“Oh, so you want to play dirty tonight, huh?” he teases with a playful smile.
I smirk at him then throw back my head and suck down a swallow.
His smile darkens, and without warning, he reaches up and snags me by the hips. A gasp escapes my lips as he jerks me forward and lifts me up and off the tailgate.
“No fair!” I cry through my laughter as he sets me down on the tailgate with my legs dangling over the edge.
“How is that not fair?” he asks, spreading my legs open and positioning himself between them.
I shrug. There was no real logic behind my statement. “I have no idea.”
“You’re so drunk.” He shakes his head as he reaches for the bottle in my hand.
Again, I move it away from him, tucking my hand behind my back. He decides to play dirty and starts tickling my side. I let out a screech while I fall back into the bed of the truck, nearly landing on Renee’s feet. She skitters out of the way as Micha clambers up into the bed, chasing after me, his body gliding up mine until we’re hip to hip, chest to chest, face to face. Lip to lip.
It feels like I should be fleeing from his nearness, but I’m too stupidly content at the moment to put up a fuss.
“This feels nice,” I say with a content sigh, relaxing under Micha’s body.
A pucker forms at his brow. “I think I might need to cut you off …” He trails off as I loop my arms around his neck.
“No way. I’m having too much fun.”
His breath catches in his throat as I graze my fingers up and down the nape of his neck. His reaction makes me giggle for some reason.
“God, I love it when you’re like this,” he whispers, lowering his forehead to mine. “I just wish you weren’t so drunk.”
“Me too,” I agree, but I’m not quite sure what I’m agreeing to.
As his hot breath dusts my cheeks, I have the strongest urge to touch his lips.
So I do.
Moving my fingers around to his face, I graze the pad of my thumb across his lip ring, drawing a soft line over his bottom lip.
His breath hitches. “Ella …” It almost sounds like he groans, but that’s probably the drunken side of my mind hearing things. My alcohol level is also more than likely the cause behind why it feels like he kisses my thumb and gently bites on it. Or maybe that’s just payback for the bite and lick I did to him earlier.
Whatever. I don’t really care right now.
“Can we go play?” I lean back and bat my eyelashes at him. “Pretty please.”
His low chuckle reverberates through my body. “We can do whatever you want.” With a deep sigh, he pushes back. Then he steals the bottle from my hand before bounding off the tailgate.
“Cheater!” I cry, flipping Renee the bird when she gives me the look. It’s the same one she’s been giving me for the entire summer every time Micha and I act like this, which yes, is a lot. But that’s what we do. Have fun. As friends. It makes me realize how much I truly need him, how much I don’t want to be a fading memory for him.
Maybe this running off to Vegas thing will be harder than I thought.
Maybe I could just ask him to come with me.
Could I do that?
Is it really that easy?
With Micha, everything is easy.
I run to the edge of the tailgate and jump onto Micha’s back mid-swig. He grunts from the contact as I fasten my arms and legs around him. “Don’t finish that off!” I try to reach for the bottle, but he spins around as he continues to drink. “Micha Scott! You are the biggest cheater ever!”
Once he’s done with his drink, he screws the lid back on and then tosses the bottle to Ethan, who’s shaking his head at us.
“You two are fucking crazy,” Ethan remarks, opening the bottle.
“Ethan Gregory, don’t you dare finish that off!” I cry, but my plea fades as Micha holds onto my legs and hikes toward the fire with me on his back.
“Are you going to carry me around like this all night?” I ask as he approaches Stanford, Benny, and Grantford along with a group of girls I used to go to school with.
“Maybe.” He grips onto me tighter. “At least as long as you’ll let me.”
“That might be a very long time because the stars are spinning a lot tonight.” I glance up at the sky and cringe at the thick clouds. I summon a deep breath. Even through the fogginess in my body, I can still smell it.
Impending rain.
An impending warning.
Chapter 8
Micha
There is no way in hell I’m going to put her down, not after what just happened. I don’t care if she’s drunk. Fuck, I’m feeling pretty drunk myself. With Ella on my back, I feel both high and drunk.
She fucking touched my lips. Let me kiss her thumb. Let me press my body against hers.
And now she’s on my back.
“Hey, Micha.” Benny gives me the chin nod as I approach some other racers with Ella on my back. She’s been on there for about five minutes and hasn’t shown any signs of wanting to get down.
“Hey, man.” I nod back, noting the strange look he gives me and Ella. The look is fleeting and quickly vanishes, as if he’s been expecting this sort of thing to happen. I saw Ethan and Renee give me the same look, and I’m fucking hoping maybe they’re right.
Something’s changed. I can feel it in the air.
Right as I think that, thunder rumbles from the sky. It’s followed by the drizzle of rain. Everyone starts to scatter for their cars as the raindrops put out the fire and drench everyone’s clothes. Ella holds onto me tightly as I sprint for the car, slipping in the mud and struggling to see straight. I manage to get her in the passenger side safely then get my own ass into the driver’s seat where I turn the engine on and crank up the heat.
“We’re so screwed,” she remarks, staring at the raindrops splattering across the window.
Her damp, auburn hair rests on her shoulders, beads of water trickling down her cheeks and lips. As she slips off her jacket, I relish in the sight of her tank top clinging to her body. I can’t help thinking about how I saw her nipples through that shirt this afternoon and how turned on I was.
“Micha, did you hear me?” she asks, wiping some raindrops from her forehead with the back of her hand.
I shake my head, too drunk to be ashamed of the direction of my gaze. “Not a damn word.”