Reaching for Rebecca

Chapter 32

RYAN'S POV

At the end of the game, I finally allowed myself to be distracted by the beautiful girl in the matching jersey who was gripping onto the fence with excitement. Her long black hair was blowing gently around her face and her bright blue eyes were shining.

Coach made us all meet up right away in the locker room to discuss the game and get showered up. After about an hour of that crap it was quarter to ten and I checked my phone to see a message from the one and only.

___
|Ryan Bradley > Becs - 9:52pm|
Received: Kate's bringing me to the party so I'll see you there!!
Sent: I'm leaving school now. Did you get there already?
Received: No I think we're leaving soon though.
Sent: Okay. I might beat you there so stay by Kate until I find you. Text me when you're at the party :)
___

Wearing simple jeans and a dark green V-neck, I shook my wet hair around before jogging to the truck with Mason. The party was at Wesley's house: he was a hockey player who threw the best parties. Wes only lived a few minutes from school so we were there in no time.

"I'll grab you a beer," Mason mentioned before disappearing in the crowd of people.

Music was thumping, lights were flashing, people were already grinding up on each other or spilling their drinks and it was barely after ten. I saw Melissa and Isabelle in the midst of the dancers all over each other. They always danced up on each other to turn some poor suckers on just so they could turn them away. Quickly attempting to leave the living room, I sprinted into the kitchen in hopes that neither of the girls saw me.

"Here." Mason shoved a red solo cup in my hand which would most likely be my only drink tonight. I had to drive home and didn't need anything to go wrong.

"When are the girls getting here?" he asked and downed half his drink. I shrugged and checked my phone, still nothing.

"Hey, did you tell Kate to ask Becca over?" I was genuinely curious.

"No, I think she's getting sick of Mel and Izzy," he chuckled and added, "which is fucking alright with me." I laughed and my phone buzzed in my pocket.

___
|Ryan Bradley > Becs - 10:14pm|
Received: Here
Sent: We're in the kitchen. Kate knows where it is.
___

"They're here," I practically announced, excited as a kid in a candy shop. Mason shot me a strange look but his face soon turned to a sly smirk. Whipping around, my breath caught in my lungs.

"Holy shit Becs."

She was wearing a skintight black dress that hugged her small body and brought out her minimal curves. Her hair was still curled but it looked messy, like she just got out of bed, and not from sleeping. The only thing different about her makeup was the dark red lipstick that was currently lifted in a shy smile directed towards me.

I was snapped out of my trance when Kate walked past and pushed my shoulder on her way to Mason. I took that as a cue to saunter towards Becca.

"You look amazing," I said quietly before kissing her cheek. I just couldn't help myself. Grabbing her hand, I led her to the makeshift bar. "What do you want?"

"I'll just have water or something," she mentioned shyly while looking at the ground.

"I'm driving tonight you know. You don't have too, but I won't let anything happen to you if you wanted to let loose."

"Becca!!! You promised!" Kate ran over squealing.

"What did you promise?" I asked, quite amused at the situation appearing before me. Kate took up the responsibility of answering my question.

"She promised to do shots with me!" The rambunctious blonde turned towards my mellow girl and continued her speech. "Becca, we discussed this! That's the whole reason we took a cab here."

"Wait you took a cab?" Mason finally caught on to the conversation. "Guess you're bringing us home too pal!" he stated and grabbed another beer.

"Well Becs?" I wiggled my eyebrows and grabbed the nearest bottle of tequila.

"Okay."

"DID YOU SAY OKAY!? OH MY GOODNESS! YESSS!!!" Kate had a minor freak out while sprinting around the kitchen to grab a lime and some salt, helping herself through all of Wesley's cabinets until she found what she needed.

"First there's some ground rules because I know how you get when you're drunk Kate."

"Yes fun sucker go ahead," she rudely tapped her foot.

"Number one, make sure you both stay close to me or Mason. Number two, don't drink anything that isn't give to you by either me or Mason. Uh, that's it. Okay?" I turned to Becca who nodded profusely and appeared extremely nervous.

I poured the shots and Kate held her wrist to Mason's mouth so he could like a spot to put the salt. Becca must have missed the action since her eyes widened when I took her hand and planted a sloppy kiss to the inside of her wrist and poured salt over it. I looked over to Mason and he nodded at our silent agreement. Usually the girl takes the lime out of the guy's mouth but given Becca's reaction to me kissing her wrist, that wouldn't be such a great idea.

"Ready?!" Kate was pumped up and lifted the tequila shot up to wait for Becca.

"Okay Becs, do it quickly and it tastes better alright? Salt, shot, lime," I told her the order and she nodded while picking up her own.

"THREE, TWO, ONE, GO!" Mason yelled, now grabbing his third beer.

The girls did their shots in the correct order with Kate seeming somewhat disappointed that Mason simply held the lime in his hand but made up for it by making out for about five straight minutes afterwards.

"That burned!" Becca exclaimed from next to me.

"Never had alcohol, right?" I asked even though I already knew the answer. "Maybe you should take it easy alright? I can get you something less potent."

She nodded her pretty head so I grabbed a wine cooler for her to sip on while we waited for Kate and Mason to quit sucking face. Eventually they did and Kate convinced Becca to do two more shots before dragging all of us to the makeshift dance floor in Wesley's living room.

The girls danced together for a little bit since Mason complained he wasn't drunk enough for that yet. I was fine with staying back until I noticed how many eyes were planted on my girl.

"Uh oh," Mason said with a chuckle.

