Hustle

Jess and Angel walk into our room without knocking and plop on the edge of Rose’s bed.

“Where is she?” Angel asks.

“She’s in the bathroom getting ready,” I answer, saving my work before closing my laptop and focusing on them. Angel’s in yoga pants and a tank, but Jess has on jean shorts “Are you both going to the gym?”

“I’m not.” Jess shakes her head. “I’m here to get the details about last night.”

Rose steps out of the small restroom that connects our dorm with another.

“Lucky bitches, both of you.” Angel rises to her feet. “Know any other single football players you can throw my way?”

“They had a single friend with them last night, Kyle, but he wasn’t nice at all. Don’t they have any that aren’t assholes?” Jess frowns.

“If you’d have stayed a little later, you would have met some.” Rose shrugs and grabs a small bag by her bed.

I give Rose a look, she’d been silent and moody since she woke up not that long ago, but I hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to her to find out what’s up. When Andrew and I came back into the bar last night, he offered to share a cab with Jess and me, and we left. Rose stayed but came home early this morning.

“Hey, when Andrew Fayden invites you to share a cab, you say yes.” She smiles at me.

“When you two left, I thought for sure he was going to take you,” Rose nods towards me, “back to his place.”

Heat rises to my face as they focus on me. But I can’t keep the smile from my lips as I remember his goodbye. He followed me out of the cab and kissed me, not with the hunger of earlier, but it held a promise of more.

“I’m surprised, too. I would have hopped right back in that cab in heartbeat.” Jess shrugs. “I know he’s yours, but I still like to look.”

“He’s not mine.” Just the thought makes my insides whirl. “We’re only friends or something like that. I’m not sure. It’s just—”

“It’s just you two are more than friends,” Jess interrupts. “I saw the kiss he gave you when the cab dropped us off, too deep to be friends, but too sweet for a fling. He’s not available.”

Rose snorts but turns to Angel as she walks to the door. “You coming with me to the gym?”

“Yeah.” Angel pauses before following her out. “We’ll be back in plenty of time for dinner. Five, right?”

I nod and try to catch Rose’s eye, but she won’t look my way. I want to talk with her and find out what this attitude is about before my mom comes for dinner. “You can meet us here before or meet us at Hunan House.”

They agree to meet there and then leave for the gym.

Jess leans back on Roses bed. “So what’s the deal? You got plans on seeing him anytime soon?”

“I never know, he doesn’t really make plans.” My words ring in my head. This should be a red flag warning me away, not something that keeps him constantly in my mind, expecting him.

“Have you tried making plans with him?”

“No.” I shake my head. “I never tried. But—”

“Well, you should try it and see what happens. What’s your plans today?”

“Homework.” I pat my laptop beside me. “And then dinner with my mom and you all.”

“Ugh. Homework. It’s never ending. I just did some last week, but I already have more to do.” She rises to her feet, just as bubbly as her tone. “I’ll go get my stuff and come back. They can work out together, we’ll do school work together.”

Very little schoolwork actually gets done with Jessica in the room, but I don’t have the heart to tell her to leave or to be quiet.

“Oh, they’re going to play a movie at the union on Thursday, did you know?” She pauses from typing on her phone.

I shake my head, trying to concentrate on cells and mitosis and meiosis and a whole bunch of other science words I don’t know how to say out loud.

“We should go. I’m not sure what it is though, I’ll look it up now, but I heard a bunch of people saying they were going.”

I look up to respond, but my heart heaves to my throat as my gaze crosses Andrew in the doorway, just before he knocks.

Jess looks up from her phone and gasps. Then she’s all smiles and greets him, “Hi. Come on in.”

He steps into the room with a nod and crooked smile for her, then he sweeps those bright eyes to me and his smile slips into something else, something sexy and in no way innocent. “I saw your roommate at the gym. She said you were here.”

“And here I am.” I uncross my legs and drop them to the floor, scooting to the edge of my bed. “I getting homework done with Jess.”

“Can I interrupt for a minute?” He sweeps his gaze to Jessica.

“Oh sure.” She’s on her feet in a second. “I’ll just go. I’ll be right across the hall if you need anything.” She smiles up at him “Did you want a drink or something. I’ve got sodas in the fridge in my room.”

He crosses his arms, but gives her a smile big enough to show his dimples. He’s all too aware of the effect that has. “I’m good. Thanks.”

“Okay.” She backs out of the room and pulls the door shut as she leaves, giving us a dangerous amount of privacy.

Andrew takes a step towards me, and I swallow my heart as his eyes drop to mine.

Then the door flies open and Jess giggles her way back into the room. “Sorry, I forgot my things.” She scoops up her book and laptop and phone from Rose’s bed. “Don’t mind me, I’ll be gone in a second.” She doesn’t take her eyes off Andrew once as she leaves the room and closes the door again.

“You think she’s really gone this time?” Andrew’s brow lifts as he looks at me.

“I don’t know.” I shake my head with a smile. “You make smart girls forget.”

His movements are smooth as he sits next to me on my bed, his smile teasing. “What do they forget?”

“Everything.” I forget everything when we lock eyes. “But at least I’m not the only one.”

“Hmm.” He’s got me under his spell as the back of his fingers graze my cheek to push away a strand of hair. “What do you mean?”

I lift my eyes to the ceiling and fight for control, but the words spill out of my lips, “You have a way of crawling under peoples skin and living there, taking over my thoughts. But I think you know that already.”

