The Problem with Forever (31 page)

“This is—”

“Mallory,” a familiar voice said from behind us. Paige.

I stiffened as Rider turned halfway. “Hey there,” he said as she handed him a cup. Not me. Just him. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Her gaze flickered over me. “Nice dress.”

I had a feeling that wasn’t necessarily a compliment. She looked amazing, as usual, in skintight black jeans and a strappy tank top in a shimmery, silvery color. How was she not cold? Maybe it was because she was the devil.

The devil that spoke the truth.

“Thanks,” I murmured anyway. Those were pretty much the only words she’d spoken to me since the day in the hallway when she told me I was going to break Rider’s heart. I knew they still sometimes talked. I was okay with that as long as I didn’t get dragged into conversations with her.

Paige arched a brow. She didn’t just walk past us into the living room. She
sashayed
, swinging hips and all. She sat on the couch, in between two older guys who nodded at Rider. They were focused on the TV, their fingers flying over the game controllers.

“There’s shit to drink in the kitchen.” Rico nodded in my direction. “If she wants something.”

“Cool.” Rider tugged me around and we walked down the hall, into a sparse kitchen. Empty beer boxes were piled next to an overflowing trash bin. He placed the cup Paige had handed him onto the counter and then walked to the fridge. A sharp smell hit the air when he opened the door. “There’s some Mountain Dew in here. That work for you?”

I nodded. “So does Paige hang out here a lot?”

He shrugged as he handed a can over to me then grabbed one for himself. “Sometimes. Rico’s a friend of her family.”

“You’re not going to drink...what Paige gave you?”

“Nope.”

For some stupid and most likely childish reason, I was happy to hear that. Rider curled his hand around the nape of my neck and lowered his head. When he spoke, his warm breath danced over my lips. “How are you doing?”

“Good,” I murmured. “We just got here.”

“I’m checking in, though.” His head tilted slightly, and I shivered. “I’m going to do that a lot, and when you want to leave, you just tell me. Okay?”

“Okay.”

He kissed me softly and then pulled away. I felt my cheeks heat as we walked back toward the living room. Rider stopped at the doorway. “Where’s Hector?”

“Upstairs.” Rico sipped from the bottle.

Rider glanced down at me. “Want to see what he’s up to?”

“Sure,” I said, trying to speak louder, but it came across as a whisper.

He smiled anyway and then led the way. The upstairs was slightly cooler than below, and Rider seemed to know where we were heading, because he went straight to the second door and rapped his knuckles off it.

“Yo,” came the response.

“It’s me. You busy? I got Mallory with me.”

“Yeah, give me a sec.”

There was a sound of something creaking and then a girl giggled. My brows flew up, and Rider winced. “Hey, we can come back,” he called out, grinning at me. “Don’t want—”

The door swung open. Hector was straightening out his shirt with one hand. We had so interrupted something. “Nah. No problem. Come on in.”

“You sure?”

Hector nodded as he opened the door the rest of the way. A dark-skinned girl sat on the edge of the futon. She smiled when we walked in and gave a little wave.

A candle was burning on a dresser, and it reminded me of sugar cookies. I wondered whose room this was. Then again, it didn’t really look like a bedroom.

“Have you met Rider?” Hector asked the girl, and she nodded. “Cool. Uh, this is Sheila and that’s Mallory.”

Sheila smiled. “Hi.”

“Hi,” I murmured.

Hector walked over to a dark red beanbag and plopped down in it. “So when did you guys get here?” he asked as we sat on the futon next to Sheila.

“Just a little bit ago,” Rider answered.

Hector glanced over at me before continuing. “Everyone still downstairs?”

He nodded. “Rico and the guys are playing one of the ‘Assassin’s Creed’ games. Looks pretty serious.”

Chuckling, Hector reached up and snagged a clear glass off the small end table. “Sounds like normal. You guys planning to hang out for a while?”

“Maybe.” Rider knocked his knee off mine. “We might catch a movie or something. Not sure.”

“Sounds good. You catch the game earlier?” Hector asked, and as the boys started talking about a basketball game, I glanced over at Sheila. She was looking down at her phone, scanning what appeared to be Facebook.

There was so much I could say right now, so many questions I could ask. Options were limitless, but my tongue felt heavy. I started to look away, but stopped myself. That wasn’t what I needed to do. I needed to
speak
. I needed to not do what I normally did, which was just shut down.

