eyes widen, and her hands reach up, ready to wrap around my neck.
“Oh, not so tough anymore when you can’t dangle the future baby daddy bullshit over my head, now, are you?” My lips flatten. “That’s fucking low, and you know it.”
“I seem to forget when you became the pinnacle of moral conduct here on campus.” She presses two hands against my chest, and I stumble. “Fuck you, Marek.”
Quicker than her, I grip tight to her wrists and yank her against my body. “Oh, come on now, baby.” I lick along her earlobe. “We’ve already done that. Plenty of times, and don’t think for a second it won’t happen again.”
“The only way you’re fucking me again is if you take it without asking, like you did in my shower!” she yells, allowing everyone in earshot to hear her confession. I push her away, and she stalks over to Dixon and Breaker. “You were sloppy, leaving evidence.”
Everyone watches Palmer leave the room, a bruise present where I’d jammed her against the doorknob. Dixon turns away, disappointment written on every part of his face.
Breaker gestures towards the hallway Palmer disappeared into. “When did that shit go down? And baby mama? Please tell me you weren’t dumb enough not to wrap it up.”
“You already know when it happened,” I admit. “And she was fucking with me.”
After the ceremony, the boys had gone back to the house and I’d lied, telling them I needed to hang back to tie up some loose ends. What they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them. Unfortunately, that seems to be the new normal for me. Secrets tend to catch up at the most inopportune times.
“You going to be able to do this shit, Marek, or is this going to be a problem? Girl has you rattled.” Disapproval laces his words, tying them together to prove his point.
“No problem. I know the deal. The plan is set.” I walk towards the front door, leaning my shoulder on the wall at the bottom of the steps. He follows me, not ready to let it go.
“Sure, but every chance you get, you get your hands on that girl, so . . .” Breaker’s eyes flick up the stairwell, where Palmer ran off to.
“I fucked her.” I shrug, dismissing his worries. “Don’t get it confused with anything else.”
“You can get pussy anywhere you want.” He shakes his head. “It’s yours for the taking, so leave that girl alone.”
“I like the way she fights me.” I shrug, ignoring how fucked that actually sounds. All I can do is remember our time in her dorm room. She’s up there, alone, and I’m hungry for her brand of defiance. All I need to do is walk up a few steps, and she’ll crumble in my hands.
“You aren’t going to listen to me, are you?” Breaker says as I’m halfway up the stairs.
“One thing I’m certain of is we need that girl to bend at our will, to play the part of the damsel in distress, and who better to make her do it than us?”
“Oh, so now I get the invite.” Breaker takes one step up, eyeing me from the bottom. I nod, giving him permission, something he’s never needed, but Breaker and I don’t do the things I do with Byron and Dixon. “Are you serious?”
“You want a taste, right?” I’m going to regret this, but if it gets him off my ass about my current bad choices, then that’s the price I’m willing to pay.
“What makes you think she’ll go for it?” Breaker questions. He doesn’t know her like I do. His steps quicken, meeting me at the top of the stairs.
“Trust me, she will.” I look back and forth. “Now we just need to find her.”
Breaker holds a finger to his mouth and sits down on the couch on the second-floor main landing. I stand off to his side, leaning against the half-wall hidden in the shadows. We sit in silence for almost ten minutes, then a door flies open.
Through the large windows spanning the back of the house, moonlight casts a glow on Palmer’s beautiful snowy skin. Her steps are quick, but Breaker is faster. His arm shoots out to stop her from making it to the stairs. He wraps her up, yanking her backwards. Her eyes are wild, dancing back and forth between him and me.
“Haven’t you had enough for one night?” She shucks Breaker’s hands off and backs away from us.
“When it comes to you, sweetie, we’ll never have enough.”