Gable (13 page)

“Come inside. Stay with me tonight,” I mumbled against his lips, after many hot, wet, deep, panty-melting kisses later.

“Can’t,” he muttered back, hands on my hips and pulling me down to grind against the considerable bulge in his jeans which made me gasp and want him that much more. “But let me make you come.”

Before I could say a word, maybe ask him why he couldn’t stay with me, he moved back and lifted my sweater in the front with one hand, yanking one of the cups of my bra down with the other then his hot mouth was on my me, sucking my nipple in, making me cry out loudly, my hands on his head holding him to me, my fingers twisting in his hair pulling hard. When he moved to my other breast doing the same, I threw a hand out, hitting the window and noticed it was fogged over and I’d left a handprint on it.

Oh, man.

He leaned back and pulled my sweater up and over my head and off, throwing it into the passenger seat, and when he turned back, he froze, sitting still for several seconds, his eyes scanning every last bit of skin of mine he’d exposed.

“My God, Scout.” His eyes languidly made their way to mine and I swear, the whiskey color flaring in them as they burned into mine. “You’re stunning.” His hand went to the back of my head where his fingers tangled in my hair and he pulled me down into a hotter than hot kiss.

“Gable,” I said breathily against his mouth when I felt his other hand at the fly of my jeans, tugging on buttons then his hand was inside, his fingers expertly moving over me, and when he pushed aside my panties and slid a finger inside, I cried out.

“So fucking sweet,” he said leaning in and taking a nipple into his mouth before moving his way up to my neck, nipping, sucking, licking and tasting along the way. When he pressed his thumb in circling it against me and then his finger started moving inside me, I couldn’t help myself as my hips started moving and I rode his hand.

“Jesus, Scout,” he said gruffly against my throat, pulling back to watch me as I sought my release.

I glanced down at him and saw he was looking at me as if he wanted to devour me, and even though he’d told me he couldn’t stay with me for whatever reason, I wanted that, wanted him to want me. And the look in his eyes said he did.

And that’s all it took.

I threw my head back and arched my back when it hit, my fingers digging into his shoulders as a million hot spikes of pleasure claimed every inch of my body and I gasped out his name.

Holy wow.

When my head came forward and I collapsed against him, he wrapped his arms tightly around me and whispered, “Sexiest fucking thing I’ve ever seen,” into my ear as he smoothed my hair down my back with his hand.

My breathing finally slowed and while this was happening my senses also returned. It was then I realized what’d just occurred.

Oh, my God. How embarrassing.

Pulling back slowly from him, I felt the blush coming to my cheeks and as I bit my lip I refused to look at him.

“Hey,” he said softly, squeezing my hips with his hands.

I couldn’t look at him. Wouldn’t. What kind of judgmental bitch was I to think badly of the women who’d thrown themselves at him when here I was having done the same damned thing, naked from the waist up sitting in his lap, still breathing hard from the exceptionally amazing orgasm he’d just given me? I was such a hypocrite. I kept my eyes fixed to the side until he took my chin and gently turned me to look at him. When my eyes finally met his, I sucked in a breath. Oh, my. There was so much emotion in those honey-colored eyes of his it blew me away.

“Hey,” he said again. “Fucking perfect, Scout. You’re,” his hand holding my chin moved to the back of my head and he pulled me down to him, kissing me lightly. “Fucking,” he kissed me again. “Perfect.” The kiss then got hotter, deeper, wetter, going from sweet to sweltering in a matter of seconds and I realized he was still hard under me which made me moan and grind down on him again.

The guttural sound he expelled against my neck almost made me come again as I moved my hips forward and back over the hard bulge under his jeans, instinct, I guess, or really just me, wanting, needing, aching to have him inside my body.

“Gable,” I murmured. “Please.”

And then it was over.

He stilled the movement of my hips with his hands, pulling his mouth from my neck and sitting back against his seat. I looked down to see his eyes closed.

“Come inside with me,” I whispered, gazing at his beautiful face.

