I shake that memory off—why the fuck am I so damn morose today?—and focus on the woman beneath me. I trace her curves with my hands, glide my thumbs up the inside of her thighs and spread her legs. Her sex opens for me.
Pink. Bare. Delicious.
I move down the air mattress, making her laugh as my movements cause her to bounce up and down. Then I’m there, blowing cool air on her pussy, watching her arch her back, wanting more. I give it to her. I lower my head and feast.
She goes crazy, clamping those strong thighs around my head, her fingers in my hair as I dive deep. Whimpering little sounds come from her as I suck those juicy lips into my mouth. Finding her clit with my thumb, I push down on the bundle of nerves and hold her still while she bucks. Little Mattie Davis is a hellion. Sensitive to everything. This fuck will be one to remember.
Sinking two fingers into her, I pull her clit into my mouth while I circle her tight walls. Damn, she’s tight. Todd must have the dick of a weasel. I wonder how she’ll respond to a real dick. A real man. Someone who will stretch her out and make it hurt.
I’m so hard. So ready it’s painful, but I want her to come with my mouth.
I turn my fingers, stroking her, pushing her, cursing as her fingers pull harder at my hair. I bite into her clit, circling it with my tongue as I push her toward her first climax.
She comes. Screaming. Beautiful. Her thighs twisting, body bucking. Crying with her hands over her face.
I lick her juices. Stroking her gently as she settles and quietens in front of me. Raising up, I grab a condom from my bag and slide it on. Climbing up her body, I take her mouth with mine, forcing her to taste herself on me.
Nudging at her entrance, sinking my tongue into her mouth, feeling her heels dig into my ass, I plunge.
She cries out and I swallow the sound. Swallow my own groan as her tight pussy clamps down on me. Fuck, so tight. I give her a moment to stretch, to accept me.
“Hold on,” I say against her ear. “This won’t be gentle.”
I thrust. Deep and hard. Feeling her body jolt beneath me. Her mouth finds mine, her fingernails scraping down my back. I don’t care. All I care about is this.
Plunging. Over and over. Harder and faster. Listening to our bodies merge and slap together. Damn. She grows even tighter as her body fights for release. Tighter, clamping down. I don’t want this to end, but… I come.
And come.
And come.
My breath is coming in heaving gasps by the time I soften and sink my weight onto her willing flesh. She wraps around me, kissing my forehead. She’s softly crying.
I push up to my elbows and look down at her. “You okay?”
She gives me a watery smile and nods. “Better than okay. I didn’t know it could be like that.”
I want to thump my chest. Weasel dick hasn’t been doing it for her, and I wonder if this is the first time she’s ever climaxed.
“Stay with me.”
Her eyes open wide and fear fills them. “I can’t. I promised myself just this one time. I’m sorry. You know I can’t.”
“Stay with me.”
Her face softens and I wish like hell I could see her blue eyes better. She shakes her head.
“Because of Todd?” I ask and already know the answer and it punches me in the gut harder than I expect.
“And because of Annalise.”
She doesn’t know. “We broke up today.”
Her mouth falls open into a little ‘o’. “Oh, I’m sorry. I hadn’t heard.”
“Stay with me. Just this one night. You have to know how much I’ve wanted you all these years.”
I kiss her. Not wanting to give her time to refuse me again. Not wanting to give her time to think. Not wanting her to leave me. I’ve crushed on this girl, my fantasy girl, since I first laid eyes on her in freshman comp.
The X is in my system and I feel myself begin to swell inside her again. This time, slow and easy. This time, I’ll make her come over and over. This time, I’ll convince her to stay.
I shouldn’t have.
If I’d let her go, the next day wouldn’t have happened.
Chapter 3
“What the fuck?”
A shrill scream breaks open my head just as sunlight sears across my vision. Then I’m holding off the Tasmanian devil that’s beating on my chest.
I’m up. Awake in an instant and taking in the scene.
It’s Annalise.
