Part 30 (1/2)

I would have taken off even without the promise of being able to have Carolyn tonight, though. This weekend was supposed to be me, Frank, Vince, Mike, and Mike's older brother at the house. The plan was for skiing Sat.u.r.day, football Sunday, heading home Monday. Good friends, beers and laughs.

We'd just gotten back from the mountain on Sat.u.r.day. I was bringing firewood in from the back deck when I heard the laughter. Female laughter. Frank looked back towards me with a guilt-ridden expression and eyes that pled: I didn't know, as he grabbed Sadie's bag. I'm gonna kill him. Shocker...Sadie was accompanied by four friends, Kenzie among them. How f.u.c.king convenient: five guys, five girls. Vince looked ecstatic while I'm sure I'd just turned an angry shade of purple.

”I'm just gonna throw the girls' bags into my room for now. This is a nice surprise,” Frank added, nervously.

I set about starting the fire, so irate that I didn't trust myself to speak. The other guys went over to help with their bags. They were all relaxed, making small talk with the girls-no big deal. I, on the other hand, felt ambushed, p.i.s.sed off, and disappointed. My closest friend and his girl were not looking out for my best interests.

I walked by Frank when he tried to pull me aside. He wanted to spin his bulls.h.i.+t story about having no idea that Sadie was planning to come up. ”Now that they're here, let's just have fun. No reason to make it awkward, right?”

No reason at all. Right. I nodded, lips tight, teeth clenched. Sure, Carolyn would be totally cool with me spending the night partying with Kenzie. Just like I'd want her hanging out at a ski house and drinking with Todd or whatever that f.u.c.ktard's name was. Deep breath, Rivers.

When Mike came into the kitchen, he eyed me warily. ”You good?”

”I'm sorry to bail on you but I'm outta here, all right?”

”I get it. Kristi would be none too happy about this but these girls don't run in the same circles as my girl, so I'll just keep quiet about it. I'd grab a ride home with you but my brother is pretty excited about the change in plans. Hey, the guys will be outnumbered so maybe he can have two.”

”I'm out.”

Kenzie stood in the corridor as I walked past and made my way into my room. ”Can we talk for a second?” I ignored her. ”I told Sadie this wasn't a good idea and now I can see that it really was not a good idea.” She had tears in her eyes.

”It wasn't. I don't like being blindsided.”

”Jeremy, we can just hang out as friends.”

”We're not friends, Kenzie.”

She took a defiant stance, hand on her hip, chin raised. The crocodile tears were gone all of a sudden. ”What, is your girlfriend the jealous, insecure type? Can't handle you being around me?”

”So you know? You know that I'm with her now and you decided to come here anyway?”

Kenzie closed my door behind her and advanced on me. She stopped abruptly and lowered her head before raising it again to reveal a sad, concerned expression. This girl was gunning for an Oscar. ”Sadie has told me nothing good about her. From what I've heard, you're falling right back in with some girl who's clearly trouble. She thought nothing of crus.h.i.+ng her last boyfriend, then dumped you without-”

”Stop!”

She kept coming. She was less than a foot away from me when she put her hands on my chest and whispered, pleading, ”Didn't her last boyfriend kill himself? This girl has mental problems, Jeremy. Can't you see that?”

I gripped her wrists harder than I'd intended and shoved her away from me. ”Shut your f.u.c.king mouth.”

I wasn't explaining s.h.i.+t to Kenzie or to anyone else. And Sadie spreading lies and bulls.h.i.+t? Can't say I was done with Frank but I'd never see Sadie in the same light again. The people who mattered to me knew Carolyn-they knew she was good and that she was good for me.

As I was stuffing gear into my bag at a furious pace, Kenzie made one last ditch effort. ”I care about you. I just want you to consider the idea of us. No complicated past, no drama. I really care about you, Jeremy.”

I slung my bag over my shoulder. ”But I don't care about you, Kenzie. I never will. Find someone who does care and waste this act on them.”

I pushed past her and quietly made my way to my car. Frank just let me pa.s.s by. He knew better; he knew I was about one stupid comment away from knocking his teeth loose.

