Untouched (Bay Falls High, #1)(36)

I bit my lip and sucked in a deep breath.

The smell was so overpowering that my eyes popped open.

I had the sudden jerk like feeling that I was falling and my hands jumped forward, grabbing the steering wheel as I let out a whimpering groan.

“Think you need one of these, love.”

I turned and put my back against the door and saw Barr sitting next to me in the passenger seat of the SUV. Smoking. Holding the cigarette toward me.

“We need to put down a window,” Kip said. “I think someone just had a wet dream.”

Kip was in the backseat with a foot up against my seat, arms spread across the backseat, looking so cool and calm and casual and deceiving.

And then there was Pres.

Almost blended into the darkness of the SUV.

His eyes were able to somehow shine yet burn even though they matched the darkness.

So the smell from the dream was the smell in real life.

They were back.

And I was stupid enough to not lock the SUV.

Talk about letting everything go wrong.

“Cat got your tongue, girl?” Kip asked.

“Speaking of cats…,” Barr said with a grin.

“Think you lost something, sugar,” Pres said.

He leaned forward and put his hand to the middle console. When he moved his hand away there was my phone.

I looked down at the phone, then to him.

“What did you do to it?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he said.

“I don’t believe you. Any of you.”

“Trust is earned, love,” Barr said. “We’ll get there.”

“How do I know you didn’t put some tracker on it?” I asked. “Or downloaded something that lets you see my screen?”

“Do they have that shit?” Kip asked. He almost jumped to the front seat. “Imagine getting that and seeing all those naughty selfies before they’re taken…”

“That’s disgusting,” I said.

“If you don’t believe us, then get rid of the phone,” Pres said. “Run it over and tell Claire you need a new one.”

“Just like your other phone,” Barr said. “Remember when it went for a swim?”

He grinned.

He took a drag of the cigarette.

He opened the door, blew the smoke out and then flicked the cigarette away.

“We could go get you some gas, girl,” Kip said. “And not the kind from too many tacos.”

I curled my lip. “Gross.”

“Hey, I’m following your lead here,” Kip said in a low voice. “You wanted to laugh, right? Have fun. Laugh.”

“This isn’t fun,” I said. “You boxed me in and stole the gas out of my car? Then stole my cell? Leaving me stranded here? On a dark road? Alone? At night? You’re fucking psychos.”

“Told you,” Barr said.

“What?” I asked.

“You missed the point.”

“And what’s the fucking point?”

Pres leaned forward again and grabbed my phone. “We told you we wanted you to stay. So you’re staying, right?”

I swallowed hard. “I guess I don’t have a choice. Unless I get some gas.”

“Not tonight,” Barr said. “I’ll give you a ride home. Make sure you’re safe.”

“You can tell Claire you ran out of gas,” Kip said. “That you got nervous she would get pissed at you. I’m sure it’ll take her all of ten seconds to get someone here to take care of it.”

“Is that what this is?” I asked. “You guys don’t like Claire? You know she’s not even family to me, right? She was our landlady when I was a kid. She kicked us out.”

They didn’t respond to that.

They just stared at me in silence.

Three sets of eyes.

And I had no idea what I was supposed to be feeling.

I mean, I knew what I wanted to feel…

“Our numbers are in your phone now, sugar,” Pres said. “That’s why I took it. Just in case you need something.”

I laughed. “Wait. So now you’re my friends? You’re going to be nice to me?”

“Nobody said that, love,” Barr said.

“You’ll figure this all out soon enough, girl,” Kip said. “But guys like Denny? Never going to happen for you. And bitches like Blair? You have to push back.”

“Tell you what,” I said. “Next time she fucks with me I’ll take a screwdriver to her face.”

“Now you’re getting it,” Pres said with a grin.

“Oh she hasn’t gotten it yet,” Barr said.

My cheeks flooded with heat. “What does-”

“You know the cliché saying of kindness and weakness,” Pres said. “Write that in your mind. Everything has its purpose, sugar. Everything.”

Pres made a bold move and leaned toward me.

So fast and so close that I was swept up in his cologne and had no clue what to do. His soft and perfect lips brushed against my cheek.

My toes curled in my socks and shoes as I tried to play it off cool.

He slid out of the SUV.

Then came Kip.

Touching my arm with his fingertips like he had done before. Making my skin tighten and tingle with goosebumps. He put his cheek against mine. I swore he smelled like the ocean. Soft, smooth, comforting, caring, yet knowing there was a split second fuse that would turn him into something deadly.