by Dawn Doyle
“Yeah. I guess the guy has some morals after all,” Kerry nodded.
Raven clenched her jaw.
“Beck’s over there,” Ava whispered, jutting her chin in his direction.
Raven turned to see Beck, Donnie, and a couple of other guys sitting around a table. He looked pissed and was staring down at the bottle of water in his hands.
She knew that look.
Frustration, anger and disappointment.
Seeing him like that, and knowing she was the cause made her feel nauseated. The girls didn’t have a problem with it, but she did.
I can’t do this to him any more.
Raven got up out of her seat.
“Where are you going?” Ava asked when Raven began to walk away.
“I’ll be right back.”
She walked towards Beck and knew the moment he’d noticed her; his jaw clenched more than humanely possible.
“This is probably going to bite me in the ass, but I can’t do this to you any more,” she said to him.
She put her hand in her pocket and pulled out the card.
Grabbing Beck’s warm hand, which sent shocks up her arm, Raven slapped the card into his palm.
“I want that back,” she bit out before turning back to her own table.
She’d left Beck with the message from the flowers.
‘To my black haired Raven,
I thought these might bring a smile
to your beautiful face
I miss you already,
Love Dad
Xxxxx’
PS. Remind the boys I have a gun.
“What did you do?”
The girls looked eagerly to Raven for her answer.
“I gave him the card from the flowers.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s not fair,” she replied. “He did nothing wrong, but he thinks he did.”
“You know what? You’re too good for your own good, Ray-Ray,” Ava said slipping an arm round her shoulders.
“I just felt so guilty, Ay. You didn’t see his face in class. He looked so…upset.”
“He upsets you all the time, though Ray,” Leila argued.
Raven shook her head. “He annoys me; yes. He goes a little overboard; yes. But he doesn’t upset me,” Raven sighed.
“Well, you need to decide how annoyed you are right now, because he’s coming over.”
Raven’s heart skipped a beat when she looked up.
Beck’s face had gone from a deep scowl to one of utter perfection.
Not that he wasn’t perfect before, but he was smiling again and that had her pulse kicking into overdrive.
The heat rose to her cheeks making her blush.
He smiled sexily, showing his beautiful teeth as he walked past, twirling her card in his fingers.
Oh no, what’s he going to do with it? I want that back!
She wasn’t going to wait for him to give it. She was going to take it.
“Beck, I want my card back,” she called, walking after him out of the main hall.
Beck stopped, and his friends continued on their way.
Raven looked behind her. The girls hadn’t followed her out.
Traitors! Again!
“Yes Raven?” he rasped, walking back towards her.
“I want my card back,” she breathed, not meaning to sound out of breath.
“This card?” he asked, holding it up.
“Yes.”
“Sure.” He held it out for her to take.
Raven reached out and took hold of the edge of the card, but Beck didn’t release it.
“You let me think you were seeing somebody,” he stated. “Why?”
“I didn’t. You misinterpreted what you heard.”
They both still had their fingers on the card. He moved his a fraction, his tips connecting with hers.
Raven felt the connection shoot to her core. Her cheeks flamed once more, and the corners twitching on his mouth told her he’d noticed.
“But you didn’t correct my assumption. You let me believe I’d…”
“That was mean, I know,” she cut in. “I’m sorry.”
Beck’s eyes widened at her apology.
He shortened the space between them and with his other hand, he held her chin with his finger, tilting her head to look into her eyes. He seemed to be studying her.
As he watched her, Raven attempted to keep her breathing steady. He leant in a little closer and her breathing stopped altogether.
His gaze grew tender, and the corners of his mouth turned up. His thumb stroked across her chin.
“You are, aren’t you?” he asked quietly, still examining her face.
Raven nodded as much as she could as he held her in place.
Beck gently sucked his lower lip into his mouth and Raven’s heart thrummed.
He was right back into teasing her. The sensation from his touch on her chin was already sending tingles from the contact site right down to her toes, and together with his fingertips, he was touching her with both hands; again.
But the lip thing was too much. He looked like he was going to kiss her, but she knew he wouldn’t.
He wouldn’t go that far in his teasing that would be too much, even for him.
Raven was regretting giving him the card. She knew there was absolutely no stopping him now he knew for definite she was single. To stop him, she needed a boyfriend.
That wasn’t happening. She wouldn’t do that, use somebody just to end his tormenting her.
There was another point too. She didn’t want a boyfriend, because he would stop.
She was so confused.
“What’s going on in that pretty little head of yours?” he asked, grinning.
He knew exactly what was happening to her and he was taking delight in it.
Bastard.
“I’m thinking that you’re going to pick up where you left off, aren’t you?”
Beck stepped into her space, their bodies almost touching. “You bet your sweet ass, babe.”
