Fierce (18 page)

He laughs and then pushes his hips against
my ass, making me feel his erection.

“You can bet on it. I’m going to claim you
soon,” he says.

We cuddle some more, and then he yawns.
We’re both tired as hell. I doze away in his arms, happy, content.

I can wait. I can wait for him. I can wait
for the answers to all my questions. I can wait to discover more about him.
Hell, he’s even waiting for me.

But I do know that I won’t wait forever.

The
Morning After

The next morning I’m still lying in his
arms, confused as to why I’m here. I can smell his scent on the pillow we’re
sharing, and it’s making me delirious again. When everything about last night
seeps back into my mind, I feel crazily happy.

I’m really here, in his bed, sleeping with
him.

His arms are still around me, and I can
feel his chest going up and down against my back. Things can’t get any crazier
than this.

Well, maybe the sex could.

I giggle to myself and smile. Turning
around in Hunter’s warm embrace, I find him snoring loudly. He looks so goddamn
cute right now. His face is the perfect thing to wake up to. Everything about
him just makes me jittery.

Suddenly, the door slams open.

I’m startled. I jolt up from the bed,
desperate to hold on to the blanket that’s dropping off my scarcely covered
body.

Jaret is standing in the doorway.

“Dude … Oh, shit,” he says when he sees me.

Hunter groans as he looks up at Jaret with
a drowsy look on his face. “Huh? What’s happening?”

“Sorry bro, I didn’t know you brought her
back here,” Jaret says. His eyebrows rise playfully. “Hope you had fun last
night.”

I flush, and pull up the blanket even more,
feeling very, very embarrassed.

“What are you doing here?” Hunter mutters
with half a grunt.

“It’s my room, too, remember? Glad I wasn’t
around to witness this last night. Had some fun myself, too! Crazy chick,
though …” Jaret says, as he walks into the room like it’s the most normal thing
to do when you find two people in bed together.

“Dude, get out. Give us some privacy for
fuck’s sake,” Hunter says with a croaky voice, scraping his throat.

“Sorry, bud, can’t. It’s important. I
wouldn’t have come otherwise, trust me,” he says.

I reach for my dress lying on the floor and
pick it up while holding the blanket firmly in place. It’s not drenched
anymore, but it smells bad. Although it stinks, I pull it over my head and
drape it down until I’m no longer in my underwear. Better than having Jaret see
me partially naked.

Hunter leans on his elbow, giving minimal
attention to Jaret as he tries to wake up. “What?”

“I think I’m after the right guy. You know.
The boss of Alpha Psi. I think I know who he is.”

Opening his eyes wide, Hunter springs up.
“What? Are you serious?”

“Alpa Psi? Is that a frat house?” I ask,
but nobody answers.

“Yeah, that’s why I need you to come with
me right now. There’s going to be another party tonight, and he’ll be there. If
you wanna catch him, now’s the time. We have to prepare some kind of plan.”

“Fuck,” Hunter says, and he jumps out of
bed wearing nothing but boxer briefs. I swear, if I wasn’t on high alert right
now, I’d be gaping at his package.

“What the hell are you guys talking about?”
I say.

“You go get dressed first, I’ll wait for
you downstairs so we can get going. They’re expecting us to do some work, too,
today, so we really need the extra time.”

“Work? You mean selling drugs and punching
people in the face again?” I say, flabbergasted. “It’s a freaking frat house
behind all this?”

“All right, see you in a minute or so,”
Hunter says, and Jaret leaves the room again.

“Stop ignoring me!” I yell at him, and I
come out of bed, too.

“I’m not, this is just way too important.”
He turns around toward me. “And yes, it’s a frat house.”

I step forward. “More important than
telling me what the hell is going on?”

“You should go,” he says.

“What? No! Not until you tell me,” I say,
frowning. “So you’re in a frat house? God …” I slap my hand in front of my
mouth in disbelief. Now I see why he’s been selling drugs and punching people
together with Jaret. Those are the people who put them up to it. I need to know
more.

