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"It's going to
happen sooner or later, man."

"Yeah, well, I
would've preferred later."

"How's your mom?"
I'm surprised Pax knows so much about Alex. I shouldn't be though.
I'm learning that's just the type of guy Pax is.

"Same old, same
old. She's got good and bad days. Cancer's a bitch."

"I'm sorry, man.
If there's anything you need, just holler."

"Will do, Reid."
After a moment, Alex snorts. "Mom likes you for some reason.
Bella does too."

"It might have
something to do with my winning personality and beast skills on the
field."

"Ha, maybe."
Alex leans in closer until his head's between our seats. "This
your last year playing?"

"Yep. Already got
a concussion and the season's just started. If I don't stop soon,
I'll probably never be able to do anything else."

Alex nods. "You
know they're all gunning for you. You're the heart of the team."

"I think they see
me as an easy target maybe," Pax replies modestly.

"Oh please,"
Nat says from behind. "You're the best and you know it. Modesty
doesn't become you." Yep. Nat's definitely gotten over being
star struck.

Pax shoots me an amused
glance, laughing. "I'm trying to impress Jules, okay? She thinks
I'm nothing but an arrogant, handsome face."

"And you're not?"
I tease.

"Not all the time.
You see I have something in here," he points to his head.
"Between my ears called a brain and I
have
been known to
use it on occasion."

"Ha. I'll believe
it when I see it."

"Ouch."

I pinch his cheeks to
show I'm kidding. What I really want to do is pinch myself too. Pax
is like a dream. Secretly, I wonder how long it can last.

We park at a ramp.
Xpress is two blocks away, and the walk there is amicable because I'm
with Nat and Pax is with Alex. I really want to ask her what's going
on. She and Alex are acting so weird it's making me nervous. We
bypass the line because one of Pax's friends bought VIP tonight and
everyone that's invited goes in free. It wouldn't have mattered
anyway. Pax knows the bouncer because he used to play football last
year.

"What's up,
Dwight?" Pax knuckle bumps him.

"Long time no see,
man. How've you been?"

"Good, good. I'll
see you inside?"

"Yeah, have fun."
They engage in another weird hand move. I'm convinced it's something
all the football players do with one another because I've seen Pax do
it with Cade once.

The instant we're
inside music envelops us. It's like being dropped in water where
you're smothered from every direction. Nat tugs at my hand.
"B-d-oom!" she shouts.

"What?" I
yell back.

She comes close to my
ear. "B-d-oom!"

"
What?
"

She covers my ears and
puts her lips next to it. "
Bathroom!
"

Oh.
I nod,
making the gesture to go. I tell Pax but I'm not sure he heard me. I
figure I'd find him again later and follow Nat's body through the
crowd. Several people stop us along the way, admiring Nat's sleek
curves but she brushes them off like she's swatting flies.

The second we reach the
bathroom Nat grabs my elbow and pulls me to the corner. "Jules,
is this some kind of cruel joke?"

I'm confused and more
than a little startled. "What?"

"Alex and I."

"No, of course
not!" Why would she even think that?

Nat looks doubtful and
angry. "Why would you even think to set us up?"

"Why not?" I
counter, hurt. "He's a good guy; you're a good girl-"

"Jules," she
breaks in with an exasperated tone, "Alex is
gay
."

I'm stunned. "W-what?"
I sputter.

"He's
gay
,"
she emphasizes again. "You know, when a guy likes the hotdog
more than the bun? It means he's gay."

"I know what gay
means," I respond, shocked. "I just- he never…" I
trail off as I try to think of signs I might have missed.

"Didn't your
gay-dar go off?"

I stare at her
strangely. "What's that?"

"Oh my God."

I shake my head. Both
men and women have admired Alex, but he's so handsome I thought it
was normal. Now I'm starting to see that maybe that wasn't entirely
true.

"No straight man
has that perfect of a tan," Nat continues.

"I'm sorry. I-I
didn't know…" No wonder Alex looked irritated. Maybe he
thought I knew and was hoping I was setting him up with another man.
Did Pax know? Why didn't he say anything? Maybe I should've told him
of my plan, then I wouldn't be in this mess in the first place.

