Rebel: Enemies to Lovers Bully Romance

by Savannah Rose

  “I’m Suzanna, but you, sweet pea, can call me Suzy.” Would you look at that, ladies and gentlemen, Kace is actually flushing beet red.

  Suzanna is in her mid-40s and a self-proclaimed cougar. After her divorce, she took up celebrity crushes and has apparently been converted to the lifestyle of the crouching cat ever since. She’s one of my favorite people in this building. And maybe in the entire world.

  As we walk down the corridor, I spot another of my favorites.

  “Janey darling, you’re back! Oh, thank heavens!” Dr. Harding strides over to me, so much grace in each step that it looks like she’s walking on water.

  “How are you?” she asks.

  “I’m fine,” I smile.

  “Good.” She sighs, pulling me into a loose hug before holding me at arm’s length to examine me. “Ugh, so many deliveries while you were away. I can’t remember what it was like before you started volunteering here.”

  I smile and subtly bring Kace’s presence to her attention.

  “And who is this?” she asks, extending her hand to Kace.

  He takes it and shakes it firmly. “This is my friend, Kace,” I say and I can see his walls stacking up from all the way over here. “According to him,” I say, fixing my gaze on Kace, “he’s an animal whisperer.”

  Dr. Harding’s face lights up at that. She’s one of those people who wholly believes that there are some people in this world who have an innate connection with animals – her being one of them.

  She lifts another smile in Kace’s direction before dropping a hand to the small of his back. “Let’s go test it out,” she says. “I’ve got just the little rascal who could use some cheering up.”

  Kace doesn’t look at all convinced, but at least he fakes his enthusiasm as Dr. Harding instructs me to show him the kennels. I don’t have to ask to know which animal she’s talking about.

  Leaning into him, a smile tight on my lips, I whisper, “You love animals, right?”

  “Animals like me,” he corrects, and I fan away his statement, taking his hand in mine as I lead him to the kennels to meet our miserable mutt.

  Kace’s eyes light up as he scans the room and a slow smile starts to form on his face. “Okay. You win,” he whispers without looking at me, his eyes still moving from one corner to the next.

  I do my best not to gloat as I introduce him to Rudy. “He’s an old fighter Pitbull,” I say. “A bit grumpy, but an absolute sweetheart once you take the time to get to know him.”

  “How long has he been here?” Kace asks. He’s had his eyes on the Pitbull the entire time and I can see him soften little by little as he continues to observe him.

  “We’ve tried putting him up for adoption but, you know how it goes. He’s old. A bit miserable. Needs a lot of motivating.”

  Rudy barks as though not at all pleased with my assessment of him. This doesn’t cause Kace’s gaze to shift in the least. Instead, he draws nearer to Rudy, sitting before the kennel and not flinching as the barking intensifies.

  From the distance, Dr. Harding watches the exchange. It’s hard not to see the fascination on her face as she takes Kace in. The way he traces his finger over the metal bars of Rudy’s kennel. The way he just sits there, silently, as Rudy throws a fit, barking and scratching, rebelling against this newcomer who has dared to venture so close.

  “Don’t worry,” Kace whispers, his voice softer than I’ve ever heard it. “I don’t believe them.” He smiles and Rudy lets out a single bark in response, growing calmer and calmer by the second. “It’s not your fault, buddy. You did what you needed to do to survive. You didn’t like doing it, but you had no choice.” Rudy whines and my jaw drops.

  Is Kace actually talking to the dog?

  I wasn’t expecting that.

  To be honest, I’m not sure what I expected, but what I do know, is that it definitely wasn’t this.

  “You’re a good boy Rudy,” he says, and Rudy’s tail starts to wag excitedly, thumping against the kennel floor. “They don’t know because they’re too afraid to find out. These humans are always talking about not judging a book by its cover, huh? If only they’d actually stay true to that.”

  It’s not hard to see that the world around Kace has pretty much disappeared. Right now, the only thing that exists to him is the whimpering Rudy with one paw against the bars and his head bowed in Kace’s direction.