“Why do you want to go look for ‘the
boss’?”

Hunter shushes me. “Don’t be so loud.”

“Why? Does it matter?”

“Because … it’s a freaking illegal frat
house. We sell drugs, for crying out loud. Nobody can know about this. And yes,
we’re looking for the boss, but first we gotta find out who the courier is.”

“The courier? What the hell is that?”

He sighs. “The one who brings the drugs
from the boss to the top distributors. Those are the people I get my stash
from.” He runs his fingers through his hair. “I think I’ve answered enough
questions now.”

“Oh, c’mon, you’ve got to give me more than
that.”

“I can’t. You don’t know how dangerous that
is.”

“Why? Are you still too chicken to trust
me?”

He gently cups my face between his index
finger and thumb. “I care about you. I’m afraid you’ll get hurt. That’s why I
don’t tell you. It’s better if you stay out of this.”

I slap his hand away, and he turns around
and walks out the door. I follow him as he goes into the guys’ bathroom. I’m
not letting him off the hook that easily. I take in a big breath before I walk
in with him.

“I don’t care if it’s dangerous. I. Want.
To. Know,” I say.

He turns on the light, while I put my foot
in front of the door, so he can’t close it. Luckily there’s no one else inside
but us.

“You’re not getting out of this, mister,” I
say, crossing my arms.

A smirk appears on his face. “I love it
when you put your foot down like that.” He quickly leans in and pecks me on the
head, momentarily catching me off guard.

“But I’m going to take a shower now, and
then I’m leaving,” he says crudely.

“I’m going with you.”

He laughs. “Fine. Suit yourself.”

He lets go of the door handle and turns on
the shower. The door is wide open, and now I’m staring at him, while he’s
taking off the only thing that was between me and his firm ass.

My eyes widen as he strips. He’s completely
naked, and I can see his bare ass tighten as he steps under the shower.

I gulp, seeing the rivulets of water stream
down his masculine body. The taut muscles grab my attention as he starts
washing himself.

“You’re a dirty girl, you know that?
Peeping on naked guys,” he says.

I gasp. “I am
not
. Trust me, I’m not
standing here for that reason. I’m not even looking at you.” I turn my head
right away, feeling caught.

“I bet you were. And I also bet you liked
what you saw.”

God. Why does he have to be so fucking
blunt all the time? It’s turning me into a puddle of drool.

Closing my eyes, I sigh and lean sideways
against the wall, waiting for him.

When he’s done, he says, “You can open your
eyes now. It’s safe.” The mischievous grin on his face is the first thing I
see. I scowl at him as he chuckles a little. “You’ll get to see me eventually.
I can’t wait to see the look on your face then.”

“Whatever. I’m still not letting you out of
my sight. I don’t like what you’re scheming one bit.”

He’s only wearing a towel around his waist,
nothing else. He steps closer, and I have trouble not pulling off that towel
that’s between him and me, but I have to stand my ground.

“Oh, I didn’t expect you to. Come to the
party with me then,” he says.

My jaw drops. “What? You want to take me
with you?”

“Well, you just said I can’t stop you, so
I’d rather take you with me then. You’re safer with me than anywhere else.”

Somehow that doesn’t make me feel
comfortable at all.

“But if you don’t want to, you can always
just stay here, study a bit, you know, go about your normal life like you
always do,” he says, kissing me on the cheek.

“No, not a chance.” I’d rather risk it than
not know what he is doing for another day.

“All right. I’ll pick you up tonight at
your room at eight.”

He walks past me, out into the hallway, and
I follow him back to his room. There he grabs some briefs from his drawer,
while I shut the door behind us. The towel drapes off his butt, and I gulp
seeing the beautiful, perfect slabs of muscle that appear before me. He puts on
his underwear, and then a pair of pants, covering up his body, making me pine.

