by Emma Salah
“See you in a few hours,” Aidan said, as he got into his Range Rover, which was parked two cars down.
Zac nodded as Aidan drove away. In a few hours, he was going to be in a house with the one woman who had him wound up so tight that he was going to go home and jerk himself off before having to see her again later that night.
Determined, Zac got into his car. His mind was already on tomorrow’s date. He was going to make sure this date went according to plan—he wasn’t going to play by her rules, she was going to play by his. And if she didn’t think he knew what she was doing, she was in for a rude awakening. He thought with more than just his dick. If she wanted to fight dirty, he was going to fight dirty too. Starting with game night. By the end of tonight, Reagan would see that there was nothing special about him and she wouldn’t even want to date him for one more day, let alone for another week.
Chapter Fifteen
Callum’s house was crawling with people. The noise was almost deafening with everyone spread out in the games room, in the theater or in the Jacuzzi, drinking, laughing and generally having a good time.
Letty and Reagan were at a secluded part of the bar. Behind them, people danced to a hip-hop track. The music was louder here, but they could just about hear each other.
“Beer?” Letty offered, holding out a bottle to her.
Reagan took it. She popped it open and took a sip. Ice cold. Yum. She focused on her drink but felt Letty taking peeks at her while making a cocktail.
“You’re glowing.”
“Shut up. I am not glowing.”
Reagan put her right hip to the counter. She hadn’t bothered to dress up for game night and was in a shirt that had the words I game, deal with it across her chest, blue jeans and her trusty Converses.
“You are so glowing.” Letty grinned. “The sex between you two must be phenomenal.”
Reagan blew out a breath. Letty had no idea. Except...
“That’s the one area we are not having a problem with. It’s when we leave the bedroom, or the sofa, or the wall—”
“Okay, bitch, we get it. You’re having lots of sex,” Letty grumbled.
“Sorry,” Reagan said, sheepishly.
Letty made a gesture with her hand to continue with her story.
“I feel like we’ve made practically no progress. He still won’t talk to me or even seriously entertain the idea of us being together. The first week is almost up and I still have no idea where we stand.”
“Have you thought about asking him?”
Reagan gave her a look.
“Bad idea, I’m guessing.”
“I can’t just go up to him and be like, ‘Hey, Zac, I know a week ago you thought it was the worst thing—worse than the apocalypse—to date me, but since we’ve been spending this time together, talking, having fun, having amazing sex, I was wondering if that had in any way influenced you and that maybe you’ve changed your mind? Wait—what’s with that look? Why are you breathing funny? Zac! Zac!’”
Reagan pretended to go limp.
Letty laughed. “I get it, Miss Drama Queen. You don’t want to freak out the boy any more than you already have.”
“Exactly.”
Reagan straightened.
“So just keep doing what you’re doing,” Letty said, with a sly smile.
Reagan looked at her.
“The plan is going to work, Reagan.”
They had come up with “the plan” after she had realized how Zac was trying to sabotage their dates and their idea was so simple it was either genius or utter shite. She wanted to believe it was pure genius, because of optimism and all that. Step one was to throw herself at Zac, have sex with him and leave him wanting more. That was last night. Step two was to play aloof, basically ignore him and not give in to the attraction between them. This was the stage she was in right now. In theory, it was supposed to have Zac feeling confused, but unable to keep his gaze and mind off her. Which is where step three came in. When he inevitably cracked under the pressure of trying and failing to resist her, he would come to her begging and she—being the awesome person that she was—would make him grovel first and then eventually let him back into her life and maybe go watch that Die Hard marathon with him he wouldn’t stop talking about. He would be so grateful for it that the armor around his heart would start to crack. Ah, the things she did for love. She didn’t get his obsession with action movies, something about it being mindless fun, but he definitely didn’t get why going to Comic-Con every year was a must and still he had gone with her a few times. Laughing and teasing about the costumes, but still he went. And one day, he’d give in and dress up as Captain America, because seriously the boy had the body for it. Finally, step four would be them hopelessly in love with each other and both parties acknowledging this fact. That was the plan.
“Is it? Stage two, he was supposed to be drooling all over me, dying for my attention, but do you see him anywhere? Is he even looking this way?”
Letty’s eyes wandered over her shoulder. Her brown eyes widened.
“Uh-oh.”
Reagan spun around and she knew instantly what had Letty looking worried. Past all the grinding bodies, she could just about see Zac standing in a dark corner of the room, leaning against the wall, but he wasn’t alone. Ashley, a super pretty blonde and an up-and-coming actress, was standing next to him.
“Okay, Reagan,” Letty murmured in her ear. “Don’t lose your cool.”
“Lose my cool? Why would I lose my cool?” It was not as if she felt hurt or betrayed that he was flirting with another woman. She clutched her beer and downed it. Okay, maybe she was losing her cool a little. He was standing awfully close to Ashley, while here Reagan was thinking and pining over him. Don’t lose your cool, he could just be doing this to mess with me, like those dates. That makes total sense, right?
“FYI, I think this is the definition of losing your cool.”
