by Terri Lane
I could leave Mom and Hank behind, I could get some breathing space from the whole complicated family situation, I could finally just be me. God that was a tempting thought, I wanted that so badly.
I had to find out all that I could about this race, I needed to know everything, just in case…
Chapter 11
Karly
Every time I was around Leo, I felt all weird inside, like I wanted to reach out and touch him, to bring him back close to me, to repeat what had happened between us and more, but I couldn’t. Running away was the best solution, the only one. It wouldn’t be forever, only until I could get away, then everything would be all right once more.
The memory of him, the way he made me feel, plus the constant and unwelcome updates on him from Annie, made it very hard to forget. So much so that it filtered into my dreams and I kept imagining that night in the truck going that one step further…
“Urgh,” I muttered to myself as I staggered through the hallways of my father’s home in the dead of night, needing to get myself a cool, tall glass of water. I’d just been through one of the more…erotic dreams, and I needed to calm my body down for a moment before I undoubtedly returned right to it. “Oh God, sorry.”
I was so sleepy, walking with my eyes half closed that I hadn’t realized there was another body sneaking around for me to crash right into. As I fully opened my eyes, and I noticed the unmistakable leather cladding the man’s body, my heart skipped a beat. It was him, Leo, the man I’d been doing my best to keep as far away from as possible.
Oh God, what now?
“I just…I need to get a…drink,” I stammered in a whisper. My whole body lit up with embarrassment and acute awareness of every inch of his body. “Excuse me.”
But in the darkness of the hallway, that lust circled, and I could feel myself falling right back into the fantasy of everything Leo, so when he reached down to my lips and kissed me I allowed him to do it despite my better judgement. That intoxicating electrical buzz was back, and it was taking over every inch of me. Even as Leo walked me right back into my bedroom I fell back willingly. I couldn’t resist the chemistry however hard I tried. There was something about this man that made me want to act like a completely different person.
As our clothes started to shed in a blur, I embraced the darkness, the way we could both hide underneath the cloak of it, being whoever we wanted to be. I could feel the burn emanating off of Leo’s incredibly muscular chest, and it ignited the flames of my own fire even brighter.
I became an animal, driven only by lust.
We fell onto the already warm sheets of my bed, our limbs entangled in one another, and I finally felt that true sense of being ready. I wanted Leo to take my first time from me, even if it was wrong, I wanted him to hold it in his hands forever more. Maybe it would be more special to me than it was him, but that hardly mattered anymore.
As we lay our naked bodies next to one another, Leo seemed to lose all control of himself. His arms clung to my waist, his mouth fluttered over my neck, my collar bone, my ear lobe, and then eventually down to my nipples, where he sucked and teased me into oblivion. I wanted that magic tongue of his absolutely everywhere, over every inch of my skin.
During the lusty fog that filled my brain, I slowly reached down to feel him. The urge to grab hold of him between my fingers was almost too much to bear. I wanted to touch him all over, to know him in every single way, like he did me…
“Oh my,” I gasped as I wrapped my fingers around a very impressive, thick length. I might not have had anything to compare Leo too, but he certainly felt like he’d take me to a place I wanted desperately to revisit. “Oh God, Leo.”
He grunted and gasped as I moved my hand up and down him, as I found a rhythm that he enjoyed, giving me an intense look that gave me that shiver all over again. He made me feel sexy, beautiful, worthwhile…
My hand fell away as he slid down my body, moving his mouth nearer to where I needed him. I writhed in anticipation, wondering what it was going to feel like when he kissed me there…and he did not disappoint! His tongue flickered everywhere, leaving me unable to even scream I felt so good. I didn’t know it was possible to feel this way.
He drove me closer, taking me ever nearer to the knife edge of desire, and I was all set to lose myself, to give in to all of it…when all of a sudden he pulled away, leaving me cold and alone.
“Hey,” I protested quietly, but only for a second, because soon his mouth was up against mine and I could feel that wonderful cock of his teasing my entrance. Maybe it was a good thing that he stopped when he did, before I could lose myself completely. I wanted to experience everything about him, and now felt like the right time.
“Oh God, I need you,” I moaned between his lips. “I want you.”
“You want me for what?” he asked, that wonderful teasing tone in his voice.
“Do I really need to spell it out for you?”
As he acted like he was thinking that one through, I ran my finger over his jawline, tracing the amazing contours of his face that I usually tried to ignore. In this dim light, I could appreciate his gorgeous face without any guilt, I could admit to myself that just maybe I liked him more than I should…
“I want you to take me,” I eventually whispered with a wicked smile. “I want you to corrupt me.”
With that I felt him find his way inside of me, and I knew then that nothing would ever be the same again.
Chapter 12
Leo
As I buried myself into Karly, everything about me felt different. I wasn’t sure how I could tell that this wasn’t just another screw, but I could feel it, deep in the pit of my stomach. There was something altogether very different about the whole experience.
“Oh fuck, Leo,” Karly cried out, her beautiful features twisting up in bliss as I took her somewhere she hadn’t expected. Mind you, I hadn’t thought it would happen tonight either, I just came in late from a race and she bumped right into me in the hallway, too beautiful to resist. “Oh my God. You have no idea what you’re doing to me.”
