“Thank you,” he said coyly, his voice gruff, as he appraised me.
“You’re welcome.”
What else was I supposed to say? I’d never been thanked for a kiss before. It was sort of strange, but at the same time, exhilarating. That was the moment in which I wished I had more flirty lines in my arsenal, but I didn’t so, ‘you’re welcome’ had to suffice.
“Let’s go take a walk outside,” Carter suggested. “I’ll show you my pool.”
As we passed another bar, Carter reached out and grabbed a bottle of champagne and two glasses.
“Champagne?” I questioned.
“Only the best for you,” he said, and it came across just this side of cheesy, but I didn’t care. He was insanely hot, so he could get away with cheesy. And he was almost taking my mind off the guy who I was trying to forget.
Carter and I emerged into his backyard, where people mingled and sipped cocktails. Some were even hooking up, even though it was pretty early in the night. He had a pretty sweet set-up with all the typical L.A. décor – outdoor bar and grill area, pool, hot tub, outdoor seating – but just on a smaller scale. Carter had arrived, but you could tell he’d upgrade his digs as soon as he could afford something more expensive, more elaborate. He definitely struck me as the kind of guy who liked to impress others with his wealth.
“Over here,” he said, his hand guiding the small of my back as we walked around the pool. I was afraid I would fall in as I tried to walk on the stone patio in my four inch heels, but something told me he wouldn’t let that happen.
We passed Jase, who was talking up a blond, who was gesturing exuberantly with her hands and spilling her martini as she talked. His eyes shifted to me, catching my gaze, and I saw a visible reaction when he noticed who I was with. He probably wasn’t a fan of Carter, simply because Carter and Ethan were friends. It looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn’t. Carter and I kept walking, and I told myself again that I needed to push him from my mind, although his insistence that he was innocent kept filtering through my brain.
Maybe he hadn’t been involved in the rape. But Ethan had said that someone had named him amongst the guys who’d been in the room with the girl who’d been raped. It didn’t make any sense.
Carter and I settled on the other side of the pool, and I took advantage of the fact that I could take my shoes off. My ankles were starting to hurt. I let my legs dangle into the water and finished off my drink as Carter poured us both glasses of champagne.
“To seeing where the night takes us,” he said, clinking his glass against mine and keeping his gaze locked on me, as he took a long drink of the clear, bubbly liquid. He was very intense.
“I’ll drink to that,” I said playfully, knowing the night wasn’t going to take us very far, but I could go along with his delusions.
Carter took a big sip and set his glass down. He took mine from me after I’d taken my first sip and set it next to his. “I have to kiss you,” he murmured, the intensity flaring up in his eyes again.
“Oh, okay,” I said, caught off-guard. I was not used to guys being so forward.
The coolness of the chilled champagne made Carter’s mouth cold and hot at the same time as his tongue met mine, swirling around, tasting me as it seemed. I leaned into him and fell victim to the hedonistic way he was possessing my mouth. Then suddenly it became too much, too fast, and I pulled away.
Carter groaned. “You taste amazing,” he said, his voice low and throaty. “I want to taste more of you, savor you.”
Okay, that was a little over the top. He needed to dial it back just a bit.
“Why don’t we have some more champagne,” I said, reaching for my glass. Resignedly, he followed my lead. “Why don’t you tell me about yourself?”
“You don’t want to hear about me,” he said, leaning toward me. “But I want to know about you.”
I blushed at the intense way he said that. Even the most innocent comment was laced with sex when it was coming out of his mouth. Instead of giving in to my sudden urges and kissing him again, I told him about myself as we sat and drank champagne. I looked up a few times to see Jase watching me from across the patio, and it unnerved me. I needed to forget him, but it was hard to do with his eyes on me.
At one point, Carter followed my gaze and saw what had me captivated.
“That guy’s a dick,” he said, as he refilled my glass.
“So I’ve heard,” I murmured, but I kept my eye on Jase, watching him watching me.
