Worth the Risk — Chapter Five

Are you willing to lose it all

It wasn’t as busy out here as when we first arrived. There were still a lot of cars in the parking area, so I assumed everyone was inside enjoying themselves with music and alcohol. None of our vehicles had been trashed or stolen, so far things were going well tonight.

“You dance well. Did you take classes?” The light-headedness returned and leaned my back against the outside wall.

“Nope. Just followed along with your lead.” Marcus stood in front of me blocking any type of cold breeze that would come along. “Are you okay?”

“Just lightheaded. Probably from the whiskey and dancing.”

“You look chilled.” He ran his hand along my bare arm making the goosebumps stand out even more.

“I’m good.” I wasn’t genuinely convincing as I visibly shivered.

“Here, take this.” Marcus took off his dark red t-shirt. He was doubled up as he had a black one underneath.

I let him carefully pull it over my head as I lifted my arms into the sleeves. The shirt was long, three sizes too big, but that didn’t matter, it smelled like him. As much as I wanted to pull it up over my nose and breathe in his deliciousness, that might be too creepy of a thing to do.

“You look like you’re swimming in it.” A sweet smile spread across his face as he gazed at me in his clothing.

“Yeah, well at least I’m warm.” I pulled the shirt tighter around me and wrapped my arms around my waist to hold it in place. “I’ll take it back off before we go back inside.”

“You don’t have to. I have this one, so I’m good.” Marcus picked at the black shirt tight against his well-muscularly formed body.

“I don’t want your girlfriend to get pissed and kick the shit out of me.”

Gabby could flatten me in about two seconds. It wasn’t that she was much bigger than I was, but she looked like she could fight and most likely had been in many.

Marcus seemed confused. He tilted his head and pursed his lips tightly together like he was trying to figure something out. “Who would that be?”

“Um, Gabby.”

He laughed, then stopped. “Why would you think that?”

“Uh, she makes it quite evident.”

“Well, there’s nothing between Gabby and me. We’ve been friends since elementary school and grew up in the same neighborhood.” Marcus put his hands on the wall, boxing me in. “Why do you care?”

His head came closer to mine, and his hot breath tickled my neck. I wanted to pull him closer and attack his lips with my own.

“I never said I did.” I decided to play the not-interested type. “I don’t want the shit kicked out of me by some jealous girlfriend.”

“Guess you have nothing to worry about then.” Marcus’s lips came closer to mine, his eyes questioning if I was going to slap him if he tried to kiss me.

I closed my eyes and moved a centimeter closer, we were almost touching. The pace of my breathing quickened, and my body was on fire. This time I could blame the moment and how he made me feel, instead of the alcohol, for the burning pleasure inside of me.

Marcus finished what I had begun when his lips finally touched mine ever so delicately.

I ran my fingers through his hair and pulled his head closer. Our kiss deepened as our tongues tangled more erotically than how our dance ended moments ago.

Marcus’s hands now gripped me instead of the wall. I knew from the tightness of his fingers as they clutched my ass there were going to be bruised in the shape of his fingertips.

Our bodies crushed together, and his breathing became more labored. His lips moved from my mouth, down to my neck where he began to suckle with intensity.

A small moan that came from me echoed through the stillness of the night.

“Hope we’re not interrupting anything.” Amber’s voice from behind put a halt to any more action between Marcus and me.

He rested his forehead against mine as we both tried to gain control of our breathing. Marcus gave me one more tender kiss before his body left mine.

I peeked over his shoulder and saw Amber and Ricky standing behind us with huge grins on their faces. I shook my head at the immature way they approached us. They saw what was going on, yet still found it necessary to barge right in.

“We were just talking.”

“How the hell can you talk, Chels, when his tongue was rammed down your throat?” Amber started giggling which would be going to go on for a while. She would always find one thing when she was drunk that would put her into hysterics, my comment happened to be that one thing for the night.

“Okay, we better get back in.” I smiled at Marcus and then moved past him. I gripped Amber’s hand and tugged her away from Ricky a bit. “We’re going to the restroom, girl things.”

“I’ll lead the way.” Ricky walked in front of us, while Marcus followed. We were well protected by any guy or girl that would try anything with us.

Ricky led us to the ladies’ room which surprisingly had no waiting line.

It wasn’t like the other bathrooms at our more prestigious clubs, where handmaids would offer cloth towels after using the sinks. This was more…well…not as cleanly would be the right word.

Amber and I both used the stalls and then gathered by the sink afterward.

“So, you and Marcus, eh.” She washed her hands and then tried to straighten her mussed hair that looked as though had gotten messed up by someone running their fingers through it.

“A one-time thing.” I checked on my neck where Marcus had assaulted me with his nips and sucks.

“I think you guys look so cute together. C’mon Chelsey, you and him, me and Ricky, just for senior year then it can be over.”

Even though I was still a wee bit intoxicated, I still had some sense of mind.

