Actually, I haven’t been able to get Stone out of my head either. The two of them have taken up space in my brain and won’t leave.
I tell myself it’s an easy fix. I’m just fucking horny, so a little alone time with myself with the blinds drawn in my room tonight is definitely in order. In high school, I started to have feelings that just wouldn’t go away. I refused to relieve them, but then one day in the computer lab, I looked up a scientific article about self-stimulation. It turns out it’s perfectly normal and healthy to masturbate, and I’ve been doing it ever since. That particular research incident, however, did earn me an embarrassing conversation with the librarian who told me that there was school-appropriate research and there was home-appropriate research. Yeah, like we had the internet. No way. If Dad needed to look something up, he went to the public library, and even then, he’d tell me it was the slowest connection he’d ever had the displeasure to wait for. I never minded when he went, though, because he would bring me home books. So. Many. Books.
“You’re doing it again,” Lucas teases.
I point toward the screen. “I’m watching this.”
“No one’s watching this,” he scoffs.
I take a quick look around. Literally no one was actually watching it. A few students were blatantly on their phones while others were doing assignments from other courses.
Jesus hell.
He leans closer to me, and I swear I can smell mint on his breath. “We thought we might talk treasure tonight.” He watches for my reaction, waiting.
Talking treasure with them is something I’ve been putting off, but I also know it needs to happen. It’s not just about the treasure for me though. It’s about finding my dad, too, and we won’t be able to do that unless we go up into the mountains.
The note said, “Find the treasure and find your dad.” If these people aren’t fucking with me, then that’s exactly what I need to do. It’s Stone who’s holding me back. I still have a mental barrier the size of the Titanic when it comes to him, and it certainly doesn’t help when he’s a gigantic asshole.
“I promise Stone will be on his best behavior.”
“I don’t doubt that,” I tell him with a sigh. “Because he wants to know everything I know, and if he thinks I’m going to give it to him, he’ll be a stand-up guy for point seven seconds.”
“Meh. Maybe point five.”
I smirk at Lucas. “How’d you get mixed up with him anyway? All of you,” I tack on. I’ve always wondered how their friendship started. First, it was just Lance and Stone all over the news. Then, we started to see Lucas next, followed shortly after by Wyatt. I never dared pose the question to my father. If I seemed at all interested in the Jacobs, I would’ve had to endure an hours long lecture about how evil they were.
Lucas’s brown eyes darken over like storm clouds rolling across the desert. He runs his hands through his unkempt hair that manages to look sexy as hell. If only my curls could pull off that look, I’d be one happy girl.
“That kind of information will cost you,” he teases.
“Cost me?”
“A date.”
“A date?” I say it so loud that the professor shushes me and glares at Lucas again. Lucas and I school our features, pretending to watch the movie until the curious onlookers turn back around.
When they do, Lucas grins at me. “Ever been on one of those?” he whispers.
His tone, even now, sets my skin afire, leaving a burning in its wake. “Maybe I have,” pretending to be coy, even though I’m sure I’m not fooling anyone. Least of all him.
I think back to the guy who took my V-card that summer. We kind of dated. If sneaking off to fool around means dating, then we definitely did that. But I don’t think that’s exactly what Lucas has in mind.
“That pretty blush is back in your cheeks, Dakota,” Lucas says, pitching his voice low, making me swoon all over. “Care to tell me what you’re thinking about?”
My face burns hotter as I try to regain control over myself. This guy just does something to me.
He chuckles, moving his desk closer until they touch. Our shoulders brush. I refuse to look at how close he is, my face burning up as I try to listen to the dull narrator’s voice talk about some animal that has a head