All The Wild Ones | Wildfire Series

Wide Open

GRAYSON

Nessa ignored the rest of my texts over winter break, making me want to punch something.

Myself mostly.

The only exception was when I asked if she needed a ride back to the bay area at the beginning of January. As it turned out, she was already on campus by the time I messaged her.

That one hit me in the chest. I thought just maybe she'd still let me drive her back to Oakland. Somehow on that hour and a half drive, I could up convince her that I hadn't been doing all of this for sex. Hell, if all I wanted was sex, I could get it from any of the chicks who lurked around Julian's house night and day, hoping to get it on with the football guys who lived there.

I wanted a whole lot more than sex. And I wanted it with Nessa.

The reason she went back to campus early, though, was to be there when her roommate showed up. Madie was returning for the semester, and Nessa wanted to be around for her. That made me relax a bit. She hadn't purposely dodged me.

Although Nessa should have known that I would have gone back to Oakland whenever, as long as it meant I could give her a ride. I wished she would have let me know. But in the same breath, I couldn't blame her for not bothering. Because even I hated myself a little bit.

She was just so fucking determined to find something wrong with me, and it'd pissed me off. It still pissed me off.  But even so, I regretted some of the sharp things I said. I regretted fucking up my chances by not doing more to reassure her of what I wanted.

Her. All of her.

Our make-out session had been hot enough that memories of it kept me up at night, hard and uncomfortable. But kissing her honestly hadn't even crossed my mind when I'd made my way to her house. And sex definitely hadn't been on the brain. Not until she started grinding on my lap, anyway.

And there was no way in hell she hadn't been thinking about it, too. I felt it in the way that she kissed me. In the way that she groaned into my lips and thrust her hips against mine.

Like goddamn, Adler. Don't lie to yourself.

It was probably just as well that Nessa didn't need a ride back to campus. My mom unknowingly scheduled me an appointment with Dr. Martinez for the Monday morning that spring semester classes started. Which I thought was bullshit, and I didn't hold back from telling her. She shouldn't even be able to do that, but things like that tended to slip by when the whole team at the Cedarwood clinic have known me since birth.

I didn't need to go. The slight ache in my chest was just a result of the cold and stress, and I regretted even mentioning it to my mom. But I went, and sure enough, everything was normal. Or as normal as it ever was anyway. And it left me racing to get to my first lecture on time.

Brodie was in it with me, which was good. He'd saved me a seat by some of the other guys from the team. But it wasn't until I settled in beside him, pulling my laptop out, that I realized who was sitting directly in front of me. Her head was huddled together with a blonde-haired chick, and they were whispering about something.

Nessa. And I could only assume the other girl was Madie.

Shit, I could smell her. That might be fucking creepy, but I had gone home that night with her sweet-smelling perfume all over me. And now it was wafting in my direction, sending me reeling. My mind was instantly flooded with memories of Nessa in my lap, kissing me like she was as desperate for me as I was for her.

I shifted awkwardly in my seat as I watched her and Madie together, waiting for one of them to turn around. They didn't.

Unsurprisingly, I didn't listen to a single word the Western Civ professor had to say. And apparently, Nessa didn't either. I heard her lean over to Madie and groan the same thing. Only her reason was that the hot nerd thing the professor had going really did it for her. It was a distraction, apparently. After all, the nerdy ones were just her type.