“I’m going out. Don’t wait up!” I called as I grabbed my keys from the table by the front door and pulled it open.
“Nobody cares,” Bella yelled in a bored voice that verified her claim.
I shook my head and appealed for calm. It was probably a phase. It had fucking better be. Patience wasn’t my strong suit. The kid used to be adorable, but now she’d give Chucky a run for his money. I wrestled daily with the desire to choke her. Even if the little asshole did make me laugh.
Closing the door behind me with a bang, I strolled to the car. Less than ten minutes later, the beam from my headlights illuminated a black VW, and the girl sitting inside it. I pulled the car into the gravel covered parking lot before climbing out and making my way over to Sara. She gave a little wave when she saw me coming and lowered the glass.
“Hey.”
Resting my folded arms over the window frame, I leaned in and trailed my eyes around the compact interior of the car. “This where the party’s at?”
She dropped a hand to the passenger seat and swept her palm over the fabric, a wan smile tugging at her lips. “Yeah. Party of one.”
I straightened and patted the roof. “Come on. Out you get. I need a wing-woman.” When she hesitated, I added, “Don’t make me come in there and get you. Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve dragged a girl kicking and screaming across this field. Ask Riley.”
She laughed as she shook her head. Then she bit her lip and nodded. “Okay.”
I rounded the car as she vacated it, and we meandered toward the tree line. A dirt pathway led to the old cornfields Claremont’s teenage population had claimed as their playground. Every weekend, the place teemed with unruly students looking to let loose. An old field full of weeds, a bunch of gnarly trees, and a bonfire was apparently the perfect recipe for underage drinking, recreational drug use, and sexual exploration. And they said kids these days lacked drive and imagination.
“Decided against staying home, huh?”
Sara angled her head to glance at me as we neared the bonfire, and I noticed she was wearing a lot more makeup than usual. The low-cut top and short skirt were a far cry from her oversized shirts and leggings, too. The girl came to play tonight. I could take a wild stab in the dark and guess who with.
Sara squared her shoulders and steered her determined gaze toward the nearing orange flames. “High school’s almost over. I’m only going to be eighteen once, right? I’ve always been the good girl. Maybe it’s time to make some bad decisions.”
My lips twitched. “Jase out tonight?”
Her eyes narrowed, and she trained them ahead with a look of focused determination. “I don’t know what, or who, Jason is doing tonight. And I don’t care. He’s my stepbrother. Nothing more. This isn’t about him. But there are plenty of other guys here.”
My brows skimmed my hairline. Well, okay then. I whole-heartedly approved of this new, feisty Sara, but whatever Jase had done to piss her off, something told me his night was about to get a whole lot more complicated. And thirty seconds later, he didn’t let me down. His eyes bugged out of his head and he damn near choked on his drink as Sara sashayed by, all swinging hips and sass. Once we’d rounded the bonfire and loaded up on non-alcoholic beverages, Sara spun to me, her brown eyes wide and frantic.
“Was he looking?” she whispered.
“Looking?” I snorted. “His eyes are still attached to your ass. You sit down, the guy’s blind.”
“Right,” she murmured, throwing back a mouthful of soda. “Not that I care.”
“Yeah, course not.” I chuckled.
A throat cleared. “Sara.”
The poor girl nearly face-planted into the fire. Jason reached out to steady her, and she stilled in his arms, her eyes climbing up to his face.
And… oh, the drama. The only thing missing was the popcorn. My eyes bounced from one tortured face to the other, and I wondered—not for the first time—why the hell people did this to themselves.
“Shall I take the top off? Or can you still picture it?” Great. My lids sank, along with my stomach, as a deep, throaty voice rumbled from behind me.
I turned to face the asshole who’d infiltrated my subconscious and featured in more than one of my dreams this week. I should feel violated. So, why the hell did my pulse quicken at the sound of Leon’s voice?
