Ice Cold - Chapter 23: Chapter 23

Landon Reilly
The door opened the second I knocked on it, revealing James who was disheveled and in a rush. His hair was messy, his clothes weren't on straight, and seeing him like that made me sick to my stomach. I couldn't help but wonder why he looked like that, if he was just rushing or if he had been in bed with Wren. The sight of him made me want to turn around and never come back.
The two of us stood face to face for a moment before James patted me on the shoulder and moved around me, not saying anything. I couldn't tell if that was a good sign or not.
I sighed and walked through the open door to find Wren sitting at his desk on his laptop. He looked put together unlike James. His bed was made whereas James's was a mess, the comforter hanging off and onto the floor.
"What are you doing?" Wren asked, pulling my attention from James's bed to him. His lips were quirked up slightly, almost in a smirk. Wren looked over to James's bed then back to me, raising his eyebrows. He knew what I was thinking. I know he did.
Wren was about to say something else, but I abruptly cut him off.
"Are you hooking up with James?" I blurted without thinking. There was no taking it back now, no denying that I had been thinking about the two of them, that it had been bothering me
"Wow," Wren said with a grin. "I didn't think you'd actually say it, but you surprised me."
"Forget it," I replied, shaking my head. I turned to leave, but Wren got up from his chair and grabbed my arm, stopping me.
"The last time I hooked up with James was to forget about you," he said in a low voice.
I turned to face him with a frown.
"Don't fucking say that," I said.
"Why?" he asked. "You don't want me to tell you the truth? You don't want to know that it didn't even work and I haven't touched him since?"
"Stop." My voice was quiet and weak.
"Fine," he said, releasing me. "What are you actually here for then? It can't be to interrogate me about James."
I rolled my eyes. I couldn't even look at him. I was embarrassed and I wanted to leave. He wouldn't let me get away with that though.
"I came to clean your car," I muttered, looking anywhere but him. I could see his grin out of the corner of my eye.
"You were actually going to clean my car?" I could hear the amusement in his voice.
He touched me again. This time his hand was on my shoulder, his thumb brushing the skin on the side of my neck. I shivered as his thumb moved across my skin.
I finally looked back at him. He was giving me his full attention with an expression I couldn't decipher. His head was tilted slightly downward and his eyes were gazing up at me. His face was both soft and intense at the same time.
"You were nice to Olivia," I muttered.
"Hm," Wren hummed. "And you wanted to repay me?"
I nodded.
"Well, I already cleaned it," he said. "So you'll have to think of something else. I know there's something we both want."
It took me a moment to figure out what he meant, but when I did realize, my nerves shot through the roof. The look he was giving me was one of desire. I knew what he wanted and I knew he would refuse to make the first move.
I grabbed the front of his shirt and glared at the smirk he gave me.
"You're annoying," I said, walking him backwards toward the wall.
He nodded. "I know."
"And horrible."
He nodded again. "Yeah."
"And irritating." I had him up against the wall now.
He hummed in agreement.
Wren had his head back against the wall while I leaned in, so close our noses were nearly touching.
"And stupid," I said, my voice quieter as I leaned in closer to say it into his ear.
"I really am," he replied.
My mouth moved to the other side of his face, my lips nearly grazing his jaw and cheek.
"And so... insufferable."
He hummed in agreement again.
I moved my mouth right over his. Wren didn't move. I knew he wouldn't. He meant it when he said I would have to make the first move. He would probably stand here all day until I let my mouth fall on top of his.
I couldn't let myself think about it any longer. We were here. I put us in this position. If I thought about it too much, I would back away and leave us both disappointed.
Our breathing was in sync. I was standing so close to him that I felt the rise and fall of his chest against my own. Wren looked down at my lips then back into my eyes with the most intense stare I had ever seen from him.
His lips looked welcoming and ready. They were slightly parted, anticipating my own to take them, caress them, move with them.
Wren bit down on his bottom lip and I all but melted right there on the spot.
"I can't fucking stand you," I said before lowering my mouth onto his, my hands still gripping the front of his shirt like I would lose my balance if I let go.
The kiss was slow at first with me doing most of the work. Wren let me set the pace and once I had, he responded, moving his lips with mine. His breath hitched as I bit down on his bottom lip then soothed it with my kiss.
"Put my hands where you want them," Wren said against my lips, refusing to break the kiss.
Until that point I hadn't realized that Wren had kept his hands at his sides, waiting for my direction.
I let go of his shirt and grabbed his hands, placing them low on my waist. He gripped me tightly, pulling my hips against his. My hands found their way to his jaw, holding him there. I put a little pressure on his neck and Wren let out a sensual moan that almost made me moan in response.
He was hot. He was so hot. And it pained me that I couldn't look at him like this, that in order to see him completely I would have to take my mouth off his and I wasn't willing to do that.
I had never kissed like this, with so much want, desire, and passion. Every other kiss before this had been superficial. It had been a way to try to feel something, a way to try to change myself.
This was me giving in, embracing myself and who I was. There was nothing in my mind other than Wren and his lips on mine. My father's voice was silenced and he couldn't bear witness to this, couldn't make me feel like I was disgusting and wrong. Because there couldn't be anything wrong with this, not with how right it felt.
Wren's hands moved over my ass, squeezing me and pulling me closer.
Our mouths opened for each other, tongues meeting.
We could've been there for hours or minutes, I didn't know. Time didn't matter, didn't make sense.
We finally pulled apart, but only briefly. Wren looked at me before moving his mouth to my neck and jaw. I was breathing heavy, hissing when his teeth grazed my skin. I buried my hand in his hair, reveling in the sounds he made when I pulled it.
