by L A Cotton
“Don’t give me that.” I felt her suspicious glare. “You’re hooking up with someone on the sly.”
“I am not,” I snapped, meeting her gaze.
“Fine, be like that. It’ll all come out eventually. It always does,” Elena huffed, shoving another stix into her mouth.
Ana caught my eye and smiled sympathetically but I couldn’t return it. Even though she was the one person that might understand my predicament, I couldn’t tell her. I’d made a promise to Dennis—no matter how hard it was lately to keep.
“So, Mari didn’t come,” Lydia changed the subject and I could have kissed her.
“Did you only just realize that, Lyd?” Talia laughed, but it quickly trailed off when none of us joined in. “Wait, what am I missing?”
Lydia filled her in on our friend Paul’s new girlfriend. “Whatever Paul sees in her, I’ll never know. She tried to ask me for sex advice, Ana. Wanted detailed rundowns and everything.”
Laughter filled the air. Even I managed a smile.
“She’s asking the wrong person. You should have directed her to T,” Elena smirked and Talia threw a napkin at her.
“Hey, bitch. Not cool.”
“What? It’s true. You love cock.”
“Loved. Past tense. I love one cock now. Jarrod’s.” She shrugged, like talking about her boyfriend’s dick was no big deal.
“Whoa, too much information,” Ana and I said at the same time. How had the conversation turned back to sex again?
“Oh, come on, we’re all friends. Everyone is getting regular cock except Cassie, but that’s open for debate. Apparently.”
“Can we please not,” Ana grumbled. She wasn’t like Elena and Talia who insisted on oversharing their sex lives.
“You’re not a prude are you, Ana? I bet Jackson is well hung, like a donkey. Come on; is he as good between the sheets as every girl on campus imagines he is?” Talia pushed her.
“Seriously!” Ana’s eye went wide with horror. “I’m not answering that.”
“Come on, chica. It’s just us, your best girlfriends. Give us something. Anything. He’s a stallion in bed, right? I bet he can go allll night long?” Elena sang, swishing her head in time with the tune.
They watched her, eagerly awaiting an answer. Even Lydia leaned across the table like a dog after a bone.
“You guys are freaking me out a little.”
“Ana, we’ve known you for two years, and I don’t think we’ve ever just had a good ole gossip. We’ve never talked boys or sex. Not unless it involved tears or cursing. Come on, chica. It’s time to join the sisterhood.”
“Sisterhood. You’ve got to be shitting me,” she mumbled with an eye roll.
“Ana…”
Uh oh. She was in trouble now. Elena wasn’t going to let this drop. And part of me felt sorry for Ana. The other part was a tad curious about Jackson. I mean, who wouldn’t be? He was practically the most popular guy on campus.
“Fine.”
“Oh, goody.” Lydia bounced up and down.
“Sex with Jackson is… hmm, well, it’s intense.”
“Intense? That’s what you’re giving us?”
“What? You asked, I told.”
“Nah-ah, chica.” Elena wagged her finger. “We want the good stuff.”
Elena draped her arm around Ana’s shoulder and hugged her. “The good stuff. Does he make you come? Does he make your body sing? Does he know exactly how to get you off?”
Heat pooled in my stomach as my thoughts turned to Dennis and the way he played my body like a violin. Jesus, I needed to cool off before someone bitched me out again. Thankfully Ana answered, keeping the focus on her. “Sex with Jackson is everything. He knows my body inside and out.”
Lydia sighed beside me as Ana smiled to herself, stood up and added, “And he makes me come every damn time.”
Elena beamed as the rest of us picked our jaw’s up off the floor. Who knew Ana was a dirty little sex kitten underneath her quiet withdrawn exterior? Not that I was one to speak—the things I’d let Dennis do to me. I shook the thoughts out of my head. This was getting out of control
I was out of control.
We headed back to Talia’s car, and I lingered behind, walking with Ana. “How are you?”
