Forever With You (Silver State Series) (20 page)

I’ve spent the last half hour pressed up against a wall, tracking Beatrix’s movements from the perimeter of the large room while attempting to garner as little attention as possible.  Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done – I’ve already had to shoo away a couple of buzzed frat brothers whose “girl standing alone” radar had picked me out of the crowd the moment they walked into the room.

The bass pounding in my ears is giving me a headache; it’s a miracle I’m able to feel my phone vibrate over the pulsing of the floorboards.  A text message from Kyle scrolls across the screen.

Wanna come over tonight?

God, leaving this hellhole and going someplace quiet sounds
amazing
right now – but I can’t leave Beatrix…
Not that I’m even pulling my weight as a companion for this evening
.  I’m sure she’s already fed up with my asocial behavior.

I wish.  At the NAK party…

I take it you’re not having fun?

Not exactly

That probably means you’re not drunk enough.  I know a couple guys in NAK, maybe I’ll swing by.

My lips curl in a guilty smile.
 

Sure, see you soon

Kyle
– 10:00 PM

I
squeeze sideways between groups of people, exchanging nods and high fives with the occasional acquaintance, as I search for Tawny.  Given the sheer number of people here, I’m not convinced I’ll be able to find her.  When I walk into the large, high-ceilinged room at the back of the house, however, my eyes settle on her almost immediately. 
Holy shit –
she looks like a fucking
goddess
in that outfit.  Normally I don’t go for girls who wear a lot of makeup, but even that’s working for her.

I can’t help smiling to myself as I observe her from this distance.  I’m almost positive the scowl on her face is intended to keep the horny drunks away, but it’s actually accomplishing the opposite – the forbidden, mysterious air she’s putting off makes her appear downright irresistible.

Slowly I make my way toward her; I’m halfway across the floor when I notice alarm register in her face, then turn to see the guy approaching her.  I nearly break out into a jog when I witness him pinning her against the wall with both his hands.

A mixture of indignation and fear is scrawled over Tawny’s face; it morphs into relief when she sees me over the other guy’s shoulder.  I step up next to her and snake my arm around her waist, pulling her up against my side, away from the gorilla breathing down her neck.  I push lightly against his shoulder, knocking him off kilter.  “She’s with me, man,” I tell him, keeping my voice even so as not to provoke him.

He looks from me back to Tawny, whose hand is flattened against my stomach, claiming me as I claim her.  She gives a slight confirmatory nod, and his shoulders slump in resignation.  “Sorry, dude,” he says, backing away with his hands raised.  “Didn’t realize she was taken.”  With that he turns and disappears into the crowd.

I glance down at Tawny.  Her eyes are glued to his receding back as she chews thoughtfully on her lower lip – her teeth look startlingly white against the bright crimson shade of her mouth.  Finally she glances back up at me, her expression inscrutable, and drops her hand from my stomach. 

“Okay?” I ask her.

She nods.  “He backed off easier than I thought he would.”

I shrug.  “Thankfully most of these frat guys are fairly low key when they’re drunk.”

I study her face as her eyes continue to sweep the room like she doesn’t quite know what to make of it.  It’s obvious she’s not much for partying – or maybe it’s that she’s never been shown how to enjoy herself.

Stepping in front of her, I take both her hands in my own and interlace our fingers.  “Hey,” I say through my smile as I duck down to meet her eye.  “Do a shot with me.”

“What?” she asks, her eyes snapping back to my face.

“Do a shot with me,” I repeat.  “Have you ever done one before?”

She looks at me for a moment without replying.  Finally, she shakes her head.

“Will you do one with me?” I ask.  “Just one – I promise if you hate it I’ll never bug you about it again.”

“Why?” she asks suspiciously, her stance guarded.

“It’ll help you loosen up,” I tell her, leaning closer so she can hear me over the thumping of the music.  “Just try one with me, and if you’re still not having fun in twenty minutes let’s bail.”

I pull back a couple of inches so I can make out her face.  She closes her eyes and nods once, then falls into step behind me as I lead her away.

