31st December

There's something about tourist women, on a New Year's Eve night that brings out the absolute horniest part of them. It's like the drop in their own home town confines are freeing to the point where they can disregard their normality and be whoever they want to be.

And Li wants to be whoever I want her to be. Her tits bounce in front of me while she straddles my dick in the bar stock room, her little pants and whimpers spur me on as she holds the wall behind me. It's fast and sort of sloppy but it's fun. I grip her ass and start thrusting up, harder and faster until I finish into the condom.

She thanks me with a kiss when we're done and both of us slink out of the stock room adjusting ourselves. She disappears into the crowd before I can do the polite thing and ask for her number. I'm quietly relieved, that's one less facade I have to keep up.

"It's not even eleven," Drayton slaps me on the shoulder and I wince. I'd hoped he didn't notice. "To be fair Dallas and I slipped one in before we left the house."

"Didn't need to know that," I head to the bar, gesturing for two to Mo. Two of whatever, it didn't matter at this point.

"You mind if I ask her to be my wife?"

My attention snaps to Drayton, he leans his palm on the bar, looking around, appearing causal. Not at all like he'd just asked permission to marry my little sister. Fuck. I know he adores her and I'm surprised he hasn't asked her yet but I didn't imagine he'd be one to ask for permission.

His gaze slides to me, finding the assessing stare I wear. "Look man," he says. "You're the father figure in her life. We'll ignore the fact that you just went balls deep in a hot tourist a few minutes ago, who can define fatherly behaviour right? Anyway, I know how much you and Dallas mean to each other, so I wanted to ask you first."

He can't just word things like a human being, I swear. Whatever.

"Of course man," I smile, letting it sink in. My little sister getting married, to her high school sweetheart no less.

At one point I wasn't sure it'd last. I believed they were in love back then, but that sort of love usually fizzles out. It's all intense passion and overwhelming hormones and misplaced intentions. But they're stronger than ever. I'm glad for them.

Mo puts down two shot glasses and I only wonder for a moment, if I should've been more specific. Never mind, I pick them up, hand one to Drayton and we clink the glasses together.

"You have my blessing."

We throw back the shots and then order a round of beers before we go in search of the girls. Dallas and Gabby are out in the back patio. It's a concrete space with an outdoor fire, lots of lights, picnic tables and little heaters along the top of the fence line. It's enough to keep the chill off the air but not enough to be wearing a sleeveless dress.

Which Gabby is.

I haven't seen her since the grocery store. She hasn't thanked me for having her cart delivered to her house. Not that I did it for thanks. But I almost wondered if it had arrived at all, because she hadn't said a thing. Adding that bullet might've been a bit much but I couldn't resist teasing.

She said she didn't want me to pay for the food but fuck, I couldn't stop thinking about her face after she left. That warm brown skin emblazoned with dark red cheeks, her breathing rapid and her words catching on the fact that her ex cut her off from the finances.

Fuck, I felt awful. I couldn't do nothing.

The other part of me couldn't stop thinking about how her lips had parted when I told her I know where those little vibrators go. That one spot to place it, with not too much pressure, bur just enough so the pleasure builds and builds and when it's building, you don't fucking move it and—

I'm staring at her while I think about putting a vibrator between her legs.

Not fucking good.

I trail Drayton over to where the girls are dancing. Not that choreographed dancing Dallas does for a living, but the loose, slightly drunk bouncing around one does in a bar. Drayton walks straight to her and goes in for a kiss.

Sitting down at the picnic table, I rest my forearms on the wooden surface and set the beer in front of me. Cain, Matt and Luke are off with their families tonight, seeing in a new year with their kids or siblings or whoever.

I'm watching my sister get backed into the fence by her boyfriend. Fantastic.

My gaze moves to Gabby, she's stopped dancing, her smile sort of sad as she watches the scene that I'm actively avoiding. Fuck, what it must be like to have spent so long with a person, the father of your child and then to be left. Just like that. No warning, no contact. How she's holding herself together, I'm not sure.

She notices me staring and I quickly look at the beer, picking at the label. The unevenly balanced table wobbles a bit when she sits down across from me and I once again admire those little tattoos all over her arm.

"You bought me the groceries," she says.

I nod.

"Why?"

There's a slight slur in her voice so I'm careful when I say, "because it seemed like you might've needed a bit of kindness, Gabrielle. It wasn't anything more than wanting to help out."

"I can't accept that kind of money, Nathan. It's too much."