See, before the pool incident, that shit never happened. Touching his dick and staring at his stacked body had messed with my head. Now, I was having to stop myself from picturing him topless every time I looked at him. The spark in those midnight blue eyes said he fucking knew it, too.
“Are you stalking me?” I asked, affecting a bored tone.
Leon held up his palms, an easy grin on his face. “I was here first.”
“No, you were over there.” I crossed my arms and nodded over to the spot he’d occupied before venturing over here, most likely for the sole purpose of irritating the life out of me. “Please make your way back.”
His grin broadened, crinkling his eyes. The moonlight glinted off his steely irises, turning them almost iridescent, and so damn pretty.
What a jerk.
“Best seats in the house right here, Lissa. An unobstructed view of all this.” His hand swept the length of his body as he flexed his chest, and every poorly concealed muscle under his fitted blue shirt rippled before my eyes.
I caught the tip of my tongue between my teeth—that bastard was en route to lick my parched lips. Apparently, once noticed, Leon’s physique was one of those things you couldn’t un-notice. And that just fucking sucked.
“You know what?” I conceded, my eyes sweeping the length of his body with abandon before tracking back up to his face. “You’re not bad to look at, Bradshaw. I’ll give you that. It’s just everything else about you I have a problem with.”
His head tipped to the side, his smile almost playful. “Nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
I shook my head. “Wasn’t my intention.”
“No?” He reached out before I could stop him and traced the back of his fingers over my forearm.
My skin fluttered under his touch, and I withdrew my arm with a jerk. “Don’t do that.”
“There’s no shame in admitting—”
“Argh, do you ever just shut that gorgeous goddamn face?” I snapped, my cool withering like a spent flower under the beaming spotlight of his undivided attention. I’d never experienced the full effect of it before, and my reaction was seriously disturbing.
Leon’s eyes rounded slightly when my words registered, those pouty lips parting in a surprised grin, and I spun on my heel and stormed away with a muttered, “I need to talk to Ren.”
What I needed was to get my ass out of dodge, because this was some kind of bullshit. How was it possible that someone could make you burn with rage and lust simultaneously? I preferred it when I just wanted to punch him in the face. Now I still wanted to punch him, but I wanted to lick him first. I was far from fucking thrilled about it.
Trying to talk to Reno about Riley was no less frustrating. Dragging words out of that guy’s mouth was akin to pulling teeth by hand. A wasted half hour later, I went in search of Sara, wandering around like a nomad for what felt like hours before eventually pulling my phone out and shooting her a text to make sure she hadn’t been kidnapped and sold into slavery. Then I declared the night a bust and headed toward the tree line.
As I trudged over the gravelly pathway, two bodies came into view through the thick foliage and my lips tilted up.
“Well, well, well,” I murmured, stopping a few feet away and fitting my arms over my chest. “What do we have here?”
Sara and Jase jerked apart, their wild eyes darting toward my voice.
“Family meeting, is it?” I quirked a brow.
Jase hung his head before twisting to look at Sara. Their gazes flitted together for a second as they communicated silently between themselves, and then Sara faced me. “It’s not what it looks like.”
I clucked my tongue and winked as I moved past them. “It never is, Sar.” Spinning back, I motioned with my hands for them to resume their position. “As you were. Don’t mind me.”
“Fuck’s sake,” Jase muttered, dropping his hands on his hips. “Keep this to yourself, Liss. Yeah?”
I mimed zipping my lips. “You got it. Just a little heads’ up, though… you’re both shockingly obvious.”
With that, I strode to my car, a grin perched on my face. It disappeared a second later.
“Snow Queen! Hold up.”
A low groan sounded in my throat, and I touched my forehead to the roof of the car.
Oh my god, why?
My head came up reluctantly as Leon advanced closer. About a foot out from the hood of my car, he hopped up on the soles of his feet and slid his ass over it, landing cleanly on the other side with a flourish. He did all of this without spilling a drop of the near-full cup of amber liquid clasped in his grip—a feat comparable to winning the Olympics, apparently.
“You see that shit?” he exclaimed, eyes wide with delight.