I forced my lips and tongue to move. “So...do you go to Lands High?” There. I did it. And I managed not to smile like a fool, too.

Sheila looked up. “No.” She grinned. “I actually go to Howard University. I’m just home visiting for the weekend.”

“Oh.” Surprised, I glanced over at Hector, but neither of the guys were paying attention to us. “Um, what...what are you studying?”

She hooked a long leg over the other. “Education. This is my first year.”

“That’s...that’s cool. Did you...always want to go into education?”

“Pretty much,” she replied, and I was envious, because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. Or maybe I was, but Carl and Rosa weren’t exactly thrilled with the idea. “What about you? You planning college?”

I nodded as I set my soda on the floor. “University of Maryland. I’m not...sure what I’ll study yet.”

“You’ll figure it out. There are juniors at my college who still don’t know what they want to do.” Her phone dinged. “So you all go to the same school?”

I nodded. The conversation between us slowed and I focused on what the guys were talking about. They’d moved on from basketball to football, and I lost track of time. Maybe an hour passed when Hector rose and so did Sheila.

“We’re heading downstairs,” Hector announced, walking to the door.

“We’ll be down in a minute.”

Hector’s grin was sly as he closed the door behind them. “Sure. Sure. Take your time.”

I twisted toward Rider. “Why—”

I didn’t get a chance to finish speaking. His mouth was on mine in a sweet, all-too-quick kiss.

“Proud of you,” he murmured against my lips, and I smiled, because I knew what he was talking about. The small conversation I held with Sheila wasn’t much, but it was a big deal. I was out of my element, but I hadn’t just sat there, paralyzed.

Placing my hands on his chest, I smiled against his lips. “She seems really nice.”

“Yeah.” He kissed the corner of my mouth. “I’m pretty sure we totally interrupted them.”

I giggled. “Yes. I think we did, too.”

“We’re such terrible friends.” He cupped my cheek. “But you know what?”

“What?”

“I’m so going to take advantage of the fact that we’re alone.” He paused, and my stomach dipped like I was on a roller coaster. “What do you think about that?”

I lowered my hand to his knee. “I think...I think I’d like that.”

“Good.” He tilted his head. “Because I think I’m really, really going to like that.”

Rider kissed me then, and it was slow and soft, and it warmed my blood. I didn’t know how long the velvety, supple kiss went on, but after endless moments it changed, deepened. His tongue moved against mine, and I...I’d never been kissed like that before. Never felt anything like that before.

He made this noise in the back of his throat, and my heart was thundering in my chest as he leaned into me. Somehow, I ended up on my back and Rider was beside me on the futon. His hand slid down my arm, and it was just him and me. I wasn’t thinking about this odd room or the people downstairs. I wasn’t thinking about anything other than how he made me feel, how he kissed me, touched me, like I was something precious and invaluable to him.

My hands had a mind of their own, and I was touching him in ways I’d never done before. I tugged on his thermal and Rider immediately responded. He lifted up and reached around to the nape of his neck. Grabbing a fistful, he pulled his thermal and shirt off in one smooth movement.

I sucked in air as I got an eyeful of Rider shirtless. It was... Wow. Except for TV and movies, he was the first guy I’d seen bare-chested in real life. Carl didn’t count, because that was, well, weird.

“You can touch me if you want,” he offered.

I wanted.

Biting down on the inside of my cheek, I placed my hand on the center of his chest. Wiry hairs tickled my palm. I could feel his heart pounding. Slowly, I dragged my hand down, over the tightly rolled muscles of his abdomen. He jerked when my hand reached the band on his jeans. I drew my hand back, my gaze flickering to his face.

“It’s okay.” His voice sounded rough. “More than okay.”

Touching him again, I slid my hand across his stomach, avoiding his jeans this time. I loved the feel of him. So much strength under soft skin.

Rider shifted back onto his side next to me and placed his hand on my waist. Kissing me again, he quickly distracted me from my explorations. I got lost in the kisses and in the way my body was responding to them. Muscles low in my belly tightened. My head was spinning as his hand drifted to my neck and over my front, lingering in ways that caused my back to arch and my breaths to come quicker. Then he went lower, slipping his hand under the hem of the sweater dress and up over the thin tights.

