“Adrian.” Holding his hand out to me, I slip my fingers into his hold, and our palms kiss hello.
“Caden,” I reply, grinning.
“Can I get you a drink?”
“A beer would be good, thanks.”
He nods toward the bar, and I turn to walk with him. The moment I move something draws me in, and I can’t stop myself glancing over to Casper. His eyes—fixed on me—are narrowed, a frown sitting contentedly across his brow as Talia now whispers into his ear. Firmly, he pushes her away, her face contorts with surprise. I come to a stop as his body turns toward mine taking three steps in my direction. My breath catches, my fingers curl into themselves—crescents no doubt making patterns on my palm from the nail imprints—while I’m frozen watching him. I don’t know what he wants to do—what he’s about to do. It’s all washed away when he tentatively steps back and then back again. Casper gives himself a sharp slap to his cheek, and without looking at me anymore, he turns back to Talia and reigns her in. Picking up where he left off with her whispering in his ear again.
“Caden?” Adrian’s voice is distant, and I drag myself back to the real world.
“Coming.” I smile.
I’ve been chatting to Adrian for an hour. He’s still hot as hell, but there’s not much between his ears. Plus, I can see his ego is as big as his body. I bet men usually fall at his feet. Still… there’s something to be said about being pretty, and I need that right now.
Adrian drags me to a quiet corner, and I know why, but I don’t stop him. I can still see Casper from where I am. Worse than that, Casper can still see me. His eyes scan the room a few times when I move from the bar—he obviously misses us leaving. When they find me, I can see momentary panic followed by relief in his eyes. Very quickly his face changes to anger, but I’m sure it’s only hiding his fear.
Adrian starts attacking my neck, sucking and licking. I look over his shoulder and across the room. Casper meets my stare, a flash of anger bursts in his eyes. He doesn’t pull away from our stare, it’s almost like he’s locked in a trance with me. Talia curls her fingers around his chin, and pulls him from our lockdown, but not before she looks over to see what’s captured his attention. When she spots me, her cheeks pink with embarrassment before she’s back with him. She says something, and he glances over at me again, shaking his head. Another string of words tumble from her mouth, and it seems like Casper cusses before pulling her hand from his arm and storming off. Talia flicks her eyes to me and frowns, before walking in the opposite direction. I realize I’m done for tonight, and pull away from Adrian.
“Sorry, this isn’t in me tonight,” I tell him.
Adrian blinks a couple of times and stretches his arms up with a yawn. “Another time?” he asks.
I shrug. “Maybe.”
With a nod he ambles away, quickly becoming swallowed by the crowd.
“Hometime,” I tell myself.
Walking into school on Monday, our game against Collingwood at the weekend is still the hot topic. For me, this weekend was a mixture of pleasure and pain. I got smacked up pretty bad during the game but survived as usual. The pre-game party was something else. I met Adrian, watched Casper like a stalker, and realized something set in cement. He wants me, he craves me, but I don’t think he’s willing to give into who he really is, not just yet. I chose to stay away from the post-game party on Saturday night. I didn’t want to feel like shit again, watching Casper with some girl he doesn’t really care about.
I texted him yesterday. He gave me his number a few days after we met, but yesterday was the first time I’ve used it. He never replied. As I head toward AP English, I walk a little slower hoping to see him. My body tingles with recognition when I spot him standing at his locker chatting casually with Aaron. Making my way over to them, it’s fascinating seeing Casper’s body become alert as I near. Smirking to myself, I join the two of them.
“Great game on Saturday, Reigns,” Aaron says fist bumping me, even though he was on the damn field playing beside me.
“You too.”
“You seen Morgan today? I was wondering where she is, I need to talk to her.”
“Nope. Not today, sorry, bro,” I reply, and he grins, gives us both chin lifts and stalks away, no doubt to search her out.
I look at Casper to see he’s staring at me. His back faces the lockers, my body is twisted toward him, meaning nobody can see my face. I let my eyes run the full length of him, they linger on his mouth, and I smirk. “Hey, what’s up?”
Casper doesn’t reply, but his eyes trail over my lips then drop to my neck. I know he sees the hickey that Adrian left on the right side when his jaw clenches. His eyes jump back to me, but there’s a hardness in them, a protective barrier.
“It’s simple, stay out of my way, Reigns,” Casper growls the threat at me. The anger simmering in his eyes once again hides what’s under the surface—his fear.
“You’re scared, I get it.” Hesitantly I place my hand on his arm. “I am, too.” Letting those words loose—to him of all people—frightens the shit out of me. The muscle in his arm tenses under my touch and he throws my hand off.
“You know fuck all. I’m not gay, and I don’t need you hovering around me like a fangirl. The only reason I’m not kicking
