Chapter 6
Liam weaves his way through the crowd. Dark curls flop over his forehead, drawing my attention to the sharp line of his jaw, then across to the smooth curve of his mouth.
What is he doing here?
Admirers smile and dance for his attention as he passes. A spasm of jealousy twists in my belly, but his gaze never lingers for more than a few seconds before he scans the room again.
“I told him where we were.”
“Ally…” I moan, sliding down into my seat until I remember it’s a barstool and there is nowhere to hide.
“That was before I knew he’d seen your come face.” Ally gives me a sly wink.
“Almost come face…” My skin flushes at the memory. “Is there a back door?”
Scanning the room for an exit is pointless; my eyes seek Liam out in the crowd again like a magnet.
I fight the urge to go to him, let him tuck me beneath his shoulder, and lead me back to our apartment.
I would rather be eating frozen pizza and groaning over b-grade horror movies with my favorite person than in a noisy club, surrounded by strangers, and trying to prove something to myself.
But if I let him take me home, pizza and movies wouldn’t be enough.
I need to leave.
As though sensing my retreat, he turns in my direction, and our eyes meet instantly.
Surrounded by dozens of strangers and the thump of dance music, the space between us beats with its own distinctive pulse. Electricity tingles up and down my arms, and a slow, deep throb starts between my thighs.
I can blame alcohol again or lack of orgasms, but the lie wouldn’t hide the truth forever—I want my best friend.
It’s so obvious I feel like a neon sign blasting my secrets to everyone.
He watches me, not moving. Why isn’t he coming over? Can he read the desire on my face?
Is he going to reject me again?
“Here you go.” Cole’s arm appears between Ally and me, sliding our drinks in front of us. He takes up a spot right by me, close enough for our elbows to touch as they rest on the table.
Is Liam scowling?
Ally’s knowing chuckle is curious.
“What are you laughing at?” I ask.
“He’s got it bad,” she answers, dangling her drink between her fingers as she nods toward the dance floor.
“Liam?”
“Am I missing something?” Cole asks, looking intrigued as his eyes dance between Ally and me.
“Liam’s had a boner for Emily since middle school,” Ally blurts out like the answer is obvious to everyone—it’s not.
“Excuse me?” My brows arch upward, and my eyes feel as wide as saucers. “No, he hasn’t.”
Ally rolls her blue eyes, the purple glitter shadow highlighting her exasperation. “Not everyone is as oblivious as you.”
“Liam is not interested in me. He told me so last night.” I shake my head, but his words replay in my mind again—we shouldn’t do this, not he doesn’t want to.
My heart starts a weird beat in my chest.
I’m his best friend. I would know if Liam liked me… wouldn’t I?
“Is he here?” There’s a mischievous glint in Cole’s eyes.
Ally discreetly nods in Liam’s direction. He’s moved to the bar, nursing a drink, his stare not wavering from me.
“Why doesn’t he just come over?” I ask. He’s making the situation even weirder by being… weird.
“Me?” Cole lifts his beer to his mouth and gives me a sly, playful smile. “Have you two ever…”
“Oh, no.” I shake my head. “No. No. We’re just friends.”
Even as I say the words, they feel thick and dirty on my tongue—a lie.
“Do you want to?” Cole asks.
“I…” My answer catches in my throat. Talking about this with a stranger feels… odd, but a guy’s perspective would be interesting. I sigh, giving in to the confession. “I tried—last night—but he turned me down.”
I narrow my eyes on Ally. “Which proves that he isn’t interested in me.”
“He turned her down because she’d just dumped her ex and was drunk,” Ally says, narrowing her eyes and challenging me to argue.
“I’d never turn you down.” Cole turns toward me, his eyes darkening. “Ask me to take you home. You’ll forget about everyone else when I get my tongue on you.”
Ally chokes on her drink at his brazen offer.
My core clenches. The heat in Cole’s eyes promises his words aren’t lies, and I need those promises. I’m so sick of my fingers, so sick of wanting men that don’t want me.
