Chapter 46

It was only a matter of time before Mackenzie and I snuck away.

We stuck around for the first bar, Mackenzie teasing me incessantly when April and Will weren’t looking. Her fingers were scraping up the inside of my thigh, her tongue taking my earlobe into her mouth whenever she whispered in my ear. I don’t know how we managed to keep this away from April, but she was so wrapped up in my brother’s attention that it gave us a little breathing room.

She was always finding an excuse to touch me and it was driving me insane. I tried to remain unbothered, ignoring the overwhelming desire to bite my lips or stifle a moan, purely to wind my handsy girlfriend up.

I could barely hold myself together by the time we left the first bar, and Mackenzie knew it. The smug smile she had on her face was obvious as we walked hand in hand towards our next destination. I could tell by the look in her eye she was planning to continue the physical and mental teasing. But two can definitely play that game, and I played my part well.

Mackenzie wore a dress tonight, which worked wonders for my attempts at teasing her the way she did me.

So when we got to the second bar, with Will and April taking themselves off to dance almost immediately after we found a booth, they left the two of us alone to watch the drinks. Mackenzie was looking at me with her dark eyes, never breaking eye contact with me as she teasingly played with her straw before taking a sip, puckering her lips more than necessary.

Alcohol was well and truly in both of our systems. I was tipsy before but now I was borderline drunk, though every time Mackenzie touched me, I immediately sobered up.

My hand made its way under her skirt, and her attempts to wind me up faltered, and despite the volume of the music pumping around the room, I heard her breath catch in her throat.

Now, normally I would turn my nose up at people acting like this in bars and nightclubs – it comes across as rather tasteless. But we were hidden away at the back of the bar, nobody was paying us any attention, and I was not doing anything more than reminding her of what’s waiting for her when she finally caved and dragged me away.

Mackenzie makes me want to take risks, push myself out of my comfort zones I have so happily sat in before. She drives me insane in all the right ways, and when she acts like this, all of my inhibitions go flying out of the window.

I never craved Clay the way I do her. All I want to do is touch her, hold her, be with her. My thoughts are always of her. I don’t know how I’ve been able to concentrate at school, or on the soccer pitch. I’m always watching her, anticipating that smile she saves only for me.

I was enjoying the power of the situation, of my nails dragging up her thigh and settling high enough that my thumb felt the outline of her underwear.

The second that April and my brother returned to the table, Mackenzie downed her drink and dragged me out of the booth, muttering that we were going to dance. Will thought nothing of it, nodding and asking me if I could grab him a drink on my way back.

April knew otherwise. I could tell by the slight raise of her eyebrow and the ever-so-minute quirk of her lips as she made eye contact with me.

She knew, and I was definitely going to hear about it tomorrow.

We walked through the dance floor, weaving through other people dancing, my hand held tightly by Mackenzie’s.

We walked past the toilets, and Mackenzie pushed open a door that led us into a storage cupboard, piled with boxes of alcohol and cleaning equipment. I didn’t have much time to admire the decor before my back was against the closed door.

And that’s where we are now, present tense, bathed in darkness, Mackenzie’s hands running up my sides as her tongue battles with mine.

My skin feels feverishly on fire at her touch. Her hands burn a path from my shoulders to my wrists, her fingers tangling with mine. As her body presses tightly against me, her lips move from my own to my jaw to my neck, tongue trailing and leaving licking flames across my exposed collarbone, her teeth grazing across the sensitive spot at the crook of my neck.

The sensations coursing through me are utterly overwhelming as Mackenzie takes complete control and denies me the chance to touch her. With my hands still gripped firmly in hers, it’s like she’s torturing me for how I’ve acted, how I’ve failed to respond to her teasing the way I normally would.

I’ve had enough.

I pull my hands from hers and bury them in her hair, pulling her lips back up to mine and smashing my mouth against hers. I pull her soft blonde locks slightly, relishing in the soft moan that she parts against my lips, her fingernails digging into my waist. With a firm grip around her, I flip our positions, pressing her back against the door as she gasps, my knee sliding between her legs and pressing roughly enough to make another moan slip past her bee-stung lips.

