Forget You (3 page)

The same music that played at every party of
Wes’s flowed through the cool night air to my ears—old school rap.
Trick Daddy’s thuggishly low voice bounced off the walls of the
cramped house as the bass vibrated through the air. A group of
three girls, who were obviously already wasted, bumped and grinded
against each other to the music. My eyes scanned the faces
surrounding them, knowing, where there were drunk girls dancing
like hoes, Wes was sure to be close by.

I spotted him—just as I thought I
would—watching them. He stood off to the side with his arms folded
over his chest and a goofy ass grin stretched across his face.

When I broke through the crowd around the two
girls, which seemed to be growing by the second as their slutty,
drunken show progressed into something I’d seen on numerous
Girls Gone Wild
movies growing up, Wes spotted me.

“And here he is, everyone!” Wes shouted to
the entire room. His devilish grin from undressing the ladies
dancing melted from his face, and was replaced with one I’d seen
every time anyone mentioned the National Guard and me—his proud
smile. “My little cousin, the fucking boot camp graduate, Sawyer
Keeton! Show him some love, fuckers. You’re all here in honor of
him!”

Eruptions of applause and whistles burst
through the room loud enough to rupture someone’s eardrum. Smiling
from ear-to-ear, I nodded at everyone. This moment was good, but I
still wished Ryker could be here for it. The song blasting through
the speakers haphazardly hung from the four corners of the room
changed to Lil Wayne’s
Lollipop
. The girls in the center of
the room migrated my way, and began bumping and grinding against me
while singing the words to the song. My thoughts of Ryker drifted
from my mind, because I knew that no matter what, he’d want me to
enjoy this moment to the fullest.

The blonde leaned in, and flicked her tongue
against the outer rim of my ear while dropping her hand to my junk.
My pulse jumped to my throat from the unexpected motion, and I
arched an eyebrow at Wes.

“Enjoy the fuck out of this night.” He
grinned like a Cheshire cat. “You deserve it.”

The blonde continued in her uninvited
kneading of my crotch as her friend brushed parts of her body
against me, I was sure she’d be embarrassed about in the morning. I
wasn’t either girls’ conscience, and I wasn’t about to stop them
from doing what they wanted with me. After all, don’t they say men
only have two emotions: hungry and horny? If you see a man without
an erection, make him a sandwich. No one would have trouble
deciding on which of those two things I was.

The blonde released me and shifted so she
could rub her ass against the monster she’d awoken in my jeans, and
that was when I saw her—the girl with the ocean-colored eyes, and
the cynical smile from the park. The one who’d consumed my mind so
profoundly, who’d forced thoughts of my brother away for the first
time in months.

She was leaning against the back wall with a
drink in her hand and an I-don’t-want-to-be-here gleam in her eyes.
There was a cute, petite blonde standing beside her, talking with
Wes. From the perky tits and tiny frame, I knew the blonde had to
be Mindy—the girl Wes was viewing as his conquest for the night.
What were the chances of his conquest bringing mine along with her?
About as good as winning the lottery, I’d say, which was exactly
how I felt the second I saw pretty eyes standing there with that
beyond bored look sharpening her features.

EVA

I counted all the assholes in the room, and
decided in an instant the ratio of nice guys to jerks wasn’t in my
favor tonight. To say I was ready to leave would be a drastic
understatement. If I had come to this shindig alone, then I would
have already been out the door and driving away. But I hadn’t. I’d
come with Mindy, and I’d sort of promised myself I would at least
try to have fun. Sloshing around the sangria mix in my red plastic
cup, I prayed fun rested at the bottom of glass number two, because
number one had been nothing but a tease.

“I’m going to get a refill.” I elbowed Mindy
in the side. “You need one?”

She turned to look directly at me. Lust was
sparkling in her eyes, and I knew right away this girl was the type
who fell fast for someone—like a brick tossed off the side of a
building. I glanced at Wes, and wondered what it was she saw in
him—besides his perfectly white smile and chiseled features.
Scratch that, I knew what she saw when she looked at him—sex on a
stick—but then he opened his mouth and everything went downhill. At
least for me it did. For Mindy, however, she was smitten. I hadn’t
heard their conversation, but I was sure Wes wasn’t a Romeo, and a
Romeo was all I was looking for lately.

