Authors: Blue Ashcroft
Harder (26 page)
Luckily, I pull my gaze up before she turns back.
“Sorry, what were we talking about?” she asks softly.
Man, I want to hear more of that soft voice. I want to hear it whisper my name in the dark, her arms around my back. “Directions,” I choke out.
She opens the door to her car. Rejected. She’s just gonna drive off and leave me in the parking lot with an awkward semi-erection and a pile of rejection.
Instead, she pulls out a piece of paper, small and white and hands it to me. “Here, business card. Has my address.”
Business card? “Fancy.”
She laughs, a sweet, sweet noise I want to make happen again and again. “I suppose. It’s for my makeup business.”
“You put that paint shit on people for a living?”
“No, just for fun, mostly. I’m not going into it or anything.”
“Why not? You like it?”
She shrugs, a small blush coming to her cheeks. “I guess that doesn’t really matter. “In my family, you have to do something good for the world, not just something you like.”
I frown. “I think you could do both.”
“Well, you have the address. I guess I’ll see you tonight at ten.”
“That’s a late party.”
“It’s when my moms go to bed.”
“Oh. Well don’t we have time to do dinner first?”
“I need to prep.”
“Shit, you’re a tough one, aren’t you?”
She gives me a little smile that makes my knees weak. “If you say so.”
“Well, lucky for you, I like a challenge.” I hold her door open so she can get in. “I’m coming for you, Amy.”
She scowls and shuts the door, then rolls down her window and sticks her head out as she’s pulling out. “Neanderthal!”
“You know,” I say, cupping my hands around my mouth, “That’s not even an insult. The Neanderthals were very manly specimens of manhood!”
She wrinkles her nose and shakes her head and rolls the window up, and then pulls out of sight.
I hop on my bike. Let the chase begin. The chase for the past, and the girl I’m interested in, at the same time.
First I better go home and get into something sexy.
Chapter 2
I can’t believe I invited Geoff to one of my parties. It’s just not his scene, but he wouldn’t listen.
I don’t know why he keeps trying, but it makes life a bit more interesting, so I can’t really complain. The party actually started a couple of hours ago, but I didn’t want Geoff here until my moms went to bed. I didn’t know what they’d think of him. I don’t know what I think of him.
Annoying.
It’s ten, so where is he? So damned persistent that you’d think he’d be here right at ten, banging my damned door down. But he’s late. Figures. Such a pig.
Wine and dine me? Fat chance, when he can’t even show up to a party at ten o’clock at night.
A knock sounds at the door. Finally. Not that I want him here, it’s just that I can’t stand the wait, the tension. As usual, people are dancing in the center of the floor and talking around the edges. Some are in the back yard goofing off. No one should be drinking, but it’s kind of a don’t ask don’t tell policy. My moms say if I drink they’d rather have me do it at home, but I’m not interested. I’m eighteen, too young for liver damage. I bet Geoff swills it like water.
I’m not going to get the door. Let someone else open it for his late ass.
“I’ll get it,” Sarah says. Sarah is short with blonde hair, and looks about fifteen even though she’s older than Knight. She just has young features, and a really small stature. She opens the door. “Geoff? What are you doing, I mean, hi!”
Sarah looks back at me with super wide eyes, and I laugh and stand to join her at the door.
Probably, Geoff has her speechless with some dumb comment or what he’s wearing. He’s a good looking guy, even if he ruins it most of the time when he opens his mouth.
She moves out of the way and I can see she’s blushing at something Geoff said. That’s Geoff for you, offending womankind one woman at a time. But then I notice she’s smiling shyly. I frown.
“Thanks Sarah, sorry to bother you,” he says. She nods and walks away, somewhat reluctantly. “I guess the host just couldn’t be bothered to open her own door?” He grins at me, grey eyes twinkling, and my heart stops.
Just, full stop.
So the dude can shower. Clean shaven, his face is breathtakingly handsome, his jaw clean and sharp. He’s wearing a nice, clean black tee, that’s tight on his biceps and chest and loosens up at his waist, where a nice, leather belt with an oversized buckle draws attention to tight hips. He slides his hands in his pockets, and I notice he’s wearing a chunky leather watch, which emphasizes the powerful muscles in his forearms. Nice jeans.
Looks like a model from a motorcycle magazine. Edgy but hot.
“Like what you see, Dollface?” His full lips turn up at the side, and one dark eyebrow bounces up and down at me. “Wanna go somewhere more private?”