Tawny – 10:15 PM

I
cling to Kyle’s hand as he winds his way through the throng
of sweaty drunk people; Beatrix winks knowingly at me as I pass her.  We leave the main room to find a table holding several tall glass bottles of liquor.

“Any idea what you might like?” Kyle asks, kneading the palm of my hand with his thumb as I nervously take in the spread.

“Not really,” I reply, my voice barely more than a whisper.

“Hmm…”  He picks up a couple of red plastic cups and gazes thoughtfully at the selection before reaching for a bottle filled with amber liquid.  “No matter what it’s gonna taste bad,” he says as he pours a small amount in each of the cups, shrugging like it doesn’t much matter which particular poison I’d like to consume. 

I peer into the cups and notice one has about twice as much in it as the other one.  Kyle notices the question that registers in my face as I recognize the clear discrepancy and points to the fuller cup as he says, “Don’t worry, that one’s mine.  I’m guessing I can handle my liquor a little better than you can, being a guy and all.  It’ll be more fun if we
both
have a buzz.”

“Oh,” is all I can think to reply.

“We need to find you a chaser,” he says suddenly.  He hands me my cup and stalks off in the direction of a huge ice chest filled with canned soft drinks.  Meanwhile, I lift the cup to my face and take a sniff of what’s inside –
ugh, gag me
.  Even the smell makes my stomach curl.  Suddenly I’m terrified I might throw up if I drink this in front of Kyle.

When he returns he’s carrying a can of Pepsi.  He gestures at the cup in my hand and says, “Okay, now you’ll wanna just swallow that all at once, then immediately take a drink of the Pepsi.  Got it?”

I feel numb and tingly all over, paralyzed in fear – all I can do is nod.

He flashes me a brilliant smile as he drops his hand to snatch up my fingers again.  “I’m gonna do it with you,” he says.  “On the count of three – one, two,
three
!”

I crane my neck back and down the liquid in one gulp as instructed; it travels down my throat and into my belly, searing the back of my esophagus like a noxious acid.  Almost immediately I begin to wobble as the wooziness overtakes me – I’m only barely aware of Kyle grabbing my elbow to steady me while emphatically reminding me to drink the Pepsi.  I submissively lift the can to my lips and take several gulps of the cold, carbonated beverage, reveling in the healing power of the micro bubbles as they ricochet down my throat.

When I lower the can and look back at Kyle, he has a guarded smile on his face as he waits to see how I’ll react.  Embarrassingly, a hiccup escapes me, a product of too much carbonation flooding my stomach.  To my relief, Kyle only chuckles as he uses his thumb to swipe the excess liquid from my lower lip.  I tremble when he brings the thumb up to his mouth and sucks the sweetness off of it.

“How do you feel?” he asks, grasping my shoulders in his big hands.

“Really…warm?” I say.  “And a little wobbly.”

He nods.  “Maybe you should sit down.”  He bundles me against his side and wraps his arm around my shoulders.  “Don’t worry – it’ll wear off and you’ll start to feel good.”

Kyle – 10:30 PM

I
figured one shot was all it’d take for Tawny to feel the edge from the alcohol, and I was right.  I made her sit down on the steps until the dizziness passed, but after a couple of minutes she was practically floating, not to mention giggling hysterically.  I pointed out that she’s wearing two different hoop earrings, one gold and the other silver and slightly larger, then watched her entire body shake as she dissolved into a fit of laughter.  She’s both funny and extremely endearing.

After a few minutes it becomes clear she’s in need of an outlet for her newly discovered reserve of energy.  She looks at me in surprise when I stand up and thrust my hands down at her.  “Come on,” I say, curling my fingers around hers and giving her a tug.  “Dance with me.”

“I suck at dancing,” she says as she rises hesitantly to her feet on the step above me.  “I’ll hurt you.”

“I promise you won’t hurt me,” I reply.

