Page 42 of Reviving Kendall

I shake my head and laugh, “Not happening.”

“What’s not happening?” Mav asks, coming to sit back down.

I jump in quickly, “Nothing.” Lucas and Goose laugh.

His eyes narrow like he doesn’t believe me, but he doesn’t say anything, “Your choice in what we play, Kendall.”

I rub my hands together as I look over my options. There’s a bunch that I haven’t ever heard of, but I know Monopoly and how to play, “Can we do Monopoly and then play cards?” That way it keeps everyone happy.

Mav looks at me like he knows what I’m doing, but says yes anyways. It’s an hour or so later when we’re neck deep in fake money with Teagan and Mav arguing that I hear the click of the camera. I look over to see Ry standing over by the huge Christmas tree with the camera in her hand. She winks at me.

“Hey guys,” she calls out. She snaps another picture when they all look over. Their faces make me smile. That’s definitely going to make for a good one.

A few hours later, as I’m lying alone in bed, I find that I’m having trouble falling asleep. Mav’s words from before are on repeat in my head, but I can’t seem to stop replaying what happened today between not only us, but Lucas as well. If I can just hold out until the end of the school year, they’ll all be off to some ridiculously expensive college and I’ll still be in Sleepy Pines. The thought makes my chest hurt, but it’s for the best.

I toss and turn for the next hour or so until my phone reads one in the morning. No missed calls or anything from Robert or Gramps either, thankfully, but I’m never going to get any sleep like this. Sighing, I toss the covers back and go in search of something to drink in the kitchen. The house is eerily silent, with only the sound of the heater and fridge in the kitchen to break it. Grabbing a water, I make my way out into the day room. It’s a room of mostly windows from floor to ceiling. Since its pitch black, I can see all the way out to the tree line. The moon is so bright that it’s visible even through the clouds still spitting little puffs of snow. It’s so peaceful that I wish I could live in this one moment forever. Nothing else exists.

“Can’t sleep?” a voice asks in a hush from behind me. He can try to be quiet all that he wants, but I’d recognize that deep tone anywhere. Maverick.

I don’t bother turning around, “Not really. Just have a lot stuck in my head right now.”

He doesn’t say anything for so long that I think that he’s left me to my weirdness. Then I hear the air stir behind me. His hand lifts the hair off my shoulder and his lips find that spot between my neck and shoulder. Sighing, I lean into him, taking a risk that it’ll make him pull away. He does the exact opposite by wrapping an arm around my middle. I feel his fingers playing with the hem of my shirt right before they slip underneath to rest palm flat on my stomach.

He kisses that spot on my shoulder again and pulls me tight. When I turn my face to him, his lips come down on mine and he wastes no time in begging me to open for him. I’m not given the option. There’s so much dominance in his kiss that my skin feels like it’s on fire. Without breaking away from him, I turn my whole body in his arms and wrap my fingers into his hair as I pull him even closer to me. He, no joke, growls into my mouth, and I let out this pathetic whimper, almost like a submissive wolf to its alpha. This flips some kind of switch in him, because I’m lifted in his arms as he walks us across the room before I even know what’s happening.

My back hits a soft material as he drops us onto a makeshift bed. This must be where he was sleeping tonight. I would apologize for waking him up if I knew I could do it and mean it. As it stands, I’m glad I did.

His hands roam over every inch of skin that’s not covered by my clothes and since I’m in nothing other than a light off the shoulder sweater and a pair of boy shorts, there’s quite a bit. Not exactly fair with him in a t-shirt and sleep pants. Reaching down, I make a move to pull off his shirt and he freezes. He sits back on his heels and stares down at me. I’m scared to make any moves, because I know he could instantly turn back into his usual distant self, even if it would be hard to come back from this.

Whatever is going on in his brain, he must decide, because his arms go behind him right before he yanks his shirt off and tosses it to the floor. Even in the half light from the moon, there are no actual words to express how fucking sexy he looks. Mav may be a touch smaller in the muscle department, but he’s still just as defined and chiseled as the others.

My hands roam all across his bare skin and his head falls back with a look of pure bliss. He’s got a few tattoos spattered across his chest, but they’re hard to make out from the angle we’re in. The scorpion right on his hip bone stands out more clearly than the others. When my fingers go to trace it, he jerks away. I’m pressed into the soft mattress as his body collides with mine.

He starts with my mouth and leaves a burning trail behind as his lips make their way down my neck and collar bone. When his teeth graze my raised nipple through my shirt, my gasp is loud in the silence of the room.

It isn’t until I feel his tongue on the bare skin of my stomach that I come to my senses. “Wait,” I whisper.

Mav looks up at me. He’s ditched the glasses at some point and I’m rewarded with my first glimpse of his eyes without anything in the way. The dark blue is close to being lost in the dark. I almost forget why I stopped him. Using my fingers underneath his chin, I pull him up to level with me again. There are reasons that he’s been keeping his distance from me and it would destroy me more for anything to happen tonight then him pull away again. Doing the dumbest thing ever in my life, I place a soft kiss against his lips. He can tell right away that things aren’t going any further, because he isn’t overbearingly dominant the way that he was before.

As he pulls away this time, he lies down on his side and positions us so my back is against his chest. I’ve never slept the night with anyone before, so this may turn out to be a more sleepless night than if I’d have stayed in my own room. Mav’s hand grips my stomach and hugs me tight. With the snow still falling in the silence of the night, I don’t even remember my last thought as I drift away.

One Of Her And Four Of Us

Waking up the next morning, I feel more rested than I have in months, but that’s quickly crushed when I realize that Mav left me alone at some point in the night. Pulling myself together, I shake off the ominous feeling sitting in my gut. I don’t hear anything in the house still, so I’m hoping to make it up to my room without getting caught. This feels too much like a walk of shame, even though nothing happened. Have I mentioned just how un-fucking-lucky I am?

As I round the corner of the kitchen, Lucas and I almost run straight into each other. He smiles down at me until his eyes do a once over my body then look over my shoulder from the room that I just came from. There couldn’t possibly be more shock showing on his face. I know what he’s thinking and my face flames. It automatically puts me on the defensive. Tapping the bottom of his chin, I try to get him to shut his mouth that had popped open and walk around him.

I don’t see any of the other guys and I take my time getting ready. When I finally make it down, they are waiting for me in the living room area. Mav avoids my eyes and I’m not going to lie, it stings. Lucas must see something on my face, because his usual smile turns into a frown and he glares at Maverick.

Trying to break the tension, I ask, “So, what are we doing today?”

Teagan is completely oblivious, “Well, that’s what we were sitting here trying to decide.”

Goose looks at the floor and it sets off my radar, “What is it?”

Maverick meets my eyes for the first time with his mask back into place. All traces of the person he was last night are gone, “It snowed all night, so it might be a rough ride up to the resort where we’re supposed to be going.”

It takes a second for it to click, “Would you guys make the trip if I wasn’t here?”

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