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TAKE ME TO THE CLOUDS ABOVE

Lizzie

JUNE 19, 2003

T HE HEAT WAS STIFLING INSIDE THE CLUBHOUSE, AND THE DJ WAS TOP-NOTCH, SPIN ning gold from his decks, while the strobe lights shone down on us. The crowd was insane with nearly everyone from first year to fourth in full attendance. There wasn’t a spare inch of space on the dance floor as the third years celebrated the completion of their exams and the rest of us celebrated the start of summer.

When Annina, DJ Chucky, and XTM’s “Fly on the Wings Of Love” started to play and a large crowd formed on the dance floor, I rolled my eyes when I realized who had captured their attention.

With his shirt cast to one side, Thor danced like no one was watching, mouthing every word of the song to Claire as he seduced her with those snake hips. The pair were so impressive when they moved together that I honestly couldn’t blame the crowd for forming, although I would never admit that out loud.

Their chemistry was undeniable, and it caused a familiar swell of sadness to grow inside of me because I knew there would come a day when I would lose her entirely from my life. Right now, I was managing to somewhat cope with his presence in my life, but my best friend truly loved him, and when they finally made it official, I would lose her. While I knew Claire cared about me, her feelings for him far outweighed anyone else in her world, and it was only a matter of time before the scales weighed in his favor.

Because this was excruciating for me.

Walking the line.

Keeping my thoughts to myself.

Burying my pain.

It was bubbling inside of me.

One of these days, I was going to go off like a bomb.

I only prayed I could hold on.

“So this is where you’ve been hiding.” Hugh’s voice infiltrated my thoughts, and I felt his hands come around my waist, crushing my back to his chest. “Where’d you go?”

I slipped away from his group of friends earlier in the night. While I wanted to be with my boyfriend every second of the day, I was uncomfortable around the team—namely Thor—and needed a breather. Besides, the boys were all drunk, while the unattached ones were on the prowl and bringing back girls I couldn’t stand to be around. “Just needed some air,” I replied, shivering when his lips grazed my ear.

The urge to fold myself into him was overwhelming. There was no explaining what he did to me and the sheer adoration I felt for him was incomprehensible. Hugh somehow seemed to stimulate me and soothe me all at once. He wasn’t uptight and he wasn’t reckless. He was the perfect medium, letting his merits and achievements shine organically, rather than shoving them down everyone’s throats.

“Here, Hughie!” Luke Casey called out, pushing through the crowd to get to us. “You might want to have a word with Gibs, lad, because he’s got your sister riding his thigh like a fucking horse.”

I expected my boyfriend to charge into the circle formed around Thor and his sister, to put an abrupt end to their handsy shenanigans, but that’s not what he did.

“I don’t care,” Hugh told his teammate, while he turned me in his arms and fisted my curls. “I’m dancing with my girl.”

“Oh, no, no, no,” I warned, staring up at his adorably flushed face. “You know I hate dancing.” Grinning, I reached up and stroked his cheek with my finger. “You look so cute when you’re drunk.”

And drunk, he most certainly was. The alcohol wafting from his breath was strong enough to make me tipsy.

“If you knew what you do to me, Liz.” His eyes were darker than usual, with large, dilated pupils and a hungry glint. Palming my ass, he gripped me tightly and roughly pulled my body flush against his. “If you only knew.”

And then we were kissing.

Clumsily pulling and groping at every part of one another we could get a hold of. His tongue was in my mouth, his hands were on my body, and I was drowning in sensation. Wonderful, elicit, glorious feelings that only this boy could draw from me.

LMC and U2’s “Take Me to the Clouds Above” had taken over from the previous song, and I thought it was so fitting in this moment, because Hugh Biggs could take me anywhere and I would go with him gladly.

This boy was a hot commodity at Tommen, he was a high-valued rugby boy, our school’s star fly half, and I reveled in the knowledge that his eyes spent their days on me .

I was the girl on his mind.

In this moment, I didn’t care if Claire saw us or not.

Right now, I wasn’t concerned about her feelings or her disdain.

I was too in love.

His tongue snaked out, teasing mine, as he slowly walked me backwards. He didn’t even try to conceal what we were doing. He was giving everyone around us a free viewing. The raw, uncensored version of what he felt for me. He was too lost in the moment and it fucking thrilled me.

Step-stumbling to the notorious wall , the one where all the serious couples got off with each other, I felt my back hit the cool concrete moments before his big body crushed against me. If I could have taken all our clothes off right here in this dance hall, I would have. That was how desperate I felt.

Thrilled and aching, I moved against him, hips gyrating against his, breasts straining against his chest, needing to feel the hardness of him against the softness of me.

It was madness.

It was ecstasy.

And I had never felt more .