Just seconds before I could forcefully avert their attention, the drop-dead gorgeous Ms. Hanson started walking towards me with Kate close behind.

"Kate told me you changed the rules of shots!" she slurred adorably.

"We can do that if you want." I added a smirk and Becca immediately agreed while tugging my arm towards the kitchen but Mason pulled us back.

"We'll go get the stuff. You girls can stay and dance," he announced loud enough for them to hear over the music.

~~~

With the salt on my own wrist and a lime wedge in my mouth, I held up my fingers for a countdown.

Three, two, one, go!

Becca's soft tongue swept across my wrist for just a second causing my body to rack with goose bumps. She quickly tossed back her fourth tequila shot and sexily raised a brow before reaching up to wind her hands around my neck. Roughly pulling me down, her red lips faintly rubbed against mine before sucking all the juice from the lime I held between my teeth. She backed away with a smirk and dragged me towards the dance floor.

"Take this," I mumbled while shoving the used lime into Mason's hand. Both he and Kate wiggled their eyebrows at me and made suggestive noises but I ignored it.

Once we were in the middle of the gyrating crowd, Becca molded the back of her body against the front of my own. Unsure where to put my hands, I stood there awkwardly until she grabbed them and set them against her hips while she shook her ass against me.

"Becs..." I warned, almost growling in her ear.

She continued her dance until I whipped her around to face me. This time when her hands wound around my neck, she played with my hair at the nape and pulled my head down to crush her lips against mine. I know we had kissed before but I don't remember it feeling quite this amazing.

Becca held my neck tightly, wanting to get closer, but the height difference between us meant she was on her tiptoes and I was hunched over. Her tongue slid across my bottom lip which resulted in a gasp from me and she took the opportunity to move it inside my mouth. I know I let out a moan, even though you couldn't hear it through the music, and wrapped my arms around Becca's lower back, arching and pulling her body flush to mine. We got lost in each other, our tongues dancing together until I felt a hand on my shoulder.

Turning my head, trying to ignore Becca's whimpers, I see Landon.

"Thought you couldn't make it man!" My voice sounded lust-filled from my quick make-out session with the pretty thing now clinging to my side.

He raised his brow in suspicion while looking between Becca and me.

"I'm not staying long. I tried to text you but you didn't answer," he looked at me knowingly, "I can see why."

"Shut up," I rolled my eyes at him but felt Becca hide her face in my chest out of embarrassment.

"I'll stick around to help you round up Mason and Kate if you want. I was thinking about staying at yours tonight if that's okay." Landon had a 'unique' family life so sometimes to get away he bunked at my house for a few days. Usually he stayed in the spare bedroom but that was technically Becca's now so we'll have to arrange something when we get home.

Nodding in agreement, I gently tilt Becca's chin up.

"Hey, stay by me okay? We're going to go get Kate and Mason so we can head out."

She smiled sweetly and I felt her hands clutch the back of my shirt when I turned to follow Landon. We found Mason quickly; he was sloppily playing beer pong and said Kate went with Mel and Izzy. Scouring almost every room in Wesley's house, we finally found Kate dancing in the basement with a bunch of her cheerleading squad. Mason snatched her up and threw her over his shoulder with a smack on her ass.

"Maaaasonnnn I was having funnnnnn," she whined while patting his butt since it was right in her view.

I felt Becca grip my shirt a little tighter in the midst of the cheerleaders and saw Melissa pointedly glaring at her.

"Come here baby," I said making sure it was loud enough for everyone near to hear. I reached behind me and grabbed Becca's wrists to bring her around to my front. She looked nervous so I pushed some wild hair out of her face and leaned down for an innocent twenty second make out session. I then made sure we held hands the entire way to the truck in hopes that she wouldn't feel insecure.

"I'll meet you at your place," Landon shouted before disappearing towards his bike.

Lifting Becca into the truck, I sat her in the middle and buckled her in while Mason sat with Kate on his lap in the passenger spot. My pick up only had a bench seat meant for three people but I guess this was better than someone driving home drunk.

"Just drop us off at Kate's," Mason mumbled. She was already passed out in his arms and Becca didn't seem too far away from doing the same. Her head swayed in Mason's direction before it landed on his arm. I must have made a face because my friend smirked. "Oh relax Bradley," he stated, using my last name, a habit picked up from many years playing football together. "Has she heard from her step-dad since yesterday?"

"No. Thanks for keeping an eye out though; especially with Landon gone."

"No problem. Hey I was thinking..." he started.

"Thinking what?" I turned a corner rather sharply and Becca's body now leaned toward me.

"Nice. Anyways, how old is she?"

"Seventeen. Why?"

"When does she turn eighteen?" he asked and I finally saw where this was going.

"November first. Twenty-eight days." Mason chuckled under his breath.

"I see you've already got a countdown going."

"Well why wouldn't I? After that we won't have to worry about her fucking asshole of a step-dad trying to take her back." My voice was seething. It was amazing how just thinking of the fucker could get me all worked up.

He reached over and squeezed my shoulder in effort to calm me down.

"I'll keep an eye out at school too but let me know if anything else comes up."

Pulling into Kate's drive, he hopped out and shut the door with his foot, jolting Becca awake. I saw his 'oops' face through the window and he quickly walked to the house with his girl in his arms.

"I'm so tired," I heard the small voice next to me slur before laying her head on my lap to spread her legs across the passenger seat. My hand immediately went towards her hair so my fingers could brush through the soft locks and Becca soon fell asleep even though we were only about five minutes from home.