“He treats women like shit,” Carter said, as he leaned forward to rest his lips on my neck. His tongue darted out and tasted my skin.
“I heard there was an incident a few years ago,” I said, leaning my head back to give him better access to my neck, where he continued to lick and suck and taste. It was making me light-headed, but in a really good way. It also could have been the champagne. I wasn’t sure how much I’d drunk. Carter kept refilling my glass, and I kept drinking.
“E, told you?” he asked, and I nodded.
“He told me I should stay away from Jase.”
“He’s right,” he said, as he moved down to my collarbone. “The only reason I let him come here tonight is because wherever he goes, a slew of hot women follow, but had I known you’d be here, I would have told him to go home. I don’t need any other women when I have you.”
“Seriously?” I asked, feeling skeptical but powerful at the same time.
“I can’t keep my hands off of you,” he said. “What do you think?”
I swallowed. “I think I like that you can’t keep your hands off of me.”
Carter pulled back and looked at me. “Can we take this someplace more intimate then?”
In a less intoxicated state, I would have said no, but I was definitely not thinking clearly in that moment, and his cologne was filling my nostrils, as the feel of his lips was still fresh on my skin. I figured, what could it hurt?
“Sure,” I said, and Carter helped me to stand.
I was a little wobbly as I grabbed my shoes and he guided me over to the pool house that had been dark all night. Punching in a code, he opened the door and turned on the light. Just then a guy with long blond hair came up behind us.
“Hey man,” he said excitedly, and Carter turned to face him. The guy gave him a look that Carter seemed to understand. “Give me twenty minutes, okay?”
“You got it, man,” the guy said, as his eyes shifted to me. “Twenty minutes. Right on. What about Kev and Dex?”
“Just Kev,” Carter said warningly.
“Right on,” the guy said, and with that he grinned and turned away.
“Wait,” Carter said, and the guy turned around. “See if Superstar wants in on the action.”
“Right on,” the guy said, the excitement in his voice building.
I had no idea what they were talking about, but I figured I had twenty minutes of alone time with Carter until he got pulled away by his friends. That was fine with me. I wanted to find Ethan and Henley anyway.
“Do you want something to drink?” Carter asked, as we stepped inside the pool house, but I just shook my head. I’d had enough. He smiled. “I was hoping you’d say that. Come on.”
He took my hand and led me into a back bedroom. He turned to face me, and I dropped my shoes on the floor and smiled at him.
“I’ve wanted to get you alone all night,” he said, his eyes drinking me in hungrily.
“Well, now that you have me alone. What are you going to do with me?”
See, I could flirt. I just needed some alcohol to aide me.
He smirked. “You’ll have to wait and see.”
In one fluid motion his arms were around me, and I was suddenly beneath him on the bed. His kisses became more urgent, as he licked and sucked his way from my mouth to the top of my dress. Looking up, as if to ask permission, he grinned when I nodded my head, and he tugged the top of my dress down. I was glad he was being a gentleman.
He tugged my strapless
bra down, and his mouth immediately found my nipple, sucking and tugging it with his teeth. I moaned involuntarily, feeling the heat from his mouth spread throughout my body and pool below my stomach. As nimbly as I could in that moment, since the daze from the alcohol and his touch had me almost incoherent, I started to undo the buttons on his black shirt. Things were definitely fuzzy around the edges.
When I reached the last button, he paused long enough for me to push the shirt back off his shoulders. I tugged the gray t-shirt he was wearing over his head and tossed it to the floor, revealing his tanned and toned-to-the-maximum chest. Running my hands up the planes of his skin, I decided that was as far as I would go with him. I wasn’t about to lose my virginity to a guy I’d just met, in the pool house of some party.
“You taste amazing,” he said, as his hand, ever so slowly, began to push my dress up higher as it grazed gently over my thigh. When he reached the lace of my panties, I froze, and he looked up at me.
“What’s wrong?”
