Fair Game (The Rules 1)

We have a system and it works. I never minded divvying up the duties before. We trade off monitoring every Thursday through Saturday night. Sometimes one of us has to pull double duty, when we used to stay open on Sunday night too. I’m thinking with the new semester, I’d rather close on Sundays permanently. I might be busy and not want to deal. You know, because I’ll be a senior. And I’ll be hanging with Jade.

You are running waaaay ahead of yourself asshole.

I lean my shoulder against the wall, wishing Gabe and I could hide out—or I could leave. Honestly, I’m resentful. I’d rather be anywhere but here. It’s slow tonight, the tables aren’t even close to being full and Gabe is with me. Why do we both have to be here?

“You finally fucked her, didn’t you.” Gabe says it as a statement, not a question and I turn to look at him, ready to throw down those, you better not talk about her like that words. Though really he didn’t say anything rude.

So I keep my mouth shut.

“I did,” I say quietly, my gaze meeting his. I really don’t want to talk about this, not here. Anyone passing by could hear us and I don’t want Gabe giving me a bunch of crap.

Besides, I don’t want to share any dirty details with my friend. I have before. Not gonna lie. Hell, we’ve compared notes, given each other high fives, toasted our good fortune and discovery of good pussy.

But I can’t say anything like that about Jade. She…means something to me. What, I’m not quite sure yet. No way can I tell Gabe how much I love the way she smells. How the sound of her moans makes my body quake. The way her pussy clasps around my dick and squeezes so tight I swear I’m gonna blow like an inexperienced kid…

I have a boner just thinking about her. Jesus.

“You really like her.” When I offer a jerky nod, Gabe continues. “That’s good, man. I’m glad.”

Okay, I didn’t expect that response. “You’re glad?”

“Sure.” Gabe shrugs. “If she makes you happy, I’m happy. I’ve never seen you pursue a girl so aggressively like this one. I figure she must be something special.”

My heart squeezes. Look what she’s done to me. I’m such a fucking sap. “She is,” I agree quietly. “I can’t even put my finger on why.”

I’m a liar. I like how she looks at me. The things she says to me. She’s feisty one minute and sweet and sexy the next. I like pushing her beyond her boundaries. I fucking love the way she tastes. She makes me smile. She makes me laugh. Yes, she’s a challenge and I like that too. She doesn’t care who I am or what I have. She’s never once asked me about my family or how much money we have. Nothing like that. Sometimes it’s like she can barely tolerate me and I sort of like that too. It’s weird.

But it works. I don’t want to mess it up. We’re still too tentative, our relationship is still too new. One wrong move, one wrong thing said, and I could seriously screw this up. I can’t afford to do that.

“I’m happy for you man. This is fucking tremendous.” I wonder if he’s been drinking. Tremendous is not a normal part of Gabe’s vocabulary. “Me? I’d rather bang a bunch of chicks through college and then deal with real life when I’ve graduated. A relationship can wait. I never thought I’d say this but with the way you’re acting about this girl, I’m thinking you might be ready. Which is fucking unbelievable but whatevs dude. What the fuck ever,” Gabe explains, a crooked smile on his face.

Yeah. I think he’s been drinking. We have our own self-imposed rules. We don’t get trashed while on duty during gambling nights. But a few beers are usually harmless.

“You really think you’re happy banging a bunch of chicks through college?” I ask incredulously. I’d pin him as lonely but maybe I’m wrong. Maybe he’s not. Perhaps he likes the man-whore rep he has going on, the one I’m now dying to shed.

“Real life is barreling down on me. I have one more year of college and then it’s responsibility time.” Gabe’s voice and expression are grim. “I need to have as much fun as possible my senior year. This one is pretty much a bust. It’s been good, don’t get me wrong, but it’s over and done with. This summer I’m stuck with the fam, hanging out with them.” He snorts. “And that’s gonna suck.”

“Where you going anyway?” His family started in oil, though they’ve moved on to a variety of investments that has yielded them extremely high returns. He’s originally from Texas, though I don’t know when Gabe last spent any specific amount of time in Texas. He hates it there. He much prefers the climate of the central California coast, not that I can blame him. I like it too.

He rolls his eyes. “Practically down the damn road. We’ll be staying in Santa Barbara for the summer. My parents rented a house there.”

“Nice.” The Walkers never do anything half assed. If they’re going to summer in Santa Barbara, they’ll do it in style. “Big mansion right on the beach?”

“Probably. I don’t know. I assume it’ll be some obnoxious house with fifty rooms and twice as many servants.” He hangs his head, talking down to his shoes. “I’m sure I’ll find some rich bitch to fuck for the summer. What else is new, right?”

Damn, he’s sort of bringing me down. I remember last summer when he spent it with his family in the Hamptons. That’s exactly what he did—found some lonely housewife whose husband only came to visit for the weekends. Gabe regaled us with stories about fucking the chick every which way he could get her throughout the summer. Blonde and stacked, in her thirties and lonely as hell, he claimed he’d had a great time.