But my gaze slides to Liam. He watches me with an intensity that makes me burn, one look more potent than any of Cole’s promises. “I like you, Cole, but…”
He lets out a sigh but offers me a smile. “I get it.”
I want to believe Ally, but my fragile, boring ego can’t handle being rejected twice in twenty-four hours. “I don’t want to make a fool of myself again.”
Cole lowers his drink to the table and then leans close until his nose brushes my earlobe. “Then make him come to you.”
I jump at his unexpected nearness.
He drops his palm to my thigh and gently squeezes. “Trust me.”
He presses a kiss to my neck, and I try not to stiffen in surprise or weaken in desire. Cole would be a fun way to prove I’m not boring…
“Whatever you’re doing, keep it up,” Ally snickers. “Here he comes.”
My heart beats with enough force to rock my body as I watch Liam barge his way through the crowd like a man possessed—or jealous.
“Well, look who decided to join us,” Ally says, holding up her drink in a toast motion.
Liam stands opposite me, but his narrowed eyes are on Cole.
Cole squeezes my thigh with one hand and holds out the other to Liam. “Cole.”
Liam ignores Cole’s offered hand and turns his glare to me. “It’s time to go, Emily.”
His voice is as rough as gravel as he pushes it between his teeth, making my name sound like a growl. It conjures images of his hot breath in my ear as he grunts my name in time with each thrust of his hips.
The wild, possessive look in Liam’s eyes turns the dull throb between my thighs into a persistent, desperate ache.
“I’m fine here.” Do I sound breathless?
Liam's jaw works back and forth like he’s trying to control his temper. My best friend is one of the most easygoing people I know. Seeing him so unhinged is… fascinating.
Is it because of me?
Is Ally right…?
“We are leaving.”
The authority in his voice is so enticing and unexpectedly sexy that it takes everything in me not to throw myself into his arms.
What if Ally is wrong? Middle school was a long time ago. Even if he liked me back then, it doesn’t mean he still wants me.
The possessive jealousy I hear in his tone could just be annoyance that I made plans without him. “I’ve made a new friend. It would be rude to leave so soon. I’ll see you at home later.”
I sound like a dismissive brat, but Liam is making me flustered, and Cole’s hand is still on my thigh, reminding me of that unfulfilled need pulsing between my thighs.
Liam cocks his head to the side and curls one finger, beckoning me toward him.
Suddenly I’m fourteen again and weak in the knees, just like all the other girls.
Cole’s hand easily slips off my thigh as I stand.
Liam’s mossy-green eyes suck me in as I step toward him. Does he want to talk here, with everyone listening?
Without warning, he bends forward, lifts me up and flips me over his shoulder.
I gasp in surprise.
Ally cackles with laughter.
“What are you doing?” I frantically try to hold my dress down to avoid flashing my panties to the entire club, but Liam beats me to it. He flattens his palm on my ass, holding my dress in place.
“Put me down,” I demand.
Liam ignores me, steering through a chorus of hoots and laughter with me dangling over his shoulder.
“You do realize you’re cockblocking me right now.” I try to sound harsh, but his shoulder is rocking against me in a perfect rhythm that makes me squirm. “I was just about to ask Cole to take me home.”
His fingers twitch on my inner thigh. “You aren’t going home with him.”
I wiggle, trying to set myself free… or find more friction. “You’re not my father.”
“Stop being a brat, or I’ll smack your ass like I am.”
The authority in his voice and the heat of his palm so close to the spot between my thighs is too intense. I can already feel the sticky drip of my arousal dampening my underwear. This is a side of Liam I’ve never seen.
He bursts through the doors and the cold air hits the backs of my thighs first—a balm to the inferno burning between. He doesn’t put me down until we are by his car.
“What the hell was that, Liam?” I’m fuming from embarrassment and the arousal thumping through my veins. It was barely tolerable before, but now there is no way my fingers will be able to give me the relief I need. “We can talk at home later.”
I try to barge my way around him and return to the club.
Liam stops me with his body, forcing me backward until the metal of his car door is flush against my thighs and back—icy cold on my exposed skin.
“I didn’t carry you out here to talk.”