Wren pulled away from me and let out a deep breath, resting his head back against the wall. He didn't release me, and my hands stayed where they were. It was like we couldn't bear the thought of no longer touching.
"I knew you couldn't resist me," Wren said.
I scoffed and rolled my eyes, pushing off of him and backing away.
"Shut the hell up," I shot back.
Wren stepped forward and kissed me again.
The two of us ended up on his bed, making out for I don't know how long.
***
Wren Ridley
I saw Landon more often now. Ever since that day in my room we had been seeing each other every day and making out almost every time.
I was sitting in the coffee shop with my laptop open, my latte sitting in front of me while Landon's coffee sat across from me, holding his place until he arrived. Anthony had given me a look when I ordered Landon's coffee, but he didn't say anything and I ignored him.
Landon walked in a few minutes later. He stopped up at the counter and exchanged a few words with Anthony before making his way over to our usual spot. I looked back at my computer screen before he realized I had been watching him.
"I don't need you to buy my coffee," he said as he sat down, but there was no sharpness in his voice. He spoke normally like we were discussing the weather.
I shrugged, glancing at him over the laptop screen. He stared at me with raised eyebrows, the coffee in his hand.
"Sorry, is buying you things a dealbreaker?" I asked.
Landon sipped his coffee, glancing at me over the rim of the cup and not bothering to respond.
"What are you doing tonight?" I asked him.
"Hockey practice until six," he replied.
"And after?"
"I guess that depends on you."
I grinned. "Does it?"
Landon sighed, leaning back in his seat. It had been like this for days, him acting like he wanted nothing to do with me but still making the time anyway. He would act like he couldn't stand me but later on he'd be under me or on top of me any way. I couldn't say I didn't like it.
As long as I ignored the fact that my brother would kill me if he ever found out I was involved with Landon, the whole hard to get attitude actually made the whole situation more fun.
It wasn't like this was something Fox would ever find out about anyway.
"I'm busy after practice actually," Landon said with an irritated expression.
I shook my head. "Don't be like that, Lance. You can come right on over after practice. How about that?"
Landon scoffed. "And if I don't want to?"
"You do though, don't you?"
Landon was getting flustered. He couldn't meet my eyes. He was nervously drumming his fingers on the table, and his leg was bouncing underneath it.
I reached across the table and put my hand over his, causing his fingers to stop and his eyes to shoot over to our hands, then up to my face.
"I'll see you tonight, right?" I asked.
Landon nodded, pressing his lips together tightly.
Later on that day, Stella, Jess, and James were sitting around my dorm room while I was reading up on my bed. I checked the time and it was getting closer to six.
"You're going to have to move this over to your room," I told Stella. She looked up at me with a strange expression from her place on the floor.
"Why?"
"He probably just wants to jack off," James cut in.
"No, I just want some peace and quiet," I replied.
"To jack off," James added.
"Or," Stella started. "He has someone coming over. "Who is it? Is it that guy from the library the other day? The one who was checking you out?"
"I have no idea who you're talking about."
"Yeah you do," she said. "I pointed him out. The one with the long curly hair."
"Doesn't ring a bell."
"So it is him," Stella said with a wide grin like she caught red handed.
I shook my head and checked my phone to see a text from Landon.
From: Landon
On my way
"You all have to get out now," I told them, closing my book and putting it off to the side.
"All of us?" James asked. "This is my room too!"
"Didn't ask," I said, motioning toward the door.
James let out a loud groan and got up from his desk chair, following the girls toward the door.
"You owe me," James said, pointing at me from the door way.
"Out."
James shut the door behind them, and once they were gone I picked up my book again and read until there was a knock on the door.
I opened the door to reveal a freshly showered Landon. His hair was still damp and he smelled like a fresh soap. He looked me up and down with his dark eyes before I pulled him inside by the front of his shirt.
As soon as the door was closed, he was against it and my lips were on him. Landon immediately responded to my kiss, cupping my jaw with his hands while I gripped his waist.
He started walking me backward toward my bed and laid me on top of it. Landon pulled away only for a moment to get onto the bed and hover over me before retaking my lips with his. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me and running one of my hands through the hair on the back of his head.
We made out like this for a little while until Landon pulled away and rolled off, lying down by my side. His eyes were closed when I looked over at him. As if being to sense my stare, they opened slightly to meet mine.
"Are you just done or are you freaking out in your head?" I asked him, propping my head up with one hand.
"Can it be both?"
"I suppose it can."
He sighed and looked over at me.
"This is fucking crazy, you realize that right?" he asked.
"Sure."
He sighed again, pressing his palms into his eyes. I placed my hand on his chest, tracing circles over the fabric of his t-shirt.
Landon always seemed to wear his emotions on his sleeve, but he hadn't yet lashed out at me over our new predicament. It was only a matter of time and I couldn't tell if I should have been bracing myself at that moment.
"I can't really tell if you're going to punch me or not," I said, causing Landon to remove his hands from his eyes and look over at me incredulously.
"Seriously?"
"I never know with you."
"I'm not going to punch you," he said, sitting up slightly. "There's just too much wrong with this and I don't want to think about it."
"So don't think about it." And I wouldn't think about it either. As long as neither of us thought about it for too long and talked ourselves out of this, it would be fine.
"It's not that easy," he said before letting out a yawn.
He settled into my bed, propping himself up with one of my pillows. I could tell he was dozing off by the way his breathing evened out. His eyes were still open, but they were growing heavy, slowly opening and shutting like he was trying to keep himself awake.
Landon eventually did fall asleep next to me, his head tilting to the side and resting on my shoulder.
I read my book while he slept until I dozed off myself, feeling the warmth of having somebody beside me.