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***
“GO TO HIM, MARISHKA,” Bri whispered in my ear after we danced to an overly sappy song.
I shook my head. “Beth and I have to wait for you to leave. We came here together.”
A slight smile touched her mouth. “I won’t tell anyone that you’ll be with him. Many guys here want to dance with you, get you a drink, but you’ve been distracted. And you haven’t had a drink because you want to see him, without any alcohol in your system. I think Hunter doesn’t want to hold you back. He came to La Caridad today because of you. Tonight is your turn.”
I didn’t know if going to Hunter was right or wrong. I’d texted Bri earlier about Hunter kissing me at work. Gavin had driven her to our residence hall earlier and Beth had been with us so I hadn’t wanted to talk about it.
“I hate asking you to lie for me, Bri. But I do want to go to Hunter’s.”
“Pierce called Gavin to let him know that he’s driving me back home tonight and he apologized for ignoring me after Mona came to his party this summer.” Her eyes sparkled and she blushed. “I know that he’s not in love with Mona, so anything can happen.”
“Beth will be with Chase tonight and I think Jake will come to the dorm and change in the morning, so they won’t know when I get to the dorm,” I thought out loud.
“I’ll text you, so you know how it goes between Pierce and I, and you do the same, okay?”
Pierce was behind Bri when I shook my head in agreement and then I waved good-bye to them, silently telling myself that I had nothing to lose.
Chapter 16
Hunter
I THOUGHT I WAS seeing things when I locked my car and saw Mariska’s silver Hyundai Accent in front of my house. It was pouring outside and, from the candy wrappers on the floor, most of the kids on my block had eaten all of the candy they’d gone trick-or-treating for. She wasn’t coming out of the car, so when I crossed the street, I tapped on her window. Several minutes later, she came out of her car, and I was blown away. I couldn’t get any words out; the black body suit she had on hugged her hourglass shape and she wore gold high heels with strings that wrapped around her ankles. She reached my height and I looked at the make-up she had on to accentuate her eyes and the two dots she on the bottom of her nose. Her hair had been curled, but it was soaking wet from the rain and it was getting straight. When I placed my hand to her face, I could hear her erratic breathing. I gave her a little nudge to come to my home.
I sighed heavily when Mariska and I were inside my house. Riley ran toward Mariska, her body shaking since Riley’s paws dug onto her thighs.
“Did you miss me, Riley? Hmmm.” She touched her ears and earned a bark in encouragement. “You’ve been on my mind.”
“Sit,” I told Riley and she obeyed. Mariska released the straps from her heels and stepped out of them. “You can freshen up first. I’ll make you some fresh coffee.”
She looked like she wanted to put her heels back on and forget she’d come inside, but, instead, she nodded and went into the bathroom.
***
MARISKA AND I SAT down on my sofa with Riley laying down on our laps after she’d freshened up. Riley looked at us with her assessing gaze and we both pet her, our hands coming into contact.
Earlier today, I’d wanted to get a little rise out of her, but not get her in trouble with Blanca or Jill. Jill seemed like a mostly laid back chick. Blanca wouldn’t fire her. She’d told me that Mariska had been crabby, since I’d stopped coming in. I’d felt crabby myself.
“Why’d you do that today?” She asked.
“Kiss you?”
She began petting Riley from her head to her croup. When she trailed her fingers along her back, I sealed my hand on top of hers.
“Do you think I’d hurt you? Is that why you won’t admit to other people that you might like me?”
She pulled her hand from underneath mine, grimacing. “What I didn’t like was how nasty you got about the virginity thing.”
“It’s not a thing. It’s a pretty big fucking deal, Mariska. You were acting all confident, like you’d been other guys and your first time—”
“My first time what, Hunter? As you said, I need to stop acting like some virgin princess and so I had stopped.”
I wished I hadn’t spoken to her to like that. I’d been angry with myself and took it out on her. I moved closer to Mariska and lifted her chin, so she
’d have a harder time averting her gaze from me. “I like you when you look at me like a person. When, for those glimpses of time, I am a man to you. Not just a junkie who cut his brother’s face when he was feigning for money to score some coke. In a million years, I never thought I’d be that man. So, if I get to slide into your sweet, tight pussy...” I exhaled at the memory that felt so fucking real. I could taste her honeyed muskiness on my tongue. “But you won’t see me for who else I am. I am not going to be the first to fuck you, and be your first regret. It’d be different if I came after other regrets.”
Riley jumped off our laps and walked near the kitchen to drink some water. Mariska didn’t say anything for some time. She sipped her coffee, but maintained eye contact, a perplexed expression at first that shifted into one of comprehension. “You weren’t going to sleep with me that night anyway, were you?”
