The Harder You Fall

by L A Cotton

  Cussing under my breath, I ran a hand down my face. This trip was supposed to be a chance to enjoy ourselves, to be a normal couple away from people’s judgment.

  But it was already turning into a fucking disaster.

  “You good?” Cam asked me as we leaned against the balcony, watching the girls dance on the floor below. The club Riley and Vaughn had brought us to was crammed, bodies packed in like sardines. But upstairs in the VIP section it was more laid back, which was why we were up here while the girls were down there.

  “Yeah, I’m good.”

  “Mya seems to be enjoying herself.”

  I let out a heavy sigh. “It’s like when it’s just us, or we’re with you guys, things are great.”

  “But?”

  “But not everyone’s happy about us. You know what Rixon is like, what the kids at school are like. Hell, even some of the guys on the team give me shit about liking Mya.”

  “They don’t mean anything by it.”

  “Don’t they? You think I don’t see how people look at us?”

  “They’re just curious, man. It’s nothing personal.”

  “It feels fucking personal.” I scrubbed my jaw, glancing back at the girls. “You saw how surprised Riley and Vaughn were, and they live here.”

  Wasn’t New York like the city of diversity or something?

  “Did they say something to you?”

  “Riley? Nah, he was just surprised. I know he doesn’t give a rat’s ass who I’m with. But Vaughn made it obvious she didn’t approve.” My jaw clenched. Vaughn had since apologized for her initial reaction to Mya, but the damage was already done, and the two of them had steered clear of one another during the pre-club drinks back at the penthouse.

  “I just thought we could come here and leave all the bullshit back in Rixon. But it’s never going away is it? There will always be people who look at us together and disapprove.”

  “Fuck them all. They don’t matter,” Cam said. “People will always cast judgment. But you’re better than that. Rise above it and just do you.” He clapped me on the shoulder. “I see the way you look at Mya, you’re in deep with her.”

  “Gone,” I said quietly. “I’m totally gone for her.”

  It was fucking terrifying how strongly I felt about her. How desperately I wanted to make this thing between us work.

  Despite all the obstacles stacked against us.

  “Then that’s all that matters. The rest is all white noise.”

  But it wasn’t. It was incessant chatter, a constant hum in the background that, no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t ignore.

  “She told Hailee and Flick she’s applied to Cleveland,” Cam went on. “You know, it’s only a couple hours from Pittsburgh.”

  “I know.” I curved my hands around the railing.

  “So, how do you feel about that?”

  “Relieved.” So fucking relieved. “But my old man isn’t going to be impressed.”

  “What’s it got to do with your dad?”

  “I...” The words were right there. Tell him. Just rip off the Band-Aid and tell him.

  Before I could get them out, Cam’s expression darkened. His eyes narrowed past me. “Fuck,” he hissed.

  “What is—” I turned just in time to see some douche put his hands on Mya.

  I took off, shouldering past a few people, ignoring Cam’s yells as I hurried down the stairs and onto the dance floor. I’d lost Mya and the girls in the crowd, but I could just make out the tall fucker who had put his hands on my girl.

  Anger swam in my veins as I pushed and jostled bodies out of the way, bursting through the crowd. “Touch my girl again and you’ll...” The words dried on my tongue as I took in the scene before me. Mya was all up in the guy’s face as he clutched his junk, eyes watering, face contorted in agony.

  “You fucking bitch,” he seethed.

  I wedged myself between them, murder in my expression. “What the fuck did you just say?”

  “You’d better put a leash on your bitch or—”

  Before I knew what was happening, Mya shot around me and drove her fist straight toward the guy’s face.

  “Whoa there, Rocky.” Jase appeared out of nowhere and caught her around the waist hauling her backward before she could do any real damage.

  “You’d better keep an eye on that one,” the guy mumbled, already backing up. “A girl like that will get you into all kinds of trouble.”

