Bender (18 page)

“You’re pushing your luck. I’m going to catch you, and when I do, you’re going to wish you’d handed the music over like a good girl.”

“It’s a good thing you won’t catch me then.”

We were in a staring contest. Who would jump first? Almost as if we moved at the same time, Camden hopped up onto the table and scrambled across it while I went running back toward the kitchen. A yelp came from my mouth, and I tossed the iPod over my shoulder, hoping he’d give this up if I gave him what he wanted. Arms came around my waist and lifted me in the air. He caught me. I was laughing so hard, I knew I couldn’t escape him.

“Gotcha.” He spun me around and walked me into the living room toward the couch.

My legs were swinging freely, and I tried to kick away from him. “Let me go.”

“Huh uh. For all I know, you’re going to run out of here and tell everyone that I like chick music.”

Chortling I said, “But you do like chick music.”

He dropped me onto the couch and came over the top of me to straddle me. “I swear to God, I will tickle you until I’m sure you’ll keep your mouth shut.”

I gasped. “You wouldn’t.”

He raised his hands like claws and wiggled his fingers. I started laughing before he even touched me. “Oh God no, please don’t. I hate being tickled.”

“Then tell me what I want to hear.”

“What do you want me to say?”

He lifted a brow at me. Those darn eyebrows always said so much. “You’re going to say, ‘Camden, I promise I won’t tell anybody what I heard today.’”

I let a few seconds pass by. “I am sure that Macie and Dodger won’t judge you for your eccentric musical tastes. In fact I’m sure they’d sing right along with…AAAAAHHHH!” I screamed as his fingers came down and wiggled against my armpits. I was laughing so hard tears were streaming from my eyes. “Stop, stop, stop!”

“Say it.” His voice was gruff but playful. He stopped moving.

Taking a deep breath I sang, “
Near, far, wherever you are…”
His fingers began their torture again. “Ahhhh okay, okay…I won’t say anything. Just stop! I swear I’m about to pee my pants! STOP!”

He chuckled. Leaning down to get closer to my face he said, “You promise?”

There was a crackling in the air. All of the playfulness was being sucked back and something else was taking its place. “I promise,” I stated sincerely.

A calloused finger came up, brushing down my cheek and stopping under my chin. “So beautiful,” he whispered.

He continued to hover over me. His eyes seemed to look from my eyes, cheeks, nose, lips, and back again, as though he were searching for something. My heart began pounding in my chest, and I was certain he could hear it. Swallowing, I tentatively asked, “What’s happening here?” I’d said it so quietly, I barely even heard myself.

“What do you mean?” he said, clearing his throat slightly.

Did I ask him what was going on between us? Would I be embarrassing myself if I threw out every thought I’ve had about our relationship, and how it was shifting onto unsteady ground that I couldn’t define? Lying underneath him for the second time today, I took note of how he was once again turned on. But was it because he was touching
me
or was it because I was simply a female and that was just what happened to every guy? Deciding better of my question, I changed the subject.

“Are you going to the Halloween party?”

His head tipped to the side, and I briefly wondered if he was going to let me get away with ignoring what he just asked. “No, I stopped going to those frat parties three years ago.” I sagged in relief that he let it go.

I shifted under him, and he took the hint to move off of me. I felt the loss immediately and wished he would come back. I loved his weight being on me. “Oh, okay.”

He sat with his arms resting on his knees, and he was looking at the ground. “Are you going with Luke?”

“Yes,” I replied softly.

He glanced over at me with a seriousness I hadn’t yet seen in him. “Be careful with him, Blue.”

“What—?”

Shaking his head he stopped me. “I’m not going to say anything else other than, just please be careful. Okay?”

I nodded my head in understanding. I’d seen so many expressions on Camden’s face in the past couple months, but this one, this one unnerved me. He was warning me about Luke, but I had no idea why. I sat there wondering what could possibly make him say this to me, but I’d felt nothing but comfortable with Luke. He was warm, gently, caring, and endearing. If I should be worried about anybody, it would be Camden. He was the one who had an air of dangerousness, edginess, and darkness that I’d never touched before. Well, not until last night. I should be scared of the man sitting next to me, because he made me feel like his very essence was a drug. The draw I felt to him was so potent, that even now, I wanted to taste him. I wanted to feel him on me, caressing me, whispering things in my ear that made me blush. Rubbing my hands back and forth on my legs, I needed to get going. Some fresh air and time away from Camden would do me good. I stood on shaky legs and made my way to the door. Camden remained on the couch and watched me walk away.

“I’ll be home later,” I said over my shoulder.

“Okay.”

I opened the front door. “And Cam?”

“Hmmm?”

“You’re not sleeping in my room tonight.” I leveled a look at him.

That glorious smirk that now made me feel naughty things crossed his mouth. “We’ll see Blue, we’ll see.”

With that I walked out the door and headed to the mall.

T
WO
DAYS
AGO
I’
D
LEFT
THE
APARTMENT
, and my mind was reeling. After talking to Macie while I found the rest of my Halloween costume, I was no longer questioning if Camden liked me, but rather just wanted to know why? I wasn’t his usual M.O. When I looked in the mirror I saw an average girl with curvy hips, somewhat pretty hair, and that was it. When I looked at Camden, he was dangerously sexy, the guy who every girl wanted to tame but never could. So I wondered again, why me?

