Off the Hook: Faking it #3 Read online

  Andi,

  I'm not sure how I ended up in your room last night,

  but I'm sorry for taking over your bed.

  But I promise I'm suffering with the

  mother of all hangovers for my sins...

  Oh yeah…

  consider whatever I said to be bullshit.

  I was drunk as hell.

  Nate.

  PS: Thanks for taking care of me.

  Andi

  Age 17

  NOW, I KNOW THE MEMBERS of Alternative Kiss had chosen Jackson to be the lead singer in the band back they first formed, but I swear I could listen to Nate's raspy singing voice for the rest of eternity and never grow tired.

  Maybe I was biased because of the whole being in love with him thing, but I didn’t think so. He was truly that good.

  Nathan's voice was deep, enthralling and incredibly melancholic as he strummed on his guitar and sang the lyrics of Stateless' Bloodstream.

  The band were practicing around our pool tonight, and I was mesmerized.

  Too shy to join them, but unwilling to go inside and miss out on hearing them play, I remained on the back porch and observed.

  Sitting on the top step, I wrapped my arms around my knees and listened intently to every single word that came out of Nathan Cole's mouth. He looked incredible – painfully beautiful – as he sat at the edge of our pool, with his feet in the water and his guitar pressed to his bare chest.

  Every once and a while, he looked over at me as he sang, and that one single glance was enough to set my body on fire. I pretended he was singing the words to me. I knew that made me very pathetic, but I didn’t care, and besides, I wasn’t hurting anyone. Well, maybe except for myself…

  ****

  Nate

  Age 18

  I DEDICATED EVERY WORD of the song I had just played to my best friend's sister – in my mind, of course.

  Even now, as I sat alongside my bandmates, practicing some new songs, my entire focus was on Andi.

  Watching her watching me play tonight?

  Fuck, it was too much.

  She was too much.

  Last night had been a mistake.

  Sleeping in her bed?

  What the fuck had I been thinking?

  I was already addicted to her. Now, her smell was on my body.

  Unable to take the heat of her stare a second longer, I drew my feet out of the pool before standing up and placing my guitar back in its case. I couldn’t stay here. Not with her looking at me like that…

  "You going somewhere, man?" Jackson asked, still strumming on his acoustic, when I picked up my case and walked towards their house. "We're not finished. I wanna get this song nailed down before tomorrow night."

  "I'll be ready," was all I replied, not stopping.

  "Are you leaving?" Andi asked when I walked past her. "Nate?"

  I didn’t stop to answer her.

  I had to get some space from that girl before I exploded.

  ****

  Nate

  (Age 18)

  FUCK JACKSON AND HIS stupid idea.

  Fake boyfriend my ass.

  If he knew just how much I needed to be buried inside his sister, he'd see things a hell of a lot differently.

  Raging inside, I watched like some obsessed pervert as Andi drank it up with that preppy rich prick from her class.

  Brad the Dick.

  Andi was offering me everything I'd ever wanted. Her mind, her body, and her heart, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t have her.

  Not after being with her mother.

  I couldn’t fucking do that to her.

  I hated myself for what I'd done.

  I wished I could go back in time and change things, make better choices, more selfish choices.

  I had lost everything because of that woman. Football, my scholarship, and the chance of being with Andi...

  She'd hate me if she knew.

  She'd fucking despise me.

  I couldn’t bear the thought of it.

  But it was hard to stop obsessing over the girl; especially now that I had gotten a taste of her.

  Christ, she tasted like honey on my tongue…

  "Quit it," I mumbled to myself as I shook my head and tossed back another shot. "Quit fucking thinking about her like that."

  Yeah, drinking myself into oblivion seemed to be my safest bet for the night.

  But it didn’t seem to matter how many shots of tequila I tossed back my throat, Andi Davis continued to consume my thoughts…

  "Hah. You have to kiss me!" DJ Kellerman – who preferred to be called JD – snickered. A whole group of us were all sitting in a circle in his back garden playing spin the bottle and his spin had just landed on Andi.

