I’m amazed. All this time I thought he was mad at me for ruining things, but he’s mad at me for apologizing?
“I thought you were mad at me,” I say. “When you told me to leave, I—”
“You fucking thanked me,” he interjects, looking down at me from underneath his lashes. “In the shower.”
“I thought… You wanted …” I suck in a breath.
“I don’t want a thank-you fuck. I don’t need you to give me what I want just because I did the right thing,” he says, his voice strained with emotions.
I let go of the breath I was holding. I finally understand. After all this time, I finally realize what he was doing … Protecting me.
From him.
“But you used to bully me. Why did you suddenly start caring?” I ask.
He frowns and looks away, conflicted. “I always did, but I couldn’t deny it anymore when you told me your story.”
My heart sinks into my shoes as all the pieces fall into place. He found out the secret I’d buried for so long, and it made him care. Not just superficially, but on an emotional level. Deeply.
“And I didn’t send that fucking picture,” he says with an honest voice. “You have to believe me. I don’t know who did, but it wasn’t me, I swear.”
“I believe you,” I reply, and I place a hand on his chest. “Let’s play a game.”
“I’m done with games,” he says, clenching his jaw.
“The truth. No dares,” I say.
He eyes me for a moment while his thumb brushes across his lip. “Go on …”
“You care about me as more than just a friend,” I say.
He raises a brow. “That’s not a question, Mo.”
I point at his chest. “But you don’t deny it either.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “Is that what you came here to tell me? Because I think I can figure that out myself.”
“It’s why you pushed me away when we were in the shower, wasn’t it?” I ask.
He bites his bottom lip and sighs. “Don’t fucking thank me with a blowjob.”
“Lesson learned,” I retort.
“And it’s not just a fucking blowjob … not to me. I don’t … want that from you,” he adds, swallowing.
“But I thought …” I don’t even know how to respond. “I thought you were genuinely mad at me.”
“I’m not, and I never was. Not at you, anyway …” he says, and his hand rises to caress my cheek briefly. “I don’t want you to give me what I want when it isn’t what you want. What you need.”
I understand him now.
He wasn’t mad at me. He was mad at himself for letting go.
Almost as if he thinks he tried to use me too.
This boy … God, this boy is so unlike everything I thought he would be.
“Everyone always told me you were a cheater. A liar.”
He snorts. “What a surprise.”
“Is it true?”
His eyes narrow underneath those dark lashes. “How do you think they got that information? Think hard.”
I swallow. There’s only one answer to that question. The person he’s hated the most since the very start. The person who always got in his way. “Ariane.” He nods. It’s all I need to know. “But why would she do that?”
He smirks. “To ruin my reputation and my name … because she wanted to be one step ahead.”
“But you two were an item, right? What was in it for her?”
“To keep her dirty little secret safe.” He cocks his head. “Don’t you see? She was the one who was cheating on me.”
I gasp in shock. Fuck. This explains everything. No wonder they were constantly at each other’s throats, why he was so angry when I called him an asshole. She spread those rumors about him and made him look like the devil.
“She hurt you …” I mutter.
“To protect herself from my fans, she threw these lies out into the world. And you know how the world works. Once the lies are out there, people believe them, no matter what I or anyone else said. So I played along,” he says, and he shrugs. “Why do you think I pushed you away?”
“You wanted me to hate you,” I say.
“She forced me to. Because she’s your goddamn cousin, and she wanted to protect you from me. Because she’s jealous and afraid.”
“Afraid of what?” My brows furrow.
A smirk forms on his face. “That you’d make me fall in love.”
My heart flutters. Does he mean that? Is this for real?
“I thought she wanted to protect me because of my past…” I mutter, completely shocked by what I’m hearing.
He shakes his head. “She’s a snake. But she’s also your family.”
I straighten my back. “Fuck family. Fuck Ariane and fuck Michael. They deserve each other.”
That same devilish smirk spreads on his lips as his hand sneaks up to my waist. “You know, they said the same thing to me about us.”
“Us … You say that like you mean it,” I say as he inches closer.
“Haven’t you noticed? I always did,” he says, looking down at me. “Why do you think I fought so hard to stay away from you?”
I suck in a breath at that admission. “But I always thought you were only interested in quick fucks with random girls?” I lick my lips. “And I never wanted to be just another notch on your belt.”
“Look at me.” His face darkens, and he tips up my chin to make me look at him. “You’re not just another girl. Not to me. It just took me a while to get there.”
I should’ve known all along.
The rock star. The playboy. The asshole.
He wasn’t a bully because he hated me.
He needed me to hate him so he wouldn’t get close enough to hurt me.
To hurt himself.
Because of what Ariane did to him, he shut himself off and chose to only see girls as a form of pleasure. As a way to fight the pain.
But I could never break his heart.
And I’m done fighting the desire.
He doesn’t need to protect me from himself anymore, nor does he need to protect his own broken heart.
My hand snakes up his neck. “I don’t want you to stay away. I want to be yours.”
