The music is turned up in the other room and the rest of the team descends on the couches. As is usual these days, Jake, Mason, and Ethan are absent, probably too busy with their girls to bother with us. I get it. I’d rather hang with my girl—if I had one—than these assholes given the chance.
All of a sudden Zayn stops talking mid-sentence and stands, totally ignoring whatever he and Justin were discussing.
“Ruby, baby. You are looking fine tonight.” His eyes drop down her body and I roll mine at him before glancing over my shoulder.
She’s wearing the smallest red dress that I think I’ve ever seen. No wonder Zayn’s eyes look like they might pop out.
He stalks toward her but stops abruptly when two others walk into the room.
“Harley, what the fuck are you wearing?” he asks, turning to his sister who’s dressed similarly to Ruby.
“So it’s okay for you to eye fuck my friend but I can’t possibly show any skin?”
“It’s not the same, Ruby is…”
Ruby, Harley, and Poppy’s eyes rise as they wait to find out how Zayn’s going to dig himself out of this hole. He looks between the three of them.
“She’s not my sister.”
“Nor is Poppy, but I doubt you’d look at her like you just did Ruby.”
“Ew no, why would I look at her like that?” He curls his lip up in disgust as he turns to Jake’s cousin.
“You’re a pig. Come on, let’s go and get a drink.”
“But—” Ruby complains as Harley slips her arm through hers and drags her away from her brother.
“No buts. You don’t want to touch him with a barge pole. He’s probably diseased by the number of skanks he’s touched.” Ruby blushes red. It seems she hasn’t confessed about her time with Zayn last weekend.
The three of them disappear, but Ruby doesn’t lose Zayn’s attention until she’s slipped around the corner.
“Fucking Harley,” he mutters, dropping down onto the couch. “Things were easier when Mom refused to let her attend.”
“She just needs someone to distract her,” Justin suggests. “I can offer my services.” He wiggles his eyebrows and Zayn’s shoulders visibly tense.
“Don’t even think about touching her, asshole. Anyone goes near my sister and I cut your balls off and feed them to you, got it?” he barks.
A couple of the team nod in agreement, but most just roll their eyes at him. I’m not sure why he’s bothering, he knows full well that most of these assholes don’t do as they’re told. Ever. If one of them sets their sights on Harley, then they’ll fucking have her, I’ve no doubt.
Conversation turns to college applications and I almost walk off when someone asks me if I’ve made a decision about which team I want to play for when our missing captain and team members join us with their girls.
“Ah, about time the captain showed his face,” Zayn shouts, earning him the finger from Jake.
“What the fuck is she doing here?” Justin barks and when I look to the doorway, I find Chelsea standing with Rae.
Good question. What the fuck is she doing here?
She’s not dressed like I’m used to. Instead of the barely-there outfits she used to select for this kind of party, she’s wearing a decent length skirt and a shirt that covers almost everything she used to show off to get attention.
She looks good. Too fucking good and it has desire that I shouldn’t feel filling my veins.
She hovers by the door as Rae tries to talk her into joining us.
“Come on, Chels. What’s wrong? Forgotten how to make us compliant?” someone calls. My teeth grind as I think about them all having detailed knowledge of her body.
Her eyes lock with whoever said it for a beat. Before she rolls them and looks around the room. She visibly flinches the second she finds me. Her lips part and she takes a step back. Rae reaches for her but the second she looks at me, she seems to understand.
Great. If someone knows then no doubt everyone will before long. I’ll just be another idiot who’s fallen for Chelsea’s charm and beauty.
She whispers something to Rae before backing out of the room.
I swear I don’t breathe until she’s gone from my sight.
“Okay, you two need to sort whatever that was out,” Zayn whispers to me once everyone is distracted.
“Nah. We’re done.”
“Really?” he asks, quirking an eyebrow.