  “Well...you were right, Janey,” Dr Harding’s voice breaks through the silence, “I am definitely impressed.”

  If Kace hears her, he doesn’t give any indication that he does. His focus is still on the dog in front of him as he uses a lone finger to stroke careful lines down Rudy’s paw.

  “Kace,” Dr. Harding calls to him. Startled, he turns to face her.

  “What do you do in the evenings after school?” she asks.

  He shrugs. “My extracurriculars were recently cancelled.”

  “Well, Janey picks up some hours here in the evenings, but I could always use the extra help. What do you think?”

  Kace blinks at her, seemingly unable to process her words. “You’re offering me a job?” he asks, and another brick falls, breaking his wall down bit by bit.

  ‘Please don’t talk your way out of this,’ I silently beg him.

  “Well, an internship of sorts. My son is currently doing his internship with me, but he’ll be leaving soon. I love Janey, but I’ve gotten accustomed to having the extra muscle around.”

  “Ugh,” I feign disgust, and she laughs.

  Kace falls silent and Dr. Harding offers him her card and tells him to think about it. He stands and takes it, seemingly in a daze.

  “Thank you for the introduction, Janey,” Dr. Harding says, shifting her focus to me. “Hope to have you two back soon.”

  “Why? You’ve already scouted my replacement,” I quip.

  When Dr. Harding leaves, I give Kace a few more minutes with Rudy, or rather, I give myself a few more minutes to watch Kace with Rudy. There’s a lot you can learn about a person from the way he treats animals. It’s not that I needed to see this to determine that Kace, at heart, is a good person. I’ve always seen through the rough façade he put up. And as for interactions with animals, he already won my own dogs over.

  A few more minutes pass before Kace makes his way from the kennel, coming to a stop in front of me. My hands now in his, he pulls me to him until my lips are crushed against his. This kiss isn’t anything like the one back in my bedroom. There’s no tongue or teeth, just gratitude.

  “What was that for?” I ask when he’s pulled away, leaving my lips feeling lonelier than they’ve ever felt.

  Kace shrugs, a small smile on his lips as he gestures for me to make my day out. Trailing beside me, his eyes dart from animal to animal as we make our way through the building and to the front.

  As soon as the door swings open, we’re greeted by a white Mercedes, windows tinted as dark as dark can go and music booming so loud it feels like the earth is about to crack at my feet. I don’t need to see him exit the vehicle to know that it’s CJ. He throws the car into park and bounds out of the vehicle, oozing an otherworldly amount of happiness as he picks me up off the ground like I weigh next to nothing.

  “They let you go,” he laughs, spinning me around.

  “Put me down, Claude!” I cry out and he frowns a little before doing as he’s told.

  “You look well.” He kisses my forehead and I can actually sense a shift in the energy behind me. I take a slight step back from CJ and introduce Kace.

  “CJ, this is Kace. Kace this is CJ.”

  “Sup?” Kace grunts, and CJ shrugs.

  Is that it? Is that what passes as conversation between men? That doesn’t seem right.

  “I’ll wait in the car,” Kace says, and I give him the keys, royally confused by this exchange, but not bothering to linger on it for too long.

  “When do you leave?” I ask CJ when Kace is out of earshot.

  “At the end of the week,” he responds,
brushing my hair away from my shoulder.

  “Already? And I was just getting used to being a thorn in your side again.”

  Instead of answering, he roves right over my statement. “Is that the guy who had you all sad and weird in the taste buds?”

  I nod, turning away to hide the redness that has suddenly rushed to my cheeks.

  “Really?” I don’t like the way he asks the question. Neither do I like the way he’s dropped one hand to his hip and drawn a sternness in his brow.

  “What?” I ask, cautiously.

  “He doesn’t strike me as your type at all.”

  “Yeah? Who did you picture as my type?” I ask, immediately aware of the prejudice.

  “More refined. Ambitious.”

