His Game: Chapter Five
As promised, I arrive at Joey's house exactly 30 minutes before sunset Sunday night. As I roll into her short driveway, I see Joey already standing by her bike, wiping off parts with a rag and a proud smile.
I get off of my bike and put my helmet underneath my arm, sauntering over to her. At dinner the other night, we didn't talk about our bikes as much as I was expecting.
"Navy blue," I comment, glancing at the color of her bike, "How cute."
She glances up at me through her strawberry hair, dark eyelashes clearly visible even beneath her hair. "You can laugh, but as opposed to your, eh, cute Cruiser, I have six speed, 8-valve, high torque, high performance, and the list goes on and on."
I smirk at her response and don't offer any rebuttal. She's right. She has a nice bike. Instead I glance at her house, noticing the truck in the garage signaling at least one parent is home. So I shift my eyes back to her.
"So, do I get to meet your family this time?"
She snorts in response and grabs her helmet from where she had it lying on the ground right next to her motorcycle. "If we don't leave now we'll miss the sunset," she drawls, sending me a small smirk before slipping the helmet on and mounting her bike.
I watch as she moves to the end of her driveway and walk back to my bike, slipping on the helmet and pulling up next to her. I lift the lens and smirk at her.
"You ready?"
She revs her engine in response.
She follows me down the road, onto the highway and quickly off to take back roads for the rest of the drive to reach my spot. We soon hit the mountains just a few miles away from where we live in Mountain View, California, and then we're driving down winding country roads.
It's the perfect trail for someone with a bike. Little to no cars, winding roads, and at the end a breathtaking view anyone can appreciate.
Joey isn't even close to the first girl I've brought here. This is one of my favorite spots to take the girls that play my game. There is something about an overlook that a guy goes 'out of his way' to take a girl to that sets the mood.
However, Joey is the first to ride up next to me instead of with me.
Usually the girls are on the back of my Cruiser, holding onto me for dear life and in the process subconsciously making me their hero for acting so brave on something they're terrified of.
I'm telling you. Making a girl get into bed with you is just a simple formula, and this ride is one of the most important ingredients.
I glance over at Joey on her own bike, riding dangerously close to me but without a slimmer of worry in her posture, and I smirk.
This is certainly different, and may require a slightly different recipe.
I'm impressed with her. It's one thing for a girl to have her own bike and another to see how she rides it. And Joey certainly owns hers. Seeing someone so confident on a socially claimed dangerous vehicle is enough to turn any guy on.
I'm impressed, yes, but not impressed enough to worry about the stakes of the game. It's clear to me my feelings towards her, much like the others before her, are no more than lust. I am impressed enough to pull a few more tricks out of my sleeve to get her into by bed, though.
We reach the overview after a twenty minute ride and both get off of our bikes, walking over to the edge. This view is unlike most of what the city of Mountain View offers. This city is already gorgeous with a breathtaking view offered from the top of nearly any building, but up here in the mountains we are far enough away from the city to overlook the entire thing.
The ocean is way off in the distance. With the fading daylight it's barely visible, but there's enough of it to be mesmerizing as the light bounces off of it. As for the city, with the lack of light pollution, once the sun goes down you can pinpoint every single building lit up against the night sky.
There's really no view more beautiful.
Joey looks out for a few moments, breathing it all in. I smirk as I watch her eyes dance across the endless landscape in front of us with an awestruck expression; that's exactly what I wanted.
But then she shifts her eyes to me and gives a sly look.
"So, what do you usually do with your girls now? I can safely assume that, like the restaurant, I'm not the first girl you've brought here."
I chuckle and lean against the old wooden fence built here years and years ago. This spot has been forgotten about by most of the city; I've never seen anyone else within the last year I've been bringing girls here.
"Well, normally I'd be clawing them off of me after the ride," I say.
Joey laughs; that high pitched, squeaky tune, and glances back at the view. "So you like to go for the princess in distress type of girls then?"
"Not all the time," I say, sending a pointed look at her.
She catches on to my insinuation and smirks slightly, "What do you do after clawing them off of you?"
I mirror her lips, "The view usually works for itself."
She glances at it and then back at me with a quirked brow, "How so?"
And there's the million dollar question.
"Well," I start as I glance out at the setting sun, "They usually stare out at the view, and I'll watch with them for a few moments. But after a minute or so, I shift my gaze to them."
I move my eyes to Joey, the setting sun hitting right at both of our eyes to make them gleam in the dying sunlight.
I could not have timed this better; sunlight on my green eyes is impossible for any girl not to notice.
"And after a moment or two," I continue, stepping closer to her, "they start to notice that I'm looking at them instead of the city, and I'll make some sort of comment on how nice the view is," I grin. "Then, once they pick up on the flirting, they look over at me. The mood is already perfect by that point, so I'll reach out a hand and brush some hair behind their ear," I say, reaching out to do that exact thing to Joey.
This time my voice comes out quieter, softer, as I look into her caramel eyes. "Then I rest my hand on their cheek, and they lean into my touch," I say, slowly pulling her face closer to mine, "and by this point they don't know what to focus on other than me, so I pull them closer to my lips and-" my minty breath fans across her skin, and I wait for her to move in.
I hope I remembered to grab the condom off of my night stand...
"And that really works?" She whispers in shock, and my entire demeanor crumbles.
That was not what she was supposed to do.
I drop my hand from her face and take a small step back, clearing my throat with a small chuckle. "Most of the time, yeah it does," I admit, "But, then again, I usually don't narrate as I do it. Kinda takes away the excitement."
Joey tilts her head as she eyes me, a small sliver of cockiness dancing across her gaze from the lack of effect that whole thing had on her.
