Sparkling Hope (The Eastburgh Devils Series Book 1)

We stood there, and as I looked into his eyes, I realized how much I fell in love with him.

I wanted Weston to be the reason for every smile, every tear, and every cheesy butterfly in my stomach.

I wanted to experience and know all of life with him.

‘You’re staring again,’ I said, running my hands up his neck to his hair.

His grip on my waist tightened.

‘I can’t help it,’ he smiled.

My cheeks flushed, and I felt them tingle at his statement. I leaned back to cover my red face as I felt the vanity against my butt.

Like I said before. I was a lucky girl. If not the happiest on the planet.

He pulled me back to him, even closer than before, and I felt the bulge in his pants. I brought my hand to his cheek and erased the remaining distance between us, letting our lips melt into each other.

The kiss quickly turned into more.

I breathed shorter and faster, and Weston’s white t-shirt was quickly on the tile floor.

Weston lifted me onto the vanity, and I wrapped my legs around him, pressing him as close as possible.

He started kissing from my mouth to my ear, spreading short, soft kisses on my neck.

No matter where his hands slid over my body, they left a warm, tingling sensation. Weston’s hand slid from my thigh to my breast, still covered with the thin satin fabric, and stroked his thumb over my hard nipple.

‘Mhm,’ I moaned softly as I suddenly felt his kisses on the inside of my right thigh.

Weston’s hands slid up my thighs to the fabric of my underpants, and I felt his fingers tangling in the underpants before he pulled them down.

I was glad to sit on that washstand because my legs would have given up by now.

‘Let me taste that sweet pussy of yours, Luna,’ he murmured against my skin, and I felt goosebumps start to form over my skin.

The tip of Weston’s tongue touched my clit, and he gently began sucking on it, stimulating it with the tip of his tongue, giving me what I wanted most right now.

‘Fuck…Weston,’ I moaned as the movement of his tongue deepened on my pussy. I arched my back at his touch, tangled one hand in his hair, and propped myself up on the vanity with the other.

‘God, so good for me.’

I couldn’t get enough of his tongue, and I noticed him licking his tongue through my fold and stopping at my clit.

‘Keep going, please,’ I gulped.

Adrenaline flowed through my veins, and I felt a knot slowly forming in my abdomen.

‘Luna?’ I heard my name called.

Oh fuck.

‘Are you here?’

I couldn’t even place who was calling my name, but one thing was sure: this person couldn’t enter.

With his head between my legs, Weston was looking at the door too.

‘Oh shit,’ he whispered.

The knot in my abdomen pulled back, and I slid off the vanity and put my underpants back on.

‘Hello?’

Lucy.

A shadow on the other side of the glass door was approaching, and we had to do something to avoid being found like this.

‘Coming, give me a moment.’

I looked in the mirror and combed my hair with my fingers to make what had just happened here less noticeable. I turned my back to Weston and held my hair together in a braid with my hands. Weston knotted the dress back up neatly so the strap wouldn’t slide back down.

‘Are you all right? Do you want me to come in?’

‘NO!’ Weston and I both yelled at the same time.

I looked at Weston in shock and shook my head.

‘Ohhh,’ Lucy laughed, ‘I get it,’ she continued, and we saw the shadow on the milky door move away, and the thud of her heels on the wooden floor become quieter.

This was getting awkward, and it was all because of Weston because he had answered Lucy’s question.

‘Okay, we’re not standing out, are we?’

‘Come on down. She’s got us figured out anyway,’ he laughed.

I glanced in the mirror and did a final check, smoothing out the dress before leaving the bathroom.

‘You coming?’ I pushed the door from the bathroom to Trevor and Lucy’s bedroom open.

‘Uhm…I think I need a moment.’ Weston’s eyes glanced down at his pants, where he was holding his hands in front of his crotch.

‘Oh,’ I smirked.

Thanks to the cowboy boots, I didn’t have to stand on tiptoe to get our lips on the same level this time.

I gave him a kiss and turned around.

Weston pulled me back to him by my hand, and I felt his warm breath on my ear. ‘Just so you know, we’re not done yet. I’m still going to finish what I started.’

