Page 91 of Steeling Her
“Carter? Are you okay?” He asks stepping slowly towards me.
“Um . . . Y-yeah . . . I’m . . . Can I . . . come in?” I pant trying to catch my breath but it’s really hard to right now. I’m rubbing my chest like it’s going to help the oxygen intake. The sharp coldness circulating around my lungs makes me hold my breath after each intake.
“Yeah, sure, come in.” He takes my arm and guides me towards the kitchen. “You can sit there.” He points to a seat at the countertop. I sit on the cushion while he gets me some water. I’m breathing slowly to get a grip of myself. Maybe running wasn’t the best idea.
I thank him for the water and calm down as well as cool myself down. Rolling the plastic along my skin for a soothing effect, I decide that the cold marble does a much better job so I lean my cheeks on the surface, sighing at how cold is the material is. I used to do this as a kid when I’d come in from playing outside with my brothers during summer.
I look weird, so Nick starts to laugh at me. I laugh back, knowing I look ridiculous.
“I’m so unfit.” I smile up at him. His eyes are shining while staring at me. Once I’m done dealing with my rapid heart rate, I sit back and stand up next to him. “Um, so, can I talk with you? Alone?” I ask him and he nods, bringing me up to his room, one I’ve never been in before. A double bed is in the center up against the white wall, blue cloth decorates the sheets, and there’s a desk opposite to the bed. Clothes are piled on top of it as well as along the floor. A few football posters hanging on the walls, and some cheerleaders or dancers for teams are there too. A large window is beside the end of the bed, adjacent to it, while there’s an open door to what looks like the bathroom on the other side of the bed.
“Sorry about the mess, I wasn’t expecting someone to come over.” He starts to pick some clothes up and throw them in the laundry basket beside the door. He sits on the bed, and I stand in the doorway looking around his room. “What do you want to talk about?” he asks with a little quiver in his voice. He’s knows there’s only one thing that we need to talk about.
“Nick, I owe you an apology.” He raises both eyebrows at me, shocked that I’m saying this. “I know that Maya and Ryan set you up. Well, I just found out about it now. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you, or believe you, or give you the chance to explain your side of the story. I just . . . I didn’t want to get hurt again.” He stands up, taking me in his arms, and I wrap my own around his waist, allowing him hug me. I missed his touch so much. He’s so warm and cozy.
“I should be the one who’s sorry, Carter, not you. I know I didn’t do anything, but I still made you upset. I’m sorry that I did. But I’m glad you know that I was set up. How’d you find out anyway?” he asks, tightening his hold on me.
“This morning, I heard Maya gloating about you in bed and that she and Ryan set you up so I would stay away from you,” I mumble into his rock hard chest. I feel so guilty that I never gave him the chance to explain, I was just so angry with him and thought it was happening all over again.
“Yeah, that would be right . . . I’m sorry this happened though. I haven’t touched Maya since the day after meeting you, which has been a while.” He laughs, mumbling the last part away from me.What does he mean by that?
“I really am sorry though . . .” I step back away from him. I send him a tight smile and look down at my intertwined fingers. I play with them to distract myself.
“Hey, I get why you reacted like that. Your dad and brothers came and spoke to me—”
“They what?” I cover my face in embarrassment while he bounces back on his bed, chuckling at my beetroot-red face.Why do they do this crap every time?It’s like they want guys to never touch me or be with me. It’s super annoying and too much.
“Yeah, they came and spoke to me . . . and Ryan.” I groan loudly and walk over to the wall beside him. He laughs again. I sigh in annoyance at them. I’m going to have to have a word. That’s so embarrassing. I hate when they do that. No wonder I can’t get any dates.
“Ugh, that’s so embarrassing. I’m just going to leave now.” Before I could even take a step out the door, Nick wraps his hand around my wrist, pulling me back in.
“I’m not done with you yet, Steel.” I turn to see a smile on his face. One I’m a little skeptical of, if I’m honest. If he’s going to make me do something that’s embarrassing, I swear. Hearing what my brothers and dad did is enough for one day.
“Is that so, Jackson?” I ask him laughing in between my words because I’m nervous. He nods and sits back down on the bed still pulling me closer to him.
“I want something from you,” he whispers to me. I settle between his legs and he starts to stroke the backs of my legs with his calloused hands. They feel amazing despite the hard texture. All while this is happening, my heart is bouncing up and down, excited by his small touch—so small, I bet he doesn’t even realize he’s doing it.
“And what’s that?” I ask as I smile back, biting down on my lower lip. He taps his lips with his index finger and I can’t help the smile becoming wider on my face.
“I want my apology here.” His finger rests on his lips. Not the apology I had in mind, but I’m not going to decline the offer.
“What if I say no?” I tease him, and he smirks back at me.
“I’m not asking, I’m telling you, Steel.” I lean into him. I cup my hands around the nape of his neck and kiss his lips. Pressing our lips together, we both moan lowly at the sensation. The door to the house opens with giggles from a guy and girl. It’s probably that girl that was in the bathroom earlier with Rob.
Nick pulls me down to sit on his lap as our tongue flick each other’s lips, playfully ignoring the other people coming in. I’m straddling his hips. I miss this so much. The kiss begins to deepen with every breath we gasp for, and we freeze when we hear that laugh. A body slams against the wall and we pull back from each other.
I turn my body around to face my roommate all over TJ, both of their eyes closed in the moment while they heatedly kiss each other. As if TJ could feel my eyes on him, he opens them and they widen with every passing second.
“Oh shit,” he curses.
“What the fuck?” Nick booms at the same time. Haley’s head whips around to see me on top of her brother; her eyes dart back and forth between us.
“What the hell?” she squeaks.
“Oh no,” I cry and immediately get off Nick. I back out of the way as Nick strides towards TJ and picks him up. He pulls his fist back and punches TJ in the hollow of his cheekbone, hitting it perfectly.
“Nick!” Haley roars, trying to pull him off his best friend. Punch after punch, TJ tries to catch his hands from making contact. He managed to block some hits, but not much. Nothing can be heard except for the crunch of the hits and the grunts coming from both boys.
