Page 38 of Slick Trip

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COOPER, 18, one year before the trip

I was trying so damn hard to provoke Jon. Getting him to notice me had never been a problem, but getting him to admit that he noticed me was a different thing entirely. I knew he wasn’t immune. When I’d tried to kiss him a few weeks earlier, I’d seen how he wanted me. But then he carried me to the car and basically said it was all in my head.

Tonight, he had left me no choice but to amp it up. I amped it up so much that I climbed into Luke’s lap. He was a couple of years older than me and didn’t have any illusions that it was anything but a show on my end.

He wanted me, sure, but he knew he was a means to an end.

And the end was Jon. It had always been him. From a puppy crush to something more intense, my feelings had grown and deepened and darkened. I didn’t know what he felt toward me, but I knew it was something. He refused to talk about it or do anything about it, but I was just as stubborn.

That night, he was leaning against a wall, pretending to be scrolling through his phone when I knew for a fact his attention was on me.

I wrapped my arms around Luke’s neck.

“Play with me a little,” I murmured.

Luke sighed. “One of these days Beckett’s going to snap.”

“That’s the dream.”

“What is it about him, anyway?” Luke asked, sounding genuinely curious. “He acts like he has a gigantic chip on his shoulder.”

“I know. I’m that chip.” I glanced at him, relishing the expression on Jon’s face. The game I was playing was as dangerous as it was intoxicating.

Luke traced his thumb across my cheek.

“He looks ready to storm over here any second,” he said conversationally. “Will you visit me in the hospital after he’s assaulted me?”

“Of course,” I grinned. “I’ll even sign your cast.”

Then I rolled my hips suggestively.

Luke groaned. “Fuck, Cooper, you’re really not playing fairly.”

I didn’t get a chance to reply, because I was being lifted, strong hands wrapped around my waist.

Finally.

“Upstairs,” Jon said. His voice was a low warning that made my nerve endings spark.

I followed him. Of course I did. I would’ve followed him anywhere.

The second the door closed behind us, my chest started pounding. My heart was beating rapidly, and I could almost make out the beats: con-se-quen-ces.

“Sit,” he growled.

“I don’t take orders from you.”

I could tell he was affected, but he was determined to stay calm. So I poked and I prodded. Said things I knew would get under his skin. I was waiting for the crack. One tiny crack, and I could carve my way deeper.

I told him how turned on Luke had been—

And there it was. The first crack. His jaw tightened and his hand snapped around my wrist. Heat shot straight through me, making me dizzy.

“Careful,” he said.

My pulse went berserk in his grip.