“I thought you weren’t ready,” Luke said.
“We’re not going to be ready by tomorrow if we have to go to school. And we don’t know what crazy thing we’ll end up doing. And she’s on lockdown. So fuck it. And she’s already said she wanted to go out on a date. We’ll just have to do it a little later.”
“Gabe,” Nathan said.
“Okay, fine. We’ll all take her out once, but after that, I’m going to start taking her myself. It’s only fair and you know you want to. You all won’t go with me to half the shit I want to go do, and here she is, willing to go. We’ll take her to that dance club. There’s that one near the mall.”
Nathan shook his head. “We’re not going tonight.”
“Not tonight. We’ll hang out here tonight. Tomorrow is her birthday. We’ll snag her after school and take off. Luke.”
“What?”
“Take one of your brother’s cars.”
“I’ve got his Jeep out front,” Nathan said.
Gabriel spun on him. “What? We’ve got the Jeep?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, why don’t we take it?”
“Nope,” Nathan said. “No going out tonight.”
“Yeah,” Luke said. “Besides, North will be here for his Jeep soon. He wouldn’t leave it with us for long.”
“They might all show up tonight,” Gabriel said. He raked his fingers through my almost-dry hair, and caught a lock to spin around his finger. “So let’s do the group thing tonight. We’ll blow out a few candles, spank her ass, and do whatever she wants. And then the next time we get a chance, we’ll take her out.”
Nathan reached over, picking up my hand from my leg and lifted my nails toward Gabriel. “The first thing you have to do is take this off her nails.”
“Her nails look fine.”
“I can’t bite with that stuff on.”
“She could use a better color.” He tilted his head at my hand, taking it from Nathan. “But maybe I want to leave it on so you’re not fucking up her nails.”
“I’ll mess with her hair,” Nathan said. “I’ll cut it.”
“Don’t.”
“Find something to take the polish off. How do you get polish off? Isn’t there something they do for that?”
“I want to find another color,” Gabriel said. “Now that I’m looking at it, it’s bugging me. I don’t have nail polish.”
“Let’s go get some,” Luke said. He jumped off the counter. “I want to go pick her up a cake. We’ll snag some polish and we’ll do that girly stuff.”
Gabriel snapped his fingers and hooked an arm around Luke’s neck, dragging him out of the bathroom. “I fucking love you. Have I told you that lately?”
“Guys. We’re on lockdown,” Nathan said.
Gabriel waved us off, fishing keys out of his pocket. “She’s on lockdown. You stay here with her. We’re going to go get her stuff.”
“We’ll be right back,” Luke said.
Nathan stood in the doorway of the bathroom. I hovered behind him, looking around his shoulder as Gabriel and Luke collected what they needed and headed out the door.
When they were gone, Nathan turned, stepping back a half step when he realized I was close behind him. He turned. “Those two are going to get me killed one day,” he said quietly.
My eyes widened. “Should we stop them?”
“They’ll be fine. I’m more worried about what North will do to me when he finds out I let them run around in his Jeep.”
“How will he know?”
“He always knows.” He smiled at me. “You’ll see. One day he’ll give you the eyeball, too. And then he knows everything you’ve done.”
“He does that already,” I said.
Nathan sighed. “Want to change clothes? I don’t like seeing you in that bloody shirt.”
I followed Nathan into his bedroom. He flicked on the light to the walk-in closet and stepped aside.
I stepped in, looking at the clothes in the back that Gabriel had chosen, and Victor had bought for me.
“Wear those red shorts,” Nathan said.
I found a pair folded up on the shelf above the racks. I took them off the shelf and held them up. “These?”
“Yeah, those.”
I found a cami bra top and some new underwear. I wasn’t sure if the top matched or not but they were comfortable and that was all I wanted tonight.
“Here,” Nathan said. He lifted himself off of the bed and grabbed the closet door handle. “Just change inside. I’ll shut the door.”
Before I could protest, he shut the closet. There was plenty of room, but I had an itchy feeling about closets. I ignored it. At least it wasn’t a shower.
“So,” he said from beyond the closet door. The wood creaked, like he was leaning against it. “Did you really want to go out for your birthday?”
I turned around, shivering from a little shyness since he seemed so close while I was changing. I slipped out of my clothes, trying to hurry to put on the new things. “I want to do things you like doing.”
“We can do what you want to do, Peanut.”
“I don’t know what I like.”
“Huh,” he said. “You don’t even know what I like doing.”
“Well, this is how I find out, isn’t it?”
“I guess.” The light flicked off and on above me. “You done yet?”
I opened the door. He was leaning with his arm up on the frame, and his other hand on his hip. The way he was standing caught me off-guard. I’d noticed the red T-shirt and the blue jeans he wore, but with his arm up like that, the muscles in his arm and shoulders were much more noticeable. My heart tripped in my chest at how handsome he was.
His blue eyes swept over me. His face brightened. “Yeah. I like those.”
“Do you want a pair?” I asked, smirking.
He laughed and reached for my hand. “Come on, Peanut. Help me clean up the house a little before they get back.”
I followed him back into the living room and helped him to collect plates and leftovers. When the pizza was put away and the plates were cleared, Nathan started up the sink and scrubbed the pan free of bits. “So how about this,” he said, focusing on the pan. “The next time we get the chance, you and I can go see a movie.”
I leaned against the counter, my side touching the coolness of the marble. “Okay.”
He grinned, glancing up at me. “No, no. You’re supposed to say something like, ‘That’s boring.’ And then we argue about what movie to watch.”
I tilted my head toward him. “I haven’t been to a movie. Not in a theater. How am I supposed to know?”
“Yeah, I forgot.” He put the pan aside and shut off the water. He dried his hands on a kitchen towel and tossed it over the sink faucet. He side stepped until he was standing in front of me. “I guess I should let you pick the movie, anyway. It’s for your birthday and your first time.”
My hand fluttered up, my fingers hovering over my lips. “I don’t know what movies are out.”
He grinned. He caught my hand, drawing it to his mouth. He opened his mouth, teeth parted, as if he were going to bite it. At the last second, his lips closed and he kissed my forefinger. “Please tell me you like horror movies.”
Heat elevated at my cheeks. “I like horror movies?”
“It’s October. There’s going to be a bunch out right now through Halloween.”
“I guess you want to see them?”
He dropped my fingers and planted his palms on the counter, one on either side of me. He kept them close enough that his arms were brushing my ribs as he hovered over me. His blue eyes locked on mine, the serious gaze deepening. “I want to know if you want to. Will you go to the movies with me?”
My heart pounded. I felt myself nodding before I thought of an answer. I did want to. The idea of a movie, something normal, sounded exciting to me. It was his eyes that stole my voice for the moment. The most I managed was a soft exhale.
The corner of hi
s mouth rose. “What’s your favorite movie?”
I forced myself to glance around the kitchen just to find a thought and cling to it. “I’m not sure.”
“What have you seen?”
I couldn’t remember. “I watched one with Victor the other day. I can’t remember the title.”
Nathan lifted one hand, traced a lock of hair across my cheek. His eyes seeking out mine as if to get my attention. He hooked the lock around my ear. The moment he released it, it fell back where it had been. He dropped his hand again on the counter. “Have you seen Halloween?”
I shook my head.
“The Exorcist?”
“No.”