Devlin meets me at center field and together we move on offense, passing the ball back and forth as we cut down the grass toward the opposing team’s net. Their goalie has his hands up, glancing between both of us.
This is what we’re known for. An unstoppable pair with speed and skill.
As we’re closing in on the goal, dodging defensive backs, Devlin sets me up so that the defensive players think he’s taking the shot. They go to block him as I swoop in, stealing the ball and kicking it with precision. It arcs through the air into the back left of the net.
The sound of celebration erupts behind me as the timer runs down on the second half. I stand with my hands on my hips, dropping my head back and gasping to drag air into my burning lungs.
It feels good to finish this strong when my head is still so messed up. Thea’s worked her unassuming roots into me, making me think she’s harmless when she’s got me entangled.
“Good finish, man.” Devlin claps me on the shoulder, squeezing. “Don’t let your parents’ shit get to you. It’s not worth it. Trust me.” He grimaces, jaw clenching. “Just—” He gestures vaguely. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so at a loss for how to express himself. “Forget them. Find someone—things that make you happy.”
“Uh huh,” I say, squinting at him. “This wouldn’t have anything to do with Davis, would it? You’ve been different ever since you had her in that cheerleader uniform at the last practice. You kissed her in front of everyone, bro. We all saw it.”
Devlin shoves me without heat. “Pull your head out of your ass.”
“Yeah. Sure.” I laugh as we make our way to the huddle of our teammates to shake hands with the other players. “But I told—”
“Don’t say it.”
“So broody.” I clutch my chest like he’s caused me a fatal wound. “So cold.”
Devlin shakes his head and plants a hand over my face to cut off my fake wailing.
After the match, I convinced Thea to meet me at my pool house to talk. She waits in the shadows cast by the edge of the building, peeking around the corner when she hears my footsteps drawing close.
“How was your game?” Thea asks, tucking a loose lock of hair behind her ear. She’s wearing a thick tan sweater beneath a pale blue denim overall dress. Her white tennis shoes have hand-painted rainbows on the toes.
“We won.” I unlock the door, running through what I need to talk to her about in my head, willing myself not to get distracted by her sweet scent.
“I’ve never seen one of your games. Are you good?”
I throw a cocksure grin over my shoulder. “I made varsity captain last year. I’m good. Our team is, too. Dev’s a damn sight to behold, wicked bastard.”
“Devlin Murphy?”
I hum in response as she follows me into the pool house. My room might be a sanctuary away from my parents, but I come out here when I need to think. A guest bed dominates the room and white cushioned ottomans are arranged in a small sitting area. In the other corner a large full-length mirror reflects most of the space, giving it the appearance it’s even bigger.
Thea peers around while I sink onto the corner of the bed, leaning my elbows on my knees. She pauses by the mirror, blue-green gaze flicking to find me in the muted light through the reflection. A moment passes, crackling with this magic quality.
A tug in my chest feels like it has me tethered to her. The girl I was never supposed to have in the first place. The one I’d never noticed.
But that pull gets stronger until I’m gritting my teeth to stay where I am instead of going to her side.
This is what I mean by she’s a weakness I shouldn’t indulge in. This is a girl I would destroy, eating up her goodness, her warm light. A girl I shouldn’t want, but I do. I’ve only had one taste, but I’d burn the world to the ground for her, damn the consequences.
That’s a dangerous kind of devotion I’ve never experienced. Girls have always been a means to getting off and having fun. Never this intense storm of emotions I can hardly pick apart.
Learning to trust her is scary enough. But wanting her? I can’t escape it.
Thea turns around and comes to stand between my knees. I swallow, cupping the back of her legs. Looking up at her, I skim my fingertips beneath the hem of her skirt. She shivers, placing her hands on my shoulders.
“You want to do more dirty things to me.” She says it lightly.
“I do.” I squeeze the back of her thighs, trailing my touch higher and closing my knees to trap her. “Very dirty things. They involve my tongue and your pussy until I have you crying my name.”