“Brook.” His smile spreads; I sense it even before I drop my eyes to see it. “You don’t make that sound like a good thing.” Fingers travel down my neck in a blaze of fire and ice, circling the edge of my shirt to my collarbone.

“It’s not.” I can’t breathe; he’s giving me asthma. “Not for me.”

His eyes turn sultry, warning me a split second before he moves. He lifts me onto his lap in an instant. His arms wrap around my waist, holding me in place.

“Yeah it is. It’s a damn good thing for me.” He slides his hands up my back, pulling me closer as his head dips to my ear, his smoky voice blazing as he continues, “I want inside of you—to ruin you from the inside out for anyone else, because you are mine. You may not want to accept it yet, but it’s the truth. I told you from day one, it’s inevitable. I’ll be your first and best.”

My heart’s about to explode. His words travel through my veins and every part of me throbs.

“Wow, that’s intense.” I turn my head away from his lips roaming over my chin and shift back some to meet his eyes. My hands hold the back of his neck, my fingers in his silky, dark hair. “Too intense. Maybe, turn it down some.” I’m still struggling for a decent breath.

“I can’t” His smile does nothing to reassure, but it does everything to excite. “There is no in between with me, baby.” His hands move up and down my back in a firm massage that makes me squirm against him. The heat of his touch travels between my legs, making me ache. “When I go after what I want, it’s all or nothing. I don’t do anything half way.”

I don’t know who moved, but our lips collide and his hand tangles in my hair as his tongue sweeps into my mouth, circling every surface in a strong thrust. I grind into him, my body seeking his, and then he flips us so I’m flat on my back, legs still wrapped around his waist, hands still pulling his head to secure our kiss.

He pins my hips under his own. The power and strength in him is made clear as his solid body hovers over mine, even as he uses one arm to keep some of his weight off of me. His other hand explores my curves over my tee and jeans, but on its way back up my hips, his fingers dip under my shirt in a surprisingly light touch. He rolls to the side, lips moving to my jaw and neck as his hand glides across my stomach.

His kisses slow down, and he drops his eyes to my exposed skin where he’s lifted my shirt. He dips down and his warm lips press over my small star tattoo in a touch that’s too intimate, and I pull myself up from under him, lifting onto my elbows.

“Relax. I won’t go any further than this,” he claims, and his lips graze closer to my belly button. It makes my stomach clench as he continues kissing my skin, his hand gripping my hip. He breaks away and looks up at me, questioning me with his eyes.

“What are we doing?” I whisper.

He smiles that smile that makes me weak, that shows his dimples, that makes him look like an innocent but sexy boy, instead of the demanding man I know he is. “Whatever you want to do, baby. I’m following your lead, taking it wherever you want, wherever you’ll let me.” He dips his head back down to my exposed stomach and flicks his tongue around my belly button, sending a quiver through my muscles.

“That’s not what I mean,” but I speak in a daze, my skin on fire for more of his attention.

“What do you mean then?” There’s a spark in his eyes as he watches me before dipping his head back down.

I gasp and arch my back to press into his mouth as he licks and nips at my stomach.

“We’re not friends anymore.” I strive for thoughts that make sense, but my body’s begging me to shut up.

He shakes his head, his nose tickling my skin, his hands spread as they travel over my ribs, lifting my shirt further.

“So what are we?”

His warm breath caresses as he exhales, maybe a laugh, maybe a sigh, but I can only see the top of his brown hair until he lifts his head, lower body still on top of mine.

“We’re whatever this is.” He smiles like that should be enough.

“I don’t know what this is.”

“So what? Can’t you still enjoy it?” He doesn’t pull his eyes away, but his fingers skate over my skin.

“No, not if—Not if…” I close my eyes and push his hands away from me. Scrambling out from under him completely. I know what I need, but I know he won’t agree.

He stays in his half lying down position but drops his head with a slight groan, “Don’t do this.”

“What?” I question, hoping he’ll spare me and say it, that he’ll make it quick and leave instead of dragging it out.

“Don’t start labeling this and making demands. Let’s just have some fun.”

“That’s all you want, but I can’t. Not if—”

“What promise do you need? That I won’t fuck anyone else? I haven’t, not since we became friends. Let that be enough.”

His crude language excites me as the meaning behind it stuns. I pause as he sits up, my eyes scanning all over his body for signs of a lie. He sits like he’s annoyed, but there’s nothing to say he’s not being honest.

“I— okay.” I nod, acknowledging what he’s said.

“Okay, that’s it. We’re all good then?” He smiles and leans into me, dipping his head to my neck.

“Not so fast.” I push him away but keep my hands on his chest as I talk, a smile erupting as all my thoughts shift. “I liked being friends. I liked hanging out.”

“Me too.” There’s something teasing in his tone. “But I like kissing you more.”

“You have to take me out.” I hold my breath, unsure.

He sits up on his own then. “All right. Lets go.”

“I can’t right now. I’ve got dinner with my mom.” I rise to my feet at the sight of the time. “She’ll be here in about an hour.”

“Well, shit.” He leans back on his elbows, frustratingly relaxed and at ease on my bed. “Tomorrow, then?”

“Really?” I wish I didn’t sound so eager, so relieved.

“Don’t act so surprised.” He rises to his feet, and I have to look up to meet his eyes as he steps close and slips his hand to the back of my neck. “I’ll call you tomorrow. Don’t make any other plans.” He dips down and presses his warm lips to mine. And then he strolls out like he didn’t just rock my world with something I hadn’t dared to hope for.

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I knew what he’d been saying was true—he’s already inside me, his words and touches burn in me long after he’s gone.

I’m already ruined.