“You wanna play?” Kendall directs the question to me, but Ally’s the one who shakes her head, refusing the offer. Kendall cuts a hard look to Cruise. “I told you we should have played truth or dare.”
Ally rides her hands in the air and stretches. “I’m so exhausted. I think I’ll just turn in for the night.”
Every pair of eyes shifts in my direction as if expecting me to parrot her excuse.
“Where were you two?” Lauren develops a slight tick in her cheek as she takes me in with suspicion.
Ally says beach and I blurt out movies.
We exchange a private smile as the color rises to Ally’s cheeks. Looks like I was right and she’s still keeping the dancing gig under wraps for now.
The table seizes up with an unnatural silence. Molly’s face contorts with hurt, as if Ally and I just announced we’d eloped.
“To a movie, then the beach.” Ally shrugs it off as if it were the truth. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a mattress calling my name.” She leans in. “I’ll take a quick shower. I smell like someone put a cigarette out in my hair.” She swipes the bottom of my chin before waltzing down the hall.
Lauren breaks out in a choir of oohs and ahhs, making me want to vacate the premises permanently. I should get my own place so Ally and I can shower in peace—preferably together. Then it hits me like a Mack truck. School starts in just a few weeks, clear across the country.
“Well, good night, folks.” I start heading down the hall.
“Wait a minute, lover boy.” Cal gets up and motions me over. He’s got a wifebeater on, and his muscles bulge out like someone blew him up with a hose. “I need to talk to you outside a minute.”
“Sure.”
Molly licks her lips as I walk by, and I pretend not to notice. Molly is trouble. If ever there was a snake in the grass it’s her.
Cal and I step out into the cool night air, shutting the door behind us.
“I thought about what you said.” He gives a nod in the direction of the gym. “I’ll let you have the place as long as you give me half.”
“Half?” I balk. “I thought we agreed to twenty percent?” Shit. Cal is going to suck the life out of the club before it ever opens its doors.
“All right.” He smooths his hand over his dome for a moment. “Look, I’ll give you the good-guy discount. Forty percent but that’s my last offer.” His eyes bulge as if calling his bluff.
I’d love to sit out all night and negotiate, but I’ve got Ally ready and raring to go, with feelings no less.
“Forty percent.” I seal the deal with a knuckle bump. Shit. I’ll have to make sure to skim off the top. The last person I’m doing this for is good old Cal.
“So when’s opening night?”
Seeing that both Ally and I are currently unemployed, “Tomorrow.”
“What are you going to call it?” He slaps me on the shoulder as we head inside.
“Rock Bottom.” The exact place my ass seems to land time after time.
But not tonight.
Tonight the only bottom I’ll be landing on will be Ally’s.
Lauren and Kendall are busy hugging out a long good-bye as I trek my way down to the bedroom. It’s dark inside, just the way I like it.
I close the door behind me and lock it in the event someone loses their way to the restroom.
“Ally?” I whisper in hopes she didn’t sneak out the back.
She slips something cool across my eyes and ties it from behind.
“Nice,” I whisper. “It looks like we’re kicking our dirty little secret up a notch tonight.”
She giggles up a storm like it’s the funniest thing on the planet and something about her laugh sounds buoyant, girlish. For damn sure Ally Monroe is the happiest girl in the world right now, and I’m about to take her on a sexual adventure that’s going to make her a hell of a lot happier.
A brisk knock vibrates over the door.
“Go away!” I shout in an effort to make it loud and clear. “We don’t want any.”
Ally ignites in another giggle fit as she gropes her way down my body. She snatches my hand and leads me to the bed like the sultry vixen she is.
“I thought you said you wanted to talk?” I tease. It’s clear to me Ally has rearranged the agenda to fall in my dick’s favor. Although, something in me is dying to hear what she has to say. I’m hoping for the right words—the words that have the power to change everything. Those are the ones I’m planning to use. If I play my cards right, Ally and I could get to that place I’ve only heard about. Love wasn’t exactly a word we kicked around growing up.