“Are you sure, Mo?” he murmurs into my ear. “Because when I take you, there’s no going back. And I don’t want to wreck what’s left of you.”
I gasp when his hand slides down my ass, and I whisper back, “Destroy me.”
Chapter 32
Cole
Destroy me.
Two words.
Just two words … but it’s all I needed to hear.
She’s mine now.
I grab her face with one hand and pull her to me with the other, smashing my lips to hers. I don’t fucking care anymore about the consequences or what it means when I claim her as my own. Because I need her. I fucking need her so badly it hurts.
But it hurt even more not to give in.
It hurt that I had to fight it off and push her away to keep her safe.
To keep her from being ruined.
To keep me from ruin.
But it’s too late now.
Our bodies are clashing, and our hearts have locked together, and I don’t know if I ever want to stop. She’s always been my vice. From day one, I knew she’d be trouble. I knew whatever she hid deep within those eyes would consume both me and my band, yet I still chose to hunt her down and make her mine.
Fuck knows I tried to keep her at bay.
I tried so many times to make her hate me.
But somehow, someway, she always found her way back to me.
And I can’t let her go. Not again. Not anymore.
My hands find their way around her body as I fight the urge to rip her clothes off. Every kiss is followed by an agonized groan. I’ve waited so long to claim her that I’m brimming with desire. My cock is already hard just from kissing her.
She does something to me no other girl has managed to do. She twist
s my body into knots and forces me to come face-to-face with my demons and forces me to reveal the edges of my heart.
And I no longer want to hide it from her. So I kiss her hard and fast until we’re out of breath, until she opens her mouth and lets me in, and until our tongues are as entangled as our hearts.
A moan slips from her mouth, causing my dick to harden even more, and when she starts groping me through my pants, I’m done for.
“Give it to me,” she mewls. “Give me everything you’ve got.”
Fuck.
If only she hadn’t said that, maybe I would’ve gone gentle on her.
Not any-fucking-more.
I rip open her shirt, letting all the buttons fly, and throw it aside as she lets out a squeal. Her bra comes off next, and I bury my face between her tits. She tilts her head back and moans in delight. In my greed, I pick her up from the ground and set her down on a table, kissing her as if my life depends on it.
I can’t stop touching her, can’t stop kissing every inch of her body. I need her like I need the air I breathe. And no amount of kisses will ever feel like enough.
I rip off my shirt and tie and lick my lips when I notice her ogling me.
“Like what you see?” I ask.
“You don’t even know how much,” she says, a dirty grin forming on her face.
I groan and tear down her pants and rip off her panties in one go. She squeals, but I cover her mouth with mine and nudge her legs aside. She hungrily accepts me as I step closer, her fingers desperately grasping at my pants, trying to shove them down. I help her a little, tagging off the button and zipping myself down. She quickly manages to tug down my pants and boxer shorts at the same time until my cock pops free, bouncing up and down with need.
She’s still enamored by the size, and I can honestly say I’ll never get used to how good it makes me feel.
I grab a condom from my back pocket, rip it open, and quickly put it on.
Our lips connect again, and her fingers coil in my hair. And even though my dick is right there between her legs, it’s still not enough. Groaning, I pick her up from the table and shove her against the wall. Her legs wrap around my waist, and I push my cock against her entrance. I’m so goddamn eager, but I don’t want her to regret making this decision.
“Tell me you want me,” I whisper in her ear. “Tell me you’re mine.”
“I’m yours. Fuck me, Cole,” she murmurs.
Fuck.
I thrust in, and her gasp meets my moan in a blissful explosion of lust. Like animals, we fuck against the wall, kissing and bouncing up and down. She rides me like an expert while sweat drips down my forehead, and her pussy is wetter than anything I’ve ever felt before.
We were made for each other, her and me, like lightning and thunder in the night sky.
And I can’t fucking stop loving her.
Our mouths entangle in a furious battle while we fuck like madmen high on lust. Her body quakes with need as goose bumps scatter on her skin. My cock pulses inside her, and I’m slamming into her so hard I can barely fucking keep it together.
I move away from the wall and carry her to the table in the back of the room where I put her down and swipe everything off it. She lies down, and I fuck her against the table like a savage, my hands grasping at her waist and tits. I’m delirious with need, completely consumed by my own desire. I lean over to kiss her on the neck, drawing a line all the way down to her nipples, which peak from the attention I lavishly dish out.
And when I lean up to slam into her fully, her eyes almost roll into the back of her head.
A filthy smile spreads on my lips, knowing it was me who made her feel this way. After all this waiting, all this fighting, all this tugging and pulling, she is finally mine.
“You’re fucking mine, Monica Romero,” I growl, thrusting in and out as she mewls with delight. “And you’d better fucking be ready for it.”
“Fuck …” she moans. “Harder.”
It turns out, she’s much more of a twisted vixen than I thought.
My hand slides down her body, caressing her skin until the goose bumps create a trail all the way down to her pussy where I start to toy with her clit. She overflows with wetness. It’s dripping down the side of the table. She widens her legs and raises one on top of the table, her pussy eager for more as I both slam into her and play with her until she’s at the brink.