And there it is. The mouth. The douche. I sigh, as the image of Geoff the model gets pounded out of sight by Geoff the Neanderthal. “Oh no.”
“Hey, just to get a closer look? I got pretty good abs under here,” he says, about to lift his shirt. Then he stops and rubs a hand over his stomach. “Ha ha, under here somewhere, probably a few burgers down.”
Looks pretty tight to me. Maybe not an eight pack, but not a gut. Maybe he’s self conscious because he doesn’t have the typical super toned swimmer body Knight and Ryan have.
He rubs his stomach and pushes past me. “Speaking of which, there grub around here?”
I sigh. “Of course. Go ahead. Why don’t you just bury that six pack a little deeper.”
He frowns slightly, but then grins. “Okay, Dollface. Don’t mind if I do.” He disappears into the dancers and I feel a weird sense of guilt.
Maybe I have never given the guy a fair chance. I should probably be nicer to him. I should probably not have taken my body issues out on him.
I’m short and curvy and I’ll never be skinny, no matter how much I work out. I go to my room and look in the mirror. I lift up my shirt. No abs, just a small waist and a soft stomach that sticks out a bit all around no matter what. Huge breasts. Big butt. It’s not going to change. I won’t look fit like Rain or Ally. Why try?
But I didn’t have to pick on Geoff for it. Besides, I should go down and make sure he’s welcome. He doesn’t know anyone here, and he’s probably sitting alone somewhere…
Raucous laughter sounds from the living room, and I sigh and follow it.
“CHUG. CHUG. CHUG. CHUG.” People are chanting. Five or six of them are in the room around Geoff, who seems to be trying to put down the rest of a liter of root beer, presumably for the dollars scattered on the ground around him.
How was he here for ten minutes and managed to turn this into a frat party?
He stops and pulls the bottle off, bends over, hand on his knee, and gasps, then grins at the guys next to him, and goes for the rest of it. Ew.
He finishes and throws the bottle aside, and I growl and run to swipe it before anything can spill on the carpet.
He puts his hand on his chest, burps, and looks down. “Whoops, sorry Dollface, didn’t see you there.”
“Apparently.” I stand up and take the bottle to the kitchen while Geoff high fives his new cronies.
I don’t want a guy who chugs. If I want a guy, I want him refined, someone who sips wine with me on the weekends, and visits vineyards.
Another burp sounds behind me. Prince charming followed me into the kitchen. “Yo, you okay?”
“Fine. Just fine.”
“You don’t allow chugging contests?”
“I think,” I say, opening the fridge to pull out another two liter, “that it takes more than one person to make it a contest. Otherwise, it’s just someone making a pig of themselves.”
He thumps his chest and hiccups. “Well excuse me for being a man.”
I shove the two liter into his chest and throw up my hands. “Exactly why I detest men.”
“Seems like a sorry reason,” he says, following me. “Seems to me like you should have better reasons for hating a whole gender.”
“Gender, that’s a big word for you isn’t it?”
His eyebrows lower in anger. “Two syllables ain’t exactly tricky, even for a Neanderthal.”
The door sounds again. Wasn’t expecting anyone else late. It couldn’t be…
“Want me to get that? After I take this out, I mean?”
I shake my head. “No, I got it.” Whenever I’m not expecting someone, I have to expect it might be
that
person. I can’t handle it right now. He’s been stalking me since last year, since I lost him his job, and I can’t deal with him and the Neanderthal at the same time.
“You know who it is? You’re making a scary face.” He looks over at the door, a curious look on his handsome features. “Want me to bounce ‘em?”
“No,” I say quickly. “I got it. I mean, I don’t know who it is. I’ll deal with it in a sec.”
He studies me, his grey eyes making me slightly warm as he stares down at me. He’s just so large. I can’t help that I kind of like it. For a second, I think about telling him about Mike. But then I shake it off. Ridiculous idea.
“Go serve drinks,” I say. “Make yourself useful.”
He sends one more look at the door, and then nods and heads back into the living room. I take a deep breath and go to the front door. It’s been months since he tried to show up. Sometimes he goes away for months at a time, sometimes it’s weeks.
Psycho.
I look through the keyhole and my stomach sinks. As if he knows I’m there, he pops forward in front of the keyhole, one pale green eye coming far too close, startling me and forcing me back from the door.
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