After a healthy slice of store-bought pie, Damon managed to come up with a good excuse to take me out for ice cream, with a promise to deliver me back home with a pint just for her.
Mom slipped a twenty-dollar bill into my hand and gave it a quick squeeze as we left the house. I felt a pang of guilt for accepting her money under false pretenses. She thought she was encouraging me to go out and have a good time. Little did she know she was probably paying for condoms so that her hard-up teenager could bump uglies with a boy she mistook for my new gay best friend.
We got into Damon’s car and drove out of my neighborhood before he pulled over under some trees out of the reach of the streetlight.
“Are we going to do this here?” I was nervous. Too nervous for this to be a good idea. Car sex was almost a rite of passage for American teens. And yet there was a part of me that was hoping it would be a deep metallic purple Volvo that that car sex was happening in.
Damon moved his head closer and brushed his lips against mine. Everything about the way he kissed me felt like doubt. There was no confidence in the way his lips parted, no desperation in the way his tongue danced with mine.
When he pulled back, I almost knew where this was going to go.
“Here’s the thing, Anna,” he said and turned to me with that look that people have when they’re about to disappoint. “I like you. I think you’re smart and funny and a great girl. But you’re not the one I really want. I mean,” he adjusted his crotch “I want you, but you’re not the one I’m longing for.”
His words sounded like an insult, but they didn’t feel that way. “Okay.”
“And I think you feel the same way. You could climb on this and get your rocks off, but it’s not the same.”
“So what do you propose we do about it?”
“I propose that we go and get what we really want.”
He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed a number I could only assume belonged to Angelique. I couldn’t make out what she was saying, but I heard the line when it connected.
“Hey baby, listen to me—” His eyes closed as the voice on the other end spoke in an excited tone.
“Okay, but—”
I was holding my breath, hoping and praying that he would get through. He was a great guy and he deserved to be with the person he loved. It was so obvious that he loved her, and his heart was breaking without her.
“Listen to me okay. I’m going crazy here without you. I need you. I need to see you tonight. Please.”
He stepped out of the car and continued his conversation. I watched him pace back and forth in front of the car, making his case to Angelique. After a few minutes he stopped pacing, looked down at his phone, and then jump in the air, hooting and pumping his fists.
He slapped the hood of his car and looked me in the eyes.
“You’re up next,” he said.
“Me?”
“Yeah you.” He yanked open his door and slid into the driver’s seat. “Call Adam and tell him you want to see him.”
“I, uh, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I stammered.
“Does any of this seem like a good idea? Listen, we can either go with our hormones and fuck like rabbits or we can take this excuse to spend some time with the person we really want. You choose. But I’m kinda over having your ex-boyfriend fuck the love of my life.”
I stared at the phone in my hand. Was I bold enough to call him? I didn’t allow myself to think about it too much, afraid I would lose my nerve.
I got out of the car while the phone rang and tried to think of what I would say. What was the right etiquette for calling your ex to have a booty call? Was it okay if his current girlfriend was also on her way to hook up with her ex?
“Anna?”
There was no time to think about it now.
“Are you busy?”
“No? Not really. What’s going on?” He sounded just as confused as I felt, but I was running this show. I was going to push forward no matter what.
“I think I miss you,” I said, feeling tears push their way to the surface.
“Anna,” he whispered.
I squeezed my eyes shut, and sucked in a deep breath as I gripped the phone tighter. Why was I nervous? “Can I see you?”
“Yes,” he said, almost too quickly.
“Meet me at the ice cream place?”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes tops. And Anna - ”
“Yes.”
“I fucking miss the hell out of you.”
I turned around and gave Damon two thumbs up and swept the tears away from my eyes. Damon was at my side in an instant, rubbing circles around my back. “We get to win, Anna,” he said.
And for the first time in forever, it felt like that really might be the case.
Chapter 36
NOW
Adam walked into the ice cream parlor like a Rock. It felt like it was freshman year all over again. All the lights seemed to dim, and he shone like the brightest star in a midnight sky. Adam might not have been moving in slow motion, but it surely felt like time was beginning to slow down. When his eyes landed on me, I felt my body tingle.
He slid into the chair across from me and smiled. Reaching across the table, he took my hands in his.
“I’ve missed you so much, Anna,” he started, but I didn’t allow him to get another word out.
Leaning across the table, I pulled him in for a kiss. It was rash and bold and delightfully out of character, but it was exactly what we both needed. Adam’s body went still for a second before he plunged his tongue into my mouth, gripping a fist full of my hair as he deepened our kiss.
“Okay, kids, take it somewhere else,” the cashier shouted
“Sounds like a great idea,” he said, pulling me behind him as he lifted himself from his seat. We practically jogged to his car, so desperate to get as much of the night as we could. I slid into the passenger seat, the same as always and Adam ran around to his side and started the engine. The little car roared to life with a sense of purpose that matched the mood of its occupants.
“Where to?”
I shook my head.
“I don’t care.”
He smirked and pulled out into traffic smoothly.
“I think I like this new Anna,” he said, giving me a heated look.
