This was a bad idea. This was such a bad idea. What was I thinking when I asked these guys for help? This has to go down on record as the most poorly thought-out agreement to have ever been made.
After school, we all went to the computer lab, where I helped everyone set up their online course accounts. Then we got through about ten of the first assignments together, and they all agreed to do most of the work at home and just have me look it over later before they sent it in.
As everyone went to go their separate ways, Zane grabbed my wrist to spin me back toward him. “Where do you think you are going?”
“Ahh… home?” Attempting and failing to ignore the zipping electric feeling his touch is sending down my arm.
“We have work to do dear. Get in.” I looked towards his fancy car. It's a maroon-ish color and looks stupidly expensive. I went to slide in the back, but he stopped me. “My girl goes upfront, sweetness. You know, so I can hold your... hand.”
Darl laughs. "Yea hand, that's what you want to touch.”
Zane punches him in the arm. “Shut the f**k up jack-ass.”
I wince at the impact, “Geez, do you guys always talk to each other like this?”
“Like what?” they ask, confused.
“Like, I don't know, you're always cursing and hitting each other. Do you get along at all?”
“Of course, these are my boys. We know everything about each other. Right, guys?”
Issac rolled his eyes. “Even some things I wish I didn't.”
Darl raised his hand. “Ditto.”
"Besides, families fight. It's how we show our love," Zane argues, then punches Darl in the gut, making him bend over with a grunt. Darl then charges forward, tackling Zane at the waist. They roll onto the grass, wrestling.
“Wow”. I shook my head. I looked at Issac just watching them with a passive face. "What did he mean by families fighting? Are you all related? "
"Our families grew up together. We consider each other like extended brothers." Isaac's passive expression shifts to a stern and serious scowl. "So if this is all a ploy to get in with our family, think again, Rat."
"What is your problem with me?"
"I don't trust you, nark!"
"If you knew anything about me, you would know I'm not a nark."
"We'll see"
"You realize that you just narked, right?"
"The f**k did you just say Rat?" He looks ready for blood. Maybe this was a bad conversation to engage in.
"I didn't even realize there would be anything so important to warrant me narking about until you made this big deal about me talking and trying to find an in. So, indirectly, you just narked because you are implying your family's involvement in shady business." He came close enough for me to know he had cheese fries for lunch today, breathing down my face to make his point. He wants to hit me but won't for whatever reason.
"I'm watching you, Rat; watch your back." Zane and Darl walk back to the car after their scuffle in the parking lot, hugging it out all Bro-style.
As I get into the car, I realize just how out of my league I am in this deal. The seats feel like butter, and the smell is of leather and a new car. I take in the ride's feel while looking at all the interesting switches on the middle console. Red dials like a race car or a spaceship. Controlling the cars... well... everything, I guess. They read Mode, Surface, Front Power, and Regen. Under mode, it says stuff about TV; he has a TV in his car? I don't have a TV at all.
Zane enjoys my reaction to his ride, petting the wheel in pride. "Draco GTE. Packing 1,200 horsepower and 6,491 pound-feet of torque from a fully electric Powertrain, 0 to 60 in 2.0 seconds, tops out at 206 miles per hour. $1.2 million".
“One-...one point two m-million?”
“Don't go fainting on me Mousy, we haven't even started the engine yet.” As soon as he starts the engine, I know for sure I'm way out of my league. The way the car purrs vibrates through the seat and hits a spot right between my legs that has never been…vibrated.
Somehow, I think Zane knows exactly what the car just did to me because he sends me a sexy smirk meant just for me. I'm glad the other two can't see me blushing.
“So, where are we going?” Trying to direct some type of conversation not directed towards my hormonal libido
“To doll you up Sweetness, gotta get you that new wardrobe, right?”
That is how I find myself in a dressing room with a room full of half shirts and ripped pants, a hundred dresses, and shoes. The guys took me to Julia’s. It's the hottest place to get clothes around here. They have everything you could ever need. Dress clothes, casual, …lingerie. Hopefully, they will stay away from that section. I am not doing a runway show for them in my underwear.