With a deep look, I looked at him and let what he just said sink in.

 ‘I’m not going to stop you from doing that.’

Downstairs, Lucy was already waiting by the stairs with two red cups in her hands. It had gotten much more crowded since I was last downstairs, and the air became quite stuffy.

‘Where’s Weston?’ she asked me wryly, trying to stifle a laugh.

‘Very funny.’

What was I supposed to say in response? I was sure she knew what Weston and I were doing in the bathroom, but I didn’t want to admit it.

Lucy hooked her arm into mine, and we found our way through the people. ‘So, is this something serious between you two?’

Some were standing in line at the Photo Booth in the corner of the living room. Others were playing beer pong, where I saw Carter and Henry, among others. Some were dancing, yelling to the blaring songs throughout the house, and Lucy and I were in the middle.

‘I think so, yes,’ I answered her question.

‘There you are.’ A visibly drunk Aria fell around our necks with her arms around us and hugged us.

‘Come on, let’s play beer pong.’

My best friend pulled me and Lucy along to the beer pong table, where canned beer was already being poured into the cups by Henry.

‘Hey,’ I greeted Carter and hugged him, joining the others.

I ran over to Aria and Lucy on the other side because it was boys versus girls this time.

The three of us against Henry, Charles, who came out of nowhere, and Carter.

The brunette glued to Carter whispered something else in his ear and went outside to the garden, where a large pool was in the ground. His eyes followed her until Henry smacked him across the chest.

‘Dude, here plays the music.’

‘Yeah yeah,’ he licked his lip and took a ping pong ball from the cup of water where we cleaned the balls.

Carter’s first throw hit one of the cups on our side, and he raised both arms to celebrate his throw.

He considered who to choose and finally pointed to Lucy, who latched onto the cup and downed it. This continued until we had four cups left, and the boys had six cups.

‘Paisley,’ Charles cheered drunkenly as she approached, and he put his arm around her shoulder.

Charles and Paisley had one and the same face.

Except that Charles’s face bore slight, short stubble on his jaw, and Paisley’s face adorned delicate, feminine features. Her hair was pinned with a dark blue hair clip, and two thin, curly strands hung down into her face.

Both had deep dark brown hair and blue eyes.

Paisley looked like an athlete.

She grinned at us and waved shyly.

I’ve known her just as long as I’ve known Charles, but definitely not as well as I knew Charles, which I always thought was a shame because I thought we would get along pretty well.

‘Are you going to play?’ her brother asked her, still with his arm around her and almost losing his balance.

‘I don’t know.’

‘Come on,’ Charles slurred, and Paisley supported him as he staggered backward a step.

‘Paisley, this is Lucy, Aria, and you already know Luna,’ he pointed.

‘Lucy, Luna, Aria, this is Paisley, my little sister,’ he hiccuped.

‘I’m two minutes older than you,’ she admitted.

‘But a head shorter, so my little twin sister.’

Paisley rolled her eyes and laughed. Their sibling relationship reminded me of my and Ethan’s, who was supposed to be here today, too, but a buddy on his relay team was re-celebrating his birthday.

‘Alright,’ she said, coming over to us.

I handed her the ball and looked over at the boys.

Carter drank from the cup he had been carrying since the game started and stroked his dark brown hair after he put the cup down.

‘You know, I don’t think I play anymore,’ he said, handing the ball to Henry.

‘You serious, Man?’

Henry looked at him indignantly while Charles, in his drunken state, hardly noticed anything of it,

‘Shut the fuck up, pussy. I’m not in the mood anymore, okay? Get over it, and don’t make a scene.’

Henry, wearing a tacky white cowboy hat with neon lights, as well as Carter, looked at him in confusion. His look described all of us what we were thinking right now. Paisley puffed beside me and shook her head as Carter looked at her.

Oh.

Carter pushed his way through the people, and a moment later, there was nothing but his neon cowboy hat.

‘What was that about?’ asked Lucy, annoyed.

‘Just let him be. Maybe he’s having a sexual frustration or something,’ Henry groused.

