Juilliard or Else (22 page)

After a couple hours of nothing but dancing with Tucker, Jade came up to us on wobbly legs and grabbed my elbow. "Gabs, Jett is gonna give me a tat. Come on," she slurred the last bit of her words and was trying to pull me away from Tucker's hot hands on my butt. I really wanted to just stay right here with him; I rested my head on Tucker's shoulder as his fingers moved in little circles on my lower back.

Tucker pulled away from me and started walking back down the stairs into the shop as Jett flipped on all the lights. Rachel hung all over Brad's body in the corner, looking like they had nothing in common, except for their mouths never leaving each other.

Tucker sat on a chair and pulled me into his arms. I snuggled into his warm scented chest. This was much better than the work party for my dad. Maybe a little lie was okay. Alex was intense to take in; the way he stared at me made me feel slightly uncomfortable.

Jade straddled a black chair and Jett tugged down her shirt off her shoulder, sweeping her long black hair off to the side. Tucker snaked his arms around my waist tighter as the buzzing sound filled the room. I started to bounce my legs, afraid for Jade and the faces she was pulling. Jett had on black latex gloves and stretched Jade's skin on her shoulder blade while black ink smeared in every direction as he wiped it away.

Tucker nuzzled my neck and held my hand during the process. Jade sat completely still as Jett worked. I knew I would be squirming in the hot seat. I stretched my neck up to see the work Jett was putting on Jade's body, but Tucker would hold me back when I tried.

"Let the master work. You'll see when he's done." Then he pecked my lips, which turned heated pretty fast as his tongue roamed in my mouth. Our chests pushed closer together as I wrapped my arms tighter around his neck, wanting him as close as possible.

We rested our heads together as our breathing tried to slow down from kissing each other. His hands rubbed up and down my sides, causing me to softly moan against his lips. He kissed me over and over again while Jade got her tattoo.

By the time she was done, forty minutes passed by while I sat on Tucker's lap, wrapped up in our little bubble of happiness. Jade stood up and went over to the long mirror while Jett held another up in front of her for a reverse look if needed.

The tattoo was a very beautiful lotus flower. The purple and white on the flower stood out perfectly on her fair skin, with green leaves floating on the bottom. It was gorgeous.
Jade smiled into the mirror and flung herself into Jett's arms.

"I love it," I heard her say into his neck. Jett hugged her back and kissed her head.

"You want one?"

I faced Tucker, almost in a panic. "No."

Nudging my shoulder, he said, "They're fun," as he tried to convince me. I couldn't anyway. One, I had nowhere to hide it, because of my ballet. Two, Jade's faces didn't look like she was enjoying herself.

"No," I shook my head again.

Tucker kissed my cheek and stood up. He pulled me back up the stairs to Jett's apartment, but we passed his door and kept climbing another set of stairs, ending up on the roof. We were the only ones up there from the banging party happening in Jett's apartment below us. Tucker led me over to edge of the building and straddled the wall. I sat down in front of him and he held my hand. I watched as he laced his fingers with mine and I smiled at the comfort it brought me. The warming pull started to happen whenever we were together and alone. I looked up to see his blue eyes staring intently into mine and he leaned in to give me a soft kiss. I welcomed his lips on mine like I couldn't get enough of him.

His hands held onto my waist as he tugged me closer to him. We slowly drifted apart and gazed into each other's eyes some more. He pushed hair away from my face as he stroked my cheek, sending shivers through my body. I didn't want to be anywhere else at this moment.

"You're so beautiful."

I smiled at his reassuring words. I did feel so beautiful when I was with him; he made me feel so gorgeous and like I was the only girl for him. Even if it was just walking down the street holding my hand, he made me feel pretty even then.

"Tell me about Carol."

I was shocked he wanted to talk about her. "Why?"

"You said she's your stepmom; do you not like her?"

I took a deep breath. "It's confusing. Sometimes, she's fine, other times…well…most of the time, I can't stand to be around her. She's so demanding; I never know what mood to expect being around her."

"Have you ever told her this before?"

"No way. Just last week, I told her there would be traffic in the morning, because well, it's New York, there's always traffic and she smacked me."

Tucker's body went stiff at my words. "She hit you?"

"Yeah, it's the first time she's ever done anything like that, though. I think she feels really bad about it, too. She calls me more, wanting to meet with me, to have lunch or just even to talk with me on the phone."

"She definitely feels guilty then."

I looked at Tucker. "How can you tell?"

"She wouldn't apologize or do any of those things if she didn't."

Silence lingered between us, but our hands were still laced together.

"What about your mom? What's her name?"

"Victoria, but she goes by Tori."

"What does she do?"

"Ha! That's funny." I raised an eyebrow at him. "She does nothing, except sit at home with all her damn cats."

"In Bushwick?"

"Yep. Her boyfriend is such an ass to her, too."

"What about your dad? Isn't he around?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, he left us when I was little. Haven't seen him at all, not that I even want to; I hate him probably just as much as my mom's boyfriend."

"I've never been to Bushwick before. Is it close by here?"

Tucker pointed out west of us. I couldn't see anything except the street lights and buildings.

"It's about ten minutes that way, but you can never go there."

I faced him again. "Why not?"

"It's not a safe neighborhood. Promise me, Gabs, that you will never go there."

I nodded, "I promise."