“Amber, wow, that’s wrong.” I didn’t think I could play Marcus the way she was doing with Ricky. Nothing ever lasted with Amber, she was too much of a wild child, but this was the first time she outwardly toyed with someone who wasn’t from our main group. “Don’t you like Ricky just a little bit?”

The way she acted around him, I would have to say she liked him a whole hell of a lot.

“I like him more than I liked most other guys I dated. He’s so different. He makes me laugh and want to have fun, everything isn’t about what he’s done, what he’s going to do in life, and what kind of company he’s going to be running before he’s twenty-five.” Amber put her arm around my shoulder. “I know it’s not going to last forever, nothing like this ever would. We’re too different to have it go any further than it is right now.” She fixed up my hair where it must have been messed up from putting Marcus’s shirt on. “In the meantime, we can still have fun.” She clasped my hand, and we exited the restroom.

The guys were waiting for us right where we’d left them. Amber let go of mine and took Ricky’s hand in hers. I walked behind them as we went back over to our table. Marcus didn’t say anything, but he did keep his hand on the small of my back.

I received majorly dirty looks from Gabby and crew when they noticed Marcus’s shirt on me, along with the large sucker bites that were nicely showing up on my neck. He pulled out my chair for me, and then once I was seated, he sat down beside me once again.

“Do you want any more?” He gestured to the whiskey and cola bottles.

I held up my hand that I was good for now. I was coming down off a significant high and gaining back some of my sensibility. “I better not, I have to still drive home.”

Marcus shook his head no once. “I don’t think that would be a good idea. You have to go the whole way back across the city, you live over in Sands Point, right.”

I nodded he was right. Almost everyone we went to school with lived in Sands Point. It was a high-end real estate section of the city that had every professional flocking to it.

“I’ll be fine.” I didn’t feel that bad.

“Nope.” Marcus held out his hand. “Hand over the keys.”

Did he really think I was going to give up the keys to my new Jag? I wasn’t born yesterday. Not that I would care because I had other cars back at home, but I didn’t want to explain to my parents where and how the car had gotten stolen.

“Um, no.”

“Chelsey, you’re not driving home. You drank way too much. This was why I was the designated sober one tonight, to make sure no one drove home drunk.” Marcus kept his hand held outwards waiting for the keys.

I still shook my head no.

Now, I just had to remember where I put my keys.

Usually, I put them in the front pocket of my jeans, but when I patted there wasn’t anything.

Hopefully, I placed them in my clutch purse, wherever that would be. I glanced down at my feet and didn’t see anything.

Shit, I was screwed.

Marcus reached down to his feet and picked up something off the floor. He dangled my purse by the leather handle in front of my face.

“Are you looking for this?”

I went to grab for it, but he pulled it away from my reach.

“Nope. I know your keys are probably in here.” He set the purse on the table but kept his hand on it, so I couldn’t steal it away. “I don’t care if you have to sleep in your car, you’re not driving.”

I rolled my eyes at his suggestion of sleeping in my car. He must have seen me do that because he shook his head and laughed.

Obviously, he’d never been inside a Jaguar. There wasn’t enough room to put the seat back and stretch out.

“Whatever.” I gave him the answer I always gave when I didn’t have a solution to the problem at hand.

I had to laugh as Marcus gave me the same hand sign I’d given him as he imitated my response.

“You’re not funny.” I tried to be serious as I continued laughing.

“So, we good.” He snuggled his head in closer to my neck. His lips softly touched my skin, and I leaned my head to the side so he would have better access.

“Mmm.” That was about the only thing I could muster up to say as he continued to tenderly kiss me.

“Was that a yes?” Marcus’s lips left me and I quickly opened my eyes. He was sitting close to me with a big smile spread across his face.

I leaned back so I wouldn’t be tempted to kiss him again, and also Gabby and her girls came back to the table.

“Yep, all good.” I snatched the soda bottle and poured myself a straight drink, no alcohol involved this time. “What time is it?” My cell phone was in my purse which Marcus still had.

His hand reached over to the table and grabbed a phone that was sitting there. “Almost one.”

The clubs we frequently went to closed around two. I wasn’t sure what time this place would be winding down since everyone still appeared pretty fired up.

“Is it past your bedtime, princess?” Marcus slid the phone back over.

I hated to be called a princess. Yes, we had money, but I was so far from being royalty.

“Fuck, you.” I turned away from him and looked for Amber. Of course, she was with Ricky dancing quite provocatively on the dance floor.

“What?” Marcus tilted my face back around so I would be facing him.

“I hate being called princess.”

“Okay.” He held up his hands to surrender. “Is it past your bedtime, bitch.”

I shook my head at his insult, but couldn’t force the smile away. “Not a bitch either.” I pulled his hands down, so he didn’t keep them held up.

“Let’s try this again.” Marcus leaned his head on my shoulder and peered up at me with those sultry, big brown eyes. “Is it past your bedtime, Chelsey?”

