by Dawn Doyle
“Why would she do that?” Luca framed her eyes with her hands, pressing her fingers to her forehead. “Why would she get somebody to do that to me?”
“Hey.” I rounded on her, standing in front and reaching to pull her hands from her face.
She looked up at me again. “Take me home, Lucian.”
I stepped into her space, my legs either side of hers, and she straightened her spine. “Are you sure you want to go right now?” Luca pulled her feet toward the car, and I didn’t move when she stood up. Her chest almost touched me, a sliver of space between us. All I had to do was rock forward.
“You kissed me,” she whispered. “That’s exactly what she didn’t want to happen, but you did anyway.”
I smiled. “Yeah, I did—more than once.”
Her eyes flicked to my mouth then back to me. “Are you going to do it again?”
I flicked my tongue over my lips. “I want to.”
Luca honed in on my mouth, her lips parting. “Then, what are you waiting for?”
My hands darted forward, gripping her narrow waist, the entire conversation forgotten. I yanked her to me, flush to my body, her tits pressing against my torso. Her nipples were hard, poking me and begging for my hands. I dipped my head and covered her mouth with mine, teasing her lips with my tongue and digging my fingers in harder when she opened for me. I slid my hands behind her, stroking up and reaching the back of her head while the other kept her tight to me. I didn’t want to let go, I wanted to keep her there, her warmth taking over me.
Her hands flattened against my chest, her fingers spreading out and working their way upward. I tilted her head, deepening the kiss and devouring her like she was the best thing I had ever tasted; she fucking was.
With her body pressing harder against me, my reaction to her was clear as fucking day, and it was only a matter of time before she realized exactly what that was. She sighed into my mouth, the sound so damn hot I wanted to lie her back and take her right there.
She gripped the back of my head, twisting her fingers into my hair. I lowered my hand, reaching her lower back and sliding down over the curve of her ass. I gently squeezed and Luca gasped.
I broke the kiss, out of breath and hard as a rock. “What’s wrong?”
She shook her head quickly. “Nothing.” She slammed her mouth against mine again, gripping my head with more force and pushing herself into me. She stopped, our lips still together, then pulled away to look into my eyes. “Um. You, uh…” She glanced downward and began stepping away.
Yeah, it was obvious why. “I’ll take you home.”
“Sure.”
We were almost there when she spoke, and it wasn’t anything I expected to come out of her mouth. “Did that happen last time?”
Was she for real? “Yeah.” I took my eyes off the road for a split-second to ask, “Are you embarrassed about that?” God, I hoped not.
“Not at all, I know how things work, Lucian.” She toyed with the strap of her black school bag that lay in the footwell. “I just… I’ve never…” To say my stomach plummeted would be ridiculous. It dropped out of my ass then shafted me with it. “God, now I’m embarrassed,” she whispered.
That was all I could take. “Why? Why the hell would you be ashamed of that?”
Luca turned her face to the window. “Well, you’ve— I’ve heard— Never mind, it doesn’t matter.”
I pulled over and spun in my seat. “Yeah it fucking does. Spill, Luca. I’m not moving this fucking car until you do.”
Her eyes blazed when she looked at me. “Your reputation, Lucian.” I opened my mouth to speak, but she cut me off. “I don’t care, by the way. You’re older than me, you’ve done lots of things with lots of people—”
“Whoa.” I snorted in disbelief. “Who’s slut shaming now?” It was one hundred percent true. Having it brought up in conversation this way, though, didn’t feel good at all.
“I’m not!” she fired back, her voice raising. “Can you not listen without getting all defensive?” I sulked back against my seat. “I barely know you. I just didn’t want you to get the wrong idea about me.”
A grin crept across my face. I’d had her all wrong, all right, but not the idea about her. “I didn’t.” For a second, I honestly thought she was turning out to be a stuck up bitch who was judging me for sticking my dick in anything that was willing. That would’ve been a crock; I had standards. What I had wrong was that she wasn’t influenced by what other people said. This girl had surprised me yet again.
