“Thank you for making it possible for me to be here today.”
My throat closed up and the burn built in the back of my nose.
He rubbed my back and gave me an extra squeeze before letting go.
At the bottom of the concrete steps, I looked back at the house that held so many happy memories for me. So many times growing up, I’d wished and prayed I could have a family just like theirs someday.
LJ’s hand brushed against mine, tugging me toward the car. He dropped it after a couple steps and walked around his car, opening my door for me.
Maybe keeping this all quiet was for the best. At least when it ended I might still be welcomed into this place that had become my second home—hell, my only true home.
18
LJ
Marisa was quiet on the drive back, her arm propped up on the window. She handed me the money for the toll and stared out at the water as we passed over the bridge back into the city.
“What did my dad say to you?”
She jumped. “Nothing. Just thanking me for coming and dragging you along.” Her eyes twinkled with subdued amusement.
I loved how easily she fit in with my family. How easily she’d always slotted in. Over the summer, when she wasn’t here, her absence had been palpable. It had felt weird. But we’d have to get used to it. She’d be gone for two whole years. The thought lent a bittersweetness to her accomplishment.
I owed more to her than I could ever repay. It wasn’t the only reason I loved her, but she’d been there for me as much as I’d been there for her. When my dad got sick junior year, I’d been all set to play in a summer league and had my scouting invites. Surgeries, chemo sessions, and trips to specialists had meant my mom and dad weren’t home much, but Marisa gave up a scholarship to a summer Paris trip to help with Quinn.
She deserved her time in Venice more than anyone. What other sixteen-year-old would give up their summer dream to stay home and watch a twelve-year-old she wasn’t even related to? Marisa. And she’d never stopped being there for me and my family.
“Anything else on your mind?”
“Just thinking of payback for the ass grab right before dinner.” There was a wistful, plotting tone in her voice.
She’d flipped the coin toss and I was jogging to the line of scrimmage ready to continue the game we’d abandoned a couple hours ago.
Palming her ass right in my parents’ living room after deciding we should keep things low key wasn’t my best idea in the world, but watching her and knowing I could get close to her and touch her as more than a friend made it hard to resist.
Contending with the semi that had risen to attention had been the backfire on me.
“Wasn’t licking the ice cream off your hand my payback?” Where I’d ended up with both elbows on the table and my napkin in my lap for maximum embarrassment protection.
“That was me not wanting to sacrifice a bit of the ice cream to a napkin. I’m greedy like that. And greedy for a repeat of last week.” She rocked her head to the side with a blood-thumping, body-tightening look.
“As soon as I get you—” My head slammed back against the headrest. “Everyone’s probably home and I have to be at the team bus by 6:15 tomorrow morning.”
“And then you’re gone until Monday. What about tonight?”
“Where—”
She glanced into my backseat. It was crammed for people sitting, let alone what I’d want to do to her. “You and your stupid two-door car.”
“My bed might as well be a fog horn. If we try anything with anyone home, they’ll wonder if we’re demolishing my walls.”
“My bedroom is too close to the stairs, we’d have no time.”
She rubbed her thumb against her bottom lip.
“Bathroom!” We shouted at the same time. Pins-and-needles anticipation ratcheted up with each block we got closer to the house.
Marisa ran her fingers along my thigh before squeezing it and making me jump. “Only if they’re home. If not, we get naked like a quick-change artist covered in killer bees.”
“How exactly does your brain work?”
“After all these years, you still don’t know?”
I pulled up to the front of the house. Keyton and Berk’s cars were parked right out front. The bathroom it was. The sink and counter were sturdy—or at least they’d get a killer test as soon as we made it upstairs. Hopefully, Keyton wasn’t in his room, and maybe Berk was at Jules’s house.
“Dammit.”
When I opened the door, music pumped in from outside and a laugh or two cut through the low bass line. They were outside. The plans were still in play. We could make this work. My blood hummed in my veins.
“Is your bag packed?” Keyton called out from the doorway headed to the backyard. He had a foil covered tray in one hand and tongs in the other.
“Not yet.”
“Berk and Jules are outside. Berk’s starving even though we already had dinner earlier. I’ve got steaks, burgers and hot dogs to cook. You’ve got maybe twenty minutes before the food is ready, if you wanted to pack before you eat.”
“Actually, I’m ful—” I cut my gaze to Marisa.
She creeped back toward the stairs.
“That’s a great idea, man. I’ll go get packed.”
Her foot hit the bottom step. “And I am going to get changed.”
That didn’t sound suspicious at all…
Keyton clipped the tongs in our direction. “They’ll be extra left over for you too, Marisa, so don’t worry about food or anything while we’re away.”
“Thank you, Keyton! You’re the best.” Her hand slid up the banister and mouthed ‘bathroom’.
He shook his head, chucking like it wasn’t true, but right now he was my hero, keeping everyone outside. He ducked out the back door, disappearing down the stairs.
We both craned our necks to watch him walk out across the grass to the grill.
I casually walked up the stairs with Marisa trailing behind me before we got to the point our feet disappeared from view and rocketed up the last of the stairs.
Marisa ducked into the bathroom. “We’ve only got ten minutes, max, before someone comes back inside.”
The door wasn’t even fully closed before she grabbed onto my shoulder and pulled me close.
She reached around me and cranked on the shower. The spray drowning out the last of the music from the backyard and hopefully covering the noise we were about to make.
I jerked open the fly of my jeans and she shimmied out of hers.
My chest filled with the intoxicating hunger that reared its head whenever she stared at me like she wanted me just as much as I wanted her.
Grabbing my wallet from my back pocket and ripping it open, I fumbled it and almost dropped the condom.
Marisa’s hands were all over my chest, under my shirt. In my hair.
I gritted my teeth and slid it on, the urgency and immediacy of getting inside her riding me almost as hard as I would her.
She jumped up on the counter beside the sink.
Testing and teasing her with my fingers, I found she was soaking. “Fucking hell, Marisa.”
“I know, you should probably do something about it.” She bit her bottom lip, one already pink and glistening.