His attention snapped back to me, and he took a small step forward. “Did they hurt you?”
“No!” I said hastily as I regretted my outburst. “No, but I heard that they do.” I also pointed upwards. “And does that sound harmless?”
He shrugged but didn’t say anything, and I watched as he went over to the corner and uncovered a chair. Pressing down on it, he tested it against his weight and then looked at me. “I think it may hold.”
“Me?”
“No, me,” he corrected me with a quick smile. “I’m taller, and no disrespect, I don’t think you have the upper body strength to pull yourself up.”
“Hey, I work out,” I said with a swipe of my hand against his arm. Holy shit, I was flirting with the hottie in the basement. Flushing, I didn’t make eye contact as he stilled, and then he was instructing me to hold the chair as he attempted to scale the wall like Spiderman.
“Hold steady and don’t let go,” he said as he crouched on the top of the chair, and I felt the spindle wobble as I pushed it against the wall to give it extra stability, and then he leaped up.
He landed on the chair heavily, and everything trembled, him and me included. “Almost,” he murmured as he narrowed his eyes on the small window ledge. “You ready?”
“Yeah, sure,” I told him with a croaky throat.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, um, dry throat.” Dry from losing all the moisture in my mouth when he leaped with such fluidity, it made all the moisture in my body rush south.
“We’ll be out soon,” he reassured me, and then I was back watching him as he coiled up tight and sprang. The kickback this time was worse, and the chair didn’t like it. As he jumped, the chair pushed off the wall and made me unsteady, but when he didn’t come crashing back down, I looked up and saw him hanging, literally, by his fingertips.
“Holy crap, you did it,” I whispered excitedly. Pushing the chair away, I quickly grabbed his legs and tried to offer him support. “I got you,” I assured him.
He tried to move, and with careless thought, I wrapped my arms around his legs and shoved upwards.
“Fucking hell.” I heard him curse as he surged upward, and then the resounding thump off the ceiling as he hit his head hard. “Ow!”
“Sorry!” I called, and I heard him grunt.
“A warning would have been nice,” I heard him grumble as he clutched onto the ledge with better purchase. “You got me?”
“Yeah, climb up me,” I called. “I can take your weight.”
“Just hold my legs, Hulk,” he said with amusement. “I just need you for a little bit longer.”
With my arms wrapped around his legs, I tilted my head back and got the perfect view of his butt encased nicely in his jeans. And what a butt. He stretched, and I moved my arms with him and was rewarded with his shirt riding up and exposing golden tan skin.
“Loosen a little, and if this hurts, it’s not intentional,” he warned me as he moved, and his black boot dug into my upper chest. Gritting my teeth, I tried to offer whatever support I could, and then I heard the click. “Let go,” he instructed, and then he was using the wall and his own strength to scramble through the window. A few moments later, his head was popping through the window and looking down at me. “You okay?”
“I’m fine, are you?”
“Never better. Meet me at the door,” he said with a cheeky wink and then was gone again.
Eagerly, I ran up the stairs, and as I reached the top step, the door was opened and he stood there with a triumphant smile, which slowly faded when he saw the red mark on my shoulder.
“Fuck, was that me?”
“It’s nothing,” I assured him as I slipped out the door, my eyes widening as I looked around at the total chaos. “Holy . . . hell.”
“I think it’s time to go, don’t you?” He held his hand out to me, and as I still stared around at the complete devastation of the room and the people either shouting, screaming, or what looked like screwing, I felt a cool hand wrap around mine and was led outside.
“That’s insanity,” I told him as he led me from the house.
“It’s Mayhem.”
Huffing out a snort, I shook my head. “Yeah, well, that’s twice I’ve seen theirmayhem, and I will gladly avoid it for the remainder of my time here.” As we walked along campus, I realized I was still holding his hand and immediately let go. “Sorry.”
