The two women wandered around the park, laughing and catching up, while they collected as many little monsters as possible. Playing Pokémon GO was like stepping into a time machine that catapulted Kensie back to when she was a young girl, running around the Gas Works with her best friend. Life had been simple then. There hadn’t been any ex-boyfriends. No drummers. No cheating. She’d been carefree, so full of life and adventure, drunk on the prospect of a real-life happily ever after.
“There you two are,” Ryder grumbled as he and Carter approached. “We’ve been trying to call you for the last twenty fucking minutes.”
“Oh, sorry,” Jam giggled, “we got caught up in this silly game.”
“What game?”
“Pokémon!” Kensie said proudly, holding up her phone. She’d made it to level ten.
“You’ve been on your phone this entire time and didn’t bother answering our calls?” Ryder chastised.
“Sorry, baby.” Jamie smiled wrapping her arms around her boyfriend’s waist. “We were in the middle of an intense battle.”
“Whatever, I’m hungry.” Ry pouted, rubbing his nose against Jam’s.
“Let’s get you some food and if you’re good, you can have a Shirley Temple,” she teased. “You guys want anything?”
“Nah,” Carter replied, looking to Kensie, “I think we’ll go hang out in the van. I don’t want her to overdo it.”
“Overdo it. Riiiggghhht.”
Carter flipped his middle finger at their friends’ backs as the sea of people swallowed them, leaving Kensie alone with her sort of rockstar boyfriend. “How was the meet and greet?” she asked. Small talk. Carter had quite literally fucked her stupid on multiple occasions, he’d spent the weekend taking care of her, and yet, she couldn’t shake her nerves around him.
“It was good. Lots of thirteen-year-olds,” he said as they linked hands and he led her towards the parking lot. The sun sat high in the afternoon sky. People milled about here and there while kids ran wild. It had all the trappings of a perfect Fourth of July.
Kensie should have been happy, but there was still so much left unsaid. Her talk with Grant lingered in the recesses of her brain. She had doubt, big, abrasive insecurity plagued her thoughts, but it was his day, so instead of voicing them, she took the path of least resistance. “Wanna play?”
“Why not?” He smiled, taking the phone from her hands. If he sensed her unease, he didn’t show it, and for that she was grateful.
After a quick overview of how to play the game, Kensie relinquished control to Carter, who promptly wasted ten Pokéballs in as many second. “You’re supposed to hit the Pokémon,” she quipped.
“They won’t stop moving and what the fuck does this mean?” Carter tilted the phone down so Kensie could see.
“Oh! We hatched an egg!” she squealed. Jigglypuff jumped out of the egg, the same time a text message flashed across the top of the screen.
New message from Prince Charming.
Carter white knuckled Kensie’s phone. The happy Carter from a moment ago was gone, and all that remained was bitter and cold.
Prince Charming: Happy Fourth of July, Kensington. I miss you. I love you. I want you back. Please call me.
He scrolled through the messages, reliving the last few months of her and Trey’s relationship. There were I love yous and I need yous, sweet exchanges and sexy banter. Then there were the pictures, at least fifty. Pictures of Trey, ones of them together smiling, pictures of their bodies intertwined, and of Kensie with stars in her eyes. Carter poured through every detail, every dinner plan, every good morning, every how was your day. With each message, his body grew more rigid, his anger, more palpable.
“It means nothing, baby, not anymore,” she insisted, reaching for her phone.
“Then why did you keep this?” he growled, pulling just out of reach.
“It wasn’t intentional. I just didn’t think to delete it.” That was the truth. She only ever had to worry about deleting Carter’s texts, not Trey’s. The thought had never even crossed her mind.
Carter shook his head and stormed off into the parking lot. Kensie had to jog just to keep up with his pace. She weaved through groups of friends and families, trying desperately not to lose sight of her target. “Will you slow down and talk to me?” she yelled. “Why are you doing this? We had such a great weekend, don’t do this.”
He kept walking and didn’t stop until he reached the van. “I want you to block his goddamn number,” he seethed, yanking the door open.
“You do know that you don’t have to act like a fucking toddler and throw a temper tantrum every single time his name comes up, don’t you? I don’t understand why it has to be a fight.”