“Shh…” She presses a finger to my lips and takes off my T-shirt slowly and methodically. Her fingers fumble with my jeans like they’ve never been there before so I help out with the endeavor by hopping out of them and my boxers in record time. She runs her hands over my chest with enough pressure to claw right through me.
“Whoa. I see you like it rough.” I pull her in by the back of her head, and her hair is dry. She must have skipped the dip. Can’t say I blame her. There’s nothing like cutting right to the chase.
She moans as I run my hand over her curves. She’s got her sweats on, catching me off guard.
Her cool hands run down and grab ahold of my dick like she’s getting ready to take a dog for a walk.
“Whoa, baby. It’s not a leash,” I whisper. “I got an idea.” I touch my cheek to her head a moment. “Why don’t you spill out the feelings like we planned, then I’ll treat you to a night of loving that will brand itself over every single one of your tomorrows.”
“Uh-uh.” Ally leans in like a bear going after its prey and delivers a sloppy, heated kiss that makes me wonder if I’ll need a life preserver to make it through the night.
“Okay, you want to play. I get it.” I land a tender kiss to her forehead as we land soft on the mattress. I firm my arms around her and can’t help but notice Ally feels lankier, more sinewy than usual. I’d mention it but I happen to know better than to focus on a girl’s weight in bed. Ally is perfect, and I don’t need her thinking she’s not. “Tell you what. I won’t give you any of this”—I grind my hard-on into her thigh—“until you give in and tell me exactly what you were going to say.” I hate to admit that I’m dying to hear how she feels. Hell, I think I need to hear it. I want it, that’s for sure.
Ally lets out a heavy sigh and turns over until we’re spooning.
“Let’s spill a few feelings,” I whisper, tracing my fingers over the curve of her thigh and she quivers. “I want to watch you move beneath me. I want to help you with that little problem you’re having.” I give it as a heated whisper in her ear, and she groans as if she’s already there. “I have things planned for your body that are illegal in forty-eight different countries.” I tease her with a kiss over her neck but Ally doesn’t say a word. “I want to bury myself inside you and stay there all night—all year.” I give her shoulders a quick massage and she moans, deep and guttural. “Do you want that?”
“Mmm-hmm.” It comes from her tight-lipped, but Ms. Monroe continues with the silent routine so I don’t give in.
“Have it your way. I can hold out as long as you can.” Not really, but it’s worth a shot.
Ally grinds her bottom into me, and I pull her in tight.
“Change your mind, sweetie.” I brush her hair with a kiss. “You can have all this and more.”
But Ally doesn’t change her mind. Instead, we fall asleep just as frustrated as when the night began.
In the morning a streak of Massachusetts sunshine cuts across my lids, annoying the hell out of me. I reach over and Ally’s gone, nothing but wrinkled sheets left in her wake.
I don’t really get what happened last night. She seemed adamant to tell me something when we left the club, then as soon as we hit the mattress she clammed up.
It takes all of my willpower to roll out of bed.
Maybe she changed her mind about me, or worse—whatever she was going to say last night wasn’t the big deal I thought it was.
The strong smell of bacon emanates from the kitchen so naturally I migrate in that direction. Ally’s reading at the table with her lids heavily hooded as if she had an equally lousy night’s sleep.
“Morning, sunshine.” I give a sideways grin because I think we both know it’s not as great as it could have been.
Ally dips her nose back in her book without saying a word.
“Morning!” A high-pitched voice bleats from over by the stove. I glance up to find an overtly perky She-Elton wearing sweats and a severely undersized T-shirt.
“Molly?” I glance back at Ally for explanation, but she just continues to scowl into her novel. “Morning.” I omit the word “good” because it doesn’t feel genuine at the moment.
Kendall speeds over with a look of hellfire embedded in her eyes.
“You asshole!” she hisses in my ear.
