by Mae Doyle
“I hate you.” Spitting the words at him with as much poison as I can muster, I realize that I want to hurt him. I need him to know that he’s hurt me and that I won’t let him forget that.
Instead of looking upset, though, he smiles, a cocky grin that somehow makes him even more attractive. It’s not fair. None of this is fair.
If it weren’t for my mom… But I push that thought away. I can’t blame her for what’s happening to me. I can’t blame her for the monster standing in front of me.
“That’s it? That’s all you have in you?” He leers at me, taking a step towards me. I’d back up but there’s nowhere for me to go. I’m pressed up against the tree so hard that I can feel the bark biting through my shirt.
“C’mon, Nora. I know that you have more fight in you than that. Don’t tell me you’re so disappointing.” Another step closer. He’s closing the gap between us faster than I’d like, but there’s nothing that I can do to stop him. I think about running and even look to the right, but the briars are thick and I’m stuck.
I know it.
He knows it.
“Come here.” He reaches out for me, but I jerk back, sliding a foot around the tree, even though it pushes me into the briars. They pluck at my jeans and I feel the sharp tips dig into my skin, but it doesn’t stop me. Again I step out of his reach, trying to put distance between us, but when I step on a briar with my bare foot, I cry out.
“Ouch!” Leaning down, I grab my foot and twist it up so that I can look at it. Multiple puncture marks ooze blood and I grimace as it wells up and starts to drip.
I’m so busy looking at my foot that I barely look up when Teague comes at me.
Locking his arms around my waist, he tackles me, sending us both falling into the briars. I’m under him and I cushion his fall, the air knocking out of me with a whoosh.
“No!” I scream, trying to force air back into my lungs. Teague grabs me by the waist and hauls me to my feet, throwing me up against the tree. “Stop it! Stop!” The briars rip at my clothes as he pulls me up and I feel them dig into my skin. He yanks me hard enough to free me, making them release me, and I feel sharp stabs of pain all across my back and legs.
I hate him, my fists smashing into his chest and shoulders, but he merely bats them away and laughs. “Struggle more, Nora. I love it when you fight back.” His voice is chilling and even though I know I shouldn’t give him what he wants, I can’t help but try to force him off of me.
“Please, no,” I hear myself say, even though I hate it when I have to beg. The words disgust me as they fall from my lips, but he barely seems to notice. Teague just smiles at me, looking satisfied and pleased with what’s going on. It’s disgusting and I don’t know how I’m going to get out of here. “Teague, just – ”
Without warning, he grabs my wrists and pins them above my head against the bark, sliding his leg between mine. Using his knee, he forces my legs open, and I gasp as he presses into me with his hips.
He’s hard.
And…huge.
I can feel his cock throbbing through our clothing and he grinds it into my side. “Feel that, Nora? That’s for you.”
“No,” I beg, the word sliding from between my lips. “Please, Teague, stop.” Looking up at him, I hope that I’ll see some compassion in his gaze, but his eyes are dark.
The light in the woods is almost completely gone now. He’s a dark shadow pinning me to the tree and I can’t stop him. I’m in his woods now and there’s no way that I can escape.
“That all you got in you? A little chase and a tiny fight. I thought that you would be tougher, Nora.” He grips my thin wrists easily with one hand and slides his other up my shirt. I moan and try to slide away from him, but there’s nowhere for me to go.
“Why are you doing this?” My voice is almost a whisper, but the woods are so quiet that I know he can easily hear me. He doesn’t stop, though. If anything, he slides his hand faster up my side, yanking my bra down so hard that the straps snap. It hangs uselessly around my waits and my nipples harden in the cool air.
At first, I don’t think that Teague heard me, since he doesn’t answer, but then he leans forward, his breath hot on my cheek. “Because I can, Nora. Because I can do whatever I want to do to you, and you can’t stop me. Nobody can.”
A single tear slides down my face and I muffle a sob. He’s gone absolutely crazy and right now I just hope that I’m going to make it out of here alive.
