by Lisa Simmons
Her smile widened on her lips as she looked at me. “Yes. But what if I said it wasn’t?” Her tone, too, was now playful, a sparkling glint in her eye shining through.
“Tough shit,” I said quietly, a quiet breath of air sucking through my teeth as I laughed silently. My hand pressed more firmly into her lower back, pulling her body closer against mine, my skin missing the contact with hers. “So I should fully expect it to be awful, right?” she teased back. I found my eyes drawn to her full lips, captivated by the way they moved as she spoke.
“Dreadful, yeah. Worst date of your life.”
“Can’t wait,” she said, smiling gently once more. My gaze traveled up from her mouth to her eyes, which were peering into mine closely.
“When do you wanna go?” I asked. “Out, I mean.”
This was such a foreign concept to me. I had no idea what to do for a date or how to even go about setting one up, and I felt completely in the dark.
“Um... Tuesday night? I don’t have class Wednesdays,” she answered, before realizing what she was implying. “Not that, um, anything is gonna happen after, I don’t mean to assume anything...” she rambled. “Actually, we probably shouldn’t... sleep together if we’re gonna try this whole dating thing.”“Are you serious?” I asked in astonishment. She couldn’t honestly believe I would be able to stay away from her if we were going to be hanging out and going on dates. There was no way I’d be able to resist her; there hadn’t been a time yet when I’d seen her and we hadn’t wound up together. “Don’t you think so?” she asked sincerely, eyes narrowing innocently at me. I groaned.
“No, not at all. You know how hard that’s gonna be?”
Speaking of hard, I could feel the hardness between us thanks to her sleeping pressed against me all night and just the morning in general, her hips pressing into me unknowingly. Looked like this morning would have no repeats of last night. “Yeah,” she admitted, looking annoyed with herself for suggesting it in the first place. “But I think it’d be for the best, you know?”
I groaned again, a heavy exhale falling from my lips. She probably was right, but I didn’t want to admit it. This was going to be extremely difficult.
“Yeah, yeah, probably,” I conceded, already determined to make her break that rule as soon as possible. I knew she had just as hard of a time resisting me as I did her, so it really shouldn’t be too hard. She smiled, pleased with her triumph.
“Just remember, when you’re begging me to touch you and you’re so hungry for me that you can’t stand it, that you asked for this,” I whispered darkly, hoping to start chipping away at her resolve already. She shivered, letting me know it was working.
“I’ll try to remember,” she said, her eyes flashing to my lips before rising back to my gaze. She shifted innocently in my arms, simply rearranging herself, but her hip rolled against my groin and I couldn’t stop the hiss that escaped my mouth. Realization struck her features, finally feeling the firmness between us.
“Oh god,” she said, biting back a laugh. “Awful timing for that rule, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, bloody bullshit is what it is,” I retorted, only half joking. She caught my tone easily, and pressed her lips together to stop from laughing at me.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered quietly, her eyes positively glowing.
“Yeah, you will be,” I threatened playfully. Little did she know I planned to do everything in my power to make her cave on that rule. There was no way I’d be able to keep myself from wanting her. She surprised me by leaning forward and pressing her lips to mine to stop my grumbling. As soon as she realized what she was doing, she jerked back quickly, unsure if she as allowed to do that. My eyes scanned back and forth between hers and her lips, my breath catching slightly in my throat before I let my hand rise to her face and brush lightly across her cheek. Her skin was so soft beneath my fingers and her breath hitched as well before I closed the space between us, pressing my lips into hers again. My fingers slid softly back into her hair, my palm resting along her jaw as her lips folded perfectly against mine. This kiss was sweet, chaste, innocent, much like the first time I had really kissed her, but that didn’t stop me from wanting more. The hardness of my dick was not helping matters, because I felt myself trying to deepen the kiss. Her lower lip was captured between mine and my tongue slid across it slowly before she parted her lips and let me in. I felt her hands slide over the skin of my chest, the pads of her fingers pushing into me lightly before hand found my neck and pulled me closer to her. I could already feel the heat increasing between us and knew I had to stop now or I’d never be able to. I pulled back, separating our lips before pressing them lightly against hers once more, lingering for a few seconds before ending it.
