The Fall (15 page)

I ripped myself away from his embrace. He refused my retreat, grabbing my arms and holding them behind my back with one hand, his lips inches from mine, his stare murderous. A slow burn started inside me and quickly spread as I watched him. His expression turned smug as he read my reaction to him. I twisted against him, my body betraying me. Angry with the sudden need to give in, I quickly started rambling. “Do yourself a favor, old buddy. Go fu—”

He pressed his fingers to my mouth, muting my words. “You loved me once, Dallas Whitaker. You loved me and I loved you.” His eyes beckoned me for acknowledgement, and when I remained quiet, he cursed, dragged me outside, and practically threw me in Josh’s passenger seat.

“Have a great night, Dally. It was memorable,” Dean said, leaning over me to buckle my seat belt. Tears threatened as I inhaled his scent and studied his profile, every fiber of my being leaning in toward him. He addressed Josh next. “She’s all yours,” he bit out before glaring at me again, slamming my door before heading back inside. The next few hours were a blur of porcelain and cold showers and then I finally got to drift to the place I’d been praying to visit all day: darkness.

Dean

• Then
  

“What?” She grinned.

“Nothing.” I grinned back.

She was sitting opposite of me on our dilapidated, pea green couch, perched Indian style with a pen cap in her mouth. Luckily, we were alone. It was Saturday after all and my militant girlfriend had insisted we spend it studying.

“Well, now that you have taken my attention away from my studies, Dr. Martin, you have to tell me.”

“No, I don’t,” I taunted, holding her socked foot in my lap, my thumb making slow, deliberate circles on the skin of her ankle. “I love it when you call me doctor.”

“Well, you might get the title first, but we both know I’ll wipe the floor with your ass in recognition and publication. Now stop,” she said, jerking her foot away from me. “I need to study.”

“What a completely unsupportive and bullshit statement. Don’t be jealous, Dallas. There’s room for both of us.”

“Hmph, have you chosen your specialty yet?” I ignored her as I resumed my slow, seductive torture. I would get her back for it my way, which would be her begging for mercy beneath me.

“I didn’t think so.” She looked back down at her book with a small smile on her lips, trying to ignore the effect I had on her.

We’d spent the last month hitting the books and exhausting each other in bed. I couldn’t get enough of her, and I knew she felt the same. Most nights, she would finish class then head over to the frat house to cook huge meals for the guys. She was a horrible cook and none of us had the heart to tell her, instead choosing to scarf down her offering. They were more than helpful with her in the kitchen, and even more appreciative after, but I was learning to ignore it. I’d made it very clear she belonged to me, and they gave us hell as they chanted some of the things they had heard through the walls.

Classless.

I’d thought about renting an apartment so we could spend the rest of my last year in peace, but Dallas insisted it didn’t matter and she actually liked hanging with the guys. And she was right, she fit. We fit, and I couldn’t have imagined it any better. Even her bitchy roommate Cammie would make an appearance at the frat house once in a while. I only humored her because she seemed protective of Dallas, which made her my ally.

I raked my fingertips softly up her legs, underneath her sweats, and she batted my hand away.

“I’ll leave,” she warned as I crawled toward her.

“It’s Saturday, Dr. Whitaker,” I murmured, gripping the side of the couch as I hovered above her. She slunk down into the cushion, hiding her smile.

“Flattery will get you nowhere, Dean. I have a test Monday!” Her words were exasperated, but her heaving chest told me all I needed to know. I leaned down and took her lips in a slow kiss. She pushed the book that was laying on her chest to the floor.

“You’re an animal,” she said between kisses, pulling my shirt over my head. I shut her up with my tongue and she caught it, sucking hard. My already hard dick twitched in appreciation. I pulled back to gaze down at her.

“I’m your animal.”

“Finally.”

“Spaniard!” I heard Dallas call from across the quad. I laughed as I watched her running toward me. “Spaniard, I did it!”

She made a beeline for me, a single piece of paper in her hand. She didn’t slow as she approached, hurling herself at me, landing on me with enough force to knock me off my feet. I felt the thud in my back as she straddled my hips, kissing my face mercilessly.

“Yes, Dallas?” I said with a chuckle as her lips rained repeated kisses over my face.

“I did it, Spaniard. I aced it!”

“And this surprises you why?” I looked around as people stopped to gape at us. Dallas ignored them. All she saw was me.

“I thought I was going to have to break up with you.”

I sat up, gripping the sides of her head. “What?” I forced her to look at me, panic shooting through my every limb.

“Yeah, I was worried you were too much of a distraction. Too much sex. Just altogether a horrible influence. You know I would have to get rid of you and start dating a mathlete. Someone a little more serious about his education.”

I pushed her off my lap as she fell to the grass chuckling. It was starting to get colder and I slipped my freezing hand under her sweater, making her scream out.

