by Marie Cole
"I'll kill him!" His brows furrowed and his handsome face now looked very fierce and slightly scary.
"Will, you can't kill him." I groaned as I tried to sit up and he came to my side and put gentle hands on my shoulders, pushing me back down onto the bed.
"Fine, I won't kill him as long as you stay in your bed and rest. I'll come bring you some stuff. Just... stay put." He put my key into his pocket and left without another word. I stared at the door for a few minutes as my brain went into overdrive again. Seeing Neil was out of the question. I didn't want another run in with Justice. I tested my theory on him. I just needed to find another man to test it on. Once my face was healed I'd go looking for another non-purple aura man and kiss him.
I'd spent the next two weeks avoiding Neil at all costs. He'd tried to return my notebook but I refused to answer the door. So he slid it under my door. I got my English class notes by attending the same class in a different time slot.
Today was my first day back in the cheerleading squad. We had a game. Justice kept her distance because she was too busy cheering and we were in front of the school officials. Neil winked at me as he passed through our shaking pom-poms and whenever he scored a touch down he'd point in my general direction, but he could've been pointing at the fans or the whole squad. I didn't let myself think too much into it. Will was in the bleachers with Merit. I could still see his purple and yellow aura. I smiled and waved to both of them.
After winning the game the mixer commenced as usual at the footballer's frat house. I stayed close to Merit and Will but eventually Neil and I crossed paths. His hand cupped my elbow and gently pulled me in close to him. I held my breath, not yet prepared to fight off his advances. His lips brushed my ear, causing me to shiver, "Hey Claire, where have you been hiding?"
I pretended to be impartial and smiled, pushing him away as I shrugged my shoulders with a playful smile. Justice wrapped her arm around his neck loosely from behind as she came up. Her eyes spit daggers at me and I smiled and waved at them both. I stepped back and bumped into Will's solid chest. I tilted my head way back to look at him and smiled as he curled an arm around my waist. He glared at Neil and pulled me away, back towards Merit who was bouncing to "Pumped Up Kicks" that was just finishing up through the speakers.
The cheerleaders' pep song started and I groaned inwardly. If a cheerleader heard this song they had to drop what they were doing and dance it was ritual, expected. I squeezed Will's large hand as I twisted out of his grip and clapped my way towards the middle of the floor where the rest of cheerleaders were gathering. I pasted a smile on and danced. When the number ended I felt hard bony hands on my back. I fell forward, catching myself on my hands and knees. The crowd "oohed" and pushed in closer, forming a circle around us.
I'd had enough of this shit. I stood up and turned around, brushing off my knees. Justice was walking away from me as if she didn't just push me to the ground and something in me snapped. I was ready for a fight! "Don't walk away from me, you whore!"
She stopped and whipped around on her heel. "What did you call me?" I felt an arm hook around my waist and then I was pushed behind Neil's back.
"Fight's over." He was staring at Justice when he said it but I wasn't done yet.
"A whore! Like your mother!" I glared at Justice from behind Neil's shoulder, I tried to get around him but his arms wouldn't allow it. He was bitch-blocking me.
Justice flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder, unaffected by my words. "Not unlike your father, little half-blood. What did your father give you with his indiscretion but a prison sentence?" Her lips curled into a little smile. "Don't hide behind your cherry popper, Claire." My name fell off her tongue like acid. I pushed hard against Neil's arms and got free. I was running towards her, fist pulled back and just a split second before my fist connected with her turned up nose I was yanked back again. She had the gull to stand there, arms crossed, like she was completely unthreatened. The bitch.
I was slung over Neil's shoulder as he walked quickly through the crowd, pulling me away. I beat on his back with my fists. "Put me down, dammit!!"
"Come on, Claire, you're better than that." He said softly.
"You just don't want me to punch your girlfriend in her goddamn nose! Let me go!" I wasn't going to go down without a fight.
When we were outside, and away from prying eyes and ears, he put me down hard onto the ground. I winced from the pain radiating in my ass.
"She's not my girlfriend. You know that." He all but growled it at me. I couldn't help but chuckle.
"You should clue her in then. She's out for my blood because some asshole videotaped us by the lake." His head dropped, he stared at his feet and roughly ran his hands through his hair. I was momentarily wishing my hands were in his hair instead. Just for a split second, it passed quickly.
"I heard about the fight, I already talked to her. Do you want me to kick her ass?" He looked at me and smirked, his hands falling from his neck down to his sides.
"I don't care what you do with Justice's ass." I growled softly and looked away from him and his friggin' smile.
He crouched down in front of me and reached out, taking some of my hair in his fingers. "Claire. What can I do? I specifically told her that she's not my girlfriend and to make things right with you."
He wasn't going to suck me in...again! I stood up and started walking away from him. He followed. "You did all you can do, I guess. I'll just have to deal with it from here."
His arm caught me around my waist again and pulled me back against his chest. Weakness invaded my senses and I froze as his lips moved to my ear. "Please, Claire. I'll do whatever I can to help fix this." His breath tickled the side of my neck and I shivered slightly. I inhaled and pushed out of his grasp once again.
