Striker: A Dark Bully Romance (Redwood Rebels Book 1)

by Rachel Leigh

  Dropping my head back, I close my eyes. Wanting this. Needing this. I slowly trail the back side of my fingers down my breast then over my stomach. Turning my hand around, I begin touching my clit with little pressure.

  “That’s right. Show me how you like it.”

  Opening my eyes, I lean forward. Allowing my legs to drop to the side as I watch Talon pump himself. I begin rubbing faster in a circular motion.

  An electrical current darts through me as my clit pulsates at my touch. I slide two fingers inside myself, feeling my arousal pool inside of me. All the while Talon watches me intently as he continues to slide his hand up and down his cock. Precum beads at the tip of his head and the urge to jump off this bed and take him into my mouth is strong.

  But, I just watch him instead. I watch as he watches me.

  Leaning further up on my elbows, I let my legs fall completely to the side. Pushing my fingers in farther and faster as Talon moves his hand in the same rhythm. “So fucking beautiful,” he rasps with hooded eyes. “Faster, baby.”

  Curved fingers hit the walls inside of me and I feel my nails scrape against it, jolting my body. But I don’t stop. I press deeper and farther and watch as Talon’s mouth forms an O and his chest vibrates with the pounding of his heart. “Fuck yes.” He moans.

  Right as his cum shoots all over my body, I pull my fingers out and rub my clit forcefully as my body fills up with an overpowering sensation that is so potent I feel like my entire body is going to combust. The high is like nothing I’ve ever felt before in my life. Exhilarating, immobilizing, and so damn satisfying. I can feel my arousal pool underneath me as I come down slowly. My body twitches in response to every nerve ending being zapped with such a high voltage.

  I look at Talon and I feel my face flush with embarrassment, but when I picture his face as he was coming, that embarrassment quickly fades. He wanted this. He asked for it, and he loved every minute of it.

  Dropping my head back down, I feel two hands on the inside of my thighs. Pressing my legs up, I’m completely exposed to him. The warmth of his tongue sweeps up from my ass to my clit. Licking in hard and thirsty strokes.

  Sucking my clit between his teeth, my entire body twitches at the sensitivity. I put a hand on his head to brace him. When he comes up, his eyes stare back at me. Bunching the flat sheet in his hand, he begins wiping us both off. “I’ll grab you a new one,” he says, as he tosses it on the floor. With a satisfied smile on his face, he slides up and presses his mouth to mine, giving me a taste of myself.

  “That was the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

  Pressing my lips together, I turn my head and close my eyes.

  “I’m serious. Watching it in person tops the videos any day.”

  I still can’t believe he watched those. I’m not sure how I am ever going to come to terms with that fact. Or the fact that I just gave him the real show, up close and personal. “I don’t do that anymore. It was just a one-time thing.”

  “More lies. You’re just full of them.”

  “Ok, twice.” I lie again.

  He shakes his head no.

  My heart sinks deep into my stomach. “My God, Talon, how long have you been watching me?”

  “Longer than you think, Angel Girl.”

  Scooting myself up to a sitting position, he rolls to the side of me with his hand holding his head up and his elbow sinking into the mattress. “What did you just say?”

  “You’re not an angel though, are you?”

  “No fucking way.” I push myself up further. “You’re not him.”

  “Not who? RebelSin?” He winks and the action sends a shiver down my spine.

  He’s not lying. It is him. RebelSin sent me four thousand dollars over the course of the last few months. He was one of my VIPs on the site. Making personal requests for late night chat sessions about more than just sexual pleasures. He doesn’t just know who I am or what I do; I showed him the depth of my heart.

  As hard as I tried to get him to open up, he never shared an ounce of emotion with me.

  Except for one night.

  I don’t live in the darkness; the darkness lives in me.

  I’ll never forget those words.

  8

  Six different pizza choices later, Marni finally ate. I have no clue what the girl likes, so I got a little bit of everything. She ended up grabbing a piece of the veggie and going back to her room, without even a thank you. Not that I’m surprised.