I thought about this while I was putting on my costume that Macie had talked me into and was feeling butterflies in my stomach. Nobody had seen me in it yet, and as much as I told myself I was nervous for the general masses to get a load of me in my barely there nurse outfit, I was mostly terrified of Camden seeing me. He’d already referred to me as ‘the chubby one’ once before. Despite working out, I wasn’t feeling overly confident in my appearance. Macie said the costume was made for my body, but, as my best friend, I figured she was supposed to say that. I stood in front of the full-length mirror that hung behind the bathroom door. I had on a pair of black stilettos that increased my height by four inches, fishnet stockings, and a lace garter with a little red bow hugging my right thigh. A black dress that embraced every one of my curves completed the costume. There was no way I’d be able to bend over or sit down without flashing my box of treasures. When I decided to go with a nurse costume, it was really just as a joke since I was in nursing school. There were two options: black or white. Macie told me to go with the black, and we’d make it look like a vampire nurse, so it would be something different; darker, more alluring. My long blond hair was pinned up in a messy bun with some loose tendrils falling down around my face. What was most shocking were my eyes. The color of them were already a vibrant blue, so when I added the dark eyeliner and shadow, they stood out in stark contrast against all of the black. I leaned in a little to get a closer look. Weird…they seemed almost light blue/white. I added a finishing touch of some fake blood at the corner of my mouth and stood back to check out my reflection. Oh man, there was no
way
I was going to be able to go out looking like this. I didn’t look like a naughty vampire nurse, I looked like a straight-up hooker who must have bit some poor dude’s dick because he shoved it down my throat too far. Ack! No way, I needed to go change. I was sure I had something in my clos-. My thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Get out here woman! Luke will be here any time now, and I want to take a few shots before we leave,” Macie called from the other side of the door.

Well there goes that plan
, I sighed. Tentatively I opened the door and slowly showed myself. I heard her suck in a breath of air before she let out a low whistle. “Holy hot momma, you’re going to set
all
the boys’ panties on fire tonight.”

I rolled my eyes. “Shut up, Mace. I’m not comfortable at all. Can’t I change into something that’s a little less revealing? I’m sure I have an adult onesie that I can put on. It even has a flap in the back. I could let it hang open and put a sign on the open part that says ‘no entrance’ or something.”

She shook her head and giggled at me. “No way lady. This outfit is smokin’! I don’t get why you’re so worried. I told you that you looked great, so what’s the problem?”

“The problem is my cooter is feeling far too drafty, my boobs are about to pop out, and all this makeup makes me look like a two dollar whore.”

She tips her head to the side and deadpans, “I’d totally pay a solid twenty to see your meat curtains.”

I cracked a smile. “Really?”

“Absolutely. I bet you have a better roast beef sandwich than any Arby’s.”

I let a giggle slip out. “This conversation is ridiculous, you know that right?”

“Yep, but if it convinces you to go downstairs and do some Lemon Drops with me, then mission accomplished. Now let’s go, or I’m sending Dodger up here to get you.”

I paled a little. There was a vast difference between standing in front of your best friend looking like a high-class hooker,
thank God
, than standing in front of a super-hot guy and letting him judge you. She must have seen the indecision on my face because she yelled, “Dodger?”

“What?” he called from downstairs.

I leaned in and grabbed her arm. “Wait, wait, wait…I’ll go, just let me get my purse.”

“Never mind.” She gave me a devilish smile. Little brat always got her way.

As we descended the steps, Macie was walking in front of me looking crazy beautiful, as always. She was wearing a shorts one-piece set that was supposed to look like a fighter pilot. Her long brown hair swayed with each movement she made. A pair of aviators sat atop her head, and she had on tan boots that stopped above her knee. They laced up and looked like combat boots. Where she found those, I didn’t know. I admired her confidence. She owned every room she walked into, and people took notice of her. Not because she was the fat girl who looked like she stuffed herself into a sausage tube, but because she has always been this way; gorgeous, stunning, poised.

I was looking down, watching where my feet were and hoping like hell I didn’t fall in these killer heels. As my foot hit the bottom step I heard a, “Holy shit,” come from Dodger’s mouth, and what sounded like an animal growl from Camden. When I was safely off the stairs I looked up. Macie was already in the kitchen pouring the liquid courage, and the two brothers were staring at me open mouthed.

“Jesus Christ, Keegan, have you been hiding
that
under all those clothes this whole time?” Dodger wondrously asked.

As I came toward the both of them, Camden’s eyes were following me. The intensity of them lit my insides on fire. I shook my head at Dodger. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Your body is fucking banging!” he said appreciatively, but soon after was rubbing the back of his head where Camden had just smacked him.

“Shut your mouth douchebag,” he told his brother.

I shyly looked down at the floor and back up through my eyelashes. Camden and I made eye contact and all the air was sucked out of the room. His tongue came out and licked his bottom lip, and I felt my knees go weak. I took a few purposeful steps in his direction and saw his nostrils flare. I felt desire pooling at my core. He was holding me captive with his piercing brown eyes. I was a few feet away from him when Macie broke the trance I was in.

“Get over here Nurse Sexy, it’s time to make a toast.”

Clearing my throat I went to the counter and picked up a shot glass.

“To new experiences, dancing our asses off, getting laid, and making every cock on campus stand at attention,” Mace announced with a raised glass, throwing back her shot. I tipped my head back and swallowed the murky yellow liquid, its bitterness burning my throat. I noticed that Dodger was glaring at her. She leveled a stare at him. I took note of it and would have to remember to ask her what that was all about later. The two of them had been hanging out a lot, and I knew Macie liked him. They’d gone out on a few dates, but apparently Dodger wouldn’t give in to Mace and sleep with her. I could tell she was getting upset about it.

I felt someone behind me, and a subtle brush of air across my ear. “Can I talk to you for a minute?” Camden rumbled.

I looked over my shoulder and gave a slight nod. I didn’t think Dodger and Macie would even notice my absence. They seemed to be locked in a battle of wills at the moment. Camden put his hand on my lower back, leading me into our small laundry room. When he shut the door behind him, I suddenly felt claustrophobic. Facing him, Camden took up majority of the space. His wide shoulders and tall stance dwarfed me.