by Grace, Hazel
I claimed her that day, I just didn’t tell Gavin, or myself, that important detail.
“I’d love to find out for myself,” I confess, shoving my hands into my front pockets.
She takes an ungraceful step back and slowly starts to shake her head. “Not going to happen.”
“Why?”
“Because you screwed my sister.” It sounds like a bad taste in her mouth, and I don’t blame her.
I just don’t give a shit.
Skylar isn’t even remotely close to what Sawyer is. They’re night and day, peanut butter and jelly, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees—opposites. And, shit, I didn’t ask Skylar for her family history the day I picked her up from the bar the first night. She just had a banging body and was the first one who had the balls to approach me.
Then kept approaching me.
“That doesn’t count,” I argue calmly. “I didn’t know she was related to you.”
Her entire face scrunches, exposing the little wrinkles by her nose. “So, you’re just going to keep using her as a pawn to torture me?”
Enough about the fucking sister already.
“You brought her to the bar,” I chastise. “I was minding my own damn business.”
“And Veronica?” she presses further. “That one counts.”
I give a dismissive wave of my hand. “That was just a revenge fuck, those don’t count either.” Her jaw twitches while her hand lands on her hip.
“Wow...you just have an answer for everything, like always. What other kinds of fucks don’t count?”
I shrug one shoulder. “Ones that don’t involve you.” It’s a candid remark, but I wasn’t going to bullshit about it.
There are no gray spaces, just black and white. It should’ve been me a long time ago, taking her virginity and cherishing every inch of her. Sawyer Boyd was mine at one time, and now, no one would be able to fill the void until I knew there were no blank spaces between us. I needed to be free from being held captive for so long by a woman who now has no problem fucking around with other guys.
She’s flaunting two of them around me right now.
However, there was one time after I exiled myself from Freemont when I was somewhat happy. The first time in six years that I was able to open up again and try.
Annabelle.
A free-spirited and beautiful blonde with dreams of becoming a lawyer. Who spent her weekends rollerblading along the boardwalk and smoking weed because it was “just a plant.” She became a temporary band-aid for the gashing hole in my chest, and I blindly accepted it as hope. A new beginning.
But when things started to get too good, after I bought an engagement ring and planned on us starting a new life together, it all came crashing down around me. I never expected her to come nor was I prepared for the swell that would suck me in and drown me.
Sawyer.
Standing outside of my California rental house in the pouring rain with Annabelle inside.
It took me a millisecond to know it was her. The blueprint of her body was seared into my brain. The way her jeans hugged her waist, the streetlights playing off her red hair, and the wet sweatshirt that illuminated her breasts and arms.
I couldn’t breathe, and it wasn’t from my jog. I watched her peer at my front door from the sidewalk, looking in at my new life. Coming in like a sledgehammer and annihilating it just by her presence alone. I fought down the urge to march over and scream at her. To lace my fingers through her hair and kiss those lips that I saw trembling in the cold.
I wanted to tell her I loved her and berate her for showing up in there when I left my message quite clear that I never wanted to see her again. That I didn’t want her to taint what I had with someone else.
But I wasn’t stupid enough to know that my relationship with Annabelle was fucked from the beginning. I couldn’t bear listening to her old punk songs or how she’d pick out all the mushrooms from her pasta and wouldn’t touch them if they were plain.
Only on a fucking pizza.
I attempted to ignore it, hoping that one day Annabelle would be able to reach the place in my heart that never fully healed. Though none of this was fair to her. Annabelle was good enough to know that I wasn’t a whole man after Freemont because of the girl I left behind.
I owed her to be free of me.
“That’s something you’ll die not knowing about,” Sawyer drones, breaking me from my inner thoughts. “I’m not that girl anymore. She’s all grown up.”
“I see that.” I perk a brow, letting my eyes shamelessly fall over her body. “But I have a proposition for you. We have some unfinished business between us.”
“Yeah, me selling your mom’s house, nothing more, nothing less, Hayes.”
“No,” I say slowly. “That’s side business, I’m your client. You’re my real estate agent. But us—” I wave a hand between us. “—we haven’t fucked yet.” She gapes at me as if I’ve lost my damn mind.
Maybe I have.
Or maybe I’m just tired of fantasizing about something I’ve wanted so badly for so many years.
“I propose a wager that I don’t think you’ll be able to refuse,” I continue, reeling her in with each one of my steps. “One kiss, if I moan your name, like you so graciously pointed out, I’ll never fuck with you again. But if I win, Bases...you come over here again.” She taps her index finger on her leather binder.
She isn’t going to win, even though I’m giving her a few seconds to ponder it over, I’m just waiting for her selfish side to show up. She can reject me, it won’t stop what this is, two questioning souls wanting to discover what it feels like to give in to our temptation.
Her body language gives her away, my dick returns to its old self, and we’re both fooling ourselves if we think it’s going to go away.
“As much as I’d love that,” Sawyer professes. “It’ll still be a ‘no’ for me.” I take another step, inches from her body. The one that is calling for me right now to slam her against the pristine door behind her and call her bluff.
