by Lisa Simmons
"Ten dollars," the bartender said, shooting an annoyed glance at me before turning it back to Reece. He pulled his wallet out of his jeans and pulled out some cash before sliding it across the bar to her. She picked it up and stomped away almost immediately.
"Wow," I muttered. He had an extremely strong effect on women, and I was sometimes shocked by how intensely they reacted to him. He ignored my statement and slid one of the shots to me.
"What is it?" I asked, picking it up gingerly and lifting it to my nose. I was about to take a sniff when he stopped me.
"Don't smell it," he advised. "It doesn't smell the greatest but it goes down smooth, promise."
I looked at him skeptically but chose to trust him. He rose his between us, nodding at mine. I copied him and clinked it lightly to his, my eyes never dropping his heated gaze.
"Here's to being young and free and fucking crazy," he said, his lips pulling to the side in a smirk before pulling the shot to his lips and tipping it back. I copied him, trying my best to avoid tasting the bitter liquid as it slid down my throat. My glass slammed on the bar seconds after his, and I waited for the usual burn of the liquor to hit, but it never did. He had been right- whatever he had ordered had gone down much smoother than any other shot I'd ever had.
He smiled at me proudly, the grin infectious as it spread to my lips.
"Another?" he asked after seeing how well I'd handled the first one.
"Let's do it," I said, the already alcohol-tinged blood running through my veins making me feel warm and ready for more.
Three shots later each, the mysterious liquor Reece had been feeding me began to really take effect. My body moved automatically to the beat of the pounding music, and Reece was watching me with a mixture of amusement, possession, and lust. His eyes were a dark green and his pupils were blown wide thanks to the darkness of the club, the alcohol he'd consumed, and what I assumed was the same burning need for me that I was feeling for him.
I leaned into him and looped my arms around his neck, pulling his face close enough to me so I could speak to him.
"Come dance with me," I requested, my drunken state making my words sound too loud despite being in the noisy club. He laughed as his hands fastened themselves on my hips, steadying me as I swayed in front of him.
"You gonna stay upright if I do?" he teased, his thumbs rolling in circles over my hips. I nodded in exaggeration, a drunken smile on my lips.
"Yes, now come dance with me Reece," I repeated, shifting my hips forward so they pressed into his while they swiveled in slow circles. My arms remained around his neck as I tightened them enough to bring my lips to his neck. They parted slightly as I placed a kiss to his hot skin, the proximity of so many bodies and the simulated smoke machines pumped into the club making him hot.
"Fuck, alright, alright," he caved, reaching behind his head to grab my wrists and pull them down. "Let's go then, drunkie."
"Hey," I shot back, sounding like a toddler. I giggled at myself, the alcohol making me feel good. He rolled his eyes playfully before pulling me through the crowd once more by his grip on my hand. I focused on not tripping over what seemed like a thousand different feet as we moved closer to the dance floor.
I was just imaging the way Reece's body would feel pressed into mine and the way it would surely move expertly with me while we danced when I crashed into his back. He'd stopped walking, his head turned off to a dark corner where he squinted through the dark. I copied him, aiming my gaze in the direction he was looking but was unable to see anything through the people and the dark haze of the club.
He shook his head suddenly, his dark hair flying out around him before settling back on his head. My arm was pulled forward once more as he started moving again. My confusion quickly disappeared, the alcohol in my body making me very quick to forget about a temporary distraction.
The dance floor was raised about two feet off the ground, metal bars surrounding it to corral in the people that had gathered there. I was surprised when, almost immediately, I spotted Emily and Luke dancing together along the side by the rails. I couldn't tell if Reece had seen them or not, because he pulled me along the in the opposite direction from them before stopping along the wall that closed off one side of the dance floor.
"Let's see how you move, baby," he said in my ear as he pulled me flush against him, my back pressing into his chest as his hands seared into the skin covering my hips.
