What has her so torn up? Most usually, Karma is as blissful as a spring flower in full bloom. She’s hardly ever mad, upset, and she has no fear. The only time she seems to be anything close to that is when Ellis picks on her. But then she takes it in stride, and now, Davis does to. It’s weird seeing them and my friends together.
So, whatever has her in such a tizzy has to be something big.
Allowing her to pull me through the hall, we take the steps two at a time. I’m vaguely aware of her pulling me into the senior hallway. Vaguely aware of the students crowded into a big circle, surrounding a group of people yelling, cussing, and the sound of skin slapping against skin.
Oh, shit. Is Davis in a fight again? I swear, it’s a wonder he keeps his spot on the football team with as many times he bumps knuckles with other people. That guy is a major hot head, and don’t let him catch you talking bad about Karma, either. That’s one of the main things that flips his bastard switch faster than shit.
“Karma …” I go to pull away, but she only tightens her grip.
“It’s not what you think!” she screeches.
“Then what is it?” I huff, jerking my arm hard enough so she’ll let go.
She stops, looking at me before facing the growing crowd, her eyes searching and searching but coming up empty. When her eyes come back to mine, that little knot in my stomach tightens fiercely.
“It’s Asher,” she cries out, and I see tears dancing in her eyes.
Karma … she never cries.
Oh, fuck.
My gaze jerks toward the angry, boisterous crowd. Fear claws at my insides, and before she can say another word—before I can second guess my action—I take off down the hallway. I shove, push, and almost trip a multitude of times before I finally heave the rest of the way into the circle. When I do, my mouth falls open, shock coursing through my veins. The scene in front of me is something akin to a nightmare, but instead of it being mine, it’s the guys who thought it was okay to stand up to one of the elite.
Asher’s arm swings out, an emotionless fury twisting his movements. “I told you, didn’t I?” His voice is damn near unrecognizable.
“We didn’t do anything!” Comes from the floor.
“We stopped when Lockridge gave the word!” Comes another.
“Little bitch ain’t worth shit anyway!” sounds out another, and he’s silenced when Asher rears his arm back and pelts him with a quick straight shot to the mouth.
Is this … about me?
“First mistake,” Asher growls, kicking one of the cowering guys in the stomach, “is thinking anyone gives a shit what you think. Second mistake—you three just fucking lied to me! I saw the messages! Did you dumb fucks forget that we are the ones who created that thread in the first place?! Everything posted on there we see it.”
Warmth settles in my belly as I watch him overpower three of the largest guys in our school. He makes them appear like they’re nothing more than tiny flies buzzing around his face. He’s strong, strategic in his movements … I gulp, hard. If I wasn’t so terrified right now, I’d find this insanely fucking hot.
“Asher!” Down the hall, I hear pounding footsteps, leading me to believe the rest of the group is here.
“Man, we told you we had this!” Quinn groans, grabbing at Asher as they break through the crowd.
“Get the fuck out of my way!” Ellis pushes and shoves, elbowing a few of the guys until he comes to a stop in the middle.
Like a raging bull, Asher jerks and thrashes in Quinn’s hold. He’s so furious and I’m a sick little bitch by getting hot and bothered by it. The sweat clinging to his brow looks good enough to lick, and I don’t do that. It’s disgusting. But damn, I’d lick that motherfuckers’ entire body right now.
“Those motherfuckers think they can talk shit, then plan on jumping her after school! We all fucking saw it. I’m the only one that decided this needed handled with fists not words. Words mean nothing to these assholes.”
“Fucking Hell, Asher,” Callum seethes. “We can’t allow anger to fuel our actions. She’ll never let us in if we did this every time we’ve stopped someone from messing with her.”
They’ve been stopping people from bullying me? How? They are never too far away from me, and when they are, at least one of them is with me at all times.
So, that’s the reason I’ve had some of the best months of my high school career. Minus their presence, of course.