His face softened as he cupped my cheek. I embraced his warm palm on my face. Someone below us must have opened a window because music filled our ears. Then we heard Rachel and Brad's voices; we peered down to see them out on the balcony and embraced in each other's arms as they slow danced to the soft song playing from inside the apartment.

Tucker pulled me up, pressing his hot body against mine, wrapping one arm around my lower back. The other arm guided my arms up around his neck and we started to sway back and forth. Tucker's breath was hot as it traveled down my back, then down my spine. I pressed closer to him, wanting to be as close as I could to him. My fingers found his hair and I threaded them through it over and over again. He kissed my neck as if he couldn't get enough of my skin there.

Jett had a couch on the roof, and after our little slow dance in our own Tucker and Gabs world, we made our way over to the seat. We sat together and Tucker's arm was around my shoulders; he occasionally kissed my cheek and whispered in my ear about how beautiful I was to him. He would move my hair back from my neck and kiss me underneath my ear on my sensitive spot. My head fell back on the cushion and I moaned into the chilling night air.

Tucker's other arm wound around my stomach, lifting the hem of my shirt to lightly drag his fingertips across my skin while chills racked through my body as if it was on fire. I burned for his touch. I wanted his hands on me, all over my tingling body that only craved him. As his teeth sucked in my lobe, my eyes slowly shut and my head turned automatically to seek out his mouth; he gladly met mine. Our tongues clashed against each other as my body pressed up against his side; my hands shot up into his hair and I pulled, making him groan in my mouth.

Tucker slowly fell back on the couch with my body between his legs, our tongues still going crazy for one another. Pushing my shirt up a little more, his hands were hot on my skin as they rubbed up and down on my sides. I don't know how long we were like that, just me laying there on top of him, making out like crazy, horny kids in high school. I couldn't get enough of his hard framed body.

Suddenly, the air between us shifted as my body wanted him in every way possible. I knew Tucker felt it change, because he broke our kiss and sat up, pulling me into his lap with a deep breath.

I sighed, wondering if I did something wrong. "What's wrong?"

Tucker's hand went to his forehead and moved down; he looked confused, but wouldn't tell me what was bothering him or why he stopped our kisses. He looked me in the eyes.

"I just want to hold you," he whispered to me, pulling me into him.

I smiled at him. I could give him that much. Come to think of it, I didn't know if I was actually really ready to give that part of me, yet. I mean don't get me wrong; I really wanted to, but I had only known Tucker for a week, and it wasn't my kind of style to jump bones already.

We lay back down on the couch, my left hand up with Tucker's right, our fingers lacing and twisting together in front of our faces. We tickled our fingertips against each other's as we stared high up into the night sky; this night would be perfect if the stars were noticeable, but that wouldn't happen in New York.

When I was younger, I always dreamed of the beautiful white stars in the sky and would think about my dreams; they were mostly about ballet. Everything revolved around my ballet; I wanted nothing more.

I sighed happily. "What are your dreams, Tucker?" Still thinking about the stars and my dreams, I was curious to see if Tucker had any.

"My dreams?"

My head nodded against his chest and he let out a breath, blowing my hair in my eyes.

"Oh, I don't know. At first, I wanted to leave this town and never look back. Go somewhere new, where no one knows me."

He words softly hurt my heart. Go away? To somewhere they don't know him? My head looked up to him and saw his eyes staring at our twisting fingers.

"What do you mean?"

His blue eyes met mine and he kissed my head. "Nothing, baby girl."

I laid there wondering about what he meant, which was probably about his mom and her boyfriend he didn't like very much. Tucker's other arm was behind my neck and he slowly started playing with my hair, running it through his long fingers. Then I remembered my thoughts about how he knew Jasmine, or how she knew him.

"Tucker?"

He didn't answer and when I glanced up at his face, his eyes were closed. I sighed as my eyelids started to get heavy. I slowly shut them, content to be in the arms of Tucker and fell asleep.

Someone was gently shaking my shoulder. Groaning, I opened my eyes to the bright outside sun and to Jade's ice blue eyes, and Rachel's red hair in my face. They snickered at me and Rachel whispered, "We gotta go."

I nodded slowly, not wanting to wake up Tucker. I lay on my side, my backside being pressed into Tucker's front. When I tried to get up, his right arm pressed me harder into his groin. I sucked in a sharp breath as I felt every inch of him being curved into my butt.

Jade rolled her eyes at me and Rachel started to giggle. I mouthed, "What" at them and that ended with Rachel falling on the roof's floor and her giggles turned into full on laughing. Tucker jerked awake behind me at the sound.

Well, there goes that.

The four of us made our way back downstairs through Jett's shop, where Jett held a taxi's door open for us. I started walking towards it when I was suddenly jerked back and lips crashed into mine. I immediately reacted to Tucker as our mouths opened in unison and our hot tongues met. I pushed up on my toes and kissed him back with everything I had. I enjoyed it, too.

Someone in the background cleared their throat with a quiet, "Ahem," but we kept on kissing. The cab honked when we finally pulled apart, and my heart was racing so fast and hard, it was almost painful. I blinked up at Tucker as he softly pecked my lips one more time. Jade pulled on my arm before Tucker could take me back into his embrace where I wanted to be.

"Jeez man, did you get her pregnant with that kiss?" Jett joked and Tucker playfully punched his shoulder.