Fake It 'Til You Break It

I expect her to retreat into herself a bit, maybe pull back a little or feel unsure.

She doesn’t.

She slides her hands up my neck until she’s got a good, solid grip on my face, and pulls my lips to hers.Demi fights her laughter as we push against the wall then quickly dart out the door before the staff inside spots us. As soon as we’re through the double doors and back into the cool night air, she lets it go, dropping her head back as she laughs loudly.

And god damn it, I have to hold her again. I grab her by the ribs and lift.

Instantly, those long ass legs wrap me up and she smiles, slowly lowering her lips to mine.

“We should go back in there,” I tell her.

She smiles wide, shaking her head. “You should come over tomorrow night,” she requests, her arms loose around my neck. “Stay with me.”

There’s a tender, nervous air surrounding her, one that has me reaching up to brush my knuckle across her cheek and her lips twitch.

“That what you want?”

Her hand runs through the top of my hair sliding down and pausing over my left pec. “Yeah, Neek. I want you.”

She kisses me, a little slower than she has before, and when she tugs free, shimmies down with a giggle, and trails ahead... I know.

For the first time since we started this, I’m undeniably sure when Demi Davenport walks away, leaving a piece of herself behind for me to have. To keep.

I’m keeping her.

At this point, I wouldn’t let her go if she tried to walk away, so I’m glad she agrees.

I jog forward, but she hears me coming and breaks out into a run herself, darting toward the field where the others are, only to come to a full and sudden stop when she realizes campus security is now guarding the gate we slipped through.

I fight to hide my laugh while she doesn’t even breathe, nervous we’ve been caught, but I wrap my arms around her, and she starts moving again.

They do give us the evil eye, but they don’t say shit. They know what people sneak around to do, and since we weren’t caught, there’s no point in hounding us.

She doesn’t relax until we’re at my truck, where she bursts into laughter, leaning her head back on my shoulder to look at me.

I can’t fuckin’ help myself and take her lips again.

She’s more than with it, keeps her mouth locked on mine as she spins in my arms and deepens the contact.

Macy, the cockblocker she is, whistles and Demi tears away, hiding her face in my chest a second, and then finally looks to her friends.

“Where the fuck did you guys go?” Macy teases with a smile.

“Yeah, and why didn’t you tell us?” Krista whines. “We couldn’t slip past the gates for shit.”

I laugh, looking to Trent who frowns at Demi. He senses my eyes on him and cuts a glance my way.

I nod my chin, but he shakes his head subtly, his way of saying we’ll talk later.

He’s got to be picking up on what I’ve been trying to explain to him.

Demi isn’t with me to get to Alex, not anymore.

She fell, just like I wanted her to.“So.” Carley bumps my hip, sticking her hands under the sink water I’ve just pulled mine from. “You guys snuck off.”

I grin. “We did?”

“Did you have sex in the school, you dirty ho?”

“Sex... no.” We look at each other and both start laughing.

She studies me, a small smile on her lips. “You really like him.”

I nod and mock myself. “Weird, right?”

Carley shakes her head, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. “What if I said no, that it’s not weird at all?”

I glance her way. “You’ve been team Nico since the beginning. Why?”

She shrugs, walking out first, so I follow.

“I always wondered if he had a thing for you when he first stopped talking to you. It was the typical ‘pretend you don’t want what you can’t have’ attitude he always gave.”

“Yeah, I never picked up on that.” I grin, my eyes finding him on the field right away. “But I’m happy with where things are going.”

“I’m glad, Demi, you deserve some happy.”

“My life isn’t sad, Carley.”

“No.” She looks at me. “But it was lonely, and not a lonely having us over to hang several times a week could fix. You need this.”

I smile, my eyes locked on Nico’s as he moves toward me and I him.

I more than need this.

I want this.

Nico plants his feet in front of me, and Carley keeps moving.

He runs a knuckle down my throat, his lips twitching after I do. “So easy to excite,” he draws out, anticipation laced through his dirty whisper. “Are you wet, D?”

My breath lodges in my throat, and I grip his arm.

“Yeah, baby, you are, aren’t you?” He presses a kiss to my erratic pulse behind my ear, and it jolts even higher. “It’s only three in the morning, how you gonna make it through the sunrise, through the day, and into the night, hmm?”