25. Daisy
DAISY
Staring in the mirror the following day, I smile at my puffy lips and the colorful dots around my neck from the candy necklace I still haven’t taken off. The flimsy elastic strand is mostly empty. I find a pink circle and bring it to my mouth—the sugary-sweet taste dances on my tongue.
I spend a long time in the shower, enjoying the hot spray against my sore muscles.
The hockey team has another game this afternoon, and after, Jordan invited me to come to a party at his teammate’s apartment.
I skip my Valley U T-shirt in favor of a dress and boots.
I even curl my hair. I’m excited to go out with Jordan.
Hanging out with him makes me feel like I belong in a way I never have before.
And I know, I know, it shouldn’t matter, but being seen by someone like Jordan feels amazing. He could have any girl he wanted, and he wants me.
This time after the game, I head around to the parking lot behind the arena to wait for him. I stand next to his SUV, crossing my arms over my chest to keep warm and to have something to do with my hands.
When the first guys start coming out the door, Jordan’s among them. I step away from his vehicle and wait for him to see me. He says bye to his friends and comes toward me in long, quick strides.
The ends of his dark hair are wet and stick up around his head. One hand is wrapped around the strap of his duffel bag, and he hits the unlock button on his key fob with his other. He tosses the bag onto the back seat.
“You look nice,” he says, circling both arms around my back.
“Thanks. Congrats again. I’m starting to think all you needed to start winning was for me to come to the games.”
He laughs and hugs me tight against him. “A little sweet Daisy magic sure doesn’t hurt.”
He kisses me, but more guys are coming out and getting in their cars, and one of them calls out to him, “Yo, Thatch. Are you coming to McCallum’s?”
“Yep,” he answers without looking at him. He smiles at me. “Ready to party, baby?”
I expected McCallum’s apartment to be as quiet as the rest of campus on break, but it seems like every single person still in town is crammed into the small space.
Jordan grabs us both a beer, and we’re standing in the dining room where people are playing cards at the table. We’re not playing, but it’s a fun reminder of the last time we were here.
We stand close. The heat of his body warms my left side. He’s talking to one of his teammates. They’re talking hockey, and my gaze roams around the party.
In the living room, people are playing video games. A couple is making out next to the front door. Small groups stand in circles in every space that isn’t occupied with furniture—music pumps from one of the bedrooms.
I can’t seem to catch my breath. Nerves and excitement have lodged a lump in my throat. I feel different tonight being here with Jordan—really being here with him.
Two girls approach us—a pretty brunette and a blonde with the longest legs I’ve ever seen. The brunette makes a beeline for Jordan, not even seeing me beside him.
“Where have you been?” She launches herself at him, throwing her arms around his neck and plastering her curvy body covered by a sparkly gold dress flush against him.
He chuckles and lets the hand holding his beer, curve in to give her a small hug back. “Hey, Cybil.”
She pulls back and swats him on the chest, then rests her fingers there. “Seriously, Thatch. Where have you been?”
My cheeks are on fire when Jordan glances at me. “I’ve been around.”
He leans into me. “Cybil, meet Daisy.”
She finally looks at me, and I can tell the second it hits her that I’m here with him.
“Oh,” she says. “Hi.”
“Hi.” The word comes out so quietly I’m not sure she even hears it.
She turns her attention back to Jordan. “I’m going to do a lap but come find me later. I miss you.”
As quick as they came, Cybil and her friend turn and go.
Jordan’s teammate left in the middle of the Cybil tornado, leaving me and Jordan alone.
“Sorry about that,” he says. “She’s a friend. Civil major, too.”
He’s slept with her. I know this, but I’ve already made a big deal of leaving the past in the past, so I just smile and say, “She seems nice.”
He chuckles and takes a long drink of his beer, then cocks his head to the side as if he’s trying to decide what now. “You want to play cards?”
“Okay.”
He nods and leads me to the table where he pulls out a chair for me and then takes the one next to me.
It’s a different card game tonight, with more rules that Jordan teaches me.
I’m not as interested in playing as I was the last time.
I want to kiss him again, maybe make out in the corner like the couple still going at it by the front door.
I can’t decide if it’s some exceptionally good kissing that lasts that long or exceptionally bad, because every time Jordan kisses me for more than three seconds, I want to tear off my clothes.
At the end of the second game, I lean closer to him. “Where’s the bathroom?”
“First door on the left.” He tips his head toward the hallway.
“Save my seat?”
He lets his hand drift down to my leg and along my bare skin, leaving goosebumps in his wake. “Definitely.”
“Be right back.”
The hallway is crammed with more couples stealing kisses and small circles of girls whispering quietly. Cybil and her friend are among them, but neither looks up as I weave through them to the bathroom.
I text Violet while I’m locked inside. I’m at a hockey party. Me!
I send it with a selfie of me posing in front of the bathroom mirror making a funny face.
She responds immediately. You look amazing. Have fun! See you soon.
Clutching my phone to my chest, I breathe in her words. I miss her. I wish she was here with me. Not that I ever could have convinced her to come. I finish in the bathroom and open the door.
My smile falls when bits of conversation float my way.
“I have no idea who she is” and “You don’t think they’re actually together, do you?”
“Definitely not.” It’s Cybil’s voice that cuts through the others. “She’s so?—”
Her friend elbows her before Cybil can finish her sentence. They both look at me. I muster a smile and hurry down the hallway.
Jordan’s sitting in the same spot. He has one leg propped in my chair, saving my seat, and it gives me the most ridiculous rush.
Who cares what they think? Maybe we don’t make sense to them.
I thought the same thing at first, but they don’t feel what I do when he’s around.
Besides, some of the most interesting things defy logic, sometimes even physics. I figure Jordan and I are among them.
