The evil part of me that reveled in a bit of chaos took over. I agreed because Noah really never talked to me or even looked at me for long, and I wanted to see his reaction to being forced to be close to me.

There was a huge pile of junk separating the third-row seat from the rest of the car. Ivory couldn't see us. At first, it was funny—me straddling his big jean-clad thigh, him sitting stiff as a tree, with his hands balled at his sides, trying to do everything but touch me. But then we got on the highway, and every bump and turn I started to feel in my pussy, making me wetter than I already was and uncomfortable. The heat in my belly was spreading. The fact that we were fifteen minutes into our ride and there had been nothing, but awkward silence made it worse. I decided to break it to distract from my throbbing pussy.

"Do you have a girlfriend, Noah?"

"No," he answered.

Noah had this real deep voice, so when he said no, it sounded like he growled it.

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Are you shy?"

"No."

"Why are you giving me one-word answers?" Just as I asked, we hit a bump, and I slid into the legs of a nightstand beside me. I moved and rocked my hips to get back into a comfortable position on him, and the pressure against my pussy felt good. I rocked again.

"Sit still," he hissed.

"I am. It's the road," I lied and kept rolling my hips. From just the little bit of friction against my clit, I could already feel myself getting closer and closer to the orgasm I'd missed out on with Zimmerman.

"Stop." Noah wrapped his big hands around my waist, trying to hold me still.

"No." I gripped his right hand and pulled it under my shirt to grip my right breast.

"Play with my nipple, please," I ordered, barely above a whisper, trying to control my breathing so Ivory wouldn't hear me.

I rocked faster. My ass bucked against his very prominent hard-on with every move I made.

I sucked in a breath as he moved his thumb flicking my nipple through my lace bra.

"Shit," we both breathed out harshly as I reached back and grabbed a handful of his shaggy, silky-feeling hair and tugged his head, bringing him forward. Suddenly I craved to feel his mouth on my skin. I dropped my head to my right shoulder, and without instruction, he kissed and sucked the spot on my neck that I liked, as if he had done it before and knew exactly what it did to me. He kissed and sucked my spot until my skin prickled, until I could feel the skin bruise. A sound slipped out of me, something soft, needy, as I exploded, popping my pussy on his leg, cumming so hard everything faded to static.

The van pulled to a harsh stop ruining the moment. His hair slipped from between my fingers. I slumped forward, resting my forehead against the back of the seat in front of me, breathing deep, trying to find something resembling composure. I heard the door slide open.

Noah's hand slid away from my breast just as Ivory dug us a way out. I pushed the seat forward and climbed out, waiting for Noah to follow, and when he did, he looked dazed. The expression on his face was almost enough to make me laugh, but instead, I just looked him over, taking in the things I already knew too well—the way he stood at six feet even, with that lean, but muscled body. It wasn’t fair how he was so well put together when the cardio he got was running from trauma. His band T-shirt clung to his chest. His sleeve tattoos ran from his shoulder down to his wrist, a chaotic mix of images—winding vines, shattered glass, and symbols woven together in black and gray, a beautiful mess inked into his skin.

He also wore the wet spot I’d left on his jeans that hung low on his hips. With Jordans on his feet— it gave cliché, he was anything but.

I rose to my tiptoes and pecked him on the side of the lip. "Thank you for the ride."

He squinted his eyes at me as if trying to figure me out.

Maybe the summer wouldn't be so boring...

I shrugged and laughed, then turned and walked towards Ivory's side of the duplex that she and our brother Ebony, or Jason, would share. It was a gift from our parents.

"You're not going to help unpack?" Ivory yelled behind me.

I shook my head. "No, get your brothers to do it. I said I'd help cook and prepare your graduation party, not play mover because you feel awkward about spending our multimillionaire parents' money to hire movers. I need a shower before I start cooking."

Noah-

"Noah, please come downstairs and help me." Maine dropped in on me through Alexa. She had it sitting on her guest bedroom nightstand. She sounded angry.

I had to force myself to get out of bed after taking half of an Ambien and an Abilify. Sometimes I couldn’t sleep, and the fact that I was being woken up every night irritated me. I was reconsidering spending the week at Ivory’s place. I pulled on a white T-shirt, a pair of gray sweatpants, and Nike slides.