by C. R. Jane
The action made me twitchy, needy…on edge.
I was about to ask him why he’d followed me when he pressed his body against me suddenly, pinning me against the wall. A protest sat on the edge of my lips until his mouth prevented any speech. The moment our lips touched, it was magic…just like all the times before.
I lost all thought. His fingers entwined with mine, palm to palm. Electricity sizzled between our clasped hands as he held them over my head, pressing his large, warm body against mine. The power behind his kiss, the wet heat, fingers clutching, chest pinning me to the wall, was exhilarating. It was like a car, racing towards the finish line, going the distance and crossing in an explosion of excitement.
The forbidden nature of his passion had my mind in a drunken tizzy. The realization that I was allowing him to control me just like all the times before was a bitter pill to swallow…but it felt too good to stop.
His lips nibbled and plucked, and a delicious sensation ricocheted through every pore as sparks of lust raced through me.
I needed more. Of him. Of his mouth. Of his body against mine.
Just more.
I sucked his tongue greedily, and I was rewarded with him returning my fervor with a kiss somehow even more scorching than all the ones before. He pressed closer to me as if he was trying to attach himself to me, and tingles of pleasure rippled out from his touch.
Jackson kissed his way down my neck, and I was lost in the sensation. His familiar scent of sandalwood and frankincense washed over me, settling into my senses. It was intoxicating, pulling me further into the abyss that was all things Jackson. I trembled with need, my breath ragged as I gripped and clawed at him, trying to pull him deeper against me, to merge us as one.
His lips brushed my ear, sending more chills pitter-pattering across my skin. I heard his intake of breath as he dragged his warm tongue down the column of my neck, tasting, devouring. He moaned and bit down hard on the space between my shoulder and my neck. Excitement at his claim built between my thighs, moisture pooling and soaking my underwear.
The way he took control of me and my body, I didn’t think it could be replicated. I’d certainly never felt it with the other two boys I’d kissed in my life. I inhaled again, creepily wanting to bottle his scent and spray it on every surface I touched so I could experience it all the time.
It was both frightening and freeing to have this kiss with him, as if I’d been a dam about to break all these months and he’d just given me permission to break through my stone walls. I wanted to beg for more and run for fear…all at the same time.
“Wow, sorry Jackson,” a voice rumbled as someone came around the corner and saw us before hurrying back where he’d come from.
It was like water had been thrown over me, the realization of what we’d just done sinking into me until all I could feel was guilt and disgust.
Just then an enormous cheer swelled out from the crowd as the buzzer sounded, signaling the end of the game.
Landry.
I was destined to fuck up everything in my life. And it was always because of my inability to resist Jackson’s call.
“I’ve got to go,” I told him, pushing him away. He looked just as shell-shocked as I imagined I did over what had just happened. It was like this thing between us was too much to possibly be ignored.
“You have to get back to Landry,” he growled, the sound setting my insides aflutter with lust, even as guilt over my actions battled for supremacy.
“We’re dating,” I told him, and I hated how it sounded apologetic coming out of my mouth.
“He’s telling everyone that you’re his girlfriend.”
“I think that’s none of your business.”
We stared at each other until another cheer told me I’d lingered for too long. I ran away, feeling his hot gaze licking along my spine the entire time.
People were still hugging each other and celebrating loudly when I found my way back to my seat. “We won!” Lane cried as she jumped at me, encompassing me in a warm hug I didn’t think I deserved.
She sniffed and pushed away from me. “You didn’t!” she practically yelled, sounding strangely not disappointed in me.
“Did what?” I asked, trying to sound innocent. Lane’s gaze flicked over to where Jackson was just sitting down in his seat again, Caiden questioning him about something with a frown on his face.
“I’m supposed to believe it’s just a coincidence that you came back smelling like Jackson and sex at the same time as him? Girl, y’all’s hair was not that rumpled before you left. And I was watching him, the second you got out of your seat and left, he was like a bat out of hell hustling up those stairs.”
I pulled on the bottom of my hair, near tears. “We didn’t have sex. Also, how do you know what Jackson smells like?” I commented defensively.
She rolled her eyes. “I couldn’t help but take a sniff a time or two as he passed by, I’m only human.”
I sighed and ran a stressed and guilty hand across my face.
“Oh honey…this is a good thing,” she cooed softly as she patted my arm.
“But Landry…”
She scoffed. “I know I’ve given you a hard time, but Landry knew the deal when he started after you. He knew you and Jackson were something, and he still didn’t give up. He knows you and Jackson are complicated, and yet he still is trying to be all up in your business. Frankly…it’s fucking annoying.”
I stare at her, shocked. I’d always thought that she liked Landry, that she was rooting for him.
“I’m just not convinced that the good guy is who you’re supposed to end up with in this story,” she told me with a shrug. She caught Jackson looking at me again and leveled him with a saucy wave. His eyebrows rose in surprise, and I could tell he didn’t know if he was supposed to respond or not.
The awkward moment was so unlike Jackson that I couldn’t help but laugh.
It felt good to laugh.
I didn’t know if Lane was right or not about Landry, but it sure helped to absolve some of my guilt.