His hand slid over my thigh and then between them. My entire body felt like it was on fire. Tension built deep inside. It was hot and tight and I didn’t understand it. Unease curled low in my stomach as I gripped his arm. Some of the heat faded as my eyes fluttered open.

“Rider,” I said, and he kissed me again, and for a moment, I got lost in that kiss, lost in what his hand was doing. It felt good, but I...

Oh, God, I wasn’t ready for this.

“Can we...slow down?” I whispered, my hand tightening around his wrist.

His hand immediately stilled as he lifted his head. “Yes. Yeah.” He cleared his throat as he eased over, drawing his hand away from me.

I squeezed my eyes shut against the sudden burn of tears. God. I didn’t even know why I wasn’t ready or if I should be. I had no idea, and now I feared—

“Did I hurt you?”

My eyes flew open. “What?”

He was staring at me intently. “Did I do something wrong?”

I couldn’t answer. Nothing he’d done felt wrong. Quite the opposite.

“If I did, I really want to know. I promise I’ll—”

“You didn’t hurt me,” I said. “I just... Why would you think that?”

He lowered his gaze. “I...I haven’t done a lot of this.” His cheeks flushed pink and my eyes widened. “I mean, I’ve done some stuff, but not a lot. I haven’t...had sex.”

For the longest moment I couldn’t respond. All I could do was stare at him. “You’re a virgin?”

One side of his lips kicked up. “Yeah. You sound surprised.”

“I am. I thought... I don’t know. You were with...Paige. I just assumed you had sex before.”

“That would be a negative,” he replied, picking up my hand. “You’re looking at me like you don’t understand how it’s possible.”

He could really read minds.

“It’s gotten close, but I just never— I haven’t wanted to go that far.” He shrugged a bare shoulder.

“I haven’t done it, either,” I blurted out. “I mean, that’s super obvious since...you’re the first boy I’ve kissed, but yeah, I don’t even know...what I’m saying and I’m just going to shut up.”

Rider chuckled. “Don’t. I love it when you ramble.”

“Only you would enjoy that.” I curled my fingers through his. “Do you want to...go that far with me?”

His lashes swept up and his eyes, with their greenish flecks, met mine. “Yeah. Yeah, I do. Someday.”

Warmth swept across my cheeks as I whispered, “I...I want that, too. Someday.”

The dimple in his right cheek appeared. “Then we’re on the same page.”

“Yeah.” I lifted my head and kissed him. “I’m sorry about stopping. It felt good, but—”

“Mallory, please don’t apologize.” Rider sat up, pulling me along with him. “We can do whatever you want, go as far as you want and we will always stop when you want, no matter what. You feel me? There’s nothing to apologize for and that’s the way it should always be.”

Oh my God.

Rider wasn’t perfect, but he was damn close. Actually, he was perfectly imperfect. A giddy rush hit me, and I grinned at him.

“We should head down there, huh?” he asked, and I nodded. Rider picked his thermal up and pulled it on over his head, pausing to grin at me. “Sorry. I’m going to have to cover up. I know it’s not fair.”

I laughed as he shrugged on his shirt over the thermal. “It really isn’t.”

He pulled out his phone as he grinned at me. “Crap. My battery is about to die.”

“I have mine.”

“Cool. We can use yours later to see if there are any good movies out.” He offered me his hand and I took it. The giddiness followed me on the way down.

Back in the living room, Rider sat in one of the plastic chairs catty-corner to the couch and pulled me down in his lap, curling his arms around my waist. I didn’t see Sheila or Rico. It was then I realized we’d left our drinks upstairs.

“Nice of you all to join us,” Paige commented as she looked over her shoulder.

Rider’s arms tightened around me as Hector chuckled.
“Metete en tus asuntos.”

She shot him a dirty look as I heard the front door open. A few seconds later Jayden walked in. He saw us and smiled widely. “Yo! I didn’t know you guys were here.” He shuffled over. “Awesome.”

“Hey,” I said, smiling at him. The bruises had long since faded, and Jayden looked the way he did the first day I met him.

“We’re probably leaving soon,” Rider said. “Might catch a movie.”

Jayden leaned against the wall as he looked around the room. “I see how it is. You figure you don’t stand a chance with Mallory now that I’m here to show her what a real man looks like.” He winked as Rider just shook his head. “Fine, leave. But no dumb movie will be as entertainin’ as the Jayden Show. And I don’t charge admission.”