Heat (20 page)

Chapter Eight

Clay

I swigged from a bottle of mineral water between sets with Matt. He’d won the first one, but barely. I was off my game today though.

The massive hangover didn’t help.

Neither did the state of frustration I was dealing with because of the Nev situation.

I still could not believe she turned me down.

I should forget her, move on. Just text Jen or one of the other eager girls I knew. There were plenty around.

But they weren’t her.

Not even close.

Nev was special. Her looks were a part of it but it was more than that. She had an innocence, a purity that drew me like a moth to a flame.
 

It was the same thing that had made her push me away last night. I was sure of it. She wanted me too, no matter what she said.

Now I just needed to convince her of it too.

Matt let out a low whistle and I looked up.

“What?”

“New girl. Unbefuckinglievable.”

Of course. He was looking at Nevada as she walked by with a cart full of clean towels. Awesome.

We’d talked about girls before. Or women. Matt gave me a ranking of who were the horniest housewives at the club, the most desperate. And he’d rate the ones he’d bagged.

So far he’d been keeping himself real busy.

But now he was looking at Nev like she was just another conquest. As usual, she looked insanely hot no matter what she wore. This outfit was no exception. She was wearing white tennis shorts and a pale green polo shirt, the club colors. I’d never noticed how cute the club uniform was before.

Fucking A.

“Forget it. It’s not going to happen.”

Matt’s head swiveled towards me. I better nip this shit in the bud right quick. He was clearly after her.

“Jesus, she looks good enough to eat. You know her?”

“Yeah.”

I gave him a steady gaze that said ‘keep off the motherfucking grass.’

“How well?”

“Well enough to say she’s not up for grabs.”

Matt stared at me, a slow smile spreading over his face.

“Yeah right. You are so not the relationship type dude.”

“And you are?”

He shrugged.

“With the right girl, maybe.”

“Well she’s not it. She’s a nice girl, don’t fuck with her.”

He laughed. Matt was clearly not taking me seriously. And then I caught the predatory look in his eyes. I’d just made Nev even more appealing to him by staking my claim. I knew in my gut this guy was going to cause trouble.

“Hey man, I do what I want. Ready for next match?”

I shook my head.

“Nah I’m not in the mood. See ya.”

I went into the club lobby to sign up for the tournament and take myself off the schedule for lessons with Matt. Fuck him. I’d win without the club champs help. He’d look like a dick and his lessons would get less valuable. If he stayed away from Nev maybe I’d relent. For now though, he was the fucking enemy.

I went home to shower and change. Then I went right fucking back to the club.

I had to keep my eyes on the prize.

Nevada.

Nevada

I carried a fresh stack of towels over to the pool area, trying to ignore the feeling that I looked like an idiot. A pack of screaming children ran past me, ignoring me completely. I felt something sodden hit my thigh and glanced down.
 

Ice cream.

Chocolate ice cream.

On my white shorts.

Fantastic.

I sighed deeply and continued to the pool area to drop off the towels. I stopped in my tracks.

Clayton was lounging right next to the towel station. I would have to walk right past him to get to it. He wasn’t alone though. That Jen girl was sitting next to him, along with a couple of his asshole friends.

My mother always said you could judge someone by the company they keep.

This day couldn’t possibly get any better.

I took a deep breath and walked quickly along the edge of the pool.

“Hey Nev.”

I glanced at him over my shoulder.

“No fraternizing Mr. Westfield.”

He laughed and let his eyes slide over my ass. Deliberately.
Very deliberately.

“Rules are made to be broken.”

I bit back an angry retort but the truth was I was entertained by him. I felt stimulated. I felt alive.
 

Damn him.

“Would you like a towel Mr. Westfield?”

He grinned at me and leaned back, his chest gleaming in the sun.

“Yes I would.”

I handed him one, even though my instinct was to drop it on his head.

If only to cover the arrogant smirk on his face.

His perfect, handsome, beautiful face.

Ugh.

He grinned and draped it over his groin. Then he slipped his hand underneath it and grabbed.