“I need to tell Landry tonight, regardless,” I told her, looking over to where the hockey team was proudly hoisting the championship trophy up high.
She grabbed my shoulders. “No you do not. Why can’t you have fun while you figure all this crap out? Besides…he just won the championship, let’s not douse his hopes and dreams by telling him that the hottie he’s obsessed with was making out with his arch-rival at the end of the game and missed his final goal.”
My cheeks blazed scarlet, I could feel my blush heating up my neck and cheeks as it spread.
“He called me his girlfriend the other day,” I reminded her.
She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t hear you acknowledge it or call him boyfriend, babe. Trust me…Landry knows the score.”
I eyed her suspiciously.
“What do you know?” She pretended to look innocent, and I realized how laughable it was when I tried that same face on her. “Lane…”
“Tony may have mentioned that Landry had talked about it,” she finally said with a shrug. Tony was her goalie fling.
“What did he say?” I demanded.
“He just was ranting about how you’d acted when you saw Jackson the other day. He told Tony he was going to do everything he could to keep you but that Jackson would fight dirty.”
She shrugged as if what she was saying was no big deal. “Tony asked him if he thought you were fucking Jackson, and he said he didn’t care if you were, that eventually, he would win you over.”
My mouth dropped.
“So you see, that was a good thing. He knows he’s got to work for it, and he’s willing to.”
“I’m not this kind of girl,” I grumbled.
Lane laughed and patted me on my back. “It’s okay, little baby. Auntie Lane will help you play in the dark side.”
I smacked her hand away playfully, just as a bang sounded on the glass.
It was a euphoric looking Landry, adorably
sweaty and mussed from his game. “We did it,” he yelled, and Lane and I whooped and hollered as expected. “See you in a few hours at the party?” he asked as one of his teammates skated to him and began to pull on his jersey to get him back with the still celebrating team.
Just like every time the party was mentioned, a wave of unease flickered around in my gut. But I smiled and gave him a thumbs up, watching nervously as he skated away.
“We’ll have fun tonight. Just you wait!” Lane announced excitedly as she began to pull me towards the stairs.
I cast one last look back behind me, my gaze catching on a hungry-looking Jackson. Always looking at me.
But so was Caiden.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The party was in full swing as we made our way through the giant double doors of the hockey fraternity. We were about an hour later than planned, thanks to Lane begging to do my hair and makeup, and everyone looked like they were already plastered.
I saw some members of the football team as we passed through the front room, and I elbowed Lane. “The football team’s here!”
She looked at me like I was an idiot. “Babe, everyone’s here. Good thing you look fucking hot.”
I could admit that she was right. I did look “fucking hot.”
Lane had curled my long blonde hair into beach waves, and I had a white bandage dress on that molded to my every curve. I was on the lookout for Melanie to appear from a dark corner and throw a cup of red punch all over it. Because it looked damn good.
Lane had applied a shimmering gold eyeshadow to my eyelids and lined my eyes with kohl black eyeliner and three coats of mascara, accentuating the green of them. She’d had a goal to have all eyes on her and I tonight, and judging by the looks we were getting…she had succeeded.
Lane looked gorgeous. She was wearing a bubblegum pink halter top that showed off her toned stomach and a black mini skirt. Her pink-streaked hair was up in a sexy, mussed up high pony that accentuated her long neck. Sky high black heels completed the look.
When I’d first met Lane, I’d never thought she’d be caught dead in such an outfit, but I had quickly learned that Lane was a rebel without a cause. She didn’t stick to any of the prescribed social boundaries that anyone else deigned to place her in. I loved it.
“There’s Landry,” she said pointing to a group of hockey players playing flip cup. There were at least fifteen gorgeous girls vying for their attention, and it really said something for my current feelings when I was disappointed that Landry was acting like they didn’t exist.
I went to make my way over to him, but Lane stopped me. “Let’s go dance for a while. Eventually, Tony and Landry will hear about the hot girls making waves on the dance floor and figure out that it’s us,” she said with a wink before dragging me down the basement steps to where a DJ was cranking out Top 40 hits for the crowd of sweaty, writhing college students paying homage to him on the dance floor.
Lane began to dance around me to her own beat…as was her way. I began to move my hips, awkwardly at first and then more smoothly as I let the beat of the Chainsmokers’ song carry me. Guys tried to step into our circle and get up on us, but we politely pushed them away. Lane procured drinks for us out of seemingly thin air, and we quickly got buzzed on cheap vodka punch and thumping beats.
I was lost in the moment when Jackson appeared at the bottom of the stairs, his gaze gliding around the room as if he was looking for me.
“Heartbreak prince on aisle two,” Lane announced rather loudly as she shimmied to the Rihanna song that just started.
I shh’d her, a little too buzzed to really care about her loudness though.
And then he was there, his hands caressing my sides possessively as his hard chest and stomach pressed against me, pinning me to him. He bent forward, allowing our hips to align perfectly, and a low moan hissed out of my lips as I felt him start to harden behind me at my touch.