“Please, I’ll give you anything you want. Just…stop.”
“You don’t need to give me anything, Nora. I’m going to take what I want.” After pinching my nipple so hard that I scream, he drops his hand down and tugs at the waistband of my pants, trying to unbutton them.
I’m panicking. I have no idea how to get his hands off of me or what I should say to make him stop. Even worse than that is the fact that, if I’m honest with myself, I’ll admit that I don’t totally hate this.
I hate Teague. I hate that he’s forcing something from me that I don’t want to give him.
But my body is betraying me. I feel myself longing for him in a way that I definitely shouldn’t. A moan, unbidden, escapes my lips, even as I’m thinking about what it would be like to land a well-placed kick right between his legs.
He stops, his eyes wide. “I’m sorry, Nora, did you have something to say?”
Embarrassed, I shake my head from side to side, feeling the bark grinding into the back of my head. “No,” I whisper, doing my best to avoid looking at him.
“Really? Because for a moment it sounded like you enjoyed this.” He traces a lazy line across my lower stomach while I struggle against the hand holding my wrists. “I wouldn’t blame you if you do.” He leans forward, swiping his lips across mine.
A deep tugging pulls low in my stomach and I turn my head away, not wanting him to see the truth splashed across my face.
“Oh, you want me to kiss you, don’t you?” The amusement in his voice is obvious and it causes a flare of anger from deep in my chest.
“No! I don’t want your filthy hands near me, asshole. I hate you, Teague!” Screaming this at him makes me feel better about myself, but it doesn’t negate the longing that I feel for him.
I’m disgusting.
“You don’t have to like me, Nora,” he hisses, running his lips along my collarbone. I shiver under his touch, trying to pull away. “I don’t care if you like me.” He’s still holding my wrists, squeezing them so tightly that I can feel the bones rubbing against each other, but now he grips my chin with this other hand, forcing me to look at him. “But you are going to respect me. You’re going to fear me, Nora, and you’re going to give me what I want.”
Before I can ask him exactly what he wants, even though I’m pretty sure that I know the answer, his phone rings. The sound is jarring in the quiet woods and I’m shocked when he responds to it instead of ignoring it.
“Fuck.” Teague drops my chin and yanks his phone out of his pocket, swiping the screen and holding it to his ear in one fluid motion. “What is it?”
I can’t hear what’s being said but I do hear that the person calling is a girl. Teague scowls while she talks, grunting from time to time before he finally interrupts. “Give me a bit. I’m a little busy, but I’ll be there as soon as possible.”
When he drops my wrists I immediate pull them to my chest and start to rub them, trying to get feeling back into my fingers. He can’t seem to take his eyes off of me while he slips his phone back into his pocket.
“We have to go.”
The change in him is so surreal that I just stare at him, my mouth hanging open before I fully process what he said. “Just like that? I can go?” A thrill of hope runs through me.
“For now. Or do you not want to? I know where you sleep, Nora, and I can come visit you whenever I want to.” He strokes my cheek and I pull away, my skin crawling where he touched me.
“Don’t you dare. Just…get me out of here.” I’m trying to sound as brave
as possible, but even I hear the quiver in my voice.
It sounds silly, but for a moment I’m convinced that he’s going to leave me here in the woods to fend for myself and to find my own way out. Panic threatens to replace the hope that was growing in me and I take a deep breath to steady my nerves.
Teague laughs, a deep sound that rolls out of him and makes my toes curl.
My toes. One foot is curling in my shoe, the other in my dirt. He sees me look down and tosses me my shoe from on the ground where he dropped it. “You need this. Let’s go.”
“Just like that?” I still can’t believe that this isn’t a trick. I want to believe him, but nothing about him has inspired my trust right now.
“Yeah, if you’d hurry up and put on your shoe. I have somewhere to go, so get to it, Nora.”
