Chapter 24

"You should wear this dress."

Quinton drove Brynn, Leah, and me back to our townhouse where we'd spent the last thirty minutes going through clothes trying to figure out what I should wear tonight. Apparently, one of my floral minidresses isn't good enough.

We've now made our way into Brynn's room where she and Leah are going through some of Brynn's party dresses.

"Pass." I veto the super short, blue bodycon dress that has more cutouts than connected fabric.

"Fine, but I'm the birthday girl, so what I say goes," Leah says.

"Okay, but why do I feel like that will be the start of a very epic night if we have to do what Leah says, kind of like ‘Simon says,' all night long?" Brynn chimes in from the spot in front of her mirror where she's applying a sharp cat eye.

Leah turns with a gasp. "Yes! Let's do that!"

"No, no, no," I say with a shake of my head. "We are not letting the just barely legal eighteen-year-old dictate our night."

"Boo!" both girls yell at me.

But I don't even care. Cody's only shared bits and pieces of his life at home, and if Leah is under any of the same pressures that Cody has been under, she's going to be ready to break free. Which means we could have a very crazy night on our hands. As much as I think it would be fun, I feel like someone needs to be the responsible one.

"Here," Leah says, handing me a fuchsia satin mini dress with a halter neckline that flares in an A-line hem. The back is completely exposed, and a sly grin spreads across my face. Cody is going to lose it when he sees me in this dress.

"Bitch, I know that look!" Brynn laughs as we make eye contact through the mirror. "It's like the night I wore my leather mini skirt, black see-through mesh shirt over the top of a black bra, with my sky-high heels, and we ended up breaking Q's table. You're going to walk into that party, and jaws will drop."

"With a lead-up like that, I know you girls are going to make tonight the best birthday celebration."

I smile at Leah from across the room. "It's going to be a good night."

An hour later, the four of us are walking up the sidewalk that leads to the Baseball House in mini dresses and high heels. Quinton stuck around while us girls got ready. He's a saint for waiting. The three of us took way too long to figure out what we were going to wear. Cody was blowing up my phone for the last half hour wondering what was taking us so long and curious if his sister was causing trouble.

After spending a few hours with Leah, I see similarities between her and Brynn. And now I know why Cody and Brynn became best friends. Both are just trying to find their way in a world where they've been forgotten. Leah might not have suffered the same heartbreaking childhood as Brynn, but she's suffered at the hands of her father who has placed such high pressures on his children. Not only does he expect the world from them, but he constantly finds ways to knock them down.

I also found that Leah was accepted to CTU, but she's holding out on accepting until she hears back from West Coast schools. She hasn't told her brother this, and I promised I wouldn't tell him. I hate keeping secrets from Cody, especially since we're just now getting to a good place. Secrets kept us apart once, and I don't want a repeat. But I'm hoping that once Leah gets her acceptance letters, she'll open up to him.

Quinton leads us up the walkway that has students piling out over the yard. The thumping from the music can be heard from outside. Q pushes open the front door, and we are met with chaos.

Loud music blasts from the speakers. Bodies are grinding against each other on the makeshift dance floor in the living room. A few couples are making out on the outskirts of the room, most half-naked or in the midst of ripping one another's clothes off. The party has barely started, but I can already tell it's going to be quite the night of debauchery.

Moving past the living room, I find a set of familiar faces, a group of guys both from the baseball and football teams lined up around the dining room table where beer pong has been set up. Scanning the line of guys, my eyes catch on hazel eyes that are already staring back at me. Cody's eyes skim my body, and I swear I can already feel his touch. A cocky smirk moves across his lips.

I send him a wink before pulling Leah by her hand to the dance floor. The DJ is playing the hit "Baby Boy" by Sean Paul—an oldie but goodie—and the beat has our hips shaking as soon as we find a space in between bodies. Leah's lithe body moves seductively, and I can only imagine how Cody is feeling right now. He's so protective of his sister, but it's her birthday weekend, and she deserves to have some fun.

Brynn and Quinton disappeared when we got here. I assume they're off to make out in the corner. The two of them can never keep their hands off each other.

It's crazy to think that at the beginning of the semester, I was the one on the outskirts, the wallflower hiding in the shadows. Now I'm in the midst of the chaos in a dress that barely covers my body dancing with Cody Jacobs's sister.

