"Tony.”
"Yes, Tory?"
"Are we going to screw?"
He laughed. "So you missed me too, huh, Tor?"
She glared at him.
"Hey, baby.” He reached out and stroked a hand lightly down her arm, barely grazing her breast. "Slow down. Don't you want a little romance in your life? I professed my undying love you to over the phone after telling you to get the fuck out of my life and all you want to do is screw?"
"Like you don't."
"'Course I do. But don't you think we need to talk?"
"We can talk later. Screw me now, love me later."
"I always knew you were the one for me." He turned toward the nightstand. It was as if he was a different person than he'd been the other day.
But what the hell she thought, drugs turned you into some nasty broken down replica of yourself in no time and she was not going to let him do that to himself. They had all the time in the world to worry about that later though.
Sure they did she thought, when she had to be back at school within the next couple hours. But what the hell screw it all right now, because he had a condom in his hand and had started to rip it open with his teeth which drove her even crazier than usual.
"Hey," he said as he finished putting on the condom. "I've got a present for you."
"Give it to me later."
She was so close to release she thought. All he had to do was slip inside her and then she could let it go, let it all go, for those too short minutes when they were joined together.
He pouted at her, looking like an overgrown little boy. "That's not nice, Tory. I think you'll really like this present."
"Tony," she growled. "I'll love it and I'll love you forever, if you just screw me now."
Now she was sounding like a porno flick she thought. But her moans weren't fake as he entered her and moved above her in what he was still trying to make more like making love than having sex, before she dug her nails into his back and bit lightly into his shoulder.
"I said no biting."
"And I said screw me now and love me later."
"If you insist.” The headboard was soon banging wildly against the wall.
"Gimme a cigarette," she said after they had finished. She lay back on the bed with a sigh, feeling exhausted. Her orgasm had been intense enough that it had come close to rivaling her first.
He gave her a smug grin as he reached for a rumpled pack on the table, tossing her a cigarette, a lighter, and a pack of small white pills.
She raised an eyebrow at him as she lit up. "What's this?"
"Your present.” He leaned back on the bed and snagged the lighter from where she'd dropped it beside her. "Birth control pills. Now you can quit school and move in with me. Be my love slave."
"How'd you get these? And how do you know they're not something besides birth control?"
He rolled his eyes at her and pointed to the words emblazed on the back of the pack. "I have my sources, some of which remain better unnamed."
"What did you do? Buy them off of some crack head?"
"Doesn't matter where I got them." He blew smoke at the ceiling. "Just matters that I did. Now I'm gonna be counting the days ‘til those things kick in. Then no more damn rubbers."
She laughed. "Men."
"Now will you tell me you love me?" Though his tone was teasing, there was a look in his eyes that told her he meant it.
She turned away from him, digging in her purse for her cell phone to find out what time it was. But how long could she ignore him she thought? She didn't love him, did she? She'd been so crazy over Jude and look where that had gotten her. At least Tony had been honest about his intentions. He was still being honest, painfully honest; when he told her he loved her.
Her mother would shit bricks if she knew that Tory was naked in his bed right now, though it would have a lot more to do with concern for her own reputation than any kind of concern a normal mother would have about her daughter sleeping with a drug dealer.
She was stalling, though when she finally dug her cell phone out of her purse, the words that came out of her mouth instead of 'I love you' were "Oh crap."
"What?" He moved up behind her on the bed.
"It's almost nine o'clock Tony. I gotta get back to school."
"You're gonna go back there smelling like sex?"
"No. I'm gonna take a shower." She stood up. "And you're gonna stay out. If you don't you won't get me back to school until midnight."
He pulled her to his strong chest for another heart stopping kiss. "I really do love you Tory.” He brushed her hair out of her face.
She pulled back, looking into his eyes. "I. . ." She couldn't say it though, not when she wasn't sure she meant it. "I care about you Tony. I don't want you to ruin your life with that crap." She motioned to the mess on his dresser; the needles, the coke, some strange looking glass pipe. "But I don't know about love."
He pulled away. "So you're still hung up on Jude?"
"No. It's not Jude. Not anymore. At least I don't think it is. Hell, I don't know myself anymore. I can't get into all this shit right now. I have to get back to school."
He turned away to reach for his pants. "You'd better hurry and get showered before you turn into a pumpkin."
She turned away and headed towards the bathroom. She wrinkled her nose when she entered. How could the house be twice as disgusting as it had been a few days before she thought? What had he been doing besides drugs?
There were clothes scattered over the floor. It looked like everything had been dragged out of the medicine cabinet. Shaking her head, she stepped over to the shower, twisting the knobs until she had the right temperature.
She stepped under the shower and wondered whether she'd be better off telling him she loved him if she didn't know she meant it, or putting him off again. He could be persistent. Hell he was always persistent she thought. Hard headed, stubborn as hell, but then again weren't all men? They bugged you until you gave them what they wanted. Or they found someone else who would give them what they wanted like Jude, or they said screw it and copped out and ran away like her father.
