Page 68 of Love Collided

“What kind of deal?”

“A deal where we are exclusively taking out our sexual frustrations on each other.”

She looked up at me with wide eyes, taking in my words before her hands went to her hips, the defiant stance letting her feel in charge.

“Are you trying to ask me to be exclusive in a friends with benefits type mess?”

I stepped a little closer to her, trying to remind myself that we were still in public. This would be a mess, but nothing that I couldn’t handle. Plus, the thought of someone else touching her when I wanted to was infuriating.

“If that’s what it takes to be the only one touching you, then yes.”

“Does that same rule apply to other girls touching you?”

“My body will be exclusively yours whenever you want it.”

“What about her?”

“Two rules. We are not telling the crew, there is no way they would let me hear the end of this, and two, no relationship stuff. I don’t want this to get confusing.”

“Fine,” I said, not liking how hard my teeth gritted together. She was agreeing to exactly what I offered, but somehow I wasn’t as happy about it as I hoped.

The crew motioned for us as they started to walk around. We followed for a while in silence until I finally broke us away from them, heading the opposite direction back to our cars.

“So does that mean holding hands is off limits?” I asked, not missing the way guys’ eyes seemed to trail her way. How they didn’t leave her as we passed. It felt like I could read their minds and hated every thought, even if I was having the same ones. My hands flexed, each ring feeling more like a brass knuckle on my hand than an accessory.

She rolled her eyes, but smiled. “You want to hold hands? In public? Doesn’t that go against your rich playboy appearance?”

“It absolutely does, but I figured I could be holding your hand here and still keep up appearances in my circles.” I leaned down, noticing how her shoulders straightened as I got close. “It could be one more addition to our dirty little secret, and damn, it is fucking dirty.” I laughed as she shot me a glare.

“Alright, I think that’s enough. Please keep in mind we are in my circle and I need to keep up my own appearances.”

“A lone little wolf who likes to kick guys’ asses in racing?”

The need to kiss her again was taking over my life, and I was currently weighing the risk of doing it right here.

“Could I be a lone wolf when I have several friends that I go everywhere with?”

“Probably not, but appearances don’t always have to be true,” I said.

I knew mine sure as hell wasn’t. I woke up today looking forward to the day. I wasn’t trying to get through it, besides wanting time to go faster before I could be here tonight with her. Not even that I was looking forward to after. Apparently, it was another night of the guys going out while the girls had theirnight, and I was invited. I was invited to go to plenty of parties, but a group of people who actually liked hanging out beyond getting trashed together was new to me.

I angled her along the line of cars, heading towards mine. I had parked next to the crew, but I came with a new car tonight and none of them were going to know it was me next to them.

“You seem in a weirdly good mood tonight. Something I should know about?” she asked.

“Not at all. Just enjoying myself and looking forward to the races.”

We came around the last car, and I watched as she saw it. Her eyes went wide and mouth dropped open, silent as her pace picked up the slightest bit.

The neon green Hellcat sat next to Fox’s Supra. I knew Scout’s car broke down again, and had already planned on letting her race it, but the look on her face when she saw it was unmatched by any experience I’ve ever had giving someone a gift, and she didn’t even know it would be hers yet.

“Oh my god,” she said, walking over and stepping around it. “This wasn’t here when we pulled in.”

“No? It would be hard to miss.”

“Hard to miss? It would be impossible. This is my dream car currently.”

“Really? I wouldn’t have guessed. You should sit in it.” She had only spent an hour of our road trip talking about it. I hadn’t even added to the conversation, just listened as she told me damn near every detail in it. My friend’s dad owned all the car dealerships in town and was more than happy to order me one when I texted him.

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