chapter five

~ T H E N ~

“Hey, Tommy,” I greeted, sidling beside him as I placed a hand on his arm and blinked up at him innocently.

“What would you like, little miss?” he asked, not unkindly as he stared back at me amusedly.

I smiled and leaned back but didn’t take my hand off him.

“Well… I just wanted to know…” he raised an eyebrow. “…You know that guy you were with at your party last month?”

“The one you had sex with?” he asked shamelessly, the guy beside him snickering and making me roll my eyes as heat crawled up my neck and into my cheeks.

“We didn’t have sex,” I snapped smacking his shoulder before realising that it was a lost cause. “Tom, seriously.”

“Alright, alright,” he chuckled slinging an arm around my shoulder and nodding a goodbye to his friend before leading me away. “I take it you want to find my buddy, Storm?”

“Storm?” I asked, the name ringing a bell in my head and making my lips tilt slightly. “Right, yeah – him.”

His eyebrows rise slightly but he doesn’t comment on my reaction to his name.

“Well, you asked the right man,” he said otherwise, bringing me past the kitchen full of a few people – the party we were currently at not a wild and crazy one, for once, but rather one with only thirty or so people. He leaned in closer as we continued walking, voice conspiratorially low. “Are you planning on having sex with the Sex-Lord again, Mia? Have you become a little slut now that you’ve lost your V-card?” he asked, voice full of tease and the only guy who could get away with saying such a thing considering I’ve known him for as long as I could remember.

"For your information Mr Know-It-All,” I drawled slapping his chest and no longer caring about where we were going as I narrowed my eyes up at his grey-blue ones. “I am still a virgin and both times I encountered the supposed ‘sex-lord’ we did not have sex or do anything sexual.”

“Right,” Tom nodded grinning as he glanced up and then brought me into a room, “and that’s why your hair was all messed up and you had hickeys on your neck on the night of my party – don’t think I didn’t see them.”

I blushed madly and was about to snap at him, only to be cut off as he looked away from me, and a totally new look lit his face. “Storm, just the man I was looking for,” he said as a charming grin turned him from the evil guy who was just teasing me to a friendly guy you’d do anything for.

I looked over to where Storm was sitting casually on the couch, wedged between two girls with two other guys sitting across from them on the table. The heat of his honey coloured eyes holding my gaze was enough to make my cheeks grow hot and think twice about doing what I wanted to do.

Which was talk to him, of course.

“Hey, Tom, what's up?” he asked standing to greet his friend before he shifted his eyes back over to Tom whose arm was still around my shoulders.

“Oh, you know, just helping out a friend,” he smirked, glancing down at me with a cheeky look in his eyes that made me narrow mine up at his, my elbow automatically jabbing into his side as I stepped away from him and crossed my arms.

“You know what? Forget it, I shouldn’t have done this,” I shook my head, already turning around and walking off even though neither boys had said anything bad, my nerves jumping as I was the kind of person who didn’t fare well with apologies – especially when I was the one who had to say it.

A hand closed around my wrist and stopped me just as I reached the hallway, away from any ears. “Mia, hey, c'mon don’t be like that,” Tom started, Storm not far behind as he continued to stare at me with a look I couldn’t quite decipher. My eyes strayed away to meet Tom’s gaze again so I didn’t have to look at Storm anymore. “Well?” he urged raising an eyebrow in a way that made my wit come back.

I turned back to Storm as Tom let my wrist go, swallowing down my nerves as I forced myself to meet his unique coloured eyes.

If only I was drunk again. This would be so, so much easier.

“I, uh, I need to talk to you,” I finally said as I bit the inside of my cheek and refused to look away, the memory of the way we last parted still fresh in my mind even though it was almost two weeks ago now.

He glanced at Tom who merely smiled and slapped his shoulder, turning to me to give me a chaste kiss on the cheek and at the same time murmuring ‘use a condom’ so quietly and quickly I knew Storm hadn’t heard him, but definitely saw the way I punched Tom on the arm and flushed a bright pink.

By the time he left through the back door again, right where I had found him, my cheeks had cooled enough that I could meet Storm’s gaze head on again, arms crossed over my chest defensively as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

“So?” he said, not seeming to be affected by the awkwardness of it all like I was.

I mean, come on, the two times I’d ever been near him we were at a full-house party with deafening music, flashing lights and enough alcohol to fill a swimming pool, we were also either tipsy or drunk; enough so that I could use it as an excuse for anything stupid that I did. And now? Well, right now we were at a casual get together with soft RNB music playing in the background and only a fridge full of alcohol for the few guests invited. I was also completely sober and alone with the boy I had tried to shamelessly have sex with.

“So…” I trailed off rubbing the back of my neck before running my fingers through my long hair, “I just… I came to say sorry.”

“What?” he asked, eyes relentless and his blinks uneven and slow enough that I knew he was somewhat tipsy.

“Yeah, I’m sorry for what happened the other week and how I reacted,” I said, words rushed as my eyes drifted to the middle of his chest so I didn’t have to hold his gaze.

“You’re sorry?” he repeated, sounding confused.

“How many times do I have to say it?” I snapped, eyes narrowing up at him as I crossed my arms again in defence.

He stepped forward which made me step back until I was against the wall, his arms on either side of me and trapping me in, a new kind of look in his eyes that I wasn’t sure whether I liked or not. “How sorry are you?” he asked, a hint of tease and seduction in his voice and low enough that it made my spine tingle slightly.

“Enough,” I murmured, my breath catching in my throat as he leaned forward and brushed his lips against mine, my eyes fluttering close out of habit.

“Prove it,” he whispered against my lips, smugness in his voice and his body so damn close but so damn far away that I had to remind myself not to jump his bones right then and there.

I opened my eyes and smirked then, hands sliding up the smooth planes of his abdomen from under his grey shirt before I slid it around his waist and pulled him against me, his smirk growing even more as I leaned up and kissed the side of his neck softly, my short height proving to be an advantage for once. “And tell me, Storm, how exactly should I do that?” I murmured as his hand slid behind my hair to hold the back of my neck, leaning forward until there was no more space between me, him and the wall and I had no choice but to tilt my face up toward him so it wouldn’t get squashed against his chest.

“By finishing off exactly what you continue to start,” he uttered, growled almost, as I kissed up his neck and trailed my nails teasingly from behind his back to the front of his abdomen. My fingers soon slid over the bumps of his abs and lower and lower until I felt the tensing and rippling of his muscles the closer I got to the edge of his jeans, the fact that I could do something like that to a guy like him enough to put the kind confidence you’d get from alcohol back into me.

“Oh, I’ll finish something off alright,” I murmured lowly, smiling widely at the sound that left the back of his throat before his mouth collided with mine – soft yet rough and somewhat familiar lips that made me weak at the knees.

Before I knew it, he had lifted me up so my legs were around his waist, his hands holding me up by my thighs and butt and his lips never once leaving mine as he leaned me against the wall and let me run my fingers through his hair.

“Bedroom,” I muttered through kisses, as I realised we were still in the middle of the hallway and was seconds away from ripping each other’s clothes off.

“Bedroom,” he agreed, letting me back on my feet and pulling away enough to all but drag me towards the closest room – barely ten feet away since it was only a one storey house.

The door closed and locked.

His lips met mine again.

Clothes came off.

Our bodies hit the bed.

Hands got daring.

And