Shameless

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Why what?”

  “Why were you looking for me?”

  “I don’t know. Make sure you got home okay.” He ran his fingers through his hair, and it fell perfectly back into place.

  “Here I am.” Two girls filed past him into the elevator, giggling and smiling. He grinned in their direction, but his eyes came quickly back to mine.

  “So, I’ll see you around?” He asked as he stepped out of the elevator and the girls in the corner got quiet, waiting for my response.

  “I guess I will if you keep stalking me like this.”

  He laughed as the doors slid closed. I glanced back at the girls behind me who were looking me up and down as if I had an infectious disease.

  I couldn’t get to my room fast enough. As soon as I closed the door behind me, I leaned back against it. My phone rang loudly in my hand once more.

  “What the hell was that about?” Gigi yelled.

  “It was nothing. I just ran into Lucas in the elevator.”

  “You do know he doesn’t even live in our dorm, don’t you?”

  “He didn’t stay with me last night, Gigi. He’s not even my type.”

  “You have a type? Like one that isn’t fictional?”

  “You’re exhausting.” I sighed, throwing my books on my bed.

  “Get dressed. I’ll be over in five,” she said, hanging up before I could protest. I laid back on my bed and stared up at the ceiling wishing it would swallow me whole.

  A knock came a few minutes later, and Gigi didn’t even bother to wait for a response. She came in and plopped next to me on the bed, even though the there was an empty one on the opposite wall.

  “Wake up, sleepy head.” She bounced the mattress, and I grabbed my stomach.

  “Come on, Gigi,” I whined, opening my eyes to see her smiling. “Where are we going?”

  Pulling my glasses from her purse, she held them out to me, and I took them, sliding them onto my dresser.

  “I wanna grab some burgers at Smokey’s before the rush.” Smokey’s was a burger joint just out on the main road. Everyone on campus hung out there, and it was nearly impossible to get food once it filled up.

  “Fine.” I pushed up on my elbows as I yawned.

  “That’s my girl.” She beamed and looped her arm in mine, pulling me up.

  ***

  I plucked the seeds of the bun of my burger, not really feeling well enough to eat. Gigi grilled me about my time with Lucas, not believing that anyone could be alone with him and not drop their panties.

  “He didn’t even try, Gigi,” I groaned, trying not to sound disappointed as I flicked a seed from the pad of my thumb to the floor below. It wasn’t that I liked him. To be honest, he got under my skin worse than anyone else in recent memory, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt my ego.

  “So he defended your honor and then hung out with you without even trying to get some action? Sounds like somebody has a crush. Speak of the sexy devil,” she squealed as a grin spread across her face. I glanced behind me to see Lucas walk through the door with his friends from the bar. I sunk lower in the booth, my eyes widening to Gigi, silently begging her to stay quiet. I don’t even know why I cared. He was good looking, sure, but he was nothing but trouble. I have watched Gigi with those kinds of guys enough to know it was not anything I wanted. He was a heartbreak waiting to happen, and I refused to be his next victim.

  “He’s looking at you,” Gigi teased, and I glanced to the other side of the room. Lucas was staring passed the server, directly at me. I felt my cheeks begin to burn, and I smiled quickly at him. He grinned and nodded once at me. I bit the inside of my cheek and looked back to Gigi, who was glowing. “He fucking wants you,” she laughed. I rolled my eyes and looked back his way. Three girls had joined them, and Lucas had his arm around a girl with shoulder length blonde hair and excessive eyeliner that I hadn’t seen before.

  “I think your radar is a little off,” I said, dropping a piece of my burger as she leaned in closer to me.

  “That’s just Laney Taylor. I’m pretty sure she likes chicks.”

  “Whatever.” I tried not to sound disappointed but I thought we’d had fun together last night, and I was actually starting to believe I’d misjudged him.

  “This guy has been breaking hearts all over campus for the past two years. I’ve never seen him give a second look to anyone. Maybe he likes your granny panties.” She shrugged. I picked up a fry and tossed it at her face causing her to gasp.