"I'm good," I say, hoping she hears the finality in that sentence. Sure, I'm not doing as well as Dallas and Drayton but I earn a full time income and I don't have a lot of expenses. I save, I don't throw cash at whatever impulsive shit I think of.

In fact, in those situations, I'm glad I've got funds to fall back on. There's nothing better I can think to spend money on than someone who needs a hand.

"I'm going to pay it back," she says, her jaw clenched tight and her shoulders curled in, like she's fighting the cold. "When I get a job. It'll be the first thing I do."

She slips her phone out of her bra and I glare. I fucking can't stand it when Dallas does that. Do they have no clue what breast cancer is?

"I'm adding it to my notes app," she taps on her screen, the little clicks barely audible over the music. "Nathan. four. hundred. dollars."

"That's not necessary."

"It is to me."

She locks the screen and slips the phone back, which pulls her neckline down, exposing the swell of her breast.

"You don't have a pocket to keep that in?" I ask.

She peers down at her skin tight bandage dress. I wish her body didn't make me feel so fucking wound up.

"No pockets."

I swig my beer, holding eye contact with her, those dark brown feline eyes that look sexier than they should considering she's giving me a dumb look.

"Cellular radiation," I say, beer hitting the table top. "It's dangerous."

"Whatever," she scoffs. "Do you get off on being a bossy bastard or something?"

"In the right setting," my voice lowers and I watch her mouth. "Yeah I fucking do."

She sucks in a sharp breath and I wonder if I've taken it too far but she doesn't tell me off, instead she swallows and I watch the roll of her slender neck and soft skin.

I lean in a bit closer, she watches my every move, like she's waiting for me to pounce. "You enjoying that gift I added to the cart?"

"Thoroughly," she answers, her voice a purr and I hadn't been expecting the matching wit at all.

Checkmate.

Dallas and Drayton wander back over while I'm desperately trying to eradicate the explicit visual of Gabby pleasuring herself. My hand tightens around the neck of the bottle as the two sit on the seat next to her. Three over there and me over here.

Good, I don't need anyone to see my dick hardening in my jeans.

"Bri was looking for you a little while ago," Dallas tells me, leaning into Drayton's side. Bri is a teacher at the school, one I haven't crossed a line with because she's engaged and she thinks I'm an idiot. I'm not sure which one deters me most though. She's hot.

"What'd she want?"

"I don't know, teacher stuff?"

I scoff. "On New Year's Eve? Get fucked."

"You did that already," Drayton grins. It was too much to hope he'd let that go.

"Here?" Gabby asks, her nose screwed up. "At the bar?"

"I wasn't taking my clothes off on the table tops for half the place to see, was I?"

She glares. Dallas says, "Nathan, don't be an asshole."

I'm an immature fucking dick and I know it. Draining the last of the beer, I stand up. "I'm going to take a piss."

Inside, the place is packed. It's getting closer to midnight and I suddenly wish I hadn't insisted this is how we spend the night. The others wanted to do something fun, like head out to Fort Collins where Old Town square puts on a huge street festival and like a loser, I'd settled for the comfort of home and the local bar.

Fort Collins is an hour and a half out, we'd never get there in time for the countdown.

After I've taken a leak, I bump into Bri in the bathroom hall. I'm not sure what she's doing here, I didn't peg this to be her scene.

"Hi," she greets, her black hair in a tight bun and her lips a rich red. She has blow job lips for sure. "I have an idea I wanted to run past you."

"What are you doing here?" I ask, leaning against the wall.

"Crewe loves this dive," she waves a dismissive hand and knowing that her egotistical fiancé is a fan, it almost makes me like my regular less. Almost. "So, our papers this semester, yours being mind, health and fitness and mine being skin and tissue, there's a module in each one. On the cellular molecules, sweat and skin."

Bri teaches science and a lot of our modules align when it comes to the body science side of health and fitness.

"I don't want to talk about this right now," I tell her, making to leave.

"Wait," she says. "The modules are almost identical. I was wondering if we share the class? One week on, one week off. It'd give us both about three free periods a week. I could use those for marking grades and that sort of thing. I take so much work home with me."

"I don't."

Her face falls. "You are a real asshole sometimes."

"Manage your time better," I shrug.

Why the fuck am I being so mean? What she's proposing isn't a bad idea at all. My peripheral catches Gabby and I look over to her weaving through the crowd toward the bar, her brown curls cascade down her petite back.