Wes trailed the tip of his index finger along
Mindy’s collarbone, and she turned to face him again. I couldn’t
hear everything he spewed in her ear, but knew it had been
something about wishing she would come upstairs with him so he
could show her everything he’d been thinking about doing to her
since first seeing her tonight.

My cheeks heated as the snips of conversation
I’d heard spiked my already on edge libido. Damn you love gods,
when are you going to help me out with this thing called sexual
frustration?

“Hey there, pretty eyes.” The voice slipped
over me in a silky way, and I instantly spun to see who was behind
me. I hoped that it was someone sent directly from the love
gods.

Looking up, I locked eyes with Soldier Boy
from the park. “Son of a bitch.”

Really, love gods? Really?

Soldier Boy’s lips twisted into an incredibly
sexy smile at my outburst. “You know, my mother never saw the irony
in calling me that.”

I laughed. A look of complete shock plastered
on Soldier Boy’s face at the sound. Why the hell was I laughing at
him? Laughing at something he’d said constituted as flirting in the
guy code dictionary.

“Pretty funny, Soldier Boy,” I commended him.
Maybe he would leave it at that, and not consider my laugh as an
invitation to inflate his ego and flirt relentlessly with me for
the remainder of the night.

He cocked his head to the side. “You liked
that, huh?”

And there it was, the cockiness I’d been
waiting on. Love gods, you suck tonight.

“And that was the only thing I liked.” I
moved past him, hoping he’d take the hint. “Excuse me. I need a
refill.”

I didn’t have to look behind me to see if
he’d followed. I could feel that he had. It was as though he had
this massive presence mine enjoyed latching onto, that it desired
to be fused with, because I could feel him all around me.

“What’s your name?” he asked. He was closer
than I thought, his breath practically brushed against my ear when
he spoke.

I pretended not to hear him. It may have been
a simple question, but I still didn’t care to answer. He didn’t
need to know my name, because I wasn’t interested. Once I reached
the kitchen counter, I picked up the ladle lying beside a large
bowl, and dipped it in for another glass of sangria.

“Not going to tell me your name?” He leaned
against the counter, and grazed his eyes over every inch of my
face. I could feel the burning trail his stare left in its
wake.

When I still didn’t answer—this time because
I was dumbfounded at how much power this guy suddenly had over
me—he reached out and touched the small of my back. I knew this
move; it was so he could better gain my attention. What he didn’t
know, though, was that he already had my attention even without the
deliberate placement of his hand. Every inch of my skin blazed to
life from his touch. If he could make me feel this way from the
smallest of contact, I wondered what else he could do for me
tonight. Maybe the love gods weren’t being cruel; maybe they were
showing me mercy in the form of a seriously sexy soldier boy.

“Eva,” I answered. Gaining control over my
hand again, I finished pouring myself that second drink I so
desperately needed.

“Eva? Like from the Disney movie
Wall-E
?”

And the moment was over. He’d opened his
mouth, and crushed it to smithereens. “Yup. And… how old are
you?”

He had a baby face, but his movie reference
made me think he might be even younger than I’d initially thought.
If he said he was nineteen, I was leaving. I would hand him my cup,
text Mindy goodnight, and hightail it out of there. I was not
dating someone younger than me.

“Twenty-three, why? How old are you?”

Not too much younger than me, but still
younger. Ugh.

“Because your juvenile taste in movies had me
wondering.” I topped my drink off, and placed the ladle back where
I’d found it. “My age doesn’t matter because I’m not
interested.”

“Ouch,” he muttered under his breath. I could
still hear his goofy smile reflected in his words though.

Weaving through the crowd in the kitchen, I
made my way back to Mindy. She was still standing where I’d left
her, soaking in all of Wes Keeton’s player ways. A hand touched the
small of my back, and Soldier Boy appeared at my side as though he
were guiding me through the room. I rolled my eyes and wiggled away
from his touch, ignoring the sparks that spread from there straight
to my who-ha. God, his touch did things to me. Things I couldn’t
force back much longer if he kept his hand on me.

