Coastal Runaway (Coast to Coast #1)

Eleven

eleven

Keegan

I stood under the stadium lights and peered out over the crowd. This was my favorite place in the world. The loud cheering, the smell of the coastal night air, the buzz of excitement as we took the lead in a game.

I always thought that cheerleaders were shallow and cruel individuals who got off on putting others down but I learned that really was just high school girls, not the sport.

The score board buzzed, indicating that CCU had won the game. Everyone was on their feet as we stormed the field to celebrate. A football player scooped me up onto his shoulder and I waved one pom in the air screaming with excitement.

We did a lap of the field with the team before we all headed towards the locker rooms to change.

“You coming out tonight? Should be a good night with the win.” Maggie looked over at mej.

“Yeah I heard Sigma is going to go wild.” Maeve added next to her.

“I’m pretty tired, I think I might have a steamy date with the hot tub and then just go to bed.” I said shrugging off my uniform and changing into my CCU warmups.

“You sure? Usually you’re so down to ogle frat boys.” Maggie said, hauling her bag over her shoulder as we headed out towards the parking lot.

“Yeah. This has all just been a lot lately and I haven’t been sleeping the best. I just want to relax.”

“Okay, but if you change your mind, just text.” She wrapped me in a hug and we parted ways.

Later that night, I was sitting in the hot tub on my bedroom patio. I had already taken some cute photos to post on my socials, and was laying back, just letting my muscles relax in the glorious heat when I was interrupted by the sound of the back door opening.

I picked up the remote for the outdoor sound system and turned the music volume down. Luke came walking out in a bathing suit with a towel over his shoulder. He looked up and stopped in his tracks at the sight of me.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t think anyone else was home.” He looked a little nervous

“Didn’t you hear the music?” I lifted a brow causing him to shrug. I sank down into the water, “I wasn’t really in the party mood.” I replied, avoiding his eyes.

“Are you okay?” He whispered.

“Of course, I’m okay. Why wouldn’t I be?” I knew exactly what he was referring to, but I was not giving him the satisfaction of seeing me weak. I didn’t like this whole nice act that he had going for him; it made me look petty when I had every reason to keep my distance from him.

“Nevermind,” he pointed back to his room and started to retreat, “I’m just going to call it a night.”

“No, I was about to get out anyway.” I wasn’t. But I also knew that there was no world in which I could relax knowing that Luke was peering at me in the hot tub through his sliding door. I stood and his eyes swept up as the water dripped down my body. My nipples hardened under his gaze… and he noticed.

“My eyes are up here,” I warned, crossing my arms to hide how my body reacted to him.

His eyes snapped to mine, “I’m aware.”

“Then stop staring at me because it’s grossing me out,” I scoffed as I stepped out of the hot tub, grabbing my towel and bending down to dry off my legs.

His gaze was, in fact, not grossing me out. I could feel that my body was getting more turned on every second that his eyes lingered, forcing my thighs to rub together to seek a little relief without being too obvious.

Damn, maybe I needed to get laid.

His eyes darkened and he chuckled, “I don’t think it grosses you out,” he took a few steps forward until he was only inches from my face, “in fact, I think it drives you crazy remembering what our bodies feel like intertwined.”

He reached out and brushed a featherlight finger over my nipple. I shuttered as a quiet, raspy moan escaped my mouth, betraying how aroused I was.

“Fuck off, Cavan.” I turned and bolted for my room.

I needed to get myself out of that situation before I found myself climbing Luke Cavan like a tree and hate-fucking him into tomorrow. I could hear his laugh through my closed door as I ran to take a cold shower and calm my nerves. This man had a control over my body that I didn’t want to understand.

And I just wanted it to stop… I think.

My cozy night in was supposed to be revitalizing, but instead Luke and I’s interaction left me even more tense than before.

On Sunday evening, we were gathered at my dad's house for family dinner. The tension in the room was so thick that it could have been cut with a knife. None of us discussed, or even mentioned what happened on Friday night, although the school gossip pages were ablaze this morning with rumors of a love triangle that came to blows at the football party.

Dinner was silent, if not a little awkward. My dad didn’t seem to notice and kept the conversation flowing. After we finished and cleared the table, I was assigned dish duty. While there was hired staff around to help with the majority of daily chores, my dad would always insist that we clean up after ourselves.

He maintained, “money is not an excuse for people to trail behind you, cleaning up your messes.” I used to always complain, but as I got older I realized that he taught us an important lesson in staying grounded. Now, every Sunday that we had dinner, the siblings would rotate on who got assigned to do the dishes.

I was elbow deep in soapy water when Luke appeared next to me. He leaned back against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest.

He wasn’t looking at me when he said in a low tone, “look. I’m sorry about what happened the other night… and the night after. I was just trying to help and I apologize for overstepping.” He looked down at the ground.

A feeling of guilt washed over me. I definitely blew up at Luke on Friday night; I let my past feelings take over. He dutifully saved me from a potentially dangerous situation and I never even thanked him. As for Saturday, Luke was trying to get a rise out of me just like he did when we were kids. Always negging and flirting with no real meaning behind it.

“You don’t have to apologize.” I sighed, prompting him to look at me, “thank you for defending me. Sinclair always seemed harmless until he suddenly wasn’t.”

“I am sorry that you went through that. But I am not sorry for making him fold like the weak excuse for a man that he is,” he said, “and I will always defend you. Even if you hate me.”

“Brute.” I scoffed.

“Brat.” He smiled.

I laughed at the fact that even though Luke and I were at odds right now, he was still the protective boy that I grew up with. Leaning up and raising my hands from the water, I extended one very soapy, rubber glove to him.

When he didn’t take it right away, I explained, “look, we live together and this is going to be a hard year if we are constantly at each other’s throats. How about a truce of sorts? We can live side by side and leave each other alone, right?”

He looked down at my hand with a slightly pained expression before shaking it, “I can do that.”

In a quick move, I shoved my other hand in the water and flicked it at him, soaking his shirt with dirty dish water.

“You did not just do that, Tig,” he laughed, wiping the water off of his face.

“What are you gonna do about it, if I did?” I asked.

He lunged forward so fast that I had no time to react. He wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and lifted me, my feet kicking, before he grabbed the spray nozzle and aimed it right at my chest.

I was left gasping for air from laughing so hard between screams. This was the fun Luke that I missed, the one that made my heart race.

“Would you look at that? Mom and dad made up.” Aiden noted, standing in the doorway to the kitchen, “so glad we can sleep tonight knowing World War III isn’t going to come to blows at any moment.”

Luke put me back on my feet but didn’t remove his hands right away. My heart was hammering in my chest as he looked down at me. After a beat, he moved his hands and started walking backwards in the direction of the living room where the rest of the family was deep in conversation. Before he left the room he threw me a wink and I could feel the blush creeping onto my cheeks.

I turned and continued doing the dishes but my thoughts were stuck on what just happened. Luke and I may have come to a temporary truce, but I still needed to keep my distance. There was a very real chance that if we continued to be around each other that I would cave and let him take my body, leaving my heart vulnerable.

There wasn’t a world where my heart would survive being torn apart a second time by the hands of Luke Cavan.