Page 14 of Surviving Lies

“Becca,” he said against my lips, “open your eyes, baby. I want you to look at me when I’m kissing you.”

I think I stopped breathing, but I opened my eyes. I was looking into his as our mouths hovered near one another, both of us frozen in place. His eyes were a unique shade of caramel brown with gold-and-green specks strewn throughout. They almost seemed to shimmer.

He opened his mouth a bit, his tongue coming out to wet his lips, wetting mine at the same time.

And that was hot. As. Fuck.

“I’m sure plenty of people have told you how gorgeous your green eyes are.” His other hand came up to push back the hair threatening to cover my face. “But has anyone pointed out the gold band around your iris? It looks like the sun has exploded in your eyes. It’s truly remarkable.” I had to look away when he was saying these things, not used to the compliments. “Uh-uh, keep looking at me. Eyes on me.” His hand brought my face back as his mouth came closer again, our eyes still connected.

It’s not a simple thing to keep eye contact while kissing. The innate reaction is to close your eyes, revel in the feel. This slowed things down and brought it to a whole new level.

His mouth returned to mine, slightly open, his tongue licking my top lip. His hand behind my head held me tighter, our mouths crushing against one another with force. Our eyes remained connected as our tongues danced; his seemed to be telling me something I couldn’t quite read.

When he pulled away, I felt an intense need to reach out for him. I wanted him close to me. And I thought he knew that as a smug grin spread across his face.

“I hope I gave you something worth thinking about.” His smile wasn’t as smug anymore. Rather, he looked like he was missing me already, too.

“Yeah, something to think about, and something to act on,” I responded, my eyes rolling as he laughed. His hand moved toward his lap, adjusting his pants.

“I think I know what you mean.”

And then silence.

But it wasn’t awkward as we sat there together. We both knew I should get out of the car. The goodnight kiss had happened. But neither of us was ready for the night to end.

“So–”

“Can I–”

From silence to talking over one another. Our nervous laughs were a sign that we were both on edge.

“Ball’s in your court, Becca. You think about it, us, that kiss. Let me know if you want to do this with me. You have my number.” I nodded and reached for the door. He leaned over and helped push it open, both of us knowing if he got out of the car, the night wouldn’t end.

“Good night, Gage.”

“Night, Becca.”

My pace was steady as I walked to my door, forcing myself not to turn around. The click of the door closing coincided with the rumble of his engine as he drove off, and my small smile grew wide.

Chapter 5

Ty

“Dude, c’mon, let’s fuckin’ go!” Jake was pushing me out the door because we were running late to get the buffalo wings delivered to a frat brother. Another one of our duties as pledges, to be at their beck and call to bring them food at any hour of the night. I guess it beat being forced to drink into oblivion; the last frat that did that to their pledges on campus got disbanded.

“Hey man, I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Jake started as we hopped in my car. Shit, I knew what was coming. Actually surprised no one had confronted me about it already. “Where were you after the party on Saturday? You weren’t around for any of the shit we did on Sunday or that night. But none of the frat brothers seemed to notice you were gone.” My car peeled around a corner a bit too fast, the tires screeching on the pavement. My nervous response to his questions, combined with us being late, had me driving reckless. “None of us wanted to say anything.” His voice got quiet, and I glanced his way. “We, um ...” He hesitated.

I didn’t want to be having this conversation, but I had to give him something. I left my brothers, and we weren’t supposed to do that. He deserved some kind of answer. But what?

“Yeah, man, I had some shit come up at home. Emergency. I talked to Sam; he told me it was OK to head home for the day.” My eyes shifted back and forth from the road to him, trying to gauge if he bought it. It wasn’t a complete lie, just not the whole fucking truth.

If I wasn’t telling Becca, I wasn’t telling him. But I felt like shit, because here I was telling him even more than I told her. Running home the morning after the party the first weekend at school kept me from being with my pledge class and our duties together. It kept me from trying to see more of Becca. Hell, I didn’t even text her this weekend. My situation was less than ideal.

But it was my life. The part of my life I wasn’t willing to share with anyone.

Yet.

“Oh, shit, Ty,” Jake exclaimed as he sat up straighter in his seat. “Sorry, man. Hope everything’s alright.” He went back to fiddling with his phone to find a better song to blast through the speakers, us both enjoying a few moments of normalcy while we drove. The pledging shit had its good moments and its bad. Making better friends with guys like Jake was a good one. And that was what I liked best about Jake. He knew when to shut up.

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