“Do you think that the doctor and your model boy toy are going to stick around for long while I make your life a living hell? You must need some reminding, Bases. I don’t play fucking nice.”
“Colson.” My name off her lips again isn’t strong enough to make me change my mind. “Let all of this go, I’ve already apologized. I don’t know what else I can do.”
I give a half shrug. “You can fuck me, Bases. Then we’ll call it even.”
“Are you...are you crazy? Did you smoke before I got here?”
God, I wish I had a blunt right now.
“I want to kiss you again, Bases—” I close out every molecule between us, “—just put me out of my misery. And do yourself a favor, get fucked good once in your life. I doubt you have yet.”
“I—no. I’m not falling for this,” she snaps, looking up at me. “You’re trying to make me remember all the painful memories. I’m not doing it again.”
“Shit, you don’t know pain.” Try losing the baseball scholarship you spent years working toward because I couldn’t stand being in the same building as her and still graduate.
She drove me from my hometown.
I was going insane here, knowing that Gavin and Sawyer could be secretly fucking again miles or even blocks from me in this small town, meeting up and God knows what the fuck else.
I had to work three jobs just to pay for college while I got to watch every other kid play ball on their adoring parents’ dime. I was reminded constantly that I gave up everything just because I took a chance on a girl who consumed me. One I told myself, dozens of times, to steer clear of, knowing she’d spin a web and capture me in it.
The only thing she didn’t do, that I was aware of, was make a fucking scrapbook.
I peer down at her, meeting her beautiful green eyes. I remember them on a younger girl, unrivaled by any other girl in school.
A girl that still haunts my dreams.
“If you kiss me,”
I voice. “And I moan your name, I won’t bother you anymore. I’ll avoid you, pretend I don’t know you, if you want. You can walk around with your boyfriends and not worry about me invading your space. But if I don’t, you come back over here so I can rip every inch of clothing off you.” I watch her bite her lower lip. “I’ve been craving you like a bad high for years, Bases.”
“You’ll lose,” she mutters weakly, making the mistake of glancing at my lips. I fight back my smile, knowing that this is going to tug between her conscience and body. I don’t have to throw too much game into this.
Sawyer Boyd wants me.
It’s written all over her pretty little face, connected by each freckle on her nose.
“Then you’ll win,” I reply. “Just make it the best kiss you’ve ever given in your life.”
“I don’t want you to stay here,” she confesses, clutching that stupid ass binder between us like a piece of armor. “But I can’t make you leave either.”
“Yep.” I lean down. “So, what’ll it be?”
“This is beyond stupid, Colson.”
I let my lips loose to grin. “Probably won’t be the last stupid idea I come up with. Which do you prefer, your present or the future?”
“Both.”
I shake my head slowly. “The present means you give away some of your pride to get yourself a safe future. Without it, your future is fucked with me.”
She swallows, bringing her regard to my face. “How long?”
“I don’t know, set a timer on your phone.”
She hesitates and looks away from me. “One minute, that’s it.”
“Sure.” That’s all I need.
She reaches over to place her binder on the foyer table and straightens to stand in front of me. Arms at her sides, back pressed up against the door, lips that want to be punished by mine and chin raised.
“I’m all yours then.” I press her against my chest, taking my time to let the feel of her sink back into my memory. My fingers graze her ribs, slowly inching their way to her back.
“You always were, Bases.” My mouth softly clasps her bottom lip, tasting soy sauce and her on my taste buds, my favorite flavor.
Her body melts into me as I open her mouth, sliding my tongue in with one stroke along hers. She moans quietly, positioning her hands on my hips as I cup the back of her neck with my palm, taking control.
We mesh together, and I stop thinking about the past.
We’re different people now.
Sawyer isn’t shy anymore, she proves that when she bites my lower lip, driving me into an overwhelming need to own her. I hoist her up, her legs automatically wrap around my waist, but I don’t slam her against the door.
No, she’s going to work for this.
I want her to grind herself against me on her own accord because if I do it for her, we aren’t going to stop until one of us comes. I’ll smash that damn phone with my heel and buy her another one later if it comes to that.
When she lets out a small whimper, I position my cock against her core, giving her a little taste of what I know she wants. Her hands that are wrapped around my neck slide down my shoulder blades as she digs her fingernails into my covered skin.
“That feel good, baby?” I murmur into her mouth. She nods, attacking my mouth with such fervor that I think she’s going to kill us both. “Take what you want. I’ll give you anything.” She rolls her hips against my cock, releasing a deep growl within me.
I will bite my damn tongue off before I say her fucking name.
I give her a delicate yank to her hair, enveloping her lips harsher, wilder. Knowing that no one has ever kissed her like this.
There is no fucking way.
Not with the way she reacts to me. This shit only comes once in a lifetime, and I’m it for her.
And she’s it for me.
Even though we’ll never end up as what we used to be. I just need my curiosity and pride cured so I can live in this town in peace. She can marry Dr. Pussy-Whipped or Abercrombie, have kids with them, but knowing that she’ll never experience this again seals everything for me.
