by Logan Fox
My head is caught in a Ferris wheel that keeps going up and up and up. Gravity sucks at me, and the sensation makes me want to curl up into a ball and die.
How could she leave me behind with a monster like Mr.—
Don’t you worry, she’s fast asleep
“Get out of my car,” Wayne growls. He straightens in his seat and presses a control on the console. There’s a soft ‘snick’ as our doors unlock. “Pack your shit. You’re going back to Ohio while I sort this shit out. Both of you.”
“I’m not going back there,” Josiah says.
“You don’t have a choice, son.”
Josiah bristles, but before he can say anything, Wayne sends a leer my way. “Better hurry, else you won’t have enough time to fuck each other.”
And that’s when my jaw decides to unlock. That’s when I can finally get words past my rusted-shut throat.
“We haven’t done that,” I say.
As if I give a shit about what Wayne Bale thinks of my morality, my soul. As if I can’t bear the thought of him judging me.
Wayne stares at me in the rear-view mirror. “Maybe not yet, baby girl.” His eyes move to Josiah. “But I’m sure it won’t be long now.”
Chapter Fifty-Three
Josiah
I’m not sure if the churning in my stomach is shame or disgust. Fuck, it’s probably a mash-up of the two. I’m standing beside Candy, the both of us watching as my father pulls off down the road.
Pack your shit.
Fuck each other.
I’ve never seen Dad like this. I mean, fuck, I’ve never even heard him swear. But it’s not the hypocrisy that’s sticking with me, it’s the look in his eyes.
I recognize it, because I’ve seen it in the mirror.
“He’s lying,” Candy says. A second later, she slips her hand into mine and squeezes. “He’s lying about everything.”
She’s right.
And I knew it all along.
I guess I was just trying to protect myself.
Protect him.
A strange calm consumes me. I can’t explain it any more than I can keep it back. In a way, I don’t want to. I love not being in control anymore. Knowing that, no matter what the fuck I do, shit’s gonna keep happening.
“Let’s go inside,” I say.
Candy hesitates, and then nods. “We have to call the police.”
I walk up beside her and slip my hand over hers. She laces her fingers through mine and squeezes, and then moves closer and leans her head against my arm as we head for the door.
No. No police. They’d just complicate things.
This is something we need to sort out alone. Just us. As a family. I’m not sure where Dad went, but he’ll be back soon to take us to Happy Mountain.
I’m not fucking going back there. But that’s not something he has to know right now. Let him think we’re complying. He can even think we’re fucking each other right now, if that’s what gets him hard.
But it isn’t, is it? Young chicks, that’s what—
I know Candy won’t like what I’m about to do, but she’ll understand in the end.
This is all for her.
For us.
I realized something back there in the car, when my father was being so crude and disgusting. He doesn’t understand what love is. He doesn’t understand how it transcends everything.
Candy and I met for a reason. We fell in love for a reason. We’re destined to be together.
I just have to take care of something first.
Chapter Fifty-Four
Candy
There’s something so right about Josiah’s hand in mine. Maybe it’s the strength seeping into me from his strong fingers, or the warmth he radiates when our palms brush. I peek up at him as he unlocks the front door. As if he feels my eyes on him, he glances down and smiles.
I know it’s weird to be happy in a moment like this.
No, not weird. It’s downright fucked up.
After everything Wayne just said, the things he accused of us…
But none of that seems to matter now. For some reason, that’s what happens when I’m around Josiah. Things that should be wrecking my mind are just…things.
He closes the door behind us, and for a moment he just stands there, not moving.
My smile slips.
Doubt creeps in.
Was I imagining things?
Then he turns on his heel, an odd smile playing on his mouth.
“What…what is it?” I ask.
“You know, if he gets his way…” Josiah’s eyes sparkle like he’s got a secret he wants to tell me, and can’t wait to see my reaction.
My stomach warms, and my heart starts to pick up pace. “Who?”
“Wayne.”
My heart stutters. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard him call his father by his first name. “Wh-what about him?”
Josiah tilts his head. “He can send us back, you know. Technically, he’s got the authority.”
“Back where?” My mind’s playing tricks on me. I can’t focus on what Josiah’s saying, it keeps going back to the way he said his father’s name. So emotionless, like he was just another person and not his—
Father.
“To that shit hole. Back to Happy Mountain.”
He’s so much closer now. I back up, and start when my ass collides with the hallway table. The things on it rattle. I turn, but he’s in front of me now, and I’m trapped between the table and the wall and his body.
“No. He can’t do that. We’ll—”
His grin cuts me off. “Yes,” he says, sounding breathless and overjoyed. “Yes, we’ll run away.”
I blink at him a few times before I can find my voice. He slides his hands up my arms, cradles the curve of my neck. “You…want to run away?”
“Why not? We don’t need him. We don’t need this.” Josiah glances up at the house, back at me. “All we need is each other, and we’ve already got that.”
Something like relief washes over me. I sag against the wall and stare up at Josiah, biting the inside of my lip so it will stop trembling.
