I got up, waving a hand through the air as if trying to dissipate the bullshit, of which there was a lot. I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Absolutely nothing, because there was nothing to say. Instead, I turned, left the room, heading right for the front door, and grabbed whatever shoes I could find. After throwing on my hoodie, I left, ignoring my dad’s and Levi’s questions about what I was doing.
What was I doing? I didn’t know, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to sit there and listen to my mom any longer.
Once I was outside in the dying daylight, I ran. I ran as fast and as far as my lazy legs could take me. I rounded the block we lived on—just a quiet street in an old development, nothing too fancy, but far enough off the main roads there was hardly any traffic—and kept going.
I knew these streets and their sidewalks better than I knew my own heart. I ended up on the sidewalk near the high school, slowing to stop to catch my breath. It was chilly out, but with all the running, I sweated under the hoodie. The wind whipped my hair back and forth, creating a mess of knots I’d have to deal with later, and I stared at the large, almost windowless building I’d spent four years in, having fun and shirking off.
Those days were long gone now, weren’t they?
I didn’t stop at the school for long; I kept going, running to the more trashier part of town, where I knew Ash lived. Would she be home for Thanksgiving? I…I needed her. If there was ever a time I needed my best friend, it was now.
Ash and her mom had moved recently into a small house—that was basically a trailer with foundation. Small, no garage, surrounded by a bunch of other similar homes. I found my way there within ten minutes, unable to run anymore. Too tired. Too out of breath still.
I slowed when I reached the stone driveway. There were no cars parked, so I wondered if Ash or her mom were even home. My feet drew me to the front door, and I knocked once, sticking my hands back in my pockets to avoid the cold.
I waited, and I waited. And then, after that, I waited some more.
She wasn’t home. No one was.
Heaving a sigh, I turned on my heel, about to head somewhere else, maybe go home, when a car’s headlights cut through the dying daylight. I stopped, watching as the car parked itself on the driveway, and Helen Bonds herself got out.
Helen Bonds was pretty much Ash plus twenty-five years. Blonde hair, pretty eyes, skinny frame. She’d never had a husband, at least not for a while. Ash’s dad left them both a very long time ago, practically when Helen was still pregnant with Ash. The dad had the money, and he took it when he left. Every once in a while he sent Ash some gifts, trying to stay in touch, be on her good side, but that didn’t really work out for him. I’d never seen the fucker.
She ran up to me, giving me a quick hug. “Kelsey, honey. How are you?” She released me almost immediately, remembering I wasn’t much of a hugger. Neither was she, but it had been a while since I’d seen her. Ash and I used to spend every waking hour together. She was like my second mom.
Right now, I was pretty sure I liked her better than my own mom.
“Tired,” I said, the truth. I followed her to the front door as she fiddled with her keys to unlock it. “Is Ash home?”
Helen gave me a look, the door to her house half-open, her key still in the lock. “She went back to Hillcrest early. We had Thanksgiving with her roommate. She didn’t tell you?” She pulled the key from the lock, giving me a strange look.
Ah, so Ash hadn’t told her mom what happened between us. Good.
“Oh, uh,” I paused, grasping at straws, “I guess with everything else going on, I just forgot.”
Helen’s expression softened. She wasn’t the loving, motherly type, but I’d take her any day over mine. At least right now. “Why don’t you come inside? I can make us some hot chocolate.”
That…actually sounded pretty good.
In fifteen minutes, I was nestled on the small couch in their living room, a piping hot mug of hot cocoa in my hands, sipping it gingerly. Slowly, to avoid burning my tongue. Helen made herself some too, and she sat beside me, grabbing the end of the blanket on my legs and pulling it over her feet. She’d changed out of her work clothes, in her pajamas now. She was a photographer, and work came and went. I was actually surprised she had to work today.
“So how are you doing?” Helen asked, eyeing me up. “I heard about your parents. I’m sorry.”