Ashley lifted her hand and rested it on Zac’s chest. Reagan’s eyes narrowed. Her blood boiled, especially when Zac did nothing. Just kept letting her touch him when he knew that they were dating!
She watched as Ashley said something—probably something flirty—and Zac smiled back at her.
Oh, he wanted to fight dirty, did he? He had no idea who he was messing with.
“You’re going to go over there, aren’t you?” Letty asked.
Reagan ignored her and sauntered over to Zac’s side, but she did manage to catch Letty’s muttered curse in Spanish.
She pushed through the throngs of bodies. The music pounded and made her already heated blood boil. When she finally made her way to their side, she was raring to go.
Zac and Ashley both looked at her in surprise.
“Reagan,” Zac said, the warning implicit in his voice.
Reagan held out her hand to Ashley. Ashley looked down at it, confused.
“Hey, Ashley,” she greeted.
Ashley took her hand and shook it.
“Reagan, it’s nice to see you again.”
Reagan turned her head.
“So, Zac,” Reagan said, “how’s the groin injury?”
Ashley’s eyes widened comically.
“You have a groin injury?” Ashley gasped and then realized how that must have sounded. “I mean, I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”
Reagan patted Zac’s arm. “He doesn’t really like talking about it. It’s left him...how should I put it? Less sensitive down there.”
Ashley’s eyes followed Reagan’s hand as she pointed to her own crotch.
“That can happen?” Ashley asked in a whisper.
Reagan sighed sympathetically, while continuing to pat Zac’s arm. “Unfortunately, it is really rare, but it does happen. A groin injury like this means that a lot of things just won’t be working the same way anymore. A shame, really.”
“Can I talk to you for a second, Reagan?” Zac sent a forced smile at Ashley. “Sorry. If you’ll excuse us.”
He grabbed Reagan by the arm and dragged her out of the room. He pushed her into the first room he saw, which happened to be one of Callum’s many bedrooms. As soon as the door closed, they were thrust into blessed silence.
“Ow.” Reagan glared at him, rubbing her arm. Okay, he hadn’t hurt her, but dramatics and all that.
Zac slammed the door. The lights were dim and the room was mostly empty, except for a bed, a closet and a table.
“What the fuck was that, Ree?”
“Ah, I don’t know. Except, while Ashley was pressing herself up against you like a cat in heat, did you maybe forget one important detail? Like the fact that you are supposed to be dating me?”
“I’ve forgotten nothing,” he insisted. “But this thing between us is secret. And we’re not really going out either.”
Ouch, she winced, taking a step back. He might not be thrilled about this, but did he have to say it like that? As if the idea was crazy and wrong? They were dating and she was going to make him realize that it was time to put up. Reagan took a determined step forward.
“Oh yes, we are. Or are you telling me that you haven’t been taking these dates seriously enough?”
“I’m not saying anything. And that is not the issue here. The issue here is that you told Ashley that I have a groin injury. What if she tells people?”
She waved her hand. “It’ll be okay.”
He clenched his hands. “How can you say that for sure?”
“Because Stacey never said anything.”
“Who the fuck is Stacey?”
Oh shit, she should not have said that.
She shook her head adamantly. “No one. Nothing. It isn’t important.”
Retreat, Reagan. Retreat. She tried to walk by him, but Zac wasn’t having any of that. He grabbed her by the arm again and pulled her towards him. She collided with his chest. He stared down at her, his eyes narrowed in anger.
“I’m going to ask you again, Ree: Who is Stacey?”
Reagan bit her lip to try and stop the words from spilling out, but she couldn’t hold them in. “Stacey was my freshman college roommate. She was the one with the really big—”
“Yeah, I remember,” he cut her off. “What did you do?”
“Stacey had this huge crush on you. She talked nonstop about you during the whole year we lived together, until she finally decided that she was going to make a move on you.”
“What did you do, Ree?”
“I might have told her an eenie-weenie white lie.”
He groaned. “You told her I was gay, didn’t you?”
“No,” she huffed out. “How would I have gotten away with that when you were constantly surrounded by your adoring fans? No... I just told her that you had a thing for toys.”
He looked at her, confused. “Toys? What kind of toys?”
Cheeks bright red, Reagan whispered, “Paddles? I might have said you couldn’t get it up, unless you were spanking the girl and she was calling you Daddy.”
Zac dropped his hands.
“Let me get this straight, you told your college roommate that I had a fetish for spanking and being called Daddy?” he asked slowly, as if he didn’t comprehend what she was saying to him.
“Basically,” she squeaked.
“What the fuck, Reagan? What would have happened if she had told people that?”
“But she didn’t! I told her that you were talking to a therapist about your addiction and that you were abstaining from sex in the meantime. Jeez.”
He shook his head. “You’re crazy.”
“I know.” She groaned. “I’m certifiable. Trust me, I didn’t mean to do it. It just kind of happened.”
“What the fuck were you thinking, Ree? Seriously!”
“I get it.”
“Of all the fucked-up things you’ve pulled, this has got to be one of the worst.”