She’s in the tent, cursing and striking out at both Mattie and me. Mattie has a sheet pulled up to her chest, her blue eyes huge in her face, backing into the furthest corner.
I toss Mattie her graduation gown after I clamp both of Anna’s wrists in my hand. “Stop it,” I say to her and she spits in my face.
In seconds, Mattie has the gown on, zipped, and is heading for the tent exit. She turns and looks at me, her eyes wide in fear and guilt before she disappears.
“How could you?”
Anna’s crying now, hysterical. Still screaming and cursing, the sobs wracking through her small frame.
I place my hands on her shoulders and give her a little shake. “How could I what? You and I are over; you made sure of that yesterday. Do you remember that scene? Over, Anna. Done. I can do whatever and whoever I want.”
She screams and starts hitting me again. I grab her wrists. “Stop it. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Hurt me?” she shrieks. “You’ve already hurt me.”
I’m trying not to hurt her—physically, at least—but I have to defend myself from her raking nails. Her eyes are dilated, the pupils nearly absorbing the entire iris. Shit. She’s high on something. Something that has given her superhuman strength.
“Link!”
Thank God, it’s Jake, calling from just outside the tent. The fucker’s laughing. “Everything okay in there?”
I growl when Anna head butts me, her forehead busting into my nose. Holy fucking hell. I twist her around, crossing her arms around herself, straightjacket style, my hands still clamped around her wrists.
I march her toward the exit of the tent. I’m still naked, but I don’t give a shit. I push her out and directly into a still laughing Jake. “Hold her and let me get dressed. Be right back.”
The look on Jake’s face is priceless when Anna begins to wail on him, her fists flying in every direction. I’m sure this will be funny as hell tomorrow, when the stress of the moment is over. It’s a hundred miles from funny right now.
I turn back into the tent, pull on shorts and a t-shirt and am back out in only a few seconds. Jake’s holding her to his chest, her back against him while she claws at his arms and kicks in the air.
I look around. We’ve created quite the scene.
Everybody at the campsite is awake and crawling out of tents, hammocks, chairs or their cars. I hear a car engine and see Mattie’s little VW tear down the path. Good. At least she’s safe from this hellcat’s wrath.
Dez is laughing his ass off. His hands on his knees and a few other football friends are slapping each other’s backs.
Damn.
“Little help guys. She’s high on something. She’s going to hurt herself.”
She’s sobbing again and has sinks to the ground, Jake’s arms still around her. I get down on her level and push her hair from her face.
“What did you take?” I ask her softly, unsure what else to do.
“Fuck you,” she replies and spittle sprays my face. I stand up and scan the crowd. Thank God, there’s Emily and Zoe, both standing there looking horrified. As unsure what to do as I am.
“Em. Zoe. Can you come help?” Their paralysis breaks and they run to my side. I turn Anna over to them and step back, heaving a huge sigh of relief.
Jake slaps me on the shoulder. “Some wake up call, huh?”
I look up at the sun, higher that it was supposed to be. Jake was supposed to wake me for our dawn jump. “Well, if someone would have woken my ass up when he was supposed to, that little scene could
have been avoided.”
His smile only grew bigger. “Sorry man, ended up toasted. Slept through the first six alarms.”
I look toward the cliff, then at Anna, and then at Jake. Shit. Ten of us had made plans to BASE jump this morning. A symbolic leap into freedom following graduation. Guess that wasn’t happening now.
“Doesn’t matter,” I tell him and run my hands over the scruff on my face. “The morning’s screwed.”
“Like hell. Our packs are ready. Don’t let her,” he nods in a still crying Anna’s direction, “ruin our plans.”
The other guys rumble agreements.
I look at each of them. Damn straight. Can’t let a psycho bitch ruin it for us all.
“Okay guys, ten minutes.” I look at Kent. “You and Dylan still picking us up at the bottom?”
Kent holds up his keys, dangling them in answer.
I nod. “Cool.”
