An unsettling shiver runs down my spine knowing what a stupid decision this was. This town is pretty quiet, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some nutcase out prowling the streets waiting for their next prey to almost fall into their lap. I’m the perfect target right now.
The rumble of an engine slowing behind me vibrates through my body and my heart starts to pound a little faster.
It could be anyone, a rapist, murderer. Images of what could be about to happen to me play out in my mind like all the films I’ve seen over the years. My palms sweat and my muscles prepare to run as the car gets ever slower behind me.
Eventually, my fear gets too much and I have to look over my shoulder. The moment the passenger of the car becomes clear, a laugh falls from my lips.
“Are you shitting me?” I ask as I continue walking.
“Get in, Brit,” Jake barks through the open window.
“Fuck you.”
“Get. In. The. Fucking. Car. Now.”
“Fuck. You.”
His nostrils flare at my defiance and his lips press into a thin line. He’s jolted forward as the car accelerates and I breathe a sigh of relief. That is until the car abruptly stops slightly in front of me and the passenger door is thrown open.
Turning on my tender feet, I go to take off running but strong, tattooed arms wrap around my waist. I still on contact and gasp in surprise when the entire length of his body presses against my back.
“I said, get in the fucking car,” he growls, his voice is terrifying. My body trembles, there’s no way he misses it and I curse myself for allowing him to feel my fear right now.
Before I get to argue, my feet leave the floor and I’m carried toward the car where Ethan holds the back door open to allow Jake to throw me in.
I squeal as I fly toward the leather seat, quickly scrambling so I can make my escape before the car moves, but when I sit up, I find Jake staring down at me. His eyes are dark and angry but there’s a smug smirk playing on his lips.
“Let me the fuck out.”
“Feisty this morning, aren’t you?” His head tips to the side like he’s trying to figure me out and fuck if it doesn’t make him look even better. Heat unfurls in my belly as I go to force him out of the way. He sees what I’m planning and before I get a chance to do anything, he’s leaning into the car, hands on the seat behind me, caging me in.
He doesn’t say anything for the longest time. Instead, his eyes bounce between mine before dropping down to my lips. I bite down on my bottom one, my nails digging into the leather beneath me.
“What the fuck is your problem?” I seethe, hoping to get him out of my face and looking at me like he is right now.
An unamused chuckle falls from him. “My problem? I’ve got a fucking million, sweetheart. But right now it’s that you’re walking along the side of the road looking like a whore who’s been kicked out after a good night.”
“Sorry, am I bringing the tone of the area down a few notches?” I ask, and by the darkening of his eyes and the grinding of his teeth, I’d say it only fuels his anger. He wants me to argue, he doesn’t know how to respond to me basically agreeing with him.
“Your night with Dunn and his small cock so disappointing that you had to run?” All the air leaves my lungs as he leans closer, his lips only millimeters from mine. His scent fills my nose and I can’t help wondering how he smells so damn good after a night on the beach. My eyes focus on the darkening bruise on his cheek and the cut on his lip. I wonder who was on the other end of that fist? They should have done a better job. “Did you spend the whole time thinking of me? Thinking about how I’d fill your pussy to the max and bring you more pleasure than you’ve ever known.”
My stomach knots and I try convincing myself it’s with disgust but I’m not stupid and I hate myself for my reaction to him.
“Leave me alone.” I try to keep my voice strong but neither of us miss the crack toward the end.
“You don’t mean that. I see the way your eyes dilated when I got close to you. You want this. You might hate me like I do you, but you can’t deny that you want me to fuck you.”
“Get the fuck away from me.” I try again but I know it’s pointless. My words mean nothing to him.
“Me fucking you wouldn’t achieve what you want. You want pleasure, but all I’ve got for you is pain, baby.”
“Enough, Thorn,” Ethan barks from the front seat and Jake pulls back a little, allowing me to suck in a few much needed breaths.
“Pain, Brit,” he whispers menacingly. “Pain is all I’ve got for you.”
I reach for the handle the second he slams the door shut, but it’s useless, they’ve locked me in.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Home,” Jake barks.
I want to ask why. If he hates me so damn much like he keeps expressing, then why not just leave me to cut my feet to shreds on the pavement? But I keep my lips sealed shut and with my arms folded over my chest. I sit back and watch the scenery pass as we head toward home.
“How’d you know where I live?” I didn’t think to tell him the address when Ethan pulled the car away from the curb, but not long later he’s bringing it to a stop outside my gran’s house.
“We know everything that happens around here.”
“Riiight. Well, thanks for the lift, I guess. I’d like to say it was a pleasure but...it wasn’t.”
“Should have left you to be fucking abducted,” comes from the passenger seat.
“Ignore him,” Ethan says. “He’s PMSing or some shit.”
A smile almost makes it to my lips as I push the door open. I bite back the urge to thank them properly because they really did rescue me when they could have left me to find my own way, but instead I slam the door and storm toward Gran’s bungalow.
I really don’t want to ring the bell and wake her up, but I don’t know any other way to get inside without my keys. I could really do without all the questions that are going to come with me standing at her front door looking like I am.