“You don’t understand? You almost fucked him on your couch! That’s not reason enough for me to be pissed?” he roared.
“We were broken up,” she yelled, jabbing her finger in his chest, “which is a lot more than I can say for you when you let Susie blow you in the guest house.”
“I told you I was sorry about that. You can’t keep throwing it in my face.”
“But you’re allowed to throw Trey in mine?”
“That’s different. Trey and I have a history and we weren’t broken up, not really. You’ve been mine since the day we met. You’ll always be mine,” he seethed, inches from her face. “You might as well tattoo my name on your cunt.”
“Fuck you,” she said, slapping him hard across the cheek. Her hand stung and her blood boiled. This wasn’t love, or even pain. This was retaliation for something she had nothing to do with. “You told me not to talk to him and I won’t, but you can’t get mad at me when he seeks me out. If this is your reaction to a text message, what’s going to happen at your sister’s wedding?”
“I’m sorry, okay? Just get in the fucking van,” he said with a grimace.
He was so full of shit, Kensie almost hit him again.
“No, I won’t keep doing this. You don’t get to treat me like shit because of something that happened before we met. I deserve better than that.” They were causing a scene, but she didn’t care. She was done riding this roller coaster.
“I know I don’t deserve you. You think I don’t know that?” His anger transformed into sadness, and the pain in his voice nearly weakened her resolve. Whatever had happened between Carter and Trey all those years ago affected him as much today as it did back then.
“That’s not what I said,” she insisted, cupping his face in her hands. “Please, talk to me. Please, I’m begging you. Don’t shut me out and don’t push me away.”
“Can you please just get in the van?”
“You have to tell me why he makes you act this way.”
“Fine, just get in.”
Kensie relented and followed him into the van. They sat in the middle row. It was more poetic that way. Their relationship began there and depending on the outcome of this conversation, it would either end or flourish in that same place.
Carter pulled Kensie onto his lap and buried his head into her neck. He inhaled and exhaled slowly, her body rose and fell in time with his. His hand slipped up the back of her shirt and he tugged on her bra. “No,” she said, pushing him away, “we’re talking, not fucking.”
“I don’t even know where to start.”
He swallowed hard and Kensie watched as his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. She leaned in and kissed the little knot on his throat, mumbling, “Start at the beginning.”
“Do you remember what I told you about juvie?”
“That it’s where you met Ryder and where you learned how to design a killer résumé?”
“Yes,” he chuckled, “but do you remember why I told you I was there?”
“You trashed someone’s car.”
“Only I didn’t. Trey did.”
“Wh…wait, what?” she sputtered in shock. She did her best to process what he was saying. “He blamed you?”
“No, it was my idea,” he murmured, brushing a strand of hair beh
ind her ear. Despite the heat inside the van, Kensie shivered. “It was right before our senior year. We were at a party and this kid was talking shit about how he fucked Trey’s girlfriend and Trey snapped. They fought, and the kid’s friend jumped in. Then, I jumped in and it turned into a brawl. The cops showed up and we all ran.
“I thought that was the end of it. It wasn’t until the next day that I found out about the car. After we got home, he called his girlfriend and she confessed to cheating. It set him off. He was so angry that he took a baseball bat and fucking wrecked that Benz. The kid’s dad was livid. He called the police, filed a report, the whole nine. Trey came over to my house later that night and told me everything.
“He was trying to get into Harvard and a felony would ruin that. He was the good one and I was the fuck-up. I was planning to take a gap year anyway. Trey was my best friend, my brother, and I would have done anything for him, so I turned myself in.
“My dad was able to delay my sentencing until after graduation and I served a year in a juvenile facility. When I came home, I thought things would go back to normal, but Trey stopped returning my calls. At first, I chalked it up to him being busy at school. But when summer rolled around, and he was still ignoring me, I decided to confront him. I walked over to his house and I asked him point blank if he was avoiding me. Do you know what that cock sucker said?”
Kensie shook her head. She could feel him shaking. His pain and anger reverberated through her and she absorbed it like a sponge. His hurt became her hurt.