“I don’t need a bodyguard.” I flipped my hair
over my shoulder, and continued forward.

“Never said I thought you did,” he said
against my ear, closer than last time. Either he had no barrier for
personal space, or he didn’t give a shit.

Closing my eyes, I inhaled and fought against
the sensations coursing through me from his hot breath across my
ear, and his hand pressed against my lower back. My heart hammered
at his nearness and the rich, low tone he’d just used. Trouble. He
was definitely trouble, and I didn’t even need to know his name or
be in his presence any longer to be sure of that fact.

Mindy didn’t notice when I walked up, so I
tapped her on the arm to gain her attention.

“Hey, I know you’re having a great time and
all, but I think I’m going to head home,” I said, hoping she didn’t
notice Soldier Boy behind me and think I was dipping out for a
little action. Deep down I wished I were, maybe not with Soldier
Boy, but with someone. Everyone in this room was probably going to
have some scandalously hot sex tonight but me. “Are you going to be
okay alone?” My eyes shifted to Wes, and then back to her.

Mindy’s eyes flickered to mine. “Yeah, yeah,
I’ll be totally okay. Are you sure you don’t want to hang around
for a little longer?”

I shook my head. “No, I’m good.”

“You all right to drive?” she asked, eyeing
my cup.

“Yeah, I’ve only had one. Here you can have
this one. I just poured it.” I handed the full cup to her.

“Don’t rush off, Eva,” Soldier Boy uttered
from behind me. “I didn’t mean to overstep boundaries or something.
I just wanted to know your name.”

Mindy’s eyes shifted to him, and widened. She
arched a perfectly plucked eyebrow at me, and smiled. “Looks like
I’m not the only one who wishes you’d hang out for a bit
longer.”

“Nice one, cuz.” Wes grinned as he eyed me,
and shifted his gaze to Soldier Boy.

Cuz? Was this Wes Keeton’s cousin? Please,
no.

“Mindy, this is my cousin, Sawyer Keeton.
He’s the guy we threw this party for. He just graduated boot camp
or military college, something,” Wes explained with a level of
pride etched into each of his words, even though he didn’t sound
like he knew what the hell he was talking about.

Soldier Boy was Wes Keeton’s cousin. Ugh, no
wonder he came off as such a cocky, arrogant ass. It must be
something that ran in the Keeton bloodline.

“Congratulations!” Mindy shouted as though
he’d won the Nobel Peace Prize. He’d graduated boot camp; all this
proved was that he could follow directions.

“Seriously, you’re the guy this party is
for?” I spun to face him, and narrowed my eyes.

“Seriously.” He beamed. His incredible eyes
glittered as they locked with mine.

“For a guy who’s in the National Guard, you
sure don’t know how to follow directions very well.” I stormed off,
waving to Mindy as I headed for the door. “Text me later, and let
me know you made it home all right,” I called over my shoulder.

“I will. Be careful,” she shouted over the
loud DMX song I hadn’t heard since middle school playing through
the speakers.

“What’s that supposed to mean? I can follow
orders just fine,” Sawyer said. He’d followed me in my race to the
front door. Big surprise.

“Actually, you can’t. You haven’t left me
alone.” I pushed my way through the throng of people congregating
on the front porch, smoking cigarettes, and made my way down the
brick steps.

Sawyer’s hand reached out, and grabbed my
wrist. I paused near the bottom of the stairs at the feel of the
contact. Electricity sparked through my system. Sinking my teeth
into my bottom lip, I wondered how long it had been since a guy had
caused this sort of reaction when he touched me.

“You never asked. If you’d have asked me to
leave you be, then I would have.” He smiled. “But you didn’t.”

There was a sweetness to this grin—one I
hadn’t noticed in the others—and I wondered if it was his way of
getting me to stay. Was he trying to reel me in or something? This
had to be a completely orchestrated look he used in order to get
what he wanted with the ladies.

“So?” he questioned. When I didn’t respond
right away, he continued. “Are you sure you want me to leave you
be?” The pad of his thumb rubbed against the inside of my wrist,
and caused me to nearly melt in front of Wes Keeton’s frat
house.

“Would you listen?” I arched an eyebrow.