  "Those are the rules, Andi," he continued to taunt. "Pucker up, girl."

  Andi's eyes bugged in horror.

  Immediately, I was on defense mode. "She's not playing, Kellerman," I warning, casting a warning glare in his direction. "Spin again."

  "But she's in the circle –"

  "You deaf or just plain dumb?" I snarled, interrupting him. "I said she's not fucking playing. Spin again."

  "If ya'll don’t play by the rules then you can't play here," he grumbled, pouting his lips.

  "Fine." Jerking to my feet, I kicked his bottle across the grass and held out my hand for Andi to take. "Then we won't play."

  Andi placed her small hand in mine and jumped up.

  "Thanks, Nate," she whispered as we walked down Kellerman's driveway to where I'd left my bike. "I really didn’t wanna kiss him."

  "I know." I didn’t, not until now at least, but it made me feel real good hearing her say it. "You don’t have to kiss anyone you don’t wanna, Andi," I added, helping her onto the saddle of my bike before climbing on in front of her. "Remember that."

  "I will," she replied before leaning forward and pressing a kiss to my cheek.

  I froze. "Why'd you do that?"

  She wrapped her hands around my waist and pressed her cheek to my back. "Because I wanted to…"

  Even though I'd only been eleven at the time, I'd known Kellerman wanted to kiss Andi that day. One look at Brad the dick's face now and it only showed me that he wanted to kiss her too.

  Fuck that…

  Burning with jealousy and unable to stand another second of Brad the Dick's attempt at snaring my fake girlfriend, I stalked towards them and wrapped my hand around Andi's narrow waist before swiping the drink he'd made for her out of her hand.

  I couldn’t help but notice the bewildered expression on Andi's face when I took a sip of her drink.

  Mother fucker…

  "She's diabetic, asshole," I roared when I tasted the rum and coke. What a stupid mother fucker… "What the fuck are you trying to do – put her in a coma?"

  "I didn’t think," the little dipshit offered as he held his hands up in defeat.

  As if that was gonna stop me from kicking his ass.

  "I'm sorry," he muttered. "Andi, I'm so sorry."

  "Her name is Adriana," I hissed, feeling irrationally angry at the sound of her name coming from his mouth.

  He looked at her again, and I automatically tightened my grip on her, marking my territory.

  Brad the Dick looked at Andi once more before glancing back up at me, red faced.

  Ah, so awareness had finally dawned on the fucker.

  She's mine, asshole.

  "And you will be fucking sorry," I added the threat for impact, secretly hoping the guy would piss his pants and show Andi how much of a loser he truly was, "if you don’t back the fuck up from my girlfriend."

  I watched him retreat with a shit eating grin on my face.

  Yeah, Brad the Dick finally got it.

  Andi Davis was mine.

  "Why did you do that?" Andi demanded. Swinging around in my arms, she looked up at me with a sexy pout. "He was only being nice to me."

  "Nice!" I scoffed at the thought and drew her body closer to me. She needed to stop wiggling
around and trying to move away from me. I clamped my hand down on her hip to keep her still. "His niceness could have landed you in the ICU."

  "Are you drunk?"

  "I don't know," I shot back with a smirk.

  Of course I was drunk.

  Was she being serious?

  "Why don’t you ask that crazy bitch, Tequila," I added. "Forced herself down my throat." Wasn’t that the truth… "Wouldn’t take no for an answer."

  "God, Nate. You're wasted."

  "S'all your fault." Another truth.

  "How is this my fault?"

  "It's always your fault," I confessed, hard as die cast metal at the mere sight of her.

  Unable to stop myself, I picked up a loose tendril of hair and rubbed it between my fingers. "Soft." I bit back a pained groan as my dick hardened even more.

  I wanted her.

  "Why'd you have to be so fucking soft, Andi?"