I shrugged. “It’s fine, I guess. Neither one of them were happy, so…” I knew I was being childish, acting out, but…hearing the fact that my mom was already seeing someone else, living with him—and had been seeing him for almost two freaking years—had pushed me over the edge.
“It’s still got to be rough, especially since you didn’t see it coming,” Helen set her mug on the coffee table before us, reaching for me. She squeezed a hand. “With you and Ash in college now, I’m lonely over here. I know it’s not the same, but if you ever need someone to talk to, I’m here.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, and she released my hand.
“At least their divorce was friendly. It gets so much worse when the two parties want to kill each other.”
“Was that how you and Ash’s dad were?”
Helen nodded. She’d put her blonde hair in a low, messy bun. “Oh, I hated him. I hated his guts. Still do, so I think it’s a good thing your parents are trying to do it amicably. They’re only thinking of you, you know. They want you to be happy.”
I stared down into the mug, at the warm brown liquid in it. “I’m afraid I’ll never be happy.”
There it was. My deepest, darkest fear brought to life. Me, Kelsey Yates, absolutely terrified that I’ll never be happy, that I’ll never know contentment. Seemed stupid, didn’t it? I went out and did what I wanted, and it brought me temporary happiness, but long-term? Long-term I just felt empty.
“Why would you say that?”
“I don’t want to be like my parents, faking it until I can’t fake it anymore. I want something real—”
“Kelsey, just because your parents are divorcing doesn’t mean you’ll never find someone who completes you. It doesn’t mean you won’t be happy with your life. Sure, you might have to fight for it a little harder than a kid who grew up seeing a happy marriage would, but that’s life, and I know you’re strong enough to do it.”
God, I kind of felt like crying.
But I wouldn’t. No more tears. I was still me.
I opened my mouth, about to say more, but car lights flashed through the curtains on the wall, and Helen glanced to me. “Your father called, asked if you were here. I told him you were, but I didn’t think it was a good idea for him or your mother to come get you.”
Must’ve been while she was in her room and changing, because I would’ve heard her on the phone if it’d been when she was in the kitchen.
“And then they mentioned a boy named Levi,” Helen went on, wrinkling her nose. “You never were one to bring a boy home. Is he the first?”
For all the comments about me being the first girl Levi’d brought home, the opposite was true, too. I never cared enough to bring anyone else home before. “Yeah,” I muttered, biting my bottom lip.
“I bet he’s the one out there, if you want to go,” Helen said, shrugging. “You don’t have to. You can stay the night if you want, but I figured there might be something he could tell you that I can’t. Somehow I don’t think this is all about your parents.”
She was right. It wasn’t.
It was about me, too. About him, about us.
I set the mug on the table near hers, leaning over to her and giving her another hug. “Thank you,” I whispered, ending the hug only to brace myself as I got up and headed to the door. I threw a look over my shoulder at her, watching as she gave me a wave.
Well, her mom was a pretty good Ash replacement.
I walked to the car, closing the door behind me as I went. My lips were zipped shut as I got in the passenger side of the Ford Escape, buckling my
seatbelt. I glanced to Levi in the front seat; he stared at me, scowling. The typical Levi face when dealing with my shit.
“You want to talk about it?” Levi asked, cocking a dark brow. I could see how tense his hands were on the wheel, and I knew I’d worried him by taking off like that.
“Not yet,” I whispered. “Can we just…can we go somewhere? I don’t want to go home. I don’t want to be there.” Even if my mom was gone, how the hell was I supposed to face my dad knowing everything I knew? That he’d known mom had been stepping out on him for two years now?
I just…with everything else going on, I didn’t want to deal with it right now.
“Where?” he asked.
“Anywhere.”
Chapter Nineteen – Levi
Explaining to Kelsey’s parents why she didn’t want to come in the house as I grabbed our bags was one of the most awkward conversations I’d ever had in my life. Not something I wanted to repeat, ever.
I told them we were going back to campus early, that she was too upset to talk to either one of them. Not exactly a lie, but not the full truth, either. We weren’t going to campus, but she was upset. I wasn’t sure what her mom had told her while her dad and I were doing dishes, but it must’ve set her off.
