Page 43 of Finding Noah

I'd had alcohol before. I had taken sips of wine and champagne here and there, and once, Jay swiped a couple of beers from his fridge, and we drank them in the tree house in his backyard. It had never been enough for me to feel anything but a bitter taste in my mouth, a burning in my throat, and the thrill of doing something I wasn't supposed to.

What would it feel like to be fucked up?

Would it make me feel better? Would it make me forget?

Ash took a sip from her cup, eyeing me from over the brim with deep eyes heavily lined in black. I could tell she was smirking, daring me to do as she did, and that look scratched deep under my skin, telling me I should accept. And why the hell did I care? I had just met her! I didn't know her in any way whatsoever, other than the fact that she was friends with Jay's girlfriend—who, for the record, I also barely knew.

Yet I wanted her to think I was cool. I wanted her to think I had it in me to down the contents of this damn cup and whatever else she wanted to throw at me.

So, I put it to my lips and knocked it back, draining half in two hearty gulps. And, oh God, it burned. Whatever pink shit was in there corroded my throat and lit my belly on fire. I resisted the urge to cough, to force my gut to regurgitate everything the moment that sweet, fruity crap hit its depths. I schooled my expression, acted like it didn't faze me, and Ash raised her brow with an air of approval I lived for.

“Oh, Noah,” she purred, reaching for my T-shirt again and clenching the fabric in her fist. “I thought you might be bad, but you're really bad.”

My jaw tensed as I tried to grasp what she meant by that. My experience with bad people was likely different from hers, and I guessed her definition of bad was likely very different from mine.

Did I want to be bad?

I wasn't sure I did if bad meant enjoying this feeling swirling around with this fiery liquid in my belly. But then again, I reveled in the way she looked at me, like the only goal on her mind was to rip off my clothes and touch the places nobody but me had ever touched before, and if that was what bad meant, then …

Well, I guessed bad sounded pretty good.

So, I gulped down the rest of that disgusting drink as Ash sidled up closer to me, her soft body molding to fit comfortably against the hard lines of mine. She sipped at hers, keeping her darkened gaze on me the whole time, toying with the little hairs at the back of my neck, causing goose bumps to sprinkle across my skin. Then, when I was finished, she took our cups, left them on the counter, then took my hand.

“Come on,” she said in that smoky, heated sort of way that set my nerves on fire. “I want to show you something.”

The party was thriving outside that kitchen. There had to be at least a hundred kids jammed into the house, and there were others spilling out into the backyard. I wondered where Ash's parents were. I wondered if they were okay with their daughter drinking and leading boys by the hand toward the stairs, then up, up, up, past all the others, until they were brought to her bedroom, the door closed behind them.

I wondered if they were okay with her pushing said boys onto the bed to straddle their hips, to press her soft, glossy lips to theirs while the party continued below.

But then she used her tongue to kiss me in a way I'd never been kissed before, and I stopped wondering.

Instead, I kissed her back, my movements uncertain and clumsy at first, but I thought—I hoped—I was a fast learner.

She hummed with satisfaction, pulling away just when I thought I'd started to get good. Disappointment curved the corners of my mouth downward, and I was about to ask if something was wrong when her hands moved down my chest and stomach to the waistband of my shorts. A cluster of discombobulated thoughts burst like fireworks all at once as she yanked them down, along with my boxers.

“W-whoa,” I stammered with a nervous chuckle and immediately felt stupid afterward. “Um, wha-what are you—”

But before I could finish the sentence, she was maneuvering her body to engulf my dick with her mouth. I gasped, dropping my head back against the bed, overwhelmed by a thousand new sensations coalescing through my body all at the exact same time.

“Oh my God,” I uttered, both shocked and aroused.

Ash moaned in response, and I got the feeling she wasn't new at this. Not at all. And I didn't care to think about that, didn't care to care about anything other than the mounting pleasure I already knew I was addicted to.

“Oh God,” I gasped breathlessly. “Wait, I-I'm gonna—”

It was at that moment the door flew open, and I bolted upright onto my elbows to face the intruder, the awful asshole putting a stop to what Ash was doing to me.

Except she didn't stop.

She kept going.

And I wished she had.

Because there, standing in the doorway, was Meg.

“O-oh. Oh God,” she said, turning away to cast her gaze toward the hall outside the door.

Panicked, I pushed Ash off me and scrambled from the bed, pulling my shorts and underwear back up.