“If you’re gonna insist on that rule, I’m gonna need to shower. Like now.”
She giggled quietly, a guilty expression on her face. “Sorry.”
“Sure you are,” I grumbled playfully, pressing one more kiss to her lips despite my frustration. Her eyes followed me as I unwrapped myself from her and exposed my body to the decidedly cooler temperature of my room. Goose bumps covered my body in the absence of her warmth and the covers of my bed. I watched as she pulled the blankets up around her, snuggling into the residual heat left by my body as she grinned sheepishly at me. “Have a good shower,” she said, another giggle escaping her as I playfully flipped her off before disappearing out the door to move down the hall.
This was going to be very, very difficult indeed if I could hardly kiss her without craving her body so much.
Fifteen minutes later, I was feeling refreshed and relieved, thanks to the cold shower I had just taken and no thanks to Abigail, but I was still in an incredible mood. With just a towel wrapped around my waist, I moved down the hallway back to my room. I was pleased to see she was still snuggled in my bed, only her head poking out atop the white comforter. I smirked when I caught her eyes widen at the sight of me in just a towel, droplets of water still dripping from my hair down my back as I waded across my room. Her eyes were burning into my skin as I pulled clothes out of my dresser.
Good, I thought. Maybe she’ll rethink her little decision on the no sex thing.
Once I was fully dressed, I casually made my way over to the bed, my hands gripping the edge of the covers tightly before yanking them down and off her body. I grinned widely as she squealed, clutching futilely at them as the cold air rushed over her and a reluctant smile spread across her face. I immediately regretted my decision, however, because seeing her spread on my bed in just her bra and panties was definitely not what I needed when I was supposed to be focusing on resisting her. I groaned and slapped my hands over my face.
“You need to put clothes on now before I throw you down and fuck you, no matter what stupid rules you’ve set,” I grumbled, searching the ground for her clothes I had hastily discarded last night. I found her clothes in a bundle on the floor and tossed them to her, my eyes glancing at her quickly enough to catch her frown.
“You think they’re stupid?” she asked quietly. I rolled my eyes lightly.
“No, you’re just making it extremely difficult for me at the moment,” I answered honestly.
“Oh,” she said, her happy grin returning to her face once more as she redressed herself and climbed out of my bed. She crossed the room to where I stood and let her hands rest lightly on my hips.
“You gonna take me home?” she asked quietly. I looked down at her, my arms hanging at my sides before I realized it was okay to touch her. My thumb rose up to run along her jaw lightly as I held her eye contact.
“Yeah, I suppose.” I really didn’t want to, but I didn’t want to say that. She grinned at me before rising on her toes and pressing a kiss to the corner of my mouth, barely grazing my lips. Her hands fell from my lips as she turned on the spot and walked out of my room, leaving me to shake my head violently, attempting to clear it before following her. Once she had all her stuff gathered, we made our wa
y out to my car. We were pretty quiet on the drive, unsure of what to say outside of the comfort of my room. I tried to think of anything possible to talk about, but kept drawing a blank. I was so out of my element it was unreal. Before I knew it, we had arrived at her apartment building and I was parking in a spot in front of her door. She started to reach for the handle to let herself out.
“Thanks for the ride,” she said, leaning away from me to try and leave. Before I knew what I was really doing, my hand had reached across the space to grip her chin between my fingers and pull her face to me, my lips landing on hers in a sudden kiss. She leaned forward to me immediately, as if she had been hoping I’d kiss her. Her hand snaked up my neck before resting along the nape as my lips molded gently against hers. The kiss was chaste and innocent, but perfect as our lips fit together like they were meant to. When she pulled back, she had a wide grin on her face and here eyes were glittering in content.
