Chapter 9 – Part 2

Sunday 24thAugust 2014

The last few days have been a blur. I don't think I have ever had so much fun in my life. Swimming each morning turned into fishing and sunbathing. Tonight was the last night, and from the way everyone was behaving, we would never be able to have fun again.

"Serenity, dinners almost ready, have you packed yet?" Mai pokes her head through the door to interrogate me.

"Yeah I'm just trying to find my anklet, I think I dropped it under the bed…" I'm on my hands and knees trying to peer into the space under the bed, but I can't see the stupid thing anywhere.

"I'll help you find it after, come on! We're playing games once dinner's finished!" She hurries off again and I'm left to clamber to my feet and take off after her.

Everyone is spaced out around the sitting area of the main cabin, some already munching on the food Luca's cooking on the stove top. I smell steak and sausages, along with fish and a mixture of roasted vegetables.

There's a small fridge kept here for any food we brought with us, but we aren't meant to leave anything behind in case it attracts bears, so tonight is a feast of the so-far-uneaten food.

I'm handed a chipped plate and told to grab whatever I want from the piles of already-cooked food. I help myself, making sure to get plenty of roasted sweet potato, one of my favorites.

Plopping down on the couch next to Cloud, I fling my legs across his lap and poke my tongue at him when he raises an eyebrow at me. He shakes his head in mock disapproval. "Mace, can you get me some food now that I can't get up?"

Mason frowns at him then raises his eyebrows when he sees the dilemma. "It's a sad day when a man can't get his own food," he says, voice mournful.

"Maybe if you were actually a man," Reina mutters, and everyone who heard her cracks up laughing, leaving Mason standing there clueless.

Cloud has to remind him of his request before a plate of fish and vegetables is handed to him. He rests his plate on my legs, and I can't help the shivers each time his arms rest on me. This familiarity with him is strange, but over the last couple days our connection has really grown and I consider him to be a good friend.

Unfortunately for my poor heart, my attraction to Luca has also been growing. Every time I see him he's shirtless and only in shorts, making my heart do weird things. He also seems to like making little flirtatious comments when no one else is listening, that only left me feeling confused over what he could possibly be thinking.

Yes, I want him. So, so badly, but I am not planning on doing anything about it.

"So who is up for a game of Never Have I Ever?" Victorie asks half an hour later as everyone is sitting around, stuffed full of food.

"Seriously, Vic?" Kailya scoffs. "Is that the best you can think of?"

Victorie shrugs her off. "It's not that bad. Plus, there's a couple bottles of whisky I brought, and Mason scored some Vodka; this could get interesting!"

Everyone perks up at the mention of alcohol. "How have you been holding out on us this whole time?" Avery demands, glaring at Mason. Mason just shrugs and grins at him, obviously pleased with himself.

"We were saving it for tonight, so we can have some fun," Victorie butts in, clearly not liking the attention off her.

Unease blooms in my stomach. I have never drank before (aside from that one spiked drink at the forest party last week), and they're talking about a game I know is notorious for spilling deep dark secrets. Not that I have any, but it doesn't stop me from feeling nervous.

As Victorie pulls out the illicit beverages and serves them up to everyone – I have no idea what she passes me – I settle into my seat further, knowing this is going to be a long night.

"So who's first?" Victorie asks as she sits on the rug in front of Mason's legs.

"It was your idea, you can start," Jesse informs her.

She's more than happy about that and doesn't hesitate in starting. "Okay, let me think… never have I ever… "

"This may take a while," Cloud whispers to me and I have to cover my mouth to muffle my laughter.

"Never have I ever fallen off a cliff." At first I think it's a weird thing to say, but then she smiles evilly and stares at Kailya. I'm surprised when the red-head takes a sip from her cup. Fallen off a cliff? What the hell? She doesn't look like someone who's ever fallen off anything, let alone a cliff.

"We'll go clockwise from Vic," Luca commands from his relaxed position taking up a whole couch.

And so it goes.

Next is Mason, behind Victorie. "Uh.. Never have I ever had someone slap me across the face." He seems happy with himself for this, thinking that surely this would have happened to a few people.

I'm just thinking that it was the silliest thing ever, when Avery and Jesse both scowl and take a drink. What made it really funny was the twin grins Mai and Kailya were wearing.

I can understand Mai slapping Jesse because they're cousins and he's obviously a bit of a dick sometimes, but Kailya slapping Avery? There's one story I'm not sure if I want to hear about. Especially with the sulky expression he has on his face.