Asher finally jerks away from Quinn, then turns, putting both his hands against Quinn’s chest, shoving. “I refuse to allow what happened in the gym to happen again. I’ll cut every one of these sonsabitches down if I have to. Jessalyn is worth every broken bone, every busted fist—she’s worth so much fucking more than piddly words and half-ass excuses!”
My bottom lip quivers. The entire hall drops to eerie silence. Students panic, disbursing before Asher’s fury can be taken out on them, and that leaves me, tears brimming my eyes and bottom lip trembling as I fight to keep my emotions at bay.
A little too late, a whimper makes its way up my throat and into the hallway. All at once, their heads turn in my direction, horror coats their features. Asher’s mouth falls open and closed several times, like a fish out of water. Callum, Ellis, and Quinn stand mutely. The guys Asher beat up are slowly dragging themselves up off the floor, muttering their apologies as they limp their way down the hallway.
My resolve is crumbling into nothing. Fast. If I don’t get out of here now, I … I don’t know what I’m going to do. For so long, they’ve been the guys that made my life Hell. Then, they were the guys that snuck in so fast and quick I didn’t see it coming. Now, they’re fighting for me. Asher, with his busted-up knuckles and heaving chest, fought three guys that were going to do something terrible to me.
“T-Thank you,” I whisper softly, emotions clogging my throat. Then, I take off down the hallway back the way Karma and I came.
I pass her, seeing a look of understanding and pain glimmering in her depths. She gets it. She may not like it, but she gets it. That’s what I love about her. She knows how I’m battling with my emotions. I’ve talked to her on the phone and in person multiple times, and we both always come up with the same thing—I need to let my body decide, because my head is too fucked to sift through it.
My shoes slap against the tile floor, and seconds later, I hear a second, heavier, set of footsteps sound out behind me. I fight to get out of here, picking up my speed. I can’t be near them right now, not if I don’t want to give in. Do I? I’m so confused I don’t know which way is up or down at this point.
Someone grabs me from behind, their strong arms wrapping around my stomach, stopping me. A face pushes into the curve of my neck, and I can practically feel the tension roll off them in waves. It’s stifling, stealing the breath from my very lungs. Whoever it is, I can feel the desperation dripping from them. His touch is soothing, grounding. The same calm washes through me, causing a stray tear to break away from my brimming lids and slide down my cheek.
“I’m so sorry you had to see that,” Asher whispers, his voice sounding broken.
I shake my head. “I-It’s okay,” I reply softly, his relief is palpable as his entire body seems to deflate, leaning against my heavily.
“I couldn’t let them get away with what they were going to do, Jess.” I almost burst into tears, hearing the thick emotion morphing his voice. “We’re supposed to keep our distance until you decided, but—God, I’m sorry, but I can’t.”
What does he mean by …?
Unwinding his arms, Asher turns me toward him. The movement is fast, discombobulating. I get a bout of vertigo, falling into his chest as I lose balance. My hands splay across his pecs, nearly making me groan as his muscles contract deliciously under my fingertips. He feels so good.
Weaving his thick digits through my hair, a gasp whooshes out from between my parted lips at the intensity. My eyes land on his, seeing the fire burning in his half-massed, crystal depths. The need. The de
sire. It’s chipping, chipping, chipping away at the ice surrounding me. Then, without thinking, without wondering, he pulls me to him, and his lips slam down into mine.
Bright lights explode behind my closed eyelids, like fireworks shooting off on the fourth of July. His other hand rises, fingers diving into my hair. Cradling my head, he turns it to the side, tipping my face up for better access. His tongue pushes against my lips, coaxing, pleading for entry. It’s an entry that I shouldn’t, but do, allow. I can think about all of this later, but right now, it feels too good to stop.
His tongue plunders into the cavern of my mouth, starting a sensual dance with mine. A groan of hunger reverberates inside his chest, like he’s a man starving and I’m the only meal he’s had in weeks. My heart thuds furiously against my ribs, whimpers vaguely reach my ears, and I’m astonished to figure out it’s me. I’m so lost in this kiss that everything around me simply falls away.
Kissing Asher … it feels like coming home, and that thought terrifies me.