Nat pats me on the
shoulder. "It's all right. You didn't know." She squeezes
my shoulder. "Luckily for you some of my best friends in New
York are gay so I'm sure Alex and I will get along perfectly."

"Nat, I would
never play a joke on you." It's important that she knows that.

Nat smiles. "I
know. You're one of the good guys, Jules."

You're one of the
good guys.
If only she knew. Suddenly, I see it. The color red.
It's everywhere. It blinds me.

I blink several times.
"Should we go back?" My voice is hoarse.

"Yes. Hey,"
she hugs me, "don't worry about it. It was an honest mistake.
I'm sure Alex doesn't hate you
too
much." She winks.

"I hope not,"
I reply seriously.

"We'll find him.
You'll see."

The club is packed so
it takes us ten minutes to find the guys, but when we do I head
straight to Alex and apologize. His eyes are bright and I know he's
been drinking but I'm still surprised when he laughs and hugs me.
It's so unusual coming from him that I'm momentarily stunned
speechless.

"It's all right.
Most people don’t know I'm gay. They think gay men wear tight
shirts, talk like this," he makes his voice high like a girl’s,
"and care about fashion. That's a stupid stereotype." I
nod. "
One
of the stereotypes is right though."

"Oh? What's that?"

"We have great
hair."

I laugh. "Well
maybe you can help me because I've been told I'm doing my hair a
disservice by wearing it in a ponytail every day."

"That hairstyle
does
make you look like you're six and just came back from
recess."

I shove him playfully.
"Hey, be nice." I look up at him. "We'll have fun
tonight," I promise.

"Oh, girl, we
will
."

Nat and I aren't old
enough to drink but one of Pax's friends sneaks us some anyway. The
taste is just as bitter as I remember. I hate the feeling of the
liquid rushing through me, but within moments all I feel is a
delicious high that starts from my head and spreads down like carpet
unrolling.

We get on the dance
floor and I feel Pax's hands on me as he pulls me close. "Mmm,"
he smells my hair. I'm feeling too good to be embarrassed that he
might smell grease on me. "You're fucking beautiful, Jules."

I giggle and he murmurs
about how "fucking tasty" I look and how "fucking hot"
I am. I think he swears more when he drinks. He's also touchier. His
body doesn't leave my side all night, not even when the foam
waterfall is unleashed. In fact, he holds me tighter when the soap
bubbles start, gluing our bodies together like a sandwich. He pushes
me forward, protecting my body with his.

"Where are we
going?" I shout.

"To the center of
it all."

It sounds perfect.

I let him lead the way.
My eyes are squeezed shut, buried in his chest. I inhale, loving the
smell of his aftershave. At this moment, I'd follow him anywhere.
When did I start trusting him?

The question should
scare me. In another time, it would have, but his arms are my safe
harbor and the worry melts away. I'm still in his arms when he pushes
me backwards toward the noise and the roar of the crowd. I continue
to lay my head on his chest. I hear the
thump, thump
of his
heart. I pace my breathing to match his. Soon both our hearts are
beating to the same rhythm.

When I open my eyes, I
see the soap bubbles around us. It's thick like foam and it becomes
higher with each step we take. Within minutes, I feel the wetness up
to my belly. Still we keep going. Soon, the foam is right beneath my
breasts. I hear a roaring sound that can't be man-made. I look up.

The foam waterfall.

It's coming from the
ceiling, thick and white and never ending. I look into Pax's
mischievous face and I have no doubt we're going into it.

To the center of it
all.

I gasp when I feel the
coldness on my head. Instinctively, I suck in a breath because the
thickness is smothering, dense and profuse. It clogs my throat for a
moment and I cover my mouth, struggling to breathe. Pax's chest is
shaking and I clutch him tighter.

"What's wrong?"
I gasp, touching his face.

He uncovers his mouth
to talk to me. "Nothing." Pause. "It's just we're
being suffocated. By
foam
."