  “Get the fuck out of here.” Jase clapped me on the back, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. I’m glad someone found the situation funny, because I sure as shit didn’t. But I breathed easier when I found Mya safely tucked between Flick and Hailee who, I noticed, each had a hand wrapped around her arm.

  With the help of his friends, the guy limped away, taking his wounded pride with him.

  “You okay?” Jase asked Mya and the girls as I stood there, trying to rein in the anger still vibrating through me. I wanted to go after the guy, I wanted to—

  “He touched my ass.” Mya was in front of me now, her hand touching my arm. She gave me a weak smile. “I might have overreacted a little. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cause a scene.”

  Shit. She thought I was embarrassed?

  Closing the distance between us, I hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her against my chest. “Never apologize for defending yourself.”

  “He was hardly attacking me, Asher,” she said, rolling her eyes.

  “No, but he put his hands on you without your permission. If you hadn’t have kneed him in the balls, I would have.” I would have done a whole lot worse than that.

  “You mean you burst through the crowd, ready to defend my honor?”

  “Mya, I’m pretty sure I’d walk over hot coals for you.” I gazed down at her, trying to show her just how much she meant to me. But sometimes actions weren’t enough. Sometimes you had to take the simplest approach and tell someone how you really felt.

  Pulling her out of earshot of our friends, I brushed a stray curl from her face and leaned down, inhaling a shaky breath. “I know it’s only officially been a few days and I know it’s complicated and we don’t know what the future holds, but I’m pretty sure I’m falling in love with you, Mya Hernandez.”

  Her lips parted on a soft gasp only I heard. “You weren’t supposed to fall in love with me, Asher,” she breathed. My heart crashed violently against my ribcage waiting for her to put me out of my misery. “But I’m glad you did.”

  “Yeah, and why is that?” I was fishing but I needed to hear her say the words too.

  I needed her to feel the same.

  “Because,” she sucked in a sharp breath, “I…” Mya swallowed the words I so desperately wanted to hear. But she wasn’t fooling anyone. I saw the truth glittering right there in her eyes.

  She felt it, I knew she did.

  “It’s okay,” the words came out strained. “You don’t have to say it back yet.”

  “Ash…” Mya’s eyes fluttered closed just as Khalid’s Better blasted through the sound system. I turned Mya in my arms, tucking her body close to mine and began dancing. She might not have been ready to say the words, but she was here with me. For now, it was enough.

  We moved together; Mya rolling and popping her hips, grinding on me in a way that had my dick straining against my jeans. I ran my hands up the curve of her waist, appreciating how good she looked in the halter top and shorts, how her dark caramel skin glistened under the club mood lighting. Mya tipped her head back against my shoulder, taking one of my hands in hers and pressing it to her stomach as we rocked in synchrony. The lyrics serenaded us like our own private song.

  I was uncertain about a lot of things. My future. How the fuck I was supposed to sacrifice everything I loved just to keep my father happy and my mother safe. But this, standing here with Mya, knowing she was going to be in my bed at the end of the night, I was sure about.

  In that moment, nothing felt better.

  Until she dippe
d her hand around her back and let it slide down the front of my jeans. “You’re playing a dangerous game, babe,” I whispered against the shell of her ear as I rocked into her hand, groaning into the crook of her neck.

  “Maybe I like danger.” She pushed our joined hands beneath the swathe of sequined fabric covering her midriff and the waistband of her shorts.

  A quick glance around told me no one was paying us any attention. We were just another couple out enjoying the night. Lingering between one year and the next. Mya slid her hand over mine, moving my fingers higher and higher until they grazed the curve of her breast.

  Her very smooth, very naked breast.

  Fuck.

  I’d assumed she was wearing one of those cleverly disguised strapless bra things.

  “Are you trying to kill me?” I groaned again, earning me a soft chuckle.

  “It’s almost midnight,” she said, tilting her face so that her lips almost touched mine. “I want you inside me when the clock strikes twelve.”

  Fuck.

  Fucking fuck.

