He laughed, but it sounded more like a cough since he was upside down. “But it’ll be a gentler fall.”
I guess I couldn’t argue with that.
“Ready?” He asked.
“Ready,” I answered.
He let me go.
He was right. It was a gentle fall.
But when we inevitably ended I knew the fall would be anything but gentle. It was going to be fucking brutal and I wondered if either of us would come out unscathed.
EZRA AND I spent the whole day together after leaving the training facility. We did random silly things, like racing go-carts and hanging out at this little diner. We laughed and joked, and for the moment at least it felt like we were the old Sadie and Ezra. We had no pressure from our friends, or ourselves.
When we returned to the house it was already getting late and the sun was setting.
“I thought you guys were never going to get back,” Emma cried impatiently.
“Did you miss us that much?” I laughed, setting my bag down and kicking off my flip-flops.
Ezra walked past me, his arm grazing mine in the process and headed into the kitchen.
“We’re going out,” Emma declared.
“We are?” I raised a brow. “I didn’t know.”
“Well neither of you would answer your phones,” she huffed, tapping her foot impatiently. “There’s a club Hayes wants to go to. Mathias and Remy are staying behind and watching Mia, so Arden’s going too.”
“What does that have to do with me?” I questioned, dropping into one of the chairs in the living room. Mathias sat on the couch and raised his chin slightly in greeting.
Emma followed and perched her butt on the coffee table in front of me. “Maddox and I are going too, and so are you and Ezra.”
I raised a brow. “Maybe I don’t want to go.”
She shook her head. “You know, you were always the one pushing me to do things out of my comfort zone. You were the crazy one in this friendship that had all this experience and now you act like an old lady.”
I snorted, fighting a smile. “I am old.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, grabbing my hand, “I’m really not trying to be bossy, and I’m sorry I keep coming across that way. I don’t know what’s wrong with me lately…” She paused, taking a breath. “But we only have one more day here and I wanted us to spend tonight and tomorrow together. Once we get home things will get crazy with the wedding and it’ll be hard for us to have any girl time.”
I frowned. I could see where she was coming from. We’d also both been far too bitchy to each other lately and I knew it was my fault. If I would just confess everything that was going on to her I knew this tension would disappear, but I just wasn’t ready to talk about it. I knew she wouldn’t approve of our arrangement. She wanted to see us together as a real couple, not as fuck buddies.
“I’m in…but you better let me do your hair and makeup.”
She winced. “Just don’t make me look like a hooker.”
“And when have I ever done that?”
“Middle school. Lauren Hanagen’s thirteenth birthday.”
I laughed. “I think I’ve learned a few things since then. Have no fear, you’re in good hands.”
“So what are we doing?” Ezra asked, walking into the room with a bag of chips in his hands.
I glanced over at him and said, “We’re going clubbing.”
“That sounds like a disaster.” He mumbled around a mouthful of chips.
Emma threw her arms in the air. “Y’all act like this is a death sentence.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fun as long as no one gets a roofied drink.”
Emma threw a pillow at him and Ezra tried to duck away, but it still collided with his shoulder before falling to the ground.
Backing into the kitchen he held his phone up and waved it around. “It’s getting late, so you ladies might want to get ready. I know it typically takes you five hours.”
This time I was the one to throw a pillow at him and his laughter carried from the kitchen all the way into the living room, and I couldn’t help but smile.
I finished styling Emma’s hair in a loose fishtail braid and moved on to Arden.
I’d already done my own hair and makeup. I chose to straighten my hair since I’d been leaving it wavy so much and left it down. For my makeup I’d gone in a more dramatic direction—red lips and smoky gray eyes.
“I’m not sure I should go.” Arden frowned, biting at her nails. “What if Mia needs me?”
I smacked her hand away. “Mia is already asleep. She’s not even going to know that you’re gone. And if for whatever reason she would wake up Mathias and Remy will be here. Plus, we all have cellphones if we need to get ahold of each other. It’ll be fine.”
I wanted Arden to go out and have fun, even if it was only for one night. Being a single mom didn’t afford her much time to do things for herself. She deserved this.
“You’re right, you’re right,” she chanted, like she was trying to convince herself.
I went to work curling her long red hair and then fluffed it out with my fingers.
“Thanks for letting me borrow this.” She pointed to her clothes.
Arden hadn’t packed any “party” clothes as she called them, so I’d lent her some to go out. Since I didn’t have a spare dress, she was wearing a pair of black skinny jeans, and a gold-sequined strapless peplum top. It looked amazing next to her vivid red hair. We wore the same shoe size so I also lent her a pair of black pumps. She wobbled a bit in them, but I doubted Hayes would leave her side tonight so I wasn’t worried about her falling over.
“Ladies,” I said, giving them each a once over and then myself in the mirror, “I think we’re ready.”
Downstairs the guys were waiting for us. They were all dressed casually in jeans and t-shirts. No surprise there.
“You look beautiful,” Maddox told Emma, his eyes moving from her head down to her toes and back up again. Even after being together this long his words still made her cheeks tinge pink.
She was dressed in a sparkly flapper style dress in colors that reminded me of a mermaid.
Maddox nuzzled her neck and kissed her cheek before they headed to the door. Arden and Hayes were right behind them, which left Ezra and I alone for the moment.
I hadn’t looked at him when I entered the room, but now I lifted my eyes to his.
The look in his eyes could be described in one word. Hunger.
He was starved for me, and I reveled in that fact.
I loved knowing that my very presence had an affect on him. That it killed him that right now he could only look and not touch.
“That dress,” he growled lowly, his eyes scanning my body slowly like he was savoring every inch.
“You like?” I did a little spin, showing it off. The dress was short and tight, but had three-quarter sleeves and covered me fully in the front. The back, however, was open to just above my butt and crisscrossed at my shoulders. The fabric was purple and shimmery, so it appeared to sparkle any time the light caught it.
“Fuck.” He groaned, looking pained, and scrubbed his hands down his face.
I couldn’t hide my grin. I loved being desired by him and pushing him past his breaking point. I wanted him to lose control.
I turned and headed for the door, purposely putting a little more sway in my hips than usual.
I heard him let out a string of curses behind me and I smiled like the cat that ate the canary.
I could feel things changing between us and I was scared as to where it was headed, but for tonight all I wanted was to feel his hands on my skin.
Music poured out of the speakers so loud that I wanted to cover my ears, but then I’d just look like an idiot. I couldn’t believe that as a teenager I’d liked this sort of thing. While my teen years technically hadn’t been that long ago, it felt like a lifetime. I’d changed and matured so much in the last few years. Okay…matured, not so much.