‘Carter and sexual frustration?’ asked Aria, confused as if that was something that absolutely didn’t go together.

Well, she wasn’t wrong.

‘Carter is just a little bitch sometimes,’ Charles gave his opinion as he sat down on the sofa and leaned back.

‘You’re serious?’ Henry held out his arms.

Out of three boys, only Henry was left.

‘That’s my man.’ Henry pointed a finger beside me until I felt a hand on my butt, and Weston came up next to me.

‘Where’s Carter?’ he asked.

Henry straightened his neon cowboy hat. ‘You serious? Why is everybody searching for someone at this party?’

‘He took off when Paisley showed up,’ I whispered in his ear, certain that this was no coincidence and that Weston knew more than anyone else standing around the table.

‘Oh, okay.’ He looked at Paisley and smiled at her.

‘I’ll go find him,’ he kissed the top of my head, and the grip on my butt disappeared.

Henry lowered his shoulders, and the muscles on his free torso relaxed. He was visibly disappointed that his friends left him hanging for beer pong.

Aria walked around the ping pong table to Henry’s side so he wasn’t alone. We kept playing, and Henry and Aria hit one cup after the other and won, although Spencer, who was actually pretty good at beer pong, joined Paisley’s and my team after Trevor grabbed Lucy and disappeared upstairs.

Some cups had vodka shots, and I had the last cup and was glad when the spicy liquid flowed down my throat, and the round of beer pong was over.

The round broke up, and I thought about looking for Carter because he was wearing one of those cowboy hats, just like Henry.

I hoped Carter would know where I could find Weston.

This party was a search party.

Everyone was always looking for someone.

‘Hey,’ I nudged Carter with my elbow, who was leaning against the kitchen counter, sipping on a bottle of beer.

‘Have you seen Weston?’

The kitchen was like Weston’s home in the same room as the living and dining rooms.

‘No, he was here until just now.’

I wasn’t going to bring up the Paisley subject directly because it was absolutely none of my business either, and I didn’t want to squeeze anything out of him that he might not want to, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to know what his tilting mood meant.

‘Here.’ Carter took off his glowing pink hat and placed it on my head.

‘So Weston can find you better among all the people,’ he laughed.

I grinned sheepishly. ‘Why didn’t you play along more?’

Carter usually seemed so confident, and this was the first time I’d seen him so intimidated and unsure around Paisley.

‘You’re pretty curious, Montgomery.’

‘Can be.’

‘You and Weston have that in common.’

He tried to deflect.

‘You’re distracting from the subject, Rhodes,’ I called him by his last name now, too.

‘Weston was pretty curious who you were when you went to Sigma Devils with Henry and Aria.’ Carter dumped the rest of his beer into his mouth, and in the next grab, he opened the next beer bottle and set to it.

‘Really?’

‘Yeah, he wanted to know more about you from the start, and that’s never typically Weston.’

As sweet as that sounded, and as much as I would have loved to hear more, my question wasn’t about that.

‘Do you have to go straight for another bottle?’

His Adam’s apple rose and fell as he downed the golden liquid.

‘But it tastes like—’ he began.

‘That you don’t have to think about Paisley?’ I finished his sentence.

‘Maybe,’ he mumbled, setting the beer down before him.

I knew it.

I was getting to know Carter pretty well, and I had two eyes in my head and caught their looks.

Suddenly the music stopped, and Trevor got on the dining room table, where beer bottles and mugs tipped over and banged on the floor. Trevor had a karaoke microphone in his hand, glowing in blue, red, and green, and tapping on it to see if it was on.

This tapping came through all the jukeboxes, and everyone’s face contorted as a shrill sound came from the speakers through the tapping.

‘Are you guys ready for the best night of your goddamn lives?’

Trevor yelled into the microphone, and everyone started clapping and yelling his name. So did Carter and me.

‘I hope you all got plenty of that noctilucent paint smeared on you. I want to see the most absurd things written on you when I turn on the black light in a minute.’

Trevor jumped down from the table, and I looked amazed that he hadn’t lost his balance with all the alcohol he had been drinking all evening. The music came back on, and shortly after, the black light.

