Elite

  One strategic sinful hand massaged while the other one dove beneath my shirt. If he was going to cop a feel, his balls would be on the opposite end of my pencil.

  Whatever his other hand was doing, it felt good. He had moved down my back and was playing with the fastener on my bra. I tried to wiggle away. He laughed, much to my horror, so I stayed put.

  “Hmm, I took you for more of a comfortable type of girl. Is this lace?” His lips tickled my ear.

  Unable to use words, because clearly I’d forgotten an alphabet existed, I nodded.

  “It’s sexy.”

  Heat pooled in my stomach as his lips touched my ear again, this time his teeth came out and tugged slightly on my ear almost making me gasp. His hand shot out from my shirt as someone turned around.

  Great, now it looked like political history turned me on.

  That’s just what I needed to be spread around the school.

  New girl moos in front of student body and orgasms during Freshman Politics.

  Awesome.

  I felt my face heat with embarrassment as a guy from class looked from me to Nixon and then back to me.

  Nixon must have done something scary from behind me because the guy’s eyes widened and then he turned around, his back ramrod straight.

  I wasn’t sure if I was irritated that Nixon kept his hands off me throughout the rest of class, or excited. By the time class ended a half hour later, the jury was still out.

  After stuffing my politics book into my new Prada bag, I yawned and made my way toward the door.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Nixon asked the minute my toe stepped over the threshold of the door.

  “To class?” I refused to turn around, and why the heck was I always last? My hand moved to my cross necklace. It had become one of those things I did when I was nervous. I grabbed the necklace and rubbed the cross. Great, now I need supernatural power just to be in the same room as Nixon.

  “Come here.”

  “I didn’t hear please.” I smirked, but still didn’t turn around.

  His breath fanned my neck. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw his muscle arms lean on the doorframe as he slowly closed the door. “Please.”

  I counted to three and turned around expecting one of two things. Either he was going to murder me or kiss me. There really wasn’t any other logical option, not with Nixon.

  “Sit,” he commanded.

  I dropped my bag to the floor and crossed my arms.

  “Please.” He smirked.

  “Fine.” I went over to the desk closest to me and sat on it, careful not to let my skirt hike up. Tempting the devil wasn’t the smartest thing to do, considering we were alone.

  “I need you to do me a favor.”

  “I won’t have sex with you. I’m not that kind of girl.” I tilted my head and basked in the glory of taking Nixon by surprise, and also getting my revenge after he blurted all of that out in the middle of the dance floor last week.

  “I deserved that.” He leaned against the teacher’s desk.

  “And more.”

  “Care to punish me?”

  “I’m leaving.” With a huff I pushed away from the desk and grabbed my bag.

  “Wait.” Nixon’s hand was on my arm. “I just, I wanted to warn you. Be careful, okay?”

  I nodded.

  “I’ll see you at lunch?” His voice almost sounded insecure.

  “Yup, remember? I’ve got your key card.” Something I noticed this morning when I rode the elevator down to the first floor of my dorm and did a fist pump!

  “Keep it.” Nixon’s eyes fell to my necklace again. “Another favor?”

  “Wow, you’re just full of requests this morning, aren’t you?”

  Wrong thing to say.

  Nixon’s eyes heated as he stepped forward and with a little tug had me flush against his body. “Oh, I can think of some more favors. How bad do you want an A?”

  “Not bad enough to see you naked.”

  He laughed softly and tilted my chin toward him. It was becoming a habit, looking into his eyes. I hated that I was getting used to him touching me. I hated it even more that I liked it.

  “Don’t wear expensive jewelry during the school day. I would hate to see you lose something important to you.” His eyes darted to my necklace. “Please? That’s something even my money can’t replace.”

  Stunned that he would care, I could only stare at him with my mouth open. Nixon licked his lips and then looked behind me, before very gently tilting my chin toward his and brushing his mouth against mine. “Have a good day, Trace.”