I don’t want to take my eyes off of him in case he tries something, but finally I bend down and then squat in the dirt to pull my shoe on. My poor foot aches when I stand on it, but I know that as soon as I get out of the woods I’ll be better.
That’s what I keep telling myself.
When I stand up and nod at him Teague turns and starts walking through the woods. He moves like the fog itself, liquid and smooth, sliding around briars and branches that I climb through and over.
It’s no wonder I never heard him coming. He’s like the damn wind.
After walking in silence for what was only ten minutes but felt like an hour, we reach the edge of the wood. As soon as my feet hit the grass, I gasp, and bend over, grabbing my thighs and squeezing them. I’m lightheaded and this has to pass before I can move on.
Never before did I think that I was claustrophobic, but the woods pressed in on us. They surrounded us. if it weren’t for Teague, I never would have found my way out.
No, fuck that guy.
If it weren’t for Teague, then I wouldn’t have been put in this position in the first place.
He’s the reason I’m limping and with a bloody foot.
He’s the reason I’m outside in the middle of the night instead of in my nice warm bed.
Teague’s everything that’s wrong with this world.
Even though I hate him, I stumble after him across the yard. There are some lights on in the house, creating a cozy glow that looks warm and safe.
Yeah, right. It’s stupid of me to think that I’ll ever have a safe space to be again. I don’t trust Teague, I don’t trust the students at Kennedy Academy, and worst of all? I can’t even trust my mom.
Right when I really need her the most, she’s not there for me.
Dammit. I grind my foot into the grass, trying to flatten a patch of it before walking on. Teague’s form is barely visible ahead of me, but if I keep my eyes on him then I’ll be able to find my way back to the house without any problems.
“Go home. I’ll check on you later.” Teague cuts off from the path we’re on and heads towards his truck.
“Don’t bother!” I yell after him, my eyes now focused on the house. I have to get to my room. I can lock my door, keep myself safe.
“Oh, Nora, it’s no bother. I’ll see you soon.” He doesn’t look at me when he says this, but I shiver anyway. I can practically feel his eyes on me.
His hands on me.
I have to shower.
I have to pretend that none of this happened.
Teague
Fucking Bethany.
Just when things were about to get good with Nora, she had to call and ruin everything. Swearing, I hit the steering wheel with the palm of my hand, then run my hand through my hair, knocking out little bits of twigs and leaves.
When Clay graduated he made me promise to keep an eye on his baby sister. I agreed, of course, but I never thought that she would ever call me.
Then she had to go get mixed up with another asshole at school and here I am, her fucking white knight, coming to save the day.
Yeah, right. I’m nobody’s white knight, especially not with blood and dirt smeared on my face. Gingerly, I touch my forehead, wincing a little as my fingers graze the cut from Nora. I still can’t believe that she had the balls to attack me like that.
The turns to Bethany’s house are automatic and I use the driving time to think of Nora. The way her little body twisted between my legs when I had her pinned to the ground is making me hard again, and I groan, adjusting myself on the road.
I gotta focus.
As soon as I pull into Bethany’s driveway, I kill the lights. She had told me that she’d be waiting outside for me, and sure enough, a small dark form comes running across the yard to me before I even had a chance to put the truck in park.
She grabs my handle and yanks hard, the heavy door almost knocking her off of her feet. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. She’s still wearing her cheerleading outfit, but she looks more pissed than I’ve ever seen in my life.
“Princess. You having a good night?” She rolls her eyes at me and then stops, laughing a little when she sees my face.
“Probably better than yours. What hellcat did you corner, Teague? You look like absolute shit. Is it that new girl I saw you walking around with? She looks like a real bitch, you know.” She grunts as she heaves herself into the passenger seat and slams the door. It shakes the whole truck and scowl, not wanting to answer her question.
Even though I want to keep Nora to myself, there’s something appealing about someone else knowing a bit about her. I nod. “Her name’s Nora. She needs someone to teach her a lesson, and I’m the right man for the job.”