Luca laughed dryly. “Yeah, okay. I practically told you to kiss me, then mauled you in a parking lot.” She sunk down, hiding behind her hands. “Don’t laugh at me!” she yelled when I did.
“Luca, come on.” I tugged on her hands, then lowered my voice, ensuring she understood every word. “You just said it before I did it. I had no intention of letting you leave without tasting that mouth again.” I winked at her when she licked her lips. “Don’t tempt me, baby, cos I actually do have all day.”
I pulled away from the curb and hadn’t gotten far when my phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket. “Yeah?”
“Did you get it done?” Brady asked. I’d told him where I was going and that I was gonna clear shit up. “You’ve been gone a while.”
“Just taking Luca back,” I replied. “Anyway, since when do you keep tabs on me?”
“Since you’re out in that car, dimples.”
I glanced at Luca and her lower lip was between her teeth, holding back a grin. “Shut the fuck up, Brady. I’ll be back soon.”
We were the polar opposites sometimes. Where I would’ve demanded he got his ass back home, he just irritated me to the point where I’d be burning it down the road just for some peace.
His laughed resonated down the phone. “Did she reward you for saving her life?”
The silence rang out in the car like church bells at the crack of my ass on Sundays. I closed my eyes and silently promised my stupid son-of-a-bitch brother a smack. “I’ll be home soon.” I hung up on him and pulled up outside Luca’s house.
The wheels had barely stopped moving when she threw the door open and got out, swinging her bag over her shoulder. She took a few steps, then looked over her shoulder. “Bye…Dimples.”
My eyes closed over into slits, and I half smiled, one corner of my mouth raising. I leaned over and pressed my hand to the seat, the fabric still warm. I kept my voice low. “I’ll smack your ass if you call me that again.”
“You wouldn’t.”
I grinned, my chest shaking as a quiet laugh bubbled up. “Try me.”
Her face flamed and she rushed into the house, not stopping to look back. God, now my hands were twitching, needing to grip something, to tear something apart, to explore… The only person capable of satisfying me had just slammed the front door, and she was innocent.
I scrubbed my hands down my face before driving off. I was so fucked.
Luca
“We still have no clues as to how that kid ended up at the hospital,” my dad said as we sat around eating breakfast. “The CCTV didn’t show a thing.”
I stared down at my cereal, my thoughts jumping from one thing to the next, but always going back to Lucian. When I’d finally managed to sleep that night, I’d woken up in a sweat, my dream still fresh in my mind of Lucian, his hands, his lips… They were all over me, and the scene that had stuck in my head from Grace’s, that wasn’t Cadence—it was me, and instead of Blaine, it was Lucian.
How had I gone from not being in any rush, to waking up to the throbbing between my legs and my skin covered in sweat, frustrated that I’d come out of that dream with nothing there but my empty room?
“I’m sure you’ll get a lead soon.” My mom’s voice cut into my dirty replay. “They can’t hide forever.”
“All we can do right now is to keep it from getting on the news. We don’t need anybody to panic or rumors to start. Speculation would be the worst thing right now.”
I ble
w out a sharp breath through my nose and they both turned to me. “What?”
“Something on your mind?” my dad asked. “Honey, have you heard anything at school about this? Don’t be afraid to speak up.”
“No.” I got up from the breakfast bar on the other side of the center island and took my soggy cereal to the sink. “You said rumors. It’s amazing how they travel, and they all start with one person.”
My dad nodded his head in agreement, his hair bobbing about as he did. He took a sip of his coffee, his steeled gaze fixed on something not there. “You’d be surprised the lengths some people go to get others in trouble.”
I walked past my dad and patted his shoulder, then reached up to kiss his cheek. “Nothing about that surprises me, Dad. It’s the ones closest to you that can do the most damage.”
My mom sighed. “They sure can, sweetheart.”
