Josie’s gaze swung to me and her eyes were full of shock. Every bit of her carefree attitude dissolved in front of me within a moment's time. She hadn’t planned to see me here. She hadn’t wanted to.
Whatever her plans were for tonight, they didn't include me.
"What are you doing here?" Her long legs were bare, her shorts cut off at her upper thighs, and the tan she was now sporting looked so good on her. I couldn’t be the only one noticing.
"It’s a party." I motioned my hand around the room where barely anybody was paying attention to us as she narrowed her eyes at me.
"This isn’t a Prep party." She pointed toward the door. "I think your people are on the other side of town."
"My people?" I laughed because she was torn from the same cloth as me.
If those were my people, they were hers too. We were both born into it. We were both a product of our families. "I didn’t realize you were such a snob, princess."
"Don’t call me that," she snapped, and a few more heads turned in our direction.
That fire I had been missing was staring straight back at me. Not for Will.
Not for anyone else. It was directed at me, and my cock hardened in my pants.
"Can I call the winner?" I pointed to the game they were playing. "It looks like Will is letting you win."
She cocked her hip out to the side. "He’s not letting me win. But you would assume that, though, wouldn’t you? You’re such a dick."
Allie coughed out a laugh behind her, but I didn’t move my eyes away from her face and the way her cheeks had reddened since she saw me.
"I am assuming." I nodded my head and pushed off the wall. I saw her body tense as I moved closer to her, and the urge to gather her in my arms and attempt to take away every bit of damage I had caused her was overwhelming. "But Will has the best arm in our entire district so the only way you’re beating him is if he’s letting you."
She looked toward Will, and I followed her gaze. He looked guilty as hell, but he didn’t say a word. We both knew I was right.
"Will, you fucking play." She pointed her finger at him, and I smiled because that lovesick smile she had been giving him was long gone.
I pulled out a chair a few feet away from her, and she tried to ignore me.
Her body was as still as could be and her eyes continuously flicked my way, but she was pretending that they weren’t. I let her bluff.
I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees and rubbed my fingers over my mouth. I could sit there and watch her pretend not to notice me all day. As long as I got to see her, as long as she was close.
I could smell a hint of her perfume from where I sat. It was mixed with the smell of cheap beer and a hint of smoke, but I could still pick up those hints of her.
The sweet smell of her drowned out the rest.
She drowned out everything.
Will and his partner took their shot, and both sank their balls with no effort at all. Josie looked over to me as Will’s ball hit the cheap beer, and I simply shrugged my shoulders.
She rolled her eyes before turning back to the table, and I couldn’t help the smirk that formed on my face or the way I allowed my gaze to run over her ass.
She may not have wanted anything to do with me, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t look at her. It felt like torture. Being here, watching her, and not being able to touch her in all the ways I wanted.
I wanted to walk up behind her and show every one of these motherfuckers that she was mine. Even if she didn’t believe it, even if I had screwed it up, it didn’t change the fact that it was true.
Josie was mine, and I would do whatever it took to make her see it that way again.
But it would be torture while I waited. Complete and total agony.
And I was certain that she would enjoy every single moment of it.
She bent forward, grabbing the ball from the table, and I was positive that
she knew exactly how good her ass looked in those shorts. The way she bent showed the smallest sliver of the bottom of her ass, and I was sure that was by no accident.
She knew I was watching her, and she pretended like she didn’t care. But she did.
Allie took her shot first and missed the cups by a mile.
"Nice shot, Allie." Carson walked up behind me and put his hand on the back of my chair.
"Kiss my ass, Carson." She crossed her arms over her chest and moved to the side so Josie could have her turn. Allie was hot. I wasn’t foolish enough not to notice that. I didn’t know if Carson’s aggression toward her came from pent-up sexual frustration, but the two of them needed to fuck and get it over with.
"Bring it over here," he teased her as he motioned her forward with the crook of his finger, but she simply rolled her eyes and looked away from him.
Josie was ignoring everyone. She had the ball in her hand, and I could tell she was focused. She didn’t want to lose. She wanted to prove me wrong and win because I said she couldn’t.
It was endearing and a fucking turn-on.
She threw the ball, and it hit the rim of the very last cup. For a moment, I thought it might actually go in, but it slowly fell forward and hit the table with a soft bounce.
I could see her working her jaw as she took a step back, but she didn’t dare look my way.
I kept my eyes on her as the game continued. Will landed his next shot as was expected but his friend didn’t. The two of them only had two cups left to hit while the girls still needed four.
Allie shot again, but she didn’t stand a chance. Carson also needed to give her a throwing lesson while he was fucking that animosity out of her.
Josie grabbed the next ball, but before she could throw it, I stood and quickly made my way behind her. Her body stiffened even more so than it already was, and she threw her elbow back toward me. I grabbed it before she could make contact.
Her skin felt electric under my touch. Like somehow both of us felt more alive now that we were this close. I knew that was insane. I knew that she probably felt nothing other than the urge to knock me the hell out, but my fingers zapped with pleasure just from feeling her again.
"Let me help you," I whispered at the back of her neck, and she jerked her arm away from my touch as goose bumps formed beneath her delicate skin.
"I don’t need your help," she growled out her words, and if I was smart, I would have sat my ass back down and listened to her. But I hadn’t done one smart thing since I met her.
"You look like you do." I pressed my chest into her back gently, and I could feel her harsh breaths as they hammered in and out of her lungs.
Whether she wanted me there or not, she was affected by me, and that knowledge felt like a fucking drug hitting my system.
It didn’t matter if it was good or bad for me. It didn’t matter that I wouldn’t be able to stop once I got a taste, I just needed a small hit of her to tide me over.
"You always think people need something from you. Don’t you?" She looked up at me over her shoulder, and her bottom lip looked red from where she had been biting into it.
"They usually do." I wasn’t lying. My family and my friends, my brothers, they were the only ones who weren’t always expecting something from me. But even they had their expectations.
"I don’t." She was still staring up at me, and she was searching my face. I had no idea what she was looking for. Probably the truth or the secrets she thought I was still keeping from her.
"I need you." I let my hand move over her elbow, and she jerked away from my touch and my words.
She didn’t respond to what I had said, and she put at least a foot of distance between us. I looked across the table, and Will was trying to hide his smile as he looked at us.