He let go of the card and winked at her.
Raven released the breath she was holding and turned her back so he couldn’t see the mess he’d left behind.
Looking down at the note her dad had written, Raven saw that Beck had added his own message on the back:
‘Does your dad know about me?
I’m guessing he wouldn’t want to know that
his daughter gets herself off
thinking about me in her sleep.’
Raven was horrified. He’d heard everything!
Sure, he’d made a pretty fucking good guess about her dream, but he knew exactly what she’d done.
“Beck, I swear I’m going to kill you!” she screamed spinning in the direction he went.
Beck threw his head back and laughed. A deep belly laugh that mocked her.
He had her and he knew it.
She was just a game to him after all.
Chapter 4
“Ava, I need to go to the library. Please come with me?” Raven begged.
Beck hadn’t done anything since their exchange, and Raven was growing more wary of him.
If that was his intention, then it worked; she was a nervous wreck.
“Ray, you’ve got to face him sometime,” Ava replied. “You’re going to see him around.”
“Yes, but I’d rather not be alone! You have no idea what it’s like to be alone with him, Ay.”
“I’ve seen him in action, Ray. I doubt he’s going to try anything more than usual.”
Ava hadn’t seen Beck in full action.
Raven hadn’t told her friends about Beck backing her into a wall, hovering over her and turning her on with the slightest brush of his fingers, or quiet whispers in her ear.
Her center throbbed just thinking about it.
“Yes, I’ll go with you,” Ava stood and picked up her bag. “I need to pick up a couple of books for my assignment.”
“I thought Lenny was helping with that?�
� Raven asked.
Ava had been studying with him a few times over the week.
“Oh…yeah. Um… just some extra research,” Ava laughed nervously.
Raven saw how Ava’s cheeks turned pink. She wondered what her friend was hiding, but she wasn’t going to call her on it. She would give her some time to tell her. After all, she’d kept a lot of things from her best friend.
Like the details of how Beck had pushed up against her on the stairs. Making her shiver when his lips came into contact with her ear when he whispered. The way he would lightly stroke her arm, or her face, with his fingers.
She was embarrassed to tell…because she liked it.
She liked how he made her feel, but she hated herself for it because the rules Beck had in place for not getting attached… she was. And they didn’t even need to get intimate for it to happen.
She was, but not literally, screwed.
“So are we going or what?” Ava tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention.
“Oh, yeah. Let’s go.” Raven picked up her bag and left their dorm.
“The coast is clear,” Ava said, hold her hands up in a gun shape and looking around the edges, making Raven giggle. “Cover me.”
“I thought you said it was clear?” Raven asked, still giggling at her friend’s tactical efforts.
“It is, but it sounded good, so… Anyway your dad’s the cop, you should be better at this.”
“Yeah, my dad’s the cop; not me. I wouldn’t have a clue what to do.”
“Well, anyway, it seems to be safe so let’s grab some books.”
Ava went to the aisle for Philosophy textbooks, and Raven went to the Economics section.
Raven glanced over her shoulder, making sure that nobody was following her.
She was so paranoid.
Nobody was going in her direction, so she turned the corner to the place Beck had pressed up against her.
She froze in place, the hairs on her arms stood on end and her heart raced a mile a minute.
Beck was sitting down with his books, studying.
He looked so calm sitting there, reading his books and taking notes from the text.
His back was wide and Raven could see the contours of the muscles under his navy tee.
His tight ass was visible just under the back of the chair, the denim hugging his orbs.
Raven swallowed the huge lump in her throat and slowly released the breath she’d been holding, so he wouldn’t hear her. She began to back away.
“Raven, just sit down,” he said, not looking up from his books. “I know you’re there, just sit.”
“I only came to get a book,” she said, nervously.
“So get it.”
Raven walked over to the shelves as steadily as her jello legs would allow, and searched through the items. Finding the one she was after, she lifted it from the shelf with a shaky hand.
“You don’t need that one,” Beck’s voice startled her. “Try this one.”
Turning, Raven saw Beck holding out a book. He wasn’t even looking at her as he held it out. Instead, he carried on writing whatever it was on his paper, as he waited for her to take it from his hand.
Placing the other book back on the shelf, Raven reached out and gripped the book in Beck’s hand.
His eyes snapped up and locked with hers.
Raven’s parts lit on fire.
“Sit down,” he whispered.
“I don’t need to. I’m not studying here.”
“You are now,” he demanded.
“Don’t tell me what to do,” she snapped. She didn’t like being ordered about by anyone, let alone him.
Oh crap.
Beck’s eyes twinkled with mischief, and Raven knew what was coming next. He didn’t even have to say it.
“You might like it if I did.”