I walked up to my room to get ready and saw that I had another missed call from Grace. Since Lucian had told me my misery at school was because of her, I’d been ignoring her texts and calls. I couldn’t speak to her after what she did. Did she not know that something like that causes kids to hurt themselves? Not that I would, but she didn’t know that. If it weren’t for Paige, I would’ve been alienated completely, nobody to talk to; nobody on my side. If Lucian hadn’t stepped in, I would’ve still been enduring the crap that was served to me. Grace had a lot to answer for, but I didn’t want to hear the bullshit excuse for having me branded a slut when I hadn’t done anything or anyone.
I hadn’t told Lucian everything. There was one name that had followed me around, and even though Ant had apologized and I was left alone, Five-Star had stuck. It had been drawn onto my locker with permanent marker and I couldn’t get it off. The janitor hadn’t removed it, so it was a constant reminder of the taunts. I’d been asked if I’d had sex with all five of the group. It made me sick that they would think that, and it was worse that my own cousin had caused it.
My default ring tone caught my attention, and the bitch’s name came up on the screen. I worked my jaw before snatching it up.
“What.”
“Luca! Why haven’t you called me or texted me back?” she asked. “I’ve been calling you since yesterday.”
“I know,” I replied and walked to my closet to choose my clothes for the day.
Her voice raised. “Then why haven’t you called me back?”
“Really, Grace? You really think I would call you after what you did?” The line was silent, but I could hear her breathing. “You’re a fucking bitch, Grace.”
“Luca—”
“Just stop,” I snapped. “I don’t know why you would lie like that about me. Do you hate me or something?” The second those words left my mouth, I closed my eyes when the reality crept in. “Wow, just fucking wow.”
“I wanted to protect you, Luca, you have to believe me.”
“I don’t have to believe shit!” I yelled. “You made sure it looked like Lucian and I had hooked up. Why would you do something like that? Because you told me no and then you saw him kiss me?” Her silence confirmed it. “You used my reaction to fuel your lies. You have no fucking idea what it was like for me at school—what you caused. If Lucian hadn’t found out—”
“Lucian?”
“Oh, cut the bull.”
“You don’t need him in your life, Luca. He’s not good for you. I did what I did so you would stay away from him and the others.”
I groaned. “So, you can be friends with him but I can’t? Wow, if that’s a friend, Grace, I’d hate to see your idea of an enemy.”
I held out my phone to end the call, and heard her say her ex’s name before I pressed the red tab.
I didn’t know what Murphy had to do with Lucian, but I wasn’t prepared to stand there and hear any more crap that she wanted to throw between us.
*****
“Grace called me,” Paige said as soon as she opened the passenger door. “She said to ask you to call her.”
I gritted my teeth, then smiled. “I’ve already spoken to her.” I replied, hiding my anger.
“Oh. Why did she ask me to ask you?”
I pulled away from her house and started the drive to school. “I forgot to give her my new number,” I lied. “Anyway, let’s hope today is better than yesterday.”
Of course, people had seen Lucian drive off with me in the car. It sparked new whispers around school, but nobody said a thing. As long as they knew the truth about the party, I didn’t care what they thought, but the stares and whispers had started up again.
“Do you think he’ll show today?”
“Who?”
“Yeah, right,” Paige scoffed. “Lucian, Luca—God I’m going to get your names muddled up. He’s shown up twice now.”
I shrugged a shoulder. “No idea,” I replied. “I don’t care what anybody at school says, we’re not dating.” That was the new question on everybody’s lips. The technical term was no, we weren’t, but his kiss had felt like so much more than a quick make out session with somebody you found attractive. Freshman year spin the bottle never felt like that, ever.
Paige turned in her seat to look at me. “Hmm, the color in your cheeks says differently.” When I didn’t say anything, she continued. “And that kiss at the party looked hot.” She laughed and pointed to my face. “See? Your face is on fire right now.”
