3. Tucker
3
TUCKER
F uck. I can’t go anywhere or do anything without this bitch showing her face. My nose wrinkles when I sniff the air, looking around. “Does anybody smell something bad out here?” I even throw in a few silent gags to get the point across. I know I’m being immature as fuck, but I don’t give a shit when it comes to her. I need her to know how much I hate her.
Maya rolls her eyes and looks away, folding her arms over herself. Like it’s that easy to ignore me. Like I would allow her to. “Wow,” I hear her murmur to Wren. “This is a huge step up, huh? No more drunk roommates or their asshole friends trying to attack you.”
“I’m really lucky.” Wren wraps an arm around Maya’s and practically glows. “Do you want a drink? Maybe something to eat? I made sure there’s lots of snacks.”
She went a little overboard, actually, but I overheard her saying something to Briggs about how much she always wanted to be able to throw a party with food and drinks and stuff. I guess she never had the chance before.
“Maybe you need a beer.” When I’m not looking, Carter presses an icy bottle into my palm. “You look like you wanna rip somebody’s head off.”
Maybe because that’s how I feel as I pop the cap and take a deep swig. Funny how it does nothing to cool the heat spreading through me. Like somebody lit a fire in my chest. The beer is almost painfully cold, but it does nothing to fight it. Why the hell does she have to be here?
“Eenie, meenie, miney, moe…” Carter nods a little as he goes back and forth between a pair of blonde twins standing on the opposite side of the pool. It’s pretty obvious they know he’s looking from the way they keep tossing their hair and giggling, glancing over. “Allie or Alex?”
“Why not both?” I ask, downing more beer before wiping the back of my hand over my mouth. “I heard they did that once. Or maybe they were just both sucking off the same dude at a party. I heard there was video.” I don’t even know what I’m saying anymore. Whatever it takes so long as there’s a reason to look away from the girl who’s doing everything she can not to look at me.
Carter chuckles before taking a deep breath, like he’s about to make his move. “Maybe I’ll make my own video tonight.” I almost want to tell him to stay with me, but that would be pathetic. Besides, there are plenty of people around to hang out with… or maybe more, since there’s plenty of willing pussy around, too.
“You can borrow one of my suits! I sort of figured I should get a bunch,” Wren explains to Maya with a laugh. “Since the pool is out here and everything. I haven’t even worn them all yet.”
“To think you didn’t even know how to swim not that long ago.” Briggs winds his arms around Wren’s waist from behind and picks her up off the patio. When she squeals and kicks her feet, the smile drops off of Maya’s face. I’m probably the only one who notices the way she sort of turns off, goes blank. There’s not even envy or anything like that.
“Put me down!” Wren warns when Briggs inches closer to the edge of the pool. “At least let me put my phone down!”
Instead of throwing her in, Briggs sets her on her feet. “I wasn’t going to, anyway,” he tells her with a smirk.
When Wren turns back to Maya, it’s like Maya turns back on. The light comes into her eyes, and she even stands up straighter. “I really wasn’t planning on doing any swimming,” she explains. She’s so nervous, she keeps picking at the hem of her dress. One of those light, summery dresses, pale blue. Now I can’t help but notice the way it molds itself to her tits. When she turns, the fabric swishes around her thighs and hints at the plump ass underneath.
I need to stop staring at her. Staring at her is what got me in trouble in the first place. Making a list in my head of the parts of her I liked. Maybe if Carter doesn’t end up with the twins, I can take whichever one he doesn’t want. I need to stick my dick in something warm and wet. I’m not feeling particular. So long as it helps me stop thinking of shit I have no business thinking about.
“Oh, come on!” Wren tugs on her hand, like she wants to pull her into the house, but Maya plants her feet. Something is holding her back, and she’s fucking determined.
“What’s the matter?” I call out, finishing off my beer. If it wasn’t my friend’s patio, I would let the empty bottle fall on the ground and shatter for the simple joy of watching her jump in fear. “Are you afraid you’ll dissolve once you hit the water?”
I can always count on Carter to back me up, though I didn’t know he was listening. He’s laughing as he walks past with a red plastic cup in each hand. “Like in The Wizard of Oz ,” he adds, making me nod in response.
“Don’t listen to him.” Wren is determined to keep everything light and friendly and fun. “Really, you’ve been so generous to me. Let me at least lend you a bathing suit.”
