Holy shit. Flushing. The badass, arrogant, devil-may-care Zachary Alvarez is in my arms, wide-eyed and flushing. The fact that I am the only one who gets to make him like this, makes me feel like I hold the sky in my hands. God, he's sexy. And I want to bend him over my desk and have my way with him.

“Say something, Zachary. I can't read minds,” I say, trying to keep the desperation and nerves out of my voice. He still hasn't given me an answer. Right now, if he says no then I know I won't ever get to hold him like this again.

“Even if you could read minds you wouldn't be able to read anything from mine since it stopped functioning a second ago,” he tells me. I blink at him.

“Is that a yes or no?” I raise my eyebrows at him.

He sighs. “I don't know, alright. I don't let people in. And you just…”

“I just what?”

Zachary shakes his head a little, frowning.

“Don't you usually accept everyone who has asked you out without a second thought, why not with me?” I ask.

Zachary looks at me, blankly. Raising his eyebrows, as though asking me if I am that much of an idiot.

That's when it hits me. I smile and he tenses a little in my arms. “You're warning me off. You are scared that whatever will happen between us will definitely mean something more, and you think you'll mess it up. Cuz you already know that this is different.”

Zachary bites his lips and tries to look away. He does, but then he sighs again, then faces me. “Jesus, Everett. I don't know what to tell you. Whatever this is, it doesn't matter because I am not worth it.”

I pull him towards me, aggressively. “Don't fucking say that ever again. Because you wouldn't be here if you weren't worth it. I don't want a label Zachary, I just want you to try.”

“I—, I can't. I don't do real relationships.”

“Can I kiss you now? That's all I want Zachary. Me to be the only one who gets to touch you, the one you can let your guard down around. Just one step at a time. For now, I want to kiss you. Can I?” I don't care if he can hear the crack in my voice.

He dazes for a moment. “You persistent bastard.”

He smashes his mouth to mine. That's all that I needed. I immediately kiss him back and melt into him. His arms go around my waist and mine tangles in his hair. I pull back to look him in the eye. “See, it's not that hard. Just let go and give in to it.”

Zachary still doesn't look convinced, he shakes his head. “Fucking son of a bitch. Just kiss me.” he orders, pulling me by the waist. I spin us around, moving forward to press his back against the door. He goes willingly, still devouring my mouth. We break away, Zachary grins at me. “I can't believe you took someone here to have sex with you. Your room looks like a library.”

“I didn't. No one in this room. My sister and brother are literally next door, on either side. They wouldn't let me live it down if I did.”

Zachary grimaces. “Jesus. You don't think they heard us now, do you?”

I smirk at him. Not giving him a chance to react, I maneuver him so that his chest is against the door and his back is pressed against my chest. I push my hips to his ass. He looks over his shoulder, startled.

“Not fucking happening,” He says. But his eyes go molten gold.

I smirk wider. “I don't know about that. Your hands are pressed against the wall and your back is unguarded. All I have to do is slide down your pants,” I whisper, biting his earlobe to punctuate what I said.

He looks at the Door and inhales sharply, his eyes falling closed. Trying to calm down his arousal. “I am not having sex with you in your parents house when they are right downstairs and your siblings are next door.”

“Is that a no?”

He opens his mouth to say something but closes it and then says, “It's not a no,”

My heart soars. But when I start to talk it gets cut off by my mom yelling from downstairs. “Come down. Dinner is ready.”

I move away from Zachary and grin at him as I unlock the door to open it. “After dinner then.”

Everybody sits together at the dining table. The dinner is unlike anything that I have had, not just because the food is absolutely delicious but also because everyone talks about their day and shares their stories. I learn that Everett's older brother has a long time girlfriend who couldn't make it because of work and about how his sister is a cop and how she took down a complete psycho killer and got herself two fractures at the same time. Clover, his younger brother though, is the most silent but also the most observing one.

“So tell me Zachary, do you have siblings?” Eleanor asks.

“Yeah. I have a sister.”

“You do? That's weird since I have never seen anything about her on the Internet,” Bridgett says, confused.

“That's because she's my half-sister and my mom has kept her away from the cameras as much as possible.”

“That must be hard,” Parker, his dad, gives a sympathetic smile. I shift in my seat, feeling uncomfortable at the direction of this conversation. Everett must have noticed because he says, “Stop interrogating him, guys.”

“We aren't interrogating him, just asking about his family,” Jonah shrugs at his brother.

“Yeah… well, stop,” Everett grumbles, and all of them gives him a questioning look.

I sigh. Their attention turns to me, but I turn to Everett. “That was really dumb. I thought you said no lying.”

“I didn't lie.”

“No. But still stupid,” I bring my attention back to his family and give a polite smile, “My relationship with my parents isn't all that great. Everett was just trying to get you guys to back off because I don't talk about that stuff with anyone.”

All of their faces suddenly go stiff. And I feel a bit bad about ruining their dinner. I really shouldn't even be here. “It's okay, really. Nothing too bad,” I try to reassure them.

