Agony (Entangled Hearts Duet 1)

Did I forget to mention that I’m still standing next to him and that his arm is still around my shoulders? We’re freshmen, new on campus by only two weeks. She has no idea who or what I am to him. And she doesn’t care. None of them do.

“I’ll be right back,” I tell him, removing his arm from my shoulders and stepping away.

“Where are you going?” he calls after me.

“Just over here.” I point to Levi and with more confidence than I feel make my way over to him. “Hey.” I wave awkwardly, and he grins.

“Hey.” He reaches into a cooler in the back of the truck he’s leaning against, pulls out a bottle of water, and offers it to me.

“Thank you.”

“No problem.” He winks. “So, your boy found someone else?”

“He’s not mine. We’re seriously just best friends. We’ve been neighbors since we were eight. He’s more of a brother,” I say in explanation. I leave out the part that I love him more than just a brother. Nobody wants or needs to hear that. Besides, that’s something I plan to take with me to the grave.

“Hop up here and have a seat.” He pats the tailgate next to him.

“Short girl problems,” I say, looking at the tall truck and the high tailgate.

He throws his head back and laughs, and before I know it, his hands are on my waist, causing me to squeal loudly in surprise, and he’s setting me on the tailgate. He picks up his cup and leans his elbow on the tailgate, his body facing me. He’s wearing a shit-eating grin. “Much better.”

“How tall are you?” I blurt the question. I’m sitting on the tailgate of this tall truck and we’re still almost eye to eye.

“Six six.”

I nod before saying again, “Thanks for the water.”

“You’re welcome. So, you’re a freshman too, right? I think I would have remembered seeing you around campus.”

“Yes. You?”

“Sophomore.” He’s looking out over the fire but then turns to face me. “You sure there’s nothing going on with the two of you? Coop’s giving me the death glare even through the fire. I can see the warning in his gaze.”

I don’t bother to look. I’ve seen that look on Cooper’s face many times. “He’s just protective. Trust me.” My gut twists just a little. I wish I was wrong, but that’s just not the case.

“All right then. Well, since you’re single and I’m single, and quite the catch I might add, we should definitely dance.” He sets his drink down on the tailgate and turns to step between my legs that instinctively open for him.

It sounds slutty, even in my head, but it’s not. Trust me. He’s just a big guy, and well, like I said, it was instinct. “Dance? Here?” My eyes scan the field, and sure enough, there are couples dancing, if that’s what you want to call swaying back and forth with their tongues down each other’s throats.

“Come on, it’ll be fun. We can fuck with Reeves.” His eyes dance with mischief.

“He’s not going to care that we’re dancing.” At least not like Levi thinks he’s going to.

“Then what’s stopping you?” he challenges.

“Get me down from this thing,” I tell him, and he smirks.

“I thought you’d never ask.” His hands grip my waist, and he lifts me in the air, only he doesn’t put me down. Instead, he just holds me suspended in the air, staring up at me.

“What are you doing?” I ask, resting my hands on his shoulders for support.

“Gotta make it look convincing.” He winks, then begins to lower me to the ground. However, he holds me close, every inch of my body pressing against his on the way down. Once my feet, attached to wobbly knees, are firmly on the ground, he links his fingers with mine and pulls me a few feet away to where the others are dancing.

His big arms pull me close, and we begin to sway to the music. It’s a slow song, one I’ve heard countless times on the radio. I think it’s by Brett Young. “How are you liking CU so far?” Levi asks.

“Well, I’ve only really seen my dorm room, the library, and the cafeteria outside of my classes.”

“You don’t get out much, huh?” He chuckles.

“Not much of a partier.”

“Yet, here you are.”

“Yeah, well, Coop wouldn’t leave me alone until I agreed to come with him,” I grumble.

“Here we go,” he says, adjusting his hold on me as the song changes to Tyga’s “Taste.”

Levi takes that as an opportunity for us to cut loose. He pulls me impossibly closer and rolls his hips. One hand is resting on the small of my back, and the other hangs at his side as he begins to rock his hips.

Something you don’t know about me? I love to dance. It’s my jam. I’m not ashamed to admit that I spent hours in my room growing up, just dancing and acting a fool. It wasn’t until I started high school that I took it to a whole other level. Janie, Beth, and I all took a hip-hop class. I loved it. We all did. So, yeah, I’ve never been one who was able to resist moving to the beat.