by Matson , TC
Reckless Rebel
Copyright © 2020 TC Matson
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permissions of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the author, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at [email protected].
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to people, whether living or deceased is purely coincidental. Names, places, and characters are figments of the author’s imagination, or, if real, used fictitiously. The author recognizes the trademarks and copyrights of all registered products and works mentioned within this work.
Edited by: Amanda Brown
Cover design by: Jersey Girl Designs
Cover photograph by: Wander Aguiar Phtography
Cover model: Kaz Van Der Waard
Created with Vellum
Contents
Note to Readers
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
EPILOGUE
Cocky Hero Club
Books by TC Matson
To My Readers
Connect with TC Matson
Acknowledgments
Note to Readers
Reckless Rebel is a standalone story inspired by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward’s STUCK-UP SUIT. It's published as part of the Cocky Hero Club world, a series of original works, written by various authors, and inspired by Keeland and Ward's New York Times bestselling series.
Chapter One
My heart thunders as I storm through the busy sidewalks of Manhattan. The staccato of my heels sends out a warning to anyone in my path. Move or get moved. Okay, maybe not that rude, but I’m sure my scowl is threatening…I hope.
I’m imagining strangling my boyfriend, the man my best friend just informed me she saw with another woman at a restaurant across town. Truth be told, I’m not a mean person. I’m positive the only mean bone in my body is as long as my pinky toe, but right now, I’m seriously considering punching him in the nose and kicking him in the groin so hard I’ll ruin his sex life forever.
The last time rumors flew around with tornado-force winds, I was suspicious of his shady act and his less-than-perfect pretexts, but Jason adamantly denied anything and everything. And I was stupid enough to fall for his smooth talking and boyish grin. This time, though? This time is different. It comes in the form of proof—a quick picture Lucia snapped that’s clearly Jason and a brunette sitting side by side, hands on top of each other’s, with adoration in their eyes. The other difference between last time and now? I’m not waiting around to confront the cheating bastard I should be falling in love with. I’m going to back him into the corner with nowhere to go but the truth.
Bastard.
The little LED man says it’s safe to cross and I check my phone for the address once more. Just as I’m two steps out, two arms wrap around me. I yelp as images of being kidnapped and stuffed in a trunk flash behind my eyes. I’m jerked out of the road and yanked against a hard body just as a taxi blows through the intersection laying on his horn.
“Go fuck yourself!” a deep baritone voice booms behind me. His grip loosens. “You should really watch where you’re walking. You okay?”
My heart is hammering so hard it feels like it’s going to break my ribs. I straighten myself, smoothing down my skirt and blouse. “Yeah.” I’m breathless as I twist toward my kidnapper turned hero. What air I was trying to gulp in gets sucked right back out.
Kidnapper hero is gorgeous, if a man is allowed to be described as gorgeous. Concerned blue eyes so pale they look like liquid silver stare back at me. His hair is short on the sides, but long on top and styled up in a messy way. Scruff lines his sharp jaw, one that had to be carved from granite and deemed by the gods as being gorgeous enough for him to own the masterpiece.
“You realize they made jaywalking illegal so cabbies would quit making speed bumps out of pedestrians,” he quips and his lips curl up at the sides into a brilliant smirk.
My knees wobble, and my voice is stuck somewhere in my throat as I look up at him. His brow quirks high and his smirk grows into a panty-bursting smile. A horn blows somewhere in the distance, knocking me out of the trance.
“I…I didn’t jaywalk. The sign said walk.”
Amusement dances in his gaze and causes something to dance in my stomach. “For what street?”
Blinking, I glance to the sign I thought I saw, but realize I’m nowhere near a crosswalk. What the hell did I see? “I swear I saw it.” Confusion burns my words.
“You in a rush to get your head checked by a doctor?”
My brows pinch together, snapping my head back toward him.
Rush. Jason.
The boyfriend who is cheating at this very moment and I need to go.
“No. But I am in a hurry. I have to go. Thank you for… Just thanks.”
He gently grabs my wrist, stopping me as I turn on my heel. Concern ripples within the silver of his eyes. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Yes.” Physically. But I’m certain my mental state will be different soon.
He releases my arm and I hurry away. Away from the gorgeous kidnapper hero and his unique eyes that are seared into my memory now.
A picture is worth a thousand words. They never lie, except when the photographer manipulates the image and doesn’t correct the lie they’ve created. Unfortunately, Lucia isn’t a liar and neither was her picture. It is exactly what she captured.
Jason sits close beside a brunette, her hand on his thigh with his on top of hers as they share lunch. They look like a happy couple, madly in love. There’s a spark in his eyes. A lightness to his smile. The opposite of anything I get. He barely even spares me a glance.
