Heathen: A Dark Enemies to Lovers Romance (Redwood Rebels Book 2)

by Rachel Leigh

  His pearly white teeth flash a smile and he hooks an arm around my neck. “Come on, let’s go get that needle stuck in your arm so they can drain your blood.”

  “Eww. That’s so gross.”

  “You think that’s bad. Wait until you push that baby out of you. I saw a video—”

  I hold my hand up to stop him. “Don’t go there. I prefer to go in blind.” I still can’t believe he’s been researching pregnancy.

  Snapping out of those thoughts, I remind myself why I’m doing this. It’s because of what he did. But, the more time I spend with him, the memories and pain I endured begin to fade and are getting replaced by the new ones we are making. Most of the time, I completely forget. I guess part of me is beginning to forgive him, but it still doesn’t change anything. I still have to go. No matter how much it’s going to hurt when I do.

  17

  Lars has been gone ever since we got back from the appointment. Said he had to deal with some stuff for his dad and then he had class. Christmas break starts soon, so today is his last day at the school. The realization that I’ll be spending the holidays alone leaves an unexpected ache in my chest.

  Lying with my back on the bed, I start missing him. Wishing he was here. I’m probably just craving the company because I’ve been stuck in this house.

  I’ve been bored out of my ever-loving mind. I’ve eaten my weight in food, watched three episodes of Bridgerton and took an hour-long shower.

  Bending my legs while I lie there on my back in a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, an image of Lars in the shower yesterday flashes in my mind. A body that good has no business pressing against a body like mine. Lars is sculpted to perfection. He belongs with someone who matches his physical appeal, certainly not a plain-Jane like me.

  If it weren’t for the baby, he would have never given me a second look, aside from the night he won the bet. There’s no way that Lars would ever fall in love with someone like me and I’m kidding myself to think he would. He’s been good to me. But, it’s only because he feels like he has to be. And I’m here. I’m available and turn to mush every time he looks at me. I can hate him one second and then he can walk in the room and my heart jumps out of my chest and into his hands.

  I’m pathetic because I’ll probably never stop loving him. Even years from now when I see his engagement announcement in the paper with some girl who comes from the same side of the tracks, I’ll still love him.

  My hand slides down my chest to my stomach, pulling my shirt up, I continue to caress myself, sliding my hand down my shorts. After so long of being at the mercy of another man, it’s enlightening to have control over myself. Being able to do what I want, when I want. No pressure. No tears. No force. I’m in control of my body, and my future.

  A vivid picture of Lars paints itself in the forefront of my mind. Beads of water rolling down his rigid, bare chest. His engorged cock digging into my hip while his strong hands touch me.

  My eyes close as I bite my lip and rub circles around my throbbing clit. God, how I wish it was Lars touching me like this. The stubble of his chin grating against me while his tongue slides in and out, licking up my arousal. My fingers locked in his hair as I ride his face.

  I dip two fingers inside of me and use my other hand to rub violently against my clit. Bucking my hips up with my eyes pinched shut, I pretend he’s here. Releasing a short-winded moan, I push my fingers in deeper, but the angle makes it hard to get what I really want out of this. I want him inside of me. His full girth filling me up while I come around his cock. I wanna make him come with my tight pussy just to have the satisfaction of knowing that I gave him the orgasm. One he’ll never forget.

  Feeling myself get wetter by the second, I move faster and push my fingers in as far as I can, while my husky breaths become labored and unfulfilled.

  The door swings open and I quickly pull my hand out of my pants. “Lars,” I spit out as I straighten my shirt and sit up. My cheeks flush and humiliation takes over my entire body. This can’t be happening right now.

  “What are you doing?” He smirks. A devious one that has my stomach twisting in knots.

  He knows. He doesn’t even have to say it. The look on his face says it all. Not to mention his instant hard-on. Unless...unless he was out there listening this entire time. Oh my god! My feet hit the floor and I bolt toward the bathroom, fighting to avoid eye contact. “Just getting up to go to the bathroom.”