She combs her fingers through my hair, dragging her nails gently over my scalp. Holy fuck, it feels good. My eyes fall shut and I release a soft groan, leaning into her body.
“We won’t do anything else unless we’re together. For real.”
“Thea,” I say firmly. “I told you, I don’t do—”
“Girlfriends. I know.” She stops touching me and pulls out of my arms. That mutinous fire is in her eyes again, challenging me. “You want me? Then date me. I’m not your hookup, and I’m not faking anything else for you, Connor Bishop.”
God, I love it when she says my whole name all indignant and stubborn like that.
With a heavy sigh, I get up to stalk away, hoping to clear my head. It doesn’t help; I can still smell sugar cookies and cinnamon. I peel out of my evergreen Silver Lake High soccer zip up and toss it aside.
“If it’s because you’re afraid, because of the thing with your mom…” She trails off with a conflicted look when I whirl around. “I just—we aren’t our parents. Whatever their mistakes and shortcomings are, those aren’t automatically ours, too.” She blows out a breath. “I mean, I hope I never turn out like my mom.”
She doesn’t want to be like her mom. My heart thuds. It’s the last fear holding me back with her.
I rub my forehead. Damn her solid logic and reasoning. I don’t want to explain my family shit right now.
On top of that, I’m nothing but corruption. I would only taint her with it. Break her.
Staying away from her is too hard. I’m drawn back, taking her by the shoulders. The scent of whatever she’s been baking today wraps around me. I lean in, needing to taste her lips.
“I told you.” Thea pokes me in the chest to stop me, her voice quiet but not giving an inch. “I’m not the same as you. I can’t turn it on and off. I like you. You blackmailed and bullied me, and I still like you, because under all that bravado for your reputation, you’re hiding the guy you really are.”
“I’m not. You’re wrong. What you see is who I am. I lied to you. Tricked you because it amused me.”
She tilts her head, studying me through her lashes. “You’re not as cruel as you pretend to be. If you were, you wouldn’t have cared what happened to me at the benefit. Even though you made me go. You put yourself between me and anyone else, keeping me safe in your own way.” Sighing, she bows her head. “It’s why I want this. Us. But if this is all fake for you, then I’m out of here.”
Panic surges as Thea slips out of my grasp, turning toward the door.
“Wait.” I grab her wrist. My voice is hoarse and my thoughts race with the burst of adrenaline coursing through my system. “Just—wait. It’s not…I do want you.” I push my other hand through my hair. “But I don’t know how to have a girlfriend either, sunshine. I’ve only ever gone to girls for sex.”
There’s a long beat where she gives me her back, and I think she’s going to wrench away to leave anyway. Relief pours through me as she turns to face me.
“We’ll figure it out together. I’m sure we’ll mess up, but I want to do it with you.”
My throat grows tight. Why is this so hard?
Just take, like you always have.
I can’t though.
“I’ll corrupt you.” Shaking my head, I step back, releasing her wrist so she can escape me. “I’m not good, Thea. I’m messed up.”
I’m so fucked up
in my shadows playing god that I spied on her. Toyed with her.
“Isn’t that my choice to make? Besides, haven’t you already shown me the dark side?”
Thea gives me a smirk that’s all mischief. It looks fucking good on her, making my dick hard. That look should be illegal.
She takes my hand, bringing my knuckles up to press her lips against them, peeking up at me. “You said it yourself, I was hiding who I really am. I’m done hiding. Are you?”
A tortured groan tears from me. This girl…
Screw it. I’m done running from my problems and fears. Finished letting my fucked up family keep me from having someone that makes me happy. I tried to keep her away, but I’m not the noble hero. I take what I want, and if she wants me? I’m fucking giving her what she asked for.
Thea’s right. This doesn’t have to be fake. It never was. I’m a king of misdeeds. She’ll be my queen.
The sunshine to my dark moonlight.
Together we make an eclipse.
I’ll swallow her golden, warm light in my shadows, but she’ll pierce through the blackest parts of my heart.