"You're just going to cause more rumors. And despite the fact that you told Justice you aren't together she obviously still thinks you are. Just go. Thanks for the... good times, but we're done with that. I'm cutting the strings. You're all hers or whoevers. So just go and don't touch me ... and don't talk to me." There. I'd said it. Despite the incredible sex and the fun I had with him I needed to move on and find another purple-less dude.
"She needs to know that she can't act like that. I'm going to stop seeing her." He didn't follow me, he stayed where he was for the time being. I turned and nodded to him, crossing my arms over my chest defensively.
"Getting another fun buddy should fix things for me." I watched his face, trying to gauge his feelings.
"So you're going to start sleeping with another guy?" He sounded slightly crushed by the idea. I raised my eyebrows in surprise.
"So what if I am? I told you, Neil, we're done." He pulled at his hair again and took a step towards me, to which I countered with a step back. He stopped.
"What if I don't want a new fun buddy?" He smiled, "What if I want to spend more time with you, huh?" He winked at me. I inwardly groaned and fought the urge to strip off my dress. I smiled right back at him, maybe he didn't respond well to anger. Maybe I needed to soften the blow.
"That won't work, Neil. Justice will still come after me for supposedly stealing you."
His smile dropped. "I won't let her."
I sighed, that hadn't worked either. I wanted to yell at him. Maybe that would work. "Neil... I'm flattered that you enjoyed pillaging me but..."
"You enjoyed it too. We work well together and I enjoy the time we spend together, Claire-bear, sex or not. Justice shouldn't get in the way of that. Whatever's going on with her is her own problem."
I raised my voice, we were going in circles with this conversation. "She's making it my problem! The answer is still no, Neil!" His expressions closed off to me and he nodded. Without another word he left me and went back to the party.
Chapter 10
Neil
How could she fucking blow me off like that? I was practically throwing myself at her feet and she still kicked me to the curb. The music from the party was pumping through my blue bu
tton down shirt. Maybe she was just shook up from her run-in with Justice. I was still amazed that Justice had the lioness in her to fight for me. It would have been flattering if we had a relationship, but we didn't. Nothing at all outside the bedroom anyway.
My feet took me towards her and I grabbed her arm and pulled her towards an empty bedroom. Once inside I closed the door forcefully and pushed her back towards the middle of the room, away from me. I didn't want her touching me right now.
"What the fuck is going on, Justice? I told you to leave her alone." She smiled and a chuckle left her throat.
"Neil, come on, it was a harmless little push. Probably even an accident, I can't remember."
"Cut the shit, Justice. You pushed her on purpose."
"Fine. I pushed her on purpose." She flipped her hair over her shoulder as she studied me, "What did she say to you? You look utterly defeated. She's not good enough for you, you know."
I went to the bed and sat down, hands in my hair. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"I think I do." She sat down behind me, her knees straddling my hips from behind and her hands moved through my hair, comforting me. "I won't touch your precious Cupid-wannabe but I want something in return." Of course she did, there was nothing for free in this world. Everything came with a price.
"What do you want?" I barely heard my own voice but she must have heard me loud and clear.
"I want you to date me. I want you to take me places, do things together." My jaw was starting to hurt from clenching it so tightly.
"Justice, I don't want to date you." I couldn't lie to her, it wouldn't be fair.
"You might not want to now but you will after you get to know me. That's the deal. You take me out three times a week and I'll leave Claire alone." What did I have to lose, really? It was a small price to pay to keep Justice's claws out of Claire.
"How long?" I glanced over my shoulder, she looked quite smug.
"Six months."
I guffawed loudly. "Justice, that's ridiculous." Would she even still be interested me in six months? Or six weeks after the hunt of me was over? I wasn't sure but I sure as hell didn't want to take that chance.
"Fine. Three months but you can't take any other girls out. Sleep with them, I don't care but I don't want to hear about you spending gross amounts of quality time with any other girl. I like you, Neil, and I want the chance to see if you like me too." I glanced at her again. She was serious. I stared at the hardwood floor beneath my feet as I mulled it over in my brain.
Three months of Justice, just dates. Can't spend time with any other girl but her. It would get Justice off Claire's back and hopefully get rid of Justice's ridiculous crush on me. I was already pissed with her so it wouldn't be hard to be a shitty boyfriend...semi-boyfriend. She didn't stipulate that we had to have sex, maybe I could work around that. I'd figure something out. "Okay. Three months, just dates and you leave Claire alone forever." We shook on it and then had sex, it didn't even feel as half as good as it had with Claire.
It had been three weeks and Claire had barely said two words to me. I stared at the back of her blonde head in English class. She'd made sure she came in late enough to squeeze into a seat that was not in front or behind me directly. I couldn't ask her for pens anymore, the excuse to touch her was gone. And as much as I hated to admit it to myself, it was torture.
As far as dating Justice was going, well, she got what she wanted. She pretended everything was golden, I didn't pretend. If I was bored, which I often was because all she wanted to talk about was cheerleading and football and gossip, I didn't try to hide my wandering eyes. A few times I seduced a waitress during our dinners. Last night Justice had caught me and joined in. I was so drunk I didn't realize what I'd done until this morning. I'd fucked Justice even though I'd vowed not to.