“And.” Briggs touches a hand to Maya’s shoulder—I frown before I can help myself. “If you need help learning how to swim, I taught Wren. It’s the easiest thing in the world.”
“I need another beer.” I might need something stronger. Something that will obliterate my thoughts. Erase my memories. Not just tonight, but permanently. There’s a cooler nearby, and I grab another bottle, uncapping it, tossing the cap aside. Draining half the bottle at once does nothing for my mood.
I can’t stop thinking about Briggs putting his hands on her. Teaching her to swim, touching her underwater. He would never betray Wren. I know it would be innocent. That doesn’t keep my stomach from churning when the sound of Briggs’s voice rises over so many others and reminds me of what I can’t get out of my head.
“Leave me alone, or else...”
“Hey, Tucker! Why are you in such a shitty mood tonight?” A redhead with huge tits bounces my way—I don’t recognize her, but then I don’t bother looking at her face. Why would I, with a body like hers in front of me? She’s wearing a white bikini that barely covers anything. I should be hungry for her, especially with the look she’s giving me. She might as well announce she’s ready to have her brains fucked out.
“Does it seem like I’m in a bad mood?” Looking her up and down, I offer a brief grin. “You want to make it better for me?”
Her tongue slides over her glossy lips before her teeth flash in a smile. This is what I need. This is the answer to the brutal restlessness that’s tearing me to pieces.
“You know…” The backs of her fingers brush against my hand before she entwines them with mine. “I’ve never really been around inside the house. Maybe you could give me a tour.”
I should do that. Right now. I’ve got to get rid of this. What is it? Bitterness, anxiety, the feeling like my skin will split if it gets any tighter. I can’t keep my heart from pounding like it’s about to burst out of my chest.
“Oh, why?” It’s Wren’s high-pitched whine that steals my attention from the tits in front of me. “But why, when you just got here? You didn’t even have a drink yet.”
When I glance toward them, Maya looks away. Like she was looking at me and got caught. I should fuck this redhead’s tits while she watches, since she’s so interested in what I do.
“I told my dad I wouldn’t be gone long. I don’t want any shit when I get home.” Maya’s forced laugh is like nails running down a chalkboard to me. It’s good, though. She should leave, she needs to leave. I was fine before she reminded me she exists.
If only she didn’t glance my way before adding, “Everybody’s having a good time, anyway.”
Now, see? I could’ve let it go. I would’ve been happy to watch her curvy ass bounce away before I take what’s-her-face upstairs for a quick screw. I might have ended this night feeling good. Relaxed. If only it wasn’t for that last remark.
“Well? Are you going to show me or not?” Now the redhead is tugging my hand, trying to get me to follow her inside.
But I can’t stop watching. Wren looks so sad. That means Briggs is going to fall all over himself to make her happy, which means the rest of us might as well go home. Why the fuck does Maya have to ruin everything she touches?
Forget the redhead. I barely remember what she looks like by the time I walk away, my feet slapping the patio with every step as I follow Maya to the gate. She’s just going to ruin the night and run away. So typical. She can never face her own bullshit. For once, she’s going to. For once, somebody is going to call her out.
The gate swings open when Maya pushes it, and she’s halfway around the side of the house by the time I follow her through. She might as well be running, fleeing. “Hey!” I bark. It’s not like anybody at the party can hear me.
But she does. Loud and clear. I can tell when her shoulders jump up around her ears. Instead of stopping, the way any decent person would do, she doubles her pace.
Which means I do the same, because I will be damned if she runs away this time. “You heard me talking to you!”
“So what?” she asks, almost running with her arms wrapped around herself.
This little bitch. But she makes a mistake, not looking for her keys until she’s already standing next to her car. She fumbles around in her purse for them but can’t reach them by the time I catch up to her.
When she spins around to face me, I pin her back against the driver’s side door and cage her in with my arms. Her tits heave against my chest, and for the briefest, stupidest moment, my dick stirs.
“What the hell is your problem?” I could be asking myself that question, but instead I’m snarling at her, taking in how she reacts. Her fair cheeks are now flushed, blue eyes bulging, her lips parted so she can breathe hard enough for her nipples to brush my chest.
“I didn’t have one until you started with me,” she grits out. “And now, I’m trying to leave, because it’s so obvious you want me to. But you won’t let me go. I think you’re the one with the problem.”