I reached for the seat belt and notice that my seat was in the wrong position. It had been moved back. Angelique was taller. As if he could read my mind, Adam put a hand on my thigh and squeezed.
“It’s over between us. There wasn’t really anything there to begin with.”
“Did you tell her that?”
“She’s always known. And she’s always felt the same way.”
“But did you tell her?”
“We had a talk. About us and about Eva.” He almost winced at the admission. “Let’s just say, everything is a bit of a mess. Angelique was only interested in me because Eva forced her to show an interest. But that’s not something we need to get into right now.”
I laced my fingers between his and stroked his forearm as he drove.
“What about Damon and you?”
I laughed.
“Whose idea did you think it was for me to call you?”
His jaw dropped as he turned off of the main road and onto a backroad.
“That’s mighty progressive of him. I don’t know if I could send my woman to go see another man.”
“I’m not HIS woman. Who I see is my business. Besides, loving isn’t owning.”
“Yeah, but I don’t want to share any parts of the woman I love.”
It was a completely Neolithic way of thinking about things, but I smiled anyway. I knew he meant it. He was a romantic at heart, with all of the old-fashioned notions of chivalry and honor. Like his love of old movies and photos from the twenties, there was some part of him that was out of step with his very modern sensibilities. That was one of the things that made me love him.
“Where are we going?”
He turned down another tree lined road and drove up to the edge of a small pond. It was still and beautiful, with the moon reflecting off the water.
“It’s not the Hilton, but we shouldn’t have any interruptions either,” he said.
I opened my door and slid out. Adam followed me, wrapping his arms around my body as soon as he was close enough. It was easy to melt into the strength and heat of him. For the first time in forever, it felt like I’d returned home from a long trip and now, I was just where I belonged.
“Why did you want to see me so badly?” his breath tickled my ear.
“Hormones,” I admitted.
“You had Damon.”
I grabbed his cheeks and squeezed hard. “But I wanted you.”
In no time at all, Adam’s hands were on me, grabbing me around the waist and then moving higher, to touch me, tease me, to bury his fingers in my hair. Closing the small amount of space that was left between us, he covered my face in kisses. “I was so worried I’d lost you forever.”
He rested his forehead against mine, taking one deep breath after the other. Like he was trying to breathe in the moment.
I slipped my hands under his shirt and let the warmth of his skin soak into mine. Leaning over once again, he kissed me. Not hard or rough or greedy. But soft, promising, profound. It was full of longing and pain, and something else. Something hopeful.
When finally, Adam pulled away, he looked like he was in physical pain. I couldn’t blame him because I felt it too. Every moment we spent separated, every thread of clothing keeping his skin away from mine felt like an attack on my body.
“I want you, now,” I whispered against his lips. Sliding my hands up his back, I responded to a need to sooth an ache I knew I couldn’t touch with my hands. Adam shuddered under my touch, his cock growing long and hard against my belly.
“You have me. You’ve always had me, Anna bear.”
I looked over at the car and lifted an eyebrow, watching as Adam’s eyes followed mine. He hesitated for a short moment before grabbing me by the wrist and pulling me all the way back to his car. I threw open the backseat and climbed in. Adam didn’t join me immediately. Instead, he looked inside as though he was reconsidering what was about to happen here.
“Don’t you want to do the honors?” I said and began taking my shirt off. I wanted to show him that I was serious. That I didn’t just want him. I needed him.
Adam watched in silence as I took off my bra, but there was no mistaking the lust that shone in his eyes. I pulled my hand to the front and cupped my breasts, squeezing my nipples between my fingers. That’s all the convincing Adam needed. In a rush, he slid beside me, fastening his mouth to the swell of my breasts. His hands glided over the shape of my body, gripping my hips and sliding beneath my pants.
I tried to focus on getting his clothes off. The confined space made it awkward, but did nothing to dampen the mood. Fiddling with the front of his pants, I undid his zipper and freed his hard, hot length, stroking it firmly as he set my body on fire with his mouth.
Every kiss from Adam was one I felt directly in my core.
“I need you,” I whispered, because I was sure that if I didn’t have him NOW I was going to go at least halfway crazy.
Adam took my word for gold and pulled my pants down below my hips before peeling them away from my legs, taking my panties with them in one fluid motion. Finally, there was nothing between him and me except space and time.
A few seconds later he was between my legs, the head of his cock pressed against my center.
“Adam, please…” I begged.
“Please what?” he whispered, the warmth of his breath on my ear almost pushing me over the edge.
Before I had a chance to answer, he bucked once, driving his cock into my body. I cried out as my womb clenched down on him. I was so wet and ready that there wasn’t even the slightest bit of resistance. My body didn’t fight Adam and I didn’t try to either. I clutched him to me and lifted my hips, meeting him thrust for thrust.
The whole car rocked as he pounded into me without holding back. There was nothing soft or romantic about our coming together. We were two bodies that craved each other, nothing more and nothing less. I clung to his shoulders, taking as much of him as he was willing to give; loving the feel of him filling me to the brim.