He smiles when he sees me and shifts his leg back to the floor. I take the seat because it’s mine, and I kiss him for anyone that cares to see, but mostly I just kiss him for me.
I pull back breathless and find him smirking at me.
“Is that for saving your seat? Because I hate to admit it now, but it was also serving as a pretty bomb footrest.”
“Just wanted to kiss you,” I say.
He drops his mouth to mine. “If I kissed you every time I wanted to, I’d walk around permanently attached to your lips.”
It hadn’t occurred to me that he was holding back for my benefit.
“That doesn’t sound so bad.” I run my fingers along his cheek. He’s shaved recently, but the skin is rough where the hair threatens to reappear. “I’d have to learn to skate, though.”
“I could teach you.” His legs shut around mine, and he pulls me closer. Now that I’ve made the first move I seem to have broken some invisible barrier in his restraint.
“Thatch, are you and your girl in this game?” one of the guys at the table asks him.
He looks at me for an answer.
“Maybe we sit this one out?”
He stands and hauls me up and onto his shoulder.
“Jordan!” I squeal. “I’m wearing a dress.”
He places a hand over my ass and holds the material down as he walks. Giddy laughter bubbles in my chest as I hang over his shoulder.
When he sets me back on the ground, we’re outside on the deck.
“I forgot our drinks,” he says, and I swear he looks like he’s going to pick me up again.
“What if we skip the drinks and go back to your place?”
“I thought parties like this were part of the charm of hanging with me.”
“How do I put this nicely,” I tease, placing my hands in front of me like a steeple. “You’re more charming naked.”
He barks a laugh into the night air.
“Fair enough, but first I wanna make out with my girl where everyone can be really, stupidly jealous of me.”
My back presses into the railing, and he steps between my legs. My heart is pounding in my chest as his mouth drops to mine.
Our kiss is interrupted by someone calling Jordan’s name.
He growls playfully as he pulls away.
“What?” he barks.
Brad McCallum laughs as he approaches us. “You two want to play flip cup?”
“Nah,” Jordan says as I say, “Yes.”
“You know I won’t be naked, right?” he whispers in my ear.
I laugh. “It’s finally a game I’m not bad at.”
Which is true. Flip cup might be the great universal equalizer.
Jordan and I line up with Brad and Dallas against four others I’ve met but can’t remember their names.
A rush of adrenaline hits me when it’s my turn.
I chug like I’ve never chugged before and flip over the cup on the first try.
Jordan’s grinning so hard at me, it slows his start, and the other team wins.
We play two more times before it breaks up, and everyone wanders off from the table.
It’s getting late, but neither of us mentions leaving again.
I see Cybil as we’re taking seats outside.
She’s making out with a cute guy that I assume is on the hockey team.
When I check to see Jordan’s reaction, he barely seems to notice.
I guess it’s then that I realize he might have hooked up with her, but it wasn’t like us.
I don’t care much about what Cybil thinks of me after that.
We stay until the party has died down and the music is off. Jordan and I walk the few blocks to his dorm, talking and laughing. It all feels so easy and fun.
Liam’s not here. I didn’t see him at the party either, but Jordan doesn’t seem concerned, so I don’t bring it up.
He flips on the light in his room.
“Do you want a drink or something? I still have some Fireball.”
I shake my head, remove my coat, then my boots and socks.
He sits back on his desk, watching me. Reaching behind me, I pull the zipper of my dress down and then let it fall over my shoulders and pool at my waist.
He doesn’t move even as I push the material past my hips and to the floor. I take a step closer and unhook my bra. I let the black lace hang from my fingertips before dropping it too to the floor of his room.
His gaze never leaves me. “Damn, you’re sexy.”
I close the space between us, stepping between his legs. His arms go around me and palm my ass. He hooks a thumb through the string and tugs until it wedges in front, biting into my already aching clit.
My fingers lift the hem of his T-shirt. He takes over, and I work on his jeans. He kisses my shoulder and then threads his fingers through my hair as I squat to free him of his pants and boxers.
I look up with big eyes, and his throat works, Adam’s apple bobbing.
Wrapping a hand around his dick, I bring my mouth closer. My breaths come in quick, shallow gulps as I part my lips and take him in an inch, letting my tongue swirl over the head.
His grip tightens in my hair. My free palm rests on his stomach to steady myself, but it’s an added bonus that I can feel the effect I have on him—the tightening of muscles, the increased breathing rhythm that matches my own.
I take more of him in each time until my lips wrap around the base, and he tickles the back of my throat. I hollow my cheeks, and he groans a low and deep sound.
“Daisy,” he murmurs as I continue, picking up the pace.
He wraps my hair around his hand in a fist. When I look up, his dark eyes are hooded and enthralled. I still, and he takes over. He moves me up and down over his length as we lock eyes.
The ache inside of me is on the verge of painful. I move the hand at his stomach and put it between my legs. His gaze moves to watch me touch myself. I’m too turned on, too desperate with need. He isn’t even touching me except the fist in my hair, and I feel him everywhere.
He lets out a guttural growl and pulls me to my feet. He smashes his mouth to mine, pushes my panties down, and then twirls me around and bends me over his desk.
I hear the rip of the foil packet, and then he’s finally there, pushing inside, blurring the pain with white-hot pleasure.
My head swims with it all. The corner of the desk bites into my hip bones as he fucks me at a hard and unrelenting pace. This is Jordan, unrestrained and no longer holding back for me. And he’s beautiful.
I cry out as my orgasm splinters through me. My pussy clenches around him, and Jordan pushes against me harder until his body trembles around mine.
Our breaths are the only sound as he leans over me and places a kiss on my shoulder.
After he disposes of the condom, he picks me up and carries me to his bed. And that’s where I stay.
Me, in Jordan Thatcher’s bed, defying all logic and probably physics too.