by Holly Renee
“Why did you run off?”
“I didn’t run off.” I flipped the ice machine door back open and grabbed another scoop full. “I’m working. You know, work?”
He looked like he wanted to pummel me, but I kept going. “Some of us have to do that for a living.”
“Don’t play poor girl with me, Josie. I know who your daddy is.”
“I don’t live off my daddy.” I shoved the scoop back into the ice harder than I needed to. “What’s that like?”
“You don’t know shit about me.” His lips were stretched tight and his chest puffed in anger.
“And you don’t know shit about me.”
He stepped toward me, but I held my ground. I wouldn’t dare let him see that he intimidated me. Even if I could barely control the way my hands trembled.
His chest hit mine, and I let the ice scoop fall from my hand as I stared up at him. His chest heaved, pressing against mine with a force that did little to calm my own temper, but he didn’t say anything.
He just stared at me with a look on his face that was completely unreadable. He was angry, sure, but there was something else.
There was something he wanted to say that he wouldn’t. There was something that he was hiding.
“You should go.” I looked toward the door where he must have come in through, the same door that was still standing wide open. Anyone could walk in here and see him pressed against me.
“I think you should probably not tell me what I should be doing.” He touched my throat with gentle fingers that were in complete contrast to the rage in his eyes. I knew that he had no intentions of walking away from me right now. He didn’t care if he was putting my job at risk. He didn’t care about anything but himself.
“You hate my family,” I reminded him, and his eyes flicked from my throat where he was watching his hand on me.
“Trust me. I’m aware of the fact.”
I could have sworn his hand spasmed around my neck as if he wanted to press harder, as if the thought of me being one of them was going to cause him to lose control.
“Why?”
His gaze lowered to my mouth before moving back to my eyes. “Because they’re trash.”
That didn’t tell me anything. It didn’t tell me what happened between them.
“And you hate me?” I whispered because I didn’t want it to be true.
He didn’t answer me though. Instead, he smashed his mouth against mine, and his teeth felt like they would draw blood against my lips.
He wasn’t gentle or smooth. He was kissing me like he was trying to prove something, maybe to himself, maybe to me. I wasn’t sure.
But I knew that I didn’t want it to stop.
Even though he couldn’t even say that he didn’t hate me, and in that moment, I hated him, I still wanted him more than I had ever wanted anything before in my life.
But I couldn’t just let him have whatever he wanted.
I pushed against his chest and forced his mouth away from mine.
“That’s not good enough.” I shook my head and tried to clear the fog of lust.
He leaned forward as if to ignore me, but I turned my face before he could kiss me again. If he did, I knew that I wouldn’t stop him.
“I know you two were friends. What happened?”
Beck leaned back slightly and stared down at me as his chest rose and fell against mine. “We were friends.”
“And?” My pulse raced, and I could feel his beating as fast as mine under his shirt.
“And he touched things that didn’t belong to him.”
What?
“So this is about a girl?” I pushed harder against him, but he didn’t budge. He didn’t move an inch, and he didn’t say anything more.
“So this is just some sort of revenge on Lucas?” I pointed between the two of us. “He fucked something of yours so you’re going to fuck something of his?”
He was absolutely insane.
I moved, trying to push past him, but he pushed his body harder against me, trapping me beneath him.
“You are not his.” His voice was sharp and full of venom that it made me want to believe what he said.
“Then whose am I?” I challenged him. I was so tired of his bullshit answers and his fucked-up game. I just wanted to know what he wanted.
I needed to know what he was thinking.
His hand moved back up my neck as he stared down at me. He was so fucking hesitant to say what he said next, but his words rocked me to my core.
“You’re mine.”
His hand on my throat tightened as he slammed his mouth down on mine. I met him with just as much force as I tried to hold on to what he had just said.
His opposite hand gripped my thigh, and I didn’t hesitate as I lifted it around his waist. The movement gave him an opening, and he took it. He pressed into me, his center hitting mine, and I moaned into his mouth at the sensation.
His lack of gentleness with his mouth was even more severe with his hips. He was brutal as he pushed against me over and over, his hips setting a rhythm my heart couldn’t seem to keep up with. I had never been touched like this before, I had never felt such need, but I knew that I didn’t want it to stop.
“Beck,” I said his name, but I didn’t know what I was asking for. His name felt like more. It felt like I was asking him to give me everything when I should have been asking for nothing at all.
This boy was no good for me. He was toxic. We both knew it, but that didn’t stop me from grinding my hips against his or allowing him to lift my other leg and wrap it around his hips. I was pinned to the ice machine, his body fully in control of both of us, and he was still kissing my mouth as if he had never tasted something so addicting.
His hands were resting on my hips, and I wanted them to move. I wanted him to touch me everywhere. I could feel him over every part of me, but none of it was enough.
The smell of his cologne surrounded me, and his skin was hot against mine. I felt like I was burning from the inside out.
