Looking down at Avery, I smile as I move her hair out of her face, kissing her forehead. She nuzzles into my neck and my grin grows. I remember when she told me she didn"t like to cuddle. I kind of don"t believe her, though. I"m pretty sure it wasn"t that she didn"t like it, it was that she never had the chance to enjoy it. h.e.l.l, that could go for a lot of things. Especially hockey, because since my first game, she"s come to practice and she doesn"t look bored. So yeah, I think I"m right. She doesn"t know what she likes because everything she"s had has been s.h.i.t.
Not anymore.
When she pulls back, looking up at me sleepily, her brows pull together.
"Why are you awake? I thought you didn"t have work or practice."
I nod. "I don"t. I"m just awake."
"Oh," she says with a yawn before cuddling back into my side. "Try to go back to sleep."
I chuckle. "Trying."
She closes her eyes, her arms sprawled lazily across my chest as she lets out a long breath. Looking up at the ceiling, I close my eyes and I stay like that for a very long time. But it"s no use, I"m not going back to sleep. Glancing back down at her, I know she isn"t sleeping and I don"t want to disturb her, but I"m bored.
Reaching for my phone, I scroll through my Facebook until she says, "s.h.i.t, now I"m awake."
"Sorry."
She shakes her head. "No big deal. We can just lie here."
"Mm," I say, dropping my phone to my side before nuzzling my nose in her hair, my arms wrapping around her naked body. "My favorite place to be."
Her lips curve as she rubs her nose along my jaw. "You need to shave."
I shrug. "I"ll get to it."
Still rubbing with her nose, her fingers come up to my jaw and my eyes fall shut at her touch. "I think I like it."
"Then I"ll keep it."
"Tattoos and scruff are kryptonite to some girls."
I smile. "True, but I only want to be kryptonite to one girl."
"This is true," she says against my jaw. "And you are just that."
"Awesome, winning as usual."
"Jeez, there isn"t enough room in this bed for us and that big ol" head of yours."
"Don"t hate, appreciate."
Her body shakes with laughter as she holds me tightly, and I feel on top of the world. When she tilts her head back, her eyes on me, I smile at how gorgeous she is. Her eyes are still sleepy, her face red on one side from lying on me, and her grin...it just feels right. Like she is meant to look up at me in bed with that little kitten grin. As I get lost in her eyes, I wonder what she"s thinking or how she"s feeling.
Is she in love with me as I am with her?
"You"ve only been in love once?" I find myself asking. I"m not sure why I said that, but I want to know. Just like that, the grin is gone. s.h.i.t. Looking down at my chest, she presses her nose to my neck and I look at the ceiling, wishing like h.e.l.l she didn"t shut down on me like this. I mean- "Yeah," she says, interrupting my inner monologue of b.i.t.c.hing and moaning that I"m in love with a girl who doesn"t want to share s.h.i.t with me. "Caleb."
"Caleb?"
Please don"t be Caleb Rutherford.
"Caleb Rutherford."
f.u.c.k me. For some reason, I knew it was him, though. Ever since I realized who her brother is, I wondered. There used to not be a moment when you didn"t see Caleb with Matty. Sometimes I questioned if they had a thing the way they were constantly together. Not sure what happened to him, though. I haven"t heard anything about him in a while, but he was a d.a.m.n good player...
Oh, s.h.i.t.
Swallowing hard, I say, "So it was serious?"
She shrugs. "Yeah, I mean, it was on my end, and I thought on his end, too."
"What happened?" I ask, my heart pounding inside my rib cage.
Sitting up, she leans her arms on my chest, holding her head up as she looks down at the tattoo on my chest. Running her fingers along it, she says, "I always had a crush on him when we were growing up. He was always around because Matty was up his a.s.s twenty-four seven. I mean, it was only natural that I would fall for some hotshot hockey player. He was good-looking and he would flirt with me when Matty wasn"t around. He was my first kiss, my first time, my first love, and then it just went sour. I don"t know, but he was just mean."
