one quarter inches.”
“Can’t argue with that.”
“Okay.” She claps her hands together, holding them in place. “I really do have to go. Do we have a deal? For real this time?”
“You tell me. Are you game?”
She pauses, thinking for a minute. “Absolutely no sleepovers. And you can’t interfere with my classes.”
I quirk a brow. “Or cheerleading?”
It’s still so hard to believe she’s a cheerleader. I’m making it a point to go to the football team's next home game just so I can see it for myself.
Brogan tsks. “Someone’s been doing their research.”
“You’re an open book on FlashChat. Literally, I have seen it all .” My eyes drag down her body, a smirk playing on my lips.
“You’re a dick.” Her fist flies at my shoulder, landing with a soft blow that I laugh off. “Just answer the question. Do we have a deal?”
Against my better judgment, I reach my hand out to her. “We have a deal.”
She lays her open palm in mine and I look her dead in the eye, grinning from ear to ear.
We’re gonna make that video, Legs, but I’ll bet on Finch’s life, we’ll be the only ones to ever see it. After two days with me, you'll be saying, Kamden who?
As soon as she leaves, I continue the search for my keys. Not only is my bike key on the ring, but so is my house key.
When I walk in the kitchen, I’m surprised to find them sitting on the counter. Next to them is a note that reads:
Hayes,
Found these under the couch. You can thank me by buying me a drink Friday night after the game.
Xoxo,
Sierra
I crumple the paper up and toss it in the trash bin, not giving it a second thought.