“Doesn’t look like you are.” She reaches up and turns on the cab light so that she can better look at me. “In fact, it looks like you need help from an expert. Luckily for you, you have one sitting right here.” She grins at me, waiting for me to agree to her help.
As much as I like the thought of the whole school against Nora, I don’t know that I want Bethany involved. When she gets involved things tend to escalate, and I want Nora to myself, at least for now. “Why did you call me here? I was in the middle of something.” It’s something that I want to get back to as quickly as possible, but I know that things with Bethany can be delicate. I’ll have to help her out however I can or she’ll end up a royal pain in my ass.
“Get this. I was on my way home from cheer practice today, minding my own business, right?” Bethany lies through her teeth most of the time that she talks, and tonight is no different.
I don’t feel bad interrupting her, even though I know that it’s going to piss her off. “Cut the shit, Bethany. What’s going on? What do you need?”
She groans and turns towards me, reaching up to turn off the light. The moon casts strange shadows when it hits her face, making her look angular and feral. I used to think that she was hot, but now that I’ve gotten my hands on Nora…well, I don’t think that anyone can hold their own against her.
“Okay, listen. I fucked up, alright? I don’t want my parents to find out and I sure as shit don’t want Clay to know, so absolute discretion on this one, okay?” She has to know that I hardly talk to her brother anymore, but I nod anyway, trying to encourage her to keep talking.
The faster I get things straightened out with her, the faster I can get back to Nora.
My sweet, innocent, virgin.
That’s it. I have to get to the bottom of why Bethany ruined what was going to be the most fun I’d had all year. “Listen, Bethany, I don’t give a shit what you did. I was a little busy and I want to get home, so tell me what you need to me or fuck off.”
Even in the dark I can see her wide her eyes get. “Excuse me, Mr. Big Shot. Jesus, I didn’t know that you had such a fucking spider up your ass about it. Okay. I owe someone some money and if I don’t pay up then they want other services.”
She doesn’t have to tell me what other services this person wants. I understand her loud and clear, but there’s one thing that doesn’t make a lot of sense.
“You’re loaded, Bethany. Why the hell are you coming to me instead of handling this on
your own? It doesn’t make any fucking sense. If you’re just wasting your time then get the fuck out.” I lean over her to open the door for her and to force her hand, but she grabs my arm, her skinny little fingers digging into my flesh.
“No! Teague, listen. I can’t get this much money without my parents finding out. They’ll kill me. But I know that you have access to…more.” She slowly trails her finger up my arm and curves her hand around my bicep giving it a little squeeze.
I know exactly what she’s doing, and I push her off. In the past, sure I may have had interest in the shit that she was selling, but right now? Right now Nora is the only one that I can think of.
The stupid little artist virgin has gotten into my head and I can’t seem to get her out.
“Not interested in that, Bethany,” I tell her, enjoying the way that she looks when her face falls. She’s not used to anyone telling her to back off, and it feels good to be one of the first people to do so.
“Fine. But you’ll still help me.” It’s a statement, not a question, which is how she always tells people what she wants them to do. Bethany may think that she’s hot shit since she looks like a completely fuckable all-American cheerleader, but I’m tired of her act.
“How much do you need? And you need to tell me what you did to fuck up so badly or I’m not going to help you, got it?” I’m calling her bluff and she knows it, but I still don’t expect her to come clean.
“Fine.” She crosses her arms and leans back in the seat, her eyes still locked on mine. “I need five grand, Teague.”
Laughter bubbles out of me. “You’re fucking kidding me, Bethany. Five grand? Where the hell do you think that I’ll get that money? And what the fuck did you do to end up owing someone that much? You’re a fucking mess, you know that?”
For a moment, I don’t think that she’s going to respond, which is stupid of me. I’m a hunter then I should know my competition, and Bethany is a viper. She’s calculated and cold, and when she takes time to think, it may look like weakness, but it’s not.
“You know, Teague, you’re not the only one here who has things to lose.”