“You look like pure sin wrapped in an angelic package,” he murmured harshly into my ear, his hot breath gusting over the side of my face as his lips grazed the outer shell of my ear as he spoke. Everything else around us, the music and the drunken laughter and shouting…it all faded away at his touch. My pulse raced, and my lips parted as I let out panting breaths.
His fingers tightened, digging into my hips, and unlike the fear I felt when Landry had done almost the same thing, his possessive hold just filled me with lust. “I’ve given you time, little angel. I’ve let you have your fun. But I’m done waiting. I’m coming to collect.”
His words were confusing…and hot as he moved seductively with me to a song all about sex and desire.
I probably should have been looking for Landry. I probably should have pushed him away.
I probably should have done a lot of things.
But I just moved with him.
His long fingers fanned out across my hips and lower stomach, pressing me more firmly into his body, molding me to him. His large biceps caged my arms, and he brushed his nose down the side of my neck. I remembered his bite at the hockey game, a bruise that I had to cover in order to wear this dress, and crazily craved more.
He turned me around, and I got a better look at him. He was wearing a midnight blue Henley, unbuttoned at the top, showing off the indents of his perfect chest. A chest that tasted delicious, I drunkenly reminded myself. The color of his shirt accentuated his beautiful eyes. And his black jeans and his black boots accentuated everything else.
I groaned inwardly at how good he looked.
Or at least, I thought I said it silently until he gave me a smug look.
He looked dangerous and wild, and I needed someone to remind me why this was such a bad idea. He leaned forward to kiss me, and then, over his shoulder, I saw Caiden coming down the stairs, his gaze also scanning the crowd as if he was looking for someone…just like his brother.
Freezing, I came to my senses and pushed Jackson away. Surprise was written all over his face, he obviously thought he had me. But there was no better reminder of why Jackson and I couldn’t be together than the sight of Caiden.
Ducking away from Jackson, who called out after me, I weaved my way through the crowd, staying on the opposite side of the room from Caiden.
Once at the entryway, I sneaked a look back at a furious-looking Jackson and a confused-looking Lane, and then I booked it up the stairs.
The first floor was packed even more than when we’d first arrived, and I felt like a panic attack was coming on as people bumped me and touched me as I passed by. Seeing a gap by the stairs that led to the second floor, I stumbled up them, thinking I could recover in the bathroom.
There were couples making out in the long hallway, and in one of the rooms I tried, there was an actual orgy happening with three girls and a very happy member of the hockey team, whose face would be scarred in my memory for forever after what I’d seen.
I finally found a blissfully empty bathroom, and I slammed the door, locking it behind me as I took deep breaths, trying to calm down.
What was I doing? I wanted to claw my insides out, get a new heart that wouldn’t be as defective as the one currently residing in my chest. I beat on my chest savagely, trying to knock some sense into me.
I wanted to cry. Because it felt so hopeless to think I might never be done with this wild, destructive thing between Jackson and I.
A few more deep breaths, and I’d decided to find Lane and Landry and tell them I was going to go. Crowds weren’t my thing, and combined with Landry, Jackson…and Caiden, it was too much.
I slipped out into the hallway, bypassing a couple that was actually having sex against the wall, and took a step down the first step.
I heard footsteps suddenly behind me, and before I could turn my head to look, a pair of hands pushed on my back firmly, sending me hurtling down the stairs with a wide, silent scream on my lips.
The first hit to my head sent stars spiraling across my vision, but the second and third hits were what really did me in. I fel
t like something cracked in my leg as I did another nasty tumble, and then the world went blissfully dark.
“Everly!” a voice called out frantically. I tried to open my eyes, but I only saw blurs in front of me. My eyes began to close again, and then I heard Lane’s voice calling my name. She sounded so…scared.
It’s okay Lane, I tried to speak, but the words didn’t seem to want to come out.
“She’s waking up!” a voice yelled a little too close to my ear, and I groaned as it made my head hurt even worse.
Once more, I tried to open my eyes. Blearily, I realized that a group of guys were kneeled around me along with a terrified looking Lane.
“Everly,” she cried out when she saw that my eyes were open. She pounced on me, and I gave a small moan because my leg and my head were killing me.
“Get off her,” Jackson barked, and I realized that he was one of the kneeling figures. As was Landry. As was Caiden.
I scrambled to move away from Caiden and let out a low hiss as the movement sent another shock of pain through my leg and head.
“Get away from me,” I told Caiden. His eyes widened. Something that looked a lot like anger flashed through them before hurt masked any other emotion.
“It’s just Caiden, Everly,” Jackson soothed, confusion in his gaze as he looked from me to his brother.
I dragged my attention away from Caiden…and Jackson, and focused on Lane and Landry.
“What happened?” I asked as I tried to sit up.
“Don’t move,” Lane begged. I looked at her questioningly.
“They never let the main character move when they fall in the movies,” she explained seriously, garnering incredulous stares from everyone gathered around.
“I’m sitting up,” I said firmly, right as a crew of first responders came marching through the front door of the frat house…with a gurney.
“Please no,” I groaned as the team gathered around me.
It took a minute to realize just how much pain I was in though. Something was definitely wrong with my leg. Hot tears started to fall when I thought of how much I’d already been through to get my leg working again.