  He grabs a hold of my arm and stops me. “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, Willa.”

  Oh my god, he does know.

  But there is no way I’ll admit it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” My eyes are locked on the bathroom door; I need to get in there before my jelly legs give out and I make an even bigger fool of myself.

  Pulling me close, his lips trail down my neck as goosebumps cascade down my back. Slow and steady until they cover every inch of my body. “I told you before, I think it’s sexy as hell.”

  Feeling my cheeks heat like a raging fire, my embarrassment is front and center for him to see.

  Lars takes both of my hands and locks them behind my back as we mirror one another. He presses his mouth to my collarbone and sucks the skin between his teeth. “If you need a hand, I’m happy to help.”

  Warmth radiates through me as my thighs begin to tremble. Weak and off-balance, my self-control flies into the bathroom without me. He drops my hands from behind my back and my head tilts instinctively as he pushes the sleeve of my shirt down my shoulder, his lips following suit.

  My eyes almost roll into the back of my head when his fingers creep underneath my shirt then trail the hem of my shorts. I can feel my arousal, from my earlier machinations, and my want for him dampening my panties while my body begs for him to tear them off with his teeth. I'm weak and in dire need of him to get me off.

  When his hand descends farther into my shorts, I part my legs with ease.

  "You're drenched, babe. I think we need to do something about that." He begins kneading my nub and electricity sparks inside me, sending currents through my entire body.

  Giving into temptation, I lift my arms that were draped at my side and place my hands on his shoulders, unsure what to do with them. Still reeling from embarrassment that he caught me fingering myself.

  With his hand shoved down my shorts and his chin resting on my shoulder while he kisses my neck, Lars takes my hand off his shoulder and brings it between us, placing it on the bulge in his joggers. My heart beats at warp speed inside my chest and I hate that I'm so awkward. I give it a couple squeezes and when I feel it twitch, I stop, thinking I squeezed too hard. "Sorry."

  He lifts his head from my shoulder and looks into my eyes and I wanna tell him to put his head back down so he doesn’t look at me. "For what?"

  "Did that hurt?"

  He laughs. "Trust me, nothing you do can hurt me. I don't even think you're capable."

  Oh, you have no idea.

  Just as the thought leaves my mind, his lips crash into mine and it's everything. God, he tastes as good as he looks. Like berries and mint. And his scent, Lord help me. I feel tipsy and off-balance from that alone. It's like my body takes over and my mind doesn't allow me to think anymore as the kiss intensifies. His tongue sweeps around my mouth as if it's searching for something, and I'm not sure what has possessed me, but I do the same to him.

  My hands end up on the back of his head as I pull him closer, never wanting him to break free. If I could capture this moment and keep it forever, I would.

  My feet begin moving in sync with his as he takes a few steps backwards, our mouths never parting.

  Does he feel what I feel? He has to. That crazy pressure inside my chest. Butterflies. Fireworks. Fear. Love. Hate. It's like every emotion in existence is spilling into this kiss. Our steps stop when the back of his legs hit the bed. He lowers his back down, slowly taking me with him.

  With my legs shouldering his body, his erection presses through the fabric of his pants right
in front of where I sit on top of him. I feel like I'm on display and I should feel uncomfortable, but I don't.

  My forearms rest around his head and in a matter of seconds, our kiss intensifies, giving me the urge to tear into him. Gripping the pillow behind him, I begin rocking myself against his erection.

  "Fuck, Willa. What have you done to me?" he grumbles into my mouth.

  I can feel myself smile in response. I'm doing this to him. He wants me. Not because of the baby. Not because of his guilt. I gave him this hard-on.

  Feeling brave, I stretch my hand down between us and begin rubbing him. He must take it as an invitation, which it most definitely was, because the next thing I know, he springs it free and I'm stroking his length.

  Something unexpected and unwanted rolls through me and my strokes slow. It’s hard to breathe and a distaste curdles inside my stomach.

  His head lifts off the mattress. "What's wrong?"

