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She rocks herself back and forth over the sensitive area of my zipper. These aren’t jeans. The fabric is thin, and her movement offers dangerous pleasure. I have a bad feeling about this… and it only gets worse.
“I’m ready to lose my virginity…” Her voice is almost husky, but nerves interlace her words. “…to you.”
I can’t help but let out a laugh. “Did you have a drink when you went to the bathroom?”
She rolls her eyes. “I wish.” Her purple-lined emerald eyes glimmer wickedly. “Even if I did, I’ve been thinking about this for the past three years.”
A strangled laugh escapes me, sounding a little too flattered, and it falls down between us.
Joey slaps my chest. She’s a live wire. It’s hard to tell if she’s serious or trying to get a rise out of me. She does that sometimes. The girl is going to be top-notch banter for a man some day. “Ashton, I’m leaving for college. I’m eighteen. You’ll have graduated Golden Sierra when I get there in the fall, and I can’t think of a better dick to open my legs for.”
Holy hell…“You’ve definitely been drinking…”
She presses her tits into me. They’re small but fiercely sharp. “You know I’ve tried with you before tonight. You blew me off. And over the years, it became painfully clear—because I tried and tried—that you won’t date me. That your bond with Logan is too important to risk. Or maybe you just aren’t attracted to me?”
She pauses, waiting for me to correct her, fishing for my compliment.
She’s attractive. Still all gangly limbs like a baby giraffe, but the high school boys are all over her. She knows she’s pretty without me saying it, and I don’t want to because the words would be taking part in this charade. This is absolutely absurd. Beyond it.
How the hell did she sneak a drink without me knowing?
I eye the crowd behind her suspiciously.
“Fine,” she breaks the silence. “You don’t like me. But I like you. And I know when I go off to college I’ll start drinking and probably fuck some guy and do a walk of shame home. I’ll lose my virginity in a way that matters to nobody.”
What kind of statement is that? “Are you trying to guilt me into having sex with you? A one-night stand isn’t your style, is it? You’re not that stupid.”
“One-night stands aren’t stupid.”
“No, but with drunk college boys, they’re reckless.” I think about her at Golden Sierra next semester without me and Logan to watch out for her. The frat boys, the jocks. I shudder imagining their greasy palms and drool all over this girl. She’s hardly a delicate flower, but she deserves… more.
“I am reckless. Veeeery reckless. Don’t underestimate what it’s been like for me, especially since Dad died. I’ve been under the thumb of my watchful mom and threeprotective brothers. Damn right I’m going to get a fake ID and blow off some steam.”
She wraps her hands around my back, and even through my shirt and blazer, her fingernails scratch my skin. She digs in with them, strong and sensual. Aggressive. Assertive. Quite the tiger for a virgin.
This is ridiculous and has already gone too far. This is not going to go down well if Logan hears about it.
I put my hands on her arms to ease her away, then slide my palms down her skin to take her hands in mine. I don’t even know if she’s serious, but the conversation is off-limits. Even if she’s kidding. Which she must be. “No. I’m flattered. But no.”
“No?” Her chin drops, and she peers at me from under her perfectly groomed eyebrows.
I bring my head down in one swift nod, like a gavel.
Her jaw goes slack. “You’re playing hard to get? Are you seriously going to make me beg? You know I won’t say anything to Logan. I wouldn’t want him knowing either…”
Wait. Is she for real? “No. Not just for Lo. I’m saying nofor me. You’re like… family. I promised myself I’d look out for the Hunters like I look out for the Danes…”
Rejection smears down her face, leaving her normally round, sunny cheeks crestfallen. “Wow.” She takes a long pause, processing inward thoughts as if a first-time revelation and one she is devastated to discover. “You really don’t like me.” She says it more to herself than to me.
“Joey, I’m saying no because Idolike you. You should find a guy who commits to you. An actual boyfriend. And…”
“You don’t like me…” she repeats it, confronting some reality she never knew existed, as if she was holding on to a hope for us I never saw before. Her shoulders slump, and her hands slide out of my palms, leaving a stain of regret.
“Joey…” I plead. I’ve hurt her. Not that there was another option apart from no, but… I hate this. In all the years of knowing Jolie Hunter, I’ve never seen her this way—eyes glassed over and glistening with the threat of tears.
The tip of her nose blushes. “This is… embarrassing. I thought you’d say yes.” An almost hysterical laugh leaves her lips, but she sucks it back with a sharp breath. “I actually thought you’d say yes.”
“Really?” As soon as the disbelief leaves my mouth, I regret it. She doesn’t need to hear I haven’t spent the past three years dreaming of this the way she has. It’s a cruel reality I should have held back.