  Zed comes charging into the kitchen. “What the fuck?” he huffs, his hands shove hard against my chest, sending me back a few steps. With my back against the refrigerator, anger ripples through me.

  “What the fuck is right.” I shove him back. “What the hell is your problem?”

  Nose to nose, I can see the unpleasantry in his eyes. That blank black stare that he gets when his inner demons are unleashed. The look that tells us all to just walk away and let him be. “You said you’d look after her. We had a deal.”

  “And I have been.” I reach behind him and flip the top open on a box of pizza. Unsure of what kind it is, I grab a slice.

  “Don’t play dumb with me, Porter. You think you can just take her for yourself?”

  Smirking, I tip the pizza up and bite off the triangle end. Mmm, pepperoni. Lucky grab. “Didn’t take her. Don’t want her.” I take another bite.

  “You’re crossing the line that we all made crystal clear. Don’t step over it because, once you do, there is no going back.”

  Holding up a finger, I continue to chew. Pissing him off even further. His jaw ticks with fury and in a swift motion, his hand slaps across mine, sending the pizza flying across the kitchen. “Listen close,” he grips the collar of my t-shirt and gives me no choice but to listen and also smell the stench of whiskey on his breath, “Don’t push me, Porter. I don’t give a shit if we’ve been friends since grade school.” His teeth clamp down and he speaks slowly, “I will fuck your life up.”

  Swallowing down the rest of the pizza, I shove him back. “Keep in mind, we made a deal that she’s off-limits. That means you, too, asshole. And what the hell is with you? Since when do you have an interest in Marni Thorn?”

  Zed takes a step back, turns around and I don’t even see it coming when his fist meets my left cheek. My head whips to the side and something inside of me snaps. Barreling at him, I wrap my arms around his waist and drive him back into the island counter, hearing his back hit the black granite. Coming up, I cock my fist and release, but his head moves just in time. “I’ll fucking destroy you!” I shout.

  Ignoring the numbness of my cheek, I keep swinging, hitting him a few times. Taking a few blows myself.

  “Seriously, you two!” Tommy comes hurrying into the kitchen. His arms sweep between us as he attempts to pry us apart. “Lars, get your ass in here,” he shouts.

  But before Lars even has time to come, we separate. Both huffing and out of breath. Pointing a finger at me, Zed shouts, “She’s not your fucking toy!”

  “She’s not yours either,” I retort.

  “Are you two idiots seriously fighting over that girl. It’s been one day. One fucking day,” Tommy snarls, shaking his head in disappointment as he holds out his arms, filling the space between Zed and I.

  I should have known it wouldn’t be smooth sailing like we anticipated. I also never expected her having this sort of effect on me. This overpowering desire to keep her away from Zed. I’m not sure why, but the idea of him touching her fills my entire body with a burning rage. It’s unnerving—taunting.

  “You see what he’s doing,” Zed snaps, “he’s treating her like his own little puppy.”

  “Isn’t she? Wasn’t that the plan?” Tommy says, as he opens and closes the boxes of pizza. “What’s all this food for?”

  Clenching my swollen cheek in my hand, I look at Zed who’s doing the same. “I ordered it. She needed to eat.”

  Tommy pulls out a slice. “She? As in multiple women? Because you bought enou
gh to feed the entire varsity cheer squad and their families.”

  “I didn’t know what she liked. What’s the big fucking deal?”

  Zed doesn’t take his eyes off me as I talk. He’s waiting for me to say the wrong thing. The guy is so on edge all the time and needs to just calm his ass down. It’s apparent he has some sort of fascination with Marni, and if she’s on his radar, it can only mean one thing—trouble.

  I pull out my phone and slap it to Tommy’s chest. “Round one is done. It’s time to move on to the next phase.”

  “Already?” Tommy questions. Zed grabs the phone from his hands and begins clicking through it.

  The volume is turned all the way up, and Marni’s voice can be heard through the speaker of the video. “Turn that shit down!” I attempt to snatch the phone away, but he pulls back with his finger held down on the volume button. Her sounds quickly fade away until the volume is off.

