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As we stood up, he randomly pulled me into a hug in the midst of us flailing around in the ocean. When we got out of the water, he picked his blankets and jacket up off the sand and covered my shoulders with it. Soon after, he walked me back to the car and we were still soaking wet. "This was the most fun I've had in a long time," I said smiling through my shivers.
"All because of me, you're welcome babe," he smirked at me and started the truck up. I got in on the other side and tried to warm up.
"It's past midnight, are you sure about sleeping in a truck tonight?" I nodded, "Are you?"
"I'm sure I have a bit more experience than you do." I gave him a 'keep going' look.
"I haven't been to this lighthouse just to take my siblings to see it. I may have camped out here for a little while during some not so great times in my life. My mom and I got into a fight a few weeks ago and I moved out," he said as I started putting pieces together. That must of been why he had so many blankets in his truck.
"Yeah," I leaned my head on his shoulder and tried to think of anything to say to ease his mind.
"Right, I um crashed at Neo, Mark, or Brian's place for a few days. But I felt like a burden or I didn't want to have to explain it to their families. It was easiest to stay at Neo's because his parents were either out of town or too busy to care. Piper came over a lot too and, trust me, you don't want to third wheel on them. They don't care if you're in the house, they will still have sex," he looked like a vision of the two of them popped into his head.
He cringed at the memory, "They didn't stop. I've seen both of them naked way more than I wanted too. Some nights it was best to stay with Dark Knight."
I traced the outline of his face with my fingers, "I hate that happened to you, but did you just call this truck Dark Knight, like Batman?"
We both laughed, "She's always been here for me and who doesn't like Batman?"
"Aw, you're a little nerdy. That's cute," I pinched his cheek like I was a little old grandma.
He did his signature eyebrow lift and I saw a mischievous look grace his face. "Let's play a game."
"What kind of game," I questioned. "It's not sexual, is it?"
He chuckled, "I'm a gentleman. It's a winner and losers' type of game."
"Sounds intriguing," I laid back against the window and smiled.
"Whoever stays awake the longest wins," he took off his wet shirt nonchalantly earning an uncontrollable look from me.
"What? It was wet," his smile was getting wider and wider by the second as more articles of his clothing started coming off.
I nodded and attempted to hide my blush, "Sure, so what do I get when I win?"
"Winners choice but be warned I can stay up all night," he cracked his knuckles and neck like he was preparing for battle.
I shook my head, "I took a nap today, so I am wide awake. You've been sweating and running around all day and I saw you yawn earlier."
He kissed my knuckles, "We'll see at the end of the night."
"You never told me why you were late to my game." He rubbed circles into my hand that rested on his face. "It was family-related."
"Oh. Are we going to leave it at that because I've been sharing a lot about myself today? I want to know about you," he said before I nodded.
That was a fair statement and I felt comfortable enough to tell him. "This morning my dad texted me and asked if I wanted him to come to get me from school. I freaked out and had another panic attack."
His face fell, "At school? Are you alright?"
It was cute that he was so worried about me. "I'm much better now. And no, it was before you picked me up and before I got into a fight with my brother. Anyway, I told him to come and he took me to his apartment in the city. It was kind of unpleasant, but we started talking. More like yelling, but that took up a lot of time."
My fingers crossed his lips, "It was over my mom and my brother. You've seen Denny since he came back. All the bruises and the cast, that was because of him."
Banks pierced his lips together, "Did he hurt you?" He had an intensely serious look on his face.
"Not physically, emotionally he crushed me. I was hoping I could actually get some answers out of him, but it turned into a screaming match. One that was followed by an extremely awkward dinner, but ultimately I'm happy I saw him.
"Why didn't you tell me he texted you this morning?" He seemed a little hurt by my lack of communication.
"I didn't know if I was going or not. But I'll be okay, hopefully," I dismissed the conversation.
"Okay," he said with his expression softening.
"Do you think about your dad often?" He wiped my eyes that I didn't even notice were starting to well up.
"Honestly, I try not to. He's some dickhead that ran out on his family a long time ago. I... left something out about him when we were talking earlier. He's not just roaming out there somewhere. He's... incarcerated," he talked with shame behind his words.
"What? What did he do?" I knew it sounded judgmental but I spoke without thinking.
"Oh you know, just minor crimes like drug possession, distribution, and child endangerment. And it wasn't even us. He dipped before that and put some random girls kids in danger." He bit his lip furiously before he tried to shake it off and repress his emotions.
"Why did you do the same thing then? Like, why did you run away from your family?" The subject matter was so serious that I wasn't even paying attention to the fact that he was left only wearing underwear.
He hesitated to speak, "This is going to sound selfish of me, but my mom got a new boyfriend. I knew she liked him, but I didn't think he was any good. Plus, they were dating for less than two months and she moved him in with her three boys. People are creepy these days and you can't let just anybody be around your kids."
Once he started verbalizing his feelings he couldn't stop. "He was always picking fights with me and trying to discipline the boys. It wasn't his place to lay a finger on them, saying they need to be taught a lesson. I told my mom it was either me or him and she didn't answer."
"So, I packed up and I left. After three weeks, my little brothers begged me to come back and I couldn't do what dad did to them any longer. I came back, and her boyfriend became a fiancé. I'm only there to make sure those boys are safe. They mean the most to me." His family may have been more messed up than mine.
"She just let you leave for three weeks? Wait, more importantly, she's marrying the guy?" I was floored by those revelations.
"I told her I was at Neo's house and that the Zhao's were taking decent care of me. She probably thought it was better than me being at home. I'll still leave sometimes when I can't deal with that guy anymore. But I can't stand to see the boys look at me the way they do when I'm gone too long." His free hand was roaming through his hair and then over his face.
"You're so much more than I thought you would be," I squinted my eyes.
