by J. L. Beck
Forcing myself to move on and forget the shitty thoughts racing through me all at once, I wash my body and then my hair. I can feel the time dwindling down to when I have to fake a smile and pretend like I’m not raging on the inside as I stand beneath the steady stream of hot water. Once all the soap is washed from my body, I walk out of the floor to ceiling glass shower and grab the brown towel from the hook next to the shower door.
“Fuck!” I yell out loud as I grab my phone and see that I have three missed calls from Chance. Did the doorbell really ring and I missed it? Drying off in record speed I slip into my shorts and then throw on my shirt, not worrying about what my hair looks like.
A moment later, my deodorant and cologne are on and I’m ready to present the house to these new possible roommates. I hit the send key and hustle down the hall towards the front of the house. The phone rings and rings and rings while my feet hit the marble flooring of the kitchen.
“What the fuck were you doing? I called three times!” Chance’s voice is hushed as he finally picks up his phone. He’s probably in the library tutoring, automatically leading my mind to thoughts of Gia. The way she pushes her hair behind her ear and taps her pencil against the table when she is studying. I must have stayed quiet far longer than usual because an impatient huff filters into the phone, alerting me to speak up.
“Oh sorry, Dad! I didn’t realize I was to report to you on everything. In case you need a play by play, I was beating it off in the shower.” My teeth ground together with each word. For some unforeseen reason I was pissed, no I was livid, ready to rip him apart and for what reasoning?
Gia. That’s what my heart said while my mind had thoughts of their own, so I went with my mind, not ready to acknowledge my heart. I’m no good for her anyways.
“Well, dickhead I called to let you know the roommates are running late. They were having an issue with their fall schedules. I just thought I would call and give you a heads up. Obviously, that wasn’t needed as you’re easily getting it up.” He attempted a joke, but it was weak and I was too angry to laugh.
“Ha-ha-ha. Funny,” I mocked arrogantly.
“God, you need to get laid. You have been acting like this since−” I wasn’t about to let him finish his thought. No fucking way. Instead I interrupted, cutting him off before he could get another word out.
“Whatever. Thanks for the heads up, asshole.” I hit the end key on my cell as I stared at the counter in the kitchen for a moment. I needed to breathe, to cool down. I had no real reasoning to be this worked up.
“Breathe,” I told myself forcing some deep breaths into my lungs. I felt like a pussy, like a girl on the verge of a panic attack.
Bracing myself against the counter on my forearms, I stood for a long moment contemplating how I was going to move forward with all the shit emotions that were swirling around deep inside my head.
What if you…
NO! I almost screamed out loud. I felt like I was being eaten alive, like the love bug had finally come and bit me right in the fucking ass. There was no going to Gia, there was no dragging my ass to her and pleading for a date.
I refused.
But I wanted her.
I craved her.
Her lips. Her hair. Her vanilla fucking scent and those chocolate eyes. My cock was getting hard at the very image of her in my mind. The way her back arched as she reached her orgasm. Fuck, this girl was doing things to me. To my mind, to my body, and to my heart.
The sound of the doorbell echoed throughout the house as it bounced off the walls. I clenched my fists tightly, forcing in fresh oxygen then headed straight towards the front door.
I needed to move on. I needed to push past whatever fucked up obsession I had with her. With my hand resting on the door handle briefly, I rolled my shoulders and opened the heavy wooden door, not realizing just how much my life was about to change. Just how fucking hard it truly would be to move on from Gia motherfucking King.
Sweat covered my hands and my heart all but beat right out of my chest. I knew this house, this whole neighborhood. I knew that the second the door before me opened that everything would change.
I should’ve ran. I should’ve confessed my sins to Taylor. Now there was nothing that I could do. Now I would have to pretend as if I didn’t know him. As if I didn’t care about him at all, when all I could think about was him.
He’s all I’ve thought about since I first seen him all those months ago, I thought to myself as I wrung my hands together nervously.
“Holy shit, this house is…”
“Nice,” I finished the sentence for her, giving her a fake smile. If Taylor could tell that it wasn’t real, she wasn’t letting on, which sent relief coursing through me. She watched me for a moment longer before pressing the doorbell with a genuine smile on her face. She was happy, energetic about it all. There was no fucking way I could go and ruin this for her. I needed to pull on my big girl panties and just deal, that and we had already paid for six months of rent. There was no going back now.
My heartbeat skyrocketed as I heard the click of the doorknob turning as it opened. Wind seemed to stir the air around me, and I almost choked as I looked into a pair of blue eyes that I knew all too well. They flickered straight to me and then to Taylor, and then of course back to me. The shock in his eyes evident and mirroring my own. Thank God for my dark complexion, otherwise Taylor and Chase would’ve been able to see the blush creeping up my neck and onto my cheeks.
“Umm…” He cleared his throat, his eyes landing on mine again. Why was he staring at me?
“Hi! My name’s Taylor and this is Gia.” Taylor introduced us and then continued on as if she couldn’t feel the tension growing between us. She also failed to recognize the resemblance between Chance and Chase in all her excitement. “We’re here to see the rooms in the basement.” She tilted her head at him. He was still staring at me as he nodded his head yes.