“Fine, but if you don’t, I swear to God
I’ll―”

“Yeah, I know, you’ll kill me,” he chortles.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be there.”

After he puts on a casual brown tee, he
walks over to me and places his hand on my arm. I liquefy from his touch, even
though I want to remain strong, to make a point. He just has this effect on me.
I’m the melting candle and he’s the burning flame.

“I’ll see you tonight, okay?” he says, and
he smiles sweetly.

He leans forward and looks at me for a
second, waiting for my permission. I part my lips, pointing them up to meet
his. Shivers run down my spine as his lips brush along my mouth. He leaves a
short but scorching kiss, which makes the butterflies in my belly dance.

I don’t want to stop kissing him, but he
makes the choice for me.

♥♥♥

I study for the rest of the day, but I
can’t concentrate at all. I’m way too nervous. It’s only ten minutes until
Hunter’s coming to pick me up, and I’m already sweating like crazy.

This party they’re going to sounds scary.
If it’s going to be anything like last time, I’ll need someone to back me up,
in case Hunter’s going to leave me alone. I’m sure he’ll be too busy with
whatever to entertain me.

Especially if he and Jaret are going after
someone. I wonder what they’re up to.

I need someone else to come, someone I can
really trust with all my heart.

I put my books aside and go to Scarlet’s
room. Before knocking on the door I clear my throat.

“Evie?”

“Not here.” Well, it’s her voice all right.

I roll my eyes. “Can we talk?”

“No.”

“It’ll be short, I promise. I’m not going
to do anything stupid.”

It’s quiet for some time, but after a while
she opens the door. “What do you want?”

“I j-just wanted to ask if you were okay,”
I say with a gulp.

“I’m managing.”

I peek over her shoulders and see her side
of the room is as messy as it was when she was still bunking with me. “Looks
like you’ve settled in nicely.”

“Yeah.”

I don’t really know what to say. She’s
really not talking a lot. “How’s things with Scarlet? Can you hold out with
her?” I say with a chuckle.

“Scarlet’s quite nice, actually. Sounds
weird, I know, but she’s not as bad as we thought,” she whispers.

“Oh, well that’s good,” I say.

Then it falls quiet again, and we’re both
staring at each other. She’s tapping her foot, and I’m rummaging in my pocket.
This is so awkward.

“Look, I still need my time alone. Could
you tell me what you’re here for?” Evie says.

“Oh … Well I wanted to invite you to a
party tonight.”

She frowns. “A party? Autumn Blakewood,
going to parties? God, you’ve really changed.”

“I’m not like Brody. This is different. I’m
not turning into a douche bag.”

“Okay …” she says hesitantly. “So you’re
going to that party?”

“Yeah, I got invited, but I don’t want to
go without my best friend. I’d love it if you could come, too.” I smile at her,
trying to make up for all the things I’ve done wrong in the past, but she
barely shows any emotion at all.

“Please?” I add. “It would be really great
if you were there.”

She sighs. “I’ll think about it.”

“Okay.”

She makes a face, and closes her door
again.

“See ya,” I say, but she’s already closed
the door.

Now I feel really bad.

I don’t know what to do to fix this broken
relationship. She’s still not ready for us to start anew, and I’m feeling
shitty because of it. I feel like I’ve lost my best friend, and all because of
some stupid thing called love.

Dammit.

“Hey, you ready to go?”

I turn around and see Hunter standing in
the hallway. He comes up to me, puts his arm around my waist, and pulls me in
for a kiss on the temple.

“I just need to change into something else
first,” I answer.

He pats my back. “Okay, I can wait. It’s
early anyway.”

I walk back to my room and go through my
clothes, looking for something suitable to wear.

“Why don’t you just put on that same dress
you wore last night? It looked fucking amazing.”

I flush, but laugh at the same time when I
turn and see him standing in the doorway again. “No! I’m not wearing the same
thing twice in a row without washing it first.”