It was tempting, more than he’d ever know, but staying the night was completely different from what had happened the last time I’d been there. I’d be willingly crossing some kind of line that had been drawn when Hut first started his crew, but when I glanced back at the house, the deafening music pounding and leaking out into the dark street, I couldn’t fathom going inside.
“I—” I cut myself off, not sure what I was going to say. The last time we’d gone to his place, we’d kissed. I hadn’t allowed myself to think about it, partly because I had so much going on with work, college, and tutoring, not to mention Hut and all his shit that followed him, but also because if I thought about it too much, I’d scare the shit out of myself. Brody wasn’t the kind of man you could back away from, and I was afraid if I let myself rely on him too much, he’d disappoint me just like everyone else seemed to always do.
“Come on,” he said, tossing his keys in the air and tilting his head to his car that sat behind Hut’s SUV. “You look like you’re about to drop any second.” He raised a brow, his lips quirking on one side to try and hide the grin I was sure wanted to come out. “Frankly, kid, you look like shit.”
“Ahhh.” I stepped closer to him. “You know just the right things to say to a girl.”
He shrugged and pulled the passenger door open for me. “Don’t say I don’t give you compliments.”
A chuckle rattled through my chest as I shook my head and dipped into the car. There was something about Brody that had drawn me in the very first day, and it hadn’t stopped. I was getting closer and closer to him, and yet, I felt like I hardly knew him. So why did my heart skip whenever he was around? Why did my soul call to him on a level I didn’t know was possible? It was like we’d known each other for fifty years, not a few months.
The engine roared to life, and I let the vibrations soothe me all the way to his apartment. Neither of us said anything as we walked into the building and up to his door, and when he pulled it open, and I stepped inside, he smiled. An honest-to-god, boy-next-door smile. It made him look so different. He always had this hard edge to him, the kind of edge you only got from fighting your way through everything just to make it to the next day, but there was a softness to him once he was in his own space, something I wished he’d show more of.
“You know where the shower is. I’m gonna order a pizza.”
I nodded, not trusting my mouth to say anything as I headed right into the bathroom and turned the water on. I let the steam envelop me and stripped out of my clothes and then headed under the warm spray.
The rhythmic beating against my skin had a sigh leaking from my parted lips, and I honestly thought I’d never felt something so good in my entire life. The sound of knocking on the door had me covering my chest with my arm and my legs with my other hand out of instinct.
“I’ve left some clothes outside the door for you. I figured you wouldn’t want to sleep in jeans.”
He wasn’t wrong, but his voice had me showering as quickly as possible. I couldn’t allow myself to feel safe here. I couldn’t let myself relax into a false sense of security. Only bad things happened when you let your guard down. This was one night, and I only agreed because I’d been so goddamn tired. Any other time, I’d have refused and gone into the bustling house, doing my best to ignore every single one of them.
I wrapped a towel around my body and opened the door a crack to retrieve the clothes. I dressed quickly, did my best to finger comb my hair, and flattened my palm to the fogged-up mirror. Pulling in a deep breath, I swiped my hand across it and stared at the reflection.
Brody’s white T-shirt hung off one of my shoulders, the soft material coming to my knees, making me look like I wasn’t wearing anything underneath, but I was, in fact, wearing a pair of his boxer briefs. All be it rolled a few times so they didn’t fall off. But it was the slight flush in my cheeks that had me second-guessing myself.
This was the second time within a week he’d invited me back to his place. Maybe he wanted to get laid? Or killed? Either one was plausible because if Hut found out, he’d direct his anger at Brody before he got started on me.
“Hey, Lola?” Brody’s voice vibrated through the door a second time. “Pizza just got here if you’re hungry.” He cleared his throat. “Try and save some water for me.” I could hear the smile in his voice at his last words.
I flung the door open. “It’s all yours.” I gathered my clothes and stepped out, keeping my head dipped so I couldn’t see his face because I wasn’t sure I was ready to witness what could be there, not yet anyway.
He didn’t say another word as he stepped into the bathroom, so I made my way into the living room, the smell of freshly delivered pizza filling the air. I dumped my clothes on a chair that sat under a small table and flipped the lid open, practically groaning at the site of pepperoni. I lifted one slice, gobbling it down like it was my last meal, and was taking another slice before I even knew what I was doing.
The sound of the water turning off had my back straightening, and I dived at the sofa, needing to look like I’d been sitting here this whole time and not staring at the pizza like it was my savior.
Footsteps padded down the hall. “I wasn’t sure what you liked,” Brody announced as he walked into the room and grabbed the box, bringing it over with him as he sat next to me. “But pepperoni is always a safe bet.”
“It is,” I said, my words breathy. What the hell was I doing? Why couldn’t I talk like a normal person?
“You okay, kid?” Brody asked.
> I turned to face him, doing a really good job of looking like a bobblehead. “Yep.”
His dark-brown eyes seemed to darken the longer he watched me. We sat there, in complete silence, as we ate most of the pizza—me having one more slice while Brody scoffed down four.
My muscles ached, my eyelids heavy as I leaned back against the sofa and blew out a breath. I shouldn’t have felt more at home in this tiny apartment with Brody sitting next to me than in my own bedroom, but I was. Brody copied my movements, his gaze flicking to the lone clock on the small table next to the sofa that read nearly 2 a.m.
“You can take my bed,” he said, his voice deeper than usual.
“Oh no, I’ll take the sofa.” I smiled over at him, but his face was as serious as I’d ever seen it. “I…” I bit down on my bottom lip and blinked several times. “Brody?” I ventured, not sure what was going through his head.
He leaned forward, his thumb resting on my chin and pulling my lips from between my teeth. “Stop doing that,” he growled, and damn if it didn’t hit me in all the right places.
How the hell could his voice even do that? Surely that wasn’t normal? It wasn’t like I didn’t know about men’s...parts. I wasn’t a virgin, but I wasn’t the most experienced girl out there. I’d had fumbles that lasted the best part of thirty minutes, but nothing had made me ache the way I did at that moment with just one simple touch and three words.
“Or what?” I didn’t know what made me say it, but I couldn’t stop the words from slipping past my lips. I wanted to bate him, a small part of me knew that, but I wouldn’t admit it to myself.