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Elliot’s natural habitat.
“In all seriousness, though,” he continued, putting his hand on the small of my back, “you’re here to seal your part of the deal.”
I looked away from all the sparkle and bling, and up at him. “What do you mean?”
His hand moved from my shoulder up to my neck, then brushed my hair aside, combing his fingers through the purple strands. The petting was a favorite move of his.
“You didn’t honestly think I would leave it at finger-fucking, did you?” he said, his voice so low we could’ve been speaking in front of a room full of high school teachers instead of drunk grad students.
Luckily, I didn’t have to answer that. A young man burst through the crowd of people and embraced Elliot in a loose hug, clapping him on the back.
“Ell, man,” he said, pulling back to display a similar sharp, dreamy grin, “thanks for coming! What’s up? Who’s this?”
I hadn’t expected him to turn his attention on me so quickly, and I stuttered as I told him my name, introducing myself as, “an old classmate.”
Elliot choked back a laugh at that statement. He tried to hide it, but I could tell, which was funny in of itself. We might have known each other for more than four years, but it only took a couple short car rides and a pit-stop at his dorm room to realize that maybe, just maybe, we had more in common than I’d ever thought we could.
It was the way he saw things—the waywesaw things.
Or maybe I was just too much in my head. Yeah. Just because we had the same sense of humor for a split second didn’t mean he’d changed.
I could never forget.
Never.
“Well, Kathleen,” Elliot’s cousin said, taking my hand in his and planting a playful kiss in my palm, “pleasure to meet you. Can I get you two drinks?”
Elliot nodded. “If you have rosé. Kat, anything?”
I shook my head. “I’m good, thanks.”
His cousin left us, and we stood there, soaking in the chilled-out atmosphere. Despite being in a place I’ve never been to, amidst strangers, and standing beside a boy I’d considered a threat for pretty much my entire teenage life, I felt relaxed. More relaxed than I’d ever been. Maybe it was the deep lighting and the fur carpets, or the smell of expensive cigars.
Maybe.
“Rosé,” Elliot’s cousin said, returning as swiftly as he’d appeared. He handed a tall glass to me. “And water for the lady. Just because.” He gave me a wink, and I accepted it with a half-smile.
“He’s nice,” I said, as he drifted back off into the crowd.
Elliot snorted and took a sip of his glass.
“A miracle we’re related,” he said, and let out an exaggerated gasp of satisfaction. He took my hand and started pulling me further into the house. “Upstairs.”
“Yes, sir,” I said, laughing as he ducked under a couple leaning in for a kiss in front of us, leaving me to swerve around them at last second.
“Smooth,” he said, grabbing hold of me again as we walked up the wide spiral staircase. The marble surface of the steps clattered under my flats, and I watched the mass of beautiful people fall away from us as we ran up to the second floor. Never felt more like a fucking fairy princess.
“This is some ball,” I joked as we stumbled past the last step. Before I could make another move, or even stop to look at our new surroundings, Elliot pushed me up against the wall. He kissed my neck.
“Oh my God,” I said, pushing him away from me, smiling. “You weren’t kidding.”
“You thought I was?” he murmured, and dove back over me, sucking at the skin just beneath my ear, his hands moving from my shoulders down to my waist. I couldn’t find the words to think, let alone speak.
I felt my body shift away from the wall as he started guiding me down the hall in slow, shuffling steps. I kept my eyes closed, let him hold me, take me. Everything he did—every kiss, every lick, seemed to say,you’re mine. All and only mine.
“You,” I managed to say, between gasping breaths, “had this all planned out, didn’t you?”
Elliot chuckle, his breath tickling my skin. “More or less.”