He pulled his mouth away from mine, and he looked down at me with a ragged breath. He was warring with himself, that much was easy to see. I didn’t know if he was at war over how far he wanted to take this or if he was battling with himself over what he had just said.
But that hesitation was there.
His mouth had felt brutal, his hips sure, but I knew that he was still holding himself back from me. I had no idea what I wanted from Beck, but I knew one thing for sure.
I didn’t want him to hold back. Not right now. Not when my body was begging him for more.
I rolled my hips against him as he stared at me, and I saw the pleasure flick across his face. He leaned back, leaving my back pressed against the hard metal, and he stared down at where our hips connected.
For a moment, embarrassment rushed through me. I had no idea what I was doing. I wasn’t even sure if the way I moved felt half as good to him as it did me. I stopped the movement of my hips, waiting for him to say something, but his hand immediately dropped to my ass and forced me to move again.
“Don’t stop moving, Josie.” He was still watching our centers, but I didn’t care.
I wanted him to want me as much as I wanted him.
I moved against him as he watched, and I hadn’t realized how turned on I would be by that simple act. Beck was watching me, and I suddenly felt like I was where life began and ended for him. I usually felt like I was the one orbiting around him. He had felt like he was the center of gravity ever since I arrived in Clermont Bay. He pulled me in, and he refused to let go.
But right now, everything felt different. He felt like the one who couldn’t stop. He felt like the one who could no longer stay away.
It felt like a dangerous push and pull, a game that would have no good ending, but I was still dying to play it.
“Beck,” I said his name again because there was a tightness building in my belly with so much pleasure that I was sure I would die if he didn’t do something
.
His gaze snapped up to mine as his name passed my lips, and as his deep hazel eyes met mine, it was like he had finally made a decision. The hesitation in his eyes had all but disappeared.
He kept one hand planted on my ass, forcing me against him, as his other moved to my breast. It was rough, and I gasped as he squeezed my nipple between his thumb and forefinger. He swallowed the sound as his mouth found mine again. His teeth bit down on my bottom lip before he sucked it into his mouth, and I swear I felt the movement straight to my core.
I ground harder against him, desperate for more friction, and I gasped as Beck suddenly dropped me back to my feet.
Disappointment overwhelmed me, and I pushed my hair out of my face. Here I was riding his hips, begging for more, and he dropped me down as if he wasn’t affected at all.
I looked up at him, embarrassed by how I had just acted, but I didn’t get a chance to see his face. He spun me around, his hands forcing my hips around, and my hands pressed into the ice machine as he pressed into me.
“I’m not done with you.” His voice was directly at my ear just before he bit down on my earlobe, and I jolted forward, my breasts hitting the metal.
His hand snaked around my body and pressed into my stomach. I was certain he could feel it flutter beneath his touch, but he didn’t give me time to second-guess what was happening. He used his opposite hand to grip my chin and he turned my mouth to his.
He kissed me just as he pushed his hand down the front of my shorts. My heart hammered in my chest, and I kissed him with everything I had. His fingers slid against my pussy, and I couldn’t concentrate on anything but that feeling and trying not to freak out.
“God, you’re so wet.” He groaned as his fingers started to move with more determination. He pressed against my clit, and my hips shot forward.
There wasn’t a single part of me that wanted him to stop. My hips were practically chasing the movement of his hand even though I was pinned beneath him.
I could feel his erection pressing into my ass, and I swallowed as I ground my ass against him.
His deep groan only spurred me on, and it felt like I was being pulled in a million different directions. I was chasing my pleasure through his hand in front of me and his pleasure behind me. I felt like I was chasing my own heartbeat, my breathing, my thoughts.
Everything was getting away from me, just out of my grasp, but I chased it still.
Beck pushed a finger inside of me, and I bit my lip to keep myself from making too much noise. He pumped in and out of me as his thumb strummed against my clit.
It was all too much, too fast, and I felt like I was drowning.
I kissed him like he was my only source of air. Like my mere existence depended on the way he touched me.
And part of me feared that it did. I feared that I would never feel anything like this again.
“Oh, God,” I cried against his mouth, but he didn’t waver. His hand only seemed to speed up and move in a way that felt like he was going to ruin me.
My stomach tightened to the point of pain, and I was about to ask him to stop when he pushed his thumb down against my clit, harder than before.
The change of sensation threw me over the edge, and I moaned so loudly that Beck gently shushed me as he brought me down. I sagged against him, my body completely spent, and I watched as he pulled his hand from my pants and slipped his wet fingers into his mouth.
I was too exhausted to look away or to feel embarrassed. His eyes stared into mine, and he moaned around his fingers, and the only thought I had was that I somehow still wanted more.
The insanity wasn’t lost on me. He had just given me more pleasure than I had ever felt in my life, but I didn’t want it to stop. If anything, it only made me crave him more. It made me feel like I was mad.
“Shit.” Beck pushed away from me quickly and snapped open the ice machine door. I barely had enough time to even look up before he grabbed the bucket and started filling it with ice. I didn’t understand what he was doing until Sam pushed through the door.
