Chapter 19 Ava
“It’s a Thursday night, it’s hardly going to be an all-nighter,” I reminded Wade.
“Why? I got no classes until twelve tomorrow,” Wade said smugly as he started the van. “We played really well tonight, and I’m up for getting lit.”
“And Sticks doesn’t go to class on a Friday,” Shane said with an amused look over his shoulder at the drummer.
“You have no classes on a Friday?” Mia asked him in surprise. “Lucky.”
“I have class,” Sticks told her as he twirled a drumstick in his hand. “I just don’t go, ain’t got no time for that shit, it’s Friday.”
Mia looked at me, and I giggled at her expression.
Sticks once told me he lived to the beat of his own drum and no one else’s, and although I was sort of impressed at his own self-awareness at the tender age of twenty-one, I also knew he was stoned when he told me. In fact, Sticks was usually stoned.
“So, Wade, you got Devil groupies?” Mia teased as we drove, and my heart almost stopped in my chest at her complete lack of discretion as she just blurted it out.
“Yeah.” Alex looked excited. “We need them to spread the word they were there,” Alex said to Wade, leaning forward. “Word gets out we have Devils in our fanbase, man, we’ll be made.”
“They’re just guys,” I grumbled.
“Yeah, they are,” Wade said with a grin. “But I don’t think they’re fans,” Wade said cheerfully as he looked in the rearview mirror. “I met Jett last Friday. Guy was looking for his keys.”
“His keys?” I asked Wade.
“Yeah, he lost them. Was pretty worked up about them too.” Wade shrugged.
“I asked him where he’d been, and he said he’d been at a party on Cedar.
I was heading that way, and I told him I would give him a call if I saw them.
” Wade snorted out a laugh. “He full on tells me he doesn’t answer unknown numbers, so I made him give me his number, and I texted him so he’d know who I was if I found them. ”
“He must have,” I said more to myself than the van. “Found them, I mean.”
“Yeah, or one of his brothers was home,” Wade spoke to me.
“Brothers? Ash is his cousin,” I corrected.
“You know a lot about the Santo guys,” Shane said to me. His look was searching.
“Ava’s a huge football fan, she knows the team’s stats,” Mia piped up, and for the next few minutes, I was tested on my football knowledge.
It broke the weirdness between Shane and me and answered my curiosity about Jett. As we headed into the basketball players’ dorm house, I tugged Wade’s arm to get him to stop.
“He came all the way to the bar to say thanks for not finding his keys?”
Wade looked at me, his face thoughtful. “Why are you so curious?” he asked. “Thought Spence was your QB of choice.”
“He is. It just seems so anti-Santo.” I nudged him with my shoulder. “I’m just nosy, let’s go.”
“I’m fucking with you,” Wade joked. “You give me or him, I’m not sure who, too much credit.
I never told him I didn’t find his keys, and he didn’t come to say thanks.
Either way, you’re thinking about it too much.
They were in town, heard the music, came in.
He saw it was me and said hi. The brother, the fierce-looking one, he grilled me, but Jett told him to cool off. He’s an alright guy.”
Ha.
The party was in full swing when we went in, and we inevitably got separated before meeting again.
The room wasn’t as full as it would be if it were a Friday night.
Sticks disappeared to the basement pretty quickly, and Wade saw a guy from his class he needed to talk to.
Mia dragged Alex to dance, and then it was just Shane and me.
We stood in companionable silence for a while, and then he said he was going to rescue Alex from the dance floor, and I suggested we take them outside.
It was too hot in here, and I needed air. My top was sticking to me.
As I went ahead of them into the backyard, I was almost relieved to take a deep breath, even if the air was thick with humidity.
I watched two guys get into an argument, and opting to stay out of the way, I crossed the yard to take shelter at the corner of the house.
A flare of cherry red alerted me to the fact that there was someone further in the shadows, smoking a cigarette.
“Sorry,” I told them. “Didn’t mean to encroach on your solitude.
” I grinned at whoever stood in the darkness.
They moved forward, and my jaw dropped. Jett looked at me, half hidden in the shadows.
What was he doing out here, smoking? Wait, why was he smoking?
“You shouldn’t smoke!” I berated him, taking a step toward him in irritation.
“You’re an athlete. Your body needs to be at its best! ”
He took a long drag of his smoke, his eyebrow lifting in challenge. “A full night in the bar and you’re still uptight.”
“I’m not uptight.”
“Sure,” he scoffed as he took another pull of his cigarette before he stubbed it out on the side of the house.