“He said, ‘I can’t be friends with a felon,’ like he wasn’t the sole reason I was in there. I lost it. I swear I tried to kill him. If it weren’t for my brother running outside and pulling me off, I might have.”
“I’m so sorry, baby.” It all made sense. Trey’s betrayal was so profound, more than just high school bullshit or two people growing apart. It was unforgivable.
Her heart ached for the man she loved. She finally understood why it was that Trey affected Carter so intensely, why his reactions were so extreme. It didn’t absolve him of guilt, but at least now she knew where his insecurity issues stemmed from. The swagger, the cockiness, it was all a carefully crafted act designed to protect what was left of his heart.
“Hey,” he shushed. He comforted her. He was reliving one of the most traumatic experiences of his life, yet he was worried about her. “I’m fine, and like I said, it’s where I met Ryder. If it weren’t for him and Javi, I don’t know where I’d be.”
“I know why he won’t tell anyone what really happened, but why won’t you? He doesn’t deserve your silence. You’ve given him enough.”
“What does it matter? I already did the time.”
“I’m not saying send him to prison, but I’m sure if your family knew—”
“—they’d hate him. I know. I thought about it. I thought about it a million times but taking away his family didn’t seem right.”
“You still care,” she said in awe.
“I don’t know. I hate him, and I want him to pay for what he did, but I couldn’t take them.”
He couldn’t take them from him, so he left. She didn’t think it was possible to love him any more than she already did. Kensie pressed her lips into his neck. Her voice was timid. “Carter?”
“Hmm?” he murmured, absently stroking her back.
“Will you be my boyfriend?”
She could feel his smile on her forehead. She couldn’t help but giggle, as the smattering of hair on his jaw tickled. “Does that mean I get to invade your personal space again?”
She grinned, nodding. “I thought you’d never ask.”
“Kensie?”
“Yes, boyfriend?”
“I love you.”
“I love you too, forever.”
“Mmm, baby, we should stop,” Kensie moaned against Carter’s lips. Despite her words, her fingers curled in his hair as she yanked his mouth back to hers. She ground her hips into his, desperately seeking the friction.
They’d been like that for nearly twenty minutes. Twenty minutes of going back and forth between kissing and touching and teasing each other. The windows of the van were covered in a thick fog, a physical representation of the lust that crackled in the air. “No,” he murmured, “I need to fuck you.”
Need—not want. They’d long since surpassed whatever it was that drove people towards intimacy. This wasn’t desire. It was primal. They were a tangled mess of limbs and tongues and slick bodies. Her hair clung to her skin, her bra was slung over the back of the seat, and her red Lithium tank had been pushed up over her chest, leaving her exposed to him. Carter took advantage, palming her breasts with his hands, rough and calloused from hours of gripping wooden drumsticks.
“What if someone sees us?”
“No one can see in here, the windows are tinted and there’s enough fog to keep you modest.” It was good enough for her, as she pulled his head back into her chest. His mouth found her nipple and he tugged on it with his teeth. Pain and pleasure mixed and she was lost in him, in his touch. Her skin vibrated with lust and she arched into him, desperate to be closer. Desperate to become one. One body, one mind, one heart. She missed this. She missed him.
Carter lifted his head. “Don’t. Please don’t stop,” she mewled in protest.
“Don’t pout,” he said, expelling a breath in the crook of her neck. He trailed hot kisses up one side of her throat and down the other. “I’m going to fuck you senseless, but first, I need you to tell me how you want it. How do you want me to fuck you, Friend?” His teeth sank into her earlobe and she bucked in response. “Do you want it hard and fast?” Another kiss, another bite. “Do you want me to fuck you from behind while I pull your hair?” Carter wrapped his hands around Kensie’s ponytail and tugged, hard. Her head snapped back and he licked her collarbone. “My girl likes it when I’m rough, don’t you, baby?”
“Mmm,” she moaned wiggling on his cock. “I love it.”
“Oh, I like that, Friend. Do you want to be on top? Do you want to ride my dick while I suck on your tits?”