He looked at me like thoughts were filling his mind. "Is that supposed to sound like a compliment because I'm not sure," he joked.
"No, I was trying very hard to offend you. Do I need to try harder?" I took his other hand in my own.
He pulled my hands closer to him, "I'm very offended right now, so you're going to have to stop holding my hand."
I gasped, "Oh no, that's the worst punishment you could possibly give me."
Gripping his hands harder he pulled me closer till we were mere centimeters apart. I could feel his breath on my cheeks and my heart was bumping around my chest. After all the hours I spent with my eyes on his lips, watching him talk, smile, laugh, smirk, it felt like I knew everything about them. Our lips were brought back together by some magical happenstance. It was a small, yet warm kiss that filled me up completely.
"It's been a long night. Are you ready to set up for bed? You just pull that little knob up and the seat will go back." He demonstrated on his side, and the seat went back with a bounce. "Or, you could get in the back and lay down?"
I smiled mischievously, "Or, there's a third option." I moved around the gear shift levers and the armrest in his chair, and then on his lap.
"I like what's behind door three," I giggled to mask my self consciousness coming into play.
I leaned back and jumped as I hit the steering wheel, and then I hit my head on the ceiling of the truck. "Ah, that wasn't as sexy as I intended for it to be."
"I disagree," he said in a husky tone that was less funny this time.
He shifted my legs and brought me closer so that I would be directly above his, yeah.
"Banks," I whispered as lips found my neck again. Everything went dark and I couldn't tell if it was because my eyes were closed or because he turned off the light. My fingers found his hair as I placed damp kisses on his dark brown locks. He took his jacket off me, slowly as the butterflies in my stomach swarmed.
His cold fingers crept under my oversized shirt to find my bareback, making me shiver. I felt his other hand starting to undo the buttons.
"Stop me, whenever you want," he whispered as he nibbled on my ear. I nodded, as my shirt came off and I was left wearing my bandeau top. He leaned back and took a longing gaze at me. After it came off, he stayed back there, and I could tell his eyes were all over me. I didn't know whether to still feel self conscious or not.
"You're so beautiful," I placed both of my hands on his chest and wanted to say something, but I couldn't think of the right words.
Or any words for that matter.
I leaned down and kissed his lips for five seconds and then pulled away. He was stroking my inner thigh with his thumb higher than it was before. I moaned as he touched material that had never been touched by hands other than my own.
I crashed our lips together and kissed him deeper than I once thought possible. His hips bucked up underneath me causing me to gasp. I trickled kisses up and down his chest as he kept the motion with his hips steady.
He pressed two of his knuckles into the seam of my jeans, "Banks." I tilted my neck to the side to give him more access. He started sucking along my jawline and then segued down my neck.
Then, his lips met my clavicle as I rubbed myself against him. He went back and forth between sucking, kissing, and licking the exposed skin. He was probably licking up my sweat because my entire person was on fire. He even gave me the occasional bite that made me giggle. "Vampire," I whispered.
He cupped my breast over my bandeau, and I immediately stalled.
"Is this okay?" He asked looking up at me almost nervously.
I nodded but couldn't speak.
"Is this okay?" He repeated as he sluggishly traced the area around my bra, all while never taking his eyes off mine. I put my hands over his, "I'm so sorry."
I leaned back against the steering wheel and tried to hold back tears by putting my hands over my face.
"What do you have to be sorry for?" He sounded confused but I was to busy being embarrassed to wonder why.
"I'm so stupid. I should be able to..."
When I didn't finish my sentence he said, "To do what Daya?"
"This... I'm sorry." I couldn't even look at him.
He gently removed my hands from over my face. "You have nothing to apologize for." He held my hands in a soothing manner but I still wasn't calming down.
"It's not that I don't want to. I'm not..." My lack of words were frustrating even to myself.
He searched for my eyes but I wasn't interested in making any contact with him. It made it so real that the whole ordeal was happening.
"Shh, look at me," he whispered.
I hung my head low, "No, this is so bad. I screw everything up."
Both of his hands found the side of my face as he put my hair behind ears. "Relax, we don't have to do anything tonight. This... this is good for me. We can keep this right here."
"It's okay." He wiped a tear that just so happened to fall out.
"You're a good guy, Banks. I truly believe that," I said teary and breathlessly.
"All of this TLC I'm giving you and all I get is good," he joked trying to level out the tension.
"Fine, how about excellent, commendable, honorable, charming, sexy, hilarious, affectionate?" I made a joke so I must've felt just a little better.
"Okay, you're making me blush," he kissed my shoulder.
I leaned back in and laid on his chest while looking up at him. "Honestly, I don't think you believe that about yourself. But I do. You don't give yourself as much credit as you should."
"You're reading me for the filth right now." He tried to play off my words as a joke but I wouldn't let him.
"You are a good person Banks. You are! And I can see that underneath the surface. I can't wait until you figure all that out for yourself," I spoke clearly and meant every word of it.
"This is what I meant when I said I like the way you see me." He half heartedly smiled at me.
I lightly pecked his lips, "Thank you... for calming me down."
He pulled the seat down further so that it was as far back as possible, which me yelp at the sudden movement. "It was," we both started to stay at the same time. "Amazing," I cooed.
"I was going to say spectacular, but that word works too," he leaned over the get his jacket from the armrest and place it over us. He ran his fingers through my hair as I watched his bare chest rise and fall.
"Goodnight," I said as I looked up at him with my light green eyes.
His dark blue eyes looked back down at me and said, "Goodnight. I'm still going to win this game though." In the end, I like to think we both won that night.
*Wow you guys, we just finished day five. We only have two more and I promise they don't disappoint!
How do y'all feel about this little Baya moment in the truck?
Remember to comment, follow and share! I'm so excited to continue the story.