I wasn’t sure, back there. Not of anything. My mind tied itself in knots, trying to figure everything out. But one thing I’ve been sure about all along, is Josiah. Maybe not his intentions, or mine. Whether what we had was right, or wrong.
But it’s real. I know that now.
And I’ve never felt anything as real as this.
I don’t know what Josiah sees on my face, but in an instant, he has me up against the wall. I gasp when my shoulder blades crash against the wallpaper, and again when his hips collide against mine. He grinds into me, his face an inch from mine, a wild grin near splitting his face in two.
What is he doing? Wayne could send us back to that horrible school today like he threatened. We have to get out of here while we still can.
“Jo, there’s no time.”
I stiffen, expecting a reprimand for using the name no one but his family can use. That’s what he told me, after all.
But I guess a lot has changed since then, because his eyes light up with joy, not anger.
“I know,” he says. “But, I need something from you first.”
My heart clangs against my chest when he narrows his eyes. All that joy, it transforms into something manic, something so intense that the butterflies in my tummy become swarming wasps.
“Jo?” My lips barely move, but still, his eyes lock onto my mouth.
“He can’t have you, Candy,” he murmurs.
Those wasps take flight, filling my entire body with prickles of anticipation.
“We’re not going anywhere until I’ve made you mine.”
Chapter Fifty-Five
Josiah
Candy scans my face, her lips quivering. Whether consciously or not, she’s gone and wrapped her legs around my waist. Her hands were pushing against my chest, keeping me away, but now they slide up and over my shoulders.
Her gaze drops to m
y mouth, and then flickers up.
“I’m already yours, Jo.”
I press into her, freeing up my hands. Smoothing her hair from her face, I cup it in my hands and search her features for some sign, a clue that will tell me if I’m being delusional, or if something I thought was all made up shit might actually, possibly, be real.
Love?
Don’t be fucking ridiculous.
So then we’re family, and that’s enough.
It’s never enough. She’ll never be enough.
I will those acidic thoughts to disperse, and for once—miraculously—they do.
“He’s had more of you than I have,” I say.
Hurt touches her eyes, but she blinks it away. “Why would you say that?”
“It’s true, isn’t it?” I tilt my head, rubbing my thumb over her bottom lip. “Tell me I’m lying.”
Why would he lie?
The sick part of me that dreamed up all the depraved things I could do to Candy, it’s not letting this go. I’ve tried my best not to think about it, but now I can’t stop. She never told me what my father—Wayne—what Wayne did to her.
I have to know.
She drops her gaze. “He never…I mean, I don’t think he ever…”
My heart’s pounding, my voice has gone thick. “Fucked you?”
“My…virginity. He never—”
My heart’s coming out of my chest. “Promise?” I whisper, hating myself for sounding so fucking needy, so…desperate.
“Why would I lie?” she murmurs, her eyes falling to my mouth. “Jo, I…I love you.”
Now, what fucking choice do I have?
I kiss the girl.
Chapter Fifty-Six
Candy
His warm breath touches me a second before his lips do. My body tenses with joy, then lust, as he massages my lips with his. He’s crushing me to the wall, grinding his dick between my legs so hard, I’m already aching inside.
For him.
I want to give him what no one’s taken from me yet. Despite everything—despite every-fucking-thing—that’s happened to me, I’ve clung to my virginity for dear life.
For him.
As ridiculous as that sounds. As impossible as that may be.
Somehow, I knew that one day we’d be here, and I’d have to prove to him that he means more to me than any other guy in the whole world—even those that mean less than nothing.
I want him to know he’s special.
That I’m his.
That I belong to him, and only him.
Josiah Bale owns me, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I’m shuddering all over, inside and out, as he slows his kiss. He tastes every inch of my mouth, playing with my tongue, drawing out the ecstasy of this moment. I start moaning, and whimpering, and squirming—coming undone from need.
“Where?” he whispers, moving his lips away from mine.
I moan sulkily at the loss, and then buck into him so hard he groans. “Anywhere, I don’t care.”
“You will care. Tell me.”
“Fuck.” I’m panting. He watches me, unmoved by my impatience, my frustration.
“Where, darling? Where do you want me to fuck you?”
I shiver, eyelids fluttering closed in delight as those words send a hard spike of pleasure through me. My underwear’s starting to get damp, my skin heating up.
In the kitchen, the phone starts ringing.
We both ignore it.
Then it comes to me. Somewhere private. Somewhere special. Somewhere no one would think to look for us.
“The pool house.”
“The pool house,” he repeats, already turning and heading there. He locks lips with me again, and we crash against furniture and walls like a pair of drunks as he stumbles toward the back door.
Our kiss is ravenous now. My lips tingle, hot and engorged with blood. I don’t know why, but his saliva is as sweet and intoxicating as a liqueur, and it’s having the same effect on me.
My head spins as he hurries past the pool. We crash against the glass doors. Jo grasps roughly at my breasts with one hand while he fumbles to open the door with the other.
“Jo!” I pant his name. “Hurry.”