  Uh-huh. Holy Hell, my day was going to be all kinds of good if I got kissed like that. I opened my mouth to say something, but Nixon’s two fingers pressed against my lips. “Don’t ruin it by saying something. Now. Go to class.”

  Nostrils flaring, I stepped back, grabbed the door and flung it open, stepping out of the room and into the noisy hallway. Straight lines, Trace. Just walk in straight lines.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Straight lines were overrated. I decided this as I almost tripped over my own feet twice and face planted into some guy as I hurried to my next class.

  I almost made it to the door before I remembered what Nixon had said. With a curse I pulled off the necklace. It caught on my hair. “Crap!”

  I brought the rat’s nest of hair in front of me so I could pick through it. When the necklace finally broke free it crashed to the floor and somehow managed to skid a few feet away from me.

  Okay, so maybe Nixon was right, and I’m a freaking accident waiting to happen. Rolling my eyes, I walked over to where it fell and knelt. A pair of shoes met my reaching hand.

  “Allow me,” came the familiar voice.

  Frozen in place, I watched as Phoenix knelt down and picked the necklace up off the floor. “Pretty.”

  “Thanks.” I held out my hand.

  “What? I can’t be nice?” He smiled and flipped the necklace over reading the name on back. “Hmm, pretty cool. Family heirloom or something?”

  “I guess.”

  He nodded and plopped it into my hands. “I don’t bite, you know.”

  “No, you just drug girls.”

  He held his hands up. “I guess I deserved that, but are you really going to side with the same guy who last week embarrassed you in front of the entire student body?”

  He had me there. I took a step back and shrugged. “He apologized.”

  “Nixon Abandonato apologized to a farm girl from Wyoming?”

  I nodded.

  “Hmm.” Phoenix crossed his arms. “Now, why does that sound suspicious?”

  “What, that he’d be nice to me?”

  “No. That he’d apologize to a nobody.”

  “A nobody?” Furious, I was half tempted to throw my book bag across my shoulder and hit in him the face. “At least today when I eat lunch I’ll be sitting with the Elect. Where will you be?”

  “Don’t you worry your pretty little head where I’ll be… but good to know whose side you're on. It makes what I have to do so much easier.”

  I didn’t like the way his eyes looked, as if he hated me almost as much as he hated Nixon. I took another step back and another until I was close to my classroom.

  Phoenix smirked, and walked off in the other direction.

  Sighing, I leaned against the wall by my classroom. Nixon had asked me to do two things, and five seconds after he asked me, bad things happened. Great. Note to self. Listen to the godfather.

  ****

  Lunch felt weird. Mainly because I could tell Chase and Tex felt awkward not having Phoenix there. I’d found out from Monroe that the guys had all been friends since the first grade. This was the one and only time any of them have fought, and clearly, it hadn’t ended well.

  Nixon, was late to show up. I played with the food Monroe ordered me and pushed at my temples. A headache was coming on, I just knew it.

  My phone went off.

  Curious I pi
cked it up. “Grandpa?”

  “Sweet pea!” His voice was a bit hoarse. “How is your day?”

  “Fine.” I mouthed Grandpa to Monroe, stood up, and walked a few feet away from the table. “Are you okay? Has something happened? Are the cows out?”

  “Oh, I’m fine, I just miss you. Which was why I was calling. Do you think you would mind seeing your old man tomorrow night? Grandma's life insurance company needs a signature, and well, you know how I get with doing things over the phone and faxing, so I was going to fly into the city and take care of business.”

  “Life insurance, shouldn’t that have been taken care of a while ago?” I asked.

  Grandpa coughed. “Yes, well, I wanted to add you to the plan as well. I’m going to kill two birds with one stone.” He chuckled.

  I didn’t.

  Something was off.

  “Grandpa, are you sure you’re okay? You never go into the city and aren’t there some branches in Cheyenne?”

  “Listen, I gotta go do the milking. Tomorrow night at seven, okay?”

