Chapter 26

26

It was early in the morning when I gave up on sleep with a sigh and slipped from under the sheets.

As soon as the ball dropped at midnight, everyone slowly made their way home. It was about 2 a.m. before everyone was in bed.

But I was too hyperaware Reece was just downstairs in the spare room and the knowledge of his mother kept me up.

After we snuck back inside the house, we were split apart, and I hadn't been able to talk to him since. That hadn't stopped me from cutting glances at him from across the room. I'd always find his eyes already on me, or if he felt me looking, his gaze would immediately find mine.

I had been plotting to sneak away again before the countdown so I could be alone with him, but then Nate pulled him in to take some shots. Then the countdown started, and I couldn't get to him. He had disappeared by the time I said goodbye to my friends and went to bed, but I heard Nate mentioning to Dad that Reece had taken the spare room.

It was dark and silent as I crept down the stairs to the kitchen, the light from my phone illuminating my way so I didn't wake anyone.

Once I'd stepped down the last step, my heart leaped into my throat as I swallowed down a scream that threatened to escape in my fright when I saw Reece's figure lit by the backdrop of the refrigerator light. The smooth, naked planes of his back rippled with every movement he made as he grabbed the fridge door and turned his head over his shoulder to look at me.

"Hey," he whispered into the space between us as I stepped into the kitchen and leaned against the bench behind him. The fridge light only illuminated half of his face while the other was shrouded in the darkness. The white light reflected off his eyes as he stared down at me.

I held a hand to my chest, my heart thundering in my chest from the aftereffects of the fright. "I didn't think anyone else would be up."

He turned, facing fully toward me as he reached to the top of the fridge door and leaned his arm atop it with the most casual ease. I pretended not to drool over the muscles of his biceps flexing. He was still lean, but the way he was resting made them bulge more.

His lips twisted up as he answered. "Couldn't sleep. What about you?"

I shrugged as I tried to reciprocate his casual stance, leaning back against the bench and folding my arms. "Me either."

He hummed before he thumbed over his shoulder into the fridge.

"Do you want something? A drink?" He turned into the fridge, eyes wandering around the items and listing them out. "Orange juice, apple juice, a little midnight choccy milk. Oh, there's some cake as well."

I stepped up behind him, laying a hand on his shoulder. The warmth of his skin spread through my fingertips and I felt the way his muscle twitched under my touch as I peered over his shoulder into the fridge.

He turned his head towards me, watching me with curiosity and my eyes locked onto the leftover cake Dad made for that night. A chocolate mud cake with scrawled writing on top that read ‘Happy New Year' but the only letters left were the ‘a' and ‘r' of year. I took the cake out, moving Reece aside as I placed it on the bench and cut off two small pieces before placing them on a small plate and putting the rest of the cake back as if it hadn't been touched at all.

He smiled, walking towards the cutlery drawer, pulling two spoons out, and handing me one. "Cake it is."

We took a few spoonfuls of cake in silence as we leaned over the bench, taking turns bite for bite before I decided to break it. "So, now that you're almost eighteen in a few days, what is one thing you want?"

His eyes cut to mine before they dropped down my frame, biting his lip and then looking away. The whole moment had my skin heating up and I waited, hoping he acted on that look that flashed in his eyes. But then he shook his head as he thought about it for a moment longer.

"You know, I've always wanted a tattoo," he said after a moment and my stomach dropped in disappointment before I shook it off.

"A tattoo?" I raised a brow, intrigued.

He grinned as he turned his head to me. "Yeah, a tattoo. I don't know what of, though. Haven't thought that far forward."

I hummed. "I mean I can share my Pinterest board if you want. Might give you some inspiration."

He chuckled. "You want one too?"

"Yeah, I have a couple ideas. But I'm too scared to go." I laughed.

He nudged my shoulder as he swallowed a bite of cake. "Maybe we should go together. That way we can hold each other's hand."

I huffed a laugh. "Maybe we should. But I think I might break your hand."

He just smiled. "I think I can handle that." He took another bite of the cake. "So, what are your ideas?"

I met his eyes. "My ideas?"

He nodded. "Your tattoo ideas. I wanna hear them."

I smiled and looked down at the almost-finished cake. "I have one for my dad, of course. He's been my rock throughout my whole life. So I have this note he left me in my lunchbox on my first day of high school that he signed off with ‘Dream big and fly high'. I would get that in his handwriting." I shook my head at the memory and took a spoonful of the cake. "And then I also want to get something to remember our week in Airlie Beach. I don't know, something like a wave with a crescent moon over it. Sounds very original I know," I drawled with a laugh.