“Adam,” I moaned and he fucked me harder. Faster. Covering my mouth with his.
The taste of him on my tongue…the feel of him between my thighs…there wasn’t a damn thing I needed more than I needed this right now. Not a steady heartbeat. Not air in my lungs. Nothing. At. All.
“Come for me, Anna,” Adam whispered, pacing himself as he brought my body to the highest peak it’s ever experienced.
His eyes met mine and slowly, he buried himself into me again, that single moment pushing me from the mountain of pleasure he’d brought me to. Allowing me to fall into a cloud of ecstasy.
I exploded in his arms, my whole body seizing as pleasure lanced through me like a white hot flame. I clawed and screamed until it was over, leaving me sweaty and satisfied. Lifting my thigh, Adam adjusted his angle, driving his cock deeper inside my body.
Moments later he crumbled on top of me, panting.
“I don’t want this to ever end,” he whispered against me.
“All we have are stolen moments,” I told him. “I have a curfew. Plus, we’re co-conspirators now. Not lovers.”
“I beg to differ,” he laughed and pulled my nipple into his mouth.
Maybe round two would have happened. Maybe I would have thrown my curfew to the wind and indulged one more time in a pleasure only Adam could bring. But then my phone dinged, and both of us shifted our focus to the noise.
I lifted myself off the seat and pulled the phone from my pocket, hiding it away from Adam as my eyes widened at what was on the screen. But even then, there was no protecting Adam from what Damon had just sent me. His sister’s voice laced the air, sending goosebumps up and down my spine.
“What’s going on, Anna?” he asked and against my better judgment, or perhaps because of it, I turned the screen to him.
I shook my head, feeling sick to my stomach as I watched his sister strike his mother. As I watched the tears fall from Adam’s mom’s eyes as she begged Eva to get help.
“She has my mother under her thumb,” Adam sighed. “Where did you get this, Anna?”
“I can’t tell you that,” I said.
“Do you have a camera in my house?” He was pulling away from me now, his body pressed against the car door. Moving his fingers to his temples, he pressed hard, as though trying to keep his head from exploding. “It was Aaron, wasn’t it?”
I didn’t answer.
“That fucking bastard.”
I reached out to him and pulled his hand into my lap. “Your sister needs help, Adam.”
He looked so desperate. So broken. And my heart hurt knowing that I didn’t have the tools to put him back together. This was just a part of the evidence we had against Eva. A small segment of the things she had done that made it evident that she wasn’t okay. That mentally, she wasn’t even close to being stable.
Adam took the phone from my hands and pressed ‘play’, watching the video again. And then again. Like it was a puzzle he needed to figure out.
“Adam.”
“I can’t help you anymore,” he said. “I can’t help you to break my mother even more than my sister’s breaking her.”
I felt his words like daggers to my heart. Nodding, I held onto him even tighter. The plan was to collect as much proof of Eva’s character as we could and put all of it on the Forum. I’d tell my story about the night of the accident. Damon would tell his. And Angelique would tell hers. A united front against Eva. The world would see Eva for what she was. Her parents would no longer be able to turn a blind eye.
My phone beeped another time and without my permission, Adam opened the document Aaron had sent.
He hit play and watched as his s
ister screamed and yelled at his mother, throwing things and spitting vile curses at her. What Eva was doing was taken advantage of her mother’s guilt to emotionally cripple her.
Tears pooled in my eyes as I watched how violent and sudden Eva’s temper was and how her mom was clearly bewildered, unable to calm her. More frightening, however, was the mercurial nature of the outburst. As quickly as it happened it seemed to end and Eva was calm again, but her mother was clearly rattled to her core.
Adam looked up at me with fear in his eyes.
“I didn’t know,” he whispered into the darkness between us.
“I know, but I think you need to get your dad involved now, Adam. That’s his wife, he has to protect her.”
“I didn’t know she was like that. Anna... I fucking swear, I didn’t know.”
I smoothed his hair away from his forehead and kissed his deeply wrinkled brow. He wrapped his arms around my waist and clung to my body like a small, lost child. “If you release any of this, it’ll kill her,” he said and I knew, deep down, that there was a possibility he wasn’t wrong.
I pulled the phone from his hands and called Damon.
“You got the videos,” he asked as soon as the line connected.
“We’re not using any of it,” I said. “Tell Aaron he can stop digging.”
“I’m sorry, Anna,” Damon said, “I can’t do that.”
I hung up, unsure of what to say or of how to convince him otherwise. Abuse was abuse. Asking him to hide evidence was just wrong. What was also wrong, was spying on the Randt family the way we were.
I felt Adam’s arms on me, and the heat of his tears roll down my back as he hugged me like without my body to support him, he’d lose his grounding.
“We’re going to get your sister the help she needs,” I said.
Maybe that was a stupid move.
Maybe therapy wouldn’t help.
But if the videos went up on the forum, Adam’s mom wouldn’t survive the impact. She was already a casualty in the war her own daughter had started. She didn’t need just another thing to blow her heart to threads.
Filthy Pride: Dark Bully Romance Page 23