I look around at my friends. The guys I’d slayed high school with. The guys I’d jumped out of planes with. Hit the ocean with. Done some seriously hard drugs with. My guys all looking at me for direction.
We’re tight and they’d never let me down. Not only because I’m their wallet and pay for damn near everything.
I stick out my hand and they huddle around, hands in.
Damn.
This is it.
After today, we all go in separate directions. College. Family businesses. Whatever.
I wonder if this is the last time we’ll huddle like this. It’s our hallmark. We always huddle before diving, boarding, jumping out of or off shit.
I clear my throat. “To the best friends a man could ask for. Jump long, pull fast, land safe.” Then I grin. “And be careful. On three!”
“One.”
“Two.”
“Three!”
They all chant … “Fuck that!”
By the time we’re strapped up and heading to the cliff’s edge, Annalise has settled down. She even came over and apologized to me for her behavior while I was lacing up my shoes.
We hugged and I accepted her apology, gave her mine and asked her if she was okay.
“I’ll be okay soon, I promise.” Then she stood on tiptoes and pressed her lips to mine longer than was comfortable. Before I could stop her, she turned and walked back over to her friends.
Standing on the edge, looking out over the Pacific Ocean, I feel my adrenaline begin to pump. I love drugs. Take them often and for any occasion, but they’ll never replace the feeling of being on the edge.
While not the tallest peak I’ve BASEd from, this edge is high enough to be fun. I’ll only get a couple seconds of freefall because I have to throw my pilot chute as soon as I jump. It’ll engage the ram-air and then I only need to worry about not steering into the rocks or getting carried out to sea. That’s happened before and I damn near drowned before I could get disconnected. I was practically doggy paddling, fighting the crazy riptide that sucked at my feet.
I look down. No hitting the rocks today. No hitting the water either. The little strip of sand below us is the target.
Stepping back from the edge, I get in line with the guys. Girls are squealing behind us, tossing out ‘Be carefuls’ and ‘See you soons’ and someone starts playing Pomp and Circumstance, our graduation song, just as the first guy takes flight.
Noah
Alex
Caleb
Jack
Evan
Ryan
Ethan
Logan
Jake
My turn.
I run, listening to the screaming cheers behind me. Watching the chutes open one by one in front of me. Then I’m in the air—freedom—and tossing the pilot. Then …
Fuck.
Something wraps around my legs, the weight pulling me straight down. I look and see arms, fingers grabbing at me.
What the … oh fuck… it’s Annalise.
She jumped after me and now she’s clinging to me, screaming ‘I love you’ over and over.
Gravity takes on new meaning as we hurl straight down to the rocks, not the soft sand of the beach. My pilot chute flutters above me and I know I have only seconds before the ram-air pulls, jerking me hard.
I reach for her, pulling my knees up toward my chest and wrap a hand around her wrist.
I got her.
Oh my god, I’ve got her.
Two hands. I need to get both hands on her. “Grab my h—”
Then the ram-air chute deploys and it’s like slamming into a wall. My freefall stops and I’m hurled up, my shoulder screaming from her weight.
I’ve got her.
I’ve got her.
Then I don’t.
She slips and, leaving a trail of screams, she’s gone.
Chapter 4
I still hear her.
The screams. The suddenness of them growing silent.
It felt like it took forever to float down to the sand, then get the chute unhooked to run over to where she lays. Then time sped up the moment I reached her broken body. I don’t remember much of it.
Cops.
Cuffs.
Fingerprints.
An interrogation room.
My attorney screaming.
My dad screaming.
Walking out with barely a slap on my wrist and not one single mark on my record.
It wasn’t the first time I’d gone through these steps. Far from it. I even knew the names of most of the cops. But this was the first time I was scared. Well, not since the first time I was caught diving off the lower cliffs when I was twelve. Being arrested then was pretty terrifying.
This is worse.
I want to cover my ears to dull the sound of my father’s voice as he barks orders at the district attorney. I’ve seen this before too. This same scene. The negotiations. The DA leaving with his tail between his legs.