I’ve never felt myself lose control the way I’m doing now. All of our kisses before have been sweet, slow and heated. Our makeout sessions have marginally gotten out of hand in the past, but we’ve never felt the overwhelming need to do this before. You could describe it as a feral need for one another and I’ve never felt that before, with Clay or anyone else I had crushes on growing up.

Mackenzie makes me feel things I’ve never experienced in my lifetime, and I hope it never stops.

I almost lose control completely when I feel Mackenzie grind down fervently against my knee, my stomach turning in knots at the noises escaping her throat. Despite how desperately I want to feel her, I force myself to take my time with her. I revel in the feeling of her shivering against my fingers as they drag up her thighs, the desperate moans against my lips as I refuse to touch her where she so desperately needs me to.

My lips attach to her throat as I brush my fingers over the edges of her underwear, Mackenzie’s head rolling back and resting on the door behind her.

“Alex, please.” She breathes almost desperately, her hands pushing my own towards where she wants them. “Don’t make me beg anymore.”

I pull my lips away from her skin and hover them a breath away from her own. She’s panting, her chest heaving against my own, grey eyes hidden from me with the lack of light.

“But I love it when you do.”

And when I finally give in to her longing pleas, my lips press hard against her own, relishing in the feeling of her soft moans vibrating through my mouth. Her hips move in time with my hand, my other buried in her hair again, pulling her head back and exposing the soft skin of her throat.

“Don’t stop.” Mackenzie gasps, her hips rolling forward, breathing becoming laboured and nails dragging down my back, breaking the skin on my shoulder blade. I hiss in pain at the sting as I move my hand faster, Mackenzie resting her head on my shoulder, her teeth biting into my skin to stifle her moaning.

Feeling her like this, unravelling in the palm of my hand, because of me, is the greatest gift Mackenzie could’ve given me. She’s always been in control, and I’ve always let her, but now I’m leaving her completely at my mercy, and it is the most heavenly sensation. I savour everything about this moment. Her desperate breathing, fanning across my skin. The way her lips move between the skin on my shoulder and my lips, a careless neediness in her kisses.

And then she comes completely unravelled around my fingers, moaning my name in such a sexy way that nearly sends me over the edge without her even touching me.

I give her one last kiss, savouring the way her mouth moves slowly and tiredly against my own. It’s soft and all too quick, but I remain satisfied with the knowledge that I get to go back to the hotel with her and finish what we started.

“I love you,” Mackenzie mumbles, connecting our lips again too briefly for my liking. “That was amazing.”

“We can finish this off back at the hotel,” I smirk, even though she can’t see me. “But we’ve left April and Will at the table, and I know she’s worked out what we’ve been doing.”

~•~

I wake to light breaking through a crack in the curtain and falling across my face. I thought I’d feel hungover, simply because of the lack of sleep and the amount of wine I drank. But I feel our closet escapade sobered me up, and I didn’t really drink much past that point because all I wanted to do was get Mackenzie back into the hotel.

And when we did, I swear I saw stars.

I smile at the memories of last night. Finding myself naked after a night out for once does not fill me with dread at the thought of drunken mistakes the way it did at the beginning of the year. I feel safe with Mackenzie, and waking with my head on her bare chest, with my face nuzzled into the crook of her neck, I know I don’t regret last night at all.

I shuffle in bed, pausing at the ache between my thighs. Mackenzie paid me back tenfold for our trip to the storage room, and I returned the favour again, and again. And again. We went to sleep when we finally passed out from exhaustion, and now I’m feeling it. I’m still tired, and I feel myself slipping back into sleep at the feel of Mackenzie tightening her grip around my bare waist.

Her lips ghost across my bare skin and I find myself smiling, releasing a small sigh of contentment. I know she’s still asleep, I can both feel and hear her short, even breathing on the back of my neck. I love how even though she’s dead to the world, she still pulls me closer, like she’s still aware that I’m with her.

