Thirteen
“I can’t believe you guys lied to me,” I snapped, staring at the club in awe as Rome pulled into a parking spot nearby.
It didn’t take me long to know they’d bullshitted me. They drove out of town and an hour and a half later we were inside Vancouver. It was only then they surprised me with a night out I wouldn’t forget.
“You’re going to get drunk tonight,” Rome told me, taking his seatbelt off after he’d parked. “No more hiding behind books and shit. We’re gonna fucking dance our asses off, you’re gonna sweat like crazy, and it’s gonna be awesome. Got it?”
No way was I going to get drunk—I was a horrific sight when I was—but I smiled at him and rolled my eyes. “I got it, I guess.”
“Good.”
We stepped out and it was raining and cold. Carter immediately took me into his side, shielding me as we raced to the entrance doors.
“I can’t believe you of all people tricked me,” I scolded him midway there.
“To be fair,” he returned, “it wasn’t all a lie. Marlena really did give me cookies.”
He held me tight, and I remember inhaling his scent and thinking if I had to be by his side the entire night, all would be fine.
*
I wasn’t drunk, but I’d had a couple drinks. I cut myself off in fear of getting smashed and not being able to stomach the alcohol. I didn’t want to ruin the night by puking on somebody. Dear God, the thought alone made my stomach swirl.
The club was huge and chaotic. People pressed against people. I’d never felt so disoriented, stuck in the middle of a room with blazing lights, shouting people, and thumping music that made me feel like my chest was vibrating along with the beat.
It was fucking awesome.
I felt alive for once. Nothing mattered to me. My past didn’t exist. Russell and Cheryl weren’t real in here. My uncertain future wasn’t dangling precariously in front of my face, burdening me with choices. I was a bomb that’d gone off in the best way possible, and I was with two of the best guys to ever grace my life.
Rome danced with me first, and Carter watched from afar, an intense look in his eyes. I hoped he wouldn’t get side-tracked by other girls. I’d already seen one approach him and get brushed off.
“We wanted you to have a good time!” Rome had shouted over the music, leaning into my ear so I could hear him. “We thought it was important you lived a little!”
I grinned back at him and screamed, “Thank you, Rome!”
Honestly, the fact these two put aside their differences just to give me a good night had me teetering on tears.
“Just be careful with Carter,” he told me gently. “I don’t want my girl hurt, alright?”
I nodded at him, my heart pinching in my chest and hugged him tightly. “Don’t worry! I’ve got it under control!”
He hugged me back, and then we danced some more, until he eventually had eyes for others. He slowly detached from me to dance with a girl close-by. He kept a watchful eye on me as we danced, and I spun around, eyes on the ceiling, watching the world swirl before me.
Hands gripped around my waist, and the scent of Carter invaded my senses. My back sank into his hard chest. His lips pressed against my temple, and his hands slid down the sides of my body, pressing me against him. I smiled, and my blood pumped faster. I swayed my hips into him, moulding myself to his body.
“I wanna fucking eat you,” he growled into my ear. “You’ve got me so fucking worked up, woman.”
I laughed but I could hardly hear myself.
He turned me to him, and despite the upbeat music blaring all around us, he moved me slowly against him, raising my thigh with one hand and grinding into my centre along with the beat of the music. I had my arms wrapped around his neck, kissing him without care, because evidently a little bit of alcohol makes you lose your inhibitions.
Well, for me anyway.
I didn’t know if kissing him like this was okay. He kept things tame in public, but after working him up in the bedroom, he had completely loosened up. Here, he didn’t care about how much he was touching me. We were surrounded my strangers. For us, there was no such thing as labels in a place like this.
His free hand slid down my back, grabbing a handful of my ass to him. I felt him harden, and it made me turned on more than ever that he was just as swept away by our touch as I was.
“Jesus, Leah,” he muttered against my mouth. “I’d like to drag you somewhere quiet and taste every inch of you.”
I wanted the same thing.
But we kissed and ravaged each other on that floor instead. Tongue against tongue, my centre against his hardened cock, creating friction that nearly made me come right then and there. He kept his eyes on me, never once paying mind to the girls that were staring at him, wishing they were wrapped in his arms.
I loved that about him.
I loved that right here and now I was his entire world.
I felt—this was fucking crazy—but I felt like this must be how it would be like to have him wholly.
We did that for a couple hours. I knocked back another drink, but it wore off after an hour. I was on a high, fuelled solely by the adrenaline of being out of my comfort zone, and Carter was sober as a nun.
Rome, on the other hand…
Well, he was a fucking disaster.
It was almost one in the morning, and we had to practically carry him out. I was laughing, Carter was cursing, and Rome was talking gibberish. We opened his car door and threw him in the backseat, and he fell in a heap, his eyes glazed over on the verge of passing out.
“Leah,” he muttered as Carter made his way to the driver’s side.
“What?” I asked, grinning at him.
He motioned me to him, and I had to climb into the car and over him to see what he wanted. His hand went up and stroked the side of my face, and that smile I wore slowly faded because he was staring at me in a way that I’d never seen before.
“It would have been me,” he slurred.
He passed out just then, his hand falling to his side. I stared at him with wide eyes, my body quaking just a little bit.
“What was he on about?” asked Carter, shutting the door after he’d slid in.
I shook my head. “Nothing, he’s just passed out.”
“Goddamn drunk, eh?”
I nodded slowly.
A goddamn drunk that said…just what exactly?
I climbed into the passenger seat beside Carter and told myself he was just being a stupid drunk, muttering shit that made little sense. Russell had done it for years.
Carter held my hand the entire way back, glancing at me almost every minute with a smirk playing at his lips.
“Are you drunk too?” he asked me, chuckling.
“No way,” I answered.
“Huh.”
He was probably freaked out because I’d situated my body facing him. I stared at him the entire way back, making out that gorgeous profile, wanting nothing more than to place my lips on his and check out from this world.
“When we die, we should have our mouths put together,” I told him without thinking.
His brows went up and he stared at me in surprise. “Should we, now?”
“Yeah,” I deadpanned.
“Why?”
I shrugged. “I feel like I’m home kissing you.”
Okay, so maybe I was slightly tipsy and a little bit deranged. Or maybe just extremely happy. Or, hell, maybe it was the same thing. I didn’t know. I was just mesmerized by this man.
His smile vanished and he looked at me with pensive eyes and parted lips. I like to think he knew what I meant.
Or maybe it was all in my head.