“Perfect timing Nev. Wouldn’t want to scare the children.”

My mouth opened and I stared at him. I couldn’t help it. The implication that I’d given him a boner was obvious. I wondered for a moment if he meant it.

Not that it mattered.

Right?

“You have some crap on your shorts.”

I turned and looked at the blond girl sitting next to Clay.

Jen. Perfect. She was one of the worst offenders when it came to being queen bitch back to me and Frannie in high school.

And now she wanted Clayton.

But he wanted me.

There was something kind of amazing about that. Poetic justice or something. I suddenly felt a lot better.

I smiled at her with false charm.

“Oh, I’m sorry did you need a towel as well?”

I handed her one and turned away.

I knew that she heard what I really meant to say.

Something along the lines of ‘go fuck yourself bitch.”

I walked back to the staff locker room in search of something to clean my shorts with.

“Oh man, one of the kids get you?”

In front of me was a very tan, very hot, very cute guy. Scratch that. A man.

This guy was definitely a man.

He grinned at me, his eyes flicking to my shorts.

“Chocolate ice cream?”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. This day was going so badly, the only thing I could do was laugh.

“Hey, don’t sweat it. I can get you club soda. And they always have extra uniforms in here.”

I smiled at him gratefully as he led the way through the subterranean hallways below the club.

“Thanks. I’m Nev.”

He looked at me sideways.

“Yeah I know. I’m Matt.”

“How did you know?”

He turned around and smiled at me cheekily. This guy clearly knew he was hot. And he was definitely flirting with me.

“I asked.”

He opened a door and led me into the kitchen. Two minutes later he was attempting to blot my shorts with club soda. I jumped backward. That was way too familiar, even if I had known him. Which I did not.

The way he was looking at me, touching me… The whole thing was making me nervous. No matter how sweet and cute he was.

And he was cute. Very cute. Not drop dead gorgeous like Clay, but definitely drool worthy. But for some reason, I wasn’t drooling.

“Thanks Matt. I got this.”

“Hey no problem.”

He stood there and watched me dab at my shorts. It did take the stain down but not enough. I kind of was wishing he’d go away. I felt like such a dork. Plus, the way he was watching me was unnerving.

“There’s a party tonight. Down by the lake. I’ll take you if you are free.”

I threw the napkin in the trash in disgust. I definitely needed new shorts. Way to go, Nev.

“Huh?”

“Tonight. Lake. Party. I’m driving.”

He grinned at me winningly.

“It’s a bit far to bike. You don’t have a car do you? Plus this way you can drink.”

Wow. He really had been checking up on me. I should be flattered but for some reason I kind of wasn’t.

“Oh right, I heard about that. I was maybe going to go with my friend.”

He leaned against the counter and stared at me intently.

“Boyfriend?”

I shook my head and he smiled even wider.

“I can drive you both.”

“Uh… let me check with her. Otherwise, maybe I’ll just see you there?”

“Sure. Let me get your number just in case.”

“Right, okay.”

I gave him my number and he pointed me back towards the locker rooms and told me where to find the laundry. I kind of wondered why he hadn’t just done that in the first place. I shrugged.

He was obviously trying to be helpful.

That was all, right?

Chapter Nine

Clay

I nodded to people as I sat on the hood of my car drinking. The lake was packed with kids. At least half of them probably still in high school.
 

Of course they all knew who I was. I just sat there while people came to me. I used to like it when people kissed my ass. But now I found it all kind of boring.

I needed to do something more with my fucking life than just being the king of shit. I’d always thought I’d go into business like my Father. Or law. Maybe politics eventually.

But my Father wasn’t happy no matter how rich and successful he was. Look at him. He was in love with a woman from the wrong side of the tracks, so to speak.

Not that I was anyone to talk.

Fuck man, did I just use the word ‘love’ about Nevada?

I did. I fucking did.

This was not good.

I hadn’t even bagged the girl yet and I was thinking long term.

Never mind the fact that Nev was going to freak out when she found out about our parents.
 