“My body is at its best; you know that.” He gave me a sly look as he took a step toward the light.
His attention was caught by the guys arguing, who were now swinging punches.
A bottle went flying through the air, and Jett grabbed me, pulling me out of the way as the projectile flew through the air, coming toward me.
I had no idea where the bottle landed, because I was pressed up against the side of the house with Jett pushed up against me, one arm resting against the wall as he leaned into me.
I hated smoking, but weirdly, the smell of nicotine mixed with the scent of him, which was almost cedarwood-like with an undernote of vanilla, made me breathe him in.
“They missed,” I said to him in a low voice when I realized that he knew I’d basically just sniffed him.
“Mm-hmm.” Jett didn’t move, and as we were away from the lights of the house, I could no longer see his face clearly.
“You can move,” I reminded him.
His answer was to press his lower body into mine. “You’re so . . . nervous. No. Not nervous, jittery.”
“Jittery?” I gave a low chuckle as I looked up at him. “Well, a guy I hardly know has me pressed against a wall in a dark backyard,” I hissed at him.
“Hardly know? Now, now, Uptight, you’re forgetting we’re old friends.”
I felt his hand skim down over my hip and onto my thigh. He bent slightly, and feeling my skirt being gathered in his hand, I might have stopped breathing. “What are you doing?” I asked him as I felt air around the top of my thigh.
“Testing something,” he murmured as his fingers trailed over the top of my leg.
“Testing what?” I was rooted to the spot, my head turned slightly to look toward the backyard, and somewhere in my head I realized that he had tugged up the side of the skirt so that no one could see if anyone came looking.
“Just . . .” He paused, and then his fingers skimmed over my pussy, and I gasped.
I mean, I knew he was probably going to do something, but still, it was a shock when he touched me.
“Relax,” he whispered against my cheek, and I knew he had to feel the racing of my heart as his fingers caressed over my panties again.
“I don’t think—” I almost bit my tongue when he pushed my panties to the side, and his fingers slid through my gathering wetness.
My head fell back against the wall as I could feel Jett watching me as his fingers rubbed over the small bundle of nerves, which were the only thing my whole entire being was concentrating on.
“Keep your eyes open,” he instructed as he slid one finger inside me, and my hands gripped his arms. “Jesus.” I heard his low voice as he pushed another finger inside me, and then he moved them both, in and out, while his thumb rubbed gently over my nub.
My knees were close to buckling as my stomach clenched again and again with need, almost like hunger. I needed more.
“Fuck, your pussy wants this,” Jett’s voice was hoarse as he continued to finger-fuck me.
I had no words. I could feel it building in my toes; I needed the release. My head tried to drop forward onto his chest, but Jett gripped my neck and held me so I was looking up at him.
“Eyes on me.” His voice was harsh. “Are you close?” I didn’t even get to answer before he was answering for me. “Yeah, I can feel you gripping me, hungry pussy.” His head dipped, and I wildly thought he was going to kiss me. His mouth hovered over mine before he moved to my ear.
“Frustrating isn’t it, to be on the edge of something, knowing it’s just within reach and not quite being able to grasp it.” Jett withdrew his fingers, fixed my panties, and then stood back.
“What?” My voice was shaky, and my breathing was rapid. I was so close. What was he doing?
Jett popped two fingers in his mouth and sucked as he watched me, and then with a smirk, he walked away.
What the fuck was that? Hastily, I fixed my skirt, my panties damp from his ministrations, and I leaned against the wall, trying to sort out what had just happened.
“I don’t see her.” I heard Mia’s voice, and in my panic, I remembered I was supposed to be meeting my friends. My friends, who at any time could have seen me flat against the wall, with a Devil’s fingers inside me.
What if they had seen Jett walk from this side of the building?
Shit.
Looking to the other side, I noticed the overgrown shrubbery and seriously contemplated scrambling over it to avoid any awkward questions.
“Maybe she saw the fight and went back in to find us?” I heard Shane say, and a few murmurs of agreement.
Go inside, please go inside.
“Okay, we’ll do a sweep of the floor again. It really isn’t like her . . .” I heard Mia telling them as they walked away.
I gave myself a few minutes, my hands patting my hair, trusting I hadn’t messed my messy bun up.
My hands shakily straightened my top and smoothed my skirt.
With a deep breath, I collected myself as I rolled my head on my shoulders, and then, with a confidence that I wasn’t feeling, I went into the party to join my friends.
* * *