“I said, I get it. And it’s not like you haven’t done dumb shit before.”
“Like what?”
She put her hands on her hips. “One word: Paul.”
“Who is Paul?”
“My boyfriend in junior year.”
She watched as Zac tried to think back. She saw the moment he remembered.
“Oh, you mean Pete the douche.”
“His name was Paul,” she said, jabbing Zac in the stomach.
“Paul. Pete. Who the fuck cares?” He stopped her from drilling a hole into his stomach by holding her hand captive.
“I care!” she told him. “I especially cared in junior year when my boyfriend of six weeks suddenly broke up with me and avoided me like the plague, with no explanation. And I know it was because of you. Fess up, Zachariah Quinn. What did you do?”
He ran a hand through his hair.
“Oh my god, what did you do?” Reagan asked, trying not to hyperventilate or let her imagination get the best of her. “You told him I was gay, didn’t you?”
Zac laughed. “If I told him you were gay, he would have asked for a threesome, not broken up with you.”
“What did you do, Zachariah James Quinn?”
“Oh, my full name.” He winced. “That is never good.”
“What did you do?”
“I might have told him you had a few restraining orders from previous boyfriends. That you were a brilliant girlfriend during the first couple of weeks, but then you started to get really paranoid about what the guy was doing so you kept tabs on him. Checking his phone, hacking into his email, turning up everywhere he went. Stalking him until he couldn’t breathe without you being there.”
Reagan closed her eyes. “You told my college boyfriend I was a stalker.”
“You told your roommate I was a pervert!”
“At least now I know that it wasn’t anything I had done to make him suddenly act like a douchebag.”
“And now I know why Stacey could never look me in the eye whenever I ran into her.”
“We’re crazy,” Reagan whispered to herself.
But Zac was definitely crazier. She opened her eyes and glared at him.
“And don’t think I don’t know what you’ve been doing,” she accused.
“And what have I been doing?”
“The candles. Opening doors for me. The restaurants.” She glared at him. “You think you can get me to say that this whole dating thing is a bad idea. It is not going to work. I’m onto you.”
“And I’m onto you, Reagan Thomas.”
“What does that mean?”
“The heels. The lingerie. Showing up at my house and blowing me.” He glared right back at her. “Oh yeah, I know what you’re up to, Reagan Thomas. Trying to use sex to control me. Somehow make me believe that us dating is a good idea.”
“It is a good idea!” she argued.
“No,” he hissed. “It’s not. Look at us right now. We should be out there having fun, but instead we’re in here arguing. And about what? About petty shit. We never used to argue like this before when we were just friends. You can’t deny that.”
Reagan threw up her other hand in the air, letting out an air of frustration. Friends argued, that was a fact of life, and she definitely remembered spending a whole evening arguing about whether pineapple on a pizza was a topping or not. It is. Unlike that conversation, this one was not her fault; the blame lay solely on his shoulders.
“Because you weren’t fighting me every step of the way.”
“And you weren’t fighting me back?”
“I’m not going to stop.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Why do you have to be so stubborn?” he burst out.
She li
fted her chin. “I still have one more week.”
“One week isn’t going to make any kind of difference, Ree. You have to see that.”
“No. All I see is that you want me. You can’t stay away from me. You’d rather fight with me than admit that you love having sex with me and—”
“We’ve already fucked enough times,” he said.
“And how is fucking me out of your system working for you, Zachariah?” she shot back.
He fell silent at that. He let go of her hand, but they were still pressed together. Chest to chest.
“Do you want me less? You aren’t thinking about pushing me up against the wall and fucking me?” she pushed, staring up at his beautifully bitable lips. “Have you gotten enough of me?”
She moved in closer to him, their thighs touching. He was wearing a tight blue shirt and when she put her hands on his stomach, she could feel his muscles tense. She licked her lips. Suddenly, Zac grabbed her chin with his forefinger and thumb, tipping Reagan’s head back to look at him.
“Is this what you want?” he whispered, his eyes staring straight at hers.
She didn’t think she could unravel her tongue long enough to untangle that question. All she knew was that she wanted him. Always. Any way that she could have him. The plan, a desperate voice in the back of her mind screamed at her. But it was drowned out by the lust in Zac’s eyes. I’m not giving in and letting him distract me with sex, she reassured herself. Except, it was okay to give in a little, to remind him why they were perfect together. That’s the only reason why they had come this far, because she’d been using their physical attraction to push him. So Reagan had to keep pushing him even further.
“Is this what you want?” he asked again.
Zac slipped his hand under her T-shirt and stroked up her stomach before pushing the cups of her bra under her breasts. He rubbed one of her nipples between his forefinger and thumb and squeezed. She moaned. As if her nipple was attached to her spine, her whole body arched. He squeezed harder and harder. She strained to her toes. The pain-pleasure making her dizzy. His grip on her chin never slackened. Never allowed her to move away. He completely controlled her. And just knowing that brought her to the edge of an orgasm, quicker than any orgasm she’d ever had.