Reece's POV
I tried to suppress the groan that fought to surface as Abigail's body pressed into mine, her fluid actions aided by the alcohol running through her. I could feel the way she rolled her hips against me easily, her perfect body grinding against mine in rhythm to the music that blasted all around us. Her hips shifted beneath my palms, and I fought the urge to let them slide lower between her legs.
I hadn't intended on touching her so many times throughout the night, but she made it nearly impossible not to. Every time she touched or even looked at me, an electric current flooded through me drawing me to her, begging me to touch her and feel her body react to mine. As much as I knew it was torturing her, it was torturing me just as much to not fully be able to feel her.
Not here, not yet.
Her hands slid down to cover mine, her fingers sliding through the gaps created by my own as she gripped the backs of my hands tightly. She used her grip as leverage as she rolled her body against mine, the slow and deliberate movements of her hips and backs driving me absolutely insane. I couldn't stop my lips from falling to the side of her neck as she moved against me. Her skin was salty on my tongue as it moved up her neck, the heat from the club and the way she was dancing earning a thin sheen of sweat to form on her skin.
Unlike most of the girls in the club, who looked like sweaty, melting piles of make up and liquor, she looked incredible. It was like she was glowing from the way her skin seemed to illuminate under the flashing lights as it reflected off the tantalizingly sexy sheen to her skin. I couldn't handle this much longer before I needed to tear her out of the club and take her.
Despite everything she was doing to me, I couldn't help but tear my gaze off her incredible body to dart to the dark corner of the club once more. Sure enough, just as he had been when I'd pulled Abby through the club, he was there, watching us. His dark eyes were fixed on her body as it moved against me, the unmistakable depiction of lust and envy shining through even in the dark light. Anger flared through me as he observed her so closely, and I hated the way his eyes raked over her body.
I hadn't seen him for a while- not since the party when he'd confronted Abigail and tried to get her to leave with him before I'd interfered. He clearly hadn't gotten the message that she wanted nothing to do with him, because here he was, watching her like a hawk and clearly extremely unhappy that she was here with me.
He needed to get the hint- she was with me, and she was never going back to him. If Jack was going to watch, he might as well get a show.
I gripped her hips tighter as I spun her around suddenly. Her eyes widened momentarily in surprise before she reoriented herself. She smiled lazily at me, the alcohol and atmosphere of the dance floor clearly making her feel good. My hands briefly left her hips to grip her wrists and throw them over my shoulders before I let my fingers trail down the backs of her arms. Her hips stayed pushed forward against mine as she continued to roll them in time with the music.
The smile slid off her face and was replaced by a more heated and needy expression as my palms slid down her body, their slow decent deliberately attempting to turn her on. It was obviously working, because she curled one arm around my neck, her elbow hooking around the nape and pulling me closer as she arched her back into me. Her other hand slid down from around my neck, trailing over my chest before coming to grip my side tightly.
My hands finally finished their exploration of her body and rested at the top of her ass, pulling her even tighter against me as her body rolled into me. Her eyes burned into mine as s
he danced against me, her lip biting into her mouth unknowingly.
"Jesus, Abby," I muttered, shocked and impressed and turned on all at the same time from how she was moving her body against mine. It took everything in me not to fuck her right there.
We were pressed so tightly together that I wasn't quite sure how she managed to continue to move her body in such a tantalizingly sexy way. She was driving me insane, and had almost completely driven the thought of Jack watching us from my mind. My eyes darted quickly to the corner where he had been, and I was pleased to see him positively livid as he watched, clearly not enjoying the show I was so much loving putting it on.
After seeing I had succeeded, however, I didn't give Jack a second thought. He had taken up too much of my thoughts already when I should have been fully enjoying the way Abby was moving against me. Her lip was still bit into her mouth when I looked back at her, and I was surprised to see her eyes focused down to where our hips were grinding together.
