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IT’S SHOWTIME, BABY

Hugh

OCTOBER 31, 2003

T O BE FAIR TO M AM, SHE DIDN’T HOVER OR LINGER WHEN MY FRIENDS ARRIVED AT MY house on Halloween night. Instead, she gave us a decent amount of privacy while keeping a watching eye from Mrs. Grady’s house across the street.

It was a testament to the trust my mother had in me, and it was wholly undeserved, because inside the top drawer of my nightstand was a three-pack of condoms labeled “extra safe.”

“Best foot forward, lads,” Gibs instructed, as we all sat around the firepit in my back garden, toasting marshmallows and stealing swigs from a flagon of Devil’s Bit. “Tonight, we’ll be angels.” He grinned mischievously. “But tomorrow night, we’ll be fallen angels.”

“Devils,” Pierce O’Neill corrected.

Gibs looked at him in confusion. “Huh?”

“Tonight, we’ll be angels, tomorrow night, we’ll be devils,” Pierce reeled out.

“Sounds better,” Robbie Mac agreed.

“Yeah,” Danny laughed. “Way fucking better than fallen angels.”

“Stop policing my speech, assholes,” Gibsie grumbled, taking a bit of his marshmallow. “I said what I said.”

“Don’t mind them,” Feely consoled, giving Gibs his marshmallow. “You’re grand, Gibs.”

I tried to keep up with their conversation, I really tried, but it was impossible when my girlfriend was sitting on my lap and circling her hips in such an erotic way that I was painfully hard.

“I need you now,” Liz whispered in my ear, tongue snaking out to taste my earlobe.

My eyes fluttered closed and it took the world of strength to hold it together in this moment.

“Be with me, Hugh.” Her lips were on my neck then. “Be in me.”

It was too much and not enough all in one breath.

Unwrapping her arms from my neck, Liz stood up and walked toward the patio door, all the while glancing over her shoulder with a look that said, here, boy .

Like a well-trained puppy dog, I obediently followed her, ignoring the cheers and wolf whistles coming from the firepit behind me.

Taking me by the hand once we reached the upstairs landing, she pulled me along wordlessly until we reached my room.

Once inside, she turned the lock and walked me over to my bed; all the while my heart was threatening to beat its way out of my chest.

This was it .

Tonight was the night .

Could I do it?

I wasn’t sure .

We both kicked off our shoes, and Liz reached up on her tiptoes to press a hot kiss to my mouth.

“I’ve been craving this for so long,” she admitted, while her fingers made short work of the button and zip on my jeans. “Take it off,” she breathed, reaching for the hem of my shirt and pushing it up. “Get naked for me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Show me the goods, Biggs,” she instructed, as she quickly rid herself of every scrap of fabric on her body.

I was so fucking lost in the moment, so completely hooked on the vision that was her naked body, that I did everything she asked.

“Perfect,” she approved, gaze raking over my naked form. “You were made for me.”

When she pushed me down on my bed and straddled my lap a few moments later, the pressure was almost too much to take. “Lie down,” she commanded, taking the lead by pushing me onto my back. “Mm, yeah, just like that.”

Her lips came crashing down on my mouth at the same time her hand fisted my shaft.

“Fuck,” I groaned, gripping the sheets beneath us. “Liz…”

“You’re always saving me, Hugh,” she purred, working me over with reckless abandon, as she peppered my face with kisses. “Let me take care of you for once.”

I wanted to.

I really fucking did.

But then I thought of how her eyes looked tonight, all shiny and wild, and the guilt rapidly rose up. “Liz, wait.”

We couldn’t do this.

Not while she was in the throes of an episode.

“Mm,” she breathed, moving her body into position, tracing the head of my dick against herself. “I can’t wait to feel this deep inside me.”

Slamming the brakes on this was something I wasn’t sure another fella my age could do, but I did it. “Wait!” Clamping my hands on her hips, I carefully lifted her off me before bolting to my feet.

“What’s wrong?” she demanded, all sexy eyed and breathless. “You’re so hard. You were enjoying it.”

“I was—I am,” I hurried to say, while I pulled my jocks back on. “But we can’t do this tonight.”

Liz remained silent for a grand total of ten seconds before exploding. “What the fuck, Hugh?” she demanded, climbing to her feet. “You promised we could have sex tonight!”

“Keep it down,” I whisper-hissed, pointing to the wall that separated my room from my sister’s. “Claire’s in bed.”

“I don’t give a fuck!” My girlfriend continued to seethe, looking almost feral now. “You said you would fuck me, so fuck me, dammit!”

“I can’t,” I strangled out, willing her to just hear me out. “Not when you’re like this.”

“Like what?”

“Manic, baby!” I pulled on my jeans and went to her. “Not while you’re manic.”

Liz glared up at me like she couldn’t comprehend a word of it. “I’m not waiting another night.”

“You’re going to have to,” I replied calmly, while I dressed her in my hoodie.

“I’m having sex tonight, Hugh,” she said, smacking my hand away. “It’s happening.”

“Not with me, it isn’t.”

“Fine,” she screamed, stalking toward the door. “If you won’t fuck me, I’ll find someone who will.”