The door was open when I got to Jeremy's after midnight. He was asleep on the couch. He looked delicious, with his hair mussed and his bare torso on display, but he also looked like a little boy with his eyes closed and his lips parted, one hand tucked underneath his cheek.

I put my bag in the corner and made my way to the bathroom as quietly as possible. I needed a shower; I always smelled like garlic bread after a s.h.i.+ft at La Viola. Jeremy told me that he craved garlic bread, that he lived to eat garlic bread. I giggled remembering him chasing me around his apartment the last time I came over after work.

Ooh that feels good. The hot water soothed my tired muscles as I worked Jeremy's manly smelling shampoo into my hair.

”You do know you're every boy's fantasy right now, don't you?” I turned to see him looking at me through the shower gla.s.s door, reaching down to push his sweats off. ”Dripping wet, soap suds sliding down those beautiful t.i.ts, that round a.s.s just begging to be touched.”

I felt so turned on when I was near him. ”So come on in here and touch me.”

I needed him to touch me. His dirty words had set me on fire. Now I was aching between my legs for him.

”No, touch yourself. I want to watch you.”

He slid the shower door open half-way. I could see him stroking himself. My s.e.x was throbbing and I was so drugged with desire that I could barely keep my eyes open as I slid my fingers between my legs. I made a conscious decision to let go and then barely recognized the moan that escaped my lips a moment later.

”Tell me.”

”Ooh, I'm close already, Jeremy. It feels so good it almost hurts.”

”f.u.c.k,” he let out on a strangled breath. ”Keep talking,” he commanded.

”Please, baby, come in. I want to taste you while I touch myself.”

He stepped in and directed the spray away from me as I knelt down before him. ”Are you sure?”

I nodded before licking my lips and taking him in as far as I could. ”Oh f.u.c.k,” he groaned.

Who was I? Before this boy, the thought of s.e.x scared me; there was nothing good a.s.sociated with it in my past. But since that first time he'd held me close to his big, strong body in the lake, being with him in this way was all I could think of. And now I had him. And his words, the way he looked at me, the way he touched me and made me feel so very much a woman...he had me too.

I moaned as I rocked my hips against my hand and the vibration set him off. ”Oh, Carolyn,” he cried out as he jerked his hips and came in my mouth. I swallowed him down and then raised my face to the stream of water as he pulled out.

”Come here,” he said, gripping me by my elbows and raising me up. He crushed his lips to mine as his hands grasped my a.s.s. ”That was the hottest thing I've ever seen, baby.”

I could feel his d.i.c.k hardening again already against my belly. ”I need a taste,” he whispered as he spun me around and braced my hands against the tiles. He was on his knees then, spreading my legs and pus.h.i.+ng his face against me.

It really did feel so good that it was painful. I was tingling and aching-on the verge of exploding. I wanted him to stop and just f.u.c.k me but my body was moving, pus.h.i.+ng back against him, taking everything he'd give me. ”More,” I heard myself moaning. His fingers circled me, placing pressure right where I needed it. My hips bucked. I needed more. ”Please,” I begged.

”Please, what? What do you want me to do?”

”I want you inside of me.”

He stood and bent me over at the waist. His two ma.s.sive hands held my hips tight as he pounded into me. ”You feel so good, you feel so good,” he chanted.

I could feel him, thick, pulsing, hard-deep inside me. ”More, Jeremy. Don't stop.”

He kept that pace until I reached down between my legs and pushed against where he was moving in and out of me. My release came on a loud moan and then I could feel his warm release as he pumped into me over and over again, tugging me hard against his body.

We were both speechless for a moment, catching our breath, reveling in the feeling of our bodies still joined together.

His soft laughter and the feeling of him slipping out of me brought me down to earth. ”Something funny?”

”I was just thinking that I wanna get down on my knees and wors.h.i.+p you,” he said as he turned me around. ”Do you realize what this is like for me? I never thought of myself as unhappy but this kind of happiness? It just never occurred to me that I could be this happy.