“I want to make you come,” I voice against her neck, leaving lavish kisses with my tongue. She answers me with another roll of her hips, rubbing my cock that’s begging to be released from its hold against my boxers.
“Colson,” she moans, her head falling to one side, giving me more access to her flesh. I give a small squeeze to her ass, spreading her cheeks so she opens wider for my dick to rub along her pussy.
“Fuck, baby,” I groan. “Tell me you want this.” She straightens her neck, making me pull back to look up at her. Nothing but desire and eagerness shine in her eyes, boring into me, and I swear it can’t go more than skin deep.
She opens her mouth just as her alarm goes off, instantly killing the words she was about to say. We stare at each other, reality crashing into both of us, time or fate depriving me yet again of the woman I want more than anything.
Her fingers loosen over the skin of my back, as I slide her down my body. Those green eyes gloss with disappointment, mine probably look like they want to assassinate the next thing that walks into this room.
We both want this one night, it’s in every stroke of our lips, every moan and groan that escapes our mouths.
But a deal is a fucking deal.
I quickly reach over to grab her phone so that she can turn off the annoying beeping when I see a notification light up the screen.
A new text message from Jake.
But it doesn’t say just “Jake,” it reads “hottest piece of ass Jake.”
I fight back every wave of rage speeding and pricking at my brain to not hurl her cell at the front door behind her. Instead, I hand it back as she takes it with shaking hands, turning the high-pitched screeching of her alarm off.
Handing over her binder, I keep my face emotionless. I couldn’t force a damn smile if I wanted to.
“I’ll text you the day.” She nods, turning around in a daze toward the door. “And Bases…” Her body halts in mid reach for the door. “That Jake motherfucker who just texted you. If you think he’ll save you from me...you’re fucking wrong.”
Ten years ago
“He’s just messing with you,” Taylor claims, sitting on my bed and flipping through a Seventeen magazine. “He uses his sexy, broody ass to make girls fall to their knees. And he’s just pissed that our warning was better than his.”
I shake my head, she wasn’t there.
I know Colson has a knack for making people do what he wants, but the way his words left his mouth, the raspy need to his tone while I was pushed up against my locker, I’m starting to believe two things.
He wants to destroy me mentally and screw me physically.
“He was mad,” I falter. “You weren’t there. Miss McMahon looked like she was going to have a heart attack. He looked like he wanted to—”
“Sawyer, chill.” Her voice is monotone, cool and collected. Not a tad bit worried that I’m about to suffer a mental breakdown at seventeen. “Miss McMahon left after Ryan, and Jim let her go, went straight to her car.” She chuckles, amused with her clever plan and flips another page of her magazine. “She doesn’t know you were involved.”
Ryan and Jim, Taylor’s brothers, worked for a security company, so their uniforms could pass as a police officer. On top of that, their buddy works for the sheriff's department, so they borrowed a squad car to pull off the perfect performance.
Don’t ask me why twenty-something-year-olds would want in on this prank, but they were elated to do it.
“Miss McMahon won’t be messing with you anymore either,” Taylor professes confidently. “Ryan told her straight up that he knew she was fucking Colson.”
My eyes widen. “You told your brothers? That was supposed to be a secret.”
“Who are they going to tell?” She narrows her eyes on me. “I trust them, I wouldn’t do that to you.”
“I know, but…” I bite my lower lip. Taylor
has done nothing but listen to me complain about Colson and the latest crap he’s done to me. “I’m sorry,” I breathe. “I’ve never done anything like this before.”
She scoffs. “About time then.”
“What do I tell Gavin?”
Taylor shrugs. “He won’t care with the amount of shit Colson has been dealing your way. He’ll more than likely be proud. He’s screwed up like that.” She tosses my phone toward me. “You have a text.”
I swipe up my phone and turn on the screen, just to feel bile rise from my stomach.
Colson: How much do you like burgers, Bases?
Me: What?
Colson: You’re job. I hope you don’t like it too much.
I peer up to find Taylor already looking at me. “What?”
“Colson,” I mutter. “He’s moving on to my job.”
Taylor rolls her eyes. “That place tips you like shit anyway, and we’ll find you another one.”
I shake my head. “No, I need that job. I’m saving up for a plane ticket to go to Michigan and for prom with my—”
“We’ll get you another job, Sawyer. He’s trying to fuck with you again. Don’t show him it bothers you.”
“It does bother me.” Taylor places her hand on mine, holding my phone.
“Listen, guys like this sense fear. If he knows it’ll make you upset, he’ll do it. Call his bluff.”
“I can’t do that.” I bite the inside of my cheek to keep tears from forming and from breaking out into a mini panic attack.
I want to text Gavin, to tell him that he better call his boy off. That I’m tired of this crap because I’m the only one getting harassed about it.
However, Taylor did have a valid point. It’ll make me appear weak if I get my boyfriend to fight my battles for me.
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I shove aside my fear and summon up some courage to text back.
Me: Make sure you make it a good reason that I get fired, Hayes.
Colson: Oh, don’t worry, it’ll be fucking epic.
“Let me see that phone,” Taylor says, just to snatch it out of my hands anyway. She skims through the text messages before her fingers fly across my keyboard.