Because I don’t just want her for my own pleasure, I want hers too. I want all of it.
And I don’t fucking stop until she’s moaning out loud, practically begging me to make her come.
I slam into her with everything I have. “Come for me, Monica. Show me how much you really want me.”
Right then, her pussy contracts around my cock and delicious shockwaves make her whole body spasm while I flick her clit. The sound of her moans push me over the limit, and I explode inside her with a roar.
Towering over her, I plant my hands beside her on the table to collect myself for a moment, still panting like hell. My eyes lower as I contemplate what just happened. What I just did. I completely fucked her into oblivion with no remorse, no conscience. I didn’t spend even a single second thinking about the consequences for her … about what it would mean for her and her body when someone would take her like that. And that it could bring up memories from the past that could seriously hurt her.
I could’ve hurt her.
My dick slips out of her, but she leans up on her elbows and smiles at me.
She actually fucking smiles at me. What the …?
“Don’t feel guilty,” she says, her hand rising to caress my cheek. “I’m okay.”
I blow out a sigh of relief and grab ahold of her, hugging her tight. The first time I felt this feeling, it was unfamiliar to me. A kind of emotional connection that makes it hard not to care. But now, it makes me feel at ease, and I want her to feel good.
“I didn’t want to hurt you,” I say. “I don’t want you to be afraid.”
“I know,” she says, licking her lips. “But you’ve never made me feel that way. I feel safe around you.”
Something inside my body swells with heat, and I swear to God my heart is beating in a way it never has before.
Maybe this is what it was supposed to feel like, what I’ve been searching for all this time.
Suddenly, someone rummages outside the door, and we quickly gather our things and put on our clothes. Well, as much as possible, of course, because I basically ripped her clothes to shreds, and it makes her giggle when she looks at them.
“I guess I should go home and change,” she murmurs.
“Hello?”
Monica
Someone else’s voice makes us turn around.
“Shit,” Cole mutters. “Someone’s caught us.”
“Or they just needed to be here?” I reply, quickly adjusting my shirt so that it looks at least acceptable even though it’s missing a few buttons.
He cocks his head. “You think?”
I shrug. “It’s a possibility.”
He snorts as he puts his shirt back on and throws the used condom in the bin. I swallow hard at the thought that we actually fucked. He was inside me, and we both came like we’d been waiting for this moment for ages.
And fuck, it still makes me wet thinking about it.
“We should be happy if half the school didn’t hear us,” Cole says.
Both my cheeks turn strawberry red, and I gently punch his shoulder. “Stop.”
He pulls me to him and presses his lips onto mine for a quick but sultry kiss. “That’s what you get for being with me. Constant horniness.”
What … did he just actually say that?
“Being with you?”
“Yeah, haven’t you heard?” he says with a smug look on his face. “According to Michael, you’re my girlfriend now.”
My eyes widen, and my body goes completely rigid against his. It can’t be. No fucking way. “He was trying to get under your skin.”
&nbs
p; He shrugs with that same confidence that always gets my heart beating faster. “I don’t care what he or anyone else thinks.”
Shit. Does he … not even mind? I mean, we’re talking about Cole Travis here. Certified rock star giant among high schoolers, and here is one of his own ex-band members calling me his girlfriend in front of everyone. He should be trying to deny it vehemently, both online and offline, yet he doesn’t even seem to … care.
And judging from the smile that forms on his lips as we walk to the door, I don’t think he wants to refute it.
Shit.
Fuck.
I can’t fucking think straight. I’m that fucking flustered.
Cole opens the door, and Mel almost falls inside.
“Jesus,” she scoffs as she falls into him. She looks up, and when she notices it’s him, her eyes widen, and she quickly shuffles back. “Cole, sorry, I was just looking for the music teacher and—”
Then she sees me.
Her jaw drops slowly, like in a movie, and it makes me snicker.
“Monica,” she mutters. “Cole.”
“Mel,” I reply.
“What are you two …?” She eyes us both, and her eyes narrow. “Oooooh …”
I rub my lips together and look away, embarrassed that she was the one who found us.
“Right,” Cole says.
“Right,” Mel repeats, looking severely befuddled and embarrassed, just like me.
“Please don’t say a word,” I ask.
“Oh, no,” she replies, adding a tsk sound. “Who, me? My mouth is sealed.”
I smile. “Thanks, I appreciate it.”
“But … are you guys like … a thing now?” she asks.
Cole snorts as he sees my cheeks flare up again. “Uh, I don’t—”
“No comment,” Cole interjects.
“Complicated, huh?” Mel says, winking at me. “Well, I don’t mind. Y’all do whatever you want. It’s not my business.” Then she looks at Cole and points her finger at his chest. “But you’d better treat my girl right, got it?”
He straightens his back. “Got it.”
I burst into laughter. “Don’t worry. I’m all covered.”
“Are you now?” She puts her hands against her side. “How covered are we talking? A little bit, or the Full Monty?”
Rowdy Boy (A High School Bully Romance): Black Mountain Academy Page 24