Rocked Under (7 page)

The music changed tempo and he pulled me into him, awareness came back tenfold and I stiffened in his arms.

He looked down at me, the corner of his mouth lifted in a half-grin. “Relax, Emma, it’s only a dance between friends, right?”

I caught a tender look a second before he replaced it with a cocky grin. “I’ve not known you a week and I know that dancing with you is never just a dance.”
 

I regretted saying the loaded words instantly. I didn’t want to remember the way we met. I averted my gaze, hoping Scott didn’t hear me. I thought I felt Scott stiffen but I realised I had to be imagining it when he next spoke.

“Really?” he teased but it appeared forced, “What else is it then, babe?”

I had walked into that one. I shook my head, “Never-mind.”

The brunette he was dancing with earlier came up behind him and put her arms around his waist, her hands around him pushing me away.

She eyed me viciously and then changed her expression a split-second before Scott turned to look at her. "I missed you, lover." Her sultry voice grated against me.

I pulled away from Scott but his grip on me tightened on my arms.

He turned to look at me, a frown on his face, "Stay." He turned his head back to the brunette. "Take your hands off me. I'll find you later."

Her mouth opened to argue but then she huffed and stalked off with a dirty look in my direction.

He pulled me close again but I pushed away, "That wasn't very nice, I saw you with her earlier." How could he treat girls that way and get away with it?
 

His eyes became hot, "I know you did."

I flushed and looked away as I pushed out of his arms, "You should go talk to her, you were a dick."

"You're going nowhere; she can fuckin' wait."
 

I was in his arms again. "You shouldn't treat girls like that."

He frowned, "She shouldn't have treated you like you were invisible."

There was no more talking. We moved together and I’m sure, to Scott, it seemed like a normal dance but, to me, it felt like more and as his legs brushed mine, tingles shot out from the area to heat the rest of my body.

Did he know the effect that he had on me? Did he know what he was doing? Already I knew his scent, the smell that was only him. There was that familiarity again but I couldn't put my finger on it.

“You okay, babe?”
 

I jumped at his whispered voice near my ear, his breath skittered across the sensitive skin. I shuddered as I looked up. He was closer than I thought. His eyes snared mine, burned through them. My lips parted in surprise, his eyes were like lasers looking right through me. His gaze dropped to my mouth as his grip tightened. Suddenly, he looked away whilst grinding his jaw. Was he angry with me? I couldn’t tell.
 

The music changed again, a faster beat, a guitar thrashing out a frenetic riff. I sighed in relief when Scott moved away and asked if I wanted a drink. I nodded and left the floor with him.

We all left Macy's together; I looked at Ash and did a double take. She was holding Newton’s hand and looked very happy about it. I would interrogate her later. Meg was pressed up against some guy I had seen in the cafeteria at school and Scott had his arm around the brunette that he had sent away earlier like a child. I could not believe that she was with him again after the way he talked to her. She obviously had no self-respect. The looks she kept throwing my way were pure hate but I ignored them. My heart squeezed as I realised I was alone. I wished Adam were here. I was the odd one out and while they all walked on ahead, I lagged behind.

Scott turned a moment later and frowned. He released his girl again and came back to start walking with me.

"Want some company?"
 

"I don't need a babysitter, Scott; I'm a big girl you know." I didn’t want him to feel sorry for me.

"Take it easy, I'm only walking with you. It's no big deal," he chuckled as I carried on walking with my arms crossed.

I heard him chuckle again under his breath, "There's no need to get your panties in a twist."

"My knickers are just fine. Just go away, you can't leave her again, do you
want
to see me murdered?" I joked but I wasn't entirely sure it was a joke.

He frowned, "Girls like her don't give a shit. You think she gives a fuck about me?" He crossed his arms, "None of them do and I like it that way. She'll wait for me anyway." His cocky grin came out.

Of course she would, who wouldn't wait for him? He was gorgeous, a total stunner.

He was so sure of himself and confident. The thought of him going back to her was doing something strange to me, a heaviness deep in my belly.

"Why do you do that?" My mouth seemed to be working on its own tonight. Too many vodkas.

"Do what, babe?" he asked lightly, his attention all mine.

"Why do you sleep around so much?" I whispered, knowing full well that I had no right to ask.

His eyes widened and he looked up at the sky for a moment. "Why do you ask?" his voice was quiet.

"Ash told me that you've never had a girlfriend." Why was I talking about this with him?

He sighed before he looked back down at me. "She told you but what she was really doing was warning you off me." He was looking at me seriously now.
 

"No," I lied, "she just told me." I looked away.

"I don't believe you, but I can understand her wanting to protect you, especially from me.” He shook his head, his tone was serious but then he smiled softly at me.

I was momentarily stunned by him.

"You still haven't answered my question." I reminded him gently.

"I–I'm not into relationships." He shrugged as if it was nothing but I knew he was lying.

"So, basically, you sleep around because you can get away with it and you think that having a girlfriend would hinder you and you'd get bored."

Very briefly, I saw his face crease in pain but it happened so fast that I could have imagined it.
 

"Why, were you thinking of applying for the position?" his grin was cheeky as he steered our conversation back onto safer ground.

I blushed. If only he knew how much I thought about him.

"Wow, is that a blush?" he looked surprised and then laughed loudly.
 

"Shut up!" I cringed as I punched his shoulder and my face burned hotter, "And no, I wasn't applying for anything, I'm seeing Adam remember? I'm sort of taken." I said proudly as I held my head high.

He sobered then and looked up again at the sky.

"He's lucky." I thought I heard him say beneath his breath.