He breathed in slowly through his nose then let it out. “Can’t,” he stated flatly, his eyes still closed.

Rejected twice in less than thirty minutes. Wow.

I moved off his lap, settling back in the passenger seat as I righted my bra then bent to pick up my sweater, pulling it on over my head then sat there for several seconds chewing on my lip as I tried to figure out what was going on. I mean, God, I’d literally thrown myself at him and he still didn’t want me. A man who’d probably slept with half the women on campus at school didn’t… want… me.

“It’s not what you think,” he stated, breaking the silence and making me jump a little.

I looked over at him to see a small scowl on his face as he stared straight ahead, his jaw muscles pulsing in agitation.

“What is it then?” I asked softly, not knowing if he’d even heard me.

He turned the scowl on me then, narrowing his eyes as if he were sizing me up, maybe wondering if I could handle the truth or something. Then he shook his head a few times. “Nothing. I’ll walk you to the door.”

And that’s exactly what he did, and after telling me he had a good time tonight and me thanking him once again, he brushed his lips against mine, waited for me to get inside the apartment then took off.

When I made it to bed, I lay there staring at the ceiling my brain on overload. Gable didn’t want to sleep with me, but he wanted to sleep with his pen pal and I knew he
had
to know I was his pen pal. There’d been too many signs, too many coincidences for him not to know. But the rejection of tonight still hurt. What the hell was going on with him? I decided to dig a little, using my investigative skills (although to this point they’d been to use Tony to do all the investigating), and see if maybe I could get some answers. If not, Halloween was a week away and everything would be out in the open and I knew I’d get answers then.

And that scared the shit out of me.

Week Ten

Text message—Sun, Oct. 27, 4:48 p.m.

Me: Hey, just wanted you to know I loved the tour Friday night. My treat next time. I’ll look up something Seattle’ish to do that you don’t know about ; ) xo

Gable didn’t reply.

He wasn’t in class Monday nor was he at work the next two nights.

But he did reply to his fucking pen pal the next day.

______________________________________

From:
9565876

Subject:
Halloween party

Date:
October 28, 11:25 p.m.

To:
9543254  

              Hey,

Just wanted to let you know my roommate’s going with me so I’ll be there. Um, we’re supposed to wear costumes, right?

Six

xo

______________________________________

From:
9543254

Subject:
Halloween party

Date:
October 28, 11:27 p.m.

To:
9565876

Six,

Can’t wait to meet you. Costumes, yes. Masks, yes. You gonna be wearing what you described to me when you were in the SC sans the skirt and shirt? Fucking hope so.

xx

Seriously? This was really pissing me off that he was answering
her
, being nice to
her
and not me.

Holy Hayseuss Christo. I was jealous of my own fucking self. Unbelievable. And what was even more unbelievable was that as I sat there before replying, all I could think about was if I really could wear a bustier and all that went with it to the party without getting arrested.

Ugh. Stupid me. Also, stupid me and my big mouth for ever teasing him about wearing it. Dang. I’d have to ask Amy to see if it’d be too much.

______________________________________

From:
9565876

Subject:
Bail money?

Date:
October 28, 11:28 p.m.

To:
9543254

I’m assuming you’d bail me out when I got arrested for indecent exposure?

xo

______________________________________

From:
9543254

Subject:
Au contraire

Date:
October 28, 11:28 p.m.

To:
9565876

Six, if you were to wear that sexy as fuck outfit just for me, YOU’D have to bail ME out because I’d beat the shit out of anyone who looked at you.

xx

______________________________________

From:
9565876

Subject:
Parlez-vous français?

Date:
October 28, 11:29 p.m.

To:
9543254

Do you speak French??

xo

______________________________________

From:
9543254

Subject:
Parlez whatever

Date:
October 28, 11:30 p.m.

To:
9565876

Baby, I’ll speak whatever language you want as long as I get to see you in that outfit…

xx

Wow. I shook my head because I was honestly hurt over his flirting with
me
. Yeah, ridiculous, I know.