  “Excuse me for choosing comfort.” I rolled my eyes and took a long drink from my soda. “Even if he did like me, the second he realized that I wouldn’t sleep with him, he’d never talk to me again.”

  “They’re leaving,” she warned, and I tried my best not to look up at him, but I gave in, glancing out of the corner of my eye.

  “Henley,” Lucas nodded. The blonde on his arm looked bored.

  “Stalker,” I smiled politely as I nodded back, looking over at Gigi, who was struggling to contain a squeal. They continued out of the restaurant, and I kicked her under the table.

  “What the hell was that for?” She reached under the table, rubbing her shin.

  “Pick a reason,” I said, half-joking.

  “How about... the fact that we are going out tonight?” She pulled back so I would not hit her again as my leg swung out wildly beneath the Formica tabletop.

  “I can’t,” I shook my head as she began to nod. I was too embarrassed to tell her I couldn’t really afford it.

  “I’m sure Lucas will be there.” She replied as if that would convince me.

  “And all of the girls he is sleeping with,” I joked. “Seriously, I’m not interested in becoming a notch on his bedpost.”

  “Good. Henley, this guy goes around breaking hearts for sport. You would become a local legend if you could teach him a lesson.”

  “And how am I supposed to do that?”

  “I’ll think of something. Just come out. Live a little. What’s the worst thing that could happen?” She narrowed her eyes, waiting for me to give in. I could be humiliated.

  “What time?” I sighed. I hated when she begged me, I could never say no.

  “Eight.”

  “I’m going to regret this.”

  Chapter Ten

  LUCAS

  We slipped into the back of Beef’s Durango as we headed back to my apartment with Laney by my side. I’d been working on her back piece for months, and today I was going to fill in some of her flowers with color.

  “If you don’t stop, you’re going to have more ink than me,” I quipped.

  “It’s therapeutic,” Laney replied with no amusement in her tone. She was the type of girl who was perpetually sad, and I wondered if the pain from the tattoos served as some sort of atonement for her self-perceived sins. Four months ago she’d met a girl, who happened to be straight, and fallen in love. She was humiliated after confessing her infatuation.

  “When are you going to stop blaming yourself for who you are?”

  She laughed sardonically as her black-lined eyes met mine. “Who else's fault would it be?”

  “You can’t help who you love. D’ you know what I mean?”

  “What would you know about love?” she asked, turning her head away from me and hiding her face behind a curtain of her wheat-colored, shoulder-length hair.

  “I know it’s never wrong.”

  “Really?” her head twisted back to face me. “Even if the person was married or something?”

  “There’s a difference between loving someone and acting on it,” I countered, earning me a glare as she picked at the fraying strings on the knee of her jeans.

  “You can’t love someone and not act on it. It’s impossible.”

  “Why not?”

  “It’s like this physical ache that takes over. If you don’t act on it, the loneliness destroys you like cancer.”

  “Sounds awful.”

  She smirked, but her
eyes still held sadness. “It’s the most beautiful thing in the world.”

  “Why subject yourself to all of that pain?”

  “It’s not a choice.”

  “Yes, it is.”

  “You’re in for a rude awakening, my friend.” She laughed, shaking her head.

  We pulled up to the curb outside of my building, and I slid out, holding open the door for Laney. Making our way to my bedroom, I closed the door and sank down on my desk chair as she laid out on my bed.

  “Which do you want to work on today?” I asked as I pulled on my gloves.

  “The bougainvilia.”

  “The...”

  “Paper flowers. Magenta.”

  I began to work on her, bringing pops of color into her tattoo as she continued to tell me about the girl she’d loved and lost... or never really had.

  “So, who was that girl?”

  “What girl?” I asked, brushing my hair from my forehead with the back of my hand.

  “The cute one at Smokey’s.”

  “You think she’s cute?” I asked, lifting the needle from her back as she smirked.