She was clearly turned on by what was happening, and seeing her like that was doing terrible, terrible things to my self control, which was already pretty much nonexistent when it came to her. When her blue eyes flicked up to me, her gaze dark beneath a thick layer of lashes, I lost it.
My head ducked down and my lips closed the remaining distance between us as I kissed her hard. She reciprocated immediately, her fingers tangling in my hair as her lips molded against mine. My tongue pushed into her mouth to deepen the kiss as her hips continued to roll slowly against me. I pushed her backward until her back collided with the wall, my hands splaying out on either side of her as I continued to kiss her.
It didn't even matter that we were in the middle of a crowded bar with people all around who could easily see. It didn't matter that her ex-boyfriend was practically exploding with anger as he watched us. It didn't matter that we weren't technically together.
As I kissed her and let my body press into hers, I knew what I wanted and what I needed. There was nothing that would stop me from getting it, especially when it was so clear that it was exactly what she wanted and needed, too.
We wanted each other.
We needed each other.
"Take me home, Reece," she breathed, pulling her lips from mine and yanking on my shirt to bring me closer so she could whisper in my ear. Her grip on my shirt loosened only enough to allow me to pull back and look her in the eyes.
"You got it, Abby."
"'Til we get it right, we gon' fuck some more."
Chapter 36
I felt like I was breathing far heavier than I should have been, but I couldn't help it. Reece had such an overwhelming effect on my mind and body alike that the way it reacted to him was completely out of my control. The dark glint in his eye when he tore his gaze from me sent a jolt of electricity down to my toes, and I felt as though he couldn't get me out of the club fast enough.
We hadn't really been there all that long- maybe an hour or so- but I was more than ready to leave. Reece's hand wrapped around mine, his firm grip staying connected as he pulled me off the dance floor. I was thankful that my desperate need for Reece seemed to clear my mind of the haze that the alcohol had brought on; usually, Reece only made me feel more dazed, my mind fighting my body for control, but tonight I felt sharp, quick, and beyond ready to go home with him.
We cleared the dance floor finally, Reece's grip never leaving mine as he tried to hurry us toward the door. A cold wave of apprehension washed over me as the feeling of being watched hit. I blinked as I looked to the sides, searching for the source of my discomfort. Almost immediately, my eyes locked on the angrily narrowed eyes of the last person I wanted to see: Jack.
He stood in the dark corner, surrounded by shadows of figures I could neither decipher nor worry about, glaring at me with a fueled hatred that stemmed from intense jealousy. Every flame that had been licking up my body from Reece's touch seemed to be extinguished in an icy downpour as Jack's gaze bore into me.
How long had he been there? Had he seen Reece and I practically ripping each other's clothes off on the dance floor? Had he seen me kissing him? Had he seen the way Reece and I were, pretty obviously, together?
I stopped walking, my body freezing in fear of what he would do after flat out threatening Reece.
The threat that Reece still had no idea about.
Panic flooded through me in an instant, suddenly terrified of how Jack would to react after tonight because it was becoming increasingly clear the more he stared at me that he had seen everything. Reece's arm jerked against mine as he kept walking, his arm yanking accidentally on mine because I was rooted to the ground. My eyes were locked on Jack's gaze, an icy shiver running down my spine as I watched his head shake with an almost imperceptible movement.
Reece's hand rose to my cheek, turning my face toward him. The last thing I saw from Jack before my gaze fell to Reece's was the way his lip curled into a nasty sneer when Reece touched me. My eyes were wide as I tried to refocus on Reece and calm the growing fear inside me.
"I think he knows you're mine now, Abby," he said, a pleased smirk on his face. It was obvious he didn't realize what a loose cannon Jack had quickly become, and it was my fault. I hadn't told him anything about the things Jack had said to me or his habit of showing up places in an attempt to get me back.
He didn't know how dangerous it could be for Jack to know such a thing.