The way he said it should have been a warning to me, but in my drunken state, his tone didn’t register. To my ears it came across clear that my reaction was childish, and I should in no way have a problem with someone like him taking things further.
“Carter, we just met,” I said, as his fingers ran along the line of my panties and slipped underneath, ever so carefully.
“And I’m really glad we did,” he murmured, his lips moving from my breast to my neck to my ear. He sucked gently on the lobe, making me forget that I didn’t want to go further than we were.
“Me too,” I said, my breath becoming ever shallower as he slipped one finger inside me.
“Damn, you’re so tight,” he said, as he started to move his finger slowly in and out.
I let my head fall back, trying to stay in control but slowly losing my grip. But as soon as Carter pressed his erection against my leg, I came right back down to earth.
“I can’t wait to be inside you,” he said, as his lips pressed over mine in a commanding way, and my radar was up.
“I’m a virgin!” I said quickly, and instantly felt my face flush scarlet as he pulled back, although his finger never stopped moving inside me, massaging me and urging me to get out of my head.
I fought to stay in control as I watched the expression on his face change from one of surprise to one of excitement. “I like virgins,” he said then, and I realized he wasn’t getting it.
He shifted so he was fully on top of me and thankfully removed his finger, but then he began to rub his hardness between my legs, pressing against me violently.
“Carter. Don’t. Seriously,” I said getting pissed that he wasn’t listening to me.
“Come on, baby,” he said. “Let me feel you. Let me inside.”
“No, I don’t want to do that,” I said firmly, but I was well-aware that my voice was wavering just enough for him to know how vulnerable I felt in that moment. His entire body weight was on top of me, after all.
“Well, I do,” he said, and it was the first time in my life I’d ever been so exposed to a guy without feeling perfectly safe. I longed to be back in Garrett’s hotel room. As awkward as that experience was, at least I knew he’d never hurt me.
And neither would Jase, a voice in the back of my mind told me.
“No,” I said firmly, wondering if Carter had ever heard that word in his life.
Instead of responding how I wanted him to, he only pressed against me harder, the firmness of his erection, pushing between my legs. I didn’t want him that close. I wanted him to get off me. The full weight of his body was smothering me, and I didn’t have a chance in hell of pushing him off. He was much stronger than me, and I think he wanted me to know that. He wanted me to know that he was in control.
“It’ll be fine,” he cooed in my ear as he shifted and inserted a finger back inside me. I tried to keep my legs together to deny him access, but he’d forced his way in. “You’ll love it. Let me show you how amazing sex with me can be.”
“I don’t want to,” I insisted determinedly, gritting my teeth. “Please Carter.”
I wanted to appeal to his rational side – if he even had one. He had to know I didn’t want to go any further, and I hoped if he knew I was serious that he’d come to his senses and back the fuck off. At that point, I just wanted to knee him in the balls, leave the pool house and get back to my friends.
“It’ll be great, baby,” he said, ignoring me as his breath came faster and he rubbed himself against my bare leg.
Before I could stop him, he pulled his finger out of me, but only so he could reach between my legs and rip my panties off, the lace tearing easily in his strong fingers. He took a few minutes to gaze down at what he’d exposed, licking his lips lecherously, his eyes gleaming.
Then his fingers moved to the button on his jeans. As soon as I heard the zipper come down, I started to cry, unable to maintain my tough, in-control façade. I was so terrified and alone, wishing Ethan would come bursting through the door to save me, but of course, he didn’t know where I was. I hadn’t seen him in a few hours, and I was pretty certain he would never dream that his friend would be attempting to violate me in the way he was intending.
God dammit! I was pissed at myself.
“Carter, stop,” I begged, tears streaming down my face, as he inserted two fingers inside me and began pumping harder, all while grinding his ever-hard erection against my leg. We were now only separated by the cloth of his boxer briefs, and I felt the wetness of his pre-cum against my bare skin.