Carter’s white top glowed, as did the white clothes of all the people in the house.

On his cheek was his back number thirteen written. My eyes went from the number on his cheek to his t-shirt where it said PUSSY MAGNET in capital letters. His arm, which was covered with tattoos, was also glowing because of the black light cream.

I looked up at Carter, who was looking at me almost as dumbfounded as I looked at his t-shirt.

‘What?’ I asked, confused.

‘Well…uhm…I don’t want to disrespectfully stare and scan you right now, but you have something all over your body.’ Carter pointed at my body, and I looked down at myself.

Holy crap.

I looked down at myself and realized directly what was on my white dress. Weston and I smeared the paste on each other, resulting in a make out session.

Handprints adorned my dress at the hip, and a handprint could be seen on my bare chest where the dress covered half of it, and only the fingertips were visible.

‘Oh my God, you guys are crazy,’ Carter laughed, holding his hand in front of his chest.

I absolutely did not feel like laughing.

I was swimming in pure embarrassment, and if it wasn’t so dark in this house, everyone would see how red I was in my face. I looked out into the crowd, hoping to find Weston again as soon as possible, and when I found him, he was already looking at me.

He looked exactly like me. My handprints on his shirt and on his crotch. Weston and I forgot to wipe off that noctilucent paint.

Fuck, fuck, and double fuck again.

Everywhere we touched was evident to everyone.

‘I think you don’t need my cowboy hat at all. You two light up like a light bulb.’

Carter was almost on the floor because he was laughing so hard.

‘Give me a minute.’

I pushed my way through the dancing, smelling of sweat and alcohol people, to Weston and grabbed him by the hand. In a quick stride, I pulled him up behind me.

‘Emergency, sorry…sorry,’ I apologized to the people standing in line outside the guest bathroom on the second floor.

At the perfect time, a girl came out of the bathroom, and Weston and I scurried past her and entered the small bathroom. After I locked it, I leaned against the bathrobe, which hung on hooks by the door.

‘Nice hat.’

‘Nice body paint.’

I put my hands over my mouth and stifled my laughter while Weston grinned and started laughing. I took a few steps toward him and leaned my forehead against his chest, and he put his arm around me.

‘Oh my God,’ I laughed.

‘You meant those were water soluble, right?’

‘Yes,’ I mumbled against his chest.

Weston walked over to the vanity and searched the cabinets and drawers for anything.

In a small drawer under the large sink, he pulled out a small white towel, still folded, and held it under the running faucet.

‘Come here. I’ll clean you up.’

I held out my arms, and he wiped my skin.

In the light, we couldn’t see if we got it all off, but the way he scrubbed over my skin, I was sure he removed the paint and any dander.

We also lightly wiped over the clothes.

The paint wouldn’t come off entirely there, but in the washing machine at the latest. It would be less unpleasant to be here at Trevor’s birthday party.

While Weston cleaned his arms and pants, and t-shirt, I used some water on my hand to remove Weston’s handprint, which was on my chest.

‘I think you should leave my handprint on your chest,’ he muttered as he wrung out the washcloth.

‘Give me one good reason why I should leave your handprint in that exact spot?’ I looked at Weston through the mirror.

‘Then everyone will know you belong to someone.’

‘People can tell without that print.’

The dress was wet in places, but I didn’t prefer to walk around like a light bulb, as Carter described my look. He put the small towel over the radiator and took me by the hand as he unlocked the door to the hallway. Immediately the next few pushed past us as we hadn’t left the small bathroom entirely.

We ran down the stairs, which were full of people, and the black light again showed its effect.

On my dress, as well as on Weston’s dark denim and his white t-shirt, a slight imprint was visible, but only if you looked really close. My grip on Weston’s hand tightened as we walked through the people to our friends sitting on the sofa.

I didn’t want to lose Weston in the crowd again.

There was one good thing about this somewhat awkward thing. It distracted me from the thought that my birthday was in thirty-three Minutes.

Thirty-three minutes and the accident would be one year ago.