Free Discovering Us by Harper Bentley Page B

hell smile, dimples and all, which just about knocked me out of the swing, his green eyes glittering in the moonlight.
    I chuckled. “I’d have to say slim to none.” I was in love with Jag. It wasn’t like some cute beach boy was going to change that anytime too soon.
    He nodded as he looked at me, his eyes burning into mine as he smoothed a piece of my hair off my face. Whoa. This was getting a little too serious. “So you’re saying there’s a chance?” He then grinned at his movie line quote, his serious look a faded memory. Thank God.
    I almost did a spit take at that, having been caught up in the seriousness for a second or two. I should’ve known Slade would make things silly again like he always did. It was definitely part of his appeal. We laughed then quoted more of the movie lines like the drunken idiots that we were.
    When the party ended, Ross wouldn’t let me drive home, so he rounded up Rebecca and me, enduring our giggling fits, and piled us into his old Bronco, mumbling something about Rebecca being the designated driver the next three parties, that putting up with this shit made her owe him big time, which made us laugh even harder.
    “That was fun!” I said from the back seat.
    “See? I told you!” Rebecca said from the front. “What were you and Slide up to?”
    I burst out laughing. “Slide?”
    She turned to look at me, her forehead wrinkling. “Glide.”
    I fell over on the seat laughing, snorting out, “Glide?”
    “What am I trying to say?” she asked looking helplessly at Ross.
    “Slade,” he answered with a roll of his eyes.
    “Yes! Glade!” Even Ross couldn’t help but cracking up at her then.
    I’d never laughed so hard in my life. I’d definitely been missing out on the good times by not going to parties with Rebecca that was for sure. But I also knew I’d missed out by not just hanging out with her or my other friends, which I resolved to change.
    When we got to our apartment, I stumbled out of Ross’s vehicle and staggered inside, not waiting for them, needing to get to my bed and lie down. I fell face-first onto it and felt the world spinning for a while before passing out.
     
     

Chapter 10
    And I still was nineteen when I pissed Jag off but good.
    I felt so hot. Why was it so hot in the apartment? Had Rebecca turned up the heat? And, ouch, damn it. My head felt like a frickin’ Slayer song had set up residence inside it, the tune banging so damned hard against my skull that it made me want to cry. Stupid Rocket Fuel. Now I remembered why I didn’t go with Rebecca to those stupid parties—the mornings after. But, God, now I was sweating like crazy and I didn’t know why. I realized that I’d somehow gotten under the covers of my bed still clothed. Oh. That was why I was so hot. Keeping my eyes closed so the sun coming in my window didn’t make the pounding in my head worse, I unzipped my jeans, yanking them off and throwing them outside the covers. I then unzipped my blouse, pulling it over my head and sending it the same direction as my jeans, which left me in my bra and panties. Ah, that was better.
    But after a few minutes, I realized that it wasn’t better. I was still freaking burning up. And then it hit me. Oh, God! Maybe I really had contracted hand, foot and mouth disease! I groaned, thinking that I’d have to miss class the next week, I’d have to make arrangements for someone to work for me, I’d have to let Slade know to call all the people who’d drunk of the miserable mixture, when suddenly the source of all the damned heat I was feeling made itself known to me. From behind me, an arm wound its way over my panty-clad hip then curled down to between my legs, where the hand splayed against me then cupped me, pulling me tighter into the body of its owner.
    Oh, shit. Had Slade come home with me and he was now in my bed? My body went still as I lay there thinking how the hell I was going to get out of this one. His head moved to the back of my