"Why?"
"I"m not sure. It"s like it was a light switch. It was crazy and then he broke up with me, and I was devastated."
"And you started cutting?"
She nods, working her lip. Swallowing hard, she looks up at me. "He was so mean, Jace. I mean, like over and above mean. Even after we broke up, he still contacted me just to be hateful."
"What a f.u.c.ktard."
She nods. "I loved him, but then I wonder if I was obsessed because I wanted to be loved so d.a.m.n bad."
I nod. "Maybe."
"Yeah," she says, looking absently at my chest. "It sucks. He really did a number on me."
Her eyes are full of pure agony, and it kills me to see. Cupping her face, I run my thumb along her jawbone. "I"m sorry. If I ever see him again, I"ll kick his a.s.s."
Her lips curve as she shakes her head. "You won"t. He stopped playing."
"Why?" I ask, my heart in my throat. I hate what I"m a.s.suming, but it"s just so easy to. Her dad has the power to ruin careers, and if Caleb broke Avery"s heart, any father would do just that. Even douchebag fathers.
"I"m not sure. I never got the full story because Matty and he stopped being friends."
"Really?" My heart is thudding in my throat. "Why?"
"No clue. Laurence told me once they got into a fistfight about something-not me, believe me. I asked since I hoped my brother would fight for my honor, but he hadn"t. It was about something else. No one knows why, but Caleb disappeared after that."
"Wow," I say, finding my voice. "So your dad didn"t ruin his career?" She shoots me a look of annoyance, and I shrug, a forgiving smile on my lips. "Come on, Avery. Dude was good, and for him to just quit... That"s odd, you know?"
"No, I do know. But no, the way I hear it is he quit himself. Stories fly all over the Princeton Hockey Club, and from what I heard, he wasn"t getting the position he wanted. Matty and Laurence were getting everything, so he quit. He was crazy stuck-up and ent.i.tled, so maybe that had something to do with it. I don"t know, but last I heard, he"s touring Africa."
"Africa? Over hockey? That"s blasphemy," I add with a grin, and she smiles as she shrugs.
"Yeah, I don"t know. I try not to think about him much. Everything about him is a bad memory."
I nod slowly as she laces our fingers together. "How old were you?"
"Fifteen, almost sixteen."
"Wow, so it had to suck."
"Yeah, it blew badly. I didn"t think I would recover." Her statement sounds loaded and I want to ask more, but she shrugs, looking up at me. "But I did. It"s a struggle, and sometimes I get overwhelmed, but I"m trying to do what makes me happy."
"That"s all I want," I say, kissing the back of her hand.
Smiling shyly at me, she says, "It"s "cause of you, Jace."
"Me?"
"Yeah, I"m happy because of you."
Bringing her flat against my chest, I kiss her nose. "Same here, baby."
Pressing my lips to hers, I close my eyes as our lips dance together in perfect unison. This girl and kissing are my two favorite things lately. As her hands thread through my hair, I hold her face, my body going taut and my c.o.c.k coming to life. I roll on top of her, and she grins as I press myself into her hot center. Kissing down her throat, I go to her chest, but then she taps me.
"Markus isn"t here, is he?" she whispers, her eyes wide, and I shake my head.
"Nope."
"Oh, didn"t he go out with Mekena last night?"
Kissing her throat, I nod. "He did."
"Guess it went well."
"Yup, he got lucky. Now hush and let me get lucky."
Her airy giggles intoxicate me as I kiss down her body, dipping my tongue in her belly b.u.t.ton. Moving her thighs apart, I kiss each one, moving my nose along each of the cuts. There is no possible way I can explain how much I hate them. Or him. I hate Caleb. How he could do this to her, or better yet, how her family could allow her to maul herself without notice just breaks me. Hurts me soul deep. I wish I would have known her. I wish I had been her first love, her first kiss, and her first lover. Because I wouldn"t have done that.
