She rolled her eyes at him and reached down like she was going to feel beneath her dress. “Really? Because my panties are still on.”
He brushed his lips against her chin and growled, “Not for long.” He kissed her then, and not an innocent kiss either. It was the kind that made you feel dirty for looking too long.
“Dude, stop,” Maddox groaned, covering his eyes. “I’m too young to see this.”
Mathias punched Maddox in the arm, all without breaking his kiss with Remy. That took some major skill.
Finally he pulled away and Remy was left breathless. Somehow her lipstick was still perfectly in place and none lingered on Mathias’ lips.
Now that Remy was available to talk, I said, “So, ladies, does that mean we’re going to sing?”
“Absolutely,” Emma chimed.
Remy grimaced. “And this is when I wish I could drink. I hate the thought of doing this stone cold sober, but for you guys I will. The Willow Creek ladies have to stick together.” She held out her fist for a bump. Emma and I quickly obliged.
I liked that. The Willow Creek ladies. But I couldn’t help feeling like I wasn’t really a part of that term. After all, Remy was married to Mathias and Emma would soon be married to Maddox. I was nothing but the friend, the outsider. I existed on the fringes, but not a part of the actual family. I knew if I voiced that aloud everybody at the table would tell me I was crazy, even Mathias, but it was how I felt.
Our food came and we all chatted while we ate.
We continued to talk after the food had been cleared away. It was nice for all of us to hang out and it reminded me of what things had been like before I started dating Braden. Remy hadn’t been a part of our group then, and Mathias had kept to himself, but we all clicked.
“Alright, ladies,” Mathias slid his chair back and crossed his hands behind his head, “it’s now or never. Quit stalling.”
Remy glared at him. “We’re not stalling, we were having a conversation.”
He reached over and rubbed her shoulder. “It’s getting late. We need to head back soon. The baby—”
“Okay, okay,” she agreed, and her face crinkled with worry, “you’re right. One song and then we’re out of here. Sound good?” She turned her attention to Emma and me.
“Yep.” Emma stood quickly, nearly knocking her chair over. Luckily Maddox caught it before it fell. “Oops.” A blush stained her cheeks.
“Have fun,” Maddox told us, sliding Emma’s now vacant chair into the table.
We went over and put our names on the list and picked a song. We were next, which didn’t give us long for the nerves to set in. I knew I didn’t have the best voice in the world, but I wasn’t horrible. Emma was amazing though. Her vocals were featured on several of Willow Creek’s songs and she even had a duet with Maddox.
The guy on stage finished his song and we were handed microphones.
“Ready?” Emma asked.
“Of course,” I answered.
Remy took a deep breath, her face slipping into a mask of confidence. “I got this.”
We all laughed and then stepped up on stage.
Maddox, Mathias, and Ezra began to clap for us before the song even began and Maddox threw in a loud whistle for extra effect.
The music began to play and the lyrics to Fifth Harmony’s "Worth It" appeared on the screen.
Emma started singing the first part. Maddox hollered and pumped his fist in the air.
I came in next, feeling bold and daring I started to move my hips to the song. I shimmied and tried to be as sexy as possible.
If Ezra’s darkened gaze, and the way he carefully covered his lap with closed palms, was any indication then I was doing a pretty good job.
Remy took the next part and she wasn’t bad at all. Although, it wasn’t that difficult to sound better than the girl who butchered Mariah Carey.
We took turns singing verses and even the other two joined in with the sexy dancing. I was shocked when Emma started swaying her hips, and running her hands through her hair sexily, but the fact of the matter was loving Maddox had made her more comfortable in her own skin.
The song ended and the room erupted into cheers—mostly from the guys, but whatever, it still counted.
We bowed and my hair brushed the stage floor.
We hopped off the stage and joined the guys. They’d already paid the bill so we headed outside to the car.
As we were about to exit the building I was jerked roughly into a darkened hallway by Ezra.
Before I could make a sound his lips crashed down on mine.
He pulled away within seconds, but I was still left breathless.
He grabbed my hand and put it over the hard-on straining against the zipper of his jeans. “Do you feel that?” He asked unnecessarily, but I nodded anyway. “That’s what you do to me. I’m hard for you all the fucking time and it’s killing me.” He pressed his forehead against mine. “You’re killing me…but I can’t walk away. I don’t want to.”
With one last tender kiss to my forehead he tore away and I was left alone, but the ghost of his lips and words still lingered.
I BLINKED MY EYES.
One time.
Two.
The sight before me was still there.
“What the hell are you guys doing?” I asked.
Maddox looked up at me from where he sat on the floor beside Emma. “We’re having a hedgehog race.”
“I need some coffee,” I mumbled, striding into the kitchen. Surely once I had coffee all of this would make more sense.
When I returned to the living room they were still on the floor with dividers set up and each one held their pet hedgehog.
“We need to set some rules,” Maddox declared, lifting the hedgehog up to perch on his shoulder.
Emma sighed. “What kind of rules is a hedgehog going to understand?”
“Shh,” he scolded her, reaching up to cover Sonic’s ears, “he’ll hear you.”
Emma shook her head. “I say we just let them go and whichever one gets to the end first is the winner. Stop trying to make things complicated.”
I sat down on the couch, drawing my legs underneath me and sipped at my coffee as I watched them bicker.
“Fine.” Maddox relented, and scooped Sonic off his shoulder.
“What’s going on?” Ezra asked as he yawned. His hair stuck up wildly around his head, making him adorably rumpled, and to torture me even more he was shirtless and wearing only a pair of loose gym shorts that left my ovaries panting. Yes, panting.
“They’re having a hedgehog race,” I answered.
He shook his head. “I need coffee.”
I raised the cup to my lips to hide my smile. I’d said the same thing.
Ezra returned and sat down beside me. The couch dipped with his added weight and I drifted towards him.
“How’d you sleep?” He asked, making small talk.
“Awful,” I supplied.
“And why was that?”
I shrugged, pretending not to know. “I got cold.”
He smiled. “Hmm, we’ll have to get you some extra blankets.”
“Yes, hopefully that will suffice.”
Below us, Maddox began to count. “One, two, three.”
They let the hedgehogs go.
Aquilla, Emma’s hedgehog, laid down and refused to move.
Sonic veered off to his right, knocking down the makeshift divider they’d made from cardboard.
“I don’t think they like this game,” Emma whispered conspiratorially.
“Sonic is clearly the winner, though.” Maddox argued.
“He didn’t do it right!” She countered.
“At least he moved,” Maddox reasoned.
She shook her head. “Fine, whatever, Sonic wins.”
“Thanks for seeing things my way.” Maddox grinned and leaned over to kiss her cheek.
She tried to feign that she was mad, but it didn’t last for long. Soon she was leaning into his touch and giggled when he kissed her neck.
I wanted that so bad, that sweet carefree kind of love, but the problem was I wanted it with someone that didn’t want me forever. I was nothing but a temporary pleasure and I hated that I’d reduced myself to that, but when you wanted something as bad as I wanted Ezra you’d do things you never thought you were willing to do. Maybe, I’d hoped that he would change his mind once we were together that way, but despite the things he said we were still nothing but a dirty little lie. Hiding from our friends, and even ourselves.