“Yeah. She’s expressed her true feelings. Time to move on.” I sit forward, resting my elbows on my knees and glance around at the girls littering the room, most of whom are on the cheer squad and totally out of the question. I’ve been burned once by one of them, I’m going nowhere near another.
There is one who’s noticeably absent though. Shelly hasn’t been seen since being marched to the Principal’s office on Tuesday. It turns out that she was already on Hartmann’s shit list and he suspended her. With her gone and Chelsea at home recovering, it’s been a quiet few days for Rosewood High which is unusual to say the least.
“Right, we need to set tonight’s challenge,” Zayn announces. Jake, Mason and Ethan all excuse themselves, not needing any kind of challenge to make sure they get laid tonight, leaving the rest of us waiting to hear what he’s got to say. “Our little tagging game is fun and all, but how about we up the ante?”
“Go on,” Justin says, leaning forward, intrigue filling his eyes. A few of the other guys follow the move. I, however, stay exactly where I am knowing that I won’t be getting involved, just like every other time they’ve done this shit.
I have no intention of hooking up with a girl just for bragging rights. It’s not really my style.
“Fuck the tags, let’s make this a dare.”
“Ohhhhh,” someone says as more and more of the guys listen in to Zayn’s plan.
“We name the girls, you must get some kind of evidence that you succeed or…”
“Or?” Rich asks.
“Or… winter formal is just around the corner.” Zayn rubs at his chin in thought. “I’m sure none of you want the public humiliation that could come with failing.”
Shaking my head, I entertain myself with my bottle of vodka while Zayn starts dishing out names.
“Shane,” he barks, turning to me. His eyes twinkling with delight.
“Oh no, not a fucking chance, man.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I think you might like this particular challenge,” he whispers so only I can hear. I quirk a brow at him, wondering if he’s going where I think he is with this.
I take another shot of vodka. The strength of the alcohol no longer burning my throat, but it’s having the exact effect I needed it to on the rest of my body.
“Go on then,” I taunt, leaning forward much like the others did. I don’t look to the guys, but I feel their eyes on me. They’re used to me running away from these challenges, so I understand why they’d be surprised.
Zayn smiles, and excitement explodes in my belly. “Chelsea.”
A couple of the guys gasp and a few laugh. “Oh fuck off, Shane isn’t going to go for that,” Rich barks.
“Well, there’s no point in him being the only member of the team she’s not been with.” My lips purse in anger and I fight to stop my reaction from showing on my face.
“Fine,” I say, much to their surprise. “What?” I ask when a few of them question me. “A dare is a dare, right?”
I take another shot and sit back, ideas forming in my head faster than they should as Zayn rattles off a few more names.
“Happy?” he says, turning to me once everyone has their target for the night.
“Yet to be determined,” I say, pushing from the couch and walking away.
“Don’t forget the evidence.” I flip him off over my shoulder and head for the kitchen in search of Chelsea.
It takes me longer than I’d like to find her, but the second I step foot into Ethan’s den, I know she’s there. I feel her.
Looking to my right, I find her
curled up into the opposite corner of the couch to where Rae and Ethan are. Jake and Amalie are on another, along with Mason and Camila, who are making out on a beanbag.
“Everyone out,” I bark, successfully earning everyone’s attention.
I lift the bottle again as all eyes turn on me.
Ethan barks out a laugh like it’s the most ludicrous thing he’s ever heard.
“What was that, Dunn?”
“I said,” I repeat with a roll of my eyes. “Everyone. Out.” Taking a step forward, I lock my eyes on Chelsea’s. She swallows nervously as she sits motionless on the couch. “Except you. Chelsea and I need to have a little chat. Don’t we, Chels.”
“Oh my god,” Amalie gasps from behind me. I know this is a little out of character for me. But the girl brings out the crazy in me, that plus the alcohol that’s currently racing through my veins.
“I don’t think so,” Ethan says, standing in front of me and blocking my view of her.