“So you’re just trying to stop me from going home with Cole?”
He doesn’t answer, but his nostrils flare, and the streetlight makes his eyes glitter with a feral intensity I’ve never seen before.
I take his silence as a yes. “I want to fuck. You turned me down—Cole won’t.”
My honesty is brutal and catches us both by surprise.
Liam boxes me in with his hands and tilts his chin lower until his mouth is as close to my ear as possible without touching me. “I didn’t turn you down.”
My breath is shaky, adrenaline and desire warring for dominance in my bloodstream. “Yes, you did.”
“No. I said we would talk in the morning.” His eyes take on a predatory glint I’ve only ever fantasized about seeing. “But I don’t want to talk anymore.”
Each breath feels like liquid fire scorching my lungs. The lack of oxygen heightens my senses, tightening my nipples into hard points as he leans closer.
“What do you want to do?” I whisper.
He grips my hand and presses it to the hard bulge behind his jeans. Curling his fingers around mine, our joined hands palm the outline of his erection.
I bite back a moan.
He drops his forehead to mine, his breath unsteady as it rushes against my open mouth. “I can’t fuck around anymore, pretending it’s you underneath me.”
Air rushes out of my lungs in surprise. “Is that what you do?”
He cocks an eyebrow. “Picture your face as I’m coming inside of another woman?”
I nod.
“Every time.” He thrusts his hips into my hand, and a small groan escapes his throat. “I can’t play the supportive friend anymore, watching others get what I want. If you let that guy touch you, I will break his fucking face.”
His words sound surreal, like I’m living in some alternate reality. “I’ve never heard you talk like this before.”
“I’ve never felt like this before.” He groans, rocking his hips again. “I want you, Em. I’ve wanted you since before Lucas Franco asked you to the spring dance.”
My heart zigzags, bounces, smacks against my ribs in every direction imaginable. “That was… middle school.”
Liam smooths his palm around my neck and caresses my chin with his thumb. He suddenly looks shy. “I’ve wanted to confess for years, but I was afraid you’d turn me down, and I didn’t want to lose you.”
He grips my face with his free hand and tilts my neck until our lips almost touch. “You don’t know how hard it was to say no to you last night, but after wanting you for so long, I didn’t want our first time to be some drunken fumble you wouldn’t remember.”
He wants me. My chest beats against my ribs like it’s ready to burst. Liam wants me…
I grip his shirt and pull him closer. “There is no way I could forget.”
He slams his lips onto mine, the kiss stealing my breath and turning my limbs to liquid. My mouth opens, and our tongues tangle together.
Taking. Giving.
He tastes sweet, like the most decadent dessert. I want to kiss him forever.
I clutch his shirt tighter to hold myself up, but Liam slides his hands around my body, cupping my ass and tugging me flush against him, holding me steady.
He rocks his hips against mine, nudging my thighs wider and my dress higher until his denim-covered cock finds my swollen bud.
Desire pools in a sticky rush, coating my underwear and filling me with a desperate ache to be filled—now.
I claw at his belt buckle, ready to bruise my knees for him, but he breaks our kiss.
“Get in the car.”
I don't argue. I need everything his tongue promised. He yanks open the door, and I scramble inside.
He reaches over me, dragging the seat belt across my breast teasingly before buckling me in. This possessive, controlling side of Liam makes me greedy for more. I grab his neck, stealing another kiss.
He moans into my mouth, one hand sliding between my thighs and pressing against my underwear.
I arch into his touch, my arousal hot and sticky, making a mess of the lace.
“Fuck,” he growls. “I can’t wait to get you home to bed.”
A second later, he’s in the car, pulling onto the road and driving us toward… a bed.
Cold prickles of dread pop the hungry expectation ballooning in my chest, and my body freezes. Kyle’s confession echoes in my head as though he’s screaming in my ear right now. I was bored.
What if Kyle is right? What if I bore Liam?
The thought makes my stomach knot and my lips tremble.
I didn’t care about losing a boyfriend, but losing Liam… that would break me.
“I can’t do this.”