His mint flavor explodes on my tongue, causing a hunger deep within me to rise to the surface. Before long, I meet him thrust for thrust—every push and pull. My fingers rise and sift through his short strands of hair, digging my nails into the back of his neck as I pull him into me.
He walks me backward until my back meets the wall behind me. Hands start wandering, caressing up and down my side—trailing along my ribs, hips, and settling under the lower swell of my aching breasts as his fingers squeeze. An animalistic groan forces its way between our parted lips, the sound causing my knees to weaken and my pussy to flood with wetness. When his thumb lightly trails over my pebbled nipple, I can’t hold the cry inside as sensations wrack my body. It’s euphoric, exhilarating.
Moaning, I push myself against him. We are so tightly together there’s no space separating us from my breast down to his knees. He’s so much taller than me, making me feeling petite, as if his much larger frame will protect me from harm even as we’re lost to the pleasure exploding between us. It makes every part of my body soar, bright torrents of stars blinding me as they shoot off behind my closed lids.
This kiss is so …
It’s everything. I sigh against his lips, melting.
My mind is a haze of longing and stimulation. So much so, I barely hear someone clearing their throat as mine and Asher’s tongue continues to tangle together. It isn’t until I feel someone tugging Asher away from me that I growl in outrage.
Holding him tighter, another, more forceful tug, breaks our bodies apart. Our lips are the last to disconnect, and the panting breaths falls from my lips in ragged pushes and pulls. My lungs are on fire, but it’s a sweet burn I welcome with every bit of me.
It’s been so long since someone’s kissed me like that. Where it feels like I’m the only person in the world, and the guy kissing me will absolutely die if he doesn’t take everything I have to offer. It’s heady, invigorating.
When my eyelids flutter open, I catch the sight of Callum looking at me with an indecipherable look. Everything around me comes back into focus, and then it dawns on me, like murky pool water being cleansed with chlorine. It may feel so right, but it’s also wrong.
I still hold so much against them for what they did. I shouldn’t be here, kissing one of them because I was too weak to pull away. I shouldn’t allow one of them to touch me, caress my body like I’m some captive in love and they’re the thief that stole me away in the middle of the night.
Asher … he’s the thief I didn’t see coming.
The thief my body yearns for another tantalizing taste of.
CHAPTER 12
“Push it, ladies! Go, go, go!” Coach Rice yells. The vein in the middle of his forehead protrudes as he stands on the sidelines, scowling and crossing his arms over his chest.
He’s perusing all of us, but it feels like his eyes are penetrating to the very core of me. It’s icky. Gives me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, more than the suicides we’re doing ever could.
“I’m not here to pussy-foot around! Get it together!”
Geez, what is wrong with him today? He’s been like this for the last several practices, pushing us harder than he ever has before, and I know the dynamic hasn’t changed since tryouts. The team is still split, the entire team on one side and me on the other.
It doesn’t bother me any, as long as they don’t screw with my senior year, they can do whatever they want. I’m here to win district, then region, then state—those are my main goals when it pertains to Fast-Pitch. Scouts will sit in the stands either way, and if I don’t play my best, I won’t get an athletic scholarship to a decent college. That is the only thing I am relying on, and if those girls fuck with that, we will have problems.
“Pick that ass up, Savoy! This isn’t your first rodeo!” he yells, and without thinking, I glance in his direction, seeing that scowl deepen.
“On it, Coach.”
Huffing, I speed up. Touching the first line, I dart up and run back. I continue doing this to the next line, then the next. I tunnel my vision and only focus on what is in front of me, not what’s being left behind. Before long, I’m ahead of the other girls. My lungs burn for a full gulp of oxygen, but I refuse being called out by Coach Rice and drop the ball again.
With every pump of my arms, I sail across the gym floor. Getting to the last line, I have to wipe the sweat out of my eyes as I lean down to touch it, then dart back up. However, the moment I straighten, then turn, a harsh shove on my back makes me fall forward. What little air in my lungs whooshes out of me the moment my stomach contacts the floor. Grunting, I push myself up to see what tripped me, or should I say who. My eyes narrow when I see Alessandra with a sadistic grin.
