One Eighty (Westover Prep Book 1)
Page 24
“Be gentle,” I remind him.
“Of course. Are you ready?”
I nod, unable to actually say the words, and he lifts up on one side, touching me there again before notching himself against me.
“Jesus, just the anticipation is going to make this end too fast.”
My eyes screw shut when he pushes in a few inches. A stinging pain hits next, and I whimper. He’s too big, too much all at one time, and I shift my hips to try to ease the burn.
“Please look at me,” he begs. “I need to know we’re in this together. This is my first time, too, remember?”
“Oh, God,” I whisper when I open my eyes and see the vulnerability in his. “Dalton.”
“Piper,” he moans, pushing deeper into me.
When his legs meet the back of my thighs, I know he’s fully inside of me, and even though I expect him to pull back out and slam back inside, he holds his hips still, letting me adjust to him even though I can tell from the strain in his forehead that it’s costing him.
“Ready?”
I nod my head because the sharp pain is gone, replaced by a low throbbing that I’m sure won’t go away no matter how long he stays still.
“Kiss me,” I plead as his hips flex back.
He obliges, lowering his mouth to mine. Lifting my legs, I wrap them around his waist, and it makes him able to push in impossibly deeper. We both moan. Him with pleasure; me with unease.
“Piper, shit.” He pushes in again, slow but with unfaltering rhythm. “Fuck, baby. I’m so sorry.”
He jerks inside of me, growing thicker as his arms begin to tremble around me.
I don’t answer his apology. He has nothing to be sorry for, so I just hold him closer until he pulls out of me to dispose of the condom. He doesn’t leave me alone long, using a warm washcloth from the bathroom to clean between my legs, another embarrassing thing that forces my eyes to close until he’s done.
When he settles back on the bed, we don’t bother to grab clothes, opting to hold each other flesh to flesh.
“Are you okay?” he asks after a long silence that had me believing he was asleep.
“Yes.”
“Sore?”
“A little, but I heard it gets better the more you have sex.” His penis thumps against my leg, making me chuckle. “But it isn’t going to happen again today.”
He holds me tighter, resting his chin on the top of my head.
“Thank you,” he whispers.
“For the sex?” I chuckle against his chest.
“For loving me. For forgiving me.”
I lift my head and look up at him. He’s no longer my tormentor. He no longer looks at me with fire in his eyes and a desire to make me fall in shame. His handsome face and gorgeous green eyes are filled with the same kind of love I feel deep in my chest, and it makes me realize that I was right all along.
I killed the tyrant that haunted me day and night. The world is rid of that monster forever because the man in my arms right now is nothing like the evil being I thought would plague me for eternity.
But things are perfect right now.
Right now, we aren’t facing the world.
I’m not arguing with my dad about loving a man that hurt me.
He isn’t facing his friends that may still want to cause me pain.
No, things are perfect right now, but in a month, we go back to school, and that’s when we risk losing each other to the past we’re both trying to forget.
Epilogue
Dalton
“I predicted this,” I remind Piper as she looks through the windshield of the car toward the front doors of Westover Prep.
“No, you didn’t,” she mutters, but a smile plays at the corner of her pretty pink lips.
“I did. Six weeks ago, you asked me how I thought today was going to go. I told you I’d offer you my varsity jacket.” I point to the clothing in the back seat of my dad’s truck. “Told you that you’d refuse it.”
“It’s too hot for that right now.”
“Still predicted it.”
“We should leave.” She gives me a saucy look, one that never fails to make my cock thicken in my jeans. “Go somewhere secluded.”
“Predicted that as well. That’s why we left home early and stopped by the park.”
My lips still taste like the treasure between her legs. My mouth has been on her dozens of times since that first time in my bedroom when I finally stopped trying to push her away and accepted that we were meant to be together no matter our past.
“The only thing that’s off so far is you’re supposed to be kissing my lips until the first bell rings.”
“That so?” She finally pulls her eyes away from the droves of students walking into the school. “We can remedy that.”
I’ve never been more grateful that my dad is tall and drives a truck. Without hesitation, Piper flips up the console and climbs into my lap. We’ve done this so many times, she knows the right angle I need her at, and she settles on my lap perfectly.
Her mouth lowers to mine, distracting me from what we’re supposed to be doing, but we still have a little time, so I take sips of her lips and grip her delectable ass in both hands. Both of us have been insatiable since our first time. Even though we have to sneak around because her dad has put his foot down about us dating, we find plenty of time to spend together. Now that school is starting, that will be more difficult. It wasn’t hard to see each other when both of our parents left for work Monday through Friday, but now we have to contend with the seven-plus hours we’ll be at school.
“Let’s leave.” She grinds her hips down on me, a simple reminder that even though I got her off earlier, the favor hasn’t been returned. She likes fast and dirty, and I love to take my time, so we always have to compromise when we’re strapped for time.
