Emily
THAT COULDN’T BE WHAT I was seeing. Maybe it was the couple of shots playing with my head, though, with the way people were staring I seriously doubted it. Heat rushed through my body, causing the blood to pound in my ears. Andrew had warned me about the brothers’ antics, but this was nowhere near what he described. He was watching me, eyebrows drawn together in confusion . . . at least until her hand slid across his shoulder blades. Then Andrew spun around, finally noticing the half-naked stripper dancing behind him.
Then there were the brothers, standing around, laughing their asses off at Andrew’s face. If I hadn’t been ready to murder someone, I probably would have found it hilarious too. His eyes were so wide they looked like they could fall out of his head at any moment.
“Uh . . . uh,” he sputtered.
My head snapped in his direction. “Uh . . . uh? That’s all you have to say about the fucking stripper trying to use you as a pole in front of your fiancée?”
The laughter in the room grew, but only from the brothers. My temper was well known on campus and the smart ones started to back away real quick. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Angie’s eyes as wide as Andrew’s, Caleb behind her, wincing like he wanted to run as far away from all of this as possible.
The stripper wasn’t even fazed—down to only her underwear at that point. When she stepped up to Andrew and started to practically dance on him, I completely fucking lost it.
“If you lay one goddamn body part on him, you’ll need a new boob job by the time I’m done with you.”
Her eyes went wide as she took a quick step backward.
“Now grab your fucking clothes and get out of my sight,” I yelled, pointing at her shit, scattered all over the floor.
She picked up her stuff. “I need my money,” she squeaked.
I launched myself in her direction but two strong arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me back. One of the brothers, who’d been watching the whole thing with a big ass smile on his face, grabbed the stripper’s arm and yanked her out of the room, and my reach, while I continued to struggle against the person holding me back.
“Em, stop struggling,” Andrew whispered in my ear and pulled me tighter against his chest.
“You better get your fucking hands off of me right now, Andrew Bentley!”
“No.”
“You can’t hold me all night and if you don’t let me go, I’m going to kick your ass before I get to your frat brothers.”
“Em, I’m not letting you go to kick anyone’s ass. Caleb!”
The more I struggled, the tighter his hold became. The room was all but empty as Caleb walked up to us, Angie right by his side.
“You’re going to take Em from me and take her ass back to my apartment while I go deal with my brothers.”
“Oh hell no! I’m not going anywhere.”
“Andrew, do you think that’s a good idea?” Caleb asked, looking between the two of us.
“Yes.” Caleb didn’t move, still staring at us. “Caleb,” Andrew said with more force.
“Okay, okay. I still think this is a bad idea.”
He had no idea how bad of an idea it was. As soon as I got to the apartment, I was getting my car and I was out of there. How could he do nothing until after the fact? He had plenty of time to put a stop to the bullshit. Instead he stood there stuttering.
Asshole.
“Her keys are in her purse. I’ll get them for you. The apartment key is on there, but take them home after you unlock the door. Otherwise she’ll leave and we won’t be able to talk when I get back there.”
What is he a freaking mind reader?
Taking a step back I tried to stomp on his foot, but he moved out of reach, still with enough of a hold on me that I couldn’t get free. He was so dead. “Who says I even want to talk to you after all of this shit. Angie, a little help here, please?”
“Come on, Em. Just come home with us. We can figure it out later.”
My eyes narrowed. “Are you kidding me? There’s nothing to figure out! He’s an asshole,” I yelled, trying to gesture behind me. “And right now I want nothing to do with him.”
“Exactly. Right now,” she said. “So, no, I’m not gonna help you. Instead I’m going to help them get you home.”
Andrew let me go and I flipped around so fast that my hair swung around and hit me in the face, making me lose focus for a moment. He used that to his advantage, bent down, and threw me over his shoulder. The shock wore off quickly. Using my feet, I tried to wriggle my way down. That’s when he got smart and wrapped his other arm around my knees.
“Put me down. NOW!”
“Are you guys ready?” he asked.
Caleb pulled out his keys and led the way to the door, Angie following behind us.
“I can’t believe you are going to take his side.”
“I’m not taking sides. I just happen to be the calm and rational one out of the two of us.”
Caleb must have unlocked the car with his remote, because there was a beep, signaling it was open.
“Hold on. Let me get in first,” Caleb said. I couldn’t see with the angle I was at but I heard two doors open and close.
“Look, I know you’re pissed, and we can talk about that when I get home, but I need to deal with my brothers and you need time to cool down. Whether you like it or not, I’m doing what’s best for you.”
And with that, he opened the door, deposited me on the seat, and closed it behind me. Caleb put the car in gear and drove away before I had the opportunity to put on my seatbelt—much less attempt to get out.
“You guys are as fucked up as them.” I crossed my arms over my chest.
That set Angie’s temper off. “Screw you, Em. I get that you’re pissed, but Andrew’s right. You need to calm your ass down before you say something you can’t take back.” She turned around in a huff.
When we got back to the apartment I decided I was going to call Lauren or Josh to come pick me up. Without turning the car off, Caleb turned around.
