Cassie
“Remind me again why I agreed to let you torture me.”
Adam chuckles, smacking my ass as I pass him on my way up the stairs. He’s on his way down.
Bastard.
“You agreed to let me train you,” he corrects, turning all the way around to face me, but he keeps jogging down the stairs, anyway. Backwards.
Bastard.
“And, for what it’s worth, your ass looks great in those shorts.”
I smack that ass he’s referencing before flipping him off, and he just laughs harder, turning the corner down the next set of stairs.
It’s summer, which is usually my time to go back to Arizona and be lazy by the pool.
But with my biology major picking up speed and medical schools getting tougher to get into by the day, I don’t have time to mess around anymore.
I signed up for a full set of summer classes, and since Adam was elected to be president for a second term — an achievement never before seen in Alpha Sigma’s history on campus — he decided to stay with me to gear up for the next year.
He also agreed to train me, when I chopped half my hair off and said I wanted to add a fitness routine to my study schedule so I wasn’t inside sitting so much.
Mistakes were made.
So, here we are, at nine o’clock at night on a Thursday running up and down the stairs of the tallest parking garage on campus, stopping on every floor to do different body weight reps.
And, here I am, dying.
After the last round of dumbbell squats on the top floor, I flop down on the warm concrete, chest heaving. There are a few clouds in the sky tonight, the moon casting a magical glow through them, and I watch them float by as my breathing steadies.
“You okay, there, Red?” Adam asks, taking a seat next to me.
“If I had the energy,” I pant. “I’d punch you so hard right now.”
“What? It’s your favorite nickname.”
I just glare at him.
He chuckles, leaning back until he’s lying next to me. His hand reaches for mine, but I yank it away.
“I’m sweaty and gross.”
“More like sweaty and adorable,” he argues. “Come here.”
He reaches for me, trying to pull me into his chest, but I wiggle free.
“Seriously, I’m soaked. And sweaty.”
Adam gives me a pointed look, one brow cocked as he taps his chest. “Your sweaty, smelly head. Here. Now.”
I groan, but give in, letting him pull me into his warm body. He somehow still smells like soap, even after an hour of working out, and as much as I want to hate it, I can’t help but inhale his scent and snuggle into him.
“That’s better.”
For a while, Adam just holds me while we watch the clouds, his fingers playing in my new, short hair. I chopped it all the way above my shoulders, the curly edges of it framing my chin, and it’s too short now to even bother trying to put it in a pony tail.
“I can’t believe we’re here,” Adam muses, his voice soft.
“On top of a parking garage?”
He smirks. “I mean here, together. Really together. No other guys, no other girls, no one and nothing between us. We’re just… us.”
At that, I sigh, snuggling into his chest more. “It is pretty crazy.”
“Did you ever think we’d actually get here?”
I snort. “Honestly? No.”
“Really?”
“I was wrapped up in Grayson,” I say, trying to defend my thoughts. “And you had the presidency, and before that, you had Skyler. I don’t know, I just kind of felt like it was never in the cards for us. Half the time I wasn’t even sure how you felt about me.”
“Well, then you weren’t paying attention.”
“More like you’re harder to read than my biology books.”
Adam leans up on one elbow, his brows bending together slightly as his eyes search mine. “I always knew we’d be together. Eventually. When the time was right.”
“You did?”
He nods, a little smirk climbing on his lips. “I did.”
“How could you be so sure?” I ask, pushing up to sit with him.
Adam stares off in the distance, his lips pressed together in thought.
Then, slowly, he smiles, and a shrug finds his shoulders.
“I don’t know. I guess the best way to explain it is that when we weren’t together, you were always on my mind — even when I was busy, or dating someone else, or mad at you for choosing Grayson. ”
I blush at that, but Adam keeps going.
“You were always what I was thinking about. And when I was with you, when I could see you, it felt like this piece of me that was missing when you were gone just snapped back into place. Now, don’t get me wrong,” he says, cocking a brow as his eyes find mine again.
“That little piece of me shook with anger when I had to watch Grayson with you.”
I bite my lip, cheeks flooding with more heat.
“But,” he continues, thumbing my blushing skin before pulling my chin up. “I only felt like me when that piece was alive, when I was with you — even when it hurt.” He lowers his mouth to mine, and after stealing one small kiss and my breath along with it, he smiles. “That’s how I knew.”
