A Safe Place To Fall (The Fall Book 1) (10 page)

He chuckled at the shiver that ran
through her body.

Before he could act out what he really
desired, the door opened and shut.

“
If we ignore him he’ll
leave,” he mumbled against her neck.

Chris held his hand over his heart.
“That kind of hurts, man.”

“
You’d have to have a heart
first.” Drew moved away from Lana, preparing for what he knew
would follow his remark.

There was a moment of pure man stupidity.
Fake kicking, punching, and grunting.

“
What do you see in this man?”
Chris asked Lana. “Do you see the way he treats his friends?”

Settling back against the couch Drew
busied himself playing with Lana’s hair. “Don’t
you have somewhere to be?”

“
Nope.” Chris flashed a grin
as he flopped down on the chair. One of these days the cushions were
going to give out. “I don’t have a woman warming my
bed.”

Drew felt Lana stiffen against him. He
really wanted to kick his roommate’s ass. She'd been so
relaxed tonight. The dumb-ass just had to go and open his mouth.

“
Ignore him,” he directed to
Lana. Then to Chris, “Shut up, or get out.”

Chris sat back against the chair legs
spread in a relaxed pose. “What are we watching?”

“
We
are watching Halloween,” Lana replied in an annoyed tone.

“
Boring.” Their unwanted
guest sat up quickly. “Let’s go to Lux.”

“
We’re kind of busy here,”
Drew said.

“
Who cares? You can see that movie
anytime you want.” The guy just did not take a hint.

Lana wrinkled her nose up. “I
don’t feel like dealing with crowds.”

“
I’m guess I’m not
going to be able to talk Mr. Lame into it either.” Was he
actually pouting?

There were no words for the man’s
stupidity.

“
Fine, I’m going to call
Tammy,” Chris announced. “She’ll go with me.”

Drew groaned at the mention of his
sister’s name. Chris had been running with his sister for the
last six months. Tammy insisted that they were just friends. He
should be happy that his sister was starting to come out of her shell
again. But did it really have to happen with Chris?

“
Nothing better happen,” Drew
warned.

Chris looked up from texting on his
phone. “Dude, you know it’s not like that. You know,
I’m just trying to help her move on and have a life.”

“
The road to hell is paved with
good intentions,” Drew muttered.

“
Whatever, man.” He pocketed
his cell and headed to the door. “Catch you losers later.”

Lana sighed. “Are we going to have
to deal with him bringing someone home tonight?”

Drew cringed. “We better not!
He’s going out with my sister tonight.”

She giggled. “That doesn’t
mean anything.”

He covered his ears with his hands.
“LALALALA! I can’t hear you.”

A full laugh escaped. “What’s
the big deal?”

“
That’s my sister we’re
talking about.”

“
Doesn’t mean she isn’t
sexually active,” she said.

“
She’s not ready any more
than you are,” he stated.

Her mouth formed a silent ‘oh’.

“
But I don’t want to talk
about that.”

There were a million things that he could
think of to do. Talking about his sister having so much trouble
moving on after some douche bag raped and beat her in a dark alley
was not one of them. It would just cause Lana’s own memories
to take center stage again. Then he would want to track down and
kill two asses tonight.

Lana stretched out across the couch,
resting her head on his lap.

His body immediately reacted to having
her close to the part of him that craved her touch.
Damn.
This is freaking awkward.

Think baseball
.

That proved to be worthless when he
envisioned Lana in the uniform, which fit her like a glove.

“
Do you have other brothers or
sisters?”

Talking family. He could do that. That
would definitely take his mind off of her body. At least for a few
minutes.

“
We have a brother. He’s a
quarterback in high school.”

“
Are you close?”

“
Depends on the day,” he
answered, rubbing circles on her stomach with his thumb. “He’s
got a good chance of getting a full ride with a football scholarship.
If he will pull his head out of his ass long enough to realize how
good he really does have it.”

“
Oh?”

Why was he telling her all of this?

“
He’s giving our parents a
hard time. Half of the time he lies about where he’s at. I
don’t think he’s doing drugs, but what the hell do I
know? It’s not like I can keep tabs on him.”

“
Maybe it’s not as bad as you
think,” Lana suggested.

“
He’s drinking,” Drew
informed her. “I could smell it on him the last time I went
home.”

“
Don’t all guys his age at
least try alcohol?”

It was a valid point. Drew had gone home
drunk more than once his senior year, but he hadn't had so much to
lose. Adam had a future in football to think about. To make it to
the NFL you had to live, drink, eat, and sleep football. If his
brother kept going down the path he was headed down he could kiss his
football career good bye.

“
He needs to get his act together,”
Drew stated.

“
Hey,” she said, sitting up
and turning to put her hand on his shoulder. “Don’t
stress out over something you can’t control. He’s
practically an adult. Obviously he hasn’t messed up too bad
since he’s still on the team. Right?”

“
Well, yeah,” he admitted.

“
Then relax and let things happen
the way they are meant to.”

As her mouth lowered to his, he wondered
if they were still talking about Adam.

Her next words were whispered against
his mouth. “Good or bad.”

The kiss was tentative, sweet. He wanted
more, but for once he refused to listen to his body. The ball was in
Lana’s court. She had complete control. The last thing he
wanted was to run her off.