“What the fuck?” I whisper, annoyed with my underdressed sister who took a page out of Molly’s playbook and opted for the barely there T and not much else. I glance over at Ally and she’s still in the same jeans and tank top from last night. Odd.
“You’re lucky Cruise isn’t here.” Kendall’s voice strains as if I’m in deep shit with the ringmaster who lays down the law in her bedroom. “When he finds out about this, he’s going to kick your ass all the way back to Oregon. If you’re smart you’ll leave before he gets home.”
“What?” I squint at her. She’s all riled up about God knows what. “Did Cal tell you what I plan on doing?”
“You strategized this with Cal?” She gags as she tries to get her next sentence out. “It would figure.” She stalks off and lands next to Ally at the table as if they’ve sided against me.
What the hell?
Molly heads over with a plate of eggs and bacon.
“There’s enough for all of us,” she sings. “Even you, Ally. I would never leave you out.” Her lips pinch as if withholding a smile.
Ally shoots up like a bullet and heads to the sink so I follow.
“What’s she doing here?” I don’t remember Molly joining us at this early hour before and what’s with the gloating?
“She spent the night.” Ally cuts my balls off with her words. Her eyes are red as tomatoes and her face is blotchy, like she’s been crying for hours.
“Hey, what’s going on?” I go to wrap my arm around her and she jumps back, livid that I even tried. “Wait…” Everything in me freezes. “Where did Molly spend the night?” I whisper it so low I’m not sure she heard. “On the couch?” Please, God, let it be the couch.
“Nope.” Ally presses out a depleted smile. “That’s where I spent the night.”
“Shit!” My hands gravitate to my temples as I spin into the sink.
“Everything okay?” Molly bounces her leg off her knee like a schoolgirl.
“Everything’s great.” Ally snarls it out like a war is about to erupt. “So”—Ally whispers without making eye contact with me—“did you enjoy yourself?”
“No, I did not enjoy myself.” Fuck.
Ally huffs at my statement as if I’ve somehow managed to insult her in the process.
“We didn’t do anything,” I plead. A visual of Molly pulling on my dick like she was trying to pluck a carrot out of the ground comes to mind. Shit. “I told you—I mean her—to fill me in on all those feelings or there wouldn’t be any action, and she opted for no action. And, for the record, I thought it was you.”
“You thought it was me?” Ally bites down on her bottom lip and her features soften.
“Yes.” I shoot her a wild-eyed look. “What the hell were you not doing in that bedroom last night?”
“Oh, so this is my fault?” She jabs a finger into her chest.
“No. That’s not what I’m saying.” Shit. “I’m not saying this is anybody’s fault.” Least of all mine.
“Oh, it’s somebody’s fault.” She glares over at the sexual serpent in our midst. “I knocked but you said you were ‘busy’—that you didn’t want any.”
“What the hell did you knock for?”
“Because it was locked!” Her lips tremble, and for a minute tears seem imminent. “Besides, I heard giggling and it sounded like a good time was being had by all. I thought maybe I missed some big cue and…”
She shakes her head, unable to finish her thought.
“Shit,” I mutter. Kendall shoots spears of hatred at me from the table. Molly turns and openly licks her lips in my direction as if we were the real deal. Kendall busies her in conversation about school—about high school, no less. I bet good old Cruise will have the local authorities alerted once he finds out I almost banged his sister. “How do we get rid of her?” I fold my arms and lean into the sink while Molly scarfs down half the food by herself as if she’s worked up an appetite.
Crap.
“Are you sure you didn’t do anything?” Ally’s lids hood over, and she looks hurt beyond repair.
“No. Thank God.” I almost caved. I almost disregarded any constraints I may have placed on the two of us last night and bent her over the mattress. I bet that’s what she wanted. Something tells me what Molly wants Molly gets, and last night I was at the top of her hit list. “Look, we need to talk.” I say it low, so Molly doesn’t jump on the offer. I’m so pissed. I have no intention of giving Molly another second of my time.