“Are you going to walk inside on your own, or do I have to carry you into the apartment?”
“I’ll walk,” I said, rolling my eyes.
Caleb got out and opened the door for me. Storming up the stairs to the apartment, I was so pissed I didn’t realize that they were following me. I went directly to our room to pack an overnight bag and when I came back out, I was surprised to find Caleb blocking the door and Angie sitting on the couch looking bored.
“Caleb, get out of my way.” I pulled my phone out and started to dial.
“No.”
Angie reached around and took the phone from my hands, tossing it to Caleb.
“Sit down,” Angie demanded. “We aren’t leaving until Andrew gets here, so you might as well get cozy.”
“If you haven’t figured it out, I don’t want to be here when that asshole gets back. I’ve had enough of his shit for the night.”
“What shit?” Angie asked.
“Are you blind, or did you conveniently forget about the stripper who was attempting to grope my fiancée, less than a half an hour ago?”
“Oh no, I saw it. I’m trying to figure out why you think Andrew had anything to do with it.”
“It was his stupid frat brothers who think all this shit is funny—”
The door opened and Andrew stood there, his hands on his hips, his nostrils flaring. Oh no, he better not be pissed at me.
“I guess you guys decided to stay.”
“We figured it was the best way to keep her here, but now we’re leaving. The two of you can duke it out,” Caleb said, reaching out to Angie.
“Calm down and listen,” she whispered at me, before turning to walk out of the door.
And there I was, left alone with Andrew.
While I could have gone down the hall and locked the bedroom door, it wouldn’t have done any good. Besides, I was past that kind of passive-aggressive anger at that point.
“Why the fuck would you make me come back here
? Right now I have no desire to be anywhere near you.”
Andrew planted his legs apart and crossed his arms. “And why’s that, Em?”
“Did you miss the stripper with her hands all over you, or was that just me?”
His eyes narrowed. “Oh, I saw the stripper. I also saw you try to kick her ass, and everyone else’s in the room. I’m still trying to figure out what any of this has to do with me.”
“What it has to do with you? How about the fact that we were at your fraternity house with your brothers,” I said with a sneer.
Andrew took a step toward me but I held my ground. There was no way he was going to try and intimidate me.
“I warned you that something like this might happen.”
“Oh no.” My hands now flying around in rage. “You warned me they might try and pull some stupid crap, but never once did you mention strippers trying to grope you.”
“This is exactly why I didn’t want to go in the first place!” he yelled, throwing his hands up in the air and taking another step forward. “But no, you insisted we go. You said it would be fine—that you’d just let the bullshit roll off your back. And yet here we are, having the fight I knew was going to happen.”
This time, I stepped back. His eyes were hard as he stared me down. It was starting to dawn on me that Andrew was as pissed as I was, if not more. That never happened, but that didn’t stop me. “I thought I could ignore it. How was I supposed to expect something like that?”
“Again. Not. My. Fault.” Andrew raged.
“Then whose fault is it?”
“That would be the brothers who, incidentally, I let have it a little bit ago for making it so that I have to deal with this bullshit.” He ran his hands through his hair. “You wanna be pissed? Fine, be pissed. I’m too tired for this shit.” Andrew stepped around me and walked down the hall toward our bedroom.
He just walked away. He actually walked away from me. Not that we fought all the time, but we never went to bed mad at each other.
A few moments passed with me rooted to my spot in shock before I followed, only to find the bedroom door closed. I turned the knob and threw the door open so hard that it crashed against the wall, rattling the windows.
“How dare you walk away from me!”
His head snapped up, eyes blazing as he stalked toward me, backing me up against the door. Our eyes connected for a moment and suddenly his lips were on mine, but it wasn’t a kiss of passion or sensuality. It was one of punishment.
When he didn’t try to deepen the kiss, I knew it was about trying to prove a point. I put my hands on his shirt to push him away but he grabbed at my wrists, holding them against the door. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew if I told him to stop he would step away instantly, but there was just something about the feel of his lips on mine. The slight hint of cinnamon.
No matter how pissed I was, I couldn’t deny the need that raced to the surface. I wanted Andrew. I wanted him right then and there. Maybe it was just to prove that he was mine, but deep down I knew he loved me as much as I loved him. Without a second thought I parted my lips, slipping my tongue out to taste his.
At first he kept his lips together, but still pressed against mine. It wasn’t until I sucked his bottom lip into my mouth that he let me in with a groan. That quickly, I’d taken a kiss lacking desire and turned it into something else.
Make up sex before the fight was over was definitely something new—not that I didn’t want to try it. My wrists were still pinned to the door, Andrew’s lips moving down my cheek to my jaw, taking little nips all the way to my ear, where he sucked the lobe into his mouth. When his lips returned to mine, the kiss was gentler, although, there was still an edge to it, an untold emotion that definitely wasn’t lust. I should have pushed him off—damn it, I was still pissed—except deep down there might have been a part of me that knew I was wrong for freaking out, not that it was going to stop me from doing it. The alcohol wasn’t helping either. That, and Andrew always tasted so good.