Next is Jesse's turn, and it's obvious he already knew what he was going to say. "Never have I ever set someone's hair on fire," he says immediately, grinning at Mai next to him and it's her turn to glare at him and take a drink.

I have a feeling this is about to get hostile.

Now it was Mai's turn, and she sure took her time thinking through what she was going to say. "Never have I ever taken something out of the trash and eaten it." She watches with pleasure as Jesse once again groans and takes a drink.

I'm glad that no one knew embarrassing things about me, but now it's my turn and I'm really feeling the pressure. I don't want to say something seriously lame, but at the same time I have no idea what's classed as lame in this odd group.

"Uhmm.. Never have I ever… broken something at a friend's house and not told them." There, that isn't boring and could possibly be interesting. I'm not disappointed. Everyone except for Jesse drank.

"Okay, how have you never broken something of someone else's when you just about make it a full-time career to be as immature as possible?" Reina demands of Jesse.

He shrugs innocently. "Oh I've broken other people's stuff, I'm just honest about it," he replies. This makes everyone laugh and shake their heads.

Having gotten past my turn without anything embarrassing or bad happening, I settle back and wait for Cloud's turn.

It takes him a few moments of careful thinking, and I see quite a few eye rolls at the seemingly deliberate time lapse. "Never have I ever… injured myself trying to impress someone."

Shit, have I ever done that before? I try scanning my memories to try and work out if I have or not and by the time I work out that no, I haven't, it's Avery's turn and I hadn't even noticed who drank to Cloud's statement.

"Never have I ever broken a bone," he says. That's an easy one, I could have said that! I think to myself, and am secretly glad I had never been an adventurous child. Luca, Jesse, Reina and Mai all take a drink.

Reina was up next. "Never have I ever been handcuffed." It's weird that she specifically says handcuffed instead of arrested, but when I see Victorie and Mason both smile sheepishly and take a drink, it makes sense. Now that is definitely not a mental image I wanted in my head.

Kailya's turn, and she seems as though she doesn't really want to say her piece, but forces it out anyway. "Never have I ever been hunting," she says, wincing as she says it.

Literally everyone looks at her first, unsurprised, then stares directly at me.

At first I'm confused, then it dawns on me that I've never been hunting either. And now I'm having to take my first drink with the whole nine pairs of expectant eyes on me.

Surely it isn't going to be that bad, right? Just do it for God's sake! I command myself, a sad excuse as it is for a pep talk. Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, I take a sip.

It takes a second for the burning to erupt on the back of my throat as it goes down, but as it does I force my face to stay calm, and not start coughing or pull a sour expression like I'd seen some of the others do.

When it's down and I'd stayed neutral, I get a lot of impressed nods and surprised faces staring at me.

"I totally thought you would spit it back out," Victorie grumbles, impressed but displeased that she'd underestimated me.

"Not many girls who can take such a delicate sip without choking," Mason says, nodding approvingly. Victorie flicks his leg.

"Living up to your nickname, huh?" Luca asks, smirking at me. It takes me a minute to remember what he's even talking about but when I do I scowl at him.

Clearly everyone is over the game after that, because they start up conversations between each other, leaving me alone to my muddled thoughts.

The whisky is creating a pool of warmth in my stomach, but it's nothing like how Luca makes me feel when he looks at me like we were the only two people in the room. I don't think he does it intentionally, but damn the feelings it flares to life.

Everything's spinning. Wait, no. That's not the right way to describe it. It's more like whenever I turn my head, it takes a few seconds for my brain to catch up.

For my first time really drinking, I seem to be doing pretty well. I noticed that a few of the others stopped drinking a while ago, but I don't ponder that too much.

The music from the guys' cabin is loud enough to resonate through my bones, and I can't help but lose myself in the beat. The air is warm, my toes digging into the sand, my mind blissfully empty of thoughts and I feel hidden by the relative darkness.

We had all migrated to the sandy area outside the cabins, where there are wooden benches and plastic folding chairs set up around a huge fire pit. Those who aren't dancing are sitting around either talking or relaxing, and I'm quite happy swaying to the beat in my own little bubble.

I'm not sure how long I was dancing for when I feel someone beside me and look up to find Luca staring down at me, bemused.

I don't know what exactly he found so funny, but when he takes my hand and pulls me towards the dark main cabin, I figure I'm about to find out.

The fans in the main room are on, and the cool air they provide is relief on my warm skin. The lights had been turned off when we went outside to stop insects from being attracted to the light and we don't bother turning them on now. Luca's hand, warm and firm in mine, pulls out of my grasp so he can search through his pockets for something.

We can still hear the music and the others laughing as they have fun. I wrap my arms around myself, suddenly wishing I had a sweater.