I saw Reece shake his head from the corner of my eye and I turned to him. "No, I like those ideas. And they mean something to you so they're original to you."

He smiled and I returned it before I grabbed the now-empty plate and his spoon to wash under the sink.

He stood to his full height, taking a step towards me before stopping and leaning a hip against the counter. My gaze flicked to him, seeing his slip down my frame before coming back to meet my eyes with a prominent smirk on his face.

"Is this what you always wear to sleep?"

I looked down and rolled my eyes. I wore the exact same thing I wore when he was over about a week ago. The thin strap top and the shorts that barely covered my ass. "You only just noticed? Do you have a problem with it?"

He shook his head and he smoothed a hand against his jaw. "No. Not at all. Actually, I was thinking I should come over more often during early mornings just to see you like this."

I laughed quietly. "You're a fool, Fischer."

The hum that vibrated from his chest sounded more like a chuckle and I felt the rumble of it as he stepped closer to me. He leaned in, resting a hand on the bench beside my right hip and stuffing his other in the pocket of his pyjama pants, surrounding me in his warmth. His eyes when I looked up at him were like the darkest depths of night and I drowned in them.

"For some reason, I think, around you I'm always making a fool of myself."

I shook my head. "I don't think that."

He raised a brow. "Really? You just called me one."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah because you were a fool. But I don't think you're always a fool."

He huffed a laugh. "Agree to disagree."

I tilted my head at him, straightening my stance and bringing our faces just an inch closer. His eyes tracked the movement, flicking down to my lips for just a fraction of a second. But he didn't move an inch, just the slight brush of his thumb that I felt against my hip.

"Okay then, what makes you think that?" I asked in a whisper.

He swallowed. "Well," he started. "First, I think despite everything in me trying to tell me no, I can't help but gravitate towards you. I have this need to be around you." He tapped his thumb against my hip. "Second, it scared me how attached to you I was that when I found out you were dating my best friend, I tried to distance myself from you. I may have resented him a little because he got to have you before and I couldn't." My breath hitched at that confession, but before I could even fully process it, he kept going with a tap on my hip. "Third, I was so happy when you and Liam broke up, and I hated myself for it. And then I realised I had ruined whatever friendship I had with you because I was scared. You didn't come to any of the games and I blamed myself. I wanted so badly to ditch Nate when I visited and walk across the hall to see you. And fourth ? and probably the most foolish one, but one I'm happy I did ? I made last-minute arrangements with Jake and Sage to go to Airlie Beach because I remembered Nate had mentioned it one time while we were playing video games. Just so I could see you again."

I was speechless as my eyes widened in surprise before I furrowed my brows in confusion, my mind swirling.

He was scared so he pulled away. He planned Airlie Beach because he knew I was going. He was happy about the breakup, not mad.

He smiled at my reaction, nerves sparking in his eyes. "See. An absolute fool."

I had so much to say and so many things to ask, but as I looked up at him, our bodies pulling together by an invisible force, the only thing chanting in my head was kiss him, kiss him, kiss him .

And it was then that I realised that this was really going to hurt. I knew all of the push and pull that had happened before all led to this. All of the caution and maybes and should I, shouldn't I's. I knew all of this was either going to be the greatest experience of my life or the greatest heartbreak to leave my soul in shreds. I knew that with him, there was no in between because it was always going to be him that changed everything for me.

I couldn't care less about the consequences then. It wasn't even a question or a second thought. I just leaned into him and pressed my lips to his.

It was just like the first, and the second. All consuming and sending my senses into overload. Overloaded by him and his musky cologne, the heat he exuded, and the way he touched me. It was hot and hungry, and his tongue immediately pressed against the seam of my lips to gain access which I gave all too eagerly.

He lifted me to sit on the counter, and I wrapped my hand around his bicep to tug him closer, making him grunt with the force of our collision. I want to feel the way his naked torso melded to me, the warmth of his skin wrapping around me. He never parted from my lips, his lips just as hungry for mine as I was for him.

I couldn't think, couldn't see or hear anything but him. With my fingers in his hair and his digging into my ass, I was absolutely consumed by him that I forgot where we were. I didn't care.