  “Sure, um, yeah—”

  The phone line went dead. He didn’t even say he loved me. My stomach clenched. Grandpa wasn’t the type to just up and fly somewhere. Shoot, he wasn’t even the type to take out insurance on anyone.

  Dread pooled in my stomach, nauseated I didn’t really want to go back to the lunch table and answer tons of questions about Grandpa.

  I bit my lip and sighed.

  “Everything alright?” Nixon whispered from behind me. How he was always able to sneak up on me I’ll never know.

  For some reason I felt like blurting out my feelings to him, go figure. The one person I should probably steer clear from and I just wanted a hug.

  “Grandpa’s acting weird,” I mumbled.

  Nixon tensed. “What did he say?”

  “Something about Grandma’s life insurance and stuff. I don’t know, shouldn’t he have taken care of that months ago?”

  Nixon shrugged. “Who knows, Trace? Sometimes it takes a while to get death certificates and stuff, you just never know.”

  I nodded. “He’s, um, he’s flying into Chicago tomorrow.”

  “When?” A muscle flinched in his jaw.

  “I don’t know. He said he’d see me at seven.”

  “Shit,” Nixon mumbled.

  “Huh? Why is that bad? He’s my grandpa. He’s—”

  “—I know, I just…” Nixon grinned. “I had plans. I wanted to take you out.”

  “Well, you can take me out tonight.”

  Holy crap did I just say that?

  “Did you just ask me out?” He grinned.

  “Uhh…”

  “Intelligent as well as beautiful. Whatever am I going to do with you?” His thumb rubbed my lower lip. “Fine, Trace, I’ll go out with you. How about six, tonight? Sound good?”

  “No, no, not good, wait—”

  Apparently I didn’t get a vote. He sauntered off like he just won an Olympic gold while I returned to the table with a stunned expression on my face.

  “Sorry.” Chase poured me some water. “Nixon can be a little…”

  “A lot.” I nodded. “He can be a lot. A lot of the times.”

  Chase threw his head back and laughed. “Yes, yes he can.”

  Monroe threw a napkin at his face, or at least tried to. “Hey, watch it. He may be the devil, but he’s my brother.”

  “I’m right here,” Nixon said, sounding irritated.

  “So, he’s my cousin which gives me familial rights.”

  “What?” I shrieked.

  All eyes turned to me. Chase shrugged. “I thought you knew?”

  “What, through mind reading?” I threw my hands up in the air. “Unbelievable, are all of you related?”

  “Oh God, I hope not.” Tex winked at Monroe. Overshare.

  “Nixon said you met my dad.” Chase took a swig of water.

  “Anthony?” I looked really closely at Chase, it made sense now. Why he and Nixon were so close, and why they had similar features. Chase had dark hair and a muscular build, but nowhere near what Nixon had. He was also missing the lip ring and the all-around wicked glint in his eyes.

  Chase cleared his throat. “Uh, could you not stare like that? I’m not as used to it as Nixon.”

  “What do you mean you’re not as used to it?”

  Chase shrugged. “Simple, I’m not the man-whore of the group. Women don’t gawk at me as much when he’s around. I mean, come on. Look at him. He’s trouble, with a capital T.”

  Nixon rolled his eyes. “If you weren’t my cousin I’d think you were hitting on me.”

  “If I wasn’t your cousin I just might.”

  “And too far.” I threw my hands over my face as I felt it heat. The guys all started laughing while Monroe patted my back. “You are trouble though. Hmm…”

  “What?” Nixon grinned. “Tell me.”

  Was it possible for someone’s head to heat so much it fell off their body? “No, no, it’s no…” I bit my lip.

  Now all the guys were watching me.

  “Tell us.” Tex clapped his hands.

  “Fine, it’s just, Nixon reminds me of that Taylor Swift song, Trouble? You guys heard it?” I laughed as they all shook their heads. “Yeah, well, if I didn’t know any better I’d think Nixon dated her, dumped her, and she wrote a song about him.”

  I kept laughing.

  The guys all stopped, including Monroe.

  You could hear a pin drop in the lunchroom.