"Don't look so proud," I say, "That's one move of many."
She chuckles, "Why go to these lengths to please the girls if you have no intentions of falling in love?"
I can't help the deep smirk that gets rooted to my face at that question. "Well...most of the time it isn't just the kiss they give up after I take them here."
Realization hits her and she nods, putting her focus back on the view.
"It is really pretty. I'll give you credit for that," she says.
I watch Joey's mesmerized eyes, slowly moving over the vast land out in front of us, and I tilt my head. I wonder how many views like this she's seen moving around so much.
"Where'd you move to Mountain View from?" I ask.
She keeps her eyes on the last of the setting sun, watching the shadows dance over the city. "A base on the east coast. The sunsets weren't this pretty," she hums before glancing at me. "What about you?"
I shrug, "I've lived here my whole life."
"Must get boring to stay in the same place for so long," she comments.
"Must get boring moving around so much."
She smirks slightly, "Deflection, interesting."
Her response evokes a small chuckle out of me. "Well, does it?"
She sighs and looks back out as the last few beams of sunlight disappear and all that's left to see are the lights of the city. "You learn to love it. New town every six months or so? Lots of new faces to befriend."
I scrunch up my face, "You have to start over every time."
She glances at me with a small grin, "Opens up the opportunity to screw up every now and then."
I quirk a brow, "You screw up a lot?"
She stays quiet for a few seconds, eyes focused on the city, and then turns so that her back is leaning on the old wooden fence and she's looking at our bikes instead. "I don't stay many places long enough to screw up."
"Must be tough."
She shifts her eyes to me and shrugs away any worry, "Like I said, you get used to it. Besides, I've seen a lot of this country."
"Like where?" I ask.
"New York City, we stayed at a base near there for a month or so, I've lived in three different Florida cities, been to Disney World twice, stayed in Virginia, Alabama, Chicago, Arizona. Then back to Virginia, and now here." She says, barely blinking an eye.
But I'm shocked. I knew from what Roger and Dino told me that Joey's moved around a lot, but she's only 18 and she's already lived in seven states.
She shifts the topic of conversation, however, and turns to me with the confident grin she often has. "So, Rhett Calvetti, tell me. Why'd you start this game in the first place?"
I smirk at her, "I want to fall in love."
She rolls her brown eyes, so dark now with no sunlight that I can barely make out their color. "Ha ha, now try and tell me the real reason."
I lean closer to her, "If you tell me why you were busy last night."
Joey grins and takes the small step to be closer to me, pushing off of her position on the wooden fence to gently rake a finger down my chest.
"Now Rhett, you think that just because you took me to see a pretty sunset that I'll tell you all of my secrets?"
I grin and snake my hands around her waist, "Well, Joey, that certainly was the plan. Along with other things."
She smirks and trails her hands painfully slow up my chest and loops them around my neck. She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth, making my mind go crazy with want, before answering. "Like what?"
"Whatever you want," I smoothly reply.
She eyes me for a few seconds, and then her hands trail down my back and I have to hold back a pleased shudder. Then, I notice her hands dip dangerously low and I quirk a brow with a small smirk.
This plan may have worked out after all.
But next thing I know, Joey pulls her hand into view with the condom from my pocket in between her fingers.
Hey, I did remember it.
She quirks a brow as she looks at it and then shifts her eyes back to mine. "Regular, hmm."
I honestly don't even know how to respond to what just happened. But Joey doesn't seem fazed and hands it back to me, walking towards her bike.
"Better keep that," she says over her shoulder.
I watch as she mounts her bike, slipping the condom back into my pocket, and follow after her.
Don't worry buddy, you'll get used eventually.
"You don't think tonight was the perfect time?" I question smoothly, showing I'm not at all fazed by what just happened.
She eyes me before putting on her helmet, "Didn't we go over this the other night?"
With that, she starts the bike and starts driving off without me, and I quickly follow. Once we get back to her house, she pulls her bike into the garage and I go to the top of her driveway.
"I actually had a good time," she says as she places it in its spot, "Thank you for showing me your not-so-secret spot."
I smirk, "Anything for you, Joey."
She snorts and starts on her way inside, but then she pauses before reaching her door, and I instantly smirk.
It took a little longer than I expected, but at least I'll get a kiss out of this night. Of course, usually I'd be getting a lot more than just a kiss after taking a girl to that view, but with Joey I've already accepted that things are going to go a little differently.
But instead of a kiss, she crosses her arms and eyes me. "By the way, you're trying a little too hard."
I narrow my eyes, "At what?"
She eyes me up and down, lingering on my leather jacket and ripped jeans, and answers as she heads back towards the front door, "To be a biker punk." Then, before I can respond, she opens the door and glances at me over her shoulder, "And to keep your record with your game."
I blink at the door after she shuts it.
I do not try to be a biker punk.
My phone buzzes a few seconds later, pulling me from my annoyed daze.
Joey: Don't be so stalkerish and watch my door after I've gone inside... Text me when you get home safe Punk.
There was potential for me to smile at the message, if it weren't for the nickname she tagged onto the end of it. Instead of a smile, I scowl deeply and go to respond, but her message sends first.
Joey: Ah ah ah, no texting and driving. Now hurry along, you'll wake my little brother with your obnoxiously loud engine.
I glance up at the house and see her smirking at me from the window above the garage, and when she catches my eye she winks before closing the blinds.
I scowl at the window. As I leave, I make sure to rev the engine extra loud to show exactly how I feel about that nickname.
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Also I'm looking for covers for this book! My email is everlarkcatoniss(at)gmail.com