I knew Jackson was out of town for the weekend, but she shrugged, giving nothing away. “I’m okay. You know, if you ever want to talk, about anything, I’m here, Cassie.”
Wasn’t that supposed to be my line?
Forcing my lips into a smile, I laughed off her offer. “I’m fine, you don’t need to worry about me.”
Ana nodded and ducked inside the car. What was I doing? These girls were my friends and I was lying to them.
But not as much as I was lying to myself.
By the time night fell, I was restless. After returning to my room on campus, I’d replayed Ana’s words over in my head. She didn’t know the truth—she couldn’t. We were careful. Dennis snuck into my room in the cover of darkness and if our paths crossed around campus we both looked the other way. Of course, there were times when it was impossible to resist the pull, and we’d sneak off behind a building or Dennis would tug me into the trees like a Neanderthal. But the weight of our secret was beginning to take its toll.
The sneaking around.
The lies.
My cell bleeped. I didn’t need to read it to know what it said. Moving to the door, I unlocked it, and Dennis slipped inside, his ball cap pulled low over his eyes. “I thought they were never going to move.”
“Who?”
“Some girls. They were drunk and loud. So fucking loud. I hid in the bush waiting for them to move.”
I rolled my eyes and went back to sit on the edge of my bed. Dennis pulled off his cap and stalked toward me. The black fitted t-shirt hugged his broad shoulders and muscular arms. My mouth dried and I pressed my thighs together.
Christ. Did he have to be so ridiculously hot? Maybe if he wasn’t, I’d have some semblance of control around him. But my body was weak and I was a quivering mess whenever we were close.
Damn him.
“I missed you.” He gazed down at me and what I saw rendered me speechless. Me, Cassie Malson. I never found myself lost for words, but Dennis had that effect on me. It was like he reached inside of me and took control. Became my air and my words and my soul.
And it terrified me.
“Cass?”
I blinked up at him and he chuckled. “Come here.” He reached for me and my hands slid into his and then I was standing before him.
“Today was okay?” my voice wavered.
“Cass.” It was a warning. Dennis preferred me not to ask about things. He preferred to pretend that he wasn’t involved in Marcus Donohue’s business. But he was. And I refused to pretend otherwise.
“It’s just a question, Dennis. I’m not asking you to reveal all the family secrets.” I let out a heavy sigh.
He looped his arms around my waist and gathered me against him. “I didn’t come here to talk about business.”
My gaze dropped at the same time as my heart sank. Not because I wanted to know what dodgy activities he’d been involved with in Jackson’s absence, but because it had been almost six months since he first barged into my life and I was still no closer to knowing anything real about him.
Dennis was an enigma.
A closed book.
And it hurt.
It hurt a little more every time I gave him another piece of myself to receive nothing in return.
His fingers slid underneath my jaw and tilted my face up. “Today sucked. Just like yesterday and the day before that. Every day I can’t be with you sucks, Cass. That’s what I focus on. This … ” He leaned in and captured my lips, “gets me through.”
“Dennis, I…” the words died on my tongue as he deepened the kiss, running his hands down my sides and around my butt, forcing me closer.
All my fears, my frustrations, melted away. At the back of my mind, I wanted
to tell him to stop—to insist that, for once, we talked. But his power over me was too strong.
Before I could protest, Dennis had stripped me of my tank top, tracing the curves of my collarbone with his tongue and lips. Heat flashed through me and I rubbed shamelessly against him, needing more.
“So eager, baby.” Warm breath tickled my skin as his hands found the waistband of my leggings. But I caught his hands, pushing him away. My hands slipped underneath his T-shirt and danced over the hard ridges.
“Fuck, that feels good.”
I smiled. I’d barely touched him but it was always this way and it was a heady feeling. Dennis unbuckled his jeans and popped the button while I continued my exploration, tugging his tee over his head. He was beautiful: bronzed muscles, defined abs, and that delicious V that disappeared into his dark jeans—the ones he was shucking off. When they pooled at his feet, he kicked them away and started on my leggings.