She was usually so buttoned up, so closed off, it was incredible to see her setting herself free, it made me feel so special to be trusted.
As I’d already taken Karly close to the point where she lost herself to pleasure entirely, it wasn’t long until she was straining and shuddering, almost there again. I was doing my best to hold back, to take things slowly because I knew this was her first time, but her angry lust was clawing at me, begging me to take her harder and faster. God, I so desperately needed to comply, but I was utterly aware of hurting her. That was the last thing I wanted.
Karly’s nails dug into my skin as the bliss swallowed her up whole, and I pressed my lips hard against hers to keep her screams as silent as possible. As incredible as this was, and I was utterly grateful for the experience, I didn’t want our parents to be alerted to what was going on. We were adults, we could do whatever the hell we wanted, but I wasn’t totally convinced that they’d see it in the same way.
I did my best to hold back for as long as I could, to focus solely on Karly as she lost herself to lust, but it wasn’t long before the orgasm was exploding from me too. It had been far too long, this had been building up forever, I just couldn’t control myself. The hot bliss heated up my stomach, my limbs, my veins, my head flew through the clouds as the pleasure cascaded through me…
I love her! Was the insane thought that passed through my mind as I became only hers for a moment. I have to, that must be why it feels so different. But of course, that couldn’t be the case, I barely knew her. I liked her, sure, and it did feel different, but love…that was crazy, just one of those thoughts in the heat of the moment.
As we lay next to one another panting and breathless, I couldn’t help but wonder what my next move should be. I didn’t know whether or not Karly would expect me to go now, to leave this as just another thing that happened in the dead of night before we returned to ignoring one another. Just
the idea of Karly’s eyes flipping away once they saw me, cut me deep all over again. I didn’t know if I could stand it now, not when things had gone that one step further.
“Just stay with me,” she murmured sleepily, as she clung onto my arm. “Just hold me, for a while.”
“Happily.” If Karly wanted me here with her then I wasn’t going anywhere. Having her body close to mine was the only thing that I’d wanted for a long time. “Whatever you need.”
I kept her warm, rounded body curved into mine, gently stroking her skin until her breaths became heavy and loud. Karly had fallen asleep in my arms, which somehow felt more intimate than the sex had been only a short time before. This felt much more like the sort of thing that happened in a relationship, which didn’t scare me anywhere near as much as I thought it might.
I used to be frightened of any concept of commitment, I assumed it was for the boring and the idiotic, but now…well now nothing was the same anymore.
Once I was certain that Karly was asleep, I dared to shift my position to peep down at her resting face, to really consider what I’d thought about only moments before. It might have been one of those things that happened in the heat of the moment, but now it was starting to feel a little more real.
I did feel stronger for Karly than anybody else, but did that make it love?
I cocked my head to one side, drinking in every part of her face, including the bits that I hadn’t noticed before; the splattering of very light freckles across the bridge of her nose, the little red mark under her lip, the extraordinary length of her eyelashes…she truly was a beauty. I would be lucky to have any of her attention, never mind her love.
Eventually I flopped my head back onto the pillow, thoughts tearing through my mind. Why did I have to fall for the one woman that I really couldn’t have? Why couldn’t I fall for someone simple, like Grace.
Although maybe not Grace.
I tried to imagine turning to Karly and asking her out on a real date, suggesting that we actually give this thing a try to see where it could take us, just in case we could ever be anything, but I didn’t think her reaction would be a good one. I assumed she’d laugh in my face, she’d tell me that it could never happen, that I was a bit of fun, never to be talked about in the cold light of day.
That would hurt me more than never knowing, so maybe it’d be better off me saying nothing at all to just see what happened. There wasn’t any immediate rush anyway, we had time to see where this could go, there was no need to make any decision right now.
Chapter 13
Karly
“What the fuck?” Shelley’s screeching voice woke me up from the most restful sleep I’d had in ages. “Hank, you have to come and see this!”
Fearing that it might be a fire, or some other danger equally as horrific, I forced myself into a sitting position. I instantly noticed Shelley standing at the foot of my bed, looking like she’d been punched in the face, which I could already tell was wrong. Unfortunately, my sleep addled brain couldn’t work out what just yet.
“Hank! Right now, I need you. Come here.” The stress was evident in her tone, I just couldn’t work out what it was all for.
“Wh…what?” I stammered, rubbing my eyes hard. “What’s wrong?” And then I felt Leo stirring besides me, making everything crystal clear. The hallway, the bedroom, him inside of me… We must’ve gotten careless and fallen asleep afterwards, and now there was no coming back from that. We’d been caught out, and now me and Leo were about to face the consequences for what we’d done.
“What’s going on?” Dad looked harassed as he appeared, tugging at his tie like it was his safety net. “Shelley, what’s wrong?”
“Look! Look at this!” Shelley frantically pointed, and he followed her finger. I gulped and pulled the sheets higher around me, wishing the ground could open up to swallow me whole. There wasn’t a chance in hell that I could look around to see how Leo was feeling, I was much too afraid.