“Be careful what you wish for,” I rumble, tugging her against me. “If we’re doing this, I might never let you go.”
“Do your worst. I can handle it.”
“Yeah?” My cock throbs. I back up toward the bed and drop onto the corner of the mattress, facing the big full-length mirror. “We were interrupted before we could finish what we started the other night, before I devoured you. Come here.”
She puts a knee on the bed and straddles my lap, her denim skirt riding up her thighs. I caress them, then unclip the straps of her overalls, peeling down the material so it pools around her waist. My hands bury under her thick sweater, pushing it up over her head.
Thea captures my mouth in a kiss and it’s so sexy. Whenever she popped onto my radar before, I never would’ve pegged her for a first move girl. She proved me wrong with her mistaken number selfie, but I still thought of her as the kind of wallflower I’d have to coax to show me her petals in bloom.
She yanks on my shirt until it’s over my head. Every second I part from her kiss is wrong, and I swallow her gasp when we come together again, both of us shirtless. It’s so much better than the rushed coatroom quickie. Now I can take my time with her.
Growling into the kiss, I unclasp her bra, discarding it to the side. I’ve dreamed of her tits after all the naughty photos she’s sent, and I’m finally going to get them in my mouth. Cupping and massaging them, I rip from the kiss to take a nipple between my lips. Thea’s head drops back with a tiny cry. As I torture one nipple, then the other with my tongue and teeth, she starts circling her hips, the material of her skirt riding higher as she rubs her pussy on the hard ridge of my cock through my jeans. I suck harder on her nipple, dropping my hands to grab her plump ass, moving with her.
“Oh god!” Thea tenses, burying her face in my neck as her body shakes.
“You come all over my dick, baby?” I speak against her tits, snaking my tongue out to flick the tight buds of her nipples.
She whimpers, bucking against me. I slide a hand lower, between her legs from behind and stroke her soaked panties, watching our reflection in the mirror. We make a sight that has my cock rock hard.
“Mm, baby, you feel how wet you are for me? Turn around, you need to see this.”
Thea climbs to her feet on unsteady legs with my help. I make her face the mirror as I strip her denim dress down her body along with her underwear. Her tits rise and fall as I guide her back between my spread knees, gaze locked with hers in the glass as I skim my fingertips over her flushed skin.
Her eyes drop and she turns her head away. A small sound escapes her.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” I stroke her sides and can’t resist squeezing her ass when it’s at eye level. “I thought you were done hiding?”
“I…well, I don’t normally have to…” Her stammering fades and she gestures at the mirror. “It’s weird.”
“It’s not weird.”
“It is. You’ve been with so many girls. All I see at school is your charming smile and the pretty girls that fall all over you.” She tries to turn, but I hold her in place. “Can’t we go back to what we were doing? I want to feel good.”
Squinting up at her, I point at the mirror. “Look.”
It takes a minute of her peering back at me pleadingly, but she faces her reflection.
“This is who you are, Thea. This is the girl I see. Look at her—you. You’re beautiful. Forget everything else.” I kiss her hip and trail a path to the sun-shaped birthmark I’m obsessed with, biting her skin lightly. With a tug, she lands in my lap. “Come back here.”
Tension lingers in her body. I spend long minutes placing feather-light kisses over every inch of skin I can reach, holding her hair up as I focus on the back of her neck and shoulders. Eventually she melts against my chest.
An ember burns around my heart. I will make her see what I do—what I saw that first night we sexted.
While she’s relaxed, I nudge her legs wider, so she’s spread gorgeously for me. She’s no longer paying attention to the mirror, but I am, watching the way her lashes flutter, the way she tips her head back when I caress her tits, and the way she arches when I tease my touch between her legs.
Time slows to a drowsy pace as I finger her, peeking at the mirror each time I grind my cock against her perfect ass. She makes soft sounds when I brush her clit and pump my fingers deeper. I know I’m driving her crazy, working her body with deliberate touches.
“Connor,” Thea murmurs, sounding drunk and delirious as I keep her balanced on the edge and walk her back before she can come. “Please. Please. It’s too much.”