  My eyes widened. “Shut up. No way! Did you date Taylor Swift?”

  Nixon chuckled and pointed at Chase who in turn opened his mouth to say something and then pointed at Tex.

  Tex turned around and pointed at an empty chair. “Damn. I have nobody to blame.”

  “What you all dated her?” I crossed my arms.

  “What happens in the Elect, stays in the Elect.” Chase gave Nixon a high-five.

  “This isn’t Vegas.”

  “Drugs, gangs, sex, money, and guns? You sure about that?” Nixon winked.

  Okay, he had me there. I mean if it was possible to name a second Vegas, Elite would be it.

  The bell rang in the distance. I quickly grabbed my bag and moved toward the door. A hand came out and tugged my bag, successfully making me fall back into strong arms. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “Class?” My voice squeaked.

  “Hmm…” Nixon’s arms tightened around my body. He rested his chin on my head. I could feel the muscles beneath his shirt flex against my back. A million different sensations ran through my body in that moment. It was nearly impossible to breathe.

  “How about you skip?”

  “I can’t just skip class!”

  He released his hold and turned me to face him. “But you kind of want to, don’t you?”

  “No.” I looked down at my shoes. Brave. I know. But whenever I looked into his eyes it was impossible to deny him anything! It was both aggravating and exhilarating. Sometimes it hurt to look at him.

  He wore his perfection differently than most guys. The beauty of Nixon was in his imperfection. His crooked smile. The lip ring drew attention to his lips, making them look larger. And then his nose, it looked like it had been broken once, but it was in that tiny crook at the bridge that you saw something fierce about him. And his eyes. His ice blue eyes would warm within an instant when he was amused. His hair would fall across his brow giving him a rough yet vulnerable look.

  Agh! I needed to stop. It sucked that if you took all of those perfections in one by one he wouldn’t be perfect, but together they made a masterpiece.

  “Fine.” He sighed and released his hold on me. “But, don’t forget about tonight. No faking illness or saying you have homework, okay?”

  Still looking at the floor, I grinned and nodded my head once.

  “Okay, off you go.” Nixon stepped in front of me and opened the door. Head down, I walked through. I should have known better. I mean,
it was Nixon. The minute I breezed by him, he smacked my butt. And then slammed the door in my face, so I couldn’t yell.

  However, I did hear his laughing on the other side of the door, which just infuriated me more. With a curse I stomped off to math. At least that would take my focus off Nixon, which is really all I’d been thinking about lately.

  I couldn’t figure him out.

  I don’t think he even had himself figured out.

  He was like a giant puzzle with missing and broken pieces.

  And, as much as I knew I would live to regret it… I was on a hunt, for the missing and damaged ones. Every. Last. One.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Ready?” Nixon held out his hand. After much coaxing, Monroe had convinced me to wear a short black dress with nylons and the boots from Chase. I added a short jean jacket and wore my necklace. I mean, I was with Nixon — nothing would happen to it.

  I’d like to see someone try to mug me with him around.

  “Yup.” I took his hand.

  And so the date with the devil began.

  “Still hate me?” he asked once we were in the Range Rover.

  “Still not telling me who you are?” I replied.

  “And off we go!” He laughed and started the car. “So, you may have noticed we don’t have security tonight.”

  Telling myself to stop sweating so profusely, I nodded and tilted my head toward him. “Why?”

  “Other than the fact I’m packing?” He lifted his eyebrows at me and let out a bark of laughter.

  All signs pointed to him not kidding.

  “Chill.” The car turned right as we left the security gate of the campus. “It was a joke.”

  “So you aren’t packing?” I gulped.

  “Not technically.”

  “Right.” I turned the air on in the car and closed my eyes. “So where are we going? I’m guessing it’s safe since we’re not having to worry about security?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Cool.”

  “Want to know where?” Geez, he was grinning like a little kid.

  “You want to tell me, don’t you?”

  “So bad.” He leaned over the steering wheel and laughed. I’d never seen him so animated or excited.