Chapter 19
***Cass***
Hayes’ breath tickled the back of my neck. “Are you going to be able to do this? People are going to be watching tonight and there won’t be space for breaks.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“You cringe every time I touch you, Cassidy.” As if to prove his point he ran his free hand down my bare arm. “That can’t happen tonight.”
Finding my backbone I spun around and stared up at him. Reaching out, I pressed both of my hands to his chest and watched him flinch. “That can’t happen tonight, Hayes.”
“I wasn’t ready. Try again.” There was a hint of teasing to his voice that disarmed me. He bent down so we were eye to eye. “Can you act like you want us tonight?”
My breath caught in my throat. I felt like he could see straight through me. Worse, I felt like he would use it to hurt me. I twisted back around and yanked the door open. Stomping down the sidewalk to the truck, I glanced back at Hayes and frowned. “Make sure the door catches.”
I climbed into the truck and ran a shaky hand through my hair.
I felt raw. Doubting my choice to go out with them, I stared back at the house and wished I was staying in.
Each second that passed around the Ford brothers was another second I wasn’t sure I was going to make it out with all my parts intact.
Weston looked back at me with a blank expression on his face. “Took you long enough.”
“Figured I’d start working on those pesky daddy issues while I was in there.” I refused to look at him as I buckled in. “Or was I guzzling D1 jizz? Ugh. The things I fill my time with these days…”
Cash snorted. “If those assholes knew about our daddy issues they’d think twice about talking shit.”
Hayes slammed his door shut. “Maybe we cut West out of this? It’d definitely be more believable if it was just me and Cash supposedly dating you.”
Seeing a chance to feel a little better about how shitty Weston had been to me, I jumped on it. “I’d be fine with that. I’d even prefer it.”
“Too fucking bad.” Pulling away from the curb too fast, Weston sounded like he wanted to strangle the entire world. He jabbed the radio on and then cranked up the volume so no one could speak. It was the first smart thing he’d done.
The party was at one of the frats on campus and it was already going strong when we got there.
I felt beyond nervous as we got out of the truck and started walking towards the entrance of the house.
Partygoers were spilling out into the front yard and I quickly saw that I wasn’t dressed like the other girls.
I’d always had a cheer team at my back to help me when it came to stuff like parties and dances.
I felt painfully inadequate on my own. My favorite chucks looked childish next to all the high heels I saw.
I barely looked like a woman next to all the makeup and perfect curls and batting eyelashes.
Cash slung his arm over my shoulders and pulled me into his side. “Ready?”
“Would it matter if I said no?” I let out an awkward laugh, aware of all the eyes on us. “Totally kidding.”
He lowered his mouth to my ear. “Would a drink help?”
I nodded. “Yes, please. And then a second drink.”
Weston broke away from us as soon as we got inside but just when I was ready to write him off he reappeared with two beers.
He locked gazes with me and wrapped an arm around my waist to tug me into his chest. We were barely inside the front door, on full display, but his intensity made it hard to focus on any of that.
In a move that I didn’t want to find attractive he used his teeth to take the cap off one of the beers and spit it out.
Then he lifted the bottle to my mouth and pressed it to my lips, tilting it up until I had to drink or let it spill.
His own cold beer pressed into my back, so different from how hot his body was.
I didn’t look away as I drank, unwilling to look weak in front of him one more time.
I needed to take a breath but I focused on finishing the beer.
Weston pulled the bottle away when there were just a few drops left and then leaned in to kiss me.
Wanting to punish him, I turned my head at the last second and made him kiss my cheek instead.
Then I giggled like it was a great joke and booped him on the nose before twisting out of his grip.
“Cassidy.” The way he growled my name sent shivers up and down my back but it was his grip on the back of my neck that stopped me cold.
He pulled me back into his arms and held me as he lowered his mouth and kissed me.
It was a deep kiss with his tongue dancing against mine in a way that made me curl into his chest and grip his shirt.
He broke away before I wanted him to and pressed open-mouthed kisses across my jaw.
“Your acting skills are amazing, baby. Especially the way you rubbed all over me.”
Instead of stomping on his foot like I wanted to I wrapped my arms around his neck and tugged at the ends of his hair. “I don’t like you, Weston, but I’ll give you credit where it’s due. You have a very talented tongue.”
He leaned back enough to meet my eyes and I almost laughed at the confusion I saw in his. I jumped at the chance to feel like I was ahead of him in his mean games for a moment and patted his cheek before slipping out of his arms and into Cash’s.