  It irks me that these guys are watching her as she orgasms intensely—one that was meant just for me. Glad I remembered to crop the footage before showing them; they’d have a field day if they saw all of it—especially the end.

  Zed tosses the phone back to me while his eyes sweep the room as Lars walks in—ten minutes too late.

  Zed walks out, without even acknowledging him, but then stops and turns to face me. “Just because you’re on the verge of fucking up your own agenda, doesn’t mean we will let you fuck up ours.”

  I can’t, and I won’t fuck this up. This is my one shot.

  Looking down at the tattoo on my arm, the pact we made replays in my head. Start to finish, we stick together. Four games of revenge, one shot each.

  We all have our demons. We all have our vices. But we are all in this together, no matter what fresh stain of hate is dredged up during the in between.

  Lying in bed that night, thoughts of her swirl in my mind. Wrapping around every crack and crevice, refusing to leave. I’ve never had a problem sleeping; in fact, sleep has always come easy to me. It’s my escape from this hellish place. I search for my dreams in hopes of finding some sort of connection to the world. Mornings come too soon, and I’m forced to leave behind the illusion of a life with color. Closing my eyes tightly, I imagine myself running toward Dad’s open arms. He picks me up, spins me around, then calls me, Sport. Still not asleep, I open one eye, then try again.

  He’s there.

  I’m running.

  Only his arms aren’t open. He’s angry. A bottle hangs from his left hand.

  No. Don’t go there. Open your eyes. It’s not real.

  The bottle flies across the room. The sound of the glass shattering has my body jerking and my seven-year-old heart thumping against the walls of my chest. Mom stands by watching apathetically with a hand over her mouth, though she doesn’t stop him. His arm lifts and comes crashing down on me. A karate chop straight to the top of my head. I don’t even cringe. My body has learned not to react because he feeds off of it.

  Wake up, Talon.

  Fingers close around my wrist, and he begins dragging me up the stairs. My limp body hits each step with a thud. No, Dad. Please. I internally beg for him to stop. But he doesn’t. Fully clothed, he grabs me by the leg and arm and swings me into the bathtub of scalding hot water.

  Open your eyes.

  My body burns as I lie there floating in the water. Motionless. Emotionless. Forcing my ears to drift just below the ripple of the water to drown out the sound of his sadistic laughter.

  My body shoots up. Wiping at the dampness of my hairline, I look at my hand expecting blood. It’s just sweat. It was just a dream. Slowing my breaths, I lie back down with my head on the black satin pillow. My hand grazes the skin of my side beneath my t-shirt. Hitting every bumpy ridge of the scars that decorate it.

  Closing my eyes again, I try to sleep, but she slithers back into my thoughts. Like a saint there to rescue me from the darkest of nightmares—the darkness of my past.

  In slow motion, the gust of wind catches her hair as she stands in a dark room. A smile tugs at the corners of her lips, drawing them up as her eyes stay fixated on whatever is in front of her. My body shoots up again when Josh’s face replaces her. Bloodied and dirt covered.

  I gasp for breath then tear the blanket off of me. Grabbing my phone off the nightstand, my feet hit the floor and I head straight for the door in just my boxers and t-shirt. I have to get the hell out of this room.

  As soon as I open the door to the hallway at the bottom of the stairs, I hear her. Whimpers, followed by a deep sob.

  Fucking A. Ignore her, Talon.

  With each step, her cries ring closer.

  When I’m directly in front of the door to her room, I stop. Pressing my hand against it and giving it a push to see if it’s open, but it’s latched shut. Suddenly, the cries stop. Right when my ear touches the door, it pulls open. Marni stands there in just an oversized t-shirt, but it’s not the shirt she’s wearing that grabs my attention. It’s the swollen skin beneath her eyelids. Her blush tipped nose and the dampness on her cheeks. “How long have you been out here?” she sniffles.

  I press my palms against the inside of the door frame. “I just got here. Why aren’t you sleeping? You have school tomorrow.”

  She sweeps her hand across her cheek aggressively and grimaces. “Yeah, like I can get any sleep after everything that’s happened.” Turning around, she walks back into the bedroom, leaving the door open.