It was Lana, who moved to straddle his
lap and deepened the kiss. His shirt was pulled over his head by her
hands. All was forgotten when her hips began moving causing her
parts to move against him. He gripped her ass in his hands pulling
her closer.

He was into torture like that.

Too much clothing was in between them.
He wanted to rip her clothes off and feel every inch of her against
him. She was driving him crazy with each movement of her hips.

The pounding at his door was a blessing
and a curse at the same time.

“
Drew!”

Damn. He knew that voice. What the hell
was Adam doing here?

Chapter
9

“
You’ve finally decided to
grace me with your presence?”

Lana tossed her empty water bottle at
Ricky’s head but he ducked before it hit him. “It’s
not like you've been here anymore than I have.”

“
True, true,” he admitted,
tossing her water bottle into the trash by the kitchen counter. “So,
why are you insisting we go to a movie tonight?”

She shrugged her shoulders as she skimmed
through the latest Cosmopolitan magazine. “His brother showed
up last night. He’s upset about his girlfriend moving away.”

“
Oh, so I’m the consolation
prize.” Ricky bit into an apple. “I can live with
that.” His eyes got wide as he swallowed. “So, tell me
about this brother. Is he yummy?”

“
How am I supposed to know?”

“
You do have eyes,” he
reminded her.

Lana rolled her eyes. “I’m
sure there is a law against checking out minors.”

“
Not when you’re not even
nineteen yourself.”

There was just something disturbing about
the thought of checking out the kid brother of the guy, who she had
just been making out with.

“
You’re not his type,”
she pointed out. “Straight. Remember?”

Ricky pouted. “Bummer.”

“
The movie starts at seven,”
Lana said. They needed to get away from the topic of Adam. “So,
we should get going.”

“
Is Tracie meeting us there?”
Ricky asked, once they were in Lana’s car.

Lana pulled out into the flow of traffic.
“We’re on our own tonight. She’s got a date.”

He perked up. “With who?”

“
Some guy that came into the coffee
shop.”

“
Is he yummy?”

Lana glanced quickly at him then quickly
directed her eyes back to the road. “I haven’t seen him.
He came in before I got there.”

Ricky groaned. “I am so out of the
loop anymore.”

When Ricky was not assisting a local
photographer, he was either out taking his own photographs, or out
scouting for someone to hook up with. There were times when all
three of his activities joined forces.

Yet, he wondered why she had decided to
spend most of her free time at Drew’s.

Speaking of Drew. Was he thinking about
her; or, was he having too much fun on his own to even allow her name
to cross his mind?

He had joined forces with Chris to take
Adam out for a night on the town. As if that would help the boy
forget about his broken heart. It was a better idea than letting him
run around on his own. The kid was drunk when he showed up last
night.

Last night.

Lana didn't know if she should be upset,
or happy that he had showed up. She had come really close to losing
control. Drew's touch seemed to turn her into a puddle, but last
night she had been in control. How far they went had been all up to
her. For a moment she was able to let go of the past.

“
What's got you all fifty-shades of
red?” Ricky asked, holding the door of the theater open for
her. “Did Drew go all Grey on your ass?”

Lana groaned at his play on words. He
had probably been holding that line for weeks since he had gotten a
hold of the popular book.

“
No, he didn't.”

“
He can tie me up anytime he
wants.”

She rolled her eyes, but refused to reply
to the remark. Ricky was a total horn-dog.

They bought tickets from the weird guy at
the counter and made their way into the dark room, where the romantic
comedy was about to begin.

During the movie she got a text from
Drew. Adam and Chris had convinced him to play paint ball tag. The
idea of Drew getting shot with a paint ball made her nauseous. She
also found the whole thing ridiculous.

Boys will be boys
.

“
Let’s go get some Sweet
Frog,” Ricky suggested, as they left the movie theater.

All she really wanted to do was go home
and crawl into bed. This was Ricky’s night though. So she
found herself turning the car in the direction of Sweet Frog. The
frozen treat sounded tasty.

“
So, how are things going with
Drew?” Ricky interrogated.

“
Good, I guess,” she said,
turning the car into the parking lot. “We haven’t really
said we’re together or anything.”

They had gotten out of the car and walked
into the building before Ricky continued the conversation. “Are
you telling me you haven’t had the DTR talk?”

What?

“
What the what?”

“
The define-the-relationship talk,”
Ricky informed her, as if she was an idiot.

They got in line behind a woman with
three screaming kids.
Poster
kids for birth control right there
.
“We’re taking things slow. There’s no need to
rush into anything.”

“
You mean you haven’t fu...”
The mother turned a glare on Ricky halting his speech.

“
If you really must know,”
Lana said through gritted teeth, “no, we haven't.”

“
I don’t know a single guy
who will go that long without...” Ricky looked at the mom and
finished with, “having fun.”

His words confirmed her fears. How long
would Drew go without sex? Could she stand to see him with someone
else; or, had she already allowed herself to fall too far?

Before she could ponder too much further,
her cell buzzed with a new message. A smile broke out on her face at
the thought of Drew texting her again while he was out with the guys.

The smile died seconds later.

He’s not good enough. I'll
be there soon.

“
Who
was that, Sugar?” Ricky had a concerned look on his face.