“Come on, Logan, you’ll like this,” he coaxed, as if telling me that would suddenly change my mind. I hated hearing my name on his lips.
“No, I don’t want to,” I insisted, wiggling infinitesimally beneath him. I tried to push him away with my hands, pressing on his shoulders, but it didn’t do any good.
In a swift motion, he moved my hands above my head and pinned them down with one of his, gripping my wrists firmly. His other hand pulled out of me and moved to tightly grip my jaw.
“Don’t fight it. It’ll all be over soon,” he breathed into my left ear, clearly and firmly.
I twisted my head as much as I could to get away from the hot, wet feel of his words, as I continued to try to move under his weight, but it was no use, he was too strong. I tried to knee him in the groin from below, but I couldn’t get my knee out from under his leg.
“Don’t move!” he cautioned. “Don’t fight this. I’m going to take what I want. What you promised me.”
“I didn’t promise you shit,” I said, anger overtaking me, as I did my best to squirm away from him.
“Give me a break. You’ve been asking for it all night. And now I’m going to give it to you.”
“Fuck you!” I said, spitting in his face.
He was stunned for a second before he reeled back and slapped me hard across my face. My head whipped sideways from the full force of the blow as the wind pulled out of my chest. I coughed, as I tried to draw a breath in. The side of my face stung as an unpleasant warm feeling spread through it, and my eye felt like it might explode.
I kept my head turned to the side. I didn’t want to look at him. I didn’t want to see his face as he violated me and took from me something I didn’t want to give him.
“Help!” I screamed, hoping someone passing by might hear me. “Help me!”
His hand clamped firmly over my mouth. “Shut up,” he hissed. “No one can hear you anyway. The walls are soundproof.”
He watched my eyes go wide, and the sheer glee in his eyes made me sick to my stomach.
“I hate you,” I said, as the tears started falling again. “I’m going to tell Ethan about this, and he’s going to kill you.”
Carter just laughed. “He’ll never believe you, what with the way you were dressed tonight. You were asking for this. You wanted me, and now I just want to be with you. What’s so wrong with that?”
I hated the way his tone had shifted to sugary sweet, as he tried to t
alk me into believing I’d put myself in this situation. Bullshit. I might be pissed off that I’d let myself so stupidly agree to be alone with him, but there was no way I’d asked for what he was about to do. The look on his face made my stomach churn. I looked away from him. I didn’t want to see his hideous face any longer.
“You don’t have to make this hard, you know,” he crooned, as he cupped my jaw and yanked my head straight so I was forced to look at him. His voice was soft, but his actions were rough. “You’re just so irresistible. Let’s just do this. I know you’ll love it. Trust me.”
He kissed me hard on the lips, but I didn’t kiss him back. I swallowed back the vomit that crept up my throat, wishing he would suddenly realize what he was about to do and stop. This was ridiculous. It was one of those things you read about in magazines but think ‘this will never happen to me’, and then all of a sudden, it’s happening to you, and none of the things you thought when you were reading that article – things about fighting back and staying strong and running away – will work, because the bastard has a hundred pounds on you, and you have zero chance of overtaking him. You feel like a victim, and it’s the worst possible feeling in the world.
Then I heard the door to the pool house open, and it was the best sound I’d ever heard.
“Help,” I screamed, but Carter just laughed.
Why was he laughing? Whoever had just come in was about to see what he was doing and help me. He was about to get busted.
“Hey man,” I heard, recognizing the voice of the blond guy who’d intercepted us outside the pool house. “I gave you twenty-five minutes. Are we good?”
Carter looked back at him.
“Where’s Kevin?”
“Kevin was tied up with a sweet brunette chick, so he said he’d pass. My boy here was more than eager to come in his place. Right on.”
I heard the slap of two hands high-fiving and strained to see who had come in and why they weren’t stopping Carter. Then I realized what was about to happen, and I started to panic.
“What’s up, Superstar? You want in?”
Forcing Gravity Page 22