“Yeah. Congratulations. But I’d say this constitutes stalking.” I raised a hand in front of my face, bringing my thumb and finger almost within touching distance of each other. “I’m this close to getting a restraining order.”
“It’s not stalking if you’re following someone for a reason.”
I shook my head and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Pretty sure you’re wrong, but I’ll humor you…” My brow arched in question.
“Yeah, I need another ride. I hear you’re designated driver. Ergo…”
I blinked at him. “Ergo fucking nothing. I’m not sure what gave you the impression I enjoyed carting your lazy ass around town, but I assure you I don’t. What the fuck’s wrong with your legs this time?”
“Aww, don’t be like that, Lissa.” His lips formed a pout. “What’s up? You worried if you get me all alone you won’t be able to keep your hands to yourself?”
My eyes slid closed momentarily. When they opened, Leon’s thick, sandy brows were dancing up and down on his forehead like caterpillars jacked up on Red Bull.
He scrubbed a hand over his shadowed jaw and bit his lip. “You’re imagining all the things you want to do to my body right now, huh?”
“Yeah, that’s right,” I muttered with a nod. “That and trying to figure out the best way to dispose of it afterward.”
A soft chuckle rumbled from his chest and I had to stop myself from shoving my hands through my hair and yanking it out. Did nothing get to this guy anymore? It used to be easy to rile him. At this point, I’d officially run out of ideas—short of actually murdering him—but orange wasn’t my color, and I had zero interest in becoming a prison bitch for some homegirl named Big fucking Mandy in cellblock C.
I tossed my hands up in frustration. “Just get in the goddamn car.”
Irritated, I flopped down into the seat and jerked the belt across my chest, snapping it into place with a sharp click. Leon sank down beside me, and a cup of beer appeared in front of my face. My forehead creased, and I shifted to look at him.
“Grab this a sec, Snow Queen.”
I stared at the cup without taking it from him. “You’re not bringing that in my car,” I told him, shaking my head.
“Why the fuck not?” He looked up.
“Because I said so, and it’s my car.”
“You sound like my mom,” he stated, and I fucking bristled.
Ever since I’d grabbed him by the balls and confirmed he actually had a pair, he’d taken to ramming that fact down my damn throat every chance he got. That was a serious miscalculation on my part, and now I was paying the price. Steep didn’t cover it.
“And you sound like someone who wants to walk their ass home. You’re lucky you’re even in here.”
“Just grab it while I belt up, I’ll drink it soon as you give it back.”
With gritted teeth, I snatched the drink from his outstretched hand and waited while he strapped in, then thrust it back at him with a firm warning, “You spill that in my car, Bradshaw, and I’ll castrate you with my bare hands.”
He shifted quicker than I could react, leaning in until he was right in my face and his warm breath skated over my cheek.
My body responded before I could instruct against it, every muscle tensing, every cell jumping to attention. “Threatening to put your hands around my dick again, Lissa?” he murmured, his voice husky and deep. “Don’t tempt me with a good time, now.”
Jesus Christ.
Hooded blue eyes framed by thick, spiky lashes caught mine, and I sat rigid, completely unmoving, unable to look away. My mouth popped open, silently gasping for air when he eased back out of my space with a grin, seemingly wholly unaffected.
I’d never hated him more. Or myself.
I was beginning to worry I wasn’t immune to Leon Bradshaw’s particular brand of charm.
And suddenly, the prospect of being someone’s prison bitch started to sound appealing.
NINE
LISS
“Shit!” Leon cursed as my tire rolled over a pothole.
Still slightly winded, I drew in a tight breath and turned to see him frowning down at a damp patch on his shirt. He wiped his hand over the fabric a few times and my eyes slid closed.
Give me strength.
“I meant what I said, Bradshaw. You spill that, I’m tossing your ass out.”
His head came up. “Thought the punishment was castration?”
“Yeah, well, it sounded like you might enjoy that, you weirdo, so I changed it up.” I shifted my gaze to the road.