Okay, if he could flirt with his pen pal while supposedly dating me, then so could I, so I decided to suck it up and just go for it. I mean, it
was
Halloween and I could probably get away with wearing the stupid outfit. And if things went bad when we met, at least I’d look hot.

______________________________________

From:
9565876

Subject:
No promises

Date:
October 28, 3:50 p.m.

To:
9543254

I’ll see what I can do

xo

~*~*~*~

“Black lace, huh?” Bodhi asked as he looked through various panties in a bin.

“Yep,” I answered as I dug alongside him.

We were in Victoria’s Secret in the mall the next day and I had to laugh at how casually he was searching for a pair of panties for my “costume.”

“Perfect!” he yelled, holding up a pair of lacy hipster-type panties making several women in the store turn their heads to see him twirling them in the air with his finger.

I snatched them out of his hand. “Keep it down,” I said, ducking my head and bugging my eyes out at him.

He looked around to see a few women still watching him. “It’s okay! I’m gay!” he explained and the funny thing is, the ones looking at him raised their eyebrows, nodded, seeming to accept his explanation, and went on about their shopping. “Works every time,” he mumbled with a snort. “Now for a bustier!” he all but yelled, and I was loath to shush him, possibly killing his excitement in the process, so all I could do was shake my head, rolling my eyes at the women who were now chuckling at us.

After shopping, we sat at a table in the food court eating Chinese that Bodhi bought since my checking account had taken a huge hit with my lingerie purchases.

“I like it. The robe is perfect to top it off.” Bodhi said before sucking in a mouthful of lo mein noodles.

“You don’t think it’s too much? Too risqué?” I asked.

“It’s risqué all right, but that’s what makes it awesome! I especially like the stockings with the seam in the back.” He shoved a small crab rangoon in his mouth.

“What if he’s, like, in love with his pen pal then when I reveal it’s me, he freaks because he’s not in love with me
me
but her?”

“Then you deal with it. Are
you
in love with
him
?” Bodhi asked carefully, narrowing his eyes at me as I took a sip of egg drop soup from my spoon.

I shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t know.” And I didn’t. I mean, how confusing was it that the guy I thought I might be in love with may be in love with my alter ego whom he might not know was me.

“But you said he’s given you lots of hints that he knows it’s you,” he continued.

“I think he has but maybe it was just me hoping that he knew. God. When this semester’s over, I’m getting a friggin’ spa treatment and possibly hiring a shrink.” I shook my head then took a bite of my spring roll.

“You’ll be fine, Scout. And Amy and I have your back.”

“Speaking of Amy, she said she’s gonna dress in the Catwoman suit she wore a couple years ago. She said it’s pretty sexy, so it’ll make me not feel so naked.”

“You know what? Fuck this. I know I told you I work that night, but I’m going with you. I’ll ask Bob if I can come in an hour late. I’ve got a great Zorro costume, whip and all.” He grinned.

I grinned back. It made me feel better that my friends would be with me in case things went to shit.

Before we left the mall, Bodhi and I stopped at a shoe store where I bought some sexy black stilettos then we hit the costume store where I bought a black, lacy Mardi Gras-type mask that came with a spray adhesive. It went perfectly with my outfit, and when I held it up to my face, Bodhi said if he didn’t know it was me, he’d have no idea who it was. Awesome. Just what I needed in case I chickened out and didn’t tell Gable who I really was.

We drove back to my apartment where we hung out for a bit, me putting everything on and giving him a fashion show.

“Damn, Scout. You’re kinda making me rethink this whole gay thing,” he muttered when I jerked my robe open at him like I was a flasher. “I think I’m poppin’ a chubby.”

I died laughing, falling on the bed with him where he’d been lying, head propped in his hand, elbow to the mattress, watching me model for him. I lifted my head and looked at him, wiggling my eyebrows. “It’s never too late if you wanna go straight,” I said, sitting up then opening my robe again showing him my bustier with a grin.