  “Do you?”

  I shrugged, getting back to work on the flowers. “Doesn’t matter.”

  “Why? Does she have some sort of incurable disease or something?”

  “Yeah, it’s called morals.”

  I lifted the needle as Laney’s back shook from her laughing. “There’s a treatment for that you know, it’s called alcohol.”

  “I’ll make a note of that. Speaking of alcohol...”

  “You’re not dragging me out again.”

  “Come on. Beef listens to you when he’s wasted, and Noah has been a tosser lately. I could use a friend to hang out with.”

  “The operative word being use. You just like me to hang all over you to make other chicks jealous.”

  “It’s not so bad. I’ll pay for your drinks.”

  “Deal. Now paint me like one of your French girls,” she joked, doing her best impression of Rose from Titanic.

  “Shirt off,” I rolled my chair back a few inches as Laney sat up, pulling her tank top over her head and dropping it to the floor between us. She wasn’t shy and didn’t bother to cover her small, perky breasts.

  “Don’t you get turned on when your clients strip?”

  “I’m a professional.”

  “Is that your way of calling me ugly?” She placed her hands on her narrow hips as her lower lip jutted out in a pout.

  “You know better.”

  “With a few drinks in me, you kind of look like Ruby Rose.”

  I rolled my eyes but didn’t respond.

  “Are you hard? Can I feel it?”

  “Have you never seen a cock before?”

  “On TV.”

  “Lay down.”

  Plopping back down on her belly, she sighed as her eyes fell closed and I went back to work. “How big is it?”

  I shook my head, stifling a laugh.

  “Five inches? Six inches?”

  “I’m not answering that.”

  She gasped, “Seven fucking inches?”

  “Yeah, seven inches... from the ground.”

  She began to giggle again, and I had to stop working until she settled down. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

  “I’ve seen a gash before, and I’m afraid you may have some sort of hairy beast down there and totally ruin the image I have of you when I wank.”

  “Awww... you jerk off to me? That’s like really sweet.” She fell silent for a moment. “Can I watch?”

  “For fuck's sake, Laney. Stop talking.”

  ***

  I finished working on Laney’s tattoo and got ready for the night as she dug through our fridge, pulling out supplies to make sandwiches. My mobile vibrated in my pocket, and I pulled it out to an unknown number with a text message reading –

  You almost got me fired.

  I quickly added Harper, from Swank, to my contact list before typing back –

  Your boss is kind of a dick. I was doing you a favour.

  A few minutes later she replied –

  You owe me.

  “Is that her?” Laney asked, and I glanced up from my phone screen to see her looking at me.

  “No,” I replied, shaking my head. Laney grabbed my cell and quickly typed out a quick response before handing it back to me. “You can thank me later.”

  I looked down at the message that read –

  I’ll be at Filly’s later if you want to hang out.

  “Thanks for that. You just invited a seventeen-year-old out to the bar with us.”

  “The chick that was making you all nervous is only seventeen?” She gasped.

  “No. It wasn’t her.” I shook my head as I grabbed her sandwich from the counter and shoved it in my mouth, taking a huge bite. “Now you’re on babysitter duty,” I mumbled with a mouth full of food before I dropped her sandwich back on the counter.

  She groaned loudly as she picked up her food and took a dainty bite. “Do you think she likes girls?”

  “She’s seventeen,” I repeated.

  “So what are you doing hanging out with this little lady anyway?” She asked as she wiped a glob of mayonnaise from her lip.

  “I wasn’t hanging out with her.” I glared at her, but her smile only grew.

  “How do you know her?”

  I shrugged. “She waited on me at a restaurant. She called me an arsehole and rubbed my crotch.”

  Laney began to laugh before making a choking sound from gagging on a bite of her food. “What kind of restaurants do you eat at? Do they take reservations?”

  “It was this place called Swank. Have you heard of it?”

  “Isn’t that place a little out of your pay range... no offense.”

  “I’ve had a lot of jobs lately.”

