West
“Ready to eat?” McKenzie says brightly, as if I didn’t just pour out my heart to her. As if we hadn’t just shared a moment while she’d allowed me to comfort her, even as she sobbed out her hatred of me.
Confused as hell, I agree, holding out my hand. She eyes it, like I’m offering her a poisoned apple, and then takes it. Before I can say another word, she plows ahead, almost dragging me along.
“Stop,” I demand, right before we get to the entrance. “Stop and tell me what the hell is going on.”
Halting in the middle of the parking lot, she tilts her head to one side, hair falling over one shoulder. Pretty eyes are wide with innocence. “We’re on a date, and getting ready to go inside.”
“You know what I mean.”
“What I know is that as soon as this sorry excuse for a date is over that I’ll go back to my old life and you’ll go back to yours, absolved of guilt.”
“One date with you will absolve me from years of—” I suck in air. Son of a bitch.
She smiles, blinding bright and fake. “Sure it will.” Tugging on my hand, she jerks her head toward the door. “Ready?”
“No.”
“A bit too much to be seen with Lawn Girl in a public place?”
“No, damn you.” This is all wrong. “Tell me what to do, McKenzie. Tell me what to do to make-”
“You feel better,” she finishes for me. Her hand is still in mine, but there’s an ocean between us.
“I don’t give a good damn about feeling better. I want you to feel better,” I shout at her.
She flinches. People waiting in line for their buzzer to go off in the parking lot get quiet and stare at us. Some I know, a couple I don’t. I could give two shits about what any of them think right now.
“Tell me what to do.” I fall to my knees and look up at her, arms stretched wide and palms up. “Is this what you want? Is this where you want me? I’m down on my knees for you, telling the entire world that I’m sorry. I screwed up and screwed you over, for years, all because I wanted you to notice me. I wanted you to want me like I wanted you. An asinine reason, but it’s there, it’s real.”
“Get up,” she hisses, but once again, tears are in her eyes. “This isn’t funny.”
“You’re right. It isn’t funny. It’s a damn shame that no one defended you, not the teachers or other students. It was you versus all of us.”
“Enough,” she pleads. “I can’t take anymore.”
I dig into my pocket and pull out the keys. “Take them.”
“Why?”
“Leave me here on my knees in front of everyone.”
“No.”
Closing my eyes, I throw my keys across the parking lot, and then open them. “Then you leave me with no choice.” I shrug out of my coat, then pull my shirt up and over my head. My St. Benedictine medallion hits my chest, the chain cooling against my skin. I hear whispering and a few calls of my name. My hands go to my pants, unbuttoning the top button.
“Are you taking off all of your clothes?” McKenzie asks, her voice shaky and slightly high pitched.
I nod. “This is your chance to get back at me.” I finish unbuttoning my jeans, the cold air washing over my back and chest and hitting my hips as I pull them lower. “Laugh at me, point at me, and talk about how little my junk is. Say I suck in bed and leave me here.”
Her lower lip trembles. “I don’t want to get back at you.” She takes my hand and tugs lightly. I refuse to move. “Please, West. Humiliating you doesn’t solve anything.”
Only her please could get me to stop. I stand, my heart racing like I’ve just played three-on-two for an entire period without a break, as her hands go to the waistband of my jeans. She re-buttons them, then grabs my shirt and pulls it over my head, dressing me like I am a child.
I swear that this is the most intimate moment of my life, standing in the parking lot of a restaurant while the girl I’ve been in love with for years saves me from willingly humiliating myself.
Then she does the unexpected, she takes my face in her hands, and instead of the slap I deserve, she kisses me.
My hands hover over her shoulders, wanting to touch her, wanting to take control of this kiss, but I don’t. This is her moment.
Her lips move under mine and I follow her lead. She presses small kisses to the side of my mouth, her tongue skimming the seam of my lips. Unable to stop myself, I part my lips, and that sweet tongue of hers glides inside, meeting mine.
With a groan, I deepen the kiss and finally settle my hands on the curves of her waist. I fit her against me, molding her body to mine, so that not even the cold December air can come between us. Our tongues tangle as we taste each other, as we remember how the other likes to be kissed.
I’m coming undone, all from this kiss. My body wants her, my dick is straining to get inside her. Images, sights, and sounds from our intertwined past bombard me. She’d been hot, sweet, tight, and passionate.
And loud, so damn loud that I almost came from listening to her moans and words while I ate her out.
“Get a room,” I hear one of my buddies from high school call out.
McKenzie pulls away first, her cheeks flushed. I press another kiss to her closed mouth, then the tip of her nose. “That was a hell of a kiss.”
She nods. “I’m not hungry,” she says.
“Do you want to go home?”
“No.”
Relief, so palpable that I can taste it, buzzes through me, heightening my need for her. “Do you want to go somewhere else… with me, where we can be alone?”
One heartbeat, two, then three, and about a million more before she answers. “Yes.”