My lips quirk. He's
right. It's feels as if we're underwater. Soap is on my face, my hair
and my neck. I feel it drenching every party of me. I realize I'm
getting a free shower, and laugh into my hand. The irony isn't lost
on me. We continue moving inward until something hard touches my
back. It jolts my eyes open.
A wall.

Pax bends down until
his face is a centimeter from mine. He puts both hands out by the
sides of my head. I'm trapped. "I think I have you right where I
want you, Ms. Hendricks," he mummers.

I gulp. "I think
you do," I whisper into his face.

Somehow, Pax has
managed to get us alone in a room full of hundreds. No one wanted to
go into the foam epicenter like us, and I can see why. Every second
inside is like being underneath a showerhead. The rush of water and
soap is an onslaught, sliding over our bodies, making our skin
slippery and moist. Our breaths intermingle, and our chests are heavy
with our struggle to breathe.

Pax's large hands hold
my face, and even though liquid chaos is around us, I feel a magnetic
attraction to Pax, a pull so strong that I quiver in his arms.

"Are you okay?"
he whispers, his finger tracing an unidentified shape on my cheek.

I nod, swallowing
again.

"Do I make you
nervous?" I hear the smile in that question and I'm reminded of
the first time I met him. He'd said those exact words, but that
memory seems like a lifetime ago. That girl seems childish now.

I feel a different kind
of nervous this time. Before it had been nerves for the unknown; a
foreign flutter that scared me. Now my quickening pulse is not from
fear but from
anticipation
.

Anticipation of things
to come.

I touch his cheeks and
I feel the stubbles there. It's rough and prickly and it makes my
skin tingle.

"You don't make me
nervous," I whisper, closing my eyes. "You make me
ravenous
."

"Ravenous."
It's a growl in his throat. That animal sound does something to me;
it sends tiny little shivers through my body. "Jules," his
voice is thick with desire. "Beautiful Jules."

When he kisses me, it
feels different. It doesn't feel like the first time; it feels like
wild fire. His kiss is searing, his mouth hot and hungry. There is
wetness everywhere, in my hair, on my face, down my backside-
inside
me. His kiss devours it all, and his tongue invades the crevice of my
mouth, plundering with a hardness that I'm happy to oblige. I arch up
against him, and tangle my fingers in his hair, pulling him closer.

Through the haze of
desire in my mind, I feel his long fingers on my waist. At first,
they massage me, seducing me into a mindless heap of flesh and bones
in his arms. When I can't take it anymore, his fingers move down
towards the curves of my butt. I shift, twisting my body, and his
hands slip lower, right onto the cheeks of my ass. I make a
breathless sound into his mouth, and his tongue flips out again,
catching my moan. I can't think. My world is nothing but his hands,
his mouth, and his body pressing me so firmly against the wall.

I'm suffocating against
his kiss and still I can't move. I love the coolness of the foam
around us and the hotness of his body pressed into mine. I love the
way his mouth moves and the dance his tongue creates between my lips.

Suddenly, Pax's hands
slips underneath my butt. I gasp, as my legs wrap around his hard
waist, and he lifts me up, enveloping me more firmly against him. His
mouth pulls away from mine, and my whimper of protests quickly turns
into a breathless purr when his lips move to the edge of my neck,
biting, sucking and licking down the length.

Wildfire.

Everywhere his mouth
touches, it feels like I'm burning.

My nails claw into his
back, and I'm pressing him so hard I'm afraid I'll draw blood.

Still, I can't stop.

Wildfire. Red orange.

It's the color of
desire.

It's all I see in my
head. It's the color my blood's turning into. It's the heat inside my
veins. It's the color of my breath.

Pax.

I don't register when
he turns away. I don't register anything but my own desire. He lays
his head on my shoulder and he kisses the exposed spot there. When
had he unbuttoned my top?

We stay like this for
several moments, breathing hard, waiting for our hearts to slow down.
The foam continues to spread around us, building a white cave,
catching us in a rainstorm.

Still, we are
motionless.

"Pax." My
voice is hoarse. He doesn't move. "Pax," I repeat again.

Finally, he lifts his
head to look at me. His eyes are shiny and feverish with desire, but
there's something else in them too, something bright and so pure that
my breath hitches in my throat.