Chapter 11
ELEVEN
“Are you sure about this?” I whispered as Luke and I climbed the first set of stairs to Grant’s apartment.
A million and one thoughts flew through my head. What if he doesn’t live here anymore? What if he’s sleeping with a girl? What if he really does shoot us?
Luke stopped, mid-stair, and turned around to look at me. His green eyes twinkled in the crappy hallway light above our heads.
“Cammie. Cammie. Cammie.” The corners of his mouth raised a bit. “Just live a little, Doc.”
I gave him a curt nod, and we continued on our trek to door number three.
The hallway still reeked of mildew and fresh paint, just like it had last year.
I had hated spending time there. Grant’s apartment was small and always a bit messy.
It drove me crazy, which is why we often hung out at my house.
“Give me the key, amateur,” Luke said, voice quiet yet bursting with amusement.
I pushed past him and rolled my eyes. Amateur, my ass.
Before I fished the keys out of the pocket, I leaned in and put my ear against the hard door.
I didn’t hear a thing, not even the TV. I looked back at Luke and shrugged.
I grabbed my keys from the inside of my hoodie, finding the one to Grant’s, and carefully put it in the lock, turning it ever so slightly.
I felt Luke brush up against me from behind, and I took in a small inhale of air.
His scent was husky, covered up with cologne, and it completely sent my senses into overdrive.
Luke whispered into my ear, making my heart beat out of my chest. “Your hands are so steady with that key. Very skilled… I wonder what they would feel like—” Before he could say anything else, I jabbed my elbow into his stomach, leaving him with a loud grunt.
He caught his breath quickly. “I was just going to say—”
“SHH!”
Luke growled in response from behind me, and as much as I wanted to smack him again, I found myself liking that throaty growl. I liked it a lot.
Once the door was quietly pushed open, I stepped over the threshold with Luke right behind me. He was walking like a cat. For as big as he was, his footsteps were quiet and stealthy. Unlike me…I sounded like a freaking hippopotamus.
As soon as Luke made his way to my side, he grabbed my wrist. His breath was warm and minty when he bent down to whisper in my ear, “Lead the way to his room.”
My lower stomach tightened with an aroused feeling, which paired perfectly with the exciting anticipation of doing something totally illegal. It was a rare feeling for me, so I basked in it.
I tiptoed through the small living room (which was still a mess, by the way) and made a turn toward the back bedroom.
It was a small room—just enough room for a full- sized bed and a small dresser.
But the amazing thing about the apartment was that it had a tiny balcony right off the back of the bedroom.
It was pretty much the only thing the apartment had going for it, including its douchebag tenant.
When we walked into Grant’s room, an awful stench of musty, dirty clothes hit us in the face.
I instantly reached up and covered my scrunched-up nose, and once again, I fought the urge to laugh.
I could feel it building up inside me, but when Luke leaned down to whisper in my ear again, I straightened right up.
He had no idea that him whispering into my ear like that, our bodies nearly touching, was sending me into a whirlwind of hormones.
It was totally turning me on, and I was finding it hard to breathe.
It was honestly becoming extremely difficult to pretend like it didn’t make me want to strip my clothes off and have him claim me.
Something had changed between us. Something had changed from the second we’d set foot on our way to Grant’s.
Maybe it was the little insight I’d gotten on his time in Afghanistan, or maybe it was just becoming too difficult to fight my attraction to him, but I was finding it really hard to ignore the desire simmering below the surface.
Really hard.
“What the fuck is that smell?” Luke whispered, and I hid my smile before I whispered back.
“He’s a fucking pig, Luke.”
Luke’s tone was soft. “What is it with you and pigs? Didn’t you call me a pig the other day?”
I giggled quietly. “Yes, but he’s a sloppy pig. At least you’re well put-together…”
My eyes went wide. I just complimented him.
Shit! I didn’t mean to do that! Before I could conjure up something snarky to counteract it, our heads snapped to where Grant was sleeping peacefully in his disheveled bed.
He murmured something inaudible, and it had us literally frozen in our spots.
If only we had the song “Freeze” playing in the background, we’d truly be winning.
When Grant rolled onto his side, I cocked my head.
The weirdest noise had just come from his bed.
It was a squeaky, swishy sound, like plastic rubbing together.
At first, I thanked God that the redhead wasn’t in bed with him.