He lifted me off the counter, making me wrap my legs around him as he started walking. I didn't care where he was taking me, I just didn't want him to stop kissing me, touching me, or igniting the fire within me.

He turned and I heard the click of a door closing before I was pressed against it. He pecked my lips, once, twice before he pressed his forehead against mine, his breath coming out in puffs of air against my lips. His hands never stopped roaming my body and it was like breathing air into the building fire.

"I've wanted this for so long, Kody," he spoke before his throat worked with a swallow. "So, I need you to walk away now if you have any doubts or reservations about me. Because I couldn't possibly walk away from you, not now."

My eyes fluttered open with his words, only to find his squeezed shut, as if anticipating me walking out at this moment.

But just like him, I couldn't possibly walk away either. He had become the very centre of my being. From the moment we met, both of us in vulnerable places and finding a safe place in each other, we had intertwined, and now it was impossible for us to break free without severing us from the root.

All of my trust, my secrets, and my heart had been poured into the palm of his hand. He had it all from the moment I met him.

I pulled him closer, my hands framing his face, his lips barely brushing mine as I whispered against them. "It would be impossible to walk away from you, Reece."

His eyes popped open to look into mine, and I saw the sincerity in them. Then, it was like a magnetic force, bringing us back together in a heated kiss as he spun us around. I was so lost in him, like a current pulling me under the surface and absorbing all my coherent thoughts. Except, instead of fight or flight and the sinking feeling, I felt weightless, as if I was floating.

I felt it all the way to my toes. His lips, the trail of his fingertips down my sides, the swirl of his tongue against my skin, the noises that spewed from his lips.

He laid me down on the bed, my hair fanning all around me and the weight of him on top of me.

"I have been such a fool when it comes to you. Fighting everything in me that wanted to be right here with you. Not just like this, but to be with you, every moment of every day," he whispered against my skin. "And I will make up for all the lost time I could have had with you."

His lips pressed promises into my skin and his fingers were like the answering call to his lips as they dipped between my thighs and circled the bundle of nerves that ached for him.

My whispered sighs were hot and heavy against his lips as they hovered above my own. His eyes were so intent on mine as he whispered words of praise and encouragement, watching me sink deeper into him until I shattered and became an instant puddle underneath him.

His grin was devastatingly devilish as I gripped him tighter against me, pulling him down.

"You okay?" he whispered, kissing a path down my jaw to my ear, pulling the lobe between his teeth and making my shutter.

I nodded, unsure if words could even be pieced together at that moment.

"Good, because I'm not done with you yet," he mumbled in a heated breath against my skin.

I was too impatient though. I needed more. I needed him. To feel him, to kiss him, to have all of him, to meld him into my soul. It was like it was my first time again with how nervous I felt.

"I need you," I breathed, words shaking as they pushed passed my lips in a raw admission. I didn't just mean I needed him inside me in the heat of the moment, I needed him like the air I breathed.

He was steadily becoming a lifeline I reached for in the moments I used to feel alone.

His answering kiss seared my lips in a heavy and intoxicating rhythm that had me right at the edge already.

He slowly stripped us both of our clothes until he was hovering above me on his elbows on either side of my head, both of us exposed and the vibrating feeling of anticipation and nerves sinking through our bones. His soft gaze bore into mine as he took the condom he pulled from the pocket of his pants and slid it on himself before he positioned the hard length of him to my entrance. There was a pause in a moment of time where we just existed in each other's orbit, absorbing the moment. It was the last loop in the string that would tie us together.

He rocked into me slowly and I felt utterly obliterated by him. I fell right down the rabbit hole when it came to him, finally believing in the once-in-a-lifetime. He watched me with every stroke he made. Every pump of his hips sparking life in me and the glide of his fingertips over my hip and the thigh that wrapped around his hip awakened my nerves like a live wire.

It was when he lifted off me to hook his hands under my knees and stretched me open, his eyes devoured down my body until he was watching himself enter me that I fell apart with his name falling from my lips in a whisper.

"Fuck," he groaned, dropping back down to me.

His brows pinched as he rested his forehead against mine and wrapped an arm under my back, pressing my chest to his, our bodies melded together in every possible way. Then he was moaning my name into my ear like a prayer as he found his release.

I fell asleep in his arms that night and it was the first time everything was quiet. My thoughts, my fears, my doubts. It all became a distant memory wrapped in him.

It was the perfect way to start the new year.