I peek a look at my girlfriend as she sleeps. Her hair fans out across the pillow like a golden halo, and somehow she’s managed to keep her makeup on without smudging it all over her face like I managed to. She looks so peaceful, her long, dark eyelashes brushing against her high cheekbones. I don’t know how I’ve gotten so lucky, not only to be sharing the same bed as her, but to be able to call her my girlfriend.

I could honestly stay like this forever, but I don’t want to spend our weekend in the city in bed. We do enough of that back home.

We had a look online yesterday before we met Will and April and there’s a college soccer game happening over at UPenn, which we’ve decided to attend as we both really want to see the university we’re both applying to go to in the fall. We caught glimpses of the training centre and the sports facilities before, but I really want to see the campus, even if it’s only briefly as we walk through.

I let Mack sleep for a little bit longer before gently waking her, placing soft kisses across her cheeks and nose. “Kens, we need to get up for the soccer game.”

Mackenzie groans, digging her head further into her pillow, one hand releasing its grip on my waist to rub the sleep from her eyes. “Can’t we just stay here forever and never leave?”

I chuckle, placing a kiss under her ear and revelling in the sight of her smile. “As much as I would love that, we already bought tickets, and April and Will are meeting us at the tailgate in a few hours.”

I see one of her eyes sneak open, the iris appearing almost white in the morning light. A small smile breaks out on her face as she stretches, her arms rising above her head and bracing on the headboard until I hear her back click. “Ah, I feel awake now.”

“Thank god for that.” I tease, bracing myself on my arms above her, the necklace she bought me for Christmas brushing against her bottom lip. It’s the only thing I’m currently wearing, the bottom half of my body concealed under the thin cotton sheets of the bed. “I quite like you when you’re awake.”

“Oh?” Mackenzie muses, her hands settling on my waist, her slender fingers dipping below the curve of my hipbone under the sheets. I can feel my skin break out in goosebumps as the pads of her fingers gently skim down the outside of my thighs and back up again, the sultry look in her eyes burning every inch of me as she slowly drags her appreciative gaze down and back up. “And why is that?”

“Because then I can do this,” I mutter as I lean in and capture her lips with my own. They’re warm, soft and familiar. I can still taste the remnants of the alcohol from last night, and she still smells like her perfume. She feels like home to me, and I take comfort in the constant warmth that spreads out from my chest every time she kisses me.

“Mhm.” Mackenzie hums against my mouth, both of us pulling away when we need air. “I prefer being awake too.”

I smile and kiss her quickly again before rolling off her and standing up. “I’m getting in the shower, you joining me?”

I’ve never seen Mackenzie move so quickly, and I’ve sent her running several times for a soccer ball during a game. I laugh at her eagerness, dragging her into the shower behind me and forcing her to wash my hair for me in between kisses and wandering hands.

Eventually, we’re ready, without a moment to spare, as April begins bombarding me with messages about where we are. Thankfully, I don’t have to lie, and I quickly tell her that we’re leaving the hotel and should be at the stadium soon. The hotel is only a fifteen minute walk away from the university, hence why Mackenzie booked it. She wanted us to have the chance to see the campus without much travelling being required, and walking through the UPenn campus, even without getting to go inside any of the buildings, is more than I could’ve hoped for.

Walking through the quad, past the science buildings, hell, even catching a glimpse of the sports grounds, makes me even more desperate to move here in the fall. My big chance to grab the sports scholarship I so desperately want lies in the hands of the State finals next week, and whilst I know my parents have enough money to fund my entire college experience, I want to fund my own time at college. I don’t want to use my parents’ money as a crutch for much longer.

“You okay?” Mackenzie asks as we start to hear the noise from the tailgate occurring in the stadium parking lot. She squeezes my hand reassuringly, and I rest my head on her shoulder.

“I’m good,” I reply honestly. “Just being here makes me realise how badly I want to come here next year. It just adds more pressure to the state game next week.”

Mackenzie kisses my head softly, humming in agreement. I don’t feel too bad that we’re slightly late as April’s with my brother, so she’s not alone. By the time we arrive at the tailgate, I spot her happily munching on a hotdog in between kisses with Will, so I see she’s not exactly desperate for us to turn up.