  I almost exploded right there and then. My eyes darted wildly around the room, desperately searching for somewhere—anywhere—I could make her wish, and all her dreams, come true. Because while I wanted nothing more than to sink deep inside of Mya, I drew the line at fucking her in public.

  My eyes found Jase over the crowd and he smirked, as if that fucker could read my mind. I flipped him off. He pulled out his cell and typed something, my own cell vibrating to life seconds later. Discreetly, I dug it out of my pocket.

  * * *

  Jase: The car is out back. You can thank me later.

  * * *

  Me: Do I even want to know how you know that?

  * * *

  Jase: I like to be prepared.

  * * *

  I laughed at that. Smug bastard. Before I could type a reply, the screen lit up again.

  * * *

  Jase: I know I give you shit but I’m happy for you, man. Now go before I rethink my offer… happy new year!

  * * *

  Me: Thanks, I owe you.

  * * *

  Mya brushed my cheek with her nose as I pocketed my cell phone. “Please tell me that was our fairy sexmother?”

  Fairy sexmother?

  What the actual fuck?

  “Who are you right now?” I stared at her with a potent mix of awe and lust.

  “I’m just a girl who needs her boyfriend.”

  “Come on.” Tangling our fingers together, I led Mya away from the dance floor. We didn’t stop for our friends, or for the DJ as he announced the five-minute warning to the official countdown, and we sure as shit didn’t stop for security as they yelled at us not to go through the emergency exit.

  We spilled out into the night, the sleek black limo that had brought us to the club right where Jase had said it would be.

  “Seriously?” Mya said, her brow arched. “I thought we’d go to the bathroom or something.”

  My lips curved mischievously. “Consider it a gift from your fairy sexmother. Now,” I yanked the door open for her, “get inside before I fuck you on the hood of it.”

  Mya

  Asher followed me into the plush limo, closing the door behind him and locking it. His eyes burned with hunger, his hot gaze setting my already warm skin on fire.

  “Two minutes,” he rasped as I sat down on one of the leather benches running down either side of the vehicle.

  “W- what?”

  “Two minutes until the clock chimes twelve.”

  “Oh.” The word left my lips on a small gasp, remembering how I’d told him how I wanted to welcome in the new year.

  I hadn’t meant to say the words but dancing with him had been so sexy, his hands painting a trail of heat over my skin. Teasing me. Torturing me to the point of needing him so much I couldn’t think of anything else.

  I would never forget the way he burst through the crowd, like a knight-in-Henley-armor, with murder and possessiveness shining in his eyes.

  “I want to go slow, take my time...” Asher crawled over me, pressing me into the soft leather bench, running his hand up my chest and palming my neck gently. “But I don’t think I can.”

  “So don’t.” I dragged my teeth over the lobe of his ear, biting hard. A groan rumbled in his chest as his hand slid up my thighs, finding the waistband of my jeans.

  “These need to come off, now,” he said against the corner of my mouth.

  Asher rocked back onto his haunches, and I lifted my ass off the bench, letting him pull the shorts off. His eyes went to my lacy black panties, and another groan worked its way up his throat.

  “Your turn,” I panted, trying to reach for him. Asher chuckled, staying just out of arm’s reach as he unbuttoned his jeans and freed his dick, pushing his boxer briefs and jeans down his hips in one swift motion.

  “What are you waiting for?” I needed him.

  Needed him to ease the deep ache inside of me.

  He smirked, stroking himself up and down, his eyes pinning me to the spot. We were half-clothed, inside a limo, in some back alley in New York, but it didn’t matter.

  Prowling forward on his knees, Asher grabbed my ankles and wrapped them around his waist, pulling me around him so he could nestle between my legs. His hard length nudged up against me, sending sparks shooting through my body. I tried to reach between us to guide him right to where I needed him, but Asher snagged my hand, shaking his head with a dirty smirk.