I have learned Darl has three sisters and is used to setting up a never-ending line of clothes to try on, so between the three of them, I have more clothes in here than I know what to do with. Even Isaac is clothing hunting, probably just to hurry the process along.
“So, Mousy, you going to come out or do we need to keep finding options for you to try out?”
“I don't think this is very me…”
Issac chokes a sarcastic laugh. “I thought that was the point. You need to not look like a homeless person anymore, Ow!”
I mentally thank Zane for smacking him for me. “I just mean I don't think crop tops are my thing, and why do these jeans have so many holes in them…and who wears high heels with jeans?”
“Are you questioning my fashion sense? Because I assure you my style is on point. If I didn't love p***y so much, I would make an amazing queer. I'd have so many d***s jumping at me it would be an all-out orgy every f*****g day,” Darl assures me... Kind of...
Zane is getting restless. “Just come out already. We don't have all day!” Darn, it... Alright, here goes nothing.
Taking small steps out of the room, slowly trying to cover my stomach as much as possible while attempting not to fall. My experience in high heels is exactly zero. Zane is typing something on his phone, seemingly very distracted by who he is talking to. That is, until he glances up and sees me. He stops everything he was doing to look at me. I can feel his eyes traveling every inch and mile of my body. Traveling the roads, hiking the valleys, and swimming in the sea of my hazel eyes.
Zane sits forward on the couch they have in the waiting area, his jaw practically on the floor. His ice-blue eyes devour me to my core. A slow chill settles around me. I don't know why, but their opinions matter to me right now. His opinion matters to me. As much as I hate to admit it, they know what attractive girls dress like.
My pants are like a second skin; my stomach is showing, and my feet are already killing me in these shoes. My hair is out of its ponytail because Darl assured me that attractive girls don't wear their hair up unless they are exercising or cleaning. Which I found extremely offensive and sexist, but regardless of my opinion, he took my scrunchy. So my brown, curly hair is overflowing around my shoulders. They all seem to look at me in a way I have never been looked at before. Desired. This is what I wanted—for people to see me, not just look over me. I'm tired of being invisible. Something tells me those days are over. Even Isaac looks surprised, in a good way.
Of course, Darl is the first to speak up. “OW! OW! LOOK OUT, MAJOR HOTTY COMING OUT!”
I can't help the blush that spreads over my cheeks. I bit my lip as the nerves ran rampant. “Shut up" I chuckle. "Are you guys sure it's not too much? I don't want to be perceived as a tramp”
Zane slowly stands from his immovable position to walk towards me. Every step he takes makes the nerves run way more and more. Until he finally stops in front of me. I have officially forgotten how to breathe. As much as I want to deny my attraction to Zane, it's obvious to anyone with eyes that he oozes s*x appeal. Zane's hand snakes around my waist, pulling me closer and closer, flat against his chest. Electrical waves flow through his touch, ping-ponging to my toes and then up into the blush of my cheeks.
He leans close to my ear and whispers so softly I don't think anyone could hear him but me. But I'm having a hard time focusing on his words while his lips are grazing my ears and his breath is fanning down my neck. “Breathe, little Mousy,” I take a deep, shaky, much-needed breath. “Fuck...you sure you don't want to go for the full deal? I'm not sure I'm going to be able to control myself if you are going to be looking this sexy from now on.”
“S-So, it's OK? I mean I look presentable?”
“You have got to be the sexiest nerd I have ever seen.”
“Is…is that good?”
“That's f*****g fantastic”, he plays with my curls while keeping me way too close for sanity.
“So I don't look like the clones at school, right?”
“No, no one would ever confuse you with one of them. In fact, don't even worry about hair or make-up stuff, OK? Just stay natural. You're beautiful without it."
I pull away a couple of inches to look up at his face. “Wow, was-was that a compliment? I mean, a sincere compliment?"
“Better get used to it babe, You and I are going to be spending a lot of time together.”
“Why?”
“Did I forget to mention I also work at my father's company? And, as of 10 minutes ago, you are officially invited to family dinner”.