“Watch where you’re going, bitch. You’re not the only one out here.”
I know that wasn’t an accident. What am I saying? Nothing to do with Alessandra is a mistake. That bitch is calculating. But if she thinks I’ll take that lying down, she has another thing coming.
“Better watch yourself, Lennox,” I threaten, “wouldn’t want anything happening to that throwing arm of yours, would we?”
Since the guys started following me around everywhere, no person has had the balls to come at me face-to-face. But I was waiting for it, because I knew it would only be a matter of time. Especially when it comes to a member of the queen bees. I’m just surprised it took two months before Alessandra got enough courage to act out on it.
Huffing a bout of worrying laughter, she jogs backwards toward the finish line. “As if you could do anything, Savoy. This is my team, and we don’t want you here. Take a hint, bitch, and leave.”
There is no way I’m doing anything like that. So, if she thinks that, she’s sorely mistaken. Alessandra better get used to me, because I’m not going anywhere. She’s just being a bitch because I have the attention of her man, even though I never asked for it in the first place.
“Savoy!” Coach roars. “Pick your ass up and get moving!”
Growling under my breath, I push off the floor and beat feet down to the other side of the gym. My heart knocks inside my chest when I end up coming in third, behind Alessandra and another girl on the team. If that bitch hadn’t tripped me, I would have been first. I was ahead of them, and would have pushed myself to the point of exhaustion, just to come in ahead of her.
“Lennox,” Coach calls out, and I have to fight the gag that tingles at my throat. “Did you think I wouldn’t see you shove Savoy?”
“Coach?” She tries to go with sweet and innocent, but anyone who knows Alessandra already knows there is nothing sweet and innocent about her. She’s the devil’s mistress.
“Ten laps. Now.”
“But coach …”
“Fifteen!” he bellows, causing a ricochet effect, as all the members, including myself, jerk back. “Do you want to make it twenty?”
Alessandra tosses me a dirty look before heading toward the bleachers. Running up the stairs, I can’t stop the grin of victory as
I watch her almost trip and slam her face into a row of seats. She deserves so much worse, but at least someone is making her pay for her antics.
“If you don’t want to join her, I suggest you get back in line,” Coach Darcy’s orders filter through the air, and while everyone is watching their teammate do bleacher laps, I know it’s me who she’s speaking to because she’s staring right at me.
Ever since that day she found me in the locker room, Coach Darcy changed. I can’t explain it, but she’s much harsher, colder, than she used to be. I know I’m probably seeing things, but it only seems to be toward me. She doesn’t go out of her way to make my life crap. But she’s not the understanding, genteel type anymore. I wonder what’s going on with her.
“Get into position; we’re doing quick feet,” Coach Rice orders.
When I get into position, the doors of the gym clang open. I pay little attention to it, because I am dead set on becoming MVP this year, and to do that, I need to put one hundred and ten percent into everything I do. When I’m behind that plate, everything needs to float away where it is just me, the pitcher, and the ball. My stats will be everything this year, and nothing will make me lose focus.
But then, I catch a familiar sight at the corner of my eye. It causes me to misstep, almost falling on my face in shock.
It’s my father. The man I haven’t spoken to in months.
Anger encompasses every atom of my being. My head jerks in his direction, and he even has the audacity to smile warmly at me. There’s nothing warm about how he’s treated me since he left in May, nor the way he acted when he showed up at my house. The best I can describe it is the cold shoulder. He’s been icing me out, and now he expects to just walk right back in? I don’t think so.
With the smile on his face, you would never believe he abandoned me. It’s so normal, easy. Well, when we’re finished with practice, it will not be easy for him to lie himself out of it this time. He has a lot of explaining to do, and I wish I could hate him as much as I hate Debra. It would make things so much easier if I could. But I can’t, because even with his silence, he’s treated me far better than the person I’m subjected to at home.
Tease Me, Baby: A Reverse Harem High School Bully Romance (Silver Creek High Book 2) Page 9