All the cyberbullying from the photo on the Gossip Gazette has started to die down. Cody went crazy in the comment section threatening anyone who looked at me the wrong way or said one more nasty thing about me. I appreciated it especially after he came to the townhouse and made me feel seen. That night shifted everything between us.

Leah and I are dancing through our fifth song when I feel a warm body sidle up behind me. It's the first guy to come up and approach us, which surprises me considering Leah's dance moves. I wonder if Cody threatened everyone who walked in here that his sister was going to be here tonight and is off limits. If that's the case, she's going to be pissed.

While we were getting ready, Leah was telling Brynn and me how she ended things with a guy she was casually seeing. It wasn't anything serious since she refused to get tied down with anyone from her hometown since she wanted to move across the country. But that meant she was a free woman who was now a legal adult looking for fun.

"Damn, girl. This dress is sexy," his voice comes from behind me, and I feel his fingers graze my exposed skin. "Gotta boyfriend?"

Leaning back into his touch, my ass meets his front. "Nope. No boyfriend."

He growls before leaning his head closer to my ear. "What the hell, Wildflower?"

Spinning in his grip, I find dark, broody eyes staring down on me. It'd be intimidating on anyone else, especially since he towers over me by a few inches even in my heels. But I know Cody would never do anything to hurt me.

I quirk my brow at him. We've never had the "talk," but it's pretty clear as day that both of us are together in a very much exclusive manner. I just love to find ways to get under his skin.

In one swift motion, his hand flies to my neck where he grips it tightly, tilting my chin up to meet his steely gaze. His grip is tight enough to make me gasp as wetness pools in my barely there panties. A soft moan escapes from between my lips.

"You're fucking mine, Wildflower." The words leave his mouth in a growl as his lips find mine. His tongue dips inside, and the kiss quickly turns heated as his fingers, still wrapped around my neck, tighten. I didn't take myself to be someone who liked to be choked, but damn, I can get behind this.

The way he's dominating my mouth with his tongue has me wanting to drop to my knees and worship him. Right here. In front of the whole damn party. Being with Cody brings out a side of me that I didn't know I was hiding. She's dark and sexy. A devil dressed like an angel.

My body is turning into a puddle, and my knees are about to give out on me just as Cody's opposite hand grips me tighter, and he pulls my body closer to him. I can feel his hard length pressing into my stomach, and I wish it was pumping inside of me. We still haven't even had sex yet, but I can't stop thinking about the two of us together. Him tossing me around the bedroom as I'm wet and needy.

"Get a room!" Leah shouts from behind us, and I feel a devilish smile spread across Cody's face.

He pulls back and brushes his thumb against my swollen lips. "You look beautiful tonight, Wildflower."

Heat floods my cheeks as I bite my lower lip. I run my hand down his Henley-clad chest. "You clean up pretty well. You had a great game today, Cody. I'm proud of you."

I watch his eyes fill with heat, and before I know it, I'm grabbing his hand and pushing our way through the masses. I hear Leah's booming laugh as she yells, "I didn't mean right now!"

Making our way into the kitchen and toward the back hallway where the half bath is located, we pass Brynn and Quinton where they are gathered with some of the guys from the football team. Brynn is sitting on the counter, a bottle of tequila in her hand as she pours the silver liquid into shot glasses.

"Keep an eye on her," Cody calls over his shoulder as I move us through the kitchen. I'm not sure who he's pointing the command to, but Brynn and Quinton both know who he's talking about. Catcalls follow us as we move past the line of people waiting for the bathroom.

The timing couldn't be better as a girl is exiting the bathroom as we come to the doorway. I push Cody inside before anyone else has a chance to yell at us for cutting the line. Too bad for them, this is Cody's house, and he does what he wants…therefore I do what I want.

"Damn, what's gotten into you?" Cody's puzzled expression eyes me with confusion. Instead of answering him, I reach up to the halter neckline. Fingering the buttons, I finally unclasp them and let the pink silky material fall to my feet.

Cody follows the motion as I watch his eyes widen and desire darkens his hazel eyes into a deep brown. "Fuuuck," he rasps out as I lower myself to my knees.

Nibbling on my lower lip, I take a second before looking up at him. His chest heaves as he takes all of me in from my ivory skin, to my hand-full-sized breasts, to my pebbled nipples, and down to where my hands are resting between my damp thighs.

"I-I've never done this. I, um, I might not be good at it, but I want to do this for you. I want to know what it's like. Teach me?" My cheeks are warm from the admission, but it's true. Since the night in my room where he ate me out, I've been desperate to return the favor and feel him on my tongue.