With a wince, I press my finger down on the button and the ring sounds out through the house. I’m just starting to think it hasn’t woken her when movement by the window to my left catches my eye seconds before the door’s pulled open.
“Amalie, what on earth…” Her words are cut off by the loud rumble of an engine behind us. Her eyes lift from mine and she smiles as the car pulls away and disappears down the street.
“I’m so sorry to wake you. You can go back to bed.”
“I was awake anyway. What’s happened? Where’s Camila? Why are you wearing a Bear’s shirt?”
“I need coffee first,” I say, shutting the door behind me and heading toward the kitchen.
17
Jake
My body knew the moment her eyes were on me. Fire burned in my belly and my blood turned to lava under her intense scrutiny. As much as I wanted to open my eyes and scare the shit out of her, my need to know what the hell she was about to do was bigger. I expected her to hurt me after everything yesterday. I’ve got no doubt that she knows it was us who stole their tent and all their stuff.
To my surprise, she just stood there staring.
Coldness engulfed me when she eventually walked away and I knew I couldn’t fight it any longer, I had to see her.
I regretted it immediately when my eyes ran up her long legs until they found the bottom of his fucking jersey she was still wearing. The fire raged within me knowing that he’s spent the night with her. That motherfucker should have been warned she was off limits, yet he still does whatever the fuck he wants. Same as how he spends his time with his dumb ass friends instead of with his team like the rest of us. We all know where our loyalties lie, but Shane Dunn? He needs to be taught a fucking lesson and I’ve got the perfect ammunition. He’s got a weakness for the new girl and I’m about to use it against him.
“Where to now?” Ethan asks after we’ve watched her walk into her Gran’s house. Waking him up and demanding we f
ollow her was probably a dumbass move, but I couldn’t ignore the fact I’d seen her leave the bathrooms and head off toward home wearing only that fucking jersey and no damn shoes. I might want to hurt her, but I’ll be fucked if I’m letting anything else happen to her.
“Aces.”
“You wanna swing back by the beach for Mason?” I think back to our argument last night and I know he wouldn’t come. He made his feelings very clear and as much as it might hurt, I’m not fucking bowing down to him right now. He might think he knows what my life’s like, what goes on in my head but he doesn’t know the half of it. So what, he knows what my issue with her is? That means nothing.
“Na, he’s got plans.”
“Wanna talk about it?”
Glancing over at him, I lift a brow.
“Fine. Fine. I was just offering.”
“Just buy me coffee and we’re good.”
Dropping into our usual booth, silence descends as we wait for the waitress to come over.
“That game last night was epic.”
Jesus, was that only yesterday? Being on the field feels like a million years ago already.
“It was a great start to the season.”
“The fuck, Thorn? You’re our captain. Our quarterback. You’re meant to be even more excited about our first win than any of us.”
“I am excited. I just don’t want to get ahead of myself. This isn’t the first time the Bear’s have won the first game and crashed out soon after. I’m just gonna take each one as it comes.”
“I get that, but shit, a little celebration wouldn’t go amiss.”
“Don’t sulk, Ethan. It doesn’t suit you.” He flips me off as the waitress comes back with coffee. “How’d you get on with your girl last night? She cave in the end?”
“No.” His point stays firmly in place. “You?” He was either too drunks to remember he asked me this last night or quite rightly didn’t believe me.
“Yeah, man. You know I always get the girl.”
“You got the new girl on her knees?” The shock in his voice should be enough to make him question me, but he never does.
“Something like that,” I mutter, not wanting to outright lie to him.
“Daaaamn. That definitely deserves breakfast.” Two plates full of sweet pancakes and salty bacon are dropped in front of us right on cue and my mouth waters.
“You didn’t come home last night,” my aunt hollers across the yard as I head toward my front door.
“And?” I bark back, it’s not usually like her to give a shit about what I’m doing, hence the reason I’ve been banished to a trailer in the backyard.
“Just worried is all.” Yeah, fucking right she is. She’s probably more concerned that the money she gets for putting up with me will stop if I fuck off. As much as I’d love to do just that, I’ve not got enough money and she damn well knows it.
“I’m in one piece, as you can see.” Fury at her pathetic attempt to look like she cares starts to bubble within me. “Did you need anything else?” I ask through clenched teeth.
Some movement behind her catches my eye and Poppy comes to stand in the doorway and looks between the two of us, her brows pinched together.
“Okay, well…” My aunt trails off before disappearing inside, shaking her head.
Giving Poppy a weak smile at best, I turn away and let myself into my trailer. None of this is her fault, it’s not like she asked for me to be shoved into the middle of her happy family all those years ago.
Throwing the small bag I dragged from Ethan’s truck a few minutes ago on my bed, I pull my shirt over my head, drop my shorts and march toward the bathroom. I need rid of the sand that’s coating my body and reminding me of everything that happened over the past few hours.
The dribble of water from the showerhead does little to release the tension locking my shoulders tight.