  I wanted her so fucking much.

  "You need to stop doing this," she told me shakily.

  "Stop doing what?" What was she talking about? "Looking out for you?" Didn’t she know by now that I was obsessed with her? "If you want a drink, I will get you a drink. You don’t accept it from some strange guy, Andi."

  "Brad's in my History class. And he's my lab partner in bio. He's hardly a stranger." She looked so fucking cute as she tried to explain herself. "And he's always been kind to me at school."

  "Oh, that's alright then." It wasn’t okay. It wasn’t one fucking bit okay.

  Grabbing her hand, I quickly led her over to the drinks table and filled a Dixie cup with vodka before handing it to her.

  "Here. You wanna get buzzed, then you do it on my watch."

  What was I doing?

  Why the hell was I behaving like a fucking caveman?

  Because you're in love with her.

  Because you want her…badly.

  And if she offers herself to you one more time, you're gonna take her…

  "Is this a trick?" Andi asked me as she looked at the cup with a small frown.

  "Why would this be a trick?" I couldn’t stop myself from touching her.

  "Because you were just mad at me for drinking and now you're giving me more…" She hiccupped then and it was adorable. "I don’t get it."

  "I was mad at that prick for almost poisoning you. I don’t have a problem with you drinking. I have a problem with you doing it when I'm not around. I can keep you safe." My hands were wandering dangerously low. "You're too good for him, Andi."

  You're too good for everyone…

  Jesus Christ, she needed to stop looking at me like she wanted me to eat her up, and I need to stop touching her like I had the right to.

  I was drunk and incapable of seeing the reasons why we were a bad idea.

  I knew there were very good reasons, but I couldn’t fucking remember them. Because right now, in the state of mind I was in, all I kept thinking about was how fucking good an idea me and her were…

  "Why can't I kiss you?" she blurted out, her big blue eyes locked on my face. "If I'm your girlfriend for the night then I think I deserve a kiss."

  "Andi, you're drunk." It was so fucking hard to be a good guy. "Fuck, I'm drunk."

  "You weren't drunk in your bedroom. And neither was I."

  Well shit.

  She had me there.

  I was stone cold sober when I stuck my tongue in her pussy.

  Damn…

  "You don’t really want me," I said, unsure of who I was trying to convince of this. Needing privacy, I took her hand and led her out of the house towards the tree line. "It's the vodka talking."

  "You're wrong," she tossed back, entwining her fingers with mine as we half walked, half staggered into the wooded area. "Well, you're right about the drunk part. But not the wanting part."

  She stopped walking then and broke free of me. I watched as Andi shimmied over to a huge ass tree and leaned against it.

  With her eyes locked on mine, she purred, "I really, really want you…"

  "What kind of a fake boyfriend would I be if I took advantage of you?" I forced myself to say when in truth, I was two damn seconds away from taking her.

  Even though I knew it was wrong, I couldn’t stop myself from prowling towards her.

  When I reached Andi, she took my face in her hands and drew my lips down to hers.

  "Andi…" I whispered against the fucking wonderful feel of her lips on mine. I wanted her. I needed her. I was fucking dying to be with her, but I didn’t want to make a mistake with her. I didn’t want to let this girl down... "What are you doing to me?"

  "I'm playing your game, Nate." Her blue eyes paralyzed me. "It's what you asked me to do, right?" Goddamn, I was hooked and drowning in the color of her eyes. "Be your girlfriend for the night?" She rubbed her tight, little pussy against me, teasing me, tempting me…

  "No!" I shook my head and slammed her roughly against the tree before pressing my body to hers. "Damn, Andi…"

  "I figured since I'm your girlfriend for the night, we might as well make the most of it…"

  "You're not a game to me, Andi," I told her as I cupped her cheek with one hand. "I won't play games with you." I rubbed her plump bottom lip with my thumb and my dick strained against its confinements. "I'm drunk and I'm weak."

  Christ, I wanted her so bad I felt like I was going to explode.