"Why'd you bring me in here for?" The unfiltered words are out of my mouth before I even consider saying them.

He seems to find what he was looking for: a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He stands by the open window and lights one, the lighter flame throwing his face into sharp relief in the darkness.

The longer I spend alone with him, the more my attraction for him grows and I don't think I can tolerate torturing myself for much longer.

When he doesn't answer – arrogant jerk – I try again, "So you pulled me in here so you could have a smoke? I'm sure that's a fire hazard." I roll my eyes.

Luca looks at me, eyebrow raised, and in the dark I couldn't possibly hope to understand the look in his eyes. But then he smirks, that slow, sensual grin that promises hell.

"Kailya hates it when I smoke, starts squawking on about lung cancer, and I thought you could use a break from all that dancing," he says, taking a puff and blowing the smoke out the open window.

"I thought I was doing quite fine thank you," I tell him as snootily as possibly. Then, feeling bolder than I ever had in my whole life, I reach over and pull the cigarette out of his fingers. Watching happily as he stares at me in confusion, I raise it to my own lips and inhale.

Congratulating myself when his expression turns shocked, and I don't succumb to a coughing fit, I blow the smoke up towards his face.

It all happens so quickly. One moment I'm defiantly staring up at him, and the next he has me pinned against the wood-paneled wall.

I gasp, almost dropping the cigarette in surprise. He plucks it from my fingers and roughly puts it out on the stone windowsill.

Then he's kissing me and I'm set aflame.

Cradling my neck with one hand, and the other one on my waist pulling me firmly against him, I'm lost. Every single nerve in my body is electrified by his kiss, which is turning more demanding with each passing second.

I'm putty in his arms, and I'm loving every single delicious moment of it.

Finally he pulls away, both of us breathing heavily. I'm well and truly sobered up, only to be dazzled by his smoldering gaze. Eyes burning a brilliant green, Luca rests his forehead against the wall next to my head, one of his arms still around me and the other against the wall to hold himself up.

I'm floating in an astonished haze. My first kiss, and it was with Luca fucking Hale. I couldn't have done better, but I can't help but wonder how far I'd let this go.

"Well that was…" I trail off, suddenly not wanting to speak my mind, in case he hadn't thought it was all that great. That would be mortifying.

"Fucking incredible," he finishes for me. I look up at him, biting my lip, eyes wide. "You continue to surprise me, Princess."

I flush with pleasure, both at the compliment and the pet name.

"I love it when you bite your lip like that," he growls, and I gasp. He captures my lips with his again, making my belly clench deliciously with the feelings his kisses stir inside me. I'm carried away with the intensity.

In one swift movement, Luca has both hands under my ass and is lifting me up, level with his waist. I obligingly wrap my legs as far around as I can as he pushes me back against the wall.

Arms wrapped around his neck, I run my nails along his shoulders and back, occasionally digging them in so as to make him press his erection further into me.

It's so incredibly arousing, especially when he begins trailing nips and kisses along my jaw and down the side of my neck.

Head tilted back, and without entirely meaning to, I circle my hips against him, making him growl and move kisses back to my mouth.

My back arched so my breasts are pressed against his chest, I suddenly freeze as I hear Mai calling out my name.

She walks in a minute later to find Luca re-lighting his cigarette, leaning against the window frame while I lay on the couch, innocently staring up at the ceiling fan. I turn my head to look at her.

"Hey Mai," I say, smiling brightly.

She looks back and forth between us suspiciously, and I am supremely grateful for the darkness.

She narrows her eyes at me slightly. "I couldn't find you, so I came looking." She turns to glare at Luca.

He continues to ignore her.

"I needed to chill out for a few minutes and Luca accompanied me to make sure I didn't wander into the lake." I try to laugh it off, but I'm not sure she's entirely convinced.

She seems to grudgingly accept my lame excuse. "Well I came to find you because I was heading to bed and figured you'd be exhausted by now." The look on her face says she wasn't sure about that anymore.

I wasn't about to support any of the theories – however true – that are no doubt running rampant in her mind. "That sounds great, my head is pounding." Is that a smirk I can see on Luca's face? Hard to tell in this light.

"Okay, seeya Luca," Mai says, not expecting a reply as she turns to leave. She's obviously expecting me to catch up with her, because she doesn't stick around outside.

I glance at Luca when we're alone again. He's already watching me, an appreciative look in his eyes and a one-sided smirk on his mouth.

I knew it.

"See you tomorrow, Princess," he says with a wink.

I get out of there as fast as possible before I do or say something I regret.