The door that had been left open. The door that we could have easily been caught through.
I was such a freaking idiot.
Sam looked from Beck to me, then back again, and I knew that he knew something was going on. If he couldn’t tell just from looking at us, I knew that he could hear my thundering heart from across the room.
“What’s going on in here?” His voice boomed, and I startled at the sound.
“I don’t know, Sam,” Beck spoke before I could even think of a simple word. “Maybe you should show your new employees where things are before you send them off in search of things.”
Sam’s face fell the slightest bit and he looked like he had been reprimanded by the boss, and for a moment, I forgot that he had. I hadn’t just been caught fucking around at work. I had been caught with the owner’s son.
“I’m sorry, Josie. I didn’t realize you didn’t know.”
“It’s okay.” I forced a smile and gave Beck a look, telling him to calm down. “I’ve just never been to this side of the club before.”
It wasn’t a complete lie. I hadn’t, but I didn’t need Beck’s help finding the ice machine.
“Beck, if you want to get back, I can finish helping Josie.”
Beck lifted the scoop out of the ice again and finished filling the bucket. He handed the scoop to me as he grabbed the bucket in his hands. He looked like he wanted to say something but thought better of it. Instead, he pushed the bucket into Sam’s hand, then waved him toward the door.
Sam looked between us again, and I knew that he didn’t believe a word we had said. He didn’t have any proof, but he had doubt and that was bad enough. That was enough to make him never hire me in his department.
I followed after Sam as he pushed out the door, but Beck grabbed my hand. I shook my hand from his and took another step. Sam was already on the other side of the door and couldn’t see us, but I didn’t care.
I had already risked enough today. The last thing I needed was to be fired because I was an idiot who just needed one more touch. Beck didn’t share the same concerns.
He walked up behind me, forcing me to a stop with his hands on my hips, and pressed a gentle kiss to my neck.
“This isn’t over,” he whispered, but I didn’t reply. I pushed out the door before I made any more bad decisions when it came to him.
Because I knew he was a bad decision. Every part of him. It didn’t matter that I wanted him and had to force my feet to move me forward and away from him. He was a terrible idea.
I knew that.
But I didn’t care.
I looked over my shoulder and smiled at him. He was a terrible decision that I knew I would choose again.
I didn’t have a choice really. He smiled back at me, his smirk promising more, and I knew that I couldn’t just walk away from him.
I was only here for one year, then I would walk away from it all.
I would leave Beck, my father, all of it.
I wouldn’t leave a trace of me behind.
Chapter Thirteen
Josie
I didn’t want to be here.
This school was nothing like the school I went to back home, and even though I didn’t want to, I couldn’t help searching the front of the school for Beck.
We hadn’t talked about school at all with one another, and I had no idea how to act around him here. I had no idea how he would act.
Especially after yesterday.
I wasn’t foolish to think that it had meant anything to him more than what it was. That was fine.
But I still couldn’t get his words out of my head.
You’re mine.
I hadn’t seen him at all yesterday after what happened. I put my head down and worked hard as Sam watched me. I knew that he was waiting for me to mess up. I could tell by the way he surveyed my every move.
But I gave him no reason.
Whatever he thought he saw in the room w
ith the ice machine was just that. Thoughts. After that, I didn’t give him reason to suspect a thing. I did what I had intended to do when I volunteered for the shift. I worked my ass off.
And I thought about Beck the entire time.
I knew no one here. Lucas had to be here early for baseball workouts, and even though the two of us had felt awkward since the morning he came home drunk, I wished he was with me.
“You look lost.” I looked over at the blonde as she let a small puff of smoke pass her lips. “You new here?”
I gripped the straps of my backpack and looked her over. She wore the same uniform as I did, one that was required of all students at Clermont Bay Prep, but she looked so much better in it. Her body filled out the uniform far better than mine, and her skirt somehow fell on a far more attractive spot on her thighs.
“It’s that noticeable?”
“Yes.” She pressed the cherry of her joint into the brick before grabbing a bag off the ground. “Plus, most of us have been in school together since we were babies.”
“Yay.” My voice sounded just as thrilled as I felt.
“Don’t worry. It’s not that bad.” She nodded for me to follow her as she started walking toward the school.
“What’s your name?” she asked without even turning to see if I was behind her.
“Josie. You?”
“Cami.” She pulled open the heavy double doors and strode into the hallway as if this place didn’t intimidate her at all. I guess if I was her, I wouldn’t be intimidated either.
“You like to party?”
“Yes?” My answer was hesitant, and of course, she picked up on it.
“That sounded like a no.” She laughed and ran her gaze from my head to my toes, and I knew she was sizing me up. She was trying to determine exactly where I fit in here, and so was I. “We’re having a party at my house this weekend.”
“What about your parents?” I followed her down the hallway as I stared down at my schedule to find my first class.
“They’ll be out of town.” She said it like it didn’t matter one way or another to her. “Where’s your first class?”
“Mr. Fouch, English, room 201.” I read the first line of my schedule.