A lot of things set Kelsey off. She was as volatile as a person could come.
I ended up getting us a hotel room right off of campus. That way we’d be able to spend the next two days together still, and we didn’t have to worry about going back. Maybe she’d unwind.
Oh, and we still had yet to log onto the camera’s app and catch up on what Dean was doing. All of the drama of these past few days kind of took center focus. It was strange how easily life kept throwing shit at you.
The room wasn’t anything special. Just a bed, really. A bed and a TV. Kelsey dropped her bag on the floor, immediately crawling onto the bed and kicking off her shoes. She wriggled out of her hoodie, dropping it on the floor, and was under the covers in the next moment, letting out a long sigh, and I knew that was my cue to follow her lead.
Once I was under the covers with her, I reached for her, pulling her in close. She buried her face in the crook of my neck, and I closed my eyes when I felt her warm breath on my skin. “Do you want to talk about it?” Why was it that when family was involved, shit always hit the fan?
“Not really, I just…” Kelsey trailed off, moving her head so it rested on the pillow beside mine. My hand fell to her waist, keeping the pressure between us. “My mom told me something, and I freaked.”
“What did she tell you?”
“That she’s living with another guy, and has been seeing him for two years.”
That was…quite the revelation to have, especially on Thanksgiving with your family. I stayed quiet, knowing there was more to this. There had to be.
“It just makes me wonder if I’m going to grow up and be like her. Get married, have a family, and then…get bored or something. I don’t want to be like her, I don’t want to always be searching for the next best thing—”
I moved the hand on her waist to her face, sweeping her hair aside, lightly running my fingertips along that smooth, perfect jawline. “You think that I’d ever let you walk away from me?” I asked, watching as my question made her slowly grin. “I mean, you might’ve succeeded today, but that was only because I was busy talking to your dad and cleaning up. Any other time? I would’ve stopped you.”
“I thought you liked watching me walk away?”
“I do, but I like having you with me better,” I whispered, moving to kiss her. Gently, chastely. “You can’t judge yourself based on your parents.” Leaning my forehead against hers, I let out a sigh. I didn’t want this girl ever doubting herself, or me. Or us, for that matter. “And I don’t want you ever doubting what we have. We might fuck up sometimes, but at the end of the day, you need to know you’re the only one I want.”
I wanted her so much I actually thought about a future with her. Staying at SCC longer than I originally planned, all to be with her. I didn’t care what I did, or whatever happened in my life, as long as I had this girl by my side.
She fisted my shirt, her hand the only thing between our chests. “You’re the only one I want,” she echoed faintly. “I wouldn’t know what to do if I didn’t have you.” She ended her words with a kiss, but this kiss I took more out of. This kiss was less chaste and more carnal, hungrier.
This particular kiss ended with me rolling on top of her, pinning her to the bed, my lips devouring hers.
Kelsey broke her mouth off mine, already panting. So was I, for that matter. “You know,” she said, frowning up at me with those luscious lips, “I didn’t agree to share a room with you so we could bang it out.”
“You didn’t?” I grinned, lifting my eyebrows as I nuzzled her neck, kissing her earlobe softly. “Are you sure?” Banging it out seemed like the perfect way to spend the night.
It didn’t take long for her to say, “Okay, you’ve convinced me. Let’s bang it out.”
I laughed quietly, and soon enough we were tearing at each other’s clothes, animals in the way we needed each other, craved each other. There was no fighting this, no defiance. There was only giving in.
Feeling her naked body against mine was one of the best feelings in the world. How her chest heaved with every breath, the tiny moans that escaped her when I cupped her breasts and tweaked her nipples, hardening those beautiful pebbles into points. Her bare foot rubbed against my calf, and my cock throbbed with the desire to be inside of her, to make her mine time and time again.
This would never end. Not if I had a say in it. No matter what happened in the future, I needed this girl by my side. Kelsey Yates was mine, and I planned on reminding her of that fact tonight.
