Page 43 of Nocturnal Sins
CHAPTER 13
Samira
I’d been avoiding Erin all day. I couldn’t avoid her at our last practice before the charity event though. She walked up to me with a smile, like she couldn’t sense the major bitch vibes rolling off me in waves.
“Hey, Sam,” she grinned.
“Hi.” I offered her a smile that was far too small to mask how fucking annoyed I was. I had to pull myself back though. I made it official with Santana. He was mine. I didn’t have to worry about him looking at Erin and I didn’t have to worry about her working whatever magic she thought she had on him either. He wouldn’t be interested.
Actually, Santana was the only man I ever trusted besides my father. I trusted him with my life. Even thinking about him made my belly flop.
“What’s wrong with you lately? You’ve been so bitchy and your head is somewhere else completely. We’re almost done with high school. This is no time for you to space out.” Erin flipped her waist-length braids to one side and folded her arms, looking at me for an answer.
“I’m sorry for being a bitch,” I shrugged.
“Okay…but what about your head being in the clouds? Do you have a new man or something?” I stopped unpacking my gym bag and looked at her. “You do have a new man. Ooh, spill. Is he older?” Erin was all smiles and giggles now.
“I don’t,” I said shaking my head. I couldn’t stop thinking about Santana though. How sexy he was when we were at the restaurant last night. The way his eyes turned black and murderous when he looked at Dom. The way he rubbed my feet when I sat beside him on the couch…
My throat closed up and I had to fight myself to get a breath in. When did the thought of Santana become so thick and heavy with emotion that it suffocated me? Suddenly, every nerve ending in my body started to hum and I felt compelled to go see him.
I wanted to hug him. To smell his scent. To feel his arms around me.
“What’s his name, Sam?” Erin’s face came back into view and I cleared my throat.
“I never said I had a man,” I creaked.
“It’s written all over your face. You’re about as red as a damn strawberry.” I pressed my palms to my cheeks and felt the heat on my skin. Fuck. I was blushing.
“It’s…new right now,” I said slowly. I had to tell somebody something or else I’d pop and since I had to wait until the charity event to see Santana, the next best thing was talking about him.
“Ooh, okay new. So what’s his name?” Erin asked again, slapping my arm.
“I can’t tell you. I want to keep everything a secret because bitches always try to use information against me.”
“This is true. So how old is he?” Erin asked as we started stretching.
“Twenty-one,” I smiled.
Erin paused and said, “Oh so he’s not that much older than us.”
“No. Not really.” I gave a quick shrug.
“He must be absolutely amazing if he has you on cloud nine like this. I mean, you’re not smiling a lot or anything obvious but you glow, I guess.” It was painful for Erin to compliment me. I could tell.
When things turned silent between us, her words became amplified in my mind.
Santana made me glow. He didn’t make me giggle every second of every day and we didn’t have pet names for each other but he made me content. I was truly at peace when I was with him. To me, that was better than being giggly and syrupy. To me, that was real.
***
I found it entirely too difficult to concentrate while I tried to set the cheer squad up. We were finally at Papa’s for the charity event and I kept catching glimpses of Santana out the corner of my eye. One second he’d be offering to help move something heavy then the next he’d be drilling me down with an intense stare that made me wet. My mind was all over the damn place.
“God, your brother is fine,” Erin sighed, leaning against me. Santana had just moved a booth out of the way so we could have enough room to cheer. I cleared my throat and turned to face her. I tried not to scowl but fuck, Santana made me crazy.
“He does have a girlfriend,” I told her.
“Oh? I thought you said he didn’t.”