“We can’t,” I whisper against her lips before licking into her mouth once again. “And quit grinding on me.”
She giggles, keeping her hips rotating, and it’s driving me crazy because I know just what this feels like when she’s naked, and I’m inside of her. My dick cries to be released.
“I swear it, Piper. I’ll fuck you right here in this truck.”
“Mmm,” she moans, her lips leaving wet kisses along my jaw.
The faint sound of the first bell can be heard on the outside system, and even though it kills me, I grip her waist and gently urge her off my lap.
“Really?” she pouts. “You’re gonna leave me all hot and bothered?”
I point to the erection barely contained in my jeans. “I’m no better over here, babe. Let’s go.”
“Things would be a lot better if you just let me tell my dad what really happened that night.” She looks over at me, school forgotten.
This isn’t the first time she’s tried to convince me to let her spill the truth, but I wouldn’t allow it then, and I won’t allow it now.
“I think sneaking around will be fun,” I lie. I want nothing more than to be welcomed in her home, invited to her house for family dinners, and to be accepted by her father, but I have more than just that night to atone for. Telling Dr. Schofield she was driving is only one small piece of the problems I’ve caused for Piper.
We don’t talk about her scars even though I kiss them each and every time I get the chance. Her parents know about those, and since her dad invaded her privacy, they also know about every mean thing I ever did to this amazing girl. One confession about that night won’t change all of that.
“Sneaking around won’t be fun. We’re both taking advanced placement classes this year. We’re both going to be studying a lot, and we should be able to do that together, but it’ll be time we have to spend apart.”
“We’ll make time,” I promise.
“It won’t be enough.”
“Do you love me?” I search her eyes, looking for any sign that she’s going to lie to me.
I do it every single time I ask the question or when she offers the words on her own.
I still can’t believe Piper feels that way about me, and I’ve had a hard time getting rid of my doubt. But, just like always, sincerity is in her voice and evident in her eyes when she speaks.
“Yes. You know I do.”
“Then trust me about this. I’ll have a conversation with your father eventually, but right now isn’t the time. The sting is still too new. He wouldn’t listen to what I have to say, and it’ll only make things worse.” She gives me a weak smile, and I brush my fingers down her cheek. “Now, let’s go. We can’t be late for the first day of senior year. Are you sure you don’t want to wear my varsity jacket?”
She scoffs again, just like she did the first time I offered. I’ll get her in that damn thing before the week is over. Piper sits in the truck until I climb out and go around to her side.
“Come on,” I urge, grabbing her hand and pulling her out and against my chest.
Just like I told her I’d do, I sling my arm over her shoulder and walk into the school with her.
It’s not as dramatic as I thought it was going to be when I described today to her all those weeks ago. We’ve spent many more days at the snow cone stand and even had people over to my house to swim. Piper and I don’t have a huge circle, but we do have a few people we feel like we can trust.
“Piper!” Frankie screeches as she runs in our direction.
Frankie got back less than a week ago, and even though I catch her giving me the side-eye every so often, she seems like she’s coming around to the idea of Piper and me.
Others aren’t, however. Bronwyn literally hisses like a feral cat at Piper when we walk by. Kyle is too busy talking to two girls in cheerleading uniforms to even notice us, but Vaughn is going to be trouble.
Without Bronwyn and Kyle paying attention to him, he watches my girl like he wants to eat her up, and it makes me want to punch him in the nose. I pull Piper closer, tucking her into my chest before brushing my lips against her temple.
“We talked about this,” she hisses. “You promised you’d keep the PDAs to a minimum.”
“We just nearly got busy in the truck, and you’re worried about a little kiss?” I whisper in her ear.
Her cheeks heat, pinking to my favorite new color, but she just rolls her eyes.
“Stop being a caveman, Dalton. We have bigger problems to talk about,” Frankie snaps. I still can’t get a good read on the girl, but she’s Piper’s best friend, and I’d never come in between that.
“We talked on the phone for an hour last night,” Piper interjects. “What could we possibly talk about now?”
“You remember Zeke?” Frankie asks.
“The farm guy from Utah, you won’t give me any information on?”
Frankie scoffs and rolls her eyes. “Yes, that idiot.”
“What about him?” Piper asks, and I let the girls talk as I step around Piper to get the books she’ll need for her next couple of classes from her locker.
“He’s here.”
I turn back at the tone in Frankie’s voice.
“What do you mean he’s here?” Piper asks, offering me her backpack when I hold up her books.
“He’s attending Westover Prep.”
“What?”
“And my parents just told me this morning that he’s going to be staying with us until his mom can find a place to live in town.”
Piper’s jaw hangs open, and I don’t know a single thing about this Zeke guy. My girl has mentioned before that Frankie has secrets about him that she’s trying to get to the bottom of, but other than that, they’ve never talked about him in front of me.
What I do know is Frankie is twisted up for some reason, and our first day of school has just gotten ten times more interesting.
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Grab Catch Twenty Two
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