Class let out and I watched Claire run out the door like the building was on fire. I grabbed my notebook, which was void of notes again, and headed out the door. I went to my dorm, dropped my shit off and went out for my run. I had to fight myself to keep running when I saw Claire's hand on another dude's chest. Was she dating again? I felt my jaw clench and cursed myself. It wasn't my fucking business. I couldn't have her, at least not until Justice was taken care of.
In the shower after my run I closed my eyes and jerked off to the only thing I had of Claire, the memories of how fucking good she felt around my dick. My memories paled in comparison to the real thing but there was nothing I could do about that ... yet.
We had a game that evening, nothing extraordinary. I was kicking ass and taking names. My team was on fire, blocking superbly so I could run my ass down to the field goal and score touchdown after touchdown. At halftime the cheerleaders came out on the field and entertained the rowdy crowd. I watched as I rehydrated. The girls in their short skirts were mesmerizing. Especially Claire. Justice and another girl lifted Claire up and then dropped her down and popped her back up for a jump. Justice turned early and Claire fell half on the other girl and half on the ground. I crushed my paper cup and started running on the field. I froze when I saw that same guy from earlier already at Claire's side. He picked her up and escorted her off the field. I stalked towards Justice and grabbed her arm, pulling her away from the crowd.
"What the fuck was that?!" Justice's eyes flashed and she smiled a hateful smile at me.
"Oh, now you care about what I have to say?" She put her hand on my chest and pushed me back into the shadows. I glanced around, no one could see us. She sank to her knees and tried pulling down my uniform pants. My traitorous dick was standing to attention with anticipation of her warm mouth. I put my head back against the wall and tried to push through the sex smog in my brain.
"Justice..." I opened my mouth to protest but I couldn't get the rest of the words out as soon as I was deep in her mouth. My hand was in her hair, gripping it tight. In my mind I pictured Claire sucking my dick, as long as they were closed I could pretend it was her. It felt so fucking good.
She moaned and my dick vibrated, it pulsed in her mouth. I wasn't going to last long. I looked down and saw the blonde hair. I closed my eyes tight, groaned and shuddered and blasted my seed down her throat. "Fuck, Claire! That's so fucking good." I heard my dick pop out of her mouth and looked down. Justice was not happy. I opened my mouth to say something but my head was knocked to the right with a forceful slap.
"This isn't working, Neil. You better figure out how to make it work or you're going to regret it." I rubbed my cheek as I watched her sashay away from me. What the fuck just happened? Was she going to hurt Claire now that I fucked up? One of my teammates came running towards me and I tucked my shit back into my pants before he saw. I stepped out of the shadows and shook my head, I needed to get my head back in the game.
I pushed all thoughts out until the game was over. After I showered and changed I headed to the Frat for the post-game mixer. I grabbed my red solo cup and leaned against the wall, waiting for a Claire sighting, I needed to see her. I needed to talk to her. I needed to be inside her.
Chapter 11
Claire
I didn't really want to be at the mixer but Damien insisted. He said I couldn't let Justice win. He was right. The nurse said I'd only sprained my ankle, I was lucky. I was feeling pretty good after the Percocet she'd given me. Damien and I had been seeing each other for the past couple of weeks. I was ready to test my theory again. Damien had no purple in his aura. But he'd been sweet and seemed interested. I wasn't sure what he was doing hanging around me. He didn't have the reputation that Neil did but he was certainly no virgin. He had tried kissing me many times but I had kept him at bay so far.
I grabbed Damien's hand and pulled him towards the nearest free wall space. Once my back was against the wall I pulled him down and kissed him. My lips flamed up and I pressed against him with a roll of my hips. He moaned against my lips and put a hand in my hair. I gently pushed against his chest but he didn't pull back. Dammit! It was happening again...I didn't understand
what was going on. He didn't have any purple in his aura. He shouldn't be acting like this. My theory was gone down shit's creek and I was going to be screwed soon too unless I figured out how to get him to stop sucking my face.
I kissed him a little more to pacify him but it only seemed to intensify things. I pushed him away a bit harder, but he wouldn't let up. His hands were gripping my breasts and he forced my legs open with his knee. He got between my legs and rubbed himself against my jeans. Thank god I wasn't wearing a skirt. I pinched his stomach hard, trying to snap him out of it. Didn't work. I pulled his head down so he was kissing my neck and winced when he sucked on my neck, marking me. "Gah... Damien, stop!" My hands went to his shoulders and I tried to push him away once more.
I looked up just as Neil pulled Damien off me and punched him squarely in the nose. My mouth was gaping open but I didn't care as I crossed my arms over my raw nipples. I watched as the two started to beat each other in the middle of the party. After my few long seconds of surprise I kicked into action and grabbed Neil's arm which was pulled back, ready to land another punch to Damien's already swelling face. "Neil, stop! That's enough!" Neil's chest was heaving, his nose crooked and bloodied, Damien had managed to get in at least one punch.