interrupted my unwelcome trip down memory lane. “You deserve to be with someone you have feelings for and with someone who has feelings for you. Even if those feelings are blurry and undefined. Not all your experiences with Huck have to be so combative and complicated. After all, the two of you used to be best friends. That usually takes some of the pressure off of the sex having to be all perfect and romantic. It makes it more real.”
She made it sound so simple, but it was anything other than that—the days when he considered me a friend felt forgotten.
I mean, I’d felt like I was going to pass out when he got close enough to bite the other side of the apple, and I was far from immune from his new habit of wearing as few clothes as possible whenever we happened to bump into one another. I couldn’t deny I was alarmingly attracted to all that Huck had become. How could I not be? He was hot. He was smart. He had a dangerous edge that had only been sharpened and honed over time. There were also hints of the boy who was my whole world that shone through his hard exterior, and those were the bits I liked best about him.
Huck
“What are you doing?”
I didn’t expect Ollie to suddenly jump up from where she’d been kneeling on her hands and knees, peering underneath the couch in the living room. Her rapid burst of action drove the top of her head into the bottom of my chin. My head snapped back as white spots of pain popped in my vision. I swore loudly while Ollie gasped. She reached out a hand as I stumbled backward and lifted one to the crown of her head.
Almost as if we were caught in a pivotal scene in a terrible rom-com, just as Ollie reached for me while I was backing up, my feet somehow got tangled up in her giant tote bag. Her fist tightened on the fabric of my shirt just as I went down. It wasn’t clear if she was dizzy and off-balance, or if I just outweighed her enough that my falling momentum was enough to pull her down with me. Either way, a moment later, we were both sprawled on the living room floor, her body landing fully on top of mine as we both let out sounds of discomfort and surprise. My elbow connected with the hardwood hard enough to make my eyes water, and Ollie must’ve landed on something the wrong way because her yelp of pain was loud enough to have my ears ringing.
Instinctively, I lifted a hand and cupped the back of her head, feeling for a lump or anything amongst the wild tangle of curls. She flinched slightly, but I didn’t notice anything that shouldn’t be there.
“Are you okay? Why were you crawling around on the floor in the first place?”
I was running late for class and thought I was home alone. I didn’t expect her when I walked into the living room. And I really didn’t expect the reaction I had when my eyes inadvertently locked on her ass pointed up in the air while she wiggled around on the ground. It wasn’t seductive or sexual in the slightest, but for some reason, my body hardened, and my heart started beating like I was watching the most triple X-rated porn.
She moaned slightly and shifted on top of me.
“My earring fell out. The back must’ve come loose. I was looking for it, but I’m late, so I was distracted. I didn’t even hear you.” Her brows furrowed, and she wiggled some more. I had to bite my tongue to stop from moaning as her thigh rubbed against the hardness that was pressing painfully against the zipper of my jeans. I knew she wasn’t purposely trying to be sexy or alluring, but she was doing it without any effort. “Don’t you have class right now? Why are you here?”
How was she putting complete sentences together and acting so unaffected? I felt like my skin was on fire and I couldn’t catch my breath. I was supposed to be luring her. I was supposed to be corrupting her and convincing her that I was a terrible person, but all I wanted to do was wrap my arms even more tightly around her and hold on for dear life.
This was not part of the plan.
I was not supposed to be so greatly affected by