Everett snorts. I turn to him and narrow my eyes at him.

“I absolutely hate them. And, I definitely know you deserve better.” Everett shrugs at me and then turns to his family.

I want to smash his head on the table, but also kiss him senseless. “And you have officially ruined everyone's dinner.”

“Bullshit. Nothing can ruin a tasty dinner. Especially not parents who are assholes,” Eleanor insists, holding fierce eye contact with me.

“Absolutely. And you want to, then I can totally put them in jail for you,” Bridgett grins at me, “And in return all you have to do is break up with my brother and go on a date with me.”

I laugh. Everett narrows his eyes at his sister. “Back off, Bridge.”

My laugh dries out in my throat. The way he said that was casual, but I can't not catch on to the dip in his voice. And I remember how he said to me that he was calling dibs on me. He wants me. Completely, all to himself. The scarier thing is that I want him, all to myself too.

“It's fine. I can handle it,” I tell them with a nod.

Everett snorts again. This time a bit louder than necessary. I turn to him.

“Shut up before I punch your goddamn face.”

“Try it, asshole.”

I smirk at him. “Already have,”

“Woah, what?” Clover asks, bewildered.

Everett turns to his brother. “He has punched me before,” he deadpans, “Don't worry though I totally won the fight.”

It's my turn to snort now. “In your dreams. I won it.”

“Jesus. You're delusional.”

“And you're in denial.”

“Okay. This is happening. Is this how you guys flirt? Damn. I need to take lessons,” Jonah cuts in and everybody snickers. Everett gives me a grin and I return it.

“No, usually it's more heated,” Everett tells them.

Bridgett gives us a smug grin. “How heated?”

I roll my eyes at her. “You'll never know.”

The rest of the dinner passes by with light jokes and Everett and I pissing each other off, and everybody else enjoying the show. Clover keeps asking about his birthday presents and everyone keeps telling him that he'll only know tomorrow.

Everett and I do the dishes afterwards and then head to his room to take a shower. Both of us undress and get in the shower together, because Everett persists on his opinion that taking a shower together is more sensible than the other option. Not that I protest it all that much.

We get under the warm shower. Everett starts soaping me and massaging my shoulders. Then slowly tracing my skin. “I know exactly what you're doing,” I tell him, accusingly.

He kisses the back of my neck, wrapping his arms around my waist, making our bodies align with my back against his chest. “Is it working?”

“No.”

He bites my neck and I shiver. “Liar.”

“I am a good liar.”

“I am better at reading you then.” With that he cleans both of us, and then ignoring my protests, towels both of us dry. He drags me out of the shower and pushes me onto his twin-sized bed. I smirk up at him.

“Going to get me dirty after taking such great effort in cleaning me up?” I tease as I move up the bed.

“I can clean you up again, I'm good at it.” He moves next to the bed and I trace his body with my eyes. My gazing stops when it reaches his groin.

He smirks at me when I look back at him. “Like what you see?”

I roll my eyes at him. “I have had it in my mouth before, Everett.”

“It's going to be in something else today,” He assures me, giving me a filthy once over. I heat up under his gaze.

“Seriously Everett, we're loud. And your siblings are next door.”

He doesn't acknowledge my comment and says, “Turn over.”

Jesus. Christ. I raise my eyebrows at him. He gestures to me to turn over with his hands. And I do. On my hands and knees, I look sideways at him. He licks his lips as he gives me a long, hard look, that makes my body melt, making it hard for me to keep my position. He gets on the bed behind me and grabs my hips with one hand and with the other, pushes my shoulders as he brings his body against mine, making my hands give out and my face to fall on the pillow. Biting my shoulders, he whispers, “This way, you can just bite on the pillows, but I am not going easy on you.”

I can smell him, I can feel the heat of his body seeping into mine. He kisses his way down my spine and bites my waist, gently, tickling my skin. His muscles move against mine. I breathe out, “Asshole.”

“Yeah, yours is mine.”

That is the last coherent sentence either of us say, because after that, Everett bites onto my shoulder to keep quiet, and I bite the pillow to muffle my groans. My head is spinning and the only thing constant becomes him. His touch. His heat. And the feel of his heartbeat in mine.

We both take a while to catch our breaths, after we finish. Falling on the mattress in a sweaty mess. Everett pulls me closer and lays his head on my chest and wraps his leg around my thighs.

“That was revenge,” he mutters, “For the last time. My ass hurt the whole day during practice after that.”

I let out a laugh at that, and I feel Everett's lips curling up in a smile against my chest. “You can have revenge on me anytime then.”

There is a pause then. And I thought Everett must have fallen asleep, but then he says, “Zachary your eyes, they are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Like whisky, burns my throat each time I look into them.”

He falls asleep after that, and I am so glad for that because otherwise he would have felt my heartbeat. I don't know why those words make me want to cry. He isn't supposed to say things like that. But he did, and I can't help but believe them. Since whenever he smiles, I feel like it's the most beautiful thing to exist.

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