She didn't want Tony to find someone else. She sure as hell didn't want him to throw everything away with drugs. She held back a sigh as she stepped out of the shower.
Tony was more than just sex to her wasn't he?
She needed to get a grip. As she dried off she wondered how she was going to keep Tony distracted from thinking about love until she could really tell him she loved him. And what if she didn't love him EVER she thought? She REALLY needed to get a grip, she thought as she threw the towel back towards the hamper, and he needed to get a cleaning service to take care of this mess.
She sighed again, figuring she'd probably have to help him take care of it over the weekend. She stepped naked into the bedroom, wanting another cigarette. Tony was sitting on the bed, still shirtless, smoking a joint.
"You want a hit?"
"No. I can't believe that you're smoking right before you have to drive me back to school."
"I've driven high off of shit that'll fuck you up way more than this does."
"I noticed that you ran your car into something."
"No biggie. I ran it into the side of the garage when I was trying to park the other day."
"And that's not a big deal?"
He laughed as he reached out to smack her ass as she bent over to pull up her panties. "It's a piece of shit. You've said so many times."
"That doesn't mean you need to put it out of commission before you get a new one."
"You wanna help me pick out a new one? I think I might look for a stick shift this time, though. I might even let you drive it."
She pulled her shirt over her head. "I guess."
"Don't sound so thrilled, honey." He pulled her onto his lap.
"I've never driven a stick shift."
"I'll teach you.” He nuzzled the side of her neck. "Just like I taught you about all the other important things in
life."
She could feel him getting hard again after a few minutes of heated making out and knew it was time to go, or she was going to end up in his bed again and end up getting kicked out of school. Though a glorious night of sex like they'd had earlier might almost be worth it she thought.
She shook her head as she got up and grabbed her purse and he said "What?"
"Nothing. We've got to go. I've still got that walk after you drop me off."
"There's supposed to be some back trail through the woods that would get you a lot closer. We'll have to check it out sometime." He gave her a dirty grin.
"I'm not going to bone you in the backseat of your car when you've got a perfectly good bed."
"Doesn't it make you hot to think that some other voyeur could be watching us get it on?"
"No. Get your damn shirt and shoes on so we can get the hell out of here."
"I thought you liked me better without it." He gave her a fake pout.
"I like you best with nothing on, but that's not the point. That loopy bitch Marcune gets a hair up her ass sometimes and patrols the halls at night. I really don't need to get on her bad side."
"Tease." He picked up a ragged t-shirt off of the floor and pulled it over his head.
He slipped his feet into a pair of slippers and pulled her with him towards the door. His car took three times to turn over before it would start. When he pulled out of the driveway she heard a knock in the engine that she knew hadn't been there previously.
He turned down the dark road to the school. "What else did you do to this damn thing?"
"Baby, I don't know.” His eyes turned dark as he cranked the window down and lit a cigarette.
They were both quiet as he drove, lost in their own thoughts. He pulled over to the side of the road a few minutes later. It was closer than he normally dared to take her. The lights from the school were clearly visible up ahead.
He leaned over to kiss her as she opened her door. "You be careful, darlin."
"Always."
She put her arms around him. She didn't want to leave him tonight she thought. He made her feel safe and protected, wanted and special; something that she hadn't felt since she was a young child in her father's arms.
And there was something in the air; almost a sense of foreboding, like something was going to happen and it wasn't going to be good. She didn't want to lose him, not when she'd just gotten through the last few days of hell without him. Maybe she did love him she thought. Then shouldn't she tell him?
"Tony I. . ."
He put a finger to her lips and shook his head. "Shh Tor, it's okay. You don't have to say it. I know you're not ready. Go home darlin’. Get some sleep."
"Okay." She yawned. "I can't come by tomorrow. I've got a test to study for, but I'll come by on Saturday okay?"
"I'll be waiting." He gave her his usual cocky grin.
"Goodnight Tony. Drive safe."
"Goodnight baby."
She turned to wave as he drove away, and then hurried in the chilly night air around to the back door of the school. She breathed a sigh of relief as she shut the door to her room quietly behind her, glad that she'd made it. But she was glad she’d left, glad that she reconciled with Tony. Not to mention the sex she thought.
She'd heard somewhere that really good looking men were supposed to be lousy in bed. But that sure as hell wasn't true in Tony's case she thought. Tony was gorgeous. He was sex personified and he was going to spoil her in bed for any other man. No man could stand up to Tony in bed. If she could find one that did, she'd really never leave his bed.
Pervert, she thought to herself, as she slipped into bed. Then she thought I am so tired. She was asleep within minutes.
Chapter 9
Friday passed in a blur. Late Saturday evening Tory sat on her bed, quiet tears rolling down her face.
She brushed back the tears, and wished she could have a cigarette. She still had the pack in her purse. It was over half full, but it wasn’t like she could crack a window and light up with everyone there. No, what she really wanted was a joint she thought. No, what she really wanted was Tony and that was the source of all of her troubles.
Tony and that ass Jude she thought. She wanted to break something.