  “He is ambitious,” I respond, the words rushing out of my mouth to come to Kace’s defense. It’s not a lie, either. Sure, life might have kicked him down once or twice, but aren’t the most ambitious people those who have to struggle for their start in life? And where the hell does CJ get off judging Kace? I can feel heat expanding in my chest. I’m not much of a fighter, not much of an arguer either and so the only thing that my body wants to do right now is to run away from his judgements.

  “Okay,” CJ chuckles. “Just be careful. He looks like trouble.”

  I clench my teeth and hold down my head to hide my exaggerated eye roll as I bid him adieu and head over to my car. Quickly as I can manage, I pull myself together. I know Kace and if he so much as catches wind that CJ had it out for him, he’ll rebel. Both against the circumstances we’ve found ourselves in and the job he’s been offered by CJ’s mom.

  As I pull open the door, Kace’s words from earlier come to mind. He wasn’t wrong about what he said to Rudy. Humans are always talking about how important it is not to judge a book by its cover, yet even the most seemingly openminded and decent human beings do just that.

  “That wasn’t too bad, was it?” I ask, searching for a way to break the tension I know will develop if we sit in silence for too long.

  From the corner of my eye, I can see Kace watching me. It’s obvious that he’s chewing on his answer, and not in a good way. What I didn’t expect, however, was to be combatted by the question he sets free. “Do you like him?”

  To say that I’m taken aback, stunned silent, would be the understatement of the year.

  “The guy in the white Mercedes,” he says when I fail to answer. His words are dripping with the slime of disgust.

  I burst out laughing and Kace shoots me a serious stare which only makes me laugh harder and more nervously.

  “Apparently he used to have a crush on me, but that was ages ago. Plus, what about what just happened would ever make you think I like CJ?”

  His arms are folded across his chest and I can tell he’s upset. Suddenly I feel bad for laughing so hard at him. Suddenly, I feel even more nervous. More aware of absolutely everything about myself.

  The entire car ride is stiff, filled with tension so thick a butter knife would have no chance cutting through it. Luckily enough, it only takes another five minutes before I’m pulling into my driveway. Heaven knows, with the chaos all of a sudden pounding in my mind and my heart – the adrenaline rushing through my veins – I wouldn’t have made it much further without combusting.

  “Hey,” I whisper up at Kace once we are securely locked behind the garage doors.

  He throws the car door open, but doesn’t answer me. A part of me is happy that he’s comfortable enough to walk up to the elevator and push the button to lead him to my floor. Much as he might like to deny it, he feels comfortable here. He feels comfortable with me.

  “CJ and I grew up together,” I say. “He sees me as a little sister.”

  He scoffs at me and shakes his head before looking away again and stomping into the elevator.

  “What?” I ask.

  “You have no clue, do you?” He sounds sorry for me and I don’t quite like it.

  “What do you mean?” I ask, laughter replaced by hurt.

  “There are so many guys around you falling for you and you don’t even notice.”

  “What guys?” I ask just as the elevator stops on the kitchen floor.

  Kace walks out of the elevator before me and I follow behind him, frantically asking for a list of these seemingly mystical men who have managed to defy the odds and take an interest in me.

  He sits on the bar stool by the island and I walk over to the refrigerator.

  “For one thing, your “brother” doesn’t see you as a little sister,” he hisses. “Maybe a long time ago he did. He definitely wants to fuck you now.”

  “Classy.” I roll my eyes and take a pack of ground beef from the freezer. I drop the meat in the sink and turn on the hot water. “Guys don’t like girls like me.”

  “Girls like you?” he asks, his voice alive with humor. “And what exactly do you imagine to be wrong with girls like you?”

  I glance up at him before quickly looking away and gathering all the ingredients I need from the cupboard. When I look back at him, he hasn’t moved. His eyes are fixed on me as though I’ve grown a third breast or something.

  “Hey,” he calls over to me, his face serious. “Answer me.”

  “Why the hell does it matter to you, anyway?” I snap. “CJ wanting to or not wanting to fuck me is none of your damn concern. Sure, we kissed…once and then twice, but I feel like…I… God, Kace… you made it clear that you’re not the relationship type and you also make things complicated and I go with all of that because…I don’t know. Because it’s hard not to want you close to me and I know I’m just lining myself up for…” I pause, failing to find the right words to share my thoughts and my feelings.