“Funny, Dallas. Always trying to bring out the angry Spaniard in me.”

“Well,” she said, pressing her lips to mine, “you can put him away. You’re safe for now.”

Pushing her hair back from her face, I leaned in. “Mathlete? Please don’t insult me and aim a little higher.”

“Okay, well, there is this one guy in pre-law. I may be able to look over the fact that he wears socks with sandals. I mean, after all, my boyfriend dresses like he belongs in the tabernacle choir.”

A month later, I was waiting for her to finish packing for Thanksgiving break. We were going home to spend time with our parents, and for the first time, we were officially together.

We both carried our class load with ease, the same goal in mind. I admired her when she pushed me out of her doorway for some much-needed catch up or sleep. When she’d finally let her guard down enough to completely let me in, she mirrored my behavior in affection. I hadn’t heard the words cross her lips, and was being patient about it. I’d never thought myself a romantic fool before. I’d never had to be, never wanted to be, until her.

She was still my spitfire in every way, constantly challenging me with her sharp tongue and as persistent as ever to bring out the angry Spaniard in me, which she did often. I loved every minute of it.

I loved her.

I watched as her and Cammie went back and forth as she finished packing, Cammie eyeing me suspiciously. She was a pill. A few of my frat buddies had attempted a shot at her, but were quickly shut down. She seemed to have a stick up her ass that gave the effect of a bowlegged stance. She was a cute girl, just not cute enough for the amount of bullshit one would have to endure to date her. She held some sort of grudge and it was obvious. Dallas rolled her eyes at me in jest as Cammie went on and on about her last date. She seemed to want my opinion as she eyed me every other sentence. I offered nothing. I just wanted to get my girl alone and no sooner had she shut her suitcase did I take her hand, hauling her out the door after a quick hug with Cammie.

“You don’t like her.” Dallas chuckled as I dragged her down the set of stairs leading out of her dorm.

“I wouldn’t say that,” I denied, carrying her ten ton bag through the quad toward the parking lot.

“No, you wouldn’t,” she smarted back.

“Let’s go home, spitfire,” I said, giving her a smile as we closed our car doors.

“Spitfire?” she questioned with a smile. “I think I like it.”

“You would,” I chuckled, starting the car as Dean Martin’s greatest hits played in the background. I held her hand the entire five hours to Dallas as she rattled on about the medical practice her and Rose had decided to open. Rose would be a surgeon. She was excited when she spoke about it, in a way that told me that any hopes I had of her joining me in New York were premature. She had planned her future as well and as far as I could tell, I wasn’t a part of it.

Looking over at her as she spoke animatedly, I decided to change that. The crippling fear in my chest told me I had to.

We’d spent our first day at her house catching up with her family. I watched Rose and Dallas interact, completely different this time around. Rose was now fifteen and seemed to have a little hero worship for her big sister. It was a far cry from the Tom and Jerry act I was used to when it came to them. They seemed closer, and spent a good amount of time whispering. Rose, true to her no bullshit nature, brought up our relationship status in front of the entire family, including their older brother Paul, who had always threatened no less than death if I touched his sister.

“So you two finally hooked up,” Rose said without apology as Dallas spit out her salad and glared at her.

Her mother was the first to speak up. “About time.” She winked with an added smile.

“It could have waited longer,” her father said pointedly at me. I coughed and swallowed my entire beer as his lips twitched with a smile. I had a deep respect for Seth Whitaker. I only felt slightly guilty for the misconduct I had planned for the next few days. She was finally mine and not even he could dampen that fact.

“All of you shut up or we are staying at Dean’s until the end of break,” Dallas said with an apologetic smile at me. I simply shook my head and grinned. Seth replaced my beer and I knew then, it was all in jest.

I felt at home with them all as we watched the Cowboys get their asses kicked and we collectively yelled at the screen. Dallas sat next to me, my arm around her shoulders, her legs tucked beneath her. Halfway through the game, I caught her eyeing me, the look on her face bringing me back to a time when I wasn’t able to tell her how I felt. She didn’t shy away from being caught. She simply smiled, her eyes telling me all I needed to know. I took full advantage now as her beautiful, green gaze caused an explosion in my chest.

I leaned in slowly, eyes locked on hers before I whispered in her ear. “When you look at me that way, baby, I feel invincible. Nothing else fucking matters...nothing. I love you, Dallas.” I saw the sting of tears as she kept her eyes on mine and I backed away slowly as she nodded into my chest, wrapping her arms around me tightly. An angry scream at the TV shook us both out of the moment. It might have been broken, but it lingered between us, ever-present, the energy pulsing around letting us know we were right. We got it right with each other. I held her tighter to me as she laughed at her father who threw an entire bowl of pretzels at the TV, and her mother cursed him and the Cowboys for his ill mood.