“It’s been too long,” he rasped, picking me up and throwing me onto the bed. I landed with a soft thud and a giggle as he ripped the material away from my ankles. But he didn’t come back to me. He just stood there, hungry eyes drinking in every inch of my skin.
I wanted to climb inside of his head and hear his thoughts—to feel what he felt. I wanted to know who Dennis Hayes was. The good parts, the bad parts, and all the ugly parts in between—I wanted to discover them all. But as he stood gazing at me, I knew that my wish might never come true.
Chapter Three
Dennis
She looked like a fucking goddess lying there in nothing but her black bra and panties, displaying that smooth, milky skin that went on for miles. Delicate curves in all the right places.
I needed a minute to calm my racing heart.
“Dennis?” Cassie stared up at me, lust shining in her eyes. I wanted to believe it was more than desire but what a selfish fucker that made me.
“You’re so fucking beautiful it hurts,” I admitted, and a blush slowly worked its way up her neck and into her cheeks. Being on the football team carried weight in Chastity Falls. We were gods. And girls ate it up. But not Cassie. She didn’t care about any of that. If anything, she didn’t like who I was. What my name and position on campus meant. It was refreshing.
It was fucking everything.
Kneeling at the end of the bed, I wrapped my hand around her ankle and tugged her toward me. Cassie shrieked but the noise morphed into a mewl when I covered her body and rolled my hips into her. Our lips met, and I tried to tell her everything I was too chicken shit to say.
I want you…
I need you…
I …
Cassie hitched her legs around my hips until we were as close as we could be without me sliding inside of her. If I could have stayed there forever, I would have. She calmed my mind. Drowned out all the bullshit with my dad and Jackson and Marcus. People say you make your own destiny, but mine was sealed long before I ever walked the earth. When I was just a twinkle in the old man’s eye. There was no lucky escape for me, but here—in Cassie’s arms—I could pretend. I could imagine a future with her. Marriage. Kids. A white-picket fence, and a sedan in the driveway. A regular nine-to-five job in an office.
Breaking off the kiss, I pulled back, staring at her. Searching her eyes for a sign Cassie felt it too. This thing between us. Her hand slid up my chest and palmed my cheek. Just that one touch was like a balm to my pained soul.
“Dennis, what is it? Talk to me, I’m right here.”
She knew.
She always knew.
And yet, I couldn’t find the words—I could never find the words.
So, I did the only thing I could. I moved off her and dragged her panties down her legs, leaned over and got a condom, rolled it on, and slammed inside of her. Cassie’s moans filled the silence. I was a bastard. The worst kind.
I used her to forget.
To feel.
And everything in between.
Cassie was my absolution, but she was also my affliction. A reminder of everything I could never have, and everything I didn’t want to lose.
“Dennis, more,” she panted my name. Over and over it fell from her lips like a prayer as I eased out and slammed back in, digging my fingers into her hips, anchoring her to me, unwilling to ever let go.
“Hold on,” I demanded, rolling us in one swift move so that Cassie was above me. She smirked and pressed her hands against my chest as she began to ride me in smooth fluid movements. Gliding up and sliding back down, my eyes rolled back with bliss. She fit me like a fucking glove. Nothing—no one—compared to the way Cassie made me feel. It was why I’d had such a hard time walking away. I thought one taste would be enough, but I was wrong.
So fucking wrong.
No amount of time with her would ever be enough.
The thought sucker-punched me and I gripped her ass, encouraging her to give it to me harder. Faster. I just needed more. Needed her to fuck away the thoughts that plagued my mind.
“Fuck, you feel so good, baby.” I pulled my knees up behind her, tilting my hips, meeting her thrust for thrust.
Cassie tipped her head back, her tits bouncing, begging to be touched. I smoothed a hand around her hip and up her taut stomach. Touching wasn’t enough. I needed to taste. Leaning forward, I captured one of the peaks between my teeth. She yelped and her eyes snapped to mine. I smirked up at her, drawing the soft flesh further into my mouth, feeling the familiar tingle build at the bottom of my spine.