Her heels click down the stairs behind me as we descend into the foyer and head back down the hall toward the room with the dance floor.  Once we reach the rim of the crowd, I pull Tawny into it a ways, thinking she might feel less vulnerable if she’s not as exposed.  I wait for her to make a wide-eyed sweep of her surroundings; finally, satisfied no one is watching, she turns back to me.

I latch onto her waist and wind both arms tightly around her middle.  At first she feels stiff, but she seems to slowly relax against me as I begin swaying my hips to the music.  Her hands clutch at my upper arms as she rocks along with me, her eyes half-lidded as they gaze unflinchingly into mine.

She’s just begun to really loosen up when a girl I recognize barges into the narrow space between us, her eyes wild.  She’s a sorority girl named Blythe – I remember her from a party I went to earlier last summer.  She’d pretty much attached herself to my hip the entire night and hadn’t taken it so well when I let her down at the end of the evening by leaving alone.  Now she’s grinding up against my side very provocatively, clearly three sheets to the wind.

I glance at Tawny, who’s viewing the intrusion with an adorable mixture of unease and frustration.  Knowing I need to do something, I bend over so my lips are close to Blythe’s ear in hopes of increasing the chances I’ll be heard over the loud music.  “Not tonight,” I tell her.  “I’m here with somebody.”  Thankfully she starts to back off, but much to my horror she gives me a seductive smile and a wink as she slips away into the crowd.

I look back at the beautiful girl in my arms, whose face is understandably filled with confusion.  I latch onto her tighter and lean in close.  “I just told her to get lost,” I say to reassure her.  Tawny seems doubtful, but by the time the song changes she’s relaxed again some. 

She swirls her hips around, feeling the beat rising up through the vibrating floorboards.  Each time the slick material of her dress slides past my crotch I have to remind myself we’re in a room with dozens and dozens of other people – even if that fact clearly isn’t standing in the way of some other couples on the dance floor, who are already in the midst of methodically undressing one another.

The song changes again, and now Tawny is
definitely
getting into it.  She’s gyrating against me with this seductive gleam in her eye that has me wondering yet again whether she’s really as inexperienced as she claims to be – I’ve never met anyone with a more natural talent for making me want to get down on my knees and beg.

Finally I place my hands on Tawny’s hip bones and spin her around so she’s facing away from me.  At first she peers back over her shoulder, uncertain what it is I’m wanting, but when I pull her ass back against me she seems to catch on.  She bends her knees, crouching down while grinding circles against my cock, which is quickly solidifying into a bona fide hard-on.

I reach around in front of her and wrap my fingers around her hands, then slowly lift her arms and cross her wrists behind my neck.  She arches against me, her body still moving in time to the music, as I slide my hands back down her body, skimming the sides of her breasts before flattening my palms against her hard stomach and finally curling my fingers back around her hips.  She squeezes at the back of my neck, bringing my head down till my lips graze against her bare shoulder and a current of electricity surges through me.

God, I am so fucking turned on right now
.

Tawny – 11:00 PM

I
can feel sweat trickling down the center of my back, my arms glisten with perspiration, and my hair is matted to my damp forehead – but I can’t remember the last time I had this much
fun
.  The feeling of being completely liberated from all my galling inhibitions is at once enlivening and terrifying.  I always thought I would be the type of person who would hate to relinquish my reasoning and judgment and self-control to any form of chemical stimulant, but this is a level of exhilaration I’ve never known.

Plus, I’m so turned on I can barely see straight.  Kyle’s hands are all over me – my butt, my legs, my stomach, my chest, my arms – never lingering in any one spot for long, but just long enough to drive me completely insane in my lust for
more
.

Finally he bends close to my ear and says, “You ready to get out of here?”  It’s more a growl, really, and it causes my spine to quiver in anticipation.

I whirl around to face him.  “Yes,” I whisper.  I’m sure he wasn’t able to hear me over the music, but he seems to have read my lips, because he intertwines our fingers and begins to lead the way back through the mob.  I’m lucky to catch Beatrix’s eye just before we reach the door – she offers me a wink and a two-fingered salute just before the door shuts behind us.

Chapter 17 – Record

Saturday & Sunday, September 17-18