The sight has me feeling pissed, hurt, and confused. It burns to see the man I’ve been faithfully dating exclusively for six months with another woman like I mean nothing. Like everything we’ve learned about each other and overcome is insignificant to him. Betrayal pours like acid into my already-fragile heart. She looks at him like he hangs the stars. Like he goes the extra mile to put that loving smile on her lips and the love in her eyes.
“Either your friend is cheating on her spouse or your husband is cheating on you.” Busted spying, I startle and spin toward the voice.
My kidnapper hero.
“That,” I look back to the cheating prick, “is my boyfriend.”
A deep grunt rumbles from the back of his throat. “Does he know that? Or are you some psycho stalker who only thinks he’s your boyfriend because he smiled at you?”
My mouth falls open and I blink to him.
He shrugs. “It happens. There are crazy people in the world.”
“We’ve been dating for six months.”
That’s enough time to fall in love with someone, except those feelings never came. Not for me and apparently not for him either. I care for him greatly, but I don’t love him—not for lack of trying. I tried, really tried, to fall for him.
Kidnapper hero glances back to the scene in front of us. “Maybe that’s his sist—” His hopeful words stop mid-sentence as Jason cups the back of the woman’s head and they share a kiss full of lust. “There goes that thought,” he mutters. “What’s your game plan?”
“My game plan?”
“Yeah. Are you going to storm in there and demand answers? Call him out? Claw her eyes out?”
Twenty minutes ago that was exactly what I was going to do. Storm in. Demand answers. Shout and stomp my foot and all the other things a woman scorned normally does. That was before I lost my courage. Before remembering that a public spectacle would embarrass the hell out of me.
“I’ll confront him tonight over dinner.”
A sudden burst of laughter tears out of him. “You’re kidding, right? By then he’ll have a story to cover his ass. Whatever you’re going to do needs to be done now so he can’t deny an ounce of what he’s doing.”
Jason nuzzles his face into the crook of her neck, mumbling something that stretches her smile wider.
“You do plan on leaving this jerk, right?”
There’s no thought to put into it. I suspect I’ve been looking like an idiot for as long as we’ve been together, but I’ve never pulled the plug because I believed my insecurities were just rearing their ugly heads. But enough is enough and this time I have solid proof.
“You do see what I’m seeing, right?” He sounds irritated at my lack of response.
“I’m not blind.”
“That’s debatable. Less than thirty minutes ago you stepped into a busy street and almost got run over.”
I shake my head. “The bastard is clearly cheating on me. Nothing he could fabricate would cover it up. That,” I point toward Jason without taking my eyes off Kidnapper Hero, “isn’t my skin his lips are on.”
“You love that prick?”
“No.” I answer honestly.
He stares at me for a beat, mischief blazing from his eyes. “Wave.”
Do what? But before I can ask, his palm slaps the restaurant window. Everyone inside turns to look toward us. My stranger flashes a devilish grin at Jason, and then with both hands, he cups my face and crashes his mouth onto mine. I gasp, my lips parting, and he uses it to his advantage, slipping his tongue in. A scorching heat engulfs me like I’ve grabbed ahold of an electric fence. Streaks of pleasure burn through me as electricity buzzes over my skin and zips down my spine. This type of kiss owns your soul and curls your toes. Makes you drunk and an instant addict. My fingers tighten around each of his wrists on the side of my face as the world disappears around us. Somewhere in the back of my mind I know I shouldn’t be doing this. I feel ashamed and embarrassed, turned on and intoxicated.
A deep groan that sounds tortured comes from the back of his throat and he pulls away. My eyes flutter open, high off the hit of him. My body wobbles. Desire and lust heat his eyes like he experienced the same thing I did, and a stunned smirk laces his lips as they curl up.
With my cheeks still in his palms, he rips his gaze away from me and gives Jason a tip of his chin. It’s a complete alpha move. Shaking the thought, I glance to Jason. His expression is murderous as he stands and pulls out his wallet. His date looks perplexed and scrambles for answers. It only solidifies my suspicions. She knows nothing about me…
My kidnapper hero grabs my hand and rushes me away, weaving us through a congested part of the sidewalk and across the next pedestrian walk. This time the sign did say it was safe to go.
I’m nearly in a jog trying to keep up, my feet screaming in agony. “Will you slow down?”
He doesn’t. Anger begins to sprout, dousing my high from the kiss and reminding me what we did. What he did. I may have enjoyed it, but that’s no excuse.
Abruptly, I stop and jerk my hand from his. He skids, almost stumbles to a stop, and then faces me.