  "Don’t fucking expect me to be your prince charming tonight. I barely stopped myself last time…"

  "I didn’t want you to stop the last time," Andi thrilled me by saying. "And I don’t want you to stop this time."

  "Stop looking at me like that," I begged her.

  This was her last chance to go back.

  If she wasn’t sure about me then she needed to walk away now because I sure as hell couldn’t.

  Testing the waters, I ground myself against her and groaned in pleasure when she met my move with a thrust of her own.

  She continued to rock her pelvis against me, driving me out of my mind with need as she purred, "Like what?"

  "Like you want this almost as badly as I do."

  "I do." I could hear the begging tone in her voice – the hint of sheer fucking desperation. I couldn’t do this anymore. I couldn’t hold back. "I want you. I'm done being good, Nate. I am. I just want you."

  "Don’t fucking tease me, Andi. Don’t play with me. Not about this."

  "I'm not. I want you. All of you. Whatever you're willing to give me –"

  I kissed her.

  Wrong or right, I couldn’t stop myself from giving into the temptation that was Adriana Davis.

  She had been the focus of my life from the age of six and I couldn’t hold back a second longer.

  Drunk or not, I knew something had ignited between us tonight that wasn’t ever gonna fizzle out.

  Yeah, I was in deep fucking trouble with this girl.

  ****

  Present

  Day

  Chapter One

  Nate

  I SCREWED UP.

  I messed up real fucking bad.

  The girl shaking from head to toe in the passenger seat of my truck assured me that this was a monumental fuck up on my behalf.

  The responsibility I felt for the path Andi's life was taking was immense. I wanted to fix this for her. She was all I'd ever wanted for as far back as I could remember.

  And I'd never been allowed to have her. I'd never been allowed to act on those feelings. But then she kissed me and turned my world on its ass.

  I couldn't deny the girl.

  I loved her when she was five years old and I loved her now.

  I was well aware that she hadn't been put on the earth for a guy like me, but I'd marked her.

  I'd put a baby in her belly.

  She was growing something inside of her now, something that was a part of us both.

  And I wasn’t giving her up without a fight…

  "This is a really bad idea," Andi whispered over and over as I pulled into her drivewa
y and killed the engine. "A really bad idea, Nathan."

  She was right of course.

  This was a terrible fucking idea, but what other choice did I have?

  If I didn’t bring her home, Clive Davis would have me hunted down and carted off for kidnap.

  And if I did walk her back into that house, chances were he'd still try and find a way of taking her away from me.

  There was no limit to how low that man would stoop to maintain control over his family.

  To maintain control over Andi.

  Problem was, his child was currently housing my child.

  My flesh and blood.

  And planned or not, I'd be damned if I let anything happen to that baby.

  But I had to be smart about this.

  One wrong move could ruin everything...

  The sob that escaped Andi's lips just then drew me from my thoughts and almost broke my damn heart.

  "Andi, baby, breathe."

  Unfastening my seatbelt, I leaned across the console and cupped her small face with my hand. "Nothing is gonna happen to you. It's gonna be okay."

  "No. It's not, Nate." Her voice was small, her eyes wide and full of unshed tears. "Nate, please…" She reached over and grabbed ahold of my hand. "Please don’t leave me here on my own."

  "Never planned on leaving here without you," I whispered before pressing a kiss to the back of her hand. "I won't let a damn thing happen to you. I promise. Okay?"

  "Okay."

  It wasn’t okay.

  She wasn’t okay.

  But there was no other way around this. We had to face her parents as a couple. Show a united front and pray to Jesus that they backed down.

  Andi shook like an ivy leaf beside me as we walked into the house.

  When we reached the lounge and were met by her parents, she shook even harder.

  It was fucking awful, knowing she was this petrified of her father, and her nerves did little to calm my temper. I held her hand like it was the only thing keeping me on the ground. She needed the support and I needed the physical contact.