She may not have been actively seeking it when she met Brandon, but she fell in love fast and hard. Gabby is a person hell-bent on saving everyone, and Brandon, well, he needed saving.
It was a perfect match.
And Gabby was a virgin when she met Brandon because she really was waiting for the right guy. Not that I would ever tell Blake he was right about that, but he was. She had a boyfriend in high school but never slept with him because it didn’t feel quite right. She had enough confidence to wait for what she was looking for.
Me? I had sex for the first time mainly out of boredom. I was a lonely kid most of my life. My parents were older when they had me, and I’m an only child. They’re good parents, but working full-time jobs that took most of their energy left for very little time in the evenings. I found comfort in books. And when I had sex, I wanted to see if it was like my favorite books made it seem, and holy lord, was it not.
I bite my bottom lip as I tap my pencil on the notepad on which I’m taking notes on for a paper I’ve been assigned. But all I can think about is that night in my apartment with Blake.
Now that was book-worthy.
And this is new for me. After hooking up with random guys I find on my phone, I don’t sit around thinking about our encounter for days afterward. I just move on with my life, working and going to school, fully focused on my goals.
Maybe I’m obsessing about Blake because he’s such an asshole and I’m disgusted with myself.
“Are you okay?”
I look at Gabby who, of course, looks worried. “I’m fine. Sorry, I’m focusing now.”
“We can do this later if you’d rather just chill first. I know you had to work this morning before class, and I’m sure you’re tired.”
My shift at the diner was only three hours today, and the place was dead, so I had time to read and study some. “I’m okay, Gabby. Really.”
She doesn’t believe me, but I’m used to crazy work schedules and running from Aggieville to campus, busting through the door just in time before I’m tardy. What I’m not used to doing is obsessing over a dumbass stranger with perfect abs, hair, ass, lips, tongue . . . Okay, you get the picture.
It’s getting bad. We were in psychology class today, and the teacher started talking about narcissists. My mind flashed to the fucking asshole, wondering how he could be so self-involved and yet make sure I came first, so he can’t be classified as a true narcissist unless perhaps it somehow benefited him in the future, and so on.
I need help.
I stand up, placing the book on her coffee table. “I’m going to use the bathroom.”
She nods and stands with me. “Okay, I’ll go start dinner. I don’t want you sneaking out of here before we eat.”
I shake my head but smile. She’s so excited to make me a meal in her home. “I never turn down homemade food.”
She walks into the kitchen, and I go down the hall to use the restroom. As I walk out of the cute bathroom that was clearly decorated by Gabby, I bump right into Blake, and I mean right into him. The fucker was crowding the doorway.
“What are you doing?” I keep my voice low, not wanting Gabby to hear anything.
His full lips, the ones I mentioned earlier, all plump and rose-colored, pull up into that ridiculous smirk, and he doesn’t move out of the way. “You’re still here?”
When I arrived, they were in the garage with the door wide open. He would know if I’d left. The asshole is just messing with me. I point down the hall toward the living room. “I’d like to be in there.”
His icy blues lock onto mine as he moves in, his breath tickling my ear. “Or would you rather we go in there?” He gestures with his head behind me toward the bathroom. “Where I’ll fuck you even better this time.”
Holy. Shit. I feel wetness pool between my legs from mere words—stupid, ludicrous words because that cannot happen. Still, my knees threaten to buckle as he pulls back and looks into my eyes again. “No.”
My eyes dart toward the hall, looking for Gabby, and his sly smile makes me want to smack him. “Don’t worry, she didn’t even hear me come in.”
“You are their guest.”
“So, they don’t have a ‘no fucking’ policy. If I have to listen to them fuck, they really can’t tell me not to.” His large shoulders shrug as he places a hand against the doorframe, further barring me from leaving. “Not that I mind, it’s kind of hot.”
“You’re disgusting.”
He brushes my long hair behind my shoulder, his eyes glancing down at my Led Zeppelin shirt, before looking back up at me. “Then why do you miss me?”
“I don’t.”
“Okay, not me, but my body for sure.”
I swallow, my throat is dry at the thought of his body and how it felt on top of me. I grasp his firm arm, and just as he thinks he has me, I push it out of the way, walking by him but stopping to look directly at his devastatingly handsome face. “I’m over it. Once was plenty.”
He doesn’t miss a beat, turning his body in my direction, towering over me. “You’re not even close to having enough.”
I don’t move, standing my ground and deciding to be firm. “It was a one-time thing, a lapse in judgment.”
He moves entirely too close to me, overwhelming me with his fresh scent and arrogant persona. “I can still feel your teeth sinking into my skin.” Don’t react. He wants a reaction. He leans in even closer, and I pick up a hint of some sort of alcohol on his breath, but it smells sweet. “I can still hear your moans.”
I feel my heart rate increase, and I know I need to get away from him. “Never going to happen again.”
He pulls back, confident grin in place as he mocks me, “Yeah well, let me know when that changes. I think I’m going to be around for a bit.”
He walks into the bathroom, closing it behind him, and I linger in the hallway for another moment.
I am royally screwed because I want nothing more than to follow him.
“Will you quit ogling my neighbors and hand me that wrench?”
I pull my eyes from the busty brunette one yard over and hand Brandon his wrench before he blows a gasket.
Brandon has always been a moody motherfucker, but without drugs or alcohol to calm his ass down, he’s a fucking nightmare.
Why his chick would want him to stay sober is beyond me.
He was a lot more fun before.
My eyes slide back over to the brown-haired beauty. She’s pretty in the typical coed way, lots of makeup, spends a lot of time tanning and probably at the gym by her toned thighs, possibly a runner.
She’s hot, but my mind is still on the feisty brunette inside.
Maybe I need another fix, just one more to get her out of my system. I was really hoping I could talk her into joining me in the bathroom, but no such luck.
She’s stronger than I thought, but I could see the desire in her eyes to do just that.
I pull a joint and lighter out of my pocket and place the joint between my lips, lighting up. But Brandon quickly rises from where he was tinkering with a motorcycle and plucks it from my mouth. “Put that shit out. What the fuck are you doing?”
He stomps it out, and I stare at the weed crushed on the cement below. “Fucking really? You’re really starting to bum me out, man.”