District Attorney Nielson isn’t being intimidated right now.
“A girl died today, Charles. Do you understand that? Died. Gone forever because of the indirect actions of your son.”
My dad’s face grows even redder if that’s even possible. He walks over to the bar and pours himself a drink. “That girl almost killed my son. You have twenty witnesses who will testify to that. That girl jumped of her own accord and tried to take my son down with her. They will also testify that he tried to save her and couldn’t.”
Dad looks at me and scowls, then turns back to the DA. “John, my son was heroic in his efforts. You’ve seen the video those kids took. You saw him attempting to save her. He was injured attempting to get to her on those rocks. Look at him.”
I feel DA Nielson’s eyes on me, but I’m not able to meet his stare. I know I look like a sullen brat sitting in my rich daddy’s office, an ice pack on my shoulder and bandages on my hands.
I just can’t find the will to sit up straighter or look anyone in the eye. Anna is dead. I wanted her out of my life, but not like this.
DA Nielson glares at my father and then sighs, dropping into a chair. “The video evidence does suggest suicide or an accident on the part of Ms. Cochran, but—”
“There are no buts. That girl went off the deep end and attempted to harm my boy.”
“There are plenty of buts. Drugs. Underage drinking. Illegal BASE jumping.” I feel his eyes on me. “Again.”
I jump as my father slams his fist onto his desk. “Harmless celebration after graduation. You can’t prove that my son had anything to do with it other than providing the campsite.”
“Let me finish,” Nielson continues, his chin up. “Contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Two of those girls weren’t eighteen yet.”
My father bristled. “Days. They will both be eighteen within days.”
“Doesn’t matter. Today they are seventeen. Minors. On your property. Drinking and doing drugs. Participating in an illegal BASE jump. In addition to the legal trouble your son is in, you have a boatload of pissed off parents on your hands. Not to mention the girl’s parents,
who are extremely and understandably upset.”
“I’ll deal with the parents and—”
My dad’s interrupted by a knock on the door. Before he can answer, the door opens and Judge Lawrence Cardell steps into my father’s office.
Lighting up like a kid at Christmas, Dad beams at the judge. DA Nielson slaps a hand over his face and stands up, looking so brittle and outraged he looks like he will snap in two.
“Lawrence, what a pleasant surprise,” my dad says, reaching out to shake the judge’s hand. The pair go back. Way back. Friends. Golf buddies. In fact, my dad is one of Judge Cardell’s biggest supporters. I’m not surprised to see him here.
“Charles.” He shakes my dad’s hand back, but there is no smile on his face. He looks at DA Nielson and nods. “Just so you know,” he says to the DA, “I’m here as a family friend so there is nothing untoward in my presence.”
The DA snorts and sits back down in his seat. He knows what will happen next as surely as I do.
“Can I go?” I say to the group in general and begin to stand up. “I have a headache and—”
Judge Cardell turns on me. “Sit.” His scary ‘don’t mess with me’ judge eyes pin me back into my seat. “And push that damn hair out of your face. I need to know that you’re paying attention to what I’m about to say.”
Slowly, I sink down into my chair, readjust the ice pack and force my long hair behind my ears. I look at my father, who is looking at Judge Cardell with his mouth open. I’m guessing neither of us has seen the judge look this pissed.
“Young man, for six years now, I have looked the other way. Hell, that’s not true. I’ve actively participated in ensuring your family name is clean as a favor to your father, and right now, I regret each action I did or did not take.”
“Now wait here—” my father begins.
Judge Cardell turns on him. “I’m not finished. And I’m not standing by another moment and allowing your son…” he points a finger at me “…continue to selfish brat his way through life. I’ve done him a disservice and I’ve done you a disservice.” He turns back to face me. “And it’s over today.”
For the first time since I stepped into my house, my heart begins to pick up speed. To counteract it, I lean further back in my chair and prop my head against my fist.
Badass - The Complete Series: A Billionaire Military Romance Page 2