  I stand there for a moment, telling myself that I need to leave. Get some fresh air and then go back to bed. Leave her alone. But the magnetic pull between her and I has me following her in.

  My phone begins buzzing in my hand, but I ignore it and end the call. Her eyes dance from my phone to my face. “Shouldn’t you get that? It’s pretty late. Must be important.” She sits down on the bed with her hands in her lap and her bare feet on the floor.

  “Nah. If it’s important, they’ll leave a message.” I step closer, but stop in my tracks right next to her bed when she jerks her head up and snarls, “What are you doing?”

  I point at the door. “You left it open. Assumed you wanted—”

  “You assumed wrong.” Her face drops into her hands. “This is all your fault. I should have never...we should have never…” Her voice trails off.

  She doesn't have to say it. I know what she’s talking about. She’s having regrets about tonight. For good reason. It was nothing short of fantastic, but the end result isn’t going to make this any easier on her. I’d like to tell her it’s going to get better, but that would be another lie. I run my fingers through my hair. “Hang in there. That’s all you can do.” Turning around, I head back for the door and keep walking, even when she says my name.

  Should have never gone in there. I can’t let this girl weaken me. I can’t care. I don’t fucking care. It’s just that when girls cry, it makes me think of Blakely. My sister shed so many unnecessary tears because of the fucked-up life we were given. I could never even console her because Dad told me that it made me look weak and weakened her in the process. Our pain makes us stronger. We cry, then we get up and fight back. That’s what Mom would say. What the hell did she know? She never fought back. She took every beating that was handed to her and watched while we got ours.

  Thinking about it fuels the fire inside of me. He will get what’s coming to him and I will savor every moment of shredding him with my own bare hands.

  When I get down to the kitchen, I tap my screen and my fingers shadow over the missed call.

  What the hell does he want?

  9

  Walking out of the bedroom, I leave the door open and step quietly down the hall. I hear someone talking—arguing actually. Yet, there is no one arguing back. It’s a one-sided conversation, and I’d know that voice anywhere. Taking a couple steps down the staircase, I’m shielded by walls on both sides. Sitting down, right before the wall turns to banister, I hold my breath while trying to listen. His words are muffled from the distance between us, but it i
s definitely Talon, and he’s definitely engaged in an intense conversation.

  “I told you fifty fucking times that she’s safe. No one is going to lay a finger on her.”

  Her? As in me?

  “We are all well aware of the deal. Have been since day one.”

  There’s a pause.

  “You’re in no position to try and call the shots here. Seems you’re the one forgetting the arrangement. Now quit calling my fucking phone before you raise suspicion.”

  There’s another pause, followed by the sound of a thud. When he stops talking, I assume it’s his phone meeting the countertop.

  Getting to my feet, I go back up the stairs and tiptoe down the hall. Shutting my door quietly behind me.

  What the hell was that all about?

  News spread like wildfire of Josh’s disappearance. Every time his name was mentioned, it felt like a dozen whistles were sounding off in my ears, vibrating through my entire body. My knees buckled a couple times, but all things considered, I’ve held it together pretty well.

  There are so many rumors circulating that I can’t keep up: he’s addicted to heroin and is staying with his dealer. He fled after his parents caught him raping his sister. Someone murdered him and dropped him in the ocean.

  My mind has been replaying Talon’s one-sided conversation from last night and I’ve been racking my brain like hell trying to figure out who Talon was talking to. It could have been one of the guys, I suppose. But was he talking about me? And what deal was he referring to?

  “I know you said that you’ll fill me in later, but please tell me why he is still following us,” Shay says, as she glances over her shoulder for the fifteenth time as we walk from third period to lunch.

  Wyatt slides up to us and throws an arm over my shoulder. “She’s alive!” he singsongs.

  The halls are packed with the senior student body as we all head to the cafeteria. Passerbys look at me and then their eyes shoot to Tommy, who is walking no more than six feet behind us. “Just ignore him,” I tell her, keeping my focus on the cafeteria doors in front of us.