“Umm, yeah. Come in.” Chase welcomed us in, but I could hear the hesitation in his voice. It wasn’t like I wanted to do this any more than he did.
Taylor walked in first and I followed in closely behind her, praying that Chase wouldn’t say anything or make any sudden movements towards me, because if he did I would have to cut him.
“Oh my fudging…” The air escaped Taylor as she gazed up at the ceiling and walls. The house truly was beautiful, a masterpiece if you asked me. Floor to ceiling windows lined the walls, and the ones that didn’t have windows were painted in warm neutral colors with elegant paintings hanging on them. The furniture looked brand new, which is a miracle really considering all the parties Chase had thrown here.
“I’ll take that as a good sign and say this place meets your expectations. The house is my parents, but we live here and by ‘we’ I mean my twin brother and I.”
“OMG!! I knew you looked really familiar!! I met your brother the other day when I went to surprise Gia at the library. I didn’t want to mention it, though. Some people get really mad when you tell them they look like someone else or irritated from hearing it so many times.” Taylor rambled on full of so much excitement that you would think she had an energy shot before we came over here.
“We’ve gotten told that so much that it doesn’t even bother us anymore. Plus we look a lot like our dad, family genes and all, so yeah we’re pretty used to it by now.” The smugness that I’ve become quite familiar with was back in all its glory, and all I could do was dig my fingernails into my flesh to stop myself from smacking him upside the head.
His arrogance was suffocating, and I swear I was about five seconds away from puking on his prestigious floor. Truth be told, I was ready to leave already and I had a minimum of six months of living left to do in this house. One of us was going to die. It was going to be a bloodbath of epic proportions, and I prayed I was the one to survive it all.
After Taylor got over the initial shock of my tutor having a twin brother and them being our new roommates, Chase begin to tell us about the house, ex
plaining how his parents had visited Italy when he was a kid and hand picked out most of the artwork and furniture.
“Why are you not shocked by this?” Taylor mumbled under her breath to me. How could I tell her that I wasn’t shocked by the elegance of the house because I had seen it before, without letting her know I had been here and ended up in Chase’s bed? I couldn’t.
I was screwed. So fucking screwed.
Chase pointed us down the basement stairs, Taylor in front while he trailed behind me. I could feel the heat from him against my back as he followed closely behind.
“You smell good enough to eat… again,” he breathed into my ear right as my feet hit the last step. My mind was racing, my palms sweating. I was flushed from head to toe. The game he was playing right at the moment was a nasty one. He knew I was stuck, he knew there was no way I could respond to his comments. At least not in front of Taylor.
“It’s beautiful really. Don’t you think, Gia?” Taylor seemed to growl in frustration. I hated that she was the only one oohhhing and ahhhing, but I knew I couldn’t fake it without making her suspicious.
“Yes. It’s perfect for us, Tay,” I answered her, focusing on anything but the huge ass elephant in the room named Chase.
My eyes glided across the immaculate hardwood floors to the floor to ceiling windows that mirrored the ones upstairs, and then to each door in the basement. I could only assume they lead into the bedrooms, bathroom, and the laundry room.
Taylor wandered off into one while I made my way into another. Of course, Chase followed me and as soon as my hand twisted the doorknob and we walked in he interrupted the silence.
“I refuse to let you stay here.” His voice was stern and the way he was looking at me told me he wouldn’t back down. I wanted to roll my eyes and tell him I didn’t like the fucking idea any more than he did but refused instead. I wouldn’t let him know anything about my feelings. If this bothered him then I was happy, so fucking be it.
“Well, Chase you have no say. Our parents already paid for six months of rent for Taylor and me, so I suppose I’m your new roommate,” I said in a hushed tone as I looked around the vacant room pretending that he wasn’t even in here with me.
“These closets are huge!” Taylor’s voice echoed through the basement and into the room I stood in as she gushed about the closet space.
“I’ll make you regret this,” he growled in my ear as I walked past him and out of the room, heading straight into another room that led into the bathroom which had a shower and a bathtub that would make any woman weak in the knees. I wanted to jump in it right this second and soak my problems away. Chase being the very first of many.
“I already regret ever meeting you, so I have you beat,” I shot back at him, turning around not expecting to come face to face with him. The close proximity began to mess with my head, making me want to take his lip into my mouth and bite it all while telling him to fuck off. So I backed away before I did something crazy like kiss him again.
“This place is excellent. When can we move in?” Taylor asked urgently as she walked into the room we were in. Chase smiled at her, it was fake, though, simply because it didn’t cause a twinkle to form in his eyes. Yes, I had realized that when he was genuinely happy his eyes twinkled.
“Whenever you want. The rent has been paid, so it seems you’re free to do so whenever.” Chase shrugged his shoulders and handed a pair of keys to Taylor before reaching into his back pocket and bringing forth a second set, handing them over to me.
“Gia!!!” She squealed, grabbing the keys from Chase and wrapping me in a gigantic hug, well as big as her five-foot stature would allow.