  When I turn around again, Kace is only inches away from me. I can feel my temperature rising and my face getting flushed. He’s so close to me I can almost feel the air being drawn away from me and into his lungs.

  “I shouldn’t care,” he whispers, shaking his head as he takes my hand into his, pulling me closer until I’m flush against his chest. “I shouldn’t fucking care.” This time, there’s need in his voice, like whatever is happening is something that he can’t prevent. When he leans forward, I know exactly how inevitable all of this is. My lips fall against his and I welcome him without hesitation.

  What we share in this moment is a gentle exchange. An introduction that is quickly deepened and prolonged. His teeth graze my lips and I feel like I’m seconds away from unravelling. “I fucking want you, Janey.” He says the words like they pain him; like the admission is akin to ripping bits of his heart away from his chest.

  As my pulse continues to race and this heat continues to consume me, I know for the first time, what it feels like to want someone so much that it hurts.

  Kace moves from my lips, down to my neck and I can feel a surge rush through my legs, up my thighs and around my clitoris. My hips buck against his and he presses into me, spreading my legs further. He travels more kisses down my chest. His movements, though careful, are filled with hunger, with need.

  Every action my body makes is an action that I have no control over. I’m simply reacting to a need to be as close to him as I can get; to taste and touch as much of him as I can. My hands grab the tail of his shirt and I start lifting, only to be stopped by his hand on mine. He pulls away slightly and it feels like he’s sucked away all the air from my lungs.

  “Are you sure?” he asks, his green eyes boring into me with a heat that’s matched by the wetness pooling in my underwear.

  My body responds to him in ways I had only read about in books. Ways I thought were nothing more than an exaggeration. But feeling it now, wanting him as much as I do, I know just how real something like this can be.

  I nod and Kace claims my mouth again, not breaking us apart as he lifts his shirt over his head, carelessly tossing it to the side. The hardness of his body is unmistakable, but that’s not what takes my breath away. As I trail my hands up his body, my fingers dipping into the ridges
of his abs, I’m also privy to every cut and every scar that mars his skin.

  “Who did this to you?” I ask, stopping on the deepest of the scars.

  “Nobody important,” he growls, unbuttoning my blouse to reveal a pink lace bra covering rock solid nipples.

  There’s a hunger in his eyes when he unhooks my bra and my breasts bounce as he yanks the fabric away, fixing his heated gaze on me. I swallow hard, nervous beyond words. Loving his touches, but afraid of his stares. When his eyes linger a little too long, I pull my hands up to cover myself.

  “Don’t hide from me, Janey Bradshaw,” he whispers, guiding my hand away. He takes my nipple between his fingers and squeezes lightly, igniting a whole new fire in the deepest parts of me.

  “You’re so fucking beautiful,” he grunts, moving lower so that his breath dances warmth around my nipple. I close my eyes, afraid to see, afraid to feel, afraid to want this as much as I do. When he covers me with his mouth, it’s as though a thousand fireworks have exploded in my chest.

  I’m panting so hard I can barely hear myself think.

  “Kace,” I moan.

  “No,” he whispers, moving to my other nipple as he slips his hand into my pants, massaging me through my panties. My legs feel like rubber and lead all at the same time. I haven’t got a clue how I find the strength to keep standing.

  Kace presses harder against my clit and without thought, my hips thrust against him, begging for more. I can feel my legs quivering and I wrap my arms even tighter around him as his fingers venture deeper and pressure builds up from inside me. My walls clench and unclench furiously around him.

  “That’s it,” he praises, and it feels like a dam has burst inside of me, I’m so wet. “Good girl,” he smiles, pulling his finger out of me and slowly licking my juices from each digit.

  I swallow. Hard. Wholly and completely dazed, I’m hardly aware of anything that’s happening, but there is one thing I know for sure – without him touching me, filling me up, I feel empty.