Standing with my hands on the wall in front of me, I allow the water I do have to run down my back. I squeeze my eyes shut and regret it instantly. The image of her terrified eyes as I leaned over her in the car are right there, taunting me. Since the day she fucking turned up all she’s done is fucking taunt me. Everywhere I look, every time I close my eyes, there she is bringing back everything I try to forget, teasing me with her body and reminding me that she’s the reason Mason told me to fuck off last night. We’ve never fallen out. Yeah, we’ve thrown plenty of punches over the years but never has it ever come to what it did last night.
Her face fills my mind, the darkening of her eyes as I leaned in closer, the way they dropped to my lips like there was even the slightest fucking chance I was going to kiss her. Her floral scent, even after a dip in the sea and a night on the beach filled my nose and fuck if it didn’t make my mouth water, making me wonder how bad that kiss might be.
My cock swells and twitches, catching my eye. Dropping one arm, I fist the length with an almost painful grip. Holding my weight against the wall with one arm I pump my cock, reveling in the escape as my mind empties and my body chases mind-numbing pleasure.
My balls draw up and as I come into the shower tray only one face fills my mind. It immediately ruins any high I might have just found.
Punching the wall in front of me so it leaves a decent dent, I growl out my frustration. How is that bitch managing to bury herself so damn deep under my skin when all I want is to get rid of her.
“What the hell are you doing?” I bark the second I find Poppy sitting on my couch. I’m not surprised, I pretty much expected it after she heard the exchange between her mom and me earlier.
“Just checking in and I brought you some supplies.” She nods over to the two bags full of stuff on the counter. I don’t need her bringing me stuff from the house, I’d actually rather buy my own food, but she insists that it’s what her parents should be doing for me, so she makes it happen.
The corner of my lips twitch when I find a bottle of vodka at the bottom of the bag. “How’d you sneak this out?”
She shrugs, her face dropping. “Just took it after they went shopping last. They’re so busy arguing that they probably even forgot they bought it.”
My heart aches for her and her situation. I might fucking hate living here but I think I’ve actually got the better end of the deal being out here away from it all.
“You could keep it. Go out and have some fun.”
Screwing up her face in disgust, she says, “No, it’s okay. You can keep it. I’ll stick to beer thanks.”
I can’t help laughing at her as I twist the top and take a swig, it makes her face twist even more.
“You should probably water it down with something.”
“Yeah, I probably should.”
I unpack everything else she brought me before falling down beside her. I used to sneak whatever she gave me back into the house but ever since I got caught and they thought I was actually stealing the shit I decided to stop. I don’t want Poppy in trouble for doing something nice for me.
“So, how was Dash?” She tucks her legs beneath her and looks at me excitedly.
“It was…” I trail off as I try to decide what last night was. Frustrating, painful, a total let down… “It was fun, you’ll love it when it’s your turn.”
“I can’t wait. Another step closer to getting out of this shithole.”
“You and me both, kid.” She frowns and her lips part ready to rip me a new one for using the nickname she hates, but she obviously decides against it.
“You got homework to do?”
“Probably,” I admit.
“I’ll go get mine, we’ll do it together. We need the grades if we’re ever going to get out of here.”
I want to say no. To send her back up to her house to leave me to wallow in self-pity alone but the sparkle in her eye at the idea of spending the afternoon here with me is too much to refuse and I find myself going in search of some actual fucking homework as she runs to the house. Well, this will be a fucking novelty.
18
Amalie
“Amalie, you’ve got a visitor,” Gran calls up the stairs.
Closing the lid of my laptop, I place it on the bed beside me and climb off in search of who the hell’s come knocking. I assume it’s Camila since I ran away from them all this morning, although why Gran wouldn’t just send her down to my room is a little weird.
I understand why when I round the corner and my visitor comes into view.
“Mason?” I ask, thinking that I must be seeing things. Why the hell is he at our front door? Then a thought hits and fire rages through me. “If you’re here to do his dirty work, then you can think again. Just because you follow him around like he’s God it doesn’t mean I’ll bend at his commands.”
Gran blanches beside me but slowly starts to back away and I’m grateful she’s going to allow me to fight my own battles.
“What? No, no. He has no idea I’m here.”
“Okay. So why are you here?”
“I’ve got all your stuff in my car. Thought you might need it.”
“Why?” I narrow my eyes at him, not trusting one bit that he’s just being nice. Jake and his crew don’t do nice.
Putting his hands up in defeat, he holds my eye contact. “Just being nice, I swear. Jake’s acting like a jumped up asshole. You don’t deserve that, so I thought it was time to do the right thing.”
“Okay,” I say, still not wanting to trust him as far as I could throw him.
“Come give me a hand?”
“Sure.” Slipping on a pair of flip-flops I’d left by the front door, I follow him out to his car.
“I’ve got Camila’s stuff too, would you mind taking that?”
“Why don’t you take it to her. You know where she lives, right?” I’ve no clue if this is the case or not, but I’m desperate to know what the story is between the two of them.
“I don’t think she’ll take too kindly to me turning up unannounced. It’ll be better if you take it.” His shoulder slumps a little as he says this, only serving to make me even more suspicious of what their deal is with each other.
THORN: A High School Bully Romance (Rosewood Book 1) Page 8