“I know, I’m excited too,” I whispered into her ear while Chase glared at me. His stare promised war. He was angry that he had been fooled, that for once he had been screwed by a girl and that it wasn’t him doing the screwing. I guess he still hadn’t gotten over our night together, which was fine because I hadn’t either, but at least I was keeping it together.
As his eyes narrowed further, I knew he would never be able to hold that anger in. One way or another he would find himself coming back to me, and I would be forced to deliver an everlasting blow.
I had my fill of Chase Winchester. He had nothing to offer me.
I thought as I told myself one of the biggest lies I have ever told.
I paced the floor in my bedroom so many times, I was positive I was wearing a hole right through it into the basement. My veins were filled with fire, my mind was far from thinking rational thoughts. All I could think about was how I was going to make her pay for all the damage she was about to cause. I had never hurt a woman in my life, but Gia was pushing every button I had.
She knew exactly what to say to set me off, knew exactly what she needed to do to push me to the edge, and with one look I cracked under pressure. She was an addiction, a contradiction to everything I ever wanted in a woman. The fire she caused swirled deep inside of me, the embers of said fire burning pieces of my flesh in her wake.
She was dangerous.
She was evil.
The devil in sheep’s clothing, and she had the power to destroy. She held the match to start the fire, to burn everyone and everything between us.
I sat on the counter in the kitchen watching as the girls moved random items into the house. A lamp that looked like a shoe, clothes, and did I say clothes? Shoes, and more shoes. Jesus, when would it end? When the basement became a women’s boutique?
I waited as patiently as I could for them to ask for help. I knew it was coming, I could see the frustration filling Gia’s eyes as hers met mine in a gridiron glare. She was relentless. Her anger seemed to grow more with every box she heaved in, but it was once Taylor was outside and she was alone inside with me that she finally spoke.
“You could be a gentleman and help us.” Her tone said she was pissed, and I couldn’t help the smile that formed on my face. At least she finally felt how I did.
“As you know I’m not a gentleman so…” I trailed off as if I wasn’t entertained with the conversation. The truth was, I had never wanted to talk to someone more than her. Hell, we didn’t even have to talk. I just wanted to be in the same room as her. She made me happy even though I would never admit it to her. She closed the holes inside of me, filling them with everything good in her and forcing the bad away.
“You’re right, why on God’s green earth would I ever think that?”
“All that is left is the mattresses and bed sheets.” Taylor, her spunky little red headed friend, yelled into the house stopping me from responding. I had caught the way she and Chance walked circles around one another, reminding me of Gia and myself.
When I told Chance who our roommates would be, he was just as shocked as I was that it was Gia and her friend who had ended up renting our basement. Come to find out he hadn’t planned this, which I kind of thought he had. They had been texting each other the details and whenever information needed to be discussed via phone Taylor’s dad had always called.
“Great!” Gia yelled back, shoving one of the boxes across the floor with her foot. She was wearing a pair of ripped jean shorts and a shirt that said ‘Reading is my superpower.' I wanted to laugh at the mere thought, but the second I pictured her in glasses bending over to reach for a book with her ass in the air my mind went south. Way south.
“You know, if you didn’t have to move here you wouldn’t have to move all these boxes?” I decided to rub the salt just a little further into the wound. I wanted to see just how far I could push her. Would she snap? Slap me in the face and call me the prick I truthfully was? Or would she take it like a no-holds-barred chick, capable of holding her own against me?
Gia looked up from the floor, her eyes holding an icy glare that almost turned my heart to ice. Her small fists were clenched at her sides, and I found it adorable that she was getting angry, my cock was even growing in excitement.
Come a little closer, princess…
My inner ego was a big
ger dick than even I was, what can I say.
I watched the ice in her eyes melt away and in its place a raging inferno of fire formed. It sparked something in me that I had to force away because I couldn’t let her get to me.
“I will do whatever…” her voice was a growl, a sexy kitten like growl, “the fuck I want.” She pushed her finger into my chest, and it brought back so many memories. The need to grip her by the hips and place her on the edge of the counter was strong. I wanted to pump into her, reminding her of why I made her feel the way she did.
“You make yourself seem bigger than what you really are.” I paused and waited for the flames to reach out and burn me. When they didn’t I leaned in real close, so close that our lips were almost touching. “Remember that I know what you are underneath it all. You’re a princess and everyone knows a princess is nothing without her royal thrown,” I whispered the words to her. I wanted her to know that I knew what made her tick. She wasn’t alone in this war. I knew my enemy as well.
“My name is Gia, and if you call me princess,” she hissed the word, “one more time, I will make you eat your dick.” The fact that she smiled while saying it shouldn’t have made me harder. The fact that she had threatened my manhood shouldn’t have made me want to bust out in laughter. Yet, I couldn’t help it. My belly shaking laugh filled the room and Taylor shot me a strange look as she walked back into the house.
“Did I miss something?” she asked curiously, my laughter stopping immediately. If I was right, Gia hadn’t told her about the roll in the hay we had. Therefore, I had the option to be a really big dick or just blow it off.
“Nah. Something on Facebook.” I smiled at her, and for the first time since I met her I really looked at her, understanding instantly why Chance was drawn to her. She was small, almost fragile like and uniquely beautiful. Her face was covered in freckles and her smile was infectious.