Dad stared at us, his face going through a wide range of expressions; hurt, confusion, anger, and soon those emotions burst free from his mouth.
“What the fuck do you think this is? You come into my house and behave like this? What the fuck is the meaning of this…?”
***
“Holy fuck,” Annie laughed loudly, bemused by the situation as I explained why I looked so down. “I can’t believe all of that, its wild.”
“I know.” Dad’s horrible words flew through my mind once more, making my heart ache all over again. Slut, user, tramp, the sorts of words a dad should never say to a daughter, especially not to one he hadn’t been there for. “It was brutal.”
“But why?” Annie popped her gum and shrugged her shoulders. “You and Leo are adults, you only just met, just because those idiots are married, doesn’t mean it should stop you two from being together. Unless,” she cocked her head and eyed me curiously. “Unless it was just a sex thing, I mean I can’t see it from you, but Leo is seriously hot.”
I wanted to tell her that it was, because I wanted to believe that myself, but that didn’t seem to be the case. The way that Leo looked at me all special inside, the way he stuck up for me in front of our parents made me yearn for more of him. As crazy as it was, I actually felt like I was falling for him hard.
“I don’t know,” I admitted quietly. “But I do know that I need to move out now more than ever. This bullshit will not go away, and to be honest I want out anyway. I never felt like I was at home there, it was always just a means to an end.”
“You could always come and crash on my couch for a while,” Annie smirked at me. “But you have to bring that gorgeous fuck buddy of yours along. I want to see him wandering around the place half naked.”
Despite all the horrible things that were going on in my life, I couldn’t help but laugh. Annie just had this way about her that made everything feel a lot less serious and stressful than it already was.
“Thanks, I do appreciate it.”
“And what is Leo going to do now?”
I sighed as forced myself to answer. “I don’t know, I mean he was really sweet at first. He stuck up for me, and told our parents where to go, but when things got even more heated he murmured to himself and stalked out. I don’t know where he went, I’m not quite sure what happened, or how he feels now. I don’t know how to get hold of him outside the house.”
“I’m sure I could get his number for you…”
“No, it’s fine,” I jumped in quickly. “If he wanted to get hold of me, he could. It’s fine,” I was repeating myself now, trying to convince myself as much as Annie. “Maybe this is all just a sign that we need to move on. It’s all too sudden to make any serious decisions so maybe that means we all need to just move on and forget about one another, you know?”
Annie didn’t know what to say to that, and neither did I, all I knew for certain was that the loneliness was back. Now I didn’t have my mom, my estranged father would always just be that, and Leo was gone too. At least this time I did have one friend in Annie, so maybe it wouldn’t all be so bad…
Urgh, everything felt like a horrible, complicated mess and I wasn’t sure how to dig myself back out of the hole I’d accidently climbed into.
“You know what?” I said, in the spur of the moment. “Maybe I will come and stay with you for a while if that’s okay? Just until things have cooled down?”
“Of course.” Annie looked surprised, but happy to help me, which was nice. I was usually the one helping everyone, so it was good to have someone willing to be there for me. “For as long as you need.”
“I’ll go and pack up a bag tonight after work, then join you. Then all of this can calm down properly and I can work out where to go from here.”
Getting away from my family felt like the only positive step. I just hoped it’d all be all right in the end. Somehow.
Chapter 14
Leo
Admittedly, I wasn’t as confident as I sat on my bike on the starting line at The
Track, but a serious determination flooded my veins. This was the big one, the race I absolutely needed to win, and that desire was even more intense now, considering what had happened. I had to get Karly out of there, even more than I needed to get out of there myself, and that was the one force driving me forwards. I couldn’t stand the thought of her remaining in that house after the terrible things that were yelled at her–well, both of us–but I didn’t care too much about myself this morning.
I hated hearing Hank describe his daughter in such a vile way, but defending her would only get me so far, I needed to make things better in a practical and constructive way.
Things were crazy, they’d accidently sped along with me and Karly, and our parents finding out about us had really put the boot in. The decision that neither of us wanted to face was upon us, now we either had to go all in, or separate for good. It was too much, too soon but that was what we were left with. I didn’t know where Karly’s heart lay on the subject matter, only my own, but there was only one real way to find out.
This had to work out according to plan.
“Are you ready for this?” My last-minute buddy on this trip, Terry, hissed at me, fear tainting his expression. “There are some pretty big names here.”
“You’re the one who talked me into this.” His doubt was irritating, I really didn’t need to hear it. I knew it was a risk, I’d seen the others racing, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. I certainly didn’t need reminding of the fact. “Don’t you think I can do it now? Weren’t you the one encouraging me all morning long?”
“Oh no, I do.” Terry backed off, clearly afraid of sparking my temper. “I’m just worried because it’s so important to you.”
I’d given my friend an edited version of events, with just enough details so he understood what was at stake, so he knew how badly I desired this. “It’ll be fine,” I replied in a warning tone of voice. “I can do this, it’s what I do all the time.” Just because I could feel the intense pressure creeping through my veins, didn’t mean I still couldn’t do it.