  “Like who?” Her eyes narrowed as I leaned down and took another bite from her sandwich.

  “Just some other students. Are we going to get ready for tonight or not?”

  She didn’t respond for a moment before shaking her head. “You’re up to something.”

  Chapter Eleven

  HENLEY

  I never should have let Gigi dress me up. I looked like a two-bit hooker. My pale yellow shirt was low cut with three buttons down the center that Gigi insisted be undone, and she matched it with a short jean skirt and wedge sandals that caused me to walk like a three-legged newborn calf.

  “You look fucking amazing,” Gigi reassured me as we walked into Filly’s. Several guys turned to look at us as we made our way to the back and my gaze dipped to the ground. “Told you,” she whispered, and I could not help but smile.

  “Shit.”

  “What?”

  “He’s here,” I whispered.

  “I thought you didn’t care.”

  “I don’t.”

  Lucas was at the bar, his back to us as we approached. I stepped behind Gigi as she ordered us a round of drinks.

  “I’ll get that. My shout.” Lucas nodded to us, putting money on the bar. The bartender nodded back at him.

  “Thanks,” I yelled over the music as he moved closer to us. I stepped out from behind Gigi, and his eyes trailed down my body before he slowly drug them back up making me feel naked under his scrutiny.

  “Wow, Henley. You clean up nice.” He smiled approvingly, and I had to look away. After a moment of awkward silence, I tried to make some casual conversation.

  “Where’s your girlfriend?”

  “What?” He signaled that he could not hear me. I leaned in closer.

  “Your girlfriend?” I said louder, enunciating each word.

  “You want to be my girlfriend? I’m flattered, love,” he said, leaning back and placing his hand on his chest where a normal person would have a heart, but something told me Lucas was missing that key component.

  “No,” I smacked his arm, and he rubbed it in mock pain. I was surprised at how hard his muscles were. He laughed and leaned back
in closer. I could feel his warm breath on my neck, and it sent goosebumps down my back.

  “Too bad,” he replied, and my breath hitched in my throat. His face lingered next to mine for a moment. “I’ll have to work harder.”

  “Oh, please. I bet you haven’t worked hard a day in your life.” I rolled my eyes as he pulled back, feigning shock.

  “I hope I’m not interrupting,” The girl he had been with at Smokey’s said as she smiled at us.

  “Not at all, Laney.” He pulled back from me as she wrapped her arms around his waist. “This is Henley. She hates me.”

  Laney rolled her eyes as she looked off toward the bar. “Smart girl.”

  “I don’t hate you I just don’t –”

  “You just don’t know me... yet,” he finished, but it was definitely not what I was going to say.

  Like God sensing I wasn’t humiliated enough, a brunette with long brown hair walked across the bar with a mile-wide smile as she greeted Lucas.

  “Harper,” he nodded to her as she picked up his bottle and he quickly swiped it from her hand, shaking his head and confirming my suspicion that she was way too young to be hanging out in a bar, not that I had a right to say anything. I was only eighteen, but at least I looked legal and would be nineteen very soon. Harper looked like she could still be in junior high and her overly large deer-in-headlight eyes didn’t help.

  I took a long drink from my beer and turned around searching for Gigi. I spotted her a few feet away doing shots with a bunch of frat boys.

  “I’ll see you later,” I said, wanting more than anything to get away from the awkward situation. Gigi was wrong. This guy didn’t like me, he just enjoyed making me feel uncomfortable.

  “I hope so,” he replied, his blue eyes smoldering.

  “Can we go?” I asked as Gigi slammed back a shot.

  “One more drink?” She stuck out her lower lip. I grabbed the shot glass in front of her and slammed it back.

  “Can we go now?”

  She rolled her eyes at me. “What happened with Lucas?”

  I pointed back behind me, and she made a face of disgust. “I told you so.”

  “There are plenty of other guys here tonight,” she said, and she grabbed my arm, pulling me back to the dance floor.