One of my hands was finally set free from the door. It was my chance. Then the feeling of his slightly calloused fingers against the bare skin of my stomach sent shivers through my body and, suddenly, the mood changed again. It was like being on an emotional roller coaster.
“You make me fucking crazy.”
“What do you expect when you act like an asshole?”
“An asshole, really? I’m an asshole? How the hell would you describe yourself then?”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “The girl whose fiancé is an asshole.”
“Well, I call it being a bitch,” he snapped.
“A bitch?” I yelled.
Before I had a chance to say anything else, my shirt was ripped over my head and my back forced against the wall, his lips covering mine. Now, not only was my body shaking with desire, there was anger. He’d called me a bitch. I should be fuming, yet, the feel of his body connected made me lose all reason. While his mouth continued to devour mine, the snaps on my bra came undone and the black lace fell to the floor, the cool air teasing my nipples, making them harden.
Andrew’s head dropped down to my breasts, flicking his tongue lightly on the tip and then sucking it into his mouth. The sensations shooting from my breast to my clit made me gasp. As much as I wanted to finish our argument, the desire pouring through my system was getting to be too much to handle. We could finish yelling at each other later.
Wrapping my hand around the back of his neck, I held his head to my chest, enjoying the feeling of his hot tongue moving in caressing circles around my nipple and down into the valley between my breasts, where he began to suck and kiss his way up to the peak of my other breast. After a few moments of torture, I was writhing against the door, needing something more. I wanted his hands on me. When he finally pulled from my chest, I was able to get my lust-filled brain under a small amount of control.
“I don’t like you very much right now,” I said as he was standing up and pulling off his own shirt.
“That’s okay ’cause, right now, I don’t like you very much either.” He wrapped his hands around my arms and guided me toward the bed. “But needing to be buried inside you makes me not care about the shit you’re dishing out.”
The back of my legs hit the bed and he spun me around so fast that the pictures hanging on the wall blurred. It made me feel a little dizzy but, hell, if it didn’t turn me on even more. The tremors started up again when he took his hands and touched them to my wrists, dragging them up my arms with featherlight touches. The moment his hands reached my shoulders, he pushed me face down onto the bed and whispered in my ear.
“You’re mine and I’m yours. I think it’s about time you remembered that.”
In the blink of an eye my skirt was pushed up over my hips, exposing my black lace panties. Andrew didn’t pull them down to my knees. Instead he pushed the flimsy material to the side and quickly sliding a finger into me. With a groan, I pushed back against his hand as he glided his finger in and out, setting off little fires in my clit. My body was on fire, begging to be touched and caressed all over. This rough side of Andrew was hot. When he slipped a second finger in I thought I was going to die. Such was my distraction, I barely noticed the sound of his zipper as it lowered.
“What are you waiting for? Just take me already,” I begged.
That’s when his fingers slipped from my body and I felt the tip of him, teasing my entrance.
“Is this what you want?” He continued swirling his hips, never pushing all the way in.
“Yes,” I said breathlessly.
In one quick thrust he slammed into me, his hips slapping against me.
“Oh God, Andrew.” My hands fisted into the comforter. The feeling was exquisite and everything I needed.
Andrew wasn’t taking it easy on me. The possessiveness from his earlier kiss came back with a vengeance as his body continued to pound into mine.
“You feel so good,” Andrew moaned.
The sp
eed of his thrusts increased, drawing small whimpers from my throat. The heat of him filling me was incredible, wiping away all thought because all I could focus on were the sharp, stabbing movements as he took control like never before. My brain went numb, unable to form actual words. Using his hands on either side of my head, his body bent over mine. He sucked on my earlobe, making my insides clench.
“Are you gonna come for me, baby?”
He was riding me so fast and hard I wasn’t sure how much more I could take before my body exploded.
“Please,” I begged.
Standing back up, his fingers dug into my hips, probably leaving bruises, and his deep, driving strokes sent me crashing over the edge in an orgasm that wiped everything from my mind, melting my brain cells. A few more quick thrusts and Andrew’s fingers tightened as he shouted through his own release, the force of it sending convulsions through his body. Andrew collapsed on top of me, the weight of him welcome.
“That was . . .” He tried, but failed to finish his sentence between his labored breaths.
My own body rising and falling with the force of the air moving in and out of my lungs, we sat quietly for a few moments, letting our bodies calm themselves. Once I’d gotten my breathing under control and my legs didn’t feel like jelly, I turned my head to the side to look at Andrew, who still lay across my back. He pressed a brief kiss to my forehead and slid off of me, the atmosphere that had dissipated with the forging of our bodies slowly filling the room once again.
It felt like hours that we lay there staring at each other, when really only moments passed, both of us unsure what to say. Andrew stood, letting his jeans and boxer briefs drop to the floor. He toed off his shoes and stepped out of his pants. That’s when he crawled up onto the bed and held his hand out to me.
“Come here.”
I debated it for less than half a second before I removed the rest of my clothes and climbed into bed with him. As we each lay on our sides, watching, waiting for the other to speak, I realized that the sex had driven the anger right out of me—most of it, anyway. Part of me still wanted to be mad at him, but after having him inside me, I really didn’t feel like it anymore.
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