“Bye, Reece,” she said sweetly.
“I’ll call you,” I promised, determined to figure out this date situation even if it killed me.
“Please do,” she replied with a smile. “Bye.”
“Bye, Abby,” I said, the shortened form of her name slipping out before I could reign it back in. She hesitated and I feared she didn’t like it before pressing her lips to mine once more, the contact lasting only a second before she pulled away and jumped out of my SUV, leaving me stunned and buzzing like a stupid little boy.
This was a dangerous road I was about to go down, a very dangerous road indeed.
"You deserve so much more than me, but if you say you'll stay that's what I'm gonna be."
Chapter 17
A ridiculous grin was plastered across my face as I jumped out of Reece’s SUV, my heart positively fluttering from the kiss he had given me and the accidental slippage of my shortened name. Surprisingly, no one had ever called me ‘Abby’ and before now, I would have hated it, but I loved the way it had fallen so effortlessly from his lips, the unintentional nickname for me making my heart glow. Despite our rocky fight last night, things had ended extremely well. Not only had we both finally admitted we felt something more for each other, but I’d managed to stay the entire night without fleeing. And, we were going to go on a date. It was crazy to think how drastic of a turnaround we’d accomplished in such a short time, from screaming and shoving at each other to behaving like two soppy preteens. I saw Reece’s car pull out of my parking lot out of the corner of my eye and my grin only widened. My mind was buzzing with so many different thoughts that I didn’t see the man sitting tensely on the bench outside my apartment building until he said my name, ripping me from my reverie and making my heart pound erratically. “Abigail.”
I jumped, my hand rising automatically to clutch over my heart as I whipped my head to the side. My blood, which had been so light and fuzzy only a second ago, turned to ice in my veins. Jack.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked harshly, confused and irritated about his sudden appearance. My body reacted so vastly differently to his sudden appearances, turning cold and shrinking into myself as opposed to the overwhelming flashes of heat and desire I felt for Reece when he did it. “Well I was going to come ask if you’d go to breakfast with me but I see you’ve been busy doing something else,” he said coldly, making it clear he had seen just who had dropped me off and the kiss we had exchanged. I stared at him, the impending sense of an outburst creeping though me. I knew him too well to know that this dangerous calm would only last so long before he lost it. “Who the fuck was that?”
“He’s... it doesn’t matter,” I answered vaguely, not wanting to give him any information about Reece.
“Are you with him?” he spit, rising from his bench to move closer to me.
“It’s none of your business,” I said firmly, standing my ground.
“It is my fucking business, Abigail, are you with him?” he demanded, tone growing angrier as he glared down at me.
In all honesty, I didn’t know how to answer because I wasn’t with him, but I wasn’t nothing with him either. He studied me, trying to interpret my silence.
“Or are you just fucking him?” he growled, his voice menacing as he continued to stalk toward me.
“It’s none of your business, Jack,” I repeated, struggling to keep my voice calm.
“It is, Abigail!” he shouted suddenly, causing me to flinch away from him.
“Don’t yell at me, it’s not your business anymore,” I said.
“You’ll always be my business, you’re mine,” he said darkly. His tone sent a chill through my body, his possessive nature over me scaring me a little. I didn’t like it at all. “Not anymore, Jack,” I said, my voice dropping slightly in fear. He had never physically hurt me, but there had been times where things had been thrown across the room to shatter against the wall. His verbal assaults, which would sometimes come out of nowhere, had been scarring, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t scare me. His temper had the potential to be even worse, now, because of his anger at me that I wouldn’t take him back. “Never thought you’d be the type to turn into a slut. That’s fucking great,” he grumbled, backing me up against the wall. His face leaned close to mine as he sneered at me. I turned my head to the side, trying to create as much space between us as possible as he pressed me into the wall. My breathing was starting to get shaky as he advanced closer and closer.
“Stop,” I pleaded, my voice sounding weak.