I couldn't think of a response, because as pleased as I was that he had called me his, it terrified me that he seemed to have been aware of Jack watching us all night. I wondered if he'd been intentionally egging him on, purposefully going over the top to make sure Jack knew I was with him. I should have been mad that he had done that, which was becoming increasingly clear that he had, but I wasn't. All I felt was a flare of happiness, proud that he wanted to claim me as his from my dickhead of an ex-boyfriend.
The happiness, however, was quickly subdued by another flash of fear as Reece ducked his head down and pressed his lips to mine, kissing me hard and making a statement to the still closely observing Jack in the corner. The message was that I was with him, and that Jack couldn't have me.
As true as it was, I was still terrified of how Jack would inevitably react to all of this.
When Reece's hand wove into the hair at the back of my head and his tongue swept into my mouth, however, even the darkest thoughts of Jack and the fear that came along with it were wiped from my mind. Suddenly, as if there had been no interruption, my mind was focused utterly on Reece again and my desperate need to be alone with him.
He pulled his lips from mine before casting a quick smirk to Jack in the corner and grabbing my hand to pull me through the crowd once more. We were in the clear and out the front door before my mind, which was already running rampant with thoughts of touching his skin in places hidden beneath his clothes, realized how long of a walk we had before any of that could be possible. It hadn't seemed too bad when we had walked down, but now, with the looming possibility of feeling his body over mine, it seemed like miles and miles away.
Reece seemed to have the same thought, however, because he pulled me across the street without a word and opened the door to a cab idled there. A grin spread across my lips, beyond pleased at our luck of finding a cab at all in this fairly small town. Reece slid in the seat next to me, the cracked leather snagging on his jeans as he leaned forward to tell the driver his address.
Immediately, his hand landed on my upper thigh, his long fingers curling down to my inner thigh and tantalizingly close to where I wanted him. I could feel his gaze burning into my skin as he let it travel down my body before it reconnected with mine. Heat seemed to be rolling off our bodies as it mixed between us, the potent atmosphere of the small space rushing to my head and making me feel reckless. That, in combination with the fairly high amount of alcohol still running through my body, was making me feel much more open than I usually would have.
I tried to hold myself back from straddling
him in the back of the cab, but it was almost impossible. It was like some type of laser focus held us together, our eyes unable to tear from each other's gaze while his hand inched higher and higher up my leg. I could feel my breathing starting to grow uneven when the pads of his fingers pressed ever so discreetly against my center, and my resolve was tested once again. I squirmed in my seat as he shifted his fingers, putting intermittent pressure on me and never letting his green eyes tear away from me as he watched me react to him while I tried my best not to.
My lips sucked into my mouth as I tried to stop myself from making any noise when he ducked his head and pressed his lips to my ear.
"I'd fuck you in the back of this cab right now if I could, baby," he whispered, his voice velvety smooth and deliciously breathy as he spoke. The tone sent a jolt of desperate need for him straight down to where his hand was still connected with my body, and I squirmed even more. His lips pulled from my ear but didn't travel far as they pressed into the skin just below it, his hot breath tickling across my throat. Any sense I had to care about the cab driver seeing flew out the window when his teeth sunk lightly into my flesh.
I couldn't take much more of this teasing nonsense or I'd surely explode.
I closed my eyes and clenched my fingers around Reece's wrist, desperately trying to pull his hand from me but not really making any effort, my self-control too thin to resist him. My hips shifted against my will against his hand, needing more of him even though I knew I couldn't just yet.
A rough clearing of the cab driver's throat jolted me out of the spell Reece had put me under as he announced we had arrived. It was quite obvious he knew what had been happening in the back seat, and I suspected it wasn't the first time it had happened to him.
Reece's hand slid slowly away from me, resting on my knee as his lips disconnected from my neck. He leaned forward to pull his wallet out once more, sliding the man some cash before thanking him. His long body reached across mine to open my door and shoo me out of the cab before following. As soon as the door was closed, the cab sped away.