Page 14 of Insatiable

“She loves it,” he replies, taking another drink of his beer.

I raise a brow and glare as I nod towards my retreating friend. “Oh, evidently.”

Dez winks at me with a smirk, pulling himself onto the counter. Before I can search for Tylar to console her, Dez glances over my shoulder. “You want another beer, Kade?”

I freeze.

He must nod, because his friend reaches out a bottle towards my shoulder. A warmth radiates against my back as Kade takes the drink, knuckles all bloodied and cut open. I hold my breath, trying to ignore my treacherous hormones as heat coils at my spine.

I can smell him, the spice of his aftershave and the shampoo he uses on his hair. It’s intoxicating, memories flooding me of my fingers wrapped in his waves, the scent of his pillow, the sound of his laugh when I sing terribly.

Still standing closely behind me, he only hums, and the deep rumble goes straight from my chest to between my legs, tingling all the way down like fireworks.

My cheeks are most likely red. I haven’t been this close to him in such a long time. The alcohol is numbing my common sense, because my body should not be reacting this way.

Does he feel the same way I do right now? Is he itching to grab me and drag me into an unoccupied room? Probably not, since he hates my guts.

Dez glances at a tall, leggy redhead walking in and tilts his head at her. “Did you not fuck her last night?”

I walk away before I can hear Kade’s response.

“I could look at you all day, do you know that?”

“Stop being romantic,Kade– I might get the wrong idea.”

A low laugh, and… “Just another thing you taught me, Freckles. Don’t go home tonight. Stay with me.”

I nod, and he presses me to the mattress, nudging my legs apart…

No.

I refuse to go back to that memory, the moment I knew what he meant to me.

At that point, he was everything.

And I lost him.

4

STACEY

When I eventually stop dancing and sit down next to my friends, I can breathe. They gossip, play Never Have I Ever, where I completely dodge most questions when they discuss our firsts, then take the remaining shots set out on the table.

I’m not sure why Kade has suddenly started making an appearance. For the past two years, I’ve only seen him a handful of times.

And I’m either met with silence, glares, derisive snorts or passing comments muttered under his breath that he doesn’t think I can hear.

He’s changed so much from the timid boy who couldn’t understand basic emotions, who needed to be shown that it’s okay to feel, who got nervous when he had no idea what he was doing in the bedroom tothisversion.

By the time the crowd starts to disperse, it’s four in the morning. Lu’s in bed, leaving Ty, myself and a few others to play more drinking games.

We’re all pretty drunk, happy, laughing while taking shots to prolong our buzz – until Kade, Dez and Base walk into the sitting area, two girls under Base’s arms.

Tylar, sitting beside me cross-legged, won’t even glance at them as she pours another drink and asks who’s next.

“We’re playing drinking games,” someone says. “Wanna join?”

Tylar blurts, “No,” at the same time Dez says, “Sure.”

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