  "Nothing. It's nothing."

  It's something. I didn't feel it in the shower or when we had sex last time. But harrowing thoughts flood through my mind and I wanna scream at them to go away. To leave and never come back. I want to unfeel Rick. Untaste his disgusting cum in my mouth. I can feel the burn of his touch on my throat. His words echoing in my ears. Whore. Slut. Sinner.

  I want to forget it all. Why am I thinking about this? Why is this happening to me?

  "Willa?" Lars says with sheer concern. "Are you ok?"

  I snap out of it and wonder how long I was lost. Jumping up quickly, I flee to the bathroom. Slamming the door shut and clicking the lock. With my back pressed to the door, I slide down slowly until my butt hits the floor. My fingers wrap around my neck as I try to wipe away Rick's imprints.

  Lars knocks on the door. "Hey. What happened?"

  I open my mouth to speak but nothing comes out.

  He knocks again. "Open the door so we can talk."

  "I..I just need a minute."

  God, I'm such an idiot to think that leaving would make me forget. He's everywhere. He's planted himself in my head and he'll always be there.

  The handle of the door begins twisting as he tries to open it and something shifts inside of me. I get on my hands and knees and begin crawling away from the door. Turning around, I sit down against the wall underneath a window. "Go away," I shout with my eyes locked on the handle. It keeps moving. Pinching my eyes shut, I pray under my breath. "The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?"

  "Willa. Open the door."

  I repeat the prayer silently. The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid? When he doesn't go away, I scream, "Go away!" My fingers dig into the floor at my sides. My nails dragging across it as I try to get some sort of grip. On life. On myself.

  It goes quiet.

  Too quiet.

  "Rick?" I say out loud.

  When he doesn't respond, my body stills as I try to listen for an inkling that he's trying to trick me again.

  The door handle begins moving again and I'm quickly on my feet. I have to get out of here. I turn around and push the blinds up on the window then unlatch the lock. I hear the doorknob drop, and my heart goes right along with it. Shoving the window up, I push out the screen and begin climbing up onto the sill.

  "Willa, what the hell are you doing?" His heavy footsteps come toward me.

  "Go away!" I fling one leg over, but I'm not fast enough. He grabs me. Only, it's not Rick.

  "Lars?" My voice comes out confused and like that of a child. He takes me by the waist and he sets me down on my feet, but his hands never leave my sides.

  His eyebrows dip. His concern apparent. "I have no idea what's going on, but we're at least thirty feet from the ground up here and if I'd have been two seconds later—" His words trail off as he sweeps the hair off his forehead.

  He doesn't have to finish, though. I know what he was going to say. I want to tell him that I wouldn't have jumped, but would I have? My entire body feels like it's shaking. "I don't know what I was doing."

  Lars takes my hand in his and leads me out of the bathroom. When he pulls back the blanket on the bed, I lie down. Feeling myself sink into the mattress as I put together the puzzle in my head. I remember running into the bathroom. I sat on the floor by the door, and then I heard Rick.

  Only, it wasn't Rick. My mind was playing tricks on me. It was Lars the entire time. Am I losing my mind?

  As I lie there on my side, I watch Lars, thinking he's going to leave, so I can get some rest. I'm grateful that he didn't poke and prod, although there is no way he's going to let this go. If anyone did what I just did, I'd probably assume they needed to be committed. Now more than ever, I have to get out of this town. Maybe the miles between here and there will make me forget.

  When the light goes out, I tug the blanket up over my shoulder. There is still a glimmer of light from the bathroom, which is good. I hate the pitch-black. But, Lars doesn't open the door to leave. He walks toward me and lifts the corner of the blanket, sliding his body underneath it.

  "We'll talk tomorrow, ok?"

  I'm not sure that he can see me, but I nod my head just so we can put this to rest for the night. Flipping over to my other side, I face the wall and close my eyes, hoping to chase away this night and go to a happy place in my dreams.