She hadn’t thought things could get any worse, and then they had. There had been rumors going around that she’d slept with someone else and that someone was going to tell Tony.
She now wondered if Jude had started the rumors and asked Molli to spread them. It seemed pretty ironic that Molli remained oblivious of what had gone on between Tory and Jude, especially after what Jude had told Tony. She sighed, and thought back to what had happened between her and Tony that evening.
She had been on her way to Tony's house when her phone had rung. She said hello. Tony had responded but then he just sat there for a minute or more, not saying anything. She had checked her phone to make sure the call hadn’t dropped. When she’d put it back to her ear he was talking, but she soon found out that it wasn’t what she wanted to hear. Jude had showed up at his house that day and bragged about how they’d slept together. Tory had tried to explain to him, but that had just seemed to make it worse. Tony had asked her how she could stand to look at herself in the mirror after he’d told her he loved her when she knew what she’d just done with Jude. She’d started crying then and had blubbered like an idiot and told him that she loved him and that she was sorry and she’d do anything to be with him. Tony had gotten quiet for a minute. Then she’d heard him snort a line of coke. He’d come back on the phone and told her that he didn’t think they should see each other anymore and hung up on her.
She’d been so upset that she’d thrown her phone on the side of the road and stepped on it over and over again. That meant that she’d had to call Lindsey and give her some excuse about how her phone had broken and ask for a new one. But while a conversation with Lindsey was usually the crappiest part of her day, especially when she was asking for something, it hadn’t compared to what she’d went through with Tony. Why was it that just when she realized she loved him, Jude had to step in and screw it all up she thought? Not that it hadn’t been her fault as well for being so stupid as to sleep with him.
She’d thought that she’d lost all of the pictures she’d taken of Tony when she’d smashed her phone. But then she’d dug around in her drawer, thinking that she needed to do a little spying to take her mind off of everything. She’d been going through her pictures trying to come up with a good target when she’d run across a picture of Tony. He was shirtless and barefoot, standing in his front yard, drinking a beer and smoking a joint. She wanted to laugh when she looked at the picture because he was so casual about smoking dope right in the open. But instead it had almost made her start crying again and she felt like she hadn’t really stopped since she’d gotten back to her room.
She took one last look at the picture of Tony that she'd sat on her desk and then turned it over with a sigh and returned it to the pile of pictures stashed in the back of her underwear drawer. She slipped her feet into her shoes, dug a cigarette and lighter out of her purse and slipped out her door and down the hall, heading out to the woods to have her smoke.
Chapter 10
The rest of the week passed uneventfully.
She spent the weekend in her room, existing on junk food and soda, wanting a cigarette but being too lazy to sneak out and have one. For the first time in a long time she didn't want to know what she'd come upon in the woods. She didn't give a shit who was screwing who, who was pregnant, who was snorting coke, and she sure as hell didn't want to run into Jude and Molli.
She wasn't sure she'd be able to stop herself from doing something stupid to both of them.
Tory rolled over on her bed and wondered if she should call her dad. It had been a while since she'd spoken to him. It was good to hear his voice. He was still her father, the only parent that gave a shit about her, though he'd certainly done a crappy job of showing it the last few years.
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br /> But she didn't think she had a calling card with any minutes on it and without her cell phone. . . She'd just have to wait the million years that it took her mom to send her a new phone. She really missed Rebecca all of a sudden. Maybe she would give her a call when she got her new phone, too. They hadn't talked in a while. Last she'd heard Rebecca had a hunk of a boyfriend, who had been accepted to some prestigious college, so Rebecca was working her butt off so that she could get into a college nearby to be with him.
At least Rebecca had plans she thought, knew what she wanted to do with her life, even if it did seem to revolve around some guy. But shit, who was she to talk? Her plans had revolved around Jude hadn't they? Wanting to get him out of this town, daydreams about gorgeous children running around, about her doing everything she could to be a better mother and wife than Lindsey ever had. And then Tony. What would a life with Tony be like she wondered?
Would he be selling drugs while she was in school? Would their kids be at day care while she worked and he sold meth to crazy tweakers? Or would he give up his "business" if she got pregnant and work at a legitimate job?
She couldn't imagine Tony as a pencil pusher, going to work in a suit and tie. Then again she couldn't imagine him in a lame uniform working at a fast food joint either. But she'd never know now would she she thought?
She figured it was better to leave it alone for the time being, let him cool down for a while. Maybe give Carl a message to pass on to him about her phone being broke. Give him a call when she got her new one, or maybe drop in on him before she left town for winter break.
It depressed her more worrying about Tony not wanting to see her. Since it was Sunday afternoon she shut out her depressing thoughts by taking a nap.
The next few weeks passed quickly. She was surprised when her mom sent her phone express delivery and she received it less than a week after she'd broken her old one. She'd spoken with her father briefly though it had been a rather disappointing conversation. He could tell her that he loved her and missed her in his letters, but over the phone it was like he shut down emotionally. She almost felt that it was painful for him to speak to his own daughter.
Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set Page 107