We stand chest to chest, nose to nose. Ethan’s not the kind of guy I’d go up against willingly. My brothers might have taught me to fight fairly well, but I have no reason to believe that he wouldn’t squash me like a fly should he wish.
“I-it’s okay, Ethan.” Her soft voice fills the room before her slender hand wraps around his upper arm.
I want to rip it away. She shouldn’t get to touch him with such familiarity. Red hot jealousy burns through me that every guy I know has had a taste of what I want.
Glancing to my left, I find Jake staring between the two of us. There’s no love lost between him and Chelsea these days, but he was the one she pined after for all that time and he was the one who got her first. He always gets what he wants.
After a beat, Ethan stands down and allows Rae to pull him from the room, although it’s not before she whispers a warning in my ear.
“Hurt her and I’ll hurt you.”
If it had come from any other five-foot nothing girl, I might not bat an eyelid, but Rae is kinda scary. I nod at her, although I don’t take my eyes from Chelsea’s.
They all leave the room, and soon the door is closed behind them, leaving the two of us alone with the tension crackling between us.
The silence is heavy as our connection holds. My heart races as I try to come up with the words I need to say to her, but being this close, and this drunk, all I can think about is kissing her.
“What?” she barks after a few long, quiet seconds. “What do you want?”
I take a step closer, running my eyes down her body. “I think you know what I want.”
“And I think you know my opinion on that.”
I lift the bottle to my lips before offering it to her. She pushes it away, refusing my gesture.
“How much have you had?”
“Enough,” I say, placing in on the coffee table and taking another step toward her.
“So I see. I’m almost impressed that you had the balls to kick Ethan out of his own den.”
“Almost impressed. Wow. I wonder what I’d have to do to really impress you,” I tease, stalking toward her until she has to start backing up.
“To leave. I don’t know how many times I need to—” Her words are cut off with a gasp as her back connects with the wall. “Shane?” Her voice is barely a whimper, I might be concerned if it weren’t for the fact her eyes drop to my lips.
“Careful, Chelsea, that almost sounded needy,” I warn.
The heat of her body burns against my skin, but I don’t touch her. Not yet.
“No, I-I don’t want you. You need to—”
“Is that right? So your heart isn’t racing right now?” I ask, knowing full well that it’s pounding just like my own. I can tell by the fast movement of her chest. Her breath catches at my words as I look down at her breasts. “And your nipples…” I reach out a finger and very gently tease around one. “They’re not hard and desperate for my touch?”
“Fuck you, Shane,” she spits, but she’s only angry because she knows I’m right.
My eyes find hers once again. Excitement fills me at the fire I see shining in hers. It’s been diminished more than not recently, and I hate it. There might be things that Chelsea has done that are less than desirable, but her passion, her desire. Fuck, it brings me to my fucking knees.
“That was kind of the idea, baby,” I say, my cheek brushing against her so I can whisper it in her ear. She shudders and I can’t help but smile.
She turns to me, and I pull back to meet her eyes, too intrigued to find out what she’s about to say no to.
“Why me, Shane?”
A laugh falls from my lips. I wish I had the answer to that question. I could be going after any girl right now, but she’s the only one I want, the only one I can think about even when I beg for my mind to stop.
“I have no idea.”
“You’ve got a thing about being second best, don’t you?”
“W-what?” I stutter.
“You’re always the little brother, the one who’s never quite good enough, always watching your big brother’s get what they want while standing on the sidelines.”
Anger swirls in my belly, filling my veins with red hot fury. This is the thing about Chelsea. She knows me better than anyone because she’s been in my life just that long, not that she’d ever admit it. We’re closer than anyone imagines. “That’s not true,” I argue, and she quirks a brow at me.
“No? And with me? You’re once again picking up sloppy seconds, and Jake’s no less. The guy you’ve had to follow for as long as you can remember.”
“Enough,” I bark, my fingers gripping her jaw, my eyes staring down into hers.