“You’re right. I do have a problem.” There’s so much on the tip of my tongue, wanting to burst out of my chest. I still possess enough clarity to keep all of that shoved down deep where it can’t embarrass me.
Instead, I sneer the way she is. “Wren was only trying to be your friend, dumbass. What, are you too good to go swimming? What do you have against having fun, being a good friend?”
Her eyes narrow. “Do yourself a favor and don’t talk about things you don’t have the first clue of. You make yourself sound stupid.”
“Fuck you.”
“Fuck yourself,” she whispers back. feeling fierce tonight. Feisty. If anything, I like her better this way. She’s not running around like a scared rabbit, pretending she’s innocent when we both know she is anything but. “Do me a favor and don’t act like you give a shit about Wren, because you don’t. You were right there with Briggs, bullying her.”
As if she has any right to lecture me. My blood is lava by the time I grunt, “That’s none of your business.”
“Just like my friendship with Wren is none of your business. And as for whether I feel like going swimming or not,” she continues, “that’s none of your business, either. Leave me alone.”
Leave me alone, or else. That threat echoes faintly in the back of my mind, but it gets louder with every beat of my heart. Every second I spend looking into those lying, evil eyes that burn with the kind of fire that wouldn’t go out if I threw her in the pool.
“You have no fucking idea…” I whisper, catching my breath when my gaze lands on her lips. It’s already a warm night, but what flares up in me is warmer. Hot. Boiling. “… how much I wish I could.”
What am I thinking? Whatever it is, it needs to stop. Now. Because from where I’m standing, with her body so hot and soft under mine, it makes all the sense in the world to do what my dick is demanding.
“Get off me.” I can barely hear her whisper, but it’s the warmth of her breath on my skin that makes my mouth go dry.
She goes stiff at the touch of my lips to hers, arching against the car while a gasp stirs in her throat. Is she surprised? So am I. Surprised at how good she tastes. How sweet. Her lips are firm, but it takes nothing to make them yield under mine.
It takes nothing to pry them apart with my tongue, too. To slide my tongue against hers, to stroke slowly inside her mouth. At first, I think the hands she runs up and down my back are trying to grab my clothes, to pull me away. Only when she moans do I understand its desperation. Like she needs to be close. Like she’s as hungry for this as I am. The flash of heat, the primal urge pounding through my veins. She feels it, too.
And I fucking hate us both for it.
That doesn’t stop me from running my hand down the side of her body. The throaty moan that stirs up makes me want more. I have no control over what my body is doing now. I can only go with it, cupping her tit before tracing the curve of her waist. Groaning when it flares into a full hip. My fingers press tight against it, and now she whines, needy.
I can’t pretend I don’t like it. Just like I can’t pretend my dick’s not about to burst through my shorts. I could screw her here and now, against this car, where anyone could see. I might have to, or else I’ll explode.
She comes up for air with a gasp, letting her head fall back so my lips can find her jaw, her throat. When she moves her hips, I move with her, grinding against her, my hand slipping lower until it flirts with the hem of her dress. Her leg is so soft, smooth, practically begging my fingers to creep up to where it’s hot and probably wet.
She stiffens with a gasp and pulls her leg free from my grasp, but not fast enough. My fingertips brush against something rough, something very unlike the soft skin I was touching. There’s no time to think about that once Maya’s palm makes contact with my cheek.
It doesn’t really hurt—no more than a sting. But the force of it and the way she caught me by surprise makes my head snap around to the side. “You fucker,” she whispers, then shoves me away with both hands.
“What the fuck?” At least I’m not so hard anymore. I’m also fucking disgusted with myself. What the hell was I thinking? Why would I make myself vulnerable like that? With her, of all people?
“Get away from me,” she snaps. This time, when she shoves a hand into her purse, she finds her keys. “Get away and stay away.”
“Yeah, that’s right,” I snarl as she gets in the car. “Run away. You’re good at that, aren’t you? Don’t fucking face anything. Just run.”
All that earns me is a single, scornful look before she slams the door and shoves the key into the ignition. I’m breathing heavily and a little dizzy, what with all the blood making its way back to my brain.
Still, I’m clearheaded enough to know one thing by the time she speeds away. She definitely stopped us at the right time.