“Why don’t you stop fucking around with him and come back to me, Abigail? You know you will eventually,” he said, his voice a menacing whisper. “No,” I said weakly, praying someone would walk by and stop him from pushing me even further into the wall. When Reece did it, I felt powerful, wanted, and sexy. When Jack did it, I felt trapped and scared; I felt weak. “What does he have that I don’t, huh? Or are you too much of a whore now to bother with anyone for more than a night?” His face was inches from mine now as he berated me, and my hands reached up to shove his chest. “Get off me, Jack,” I said, ignoring his insults as I shoved harder. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of playing the victim any longer. He moved back a little bit as I shoved harder. “You have no say in anything I do anymore, you ruined it.”“I ruined it?” he spit, pushing back against my hands.
“Yes,” I returned, playing with fire by arguing with him. The odds of him snapping and losing it suddenly were high. I wished Reece had taken just a few more seconds to drive off so he could come save me from this nightmare. “I’m gonna get you back, Abigail. You belong to me,” he threatened, his breath drifting across my face. My heart thudded nervously in my chest, his treat scaring me. “Abigail?”
My eyes darted under Jack’s arm that was pinned to the wall next to my head to fall on Emily. She was standing on the sidewalk, a confused expression on her face as she clutched her duffle bags, apparently just having returned from her weekend at home.
Thank god.
“Emily,” I breathed, taking advantage of Jack’s distraction to shove myself off the wall and slip under his arm. Emily glared at Jack, quickly taking in the gist of what had just happened. She knew him well enough to know about his temper, and she hated him for it.
“Go home, Jack,” she growled, shooting him a derisive look. “Quit stalking Abigail, it’s not attractive.”
With that she grabbed my arm and tugged me toward the door to our building. I blatantly avoided looking at Jack, sure he was fuming on the sidewalk from our ‘conversation’ and the way Emily had so abruptly ended it. As soon as we had cleared the front door, she snapped.
“Who the hell does he think he is, yelling at you in public like that,” she grumbled, seething as we made our way down the hall. “He shouldn’t yell at you at all, much less like that when you aren’t even together anymore.”My heart warmed at her defense of me; she didn’t even know why he had been here yet she was always by my side. I was lucky to have such great best friend. “Thanks for saving m
e,” I said, a sigh of relief pushing through my teeth.
“Oh of course,” she said. “What did he even want?”
She unlocked our door and pushed her way inside the apartment, immediately dropping her bags on the floor and sitting on the couch. She patted the seat next to her and I followed, perching myself carefully on the edge. There was no way I could really explain what had happened without telling her about Reece, something I’d avoided up until now. I bit my lip nervously, unable to find anyway around finally telling her the whole truth. This would be interesting. “Um...” My mind was reeling as I tried to decide where to start. I hoped she wouldn’t be too mad at me for not telling her everything that had been happening.
“Spit it out, Abigail,” she said, noting my hesitation easily.
“It’s a long story,” I said, chewing on my lip and grimacing at her. “Please don’t be mad when I tell you, I just didn’t know things would get this... extreme.”She frowned, my warning making her uneasy. “Okay, now tell me.”
I took a deep breath, deciding it was best to just start at the beginning.
“Okay... remember that party we went to a few weeks ago?”
“You’ll have to be more specific,” she replied, grinning. It struck me that while I vividly remembered that night, it was just one of another to Emily. “It was that night you told me about Reece Evans,” I said, hoping she’d remember.
“Ohh, yeah, okay I remember now,” she said, nodding at me.
“Do you remember how I disappeared for a while?”
“Yes,” she answered, eyebrows raised as she waited for me to continue and waiting for it to connect to Jack somehow.
“I was... with Reece.” I held my breath as I waited for her to absorb that, hoping she’d get what I meant and I wouldn’t have to explain exactly what we’d been doing. “What do you mean, ‘with Reece’?” she asked, shooting down my hopes that I wouldn’t have to explain further.
“I... slept with him,” I answered, baring my teeth in a guilty grin.