I would have loved her.
And she would have never harmed herself. Never.
When I dip my tongue between her lips, she arches off the bed into my mouth. I swear, I love how responsive she is. She screams like no other, and boy, does it wind me tight. Pushing her legs back, I take her wet center into my mouth, devouring her as she squirms beneath me. She tastes like heaven, and I could stay between these thighs for the rest of my life and not give two s.h.i.ts. Life is great when I"m between these thighs.
When she comes, she comes hard against my mouth, my name yelping from her lips as she twitches beneath me. Kissing each little lip, I sit up, crawling over her to reach my dresser. Pulling a condom out, I sheath myself before going between her legs and entering her with one thrust. She cries out and her hands come to my shoulders as I push my body into hers. Pressing my forehead to hers, I look into her eyes as I drive into her ever so slowly. Her body is still squeezing mine, and f.u.c.k, it feels good.
Squeezing her thigh and hip, I move in and out of her tight body, her fingers biting into my shoulders as she whimpers my name. Her eyes are locked on mine, her whole body flushed with l.u.s.t. I swear, I"ve never seen beauty like this. Not even scoring the winning goal in the championship amounts to being between Avery"s thighs.
f.u.c.k.
I"m a goner.
I"m hers.
And I"m completely okay with that.
Moving my nose along hers, I whisper, "Could you love me?"
Her eyes widen at that as she meets my gaze. "What?" she gasps as I move in and out of her.
"Could you love me?" I ask, still moving into her, my rhythm picking up because I"m almost there. She arches her back and I take her nipple into my mouth, making her scream as I bite down. "Answer me," I demand and she nods.
"Yes."
I almost ask if she does love me, but soon I can"t take it, and I"m coming just as hard as she did with a harsh groan. Gasping, I tuck my face against her neck as I fight for breath, my body still trembling, as is hers. Holding on to me, she trails kisses up my shoulders and my neck before stopping at my ear.
"Could you love me?"
I nod, pulling back to look at her. "Yeah, I could, I-"
Her phone interrupts me and she looks toward it, confused. Looking back at me, she says, "Who would be calling at seven in the morning?"
"I don"t know." I roll off her and she gets her phone, frantic. Looking at the display, she shrugs.
"I don"t know who it is."
"Answer." I pull off the condom and throw it in the trash. "It could be family."
She gives me a deadpan look, but she answers anyway. "h.e.l.lo?"
She nods at whatever is being said on the other end. "Oh no, it"s okay. I"m up." I watch as her face changes from confusion to an almost ecstatic look. "Really? Yes, that is no problem at all."
I don"t know why she is so happy, but I smile anyway. She looks beautiful, her face is flushed, red splotches are all over her body, and she looks very much like a woman who was just loved right.
"No, that"s sounds awesome. I can"t wait to meet you. Yeah, for sure," she says, bouncing on the bed. "I"m sorry if this is rude, but how did you hear of me? YouTube?"
When her face twists in confusion, I start to worry, but then her eyes are on me. "He did? Wow. Yeah, he"s the most amazing guy ever. Yeah, thank you. Can"t wait to meet you. Bye."
Dropping the phone in her lap, her eyes are still burning into mine and I"m on edge, wanting to know what is going on. "What"s up? Who was that?"
Her lips curve as she moves into my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck. Leaning back to look at me, she says, "That was Stu Waters of Jelly Records, and he wants to meet with me on Wednesday to discuss my career. Not an internship. My singing career."
"Holy s.h.i.t! That"s awesome, baby," I yell, hugging her tightly before kissing her hard on the lips. "Told you you were awesome."
She smiles shyly, tears in her eyes. "You sent him my demo."
Grinning, I nod. "I"m behind you one hundred percent, Avery. I believe in you."
When a tear rolls down her face, I wipe it away quickly and she whispers, "I"ve never had someone believe in me."