"You've got this, Wildflower." Cody encourages, swiping a loose hair that's fallen out of my high ponytail.

Reaching up, I undo the buckle of his leather belt. The rattling of the metal fills the space along with the heavy bass from the party going on outside our doors. I make quick work unbuttoning his jeans and sliding the zipper down exposing his large—very large—bulge hidden behind the pair of black boxer briefs. I slip my fingers behind the band and hear him let out a small hiss as my fingers brush the skin of his lower stomach. Sliding the material down, his cock springs free, and I inhale a startled breath at the size of him.

How the hell am I supposed to fit all of that in my mouth?

He chuckles at my wide-eyed expression as he sweeps the back of his fingers down my cheek. "You can take it, baby."

Dear god those words do things to me. Skating my hands up his thighs, I reach for him as the weight settles in my hand. I pump once, twice, before leaning forward and licking the bead of precum from the tip of his dick. The saltiness hits my tongue as an involuntary hum leaves my lips.

My tongue continues its perusal as I lick him from root to tip, twirling my tongue around his crown, before repeating the process. I know what I need to do. I'm not completely clueless. I read a lot of romance books where giving head is constantly brought up. I know there's licking involved. And sucking.

Thank God I read books because I don't want to be the girl down on her knees literally blowing on a cock that's in my face.

"Fuck, Chlo, you're killing me."

With one last swipe around his tip, I slide his cock inside my mouth, my lips meeting my hand that's fisted around him—well, as much as I can. He's so long and thick, I can't get my fingers to touch. Suctioning my lips around him, I begin moving my head up and down at the same pace I move my fist. Slow motions at first, but those motions quickly turn faster as I pull him farther into my mouth. He groans in appreciation as he wraps my ponytail around his fist.

"You're doing such a great job, babe."

I moan around his dick at the praise as my wetness continues to coat the inside of my thighs. As much as I want to take the time and truly explore this Adonis in front of me, time is not our friend as the pounding on the bathroom door begins.

Sucking him further in my mouth, he hits the back of my throat, and I fight the small gag that wants to escape. The hand which is wrapped around my hair begins to pump my head faster. Reaching up, I pull on his balls, and he lets out an appreciative moan.

"I'm going to come." He groans the words, which only encourages me more.

Sliding my tongue up his shaft, I lick around his crown before sucking him harder. I feel him tense before his pumps turn shaky. His hot, salty seed hits the back of my throat, and I take all of him.

Swallowing, he slides out of my mouth with a pop as I lean back on my knees, swiping the side of my lips.

His heavy pants fill the room. "You've never done that before?" he questions as I shake my head.

"No, but I read a lot of romance books."

He chuckles. "I'm never giving you shit again for having your nose in a book."

I smile up at him as the pounding intensifies.

"We better go." I stand to my feet, reaching down to pull my dress up while Cody tucks himself back in his jeans. Leaning over me, he brings his thumb and finger to my chin, tilting my head toward him. His lips find mine, and I smile around the kiss.

"I cannot wait to get you out of this dress, again."

Cody reaches for the handle to unlock the door, he doesn't have a chance to open it before I drop a bomb on his mood. "Except your sister is staying with you, so no action tonight."

His head hits the back of the door, and he lets out a frustrated groan. I can't help the laugh that escapes. He opens the door, and we are met with angry stares. Cody smirks at them as he takes my hand in his, leading us to the kitchen.

We step in the kitchen and find the guys, Brynn, and Leah gathered around the kitchen island. Cheers and claps erupt as we enter.

"Damn, dude!" Hudson shouts as he continues clapping. My face feels like it's on fire. Cody isn't bothered at all, and why would he be? He's used to being in the spotlight, and he's definitely not shy with his previous conquests.

"I could've gone without knowing what you two were doing in the bathroom," Leah says from where she's sipping from a red plastic cup.

Cody slides his arm around my shoulders and pulls me in closer to him. "Oh, I just needed Chloe's help with—um—"

"Getting off?" Brynn mumbles, and the guys crack up.

"Ew," Leah says, reaching for the tequila. "Shots?"

"Yes!" I shout, thankful for the topic change. Cody stares his sister down, and she quirks her eyebrow.

Grabbing a glass from Leah, I hold it in the air. "Happy birthday, Leah!"

Sounds of ‘happy birthday' echo in our space as we all down our drinks.