  “Ten,” he said, bumping up against me again, letting the tip of his dick hit my tight bundle of nerves. “Nine.” Asher leaned down, capturing my lips in a slow kiss. “Eight.” Rocking his hips, he ground against me but didn’t give me what I needed most.

  “Seven,” I said, realization dawning on me as I kissed him, almost frenzied, dipping my hands underneath his Henley and raking my nails down his chest, eliciting a low growl from his chest.

  “Six.” It was a garbled noise in his throat as he continued dragging himself through my wetness, teasing me.

  “Five.” I covered his hand with mine, feeling him hard and heavy and wet between us.

  “Four,” we both panted, our breaths mingled with raw lust. “Three...” It was a breathy moan as he pressed closer still but not close enough. “Two...” Asher kissed me again, stealing my breath.

  “One.” He thrust inside of me in one smooth glide, my head bumping against leather, my fingers curling around his bicep. “Mya, fuck,” he barked, pulling out and pressing back into me.

  Harder.

  Deeper.

  I hooked my ankles together, careful not to dig the heels of my boots into his back.

  “It’s like you were made for me.” Asher kissed the corner of my mouth, dragging his tongue over my lips and plunging deep inside as he continued rocking into me, circling his hips in that perfect way that had me arching off the bench.

  “Oh God... Ash... it’s...” I never wanted him to stop. The way his body moved over mine, strong and sure and so damn right. It was the most intense sex I’d ever had.

  “Say it,” he whispered against my lips. “Tell me you’re mine, Mya. Tell me you won’t let anything come between us.”

  “I’m yours.” The words were caught somewhere between a promise and a breathy moan as I felt the waves of pleasure begin to build inside me.

  “You and me, babe.” He flattened his body to mine, pressing deeper. So deep I could feel him everywhere. “It’s you and me.”

  Asher hooked my leg higher, his movements slowing as he traced letters of love across my skin. “Ash… what are you…?” I gazed up at him, flushed and breathless and aching.

  “I lied,” he whispered. “I need you to say it, Mya. I need to hear the words.” He stole my breath as he slowly inched out of me.

  “I…” Sparks of pleasure shot through me as he moved in lazy shallow strokes that had my stomach coiling tight and my legs quivering.

  “More,” I cried, gripping his shoulders, arching my
body into him, desperate for more.

  “Tell me you feel it,” Asher kissed my lips, before dragging his tongue up the slope of my neck. Over and over, licking and nipping. Teasing and tasting.

  “I feel it.” My head was clouded with sensation, dizzy with need.

  “Mya…” My name sounded like a prayer on his lips as he filled me again in one smooth stroke. “God, you feel so fucking good.”

  “Harder, I need you to go harder.” Beads of sweat trailed down the valley of my breasts; Asher’s skin slick against mine, his weight too much and not enough all at the same time.

  The limo rocked beneath us. The boom of fireworks exploding overhead. Until soon I saw explosions of my own. My body shuddered, Asher’s name falling from my lips over and over.

  “Fuck, Mya,” he let out a guttural groan, lifting his head to meet my sated gaze. “I love you. You know that, right?”

  Pressing my lips together, swallowing the emotion clogging my throat, I nodded. Asher dropped his head to mine, letting us ride the lingering waves of pleasure. “You are everything I need.” His lips found mine. “You, Mya. Happy New Year.”

  It was a new year.

  New possibilities and fresh beginnings.

  A chance to carve out a better future for myself.

  But there wasn’t only me to think about now.

  There was Asher.

  The guy who was slowly teaching me love knew no bounds.

  “I love you.” The words spilled from my lips in a single breath.

  “You love me, Hernandez?” Asher asked around a grin, before brushing his lips over mine. Once. Twice. Three times. As if he needed reassurance this was real—that I was real.

  “I love you, Asher,” I repeated the words, teasing the words off my tongue. “I’m in love with you. I should have said it earlier, but I guess I was scared.”

  “You don’t ever have to be scared with me, Mya.” Asher pressed his head to mine again, taking a deep breath.