  The mattress begins to shift and I feel his body pressed against mine. One arm wraps around me, and suddenly, I'm there. I'm still awake, but I found my happy place.

  18

  “I’m not fucking helping you assholes. I don’t care how much you try to convince me to come back. These games aren’t fun anymore. Figure this shit out with Josh, or don’t. Either way, I’m done.” I slam the phone down on the counter.

  Willa comes walking in with her hair bunched in a ponytail on the top of her head and she looks much better than she did before she fell asleep last night. At some point, we have to talk about what happened, but I’m giving it some time and hoping to make her smile today.

  “How about if we do something fun today?”

  Setting the glass down, she looks at me with her fluffy black brows pinched together. “Really? Like what? Board games and a movie? Oooh, ice cream. With a huge fudge brownie under it. That sounds like heaven.”

  My head shakes. “Nope. Something better. Pull your hood up, baby. We’re going out.” I snatch the keys off the counter and begin to arm the security system on my phone.

  “Are you sure? What if someone sees us? We’re so close to the end, why risk it?”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you’re hidden. We’re taking the backroads out of town and going someplace where no one knows who we are.”

  She seems reluctant to get excited, but once she sees what we’re doing, I think her mood will change.

  We get in the same vehicle we took yesterday and I make a mental note to fill the tank up before Anderson returns. "Buckle up and take a nap. We'll be there in about an hour." I toss a bag of cookies at her that I found in the cupboard. "In case you and the baby get hungry."

  "Gee, thanks for the breakfast." She grimaces.

  "Hey, it's something. Could have let you starve." I tease. "We'll get food later."

  "Thank you." She holds up the bag. "This is actually really nice of you. I'm surprised."

  "Surprised that I can be nice?"

  "Well, yeah. You keep surprising me and I'm not sure what to think of it."

  I flick the blinker at the four-way and take a left, heading out of town. "Are you thinking you might change your mind? Let me come with you? I'll give you cookies every day if it makes you happy.”

  Pulling her phone out, she holds back whatever she's thinking. She doesn't have to say anything. I already know it would be along the lines of, please stop or don't do this.

  "Anyone tried contacting you yet?"

  "Yeah, they've called and texted, but I'm not ready
to read any of it. I've turned off my location, but I'm still too nervous to keep my phone on for long periods of time."

  "Once you're out of town, you should probably get a new one with a new number." I wanna tell her to text me the new number, but she'll likely argue it and this will turn into a big thing that will ruin the day. I never thought that I'd be the one walking on eggshells here.

  "Oh my god." She gasps, clapping a hand over her mouth. "Pull over, Lars. Pull over right now." My foot slams on the brake in the middle of the road and I stretch my neck over to look at her phone. Her finger holds down the volume button, and the voice of a news anchor fills the empty space of the vehicle.

  "Willa Jean Mack has been reported missing from the small town of Redwood. She was last seen by her stepfather, Pastor Rick Jeffries. Rick begins talking with just a headshot of him showing on the video. "Willa is a good girl. Wherever she is, I don't believe she left on her own free will." The news anchor appears again. "Friends and family of Willa are very concerned that her disappearance is in some way connected to that of Josh Moran, who went missing only three months ago. Josh's car was pulled from Lake Ruin three weeks ago, but his whereabouts are still unknown."

  Willa and I look at each other when another familiar face shows on the video. "Is that Vi?" I ask, trying to get a better view.

  "Shh. I need to hear this."

  I can see Willa's heart palpitating through the thick fabric of her hoodie and while she should have expected this kind of public attention, I don't think she did.

  Vi continues with her statement, "It wouldn't surprise me if Willa and Josh just ran away together. If I had to guess, he made it look like he was a victim by pushing his car off the cliff and he was buying time so that him and Willa could run away together. It's not really my place to say this, but Willa is pregnant. Three months pregnant to be exact, and it’s possible that the baby is Josh’s. It wasn't until shortly after Josh left that Willa came to me and asked me to buy her a pregnancy test. I just hope that wherever they are, they are safe and the baby is safe."