He groans when I reach down and squeeze his dick through his jeans, and finally gets the door open. We crash inside, the lace curtains snapping around us. Thankfully, there’s a couch in the way, and I fall against its back instead of cracking my head on the flagstone floor.
We’re laughing, and panting, and trying to drag each other’s clothes off without our lips losing contact.
I am drunk.
So is he.
We could have been gone already, away from this place. We’re risking everything, and for what?
Logic is a foreign concept right now. Common sense? Nowhere in sight.
We’re drunk with sin. Stoned on lust. There’s no right and wrong anymore—there’s just pleasure and ecstasy and bliss…and neither of us can get enough.
I’m left in just my underwear when he drops to his knees in front of me. He’s still wearing his shirt, boxers, and a lone sock. He dips his head, back arching as he rains kisses down my thighs.
But he’s too tall, and the couch is too low. Just as I grab a handful of his hair, he shakes me off and slides his hands under my ass. I squeal when he hoists me up, and gasp as he spins me around and sets me down with a thump on the bar counter. The cool granite clings to my skin, and it squeaks when he drags me closer to the edge.
He wrenches another gasp from me when he grazes his teeth over my underwear. Jo steps back, chest heaving as he stares down at me. Slowly, his gaze drags up my body.
He can’t seem to look away from my eyes when he’s done savoring me.
A gust of wind sends the curtain billowing.
We should close it.
We should stop.
This is wrong.
We should stop—
“Take off your bra,” he commands.
I sit forward and reach behind me. He rewards me by running his knuckles over the now translucent fabric between my legs. As long as he’s telling me what to do, I don’t give a fuck about whether this is wrong or right.
I’ve always been a good girl, but it’s gotten me nothing but pain and suffering. So I’m done. It’s time I took what I wanted, and if what I want is a bad thing, then so what?
Whatever I end up paying for this sin, it’ll be worth it.
We both know that.
“Open for me.” His voice is rough, his lips trembling.
Slowly, I spread my legs apart. Another cool breeze flutters in through the curtains. For a brief moment, part of the patio and the pool’s gleaming surface is visible. Light reflects like diamonds.
Jo groans as he pulls his shirt over his head. His dick strains against his trunks, and I can’t help staring at it.
“Show me that perfect pussy.”
My legs start shaking, but he grabs my ankles almost absently and sets each down on a separate bar stool. I swallow hard, wrack up as much courage as I can, and pull away my wet underwear.
“Fuck,” Jo growls out. He presses a hand against the bulge in his boxers and steps close enough to kiss my knee. “Touch yourself.”
I run my fingers down my slit, and even that touch sends a thrill through me. I don’t think I’ve ever been this wired. It’s as if everything is amplified a thousand times over.
Jo reaches into his trunks and hauls out his cock. “Does that feel good?”
All I can manage is a groan.
“More.” Then, as if he can’t bear waiting for me, he knocks my feet off the stools and yanks my underwear down my legs. The fabric burns against my skin, but everything translates into pleasure…even pain.
This time, he forces my legs up even higher, setting them down beside my hips. My thighs and hip joints ache and complain, but dear God, I couldn’t care if he breaks my back. He’s staring at me like I’m everything he’s ever wanted and more.
&nb
sp; “I’d make this last forever if I could,” he says, stepping forward and touching the tip of his cock to my entrance. When he looks up, my entire body quakes. “But, I’d go insane if I didn’t fuck you right now.”
“Fuck me, please.” My voice breaks. I want to scoot forward, to press myself harder against him, but I’d probably fall off the fucking counter.
“Are you wet enough?” There’s a wicked smile dancing on his mouth.
“Yes!” I peel myself open for him. “See?”
He glances down, groans deep in his throat, and starts stroking his cock along my slit, coating himself. Then he looks up again. “I will. But not here. I want to fuck you hard, and I don’t want you falling and splitting your head open before I’m done.”
I’m ready to jump off the goddamn counter, but before I can move, he grabs me and squeezes so hard I gasp.
Then he ducks his head and flicks his tongue over my clit.
I cry out, grabbing a fistful of his hair. I try to drag him harder against me, but he’s too strong. He teases me, swirling his tongue over my nub again and again.
It’s too much.
I can’t hold back anymore.
I stare down at him, watching him devour every inch of my pussy, and then toss back my head as I come. A strangled scream breaks out of me. Cool air flows over me like water, and the fluttering curtain drags my gaze away. I come undone as I stare at the pretty lights flickering on the surface of the pool.
His tongue darts inside me, dragging out my climax, perhaps starting another, I don’t have a fucking clue.
I’m still panting, still fading away between the stars sparkling across my mind when Josiah’s cock presses against my entrance.
“I’m going to hurt you,” he says, as if bracing himself, as if asking me to do the same.
“Nothing you do can ever hurt me,” I whisper, with no idea where the words are coming from.
“Jesus, Candy, how can you be so fucking perfect?” He looks up, and our mouths crash together as he forces the first inch of his cock into me.