Adam kisses me again, this time pressing into my lips until I opened them to let his tongue inside.
He smooths his over mine, one hand cradling my neck as he deepens the kiss.
My body reacts automatically — leaning in, heart picking up speed, stomach fluttering.
By the time he pulls back, my desire to take things slow that I’ve managed to hold onto since we made up after Spring Break is depleted to dust.
“Well, now that you know,” I whisper. “And I know, where do we go from here?”
Adam’s dark eyes sparkle in the low light of the moon, and he pops up onto his feet without warning, hands wrapping around his mouth to make a megaphone.
“I LOVE CASSIE MCBEE!”
His scream echoes off the walls of the parking garage, so loud I jump and my heart picks up for a completely different reason. But he just keeps going.
“CASSIE MCBEE IS MY GIRLFRIEND, AND I’M HER BOYFRIEND, AND EVERYONE ELSE CAN JUST FUCK THE HELL OFF!”
I laugh, scrambling to my feet and ripping his arms down to break the megaphone. “Oh, my God. Shhhh, stop.”
My entire neck lights with heat as he screams again, megaphone or not.
“CASSIE MCBEE IS MINE, MOTHERFUCKERS! MINE. YOU HEAR ME, BOYS OF PSU?”
Thrusting up onto my tiptoes, I press my lips to his, shutting him up the only way I know how before I blush so hard I get a sunburn. Adam laughs against my lips, wrapping his arms around me and swinging me in a circle before he lets my sneakers touch the ground again.
“There,” he says, kissing my nose. “Now, you know, I know, and so does everyone else.” He brushes my short hair behind one ear, shaking his head as his eyes trace the features of my face, like he can’t believe the words he’s about to say.
“You’re mine,” he whispers, bending until our foreheads meet. “And I’m never giving you up. Ever.”
I giggle, kissing him again as I wrap my arms around his neck. “Take me home, stupid.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Adam takes my hand, stopping to pack up the small equipment we brought with us and shove it into his duffle bag on our way downstairs. We’re laughing and talking as we make our way across campus, but when we turn onto Greek Row, something shifts.
The energy around us picks up a static charge, one familiar and yet different tonight.
It’s that same electricity that lets me know when Adam is around me before he’s even said a word, but tonight, it feels powered by an unstoppable magnetic field.
I lean into Adam, and his arm wraps around my waist, and as we walk down the silent street, most of the Greek students already gone for the summer, we fall silent, too.
And I know.
I know tonight is the night I give myself to Adam, and he gives me another piece of him, too. Tonight, we’ll make another promise.
And this time, I know we’ll keep it.
The Alpha Sigma house is quiet when we step inside. There are only a few other brothers staying in the house over summer, and all of them are upstairs in the second-floor rooms. Adam drops his duffle bag by the front door and holds my hand tight as we walk down the dark hallway to his room.
Once we’re inside, I slip out of my sneakers and socks, and Adam strips his shirt over his head.
I trace the lean muscles of his abdomen, a flash of last semester hitting me hard.
I remember running into him rush week when I had to bring him a file from Erin, and how even then, when I was with Grayson, I couldn’t help the way Adam affected me.
His eyes meet mine when I trail my way back up, and he smirks, crossing the room until his hands rest on my hips.
“Shower?” he asks, voice low. The only light in his room is from a small, bedside lamp, and it casts his skin in a warm, orange glow.
I nod, and Adam fingers the hem of my tank top before peeling it from my slick skin. I lift my arms, keeping my eyes on his as he strips the fabric over my head and lets it fall to the floor. He swallows, eyes flashing to my breasts, and I keep my hands in the air until he peels my bra off, too.
When the cool air hits my nipples, they peak, rushing a wave of goose bumps down my arms, my ribs, my legs, all the way to my ankles. Adam watches them, chest heaving as he steps closer, his fingertips reaching for my shorts next.
I close my eyes, trying to savor every touch, featherlight or bruising, like I can store this moment and relive it anytime I want. So long, I’ve wondered what it would be like. So long, I’ve hoped it would happen — one day, just me and Adam.
And when someday becomes tonight, it’s almost too much to bear.
Adam drops to his knees, his eyes on mine as he slips his fingertips beneath the band of my shorts and pulls them slowly over my hips, my ass, letting them fall down to the floor once they’re free from my thighs. I step out of them, and when Adam stands again, I’m completely naked in front of him.
For the first time.