We continued in silence. It stretched on long enough that it became noticeable, and slightly awkward. When I stopped at a red light, I snuck a quick peek at him, only to find him leaning back against the door, his body angled toward me and his darkened gaze pinned to my face. My hands squeezed around the steering wheel.
“Maybe I don’t mind walking.” His fingers tapped a rhythmic beat on his bent knee. “Maybe I just wanted an excuse to be around you, Snow Queen.”
It was the absence of humor in his tone that constricted my airway; the earnest expression on his face that caused my heart to spasm. Our gazes clashed and locked, and I watched his pupils dilate, the black orbs spreading out gradually until they almost eclipsed the blue. The air in the car thickened, a steady hum lingering between us, and when Leon tipped forward, I drew back instinctively.
“Whatever, Pretty Boy,” I said, voice unsteady. My scattered gaze fell to my hands, to the whitened skin stretching taut across my knuckles. I relaxed my grip and gave myself a mental shake.
All this over some fake charm, a sculpted chest, and a few bullshit lines?
I was goddamn better than this. I knew better than this.
Like he hadn’t uttered that line a thousand times, just with a different name.
“Lissa?”
“What?” I jerked my head around.
Steely blue eyes met mine, and Leon inclined his head toward the window. “You can go.”
Shit. I ground my teeth together and rammed my foot down on the gas. In my haste to get the car moving and pretend like he hadn’t totally distracted me with his comment, my back tire clipped the curb and the car lurched forward.
The cup slipped from Leon’s grasp in slow motion, bouncing off his knee and splattering over every visible surface, before falling to the footwell and puddling at his feet.
I smashed my foot down on the brake a nanosecond later and swung the car to the side of the road where it screeched to a halt at an angle. Then I leaned over and surveyed the mess with flared nostrils before turning my glare on Leon. He sat hunched forward in his seat, staring down.
“Fuck,” he muttered.
Fuck was right.
He stretched back slowly, both hands raised in surrender and a grimace painting his face. “Okay, look, I’m sorry.”
Maintaining a calm I didn’t feel, I pointed to the door. “Out.”
What? I reached across and stabbed a finger into his chest. “My fault? I told you not to bring it in the car. It smells like a fucking brewery in here, for Christ’s sake. And everything will be sticky now. You know what… I can’t even… you need to get out before I lose my shit!”
He scoffed, then settled back in his chair. “Like I haven’t seen that before.”
My teeth clamped. “Not even close. Get out.”
With a defiant smirk, he dropped his head against the cushioned rest. “You’re overreacting, woman. It’s just a splash. It’ll clean up.”
Okay, then…
Ire sparked in my chest as indignation mixed with fury, and all three burned a lethal path through my veins. This guy had rattled me, messed with my head, made my body feel… things, but this was one step too far. I flung my seat belt aside and kicked my door open. Leon watched through the windshield with a bemused expression as I rounded the car and flung his door open. He huffed out a laugh when I reached in and bent across his body to unbuckle the belt.
“You’re acting like a crazy person,” he muttered into my hair. I forced myself not to shudder.
I stepped back and held his door wide.
He sighed and shifted to peer up at me, his eyes pleading. “You’re really gonna make me walk?”
“Well, I’m not touching your damn dick, that’s for sure.”
He lowered his head and gave it a little shake, then clipped, “Fine.”
As he hauled himself out of the car, his foot got tangled up with the strap of the seat belt, and my eyes widened as his body twisted and flailed, arms pinwheeling in the air, before he fell to the ground in a heap of limbs.
I plastered a hand to my gaping mouth and stared down at his body sprawled out, half on the sidewalk and half on the road.
“Motherfucker!” Leon groaned as he crawled up onto his knees and pressed his forehead into the ground, ass pointing up in the air.
I’d have laughed if I wasn’t so distracted by the firm, rounded globes of his butt.
Unthinkable: (Unstoppable - Book 2) (The Unstoppable Series) Page 5