Will is wearing his football shirt, showing his support for the university, his mops of curls hidden underneath a cap he’s wearing backwards and April is wearing a matching shirt over a grey hoodie and jeans. I opted to wear one of the shirts I stole from Will last year during his freshman year underneath my UPenn sweater so I fit in with the flocks of college students drinking, dancing, and chanting in the parking lot. I didn’t feel the need to put on any makeup, neither did Mackenzie. We didn’t really give ourselves much time to ponder over appearances, and just about had time to dry our hair and brush our teeth.

Hell, the tips of my dark locks are still damp, so I ended up throwing my hair into a bun on my head. Mackenzie still thinks I’m beautiful and frankly, that’s all that matters.

“Hey.” Will’s smile brightens as he catches sight of us walking over. He passes Mackenzie and me a beer from the cooler at his feet. “Glad you could make it. We can head in soon, they’re about to open the doors.”

“Sounds good,” I reply, twisting the top off my drink and taking a small swig. I wince at the taste of alcohol, my body not ready to consume anymore. I thought I wasn’t hungover in my head. I didn’t wake up feeling too bad, but my body is definitely not willing to drink anymore. I discreetly put my bottle on the floor, deciding I don’t really want to drink anymore. “How are you guys okay with drinking more.”

“Well we danced more than we drank, which I know is not the case for you two.” April smirks, throwing a discreet glance my way that I immediately understood. Luckily my dim brother thought she was talking about alcohol.

Because what she really meant was “Oh I know what you got up to last night and it definitely wasn’t dancing.”

I can see the tips of Mackenzie’s ears turn pink at her statement, looping her arm around my waist whilst discreetly hiding them under her hair. She pulls me close and drops a kiss on my exposed shoulder. “How mortifying.”

“Well, shall we go in,” I say bluntly, plastering a fake smile on my face for my oblivious brother. “I want to grab decent seats for the game.”

April chuckles at my attempt at moving the conversation away from her all but announcing she knows what we got up to last night, and I would much rather save that conversation for when my brother isn’t around.

Luckily, she catches my drift and drops the topic, at least for now. Though I’m fully expecting her to turn up at my house later tonight for all of the details. She just can’t help herself.

Mackenzie quickly runs off to grab us some food from the concessions stand before the game starts, so we quickly take our seats right on the halfway line, not even bothering to attempt conversation given the volume in the stadium. All the students are screaming now because the team has just come out to warm up on the pitch, and I spot Mackenzie shuffling towards us, her hands full of food and a bottle tucked under her arm.

“Thank you.” I smile sweetly, pecking her quickly on the lips as I take my food from her hands, grinning like a Cheshire cat at the sight of a bacon double cheeseburger and fries, along with a packet of Sour Patch Kids.

“You better be grateful,” Mackenzie grumbles, dropping into her seat and taking a bite out of her chicken burger. “I had to take a loan out to afford all this dumb stuff.”

“I definitely appreciate it.” I nuzzle my head into the crook of her neck, feeling her lips smile against my forehead. “Definitely thank you.”

“You can tell me you’re welcome later.”

“Mackenzie!”

~•~

Well you fvcking horndogs. Beg and pester me enough and you will finally receive. You all better appreciate getting that out of me because it was mortifying to write!!!!

WELL – what did you guys think?! I hope you liked the sort of filler chapter I have given you, and you guys finally got what you wanted – SMUT ugh 

This book is finally winding down guys I’m sorry to say, I feel like the end is two or three chapters away. I have already decided that I will be doing an epilogue to give other parts of the storyline closure, but Alex and Mackenzie’s story is going to beno more soon 🙁

You guys better not be silent readers, because if you are they’re breaking up in the final chapter – don’t think I won’t do it!!!!!!

Once again, I need to give a massive shout out to @Pinksterr12 who has once again done an AMAZING job of editing the chapter for me, including helping me out with the smut for you dirty, dirty lot. If you haven’t already checked out her work – go and read “COMFY CLOSETS” it is honestly my favourite gxg book on this app and genuinely it gave me the confidence to write this one! So please show her some love.

Love you all!

Lauryn xoxo