“Why the hell did you kiss me?” I seethe.
“To show him you saw and you’re over it.”
“I am not a cheater,” I fume. “Now he’s going to think I was fooling around too and had to one up him.”
“Who the fuck cares what he thinks?” His words are dispassionate, and it grates my spine. “You didn’t cheat on him. He cheated on you. You witnessed it and were done. He’s the one who didn’t give a shit in the first place.”
The story of my life.
“That doesn’t give you permission to kiss me,” I argue.
“Sure it does. I wanted to and saw an opportunity, so I took it.” I’m surprised at his nonchalance.
“That’s like…like mouth rape. Do you walk around kissing strangers all the time?” Realization hits me and I slap my fingers to my lips that still tingle. “Oh, my god. Please tell me you don’t have any mouth diseases.”
His laugh is deep and sexy, and it flutters through my body, settling somewhere deep in my stomach. “No. You’re my first stranger street kiss.”
Closing my eyes, I massage my temples. I don’t even know him and he had no hesitancy in putting his mouth on me and kissing me into oblivion. In front of my boyfriend, who I haven’t broken up with yet. “I don’t want to think about this.” I let my hands fall to my sides, suddenly feeling disgusted with myself because a) I liked it, and b) because I’m officially a cheater now. “I need to go back to work.”
I stride away without another word. What the hell would I even say?
“Hey! What’s your name?”
Now he thinks about that.
I don’t answer. I don’t turn around to show him the tears threatening my eyes. I don’t even acknowledge I heard him. Instead, I keep planting one foot in front of the other to put as much distance as possible between the things he made me feel and the emotions I saw in his eyes. All the things I shouldn’t have liked.
* * *
Lucia’s head pops up when I drop back to my desk.
“I saw him,” I whisper so my coworkers won’t overhear my private life.
Although our office is large, fit with an enormous communal table for large projects and several medium-sized ones, our desks are close together on the back wall.
“I’m so sorry.” The despair in her deep, caring brown eyes is evident. “You don’t need that asshole in your life. He’s done nothing but lie and keep you upset. He’s not worth it.”
“I know.” And it’s the truth. We hadn’t even been together for a month when the first wave of infidelity rumors came crashing around me. As I close my eyes and rub my temples, flashes of the last hour unfold. Anger. Fear from thinking I was being kidnapped to almost being hit by a car. Betrayal from seeing my cheating asshole of a boyfriend. Then blue-silver eyes and perfect lips. I was kissed and it set off fireworks inside of me.
Everything crashes through me and I can’t fight the giggle that rises from me. Lucia looks at me like I’ve lost my mind, and quite possibly she’s right. “A sexy stranger kissed me in front of Jason.”
Her eyes flash wide.
“Striking silver-blue eyes and hot. So hot and a bad boy vibe. He had tattoos up both arms,” I tack on because being hot with tattoos is every woman’s Achilles heel.
She scoots her chair closer to me. “I need details. All of them. How did this happen?”
I shake my head in disbelief. “I was raging mad and so distracted that I stepped out in the middle of the street thinking it was a crosswalk. He pulled me back to safety and I guess he followed me. He saw Jason and the woman too. I don’t know how long we stood there, but he ended up slapping the window to get Jason’s attention, and everyone else’s,” I mutter embarrassed, “and then kissed me.”
Lucia’s smiling m
outh falls open.
“It was the kiss of all kisses,” I whisper, feeling the heat of it again. “He said he saw the opportunity and took it.”
“Oh my god. I like this guy already. Please tell me there’s a date planned.”
I scrunch my nose and shake my head. “No. You know the wild and reckless bad boy type isn’t my thing. Besides, he kissed a stranger for crying out loud. It was just as vile as it was amazing.”
My phone pings and my pulse spikes again.
Jason: Nice stunt. You go around kissing substandard men a lot?
Me: Apparently I have for the past 6 months.
I ignore his dig and take my own. Almost instantly, his name lights up the display. Groaning, I roll my eyes to Lucia and answer it as I step back out of the office and into the stairwell directly outside.
“Kissing a substandard man for six months, huh?” he spits.
“Who was she?”
“A client,” he fires back.
I scoff. “You expect me to believe that?”
Exasperated, he sighs and I can see him stretching his neck like he normally does when he’s stressed. “Nothing happened, Kenlyn.” He sounds calmer, gentler.
“I’m assuming you have no idea how long I stood there and watched?”
“You’ve been looking for ways to pin shit on me since the whole Layla incident. Quite frankly, I’m getting tired of having to prove myself.” There goes his calm.