“Don’t Beck. I don’t have time for this. Our assignment is due in two days, and I’m nowhere near finished.”
“Do you think of me?” he asked, surprising her. It was a strange question to ask, coming from him.
“Excuse me?”
“When you touch yourself?” he beamed.
Raven’s face kicked up one hundred degrees and she used all of her strength not to strangle him right there.
“I can’t believe you said that!” she said between clenched teeth. It was a good job they were in the library and needed to keep their voices low, otherwise she would’ve screamed at him from the top of her lungs.
That and the fact she didn’t want everybody in there knowing she’d accidentally pleasured herself.
“I just want to know,” he smiled.
“Oh my God! It was one time, and I was asleep. You should forget what you heard.” There was no point in denying it. He’d heard her and Ava discussing it.
“I could never forget what I heard, Raven. It was sexy as fuck.”
Beck slowly stood from his seat and Raven panicked. From their positions, she couldn’t run away. He was blocking her path, where his chair was, and he could easily step in her way with his long, muscular legs.
He moved closer.
Raven hadn’t realized she’d moved until her back connected with the shelves.
What was it with him and backing her into things?
Her heart jumped into her throat.
“Here,” he whispered, holding up a piece of paper.
All the whispering he was doing was making her skin prickle.
“What’s that?” Her eyes glanced from the paper to his face.
“No; of course not,” she snapped, trying to keep her voice low in the busy library. “You’re smarter than that.”
“You think I’m smart?” Beck snorted “Ok,” he said sarcastically.
“You don’t have a four point GPA for being a dumb ass; dumb ass.”
Beck’s eyes narrowed at her suspiciously. He wasn’t expecting that, she could tell.
“How do you know my GPA?”
“Because you have the highest score in the class,” she said, looking over his shoulder again.
She was desperate to leave. The more time she spent backed up against the books, his heat and scent all around her, the more aroused she became.
"Many people say I have.” Beck shrugged as if it were a possibility.
“Did he charm his way to that A?”
Raven heard a couple of the students in their class snicker at Beck’s grade. The midterms of Junior year had been assessed, and they’d gotten their grades. They couldn’t accept that Beck could get that score all on his own.
“Well the professor seems to like him a lot,” one of them said. “I bet he’s given her something to up his scores.”
The small group laughed again.
Raven knew the professor liked Beck because he was, surprisingly, a good student. She’d heard her gushing about him to the other professors.
“Well whatever he’s got up his sleeve, it can’t last. Just wait until he gets to finals. The professor can’t grade his papers then.”
Raven clenched her jaw in annoyance. The had no right to assume Beck wasn’t as smart as they were.
They shouldn’t because in reality he was a hell of a lot smarter.
Beck didn’t make any effort to move out of her way. Instead, he kept his eyes fixed firmly on hers, freezing her to the spot as he awaited her answer.
“I know you haven’t cheated,” she replied.
“How?”
“You don’t need to,” she shook her head.
Beck blinked a couple of times without saying a word. One corner of his mouth turned up, and he stepped back.
Raven moved around him, glancing at the papers on the table. She paused, turning to him.
“Hang on. If you’re done, why did you still have this book?”
It didn’t make sense for him to have it if he didn’t need it.
“I’ve just finished with it,” he replied, looking away for a split second.
“What the hell’s going on?” Ava sa
id, rounding the corner.
Her arms were loaded with books, and she had a pissed off look that meant she was not to be messed with.
“What are you doing crowding her, Beck? Don’t you understand the word no?”
“I understand it perfectly well, Ava,” he snapped.
“Then why don’t you make like a tree, and leave?”
“I was here first,” he pointed to his study materials.
“Beck helped me,” Raven said, stopping Ava before she could rip into him some more.
“What? He did? You did?” Ava’s head bobbed back and forth between them.
“Yes,” they replied in unison.
It wasn’t the first time, either.
“Why did you cut class, Raven?” The smooth sexy tones of his voice hit her core with force.
Raven wasn’t expecting it when Beck to got too close too quick in her space, that she almost fell backwards.
“Whoa! What the hell?” She yelled up at him.
“Somebody’s been a bad girl,” he said, slowly shaking his head.
“So?” she asked, raising her chin in defiance. “I’m a goody goody because I won’t have sex with you, and now I’m a bad girl for ditching? Make up your tiny mind, Beck.”
“Bad girls need to be punished,” he purred.
“Ugh,” she rolled her eyes. “Change the record.” Raven folded her arms across her chest to put up a barrier between herself and his growing nearness.
Raven made a futile attempt at composing herself. Not only had he got her flustered by approaching her, but the way he was letting his eyes roam over her had her lady parts dancing over hot coals. She crossed her ankles, hopeful that Beck didn’t notice her subtle thigh squeeze.