“Why? Can’t handle the truth?” Our stare holds, anger, desire, passion crackling between us. “Cat got your tongue, Shane? I thought you were here to rip me a new one.”
“No. You’re wrong.”
“Oh?”
“I came here to prove you wrong.”
“About what?”
“About what you want.”
“Wha—” I assume she’s going to ask what I’m talking about, but she doesn’t get the chance because I make the most of her parted lips and press mine to them.
She stills to start with and we stand with just our lips connected but then it’s like someone flips her switch and her hands come up to tangle in my hair and I lean forward, pressing her body into the wall.
My tongue sweeps into her mouth and hers eagerly joins in. My hands run up her sides and slip into the fabric of her t-shirt. I skim up her soft skin until I find the swell of her breasts. Her head falls back, banging against the wall as I squeeze, and I panic. A moment of reality through my drunken, angry haze.
“Y-your head. Are you okay?” The healing scratch marks the only visible reminder of what she’s been through this week.
Her fingers tighten in my hair and she moves my head so I have no choice but to look at her.
“Don’t do that.”
“Don’t do what?”
“Pretend that you care. That this is anything more than what it is.”
I want to argue, to tell her that this is way more than she’s willing to accept, but the words die on my tongue as I remember exactly why I searched her out in the first place.
The challenge. The dare.
Hurt her like she repeatedly does you and prove that she wants more than she’ll admit.
With a nod to myself, I pull my cell from my pocket. She huffs in impatience, but I don’t stop. I won’t film it, I wouldn’t do that to her. But there were no rules. Pulling up the microphone, I press play and place it on the dresser beside us.
“Okay, fine,” I say, turning my attention back on her. Her eyes are dark with desire, her lips already swollen from my kiss. My cock strains against the fabric of my pants, desperate to be inside her once more. My hands drop to her thighs and after pushing her skirt up around her waist, I lift her.
“Oh god,” she squeals as my fingers dig into the skin of her thighs.
&nbs
p; “You don’t want me to care? You want rough. I’ll give you whatever you need, baby.”
“Oh fuck, Shane,” she squeals, as I lift her higher and press my lips to her neck.
Her thighs clamp around me as I run my tongue up her sweet skin. She shudders, her fingers once again diving for my hair.
I bite, suck and kiss hard enough that there’s going to be no forgetting I was here the second it’s over.
She might like to keep pretending that there’s nothing here, that she doesn’t want me, but we both know it’s a lie.
When we’re together like this. It’s like nothing else exists. It’s just us and it’s fucking explosive.
Lifting the fabric of her shirt up her belly, she helps me out by pulling it off and dropping it to the floor as I drop my lips to the swell of her breast.
I smile in delight when I find the front fastener and make quick work of undoing it so her tits spill out.
“Shane, Shane, please,” she chants above me as I kiss and lick everywhere but where she needs me.
“You don’t want this remember?” I remind her.
“Fuck you, Shane,” she groans, trying to direct me with my hair.
“All in good time. I want to hear you admit it first.”
“Admit what?”
“That you want me. This. That you made a mistake every time you sent me away.”
I lick up the underside of her breast and allow my nose to brush over her peak. She gasps as the sensation races through her. But the stubborn bitch still resists.
“No. I just want this.”
“You just want me for sex?”
“Yes. Now please. Give me what I need.”
“Why not one of the others? I’m sure they’d be up for it.”
“No,” she cries as my teeth sink into the softness of her breast.
I look up at her as I suck and lick at the bite. Her eyes are black, her cheeks red with desire.
“No, I don’t want…”
“Go on. You don’t want…?”
“I don’t want any of them, okay?”
“So, say it. Say those three little words and I’ll give you what you need.”
My tongue brushes the very tip of her nipple and her eyes shutter with pleasure.
FIERCE: A High School Enemies to Lovers Romance (Rosewood High Book 4) Page 15