"I manage my time just fine," Bri snaps and I look down to find her arms folded across her chest. "It was just a suggestion that could help us both out."

Gabby isn't alone for long, some dude with a tall slender frame and a barely there beard leans next to the bar beside her. I don't fucking care.

"Yeah, alright," I tell Bri, wanting out of this conversation and the piss drenched hall. It stinks. "We'll go over it next week. No more work talk tonight."

"Great," she pats me on the shoulder and heads off again. What a stupid conversation. No wonder she thinks I'm an idiot.

Heading over to Gabby, I drink in the arch of her back as she leans on the bar, that round ass, not huge but plump and perky. She smiles at the dude she's talking to and I quickly step between them, watching that smile melt into a scowl. The music blares and the shouting patrons make it hard to hear but I shout.

"You need a job, right?"

"So?"

"Mo needs bartenders, all the time. Fast turn over rate here."

Gabby looks over my shoulder, mouthing 'sorry' to the dude behind me. I consider feeling bad for being rude but I also don't love the idea of someone else taking her home. Which I shouldn't care about at all.

"Why is there a fast turn over rate here?" She asks, accepting a beer with a small smile at the girl behind the bar.

"Because the demographic of old dude regulars are assholes and make the job ten times harder than it should be."

Gabby swallows her mouthful and I look away because her neck is sexier than I want to acknowledge. "Sounds like an enticing roll. You're really selling it."

"Yeah, no, don't work here," I peer over my shoulder. The tall gangly dude is talking to someone else now.

"Then why would you tell me to get a job here?"

I look down at her, the softness of her skin, the way her heart shaped face looks like the perfect fit for my hand. Resisting the urge to put her chin between my fingers, I tighten my fist around her bottle neck, take a swig and don't break eye contact.

Her confusion morphs into something else, her gaze moving to my mouth when I lick the remnants of beer off my lips.

Do I tell her I just wanted a reason to break up her chit chat with the bean pole behind me? Nope because she'll pop off and honestly, what the fuck was I even thinking in the first place?

"You need to get a life," she finally says after I've stared at her like a dumbass for the last few minutes.

"Excuse me?"

"You're so bored," she states, not hesitating for one moment to tell me what a loser I am.

She's fucking right too. I'm bored as hell. There's another week left before school starts and I can't wait until I get back to the classroom. I'm glad I like my job but I wish I had more going on.

"You worry about yourself, Gabrielle. Talked to Josh at all? How's that going?"

Her breathing quickens at the low blow. I'm fucking rotten and I know it. She lifts her chin defiantly.

"You can't hurt me more than I'm already hurting, Nathan. Go ahead and say whatever nasty shit makes you feel better about your own pathetic life."

My glare softens. "I don't want to hurt you," I say, feeling like a piece of shit. "I'm sorr—"

The words are drowned out by the sudden countdown being chanted by everyone in the bar. It's loud, louder than the music and I'm suddenly very aware that Gabby and I are pressed together while midnight looms just seconds away.

Both of us look as if we want to escape, but it's awkward.

Kissing at midnight isn't essential but half of the bar has paired up with someone special or not special, for some people it really doesn't matter. I'm sure complete strangers will lock lips just for the sake of a New Years kiss.

"You want a midnight kiss?" I ask, thinking it doesn't have to be weird if it's a one off for the sake of the occasion.

She looks surprised, her gaze falling to my mouth and every time she does that, it makes my dick twitch.

"Do you?"

Four

I sigh. "I'm asking you."

"And I'm asking you!"

One

"Fuck it," I say, grabbing the back of her neck as midnight strikes. Our mouths meet and I have to contain the groan building in the pit of my chest because she has the softest mouth and her hair is like silk under my fingers.

Her hands hold my biceps, her mouth doesn't open for me but it doesn't matter because it's arousing enough as it is. My other hand slips onto the lower of her back, giving her the slightest tug forward as our kiss dissolves.

Before our lips part, my tongue licks out, lapping at her bottom lip and I give it a gentle bite.

When we draw back, I notice the way she's on her tip toes and something about that makes my dick strain in my jeans. She has a dazed look in her face, her hands slip from my arms and she lowers back down to her flat feet. My heart is pounding out of my fucking chest and I hope she doesn't notice.

"Happy New Year," I say, voice rough and probably too quiet considering the cheering going on around us. She hears me though.

She tucks her hair behind her ear. "Happy New Year."