Kensie pushed Carter into the seat and attacked his mouth with hers. She sucked on his bottom lip, biting and licking her way inside. The heat inside the van made her chest tight. It was sweltering, but only served to turn her on more. It was like Carter, with hands around her neck, times a hundred. She liked when he was in control and she loved when he was rough, but this time, this time, she wanted to own him. “I want to ride you. I want to see the look in your eyes when I make you come.”
Carter smirked, then flipped her onto her back. He yanked her shirt up over her head and her shorts down her legs. Kensie lay on the hot van seat in nothing but a pair of thin cotton panties. “Cupcakes?” He grinned, planting a kiss smack dab in the center of her cupcake-print-covered pussy. He pinned her to the seat with his forearm, while he hooked his other thumb in the side of her bikini briefs and peeled them down her legs. “Such a perfect pussy,” he hummed, as his tongue probed her entrance. “Do you know how many times I’ve fantasized about this?” he asked, licking her up and down tantalizingly slow. “That first night, God, you smelled so sweet, better than cupcakes.”
He continued his delicious torture, slowly increasing in speed, licking and swirling up and down and in and out. Her body was wet and sticky. She could barely breathe, forget thinking. Kensie didn’t need air or food, the only thing she needed was Carter’s mouth and fingers on her, inside of her, fucking and sucking every inch of sensitive flesh. Her body quivered, and her internal muscles clenched and unclenched around him. “So tight.” Lick. Pump. “I can’t wait to get my dick inside of you.” Lick. Pump. Kensie clawed at the seat desperately trying to anchor herself as he pushed her higher. Her back arched and her legs stiffened as an orgasm tore through her body.
She scooted back against the side of the van, trying to catch her breath. Carter dug inside the pocket of his shorts and fished out the keys to the van. The first wave of air hit Kensie, cooling her pink s
kin, but did nothing for the fire in her belly. She was greedy. He promised her a ride and they weren’t leaving until she got one.
With hooded eyes, Kensie watched Carter lift his shirt over his head. He was as close to perfection as they came, strong arms, chiseled abs, and a face as gorgeous as any male model, but it was those mysterious blue eyes that pierced something deep in her chest. Before she could stop herself, she was up kissing him, tasting herself on his tongue. She fumbled clumsily with his shorts, pushing them down over his ass. “Do you even own a pair of underwear?” she groaned, spurred on by his bare skin.
He chuckled, twisting them so that they were back in a seated position with her straddling him. “Makes fucking you that much easier, Friend.” Kensie raised up on her knees, hovering above his erection. She licked her lips as he fisted the base of his cock. He positioned himself at her entrance and she slowly sunk down, enveloping him in her warmth.
Carter’s eyes rolled back and his hand gripped her waist, his nails biting tiny crescents into her skin. “So fucking perfect,” he growled, bucking up into her. His mouth found her nipple again and she began to move, grinding her hips onto his. Slow and deliberate at first, but once she adjusted to the intrusion, her pace quickened.
He was rough with her, grabbing and biting and slapping her breast in sync with the movement of her hips. It was the mix of passion and pain that she’d grown to love. It sent her into a frenzy as she bounced up and down, taking her pleasure and milking him of his.
He tilted his hips so that with each thrust, his cock stroked her g-spot. “Come with me, Carter,” she moaned, resting her forehead on his. Their eyes locked, brown-to-blue, and they both came undone, sweat dripping, limbs tangled, and utterly spent.
“How are you feeling tonight, Seattle?” Ryder drawled into the old school microphone stand. The stage lights were so bright, Kensie had to squint to see him. He looked at Javi on his right and the crowd erupted in cheers. The deafening sound nearly knocked the wind out of her. “Javi, introduce yourself to the people.” The bassist grinned and plucked out a few notes. “CT?” Ry looked over his shoulder as Carter banged on his drums and Kensie’s heart swelled with pride. “As for me…” His words inspired another roar from the audience. There had to be tens of thousands of people in attendance and Ryder had them all enthralled. “I’m Ryder, but you can call me Sex God.” CT went wild on the drums, pounding out the beat, then Javi joined in on bass, and Ryder with guitar. The crowd lost it. Even Kensie found herself jumping up and down, sucked into the Lithium vortex. Nothing else existed outside of the three men on stage. They were as good as any band she’d ever seen, a thought that both excited and terrified her.
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