“Oh God, oh God.” The words fell from her lips breathy. Needy. And I sucked harder, my other hand kneading her ass, grinding her against me. Pulling us as close as possible.
Without warning, the world shattered around me. I groaned, riding out the waves as I pumped into her. Cassie rocked gently, her body contracting around me as she rode out her own orgasm.
“Come here.” I pulled her down on to me, dropping a kiss to her head. “You are amazing.”
She was so much more.
Cassie Malson was everything.
I just hoped she knew that.
The next couple of weeks dragged ass. If we weren’t hauling weights in the gym, Coach Parker had us running laps or drills. And when we weren’t at football practice, Jackson, me, and the rest of the guys were trying to run things on campus.
Every muscle ached. My eyes burned with exhaustion, and my body hummed with frustration. But most of all I missed Cassie.
Our time together seemed to be less and less lately. We couldn’t catch a fucking break and it was taking its toll. So, when Jackson announced he was going out of town again, I knew what I had to do.
My cell vibrated in my pocket and my mood lifted at the thought of hearing my girl’s sweet voice, but when my eyes fell on the name displayed on the screen, a dark cloud descended.
“Yeah?” I clipped out.
“Son, how’re things up there?”
“The same as the last time you called.”
“Is that anyway to talk to your father?”
My blood boiled, and I pinched the bridge of my nose, resisting the urge to hang up. “What can I do for you, Dad?”
“Just checking in. Making sure things are still on track?”
Of course he was. Because that’s all that mattered to him. Not how this shit storm was affecting me or how school was going … just how my links to Marcus would position our family in the future.
“Jackson’s out of town again this weekend,” I said. “I’m handling things while he’s gone.”
“Good, that’s real good, kid.” I could practically hear his slimy grin.
“Yeah, well, it’s my job, right?”
“Damn right it is, son. Keep an ear to the ground and do whatever Donohue needs you to do, got it?”
“Yes, sir.” I flinched, pissed that it had slipped out. I wasn’t a child anymore. He didn’t hold all the power anymore. “I gotta go. I’ll check in soon.”
“Make me proud, Dennis,” were his parting words and I hung up, pocketin
g my cell phone as I sucked in a sharp breath. Conversations with Miller Hayes always took their toll. But lately, it felt like the walls were closing in. Before there was only myself to think about. Now there was Cassie. She deserved more. Deserved better than what this life could offer her.
So why the hell hadn’t I ended things yet?
Because I was a selfish son of a bitch that wanted to believe I could have it all. That I could have the life, the girl, and a happy fucking ending.
But I couldn’t.
And my conversation with my old man was testament to that. If he found out that I had a distraction in the form of the brown-eyed beauty I couldn’t stop thinking about, he would shit a brick. But I wasn’t ready to give her up.
Not yet.
Refusing to let him ruin my weekend, I located her number and hit the call button.
“Hello?”
“I missed you,” I said, ducking behind the Pauling building out of earshot of the students milling about.
“I missed you too. I’m just packing. Will I get to see you before I leave?”
“Stay.”
“Stay?” she spluttered and I could picture her cute as fuck expression.
“Yeah. Stay on campus. With me. Just the two of us.”
“We can do that? I thought they closed it down for Thanksgiving?”
“So, we’ll get a room somewhere.”
“But my family are expecting me. I can’t just—”
“Cass, please. Stay. For me.”
Until I’d said the words, I didn’t realize how much I needed this. I needed one moment of normal with her—the girl slowly unravelling my heart. Jackson was out of town. The guys were doing their own thing until they arrived back Saturday for the annual Fallen House Thanksgiving party. It meant three days with no one breathing down my neck.
“You really want me to stay?”
As if she had to ask.
“Yes. Start unpacking, babe. You’re not going anywhere.”
She laughed softly and I could hear her uncertainty. “But what will I tell my parents?”
