eight
Sebastian Swift
I haven’t taken two steps from Viv’s car when Robert appears, grabs me by the front of my shirt, and shoves me back against the Corvette. “What the hell are you doing with my sister?”
“Chill, would you?” I say, pushing against his hold. “We’re not doing anything.”
He slams me back on the car again, tightening his grip, his face set in hard lines. “I know she’s not,” he growls. “But what the fuck are you up to?”
“Nothing, man,” I say, grabbing his arms. We wrestle for control, our feet sliding on the gravel.
“Why the fuck would you bring her here?” Rob grits out.
“She just gave me a ride,” I say, relenting and holding up both hands.
One of them still smells like pussy, but he doesn’t need to know that. He’s in the right here, so I got no ground to stand on. I know better than to bring her here. I just got caught up in the idea of showing her how much fun the less gentile side of Faulkner is. Her party looked so boring and stuffy I almost fell asleep standing up while I was serving them.
Rob shoves me back. “You better fucking hope that’s all it is, because if I hear you even touched my sister…”
“I wouldn’t,” I say, guilt knotting inside me. “You’re my best friend, man.”
“Rob,” Vivienne says behind me. “Can y’all fight somewhere that won’t leave scratches in my paint?”
“See?” I say, shoving him away from me and adjusting my shirt. “I told you, man. I don’t fuck around with uptight little nerds. I got a whole party of cheerleaders to choose from.” I spread my arm wide, gesturing at the scene in front of us. Two big bonfires are set up, and as always, the Willow Heights kids are at theirs, and the Faulkner High kids are at the other. A few people mingle between, courting danger by talking to someone from the rival school.
Seemingly satisfied by our reactions to each other, Rob turns to his sister. “Hey, I’m not going to tell you to leave, but this isn’t really your kind of party,” he says.
I really didn’t think this one through. Of course he’d be here. Our whole crew always shows up at the parties. Hell, the party doesn’t start until we roll up.
Any second now, he’s going to walk around the car and see his sister’s skirt all torn off. That might take a little more explaining than showing up in her car. Which means I’m about to get my ass kicked and lose a best friend all in one night.
Still, I’m a little surprised that she doesn’t argue about it. If I said something like that, she’d stay just to piss me off. Instead, she nods and sets one foot back in the car like she’s about to climb in, resting her elbow on the top. “I know,” she says. “Like he said, I was just dropping him off. I’m on my way home now. I need to talk to Chaz.”
A knot of resentment yanks tight inside me at her words. I got her all worked up, and now she’s going to go work off the tension with that scrawny little nerd. What does he have that I don’t?
“I thought you left with him,” Rob says. “You just disappeared in the middle of dinner.”
“It was the end of the ball,” she says, rolling her eyes.
“Well, thanks for sticking around,” Rob grumbles. “I had to hear all about how I’m the family heir, and it’s my job to carry on the Delacroix name by marrying some rich girl I find at college and bringing her home to Faulkner.”
“Trust me, I got an earful from Nana too,” Vivienne says, glancing at me as if embarrassed that I’m overhearing their family drama.
I wonder who her gramma told her to marry. Probably that ginger geek, Chad. I want to crush him into the ground even more than usual when I think about it.
“So, Chaz didn’t come back upstairs?” Viv asks.
“Nah,” Rob says. “I saw you take off, and I figured you were fighting. But then he left right after, and y’all never came back, so I assumed you made up and went home.”
“Thanks,” Vivienne says, looking pleased. “I’ll see you in the morning. And don’t drink if you’re driving home.”
Robert repeats her words in a mocking tone, and she shakes her head and slides into the car, not even bothering to acknowledge me before she drives off. Like I’m nothing, just a member of the help she’s already forgotten after he provided the service she needed.
Fuck her and her fancy car and her nerd boyfriend and her slick, tight little cunt that clamped down so hard I thought I was going to shoot my load in my pants just from finger fucking her.
“Come on, let’s grab a beer and find some pussy,” Rob says, throwing an arm around my neck and steering me to the FHS fire, our earlier beef forgotten.
We grab some Solo cups of beer and settle in close to the fire, since it’s a cold night. Diana drapes herself on my lap, but I fucked the cheerleader for a few months last year, and despite her best efforts, I’m not interested in going down that road again.
An hour later and a few too many beers in, I’m buzzing with alcohol when she starts kissing my neck and whispering in my ear what she’ll let me do to her. I lay my head back, temptation winning as her hand dips into my jeans.
“I’m so wet,” she whispers in my ear. “Feel me.”
Suddenly, all I can think about is Vivienne, how wet she was in the car, how fucking incredible it felt to fly through space that way with her cunt clenching around my fingers.
“I’m good,” I mutter to Diana. “Keep going.”
I picture Viv’s hand around my dick, how good it would feel, how she’d squeeze me and suck me and—
“You’re so hard,” Diana moans into my ear.
What the fuck am I doing? Why am I thinking about my best friend’s sister when I should be thinking about this hot, willing girl in my lap? Sure, I’ve been down this road before, but it’s not like we’re getting back together. One night won’t hurt anything.
And hey, if it gets Vivienne out of my head, it’ll be worth it.
But as I close my eyes, all I can hear are how fake Diana’s words sound, her moans like something out of a bad porno. Was she always like that, and I just didn’t notice? Are all the girls I fuck the same way? I’m usually too busy trying to make them cum so I can get mine and be done with it to notice anything else. But now I can’t stop noticing, can’t stop remembering the noises Vivienne made in the car, the wordless cries of pleasure, and how savagely she cursed at me when I made her cum even as she tried to hold back…
“This isn’t working,” I say, opening my eyes and sitting up.
Diana’s hand slips from my boxers and she slides off my lap and lands on her ass in the dirt. She lets out a huff of indignation and jumps to her feet, brushing off her jeans. “It might work if your dick was harder,” she snaps.
“I don’t get hard for sloppy seconds, even my own,” I say, reaching for my beer. “Sorry, but you’re old news, babe. Go find a dick you haven’t bounced on—if you can.”
She leans down, grabs my beer, and throws it in my face. “I’m not the slut here,” she sneers. “Good luck finding a girl you haven’t already played. You know, we warn each other about assholes who treat us like shit. You think you’re all that, but if you keep this up, no one’s going to want you, Sebastian.”
She spins on her heel and marches off while I’m still wiping beer out of my eyes. Okay, so I deserved that one. I’m not exactly proud of it, but her words aren’t far from the truth. I’m not one of those guys who tries to run up the score sleeping with lots of girls, but I have a short attention span and a busy life. If a girl doesn’t fit into my schedule, I cut her loose. I justify it by telling myself they all know up front what kind of guy I am, just like I know what kind of girl fucks guys like me.
As I look around at the party, though, the pickings are looking pretty damn slim. I can’t find a whole lot of girls I find attractive who I haven’t already let go. Maybe I need to cast a wider net. But when I glance over at the Willow Heights bonfire, I don’t see anyone interesting enough to pursue. Rob doesn’t seem to share my opinion. He’s over there flirting with a Black girl in a flowered bucket hat and matching pants. I groan and drop my head back on my chair. The only person I’m interested in pursuing right now is the one person I can’t have—his sister.