She kisses me, a little slower than she has before, and when she tugs free, shimmies down with a giggle, and trails ahead... I know.

For the first time since we started this, I’m undeniably sure when Demi Davenport walks away, leaving a piece of herself behind for me to have. To keep.

I’m keeping her.

At this point, I wouldn’t let her go if she tried to walk away, so I’m glad she agrees.

I jog forward, but she hears me coming and breaks out into a run herself, darting toward the field where the others are, only to come to a full and sudden stop when she realizes campus security is now guarding the gate we slipped through.

I fight to hide my laugh while she doesn’t even breathe, nervous we’ve been caught, but I wrap my arms around her, and she starts moving again.

They do give us the evil eye, but they don’t say shit. They know what people sneak around to do, and since we weren’t caught, there’s no point in hounding us.

She doesn’t relax until we’re at my truck, where she bursts into laughter, leaning her head back on my shoulder to look at me.

I can’t fuckin’ help myself and take her lips again.

She’s more than with it, keeps her mouth locked on mine as she spins in my arms and deepens the contact.

Macy, the cockblocker she is, whistles and Demi tears away, hiding her face in my chest a second, and then finally looks to her friends.

“Where the fuck did you guys go?” Macy teases with a smile.

“Yeah, and why didn’t you tell us?” Krista whines. “We couldn’t slip past the gates for shit.”

I laugh, looking to Trent who frowns at Demi. He senses my eyes on him and cuts a glance my way.

I nod my chin, but he shakes his head subtly, his way of saying we’ll talk later.

He’s got to be picking up on what I’ve been trying to explain to him.

Demi isn’t with me to get to Alex, not anymore.

She fell, just like I wanted her to.

“So.” Carley bumps my hip, sticking her hands under the sink water I’ve just pulled mine from. “You guys snuck off.”

I grin. “We did?”

“Did you have sex in the school, you dirty ho?”

“Sex... no.” We look at each other and both start laughing.

She studies me, a small smile on her lips. “You really like him.”

I nod and mock myself. “Weird, right?”

Carley shakes her head, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. “What if I said no, that it’s not weird at all?”

I glance her way. “You’ve been team Nico since the beginning. Why?”

She shrugs, walking out first, so I follow.

“I always wondered if he had a thing for you when he first stopped talking to you. It was the typical ‘pretend you don’t want what you can’t have’ attitude he always gave.”

“Yeah, I never picked up on that.” I grin, my eyes finding him on the field right away. “But I’m happy with where things are going.”

“I’m glad, Demi, you deserve some happy.”

“My life isn’t sad, Carley.”

“No.” She looks at me. “But it was lonely, and not a lonely having us over to hang several times a week could fix. You need this.”

I smile, my eyes locked on Nico’s as he moves toward me and I him.

I more than need this.

I want this.

Nico plants his feet in front of me, and Carley keeps moving.

He runs a knuckle down my throat, his lips twitching after I do. “So easy to excite,” he draws out, anticipation laced through his dirty whisper. “Are you wet, D?”

My breath lodges in my throat, and I grip his arm.

“Yeah, baby, you are, aren’t you?” He presses a kiss to my erratic pulse behind my ear, and it jolts even higher. “It’s only three in the morning, how you gonna make it through the sunrise, through the day, and into the night, hmm?”

“Don’t tease me, Neek, or I might tease back,” I caution, my fingertips slipping into the edge of his joggers. “But I won’t be so subtle.”

“Prove it. Grab me, D.”

A heavy throbbing pulses between my legs, and thinking he won when my move isn’t instant, he chuckles and pulls back, only to freeze when I’m suddenly cupping what I can fit of him in my palm over his boxers. I give a gentle squeeze, tugging the slightest bit.

He twitches in my grip, his fingers wrapping around my arms in a tight hold as he presses into my hand, only to yank away completely.

He glares, but it’s in warning, not anger. “Next time you touch my dick, be ready for it to be inside you, nice and slow. Got it?”

I inhale, nodding.

He starts to smirk, but groans instead when I ask, “Promise?”

“Nic. I need to talk to you.”

I shake my head, stuffing my phone in my pocket. “Don’t, my man. I don’t want to hear it.”

“You need to.”

With a sigh, I turn to him. “I get it, you don’t like how this happened, but we’re good. Things have changed.” I don’t say it out loud, Thompson is by us, and nobody else needs to know we started off as a lie.

“I know things have changed, that’s why you need to hear me out.”

I shake my head and turn around, ready to walk and find the girls.

“Sophomore year, two times.”

Tension wraps around my shoulder blades, locking me in place as I replay Trent’s rushed words.

It takes several seconds, but slowly, I look behind me, my body shifting until I’m fully facing my best friend.

“What?”

Thompson falls a few feet back, rubbing at the nape of his neck, and my eyes dart back to Trent.

He hangs his head, taking in a deep breath before he stands tall to meet my glare. “I’ve been trying to tell you.”

My pulse hums in my ears, my steps like heavy lead as I force a foot forward. “You think this shit’s funny?”

“Trust me, Nic. I know it’s fucked up.”

I shake my head, denying what he’s saying. “What are you tryin’ to do? Why you fuckin’ with me?”

He holds my gaze, my best fucking friend. The only person who knows the truth about everything in my life. My dad, my mom, Alex. Demi.

Demi.

I lunge at his ass.

“Get over to the truck, now, but don’t run or security will follow you.”

I look over my shoulder, my smile fading when I recognize the seriousness of Thompson’s face.

He glares. “Take your friends with you.”

I glance to Carley nodding my chin and walk as calmly as I can toward our area, the girls a few feet behind.

It’s dark, but I manage to see between the trucks as I grow closer, and I gasp.

Nico and Trent are fighting, their bodies slamming into the bumper of Trent’s truck and rolling off onto the small patch of grass in front of it.

Or more, Nico is fighting while Trent more or less allows him to toss him around.

“Oh my god! Nico, stop!” Krista hisses, her wide eyes flying to mine as she rushes forward. “Demi, what the hell?!” She glances back.

Oh my god... shit.

This isn’t happening, not tonight.