“Okay, I think he’s hot. He kissed me, but that doesn’t mean we’re gonna start holding hands, Paige.”
“No, but he gave you serious lip service, and it was only for a second. That’s gotta stick with you.”
It definitely had, and not for the first time. I’d already overthought that part of my attraction to him was the beach, but it wasn’t just that, though. Yeah, I’d thought about him every day since the beach, but the moment I’d laid eyes on him again, there was something else there. My heart had raced when he looked at me, butterflies dancing inside of me when he smiled with those dimples that made him look more like a sweetheart than a tough guy. Then there was the next time, and the next. The anticipation of seeing him again had left me on edge, wondering if he was going to show up again.
“I suppose.”
“Did you have a boyfriend back home? We’ve never talked about that. It’s always been me spewing my life story over you.”
And everybody else’s.
“Yeah, but that was a long time ago.” Paul had been my first real boyfriend—kindergarten romances didn’t count.
“I broke up with Leon two months ago. He was the biggest waste of my time. Just wanted to play video games and hang with his friends like he was still in middle school.”
“Sounds like you were better off.” I smiled when she beamed at me. “We need romance in our lives.”
“Hell yes!” she cheered. “Wined, dined, and sixty-nined!” she cackled loudly.
“Paige!”
She snorted through her laughter. “Oh my god, your face.” She tried to get her breath back. “That was so funny. I agree, though. There’s more to a relationship than watching them raging at the TV and hurling the controller across the room when they get beat by a nine-year-old on the other side of the world.” She sighed. “So, why’d you break up?”
“We weren’t dating all that long, but things just fizzled out, I guess.” That was partly true. Getting hassled for sex when I wasn’t ready for anything more than making out wasn’t a conversation piece. “We were only sixteen, so it was a long time ago.”
After parking, we walked into West Norton and down the main corridor. I chanced a look around, and apart from a few looks my way, there was nothing out of the ordinary. That was, until I reached my locker. Five-Star had gone. The faded navy-blue metal was free of any marker, and no evidence at all that it had ever been there. I had to thank the janitor for finally getting round to cleaning it off.
“He took his time,” Paige said, pointing.
“Yeah, but it’s done now.” I opened the door, and my jaw dropped. Sticking o
ut of the top of one of my text books was the picture of the dildo Lucian had used in the game. I looked around and snatched it from between the pages. I flipped it over to read what was scribbled on the back. ‘You’re welcome.’
Chapter 7
Lucian
Three days had passed since I’d seen Luca, and every time I thought about her—which was all the fucking time—I’d want to hit something. I didn’t understand it. I’d had her there, up against me, her hot body pressing into me like she couldn’t get enough, and I wanted to smash my fist into something to get rid of that feeling.
She’s innocent.
Fuck that. I wanted her bad and in ways that would probably have her running so fast in the other direction that all that would be left behind were her footprints. Add that to what I had booked for tonight, and what had happened to Murph, I doubted she would ever want to see me again.
I missed that asshole more than I thought I would. No matter what he’d done to Grace, he didn’t deserve to go like that. He’d never forgiven himself for hurting her, and now he never could. We didn’t see as much of him after they broke up, but it was clear he regretted ever saying what he did.
“What the hell is going through your head?” Brady asked, dropping down on the bench next to me. I had to work off some of this aggression unless I wanted to make a stupid mistake tonight. “Come on, Lucian. The others will be here soon, so if you’re gonna say anything, say it now.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I replied. Brady hadn’t hassled me for what happened when I’d taken Blaine’s latest ‘loaner’ for a spin. The drive back to get it dumped had given me enough time to realize I was getting in way too deep. “What’s done is over.” I was right about one thing when I’d confronted Luca the first time. She was too good for me, even if wasn’t her that said it; she didn’t have to. She didn’t even have to think it—I knew it was true. I had to stay away from Luca Marsden, no matter how much I wanted to be with her.