Page 48

I feel heavy, drowsy. Being in the sun all day drinking is something I haven’t done in a long time. I sigh, yawning into my hand, listening to the chatter all around us. Rog is talking to Smith who’s practically feeding Luce off his plate. She’s acting like a freakin’ submissive. I need to figure out what the hell is going on.
“I’ll be right back,” I tell Rog touching his arm lightly. Standing up, I step over to Luce and grab her by the hand, she moves to get up, but Smith stops mid-sentence to look at me. His eyes are full of alpha man shit.
“Sorry. She was my best friend long before you ever laid eyes on her.”
He grunts, nods his consent and allows her to go with me.
“What the fuck, Luce? Smith is acting crazy.”
“I know,” she sighs, “but I like it.”
I shake my head as we walk to the camp restrooms. We both enter stalls and I wait for her when I’m done. There are other women in here who I don’t know so I grab her hand and we sneak out when our men aren’t looking this way.
Running in the dark down a trail, I keep looking behind, half-expecting Smith to chase us. Pulling her behind a huge pine tree, we catch our breaths for a minute.
“Spill, Luce. Now.”
She swallows, the pulse in her throat is racing as she excitedly starts talking. “He’s. He’s… on a whole other level. I mean, he took one look at me and I felt… claimed.Owned. Completely.”
“What? Did you smoke a joint this morning before we left?”
“No. I’m high on him though, that’s for sure.”
“Did you sleep with him?”
“N-no…”
“Luce?” I warn.
“No. But we did make out like teenagers. It was so hot. I didn’t even know his name for three hours. He led me to a meadow, took off his shirt, laid it down and spread me across it. The man went down on me for an hour. He pinned me down, wouldn’t let me up and made me come over and over again.”
“No way.”
She nods, “Then he kissed me. After… after all that. Then he ripped my shirt off and sucked my tits for another hour. H-he said I had a body he could feast on for days. He never asked me my name.”
“That’s because I told him.”
“Well, he said my name was, “Taken” and made me repeat it.”
“I don’t know Luce. I’ve seen Smith at Sassy’s and he seemed like an okay guy. Damn, don’t you think this is weird?”
“I don’t care. It makes me feel so good. So—wanted, that a man like him could want me so much, so viscerally; instantly. It’s like my existence makes him go insane—just kidding Dev,” she cracks up. “The look on your face right now is priceless. He did take me to a meadow and we just drank and chilled. We talked a lot. It was nice to have a guy actually interested in me without rushing to get my clothes off.”
“Well, I would believe it after I heard you calling out “oh, god” from the woods.
“We saw a snake. No lie. I’m a city girl. I freaked the fuck out, okay? I don’t do wilderness, but I do—do wild men,” she winks.
On cue, a bear comes tearing ass through the brush. But of course, it’s not a bear. It’s Smith. He taps his watch. “You were gone over ten minutes. I was concerned. Especially after how you almost fainted when you saw that garden snake earlier. Bats come out this time of night.”
“Uh huh,” I roll my eyes, and jab my finger into his chest. “I’m watching you. You are on my radar. If you pull any psycho shit on her, I’m gonna gobat-shitcrazy on your ass.”
“Easy there. We’re just getting to know each other. Come,” he says holding a hand out to her, “the bands playing again.”
Across the distance, a soft ballad weaves through the air. She takes his hand leaving me behind. I shake my head at my petite best friend clutching the President of Creed’s hand like she’ll never let go.
I sigh moving closer into him, if that’s even possible. The string lights and fireflies dance above our heads, the stars a pouch of spilled diamonds littering the sky, as Rog holds me in his arms song after song, our bodies barely moving but our hearts going a hundred miles an hour. His arms press me tightly against him, resting an inch away from my ass. He nuzzles the side of my face, kisses me behind the ear, while whispering how long it’s been since anyone’s made him feel like this.
I’m drunk on him and never want to sober up.