“Shh, not yet. It’ll be so good, baby, I promise.” I kiss her temple, licking the damp sweat beading her skin. “A little longer.”
She whines, hips shifting with the slow pace I set, silently begging me to give her more. She’s forgotten all about her hesitation with the mirror, all she can think about is the orgasm I’m keeping her a breath away from. With a devious grin, I fall back on an elbow, tugging my phone from my pocket with my free hand and pop back up, hugging her against me.
“Connor?”
“Right here. Now, baby girl,” I rasp, smoky and hot against her ear, sending tremors through her body. “I know you want to come so bad, right?”
Thea nods, pushing her ass on my dick, distracting me for a moment. I grab my phone.
“I’ll let you come. But we’re going to try something. I’m going to play with your perfect tits, and you’re going to ride my fingers until you come. Don’t look away from the mirror. Cool?”
“I—okay,” she says, blushing and biting her lip.
Humming, I kiss her cheek. “Good girl. There’s one more thing you’re going to do.”
“What?” Her voice is husky with need.
I hold up my phone in front of her, setting it up on the camera app. Thea flicks her gaze over her shoulder, a cute wrinkle between her eyebrows.
“I want you to take pictures of yourself. Watch your face when you take your pleasure on my fingers. I want you to see everything I see when you come.” Her eyes widen and I draw her into a kiss. “These ones are just for me and you. You can do whatever you want with them after—delete them, whatever.”
The hesitation clears from her expression and she takes the phone. I drop another kiss on her shoulder as she shifts on my lap, holding the phone up.
“That’s my girl. Don’t stop watching.”
I take my time working her back to the brink, teasing her sensitive pussy until she’s back to whimpering, the click of the camera shutter punctuating her shallow breathing. It’s so fucking hot. She’s so wet, my fingers slip through her folds and slide into her easily, her pussy practically swallowing my fingers. This time I don’t stop her from moving her hips, encouraging her to fuck herself on my fingers.
Heat pulses in my groin and it takes everything in me to l
et her have this instead of ripping my jeans off and fucking her hard until she screams. She needs this.
“You look so sexy,” I say into her neck as I roll a nipple. “You see that?”
“Yes,” she gasps, moving faster.
“God, yes, baby. That’s it. Fuck my fingers until you come.” As she bucks, I rub her clit with my thumb. My wrist cramps in protest, but I’m not stopping. Those high-pitched sounds escaping her tell me she’s so close to falling apart. “You look so good.”
The camera app clicks with shot after shot. At this point I think she’s so far gone she’s just snapping away with the burst option, but that’s fine. She’s focused on her reflection, eyes blazing with desire and pleasure, gasping as she soaks my hand.
With one more flick of my thumb on her swollen clit, she shrieks, falling back against me with a blissed out moan. I catch her with a grunt, falling back against the mattress as I gently stroke her pussy. She trembles and twitches in my arms, the phone slipping from her fingers and bouncing off the bed to the floor. The only sound in the room is our mingled breathing and her murmurs of oh fuck, fuck, shit as she rides the aftershocks of a damn good orgasm.
Once she seems coherent, angling her head to peek at me with pink cheeks and parted lips, I flip her over, grinding my cock against her. She cries out, too oversensitive for the rough material of my jeans, but I’m about to blow.
“Sit up,” Thea murmurs.
“Baby,” I plead, dropping my face into her neck. “Watching you lose it like that, I’m so close.”
“You got to pick something and now I want to try something else.” She kisses me. “You’ll like it.”
Grumbling, I roll us to our sides. She gets up, running her fingers through her thick auburn curls, looking sexy as hell. My own personal Aphrodite. I freeze when she kneels at the corner of the bed and motions me over, crooking her finger. As I sit up, I’m sidetracked by the sight of her back reflected in the mirror, her round ass stuck out.
Ruthless Bishop: Dark New Adult High School Bully Romance (Sinners and Saints Book 3) Page 17