I had to get to her before she did. Otherwise, she’d never give me the time of day. She’d say it was all too incestuous. Maybe it was. But I needed her.

That was a scary ass thought.

I hadn’t needed anyone since I was a scared little kid who wanted his mother in the middle of the night. I’d outgrown that well before other kids my age did. And now I needed this girl. This tough, sweet, earnest, hard working young girl who didn’t know shit about men. Or sex.

And I’d seen it all.

I couldn’t wait to teach her.

Hell, maybe she’d be able to teach me.

I took a swig from the bottle of bourbon I’d taken from my house. The staff knew to keep a case handy when I was in town. If I got too drunk to drive home I’d call the house and they would send someone to get the car in the morning.

But as of now, I was just starting to feel a buzz. The way I was feeling tonight, I needed to get much fucking drunker than this. And fast.

“Dude, look at your girl.”

Like a jack-in-the-box my head popped up. I knew I was fucking ridiculous. Especially if Brett had noticed my interest in Nev without me saying anything. But I didn’t care.

And then I saw her.

Nevada fucking Jones. With her chubby little friend in tow. Wearing those tiny little shorts and a soft looking blouse that skimmed over her curves. There was some sort of design on it. I squinted.
 

Flowers. It looked like tiny little flowers.

Every fucking guy here was staring at her. At her legs. And her ass.

God damn it.

I needed to buy her some new fucking shorts. Longer ones. Bermudas. And dresses. Ones that went down to her ankles.

Yeah, that was a great idea.

Then she could just show those legs off for me. In private.

In bed.

I was pleasantly contemplating this when I saw a dude approaching her with three beers.

Fucking Matt.

I watched him hand her a beer and smile at her familiarly. Way too familiarly. He said something that made both girls laugh and my stomach clenched up.

I took another swig from my bottle and handed it to Brett.

Time to put a stop to this once and for fucking all.

I hoped Matt had good insurance. Because he was going to need it.

Nevada

I sipped the beer that Matt had handed me. Frannie held hers, looking around apprehensively. We didn’t usually go to this kind of thing.

No. Never. We never went to this sort of thing.

Of course, in college I’d been to parties. But in high school we hadn’t been invited. Being an outsider is kind of a surreal experience in a rich town like this. And being poor, or lower-middle class, was being the ultimate outsider.

But apparently growing boobs made up for that.

I felt slightly disgusted by how easily I’d gained entree to their world. All I had to do was be pretty. It was kind of pathetic to be honest.

I glanced at Matt who was smiling at me with a warm look in his eyes. There were perks though. But he wasn’t one of them.

Not really.

I let him flirt with me, knowing it didn’t mean anything. Not to me anyway. I was a lost cause. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get Clay out of my mind.

Clay was arrogant yes, but I’d also seen a really strange look in his eyes when I’d pulled away the other night. He looked… lost. Like he needed me.

Yeah, right.

“Nev.”

I turned and saw Clay standing there. Speak of the devil and he will appear. And he was a devil, that much was certain. So why did my heart start to pound and my skin break out in goosebumps at the sight of him?

Matt chose this moment to slide his arm around my waist, pulling me against his side.

“What’s up bro’?”

“I’m not your bro’ man. Why don’t you do yourself a favor and take your hands off of her?”

“She’s here with me dude.”

I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t here with him really. Frannie had driven, despite multiple texts from Matt offering to escort us both. It kind of irked me to be honest, even though I knew he was just being nice.

Clay didn’t even look at him. He started at me, looking dangerously intoxicated. And jealous. I couldn’t help it. It sent a thrill through me.

“I want to talk to you Nevada. Alone.”

He reached for me, grabbing my arm. Matt pushed him backwards. I gasped and moved away. I didn’t want them fighting over me.

“You guys, stop! This is ridiculous!”

But they were past hearing me. Clay grabbed Matts arm and twisted, pressing into his shoulder with the flat of his palm. I could barely hear what Clay whispered to Matt under his breath.