“Nope.” I wiggled around so my face was even with his.

Gabby was watching us out of the corner of her eye and I intended to give her a little show.

My lips touched his, and we automatically picked back up where we were when Amber interrupted us in the parking lot.

“Excuse me.” Gabby reached over the top of our heads.

“What the fuck, Gabby.” Marcus moved to the side so she could wedge between us.

“I wanted the soda bottle. Sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you two.” She snagged hold of the cola bottle and smacked me on the side of the head.

“Oops, sorry.” Her apology didn’t seem too legit.

“No problem.” I rubbed the side of my head where the bottle had hit me. “Hey, I’m gonna get going.” I patted Marcus’s arm and grabbed my purse that was next to him. He didn’t have time to react, and now I finally had my keys back.

Gabby walked back to the other end of the table, and one of her girlfriends gave her an inconspicuous high-five when she thought no one was looking.

I had no idea why I was getting myself mixed up in the affair. How could he not see that she was so into him?

“Don’t go.” Marcus seized my arm before I could walk away.

“I can’t do this.” I couldn’t be the rebound girl if there had been something between them. I couldn’t play the game like Amber did. I liked him and I didn’t want either of our hearts broken.

I walked out of the club not telling any of my friends where I was going.

A loud thumping of footsteps came from up behind me before I made it to my car. “What can’t you do?” Marcus gripped my elbow and spun me around to face him.

“Marcus, you’re sweet and friendly, and well who wouldn’t like to have a guy like you chasing after them, but are you that dense you can’t see Gabby likes you?” I took a step backward, but he kept his grip on me so I wouldn’t be able to bolt off again.

“I told you, there wasn’t, isn’t and won’t be anything between her and me. She’s like a sister, that’s all.” Marcus's grip loosened, and he closed the gap between us.

His hand slid slowly up my arm until he was able to cup the nape of my neck. I didn’t resist as he pulled me snugly against his body and wrapped his arms around my waist. I leaned my head on his chest, and he pulled me even closer.

“Don’t go, okay.”

I nodded I wouldn’t go. I didn’t want to go back inside. The last thing I wanted to do was to put up with any more bullshit from Gabby.

“We can’t stand out here, but I don’t wanna go back in. I’m out of the party mood.” I lifted my head so I could look up at him.

Marcus’s eyes were watching me with such intensity, like whatever else was going on outside here in the parking lot didn’t matter; I was his sole concern.

“Well, you’re still not driving.” He shook his head no. “So, come show me this bad-ass car you got.” He lightly placed his lips on my forehead and then took my hand while we continued to walk to where my car was parked.

He never let go of my hand as we circled my Jag three times in a row.

With my hand that he was holding, we ran our fingers along the car frame so smoothly as if they were floating along in the air.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and wished away the tummy spins as I imagined how his soft caresses would feel along my skin.

“Can I get in?” Marcus was like a little kid at the candy store, all wide-eyed with excitement.

“Yeah, sure.” I dug the keys out of my purse and then unlocked it.

He opened the door and sat down, sinking with the lowness of the car. As he’d just done with the outside of the car, his large hand stroked the steering wheel and gear shift with tenderness.

“This is nice.”

“Thanks, I guess.” I liked it, but I wouldn’t cry if I couldn’t drive it anymore.

“Well, whenever you get tired of driving it, let me know.” Marcus rested his head back and closed his eyes.

I walked around to the passenger side and got in with less enthusiasm than he did. I shut my door and put the key in the cup holder.

It had been a while since Marcus had that one shot of Tequila and I hoped he was one hundred percent sober since I was going to allow him to drive.

I pressed the automatic start button, and the Jag came to life with a loud roar.

“Ready.” I strapped on my seatbelt.

“Really?” Marcus grabbed his strap and secured himself in.

“You can drive a five-speed, right.” I placed my hand on the shifter.

“Yep. Are you sure?” Marcus questioned me once again even though he’d already put the car into reverse.

“Yes. Now, let’s go.” I twirled my hand for him to get going.

The car backed out of the parking space. Marcus put it into first gear, and we jerked forward.

I looked over at him questioning if he knew what he was doing. “Do you want me to take over?”

“Uh, no. I haven’t done this for a while, especially with a Jaguar. In fact, never with a Jag.” He shifted once more, and it was a lot smoother.

I sat back once again and let him take me away.

The roads were almost dead. There were a few cars that came up behind us, which I prayed weren’t cops, but they drove past us.

Marcus left the ghetto part of town that we were in and headed to the expressway that led us over to where the school and my home were located.

I turned on the radio and opened the sunroof. The brisk night wind whispered past us.

I was more relaxed than I’d been in years. There wasn’t any tension between us, it was a comfortable atmosphere, like we didn’t need words to keep the moment alive.

I put my hand on top of his that was resting on the gear shift. He glanced over at me and smiled.

I leaned my head back and closed my eyes.