“God. You’re beautiful,” he answered, staring at me for a moment. Then he sat up. “But sorry. No chubby. I just have to pee.” He jumped off my bed and left my room leaving me laughing in his wake.

I changed and we watched a little television then Bodhi had to leave for work. Before going, he bent and kissed my forehead telling me it would all work out in the end.

I smiled at him hoping he was right. Now if I could make it for two more days without having an anxiety attack, everything would be good.

~*~*~*~

I was probably making a mistake, but the next morning, I put my investigative skills to work and stopped Gable’s brother, Lochlan, after biology class needing some answers as to why Gable was avoiding me.

“Hey, Lochlan, remember me?” I asked with a smile when I caught up to him on his way out of the building.

“Hey,” he answered, stopping and smiling back. “Call me Loch. Yeah, you’re Scout Patterson, Gable’s girlfriend.”

Well, that made me pull my head back in surprise.

“Uh, I wouldn’t say I was his girlfriend…”

“Why? You’re dating each other exclusively, right? I mean, I haven’t seen him go out with anyone else in over a month and that’s
huge
for him,” he informed me with a chuckle.

Hm. Interesting.

“Do you have time to go get a coffee?” I inquired.

He looked at his watch. “Sure. My next class isn’t for another hour.”

“Great. Do you want to just go to the student center then?”

He nodded and we took off walking to the center that was nearby. He insisted on buying my latte and we sat down at my usual table.

“So what’s up?” he asked, taking a sip of his drink.

I was nervous, not sure if this was cool of me to do, but I had to get some information before going into the party tomorrow night blind.

“Well, this is kinda weird, but I had a few questions about Gable.” I bit my lip wondering if he’d tell me to fuck off.

“Okay. Nothing sexual, I hope, ‘cause that’d be pretty gross.”

I laughed. “No, nothing like that. I, uh, was just wondering about him. You see, we, um, started getting close a couple times.” I saw his face scrunch up as if he thought I meant sexually. “No!” I said with another laugh. “I don’t mean sex-wise!”

“Thank God,” he mumbled. He ran his hand through his hair which made me shake my head because his mannerisms were so like his brother’s.

“I mean, just close, you know? But each time, he’s pulled away for a while. Do you have any idea why?”

“Not really my story to tell…”

I bit my lips and raised my eyebrows at him. Aha. There
was
something to his aloofness.

He frowned. “But I think you deserve to know because I know how secretive he is on top of being a broody bastard.” His eyes had a hint of humor in them before he took another drink then looked around as if he was making sure Gable wasn’t anywhere near. “He had a girlfriend, Mia, who he met in high school. They started dating when they were seniors. Dated at the beginning of their freshman year in college too. She went to UDub, though.”

I nodded, looking around now too, a little paranoid that Gable might catch us talking about him.

Loch sighed. “Things were always up and down with them. They were pretty intense, you know, fought a lot, young love and all, I guess. I mean, he’d get a new tattoo and she’d get mad. She was pretty preppy and I guess she didn’t like it that her boyfriend wasn’t. I honestly didn’t know why they went out in the first place. Anyway, he got tired of it all and finally broke things off. A week later, she died in a car wreck.”

I sucked in a breath at hearing that, knowing exactly where he was going with it.

“Gable of course felt horrible. Seemed like it took him forever to get over it, the guilt and all.”

“Yeah,” I whispered, my eyes tearing up as I stared into my cup.

“He also lost his best friend that night.”

My head shot up at hearing this. Oh, God, no. Poor Gable.

Loch nodded then sighed again. “Riley Cooper. He and Gable had been best friends since, like, seventh grade. Coop was driving, it was raining, they think he swerved to avoid an animal or something, he overcorrected and the car rolled at least three times. Killed both of them.”

Ah. Coop. I’d seen an “RIP Coop” tattoo over Gable’s heart when I’d caught him at work with his shirt off. But wait. Both? I frowned at Loch.