I paused. “What?”
I heard him swallow, and my chest grew tight.
“It’s about something Jim said when we came home. Before I got into the argument with my dad.”
An uneasiness settled on my shoulders.
“He said that the police know who killed your father. They’ve been tracking the group for a while. It’s some sort of undercover sting.”
I sat up straight and turned around to look at Christian. He was leaning back on the wooden side of the treehouse in jeans. His brown hair was tousled on top as if some stylist actually came and laid every strand to look messy and sexy. I locked eyes with him.
“An undercover sting?”
He nodded. “He told me to stay out of it and he had to, too. Obviously, interfering would cause the sting to go wrong. The same men who killed your father are, apparently, some of the biggest drug dealers in the city. They’re more than likely the ones who sold my mom her pills.”
A weird sensation washed over me. Relief? Relief that my father may get some sort of justice. Or was it a feeling of hope? Hope that the authorities would put those men away for a long time. The threat they spewed years ago would be gone, and I wouldn’t have to have this little voice in the back of my head telling me to tread lightly, to be careful, and to watch my back. I hoped that Christian’s family would get some sort of justice, too.
“Tell me what you’re thinking.” Christian’s soft voice tore my gaze from the tattered rug.
“I’m thinking…” I bit my lip, teetering it back and forth between my teeth. “I’m thinking I’m glad I’m not alone in this anymore.”
My heart felt full inside my chest. So full that it might just explode. His arms reached out and he pulled me into his body. His hands found my face, and his lips sealed the deal.
This was real.
Christian and I. We were real.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Christian
“Christian,” she hissed under her breath as my hands toyed with the top of her underwear. “Stop it! If we wake up Pete, I’ll have to shove you out the window, and then you’ll die, and then I’ll go back to being alone.”
I smiled along her soft skin. Her hair smelled good; she smelled good. “Let Pete find me. I don’t care.”
She giggled underneath me.
We should have been sleeping. We had school tomorrow, and it was already almost three in the morning. I snuck in here hours ago, and after promising Hayley I’d let her study for a few, (and to be honest, I needed to study some, too) I finally talked her into fooling around. I couldn’t help myself. After Friday night, this girl was branded onto my skin, my heart, and my brain. She ran laps around my head all day long.
Last night, she made me promise I wouldn’t interrupt her girls’ night with Piper this weekend, since we never ended up going back to her house Friday night. After the treehouse, Hayley and I finally climbed down and went back inside to my dark house. My father had gone to bed and then left early the next morning with things unsettled, like usual.
Hayley made a good point that morning when I brushed off his disappearance. She came up behind me as I made coffee, trying to hide my resentment. My father was a runner at best, constantly running from tough shit.
When her arms hit my middle, burying her head into my back, my body stilled. I wasn’t used to affection. Even with Madeline, or whoever it was that I was fucking, we never got affectionate unless it was some sort of foreplay, but Hayley was different. It felt right. It felt serene. I basked in her warmth, and I’d been thinking about her words since the moment they left her lips. “Remember how you felt when you thought it was your fault that your mom died? That you and I caused the wreck and were the ones who started the domino effect? Every time you looked at me, you felt immense guilt, right? Well, that’s how your dad probably feels when he sees you or Ollie. He probably feels like he failed you, and sure, in a way he did, but everyone deserves a second chance. Let last night sink in, and maybe he’ll come around and face his issues. After all, you did, didn’t you?”
Hayley. She was what I was missing in life.
“Christian,” she quietly moaned as my finger slipped inside her wet folds. My dick grew stiff; my balls tightened. I’d never wanted to taste someone so much before. I couldn’t get enough of her, and it was downright ridiculous that I thought I’d ever be able to resist this girl.
“Tell me you like it,” I whispered in her ear before taking her lobe with my teeth. She moved her hips up to meet my finger and worked herself to the point of oblivion within seconds. I sucked on her flesh as my other hand traveled to her nipple. She had lost her bra a while ago, right after I interrupted her studies.
“I…” Her breathing was ragged, her nipple tightening as her hips moved faster. I slipped another finger in, eager to please her. It was the biggest turn-on of all. Watching Hayley let loose, her hair messy, her mouth parted. It was my own fucking porno. “I…”
I stopped moving my fingers. “Tell me,” I said again, my mouth hovering above hers.
Her eyes flared with lustful need. “I like it.” Her hips bucked upward, and my cocky grin fell back in its place. Pausing like that seemed to work in my favor, because as soon as I pulled my finger out and back in once more, Hayley came. I sealed her mouth with mine to drown out her moans.
Once she calmed down, she pulled my fingers out of her pussy and pulled me on top of her. My dick was hard, yet tucked away within my pants, but I moved over her anyway, loving her warmth.