But that thought was quickly replaced when my eyes finally adjusted to the dark room.
“Holy—” I started to whisper before I grabbed onto Luke’s forearm. If I hadn’t grabbed onto his forearm, I swear I would have fallen over.
“Cammie…what the—” Luke’s voice was laced with laughter, and I almost died right then. Almost.
“Is that—”
“Yep,” he croaked. “Please tell me that you’ve brought me here as a joke. You’re fucking with me, right?” Luke was biting his fist, trying not to lose it, and we were both about five seconds from laughing out loud and ruining this entire scheme.
“I can’t…I can’t even talk,” I choked, suppressing a laugh.
I had no idea what had happened during the last year that Grant and I weren’t together, but apparently the woman he had cheated on me with wasn’t satisfying him.
Grant was lying on his left side, butt-ass naked, spooning a BLOW-UP DOLL.
You know, those life-sized blow-up dolls with yellow hair and bright red lips?
The ones that are naked and people usually get as a joke of some sort?
Well, guess what? This wasn’t a joke. Grant was nice and cozy in his warm bed right in front of me, spooning a doll .
“I’m never letting you live this down, Doc. Never. ”
I murmured, “I would expect nothing less from you.”
Playfulness aside, Luke and I both got down to work.
I followed his instructions on exactly what to do.
I went into the dark bathroom, using my phone for light, and poured the hair-removal cream into Grant’s shampoo and conditioner bottles (apparently, he had turned into a doll-loving, self-pampering type of guy since we’d broken up).
Once I had quietly twisted the caps back onto the bottles and placed them on his filthy shower shelf, I tiptoed back into Grant’s room and saw Luke’s tall stature standing above Grant’s sleeping body.
He was very delicately reaching into the glass jelly container and placing grape jelly onto Grant’s head.
How is Grant still sleeping? I had no freaking clue.
The doll must have worn him out . I snickered at my own joke, and Luke’s head snapped to mine.
He gave me a stern look, which only made me want to laugh harder.
Then, I looked down and saw the chocolate chip bag clutched between his legs, and I couldn’t suppress the silent laugh inside my head for much longer.
When Luke was finished, he stepped back, wiping his sticky fingers on his shirt, and then reached inside the chocolate chip bag and placed a few into his perfect mouth.
(Wait, perfect? I meant…dirty. Dirty, dirty mouth.) He put one hand under his chiseled chin and nodded in approval.
I walked over and stood beside him, placing my hands on my hips.
“Well done, Luke. Well done.”
The idea of this entire prank was for Grant to wake up, only to find something sticky smeared into his lovely, straw-colored hair.
Then, he’d rush to the shower to wash it off, but it would be hair-removal cream instead of shampoo.
He could say goodbye to the hair that he probably took better care of than anything else in his life—at least according to the expensive shampoo and conditioner in his nasty shower.
“Thanks, Doc. That’ll teach him to cheat on a girl like you.”
I looked over at him and grinned, feeling the fluttering in my heart that I usually shoved way down below the surface when he was near, but right now, I was allowing it. I was basking in it. Actually, I was full-on rolling in it.
“Thanks…but I don’t think he’s going to associate this” —I pointed to Grant’s messy jelly-filled hair— “with me.”
I laughed, but as soon as the sound tumbled out of my mouth, Grant’s curled-up body started to move. I froze. It was a heart-stopping moment, the kind that made you feel like your legs were cemented to the floor.
“What do we do?” I asked, voice well above a whisper. I looked over at Luke, who immediately stopped chewing the rest of the chocolate chips in his mouth.
“We run,” he muttered.
Eyes wide, I looked back and forth from Grant—who was on the verge of recognizing me—to Luke. Then, I freaked the hell out.
“Cammie, come on.” Luke tugged on my arms and pulled me through the back balcony door.
“What are we doing?!” I exclaimed.
Luke looked down below the balcony and said, “Running.”
Then, he jumped…off the balcony. Sure, it was only fifteen feet or so, but to someone who wasn’t fond of heights (that would be me), it seemed like five hundred feet.
I heard Luke land with a small thump, and I peered down below the balcony, welcoming the fall air on my now-sweaty forehead.
“Luke!” I yelled down. “You want me to jump? ”
“I’ll catch you; it’s fine. Hurry up! I’m not bailing you out of jail if you get caught in there!”