My lips roamed her neck, making her squirm. Down they went, past her breasts, which my hands still played with, down her stomach. My hands eventually had to follow suit, spreading her legs wide. I had to toss the covers off us, because I was already sweating up a storm. This girl…she made me so hot.
If my cock wasn’t already standing at attention, it would jump to with the sight before me: Kelsey, her chest heaving, her legs spread wide, allowing me to see the puckered pink lips of her apex. She was the most gorgeous thing I’d ever seen.
I brought my mouth down to her, kissing her inner thighs, slowly easing my way to her apex, tempting, teasing. The moment my mouth connected with that little, sensitive nub, Kelsey arched her back and let out the lowest moan she was capable of, and it was like music to my ears. Her moans alone could get me off, no joke.
I applied pressure, my tongue and mouth doing most of the work. She writhed under me, her hips beginning to gyrate, moving along with my mouth, grinding herself harder against my tongue. Her breathing grew more ragged, and I knew just by the sounds she was making that she was close.
Oh, yeah. After all this time, I knew how to work Kelsey. I knew what she liked and what she didn’t, how to help get her to climax as quickly as possible…and then run the same race again and again until she was delirious with pleasure. I’d help her forget all of her worries, alleviate the stress she felt.
I wasn’t going anywhere. It was about time this girl realized that.
Losing track of time, I only stopped giving her head once I could no longer fight the aching in my balls. She was a mess of limbs on the bed, her skin pink, sweat lining her brow. She’d orgasmed at least three times, by my count. I’d added two fingers inside her to help her propel to that third, but feeling her pussy wrapped around my fingers only served to rile me up.
I needed to be inside of her, and I needed it now.
Crawling up over her, my cock needed no further direction. I entered her with one smooth thrust, filling her up easily. She was wet and ready for me, her body taking mine with no resistance whatsoever. My chest shook with a groan. Being inside of her…was unlike anything else in this world. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Her eyes were open slits, their brown c
olor hazy and full of wanton desire. Her full lips parted slightly, and as I rammed myself into her again, her body shuddered under mine. I lowered my chest to hers, feeling her breasts press against me with each breath she took, and soon her hands moved to my sides, holding onto me for dear life.
“You feel amazing,” I whispered, hardly sounding like myself. I damn well nearly lost my mind each and every time I was inside of her, and now was no exception. I was an animal, pumping my cock in and out of her, dragging my length along her, my body telling me I could only hold back for a few moments longer.
She made me lose it. She made me lose it almost instantly, and I loved her for it.
A searing fire gathered in my core, and as I rammed myself as deep as I could go inside of her, my balls let loose. I was already panting by the time I came, but when cum shot out of my cock and into her, all I managed to do was groan.
God, she felt so good.
I let myself collapse on top of her, not bothering to pull myself out right away, my chest heaving for breath, just like hers was under me. Kelsey swatted at my side, giggling as she muttered, “You are crushing the life out of me, Blue.”
A smirk escaped me as I withdrew my hips, rolling beside her, no longer in her and no longer on her. Before she could get up and clean herself off, I pulled her to my chest, forcing her to lay with me. Cuddling wasn’t her thing, but I didn’t care. I kind of liked the thought of my cum seeping out of her, anyway.
Kelsey rested a hand on my chest, catching her breath enough to say, “Cuddling isn’t so bad when it’s with you.” She tilted her head, shooting me a sly look. “You officially made me a cuddle convert.”
A cuddle convert. Sometimes I wondered where the hell she thought of these things, but then I remembered she was Kelsey, and she had no filter whatsoever.
Kelsey and I may have fallen asleep after that, because the next thing I knew, daylight streamed through the lone window on the wall, and our positions were reversed; instead of me holding onto her, she was holding onto me. I found myself smiling at her unconscious form; she looked so peaceful, the complete opposite of how she looked when she was awake. Her brown hair splayed around her in a messy, unkempt halo.
Mistakes : A College Bully Romance Page 36