“I know you’re talking about me.” Molly averts her eyes as if this were high school. “Look”—she seethes in Ally’s direction—“you’re going to have to get used to seeing us together. This isn’t something that’s just going to go away. Morgan has feelings for me, and I have feelings for him. It’s going to be Morgan and Molly in the end. Our names even sound good together.” She says that last bit with an unexpected burst of enthusiasm.
Her phone vibrates and she snatches it up from the table.
“It’s my mom. I gotta go.” She hops over and dots my cheek with a kiss. “We can’t tell her or she’ll shit a brick. I’ll catch you later, ’kay?” She skips all the way to the door.
Ally leans into me. “Sounds like you’ve got more than one dirty little secret.”
I glance down at her. Her eyes are still burning from the pain I’ve inadvertently caused.
I have a feeling Molly’s mom and brother are the least of my worries.
8
THE DO-OVER
Ally
Morgan is insistent on making everything up to me.
After the fiasco with Molly-the-Manhandling-Menace he took a scalding shower, which exuded steam well into the hallway for a half hour straight. Who knows what communicable diseases Molly has managed to collect now that her hormones have run amuck. Everybody knows high school is a petri dish of sexual plagues that are constantly mutating into treatment-resistant strains. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if she was playing host to all sorts of hybrid STDs. It’s becoming more than clear that she and Cruise are victim to some mutated genetic disorder that’s marked them for a life of carnal catastrophes. I can hardly wait to see the power tools she’ll amass before she’s thirty.
Morgan gets dressed and comes back out to the living room, his eyes still filled with remorse. He has that dripping with hotness, fresh from the shower appeal, and instinctually my panties demand to fall off. Lucky for me I know better. What happened last night may have been an accident, but it still weighs on me like a lead coat.
He cups my face in his hands before bowing into a tender kiss.
“Ally, in no way am I remotely interested in Molly. I swear to you, you’re all I think about.” He traces my lips with his, warm and inviting. “You’re all I need.”
My insides quiver. A searing heat
rips through the most intimate part of me, and I desperately want to drag him back into the bedroom, but I’ve yet to delouse the sheets.
Tears blue my vision, and I try to blink them away. An entire dam of words tries to break through my vocal cords at once.
“It’s okay.” He presses a finger tenderly over my lips and I kiss it. “You wanna take a ride?” he asks sweetly.
I press my lips together in hesitation because I know what’s about to bubble out. “I’d go just about anywhere with you.” It’s true, and I can’t seem to fight it.
We hop in his truck and take in the haze-filled day with the heat sealing over us like a blanket fresh from the dryer.
“If you don’t mind”—Morgan ticks his head toward several bloated grocery bags in the backseat—“we’re going to run a few errands real quick.”
“What are the bags for? To hold the loot?” I wish. All those credit-card late fees are really adding up. Derek and his “liquor store runs” bolt through my mind and suddenly a first-degree robbery doesn’t sound that unappealing.
“More like create the loot.” He reaches back and hands me a bright-orange flyer that has all the appeal of a HAZMAT scene marker.
ROCK BOTTOM OVER-21 CLUB
GRAND OPENING TONIGHT!
$20 COVER
HALF OFF ALL DRINKS, UNLIMITED
“What the hell is this?” I study the map printed on the back until I realize I’m staring at the fitness front Cal uses to visually defile unsuspecting women. “The gym?” I over enunciate as I often do when I smell a poorly hatched scheme on the horizon. “You’re never going to get people to pay this kind of cover.”
“Of course we will.” His dimples ignite as he gloats about said poorly hatched scheme.
“We?” I’m not sure whether I should be flattered or afraid. “Oh no.”
“Oh yes. We’ll run it together, side by side, from setup to cleanup. It’ll be a joint venture.” He glances over, clearly shocked by my resistance. “There are three universities and four junior colleges we can hit this afternoon.”