"Huh?"
 

"I said, he's l K sa width="0ucky. But if he treats you bad, he's going to turn unlucky real quick." He looked serious.

I frowned, I didn't understand what he saying.

He sighed and put his arm around me and held me close. "If he hurts you, babe; my fists will hurt his face."

"Scott, I told you. I can look after myself." I tried to push his arm away but he tightened his arm.

"It's not up for discussion, Emma."

I let it drop for now. I kind of liked his protectiveness but it was a bit much as we had only known each other a week or so.

Chapter Seven

The next few weeks went by quickly and it was the beginning of October before I knew it. Adam had quickly become a frequent person in my life. That first date had turned into a regular thing with us hanging out a few nights a week. The guy liked to kiss but he never pushed me for more, which I found a bit bizarre since most of the guys I had dated had tried to get into my knickers almost straight away.
 

Ash and Newton had grown closer in the last few weeks too. They spent a lot of their time with their lips locked together. I probed Ash about it and she told me that she had liked him for a while but he had never noticed her as anything more than a friend. She seemed to float on a pink-tinged cloud wherever she went and I envied her for her carefree nature. Newton was at ours most of the time but I didn't mind if Ash didn't.

Scott had become a good friend without me even realising. When we were all together, I noticed that we sought each others company out. We mostly talked music but he looked out for me too. The last week he had started rehearsing with the band more and Newton had said that they were writing new music. I found myself excited about it. I enjoyed watching him play a bit too much; I knew that, and I think he kind of knew it too.
 

That first night at Macy's seemed distant in my mind, but there would be the odd time when I would feel his intense stare on me and I knew, I just
knew
, that he was remembering it too. I would catch him looking at me when he thought nobody was taking any notice of him. It was at times like that that I felt like he was looking straight through me and he could see
me
. But most of the time he was just like any other guy-friend, although I admit that I didn't feel as comfortable with him as I did with Ad and Newton.
 

There was this awkwardness between us that, no matter how hard I tried, just wouldn't dispel, and I wanted it to. The more time I spent around him, the more of a mystery he was. He was such a dick when it came to girls but with his friends and me, he was totally different. It was as though he was two people sometimes. To the outside world he was Scott Mason; bad boy and womaniser. In private, he was Scott Mason; caring and loyal friend. He had taken place in my thoughts and I was used to him being there. I wondered about him all the time and I felt ashamed because I thought about him more than I did about Adam. Other times, I thought about the nigh N sa wout himt we met. The memory would creep up on me at the most inconvenient times like when Adam was kissing me.
 

"Hey, hey! Are you ready for tonight?" Meg did her signature eyebrow wiggle as she danced her way to our table to music that was only in her head.

"Hell, fuckin' yeah!" Newton raised his hand and high-fived her as she passed him.
 

I giggled at them, "Oh my God, guys!”
 

Tonight was the opening of the new nightclub, Soundz, and we were all going together. I hadn't been in a nightclub for a long time. Memories started to sift through my head like flashbacks... I stared ahead, not seeing anything and felt my frown. I stopped myself from going there. This was my new life and all, but there was no way I was going to let my past ruin my fun tonight. I always loved going clubbing at home. I used to count down the hours until the weekend.  I pulled myself back to the present, hoping nobody had just noticed me space out.

I looked up and straight into dark green eyes that were studying me intently. I felt a jolt of surprise go through me as my heart stopped for a moment. Feeling flustered I bit my lip as it trembled and smiled at him.

He frowned. "You okay?" he mouthed silently.

I nodded before looking down quickly to fiddle with the lid of my drink. Sometimes Scott was too much for me and I needed to kind of reel myself back in. His attention seemed to cross the line between friendship and — something more. I don't know, maybe I was imagining it – I could be.

"...And I know Em is looking forward to it." I caught Ash saying just in time to reply.

I could feel Scott's inquisitive stare on me, trying to suss me out. "You know me so well, Cuz." I replied as naturally as I could.

To keep my hands busy I reached out, stroked my fingers through Adams hair and heard him groan in pleasure. I gasped in shock as he snatched me off my chair and onto his lap. I flailed, trying to pull my short knitted dress down further. He planted one of his hands in between my knees and kissed me heatedly whilst moving his hand further up. He had never been this forward in front of everyone before. His hand between my thighs reminded me of when I saw Scott do it to that girl. The way he had slowly slid his big strong hands up her thigh and then stroked her with his thumb. Adam was still kissing me but I was getting turned on thinking about someone else.
 

Shit! Fuck!
I was breathless and getting a wetness between my legs that shouldn't be there whilst I was thinking about Scott. I realised I had both hands fisted in Adams hair clutching him to me.
Oh god!
I felt disgusted with myself. I couldn't believe I was imagining Scott kissing me while Adam was oblivious. I took the heat out of the kiss slowly and then buried my head in his shoulder and closed my eyes, too ashamed to look up. I hated myself. I felt like I had cheated on Adam again.

I snuggled closer to Adam. I wanted Adam,
not
Scott.
Adam, Adam, Adam, Ad…
When I opened my eyes, Scott was in my line of sight. His head was bent down as though he was looking S waam,at the table. He had a faraway look in his eyes, his mouth was a tight line that made his usually full lips look flat.

An hour before we were due to meet, Adam called me and told me that he couldn't make it. He forgot about an assignment that he had to finish by Monday and it would take him all weekend to finish it. He said to go ahead without him and to have a good time. I thought about cancelling too but to hell with it, I thought. I really wanted to go. I did feel sorry for Adam though. He had sounded grouchy as hell about it.