Vote Then Read: Volume III

by Aleatha Romig

  For a moment, I’d been proud to earn her cattiness. Penn was the type of man any woman could appreciate and desire with his crisp suit, unreadable eyes, and aloof handsomeness.

  But that damn nickname stole everything, hurtling me back to the school hallways as if I’d never left. I wanted to sink into the ground and never reappear.

  I waited for Penn to mock me, just as Greg had. I tensed for him to snicker and roll his eyes at my misfortune. But he stood cold and primitive, a velvet purr falling from his mouth. “That’s an unimaginative slur to call a friend, don’t you think?”

  Chloe fluffed her hair. “Oh, Elle knows it’s in affection. Don’t you, Bellie?”

  I didn’t respond.

  Penn did, though. “Unoriginal nicknames are a sign of low intelligence.” His snark cut through her tartness with an axe. “And in answer to your condescending question…Elle only has one partner. Me. And believe me, I’m all she’ll ever need.” His eyes smouldered with decadent chocolate. “I’ll make sure of that.”

  His caresses turned heavy with guarantee. He danced the line of appropriate and wicked, deliberately stepping over it to antagonize those I had no wish to antagonize.

  I wasn’t petty or prideful.

  I wanted to leave.

  I opened my mouth to reply, but Penn squeezed me, keeping me silent. His touch was a hot poker controlling me and making me wet in equal measure.

  The other girls from school slowly looked up from their conversations, paying attention to the tense standoff while trying to appear uninterested.

  They didn’t fool Penn or me as he smiled his signature sexy smirk and grabbed my chin. His lips planted on mine in a brutal kiss, marking me, consuming me as his tongue stole my arguments and his power pinched my remaining breath.

  He stupefied me.

  He bewitched me.

  The instant I released the tension in my spine, he let me go—as if he’d deliberately kissed me to keep me out of my head and in my body with him.

  “Are you going to tell them the good news, or shall I?” His authoritative tone blended with a dark flirt.

  I blinked. “Tell them what?”

  I was one step behind.

  I couldn’t catch up.

  I’d never been that way before. I’d always been the boss—always leading. I didn’t know if I liked being a follower.

  “Tell them you’ve decided to let me own you.”

  “Wait, what?” Chloe’s mouth hung open. “What does that mean?”

  I shook my head, rubbing the sudden goosebumps on my arms. Penn said we were playing a game. Yet I didn’t know the rules or what was expected. To verbalize it in such crude terms in front of the bitches from my past wasn’t appropriate.

  My forehead furrowed.

  He answered Chloe before I could. “We met a few days ago, and it was love at first sight.” He dragged me close. “It took some convincing but Elle has agreed to give me a chance.” He glanced at Chloe, filling his pretty face with ardent satisfaction. “She said yes.”

  “Yes to what?” Frankie appeared, eyeing Penn from his black shoes to his five o’clock shadow.

  “Yes to marrying me.”

  The world screeched to a halt.

  Wait…what?

  “No, I—” I flinched, trying to tear myself from Penn’s embrace.

  He held me tighter, his fingers sinking like keys into my arms, turning a lock, keeping me bound to him and useless.

  Chloe’s mouth hung wider. “Wow, Elle, I never knew—”

  “Never knew she was the sexiest woman alive?” Penn snarled with sudden viciousness. “Never knew she was one of the richest women alive? Never knew that she was ten times the fucking woman you’ll ever be?”

  I stood stunned.

  Why did he fight for me?

  This was too much. Too fast. Too scary. Too far out of my comfort zone.

  Yes to marrying him?

  I never agreed to that.

  I’d agreed to sex.

  Stupid, silly, sensual sex.

  And now, it’s time to say no.

  I tore myself from his embrace, my body shaking. “Stop. That’s not true. Don’t spread such lies.” I stared helplessly at Chloe whose face had turned snow white. “I’m so sorry. Ignore him. I don’t know what’s gotten into him. We’ve only just got together. We’re not engaged. He’s not—”

  “What my fiancée here is trying to say—” Penn interrupted. “Is she’s too kind-hearted to rub her success in your face even though you do the same to her. I don’t need to hear stories of what it was like to grow up with you. I see her, and I see you, and I understand the shadow you made her exist in. But not anymore.”

  His teeth flashed as he snarled. “I’m stealing her from you now. From all of you. She’s mine. And it’s a sad loss that you never figured out what an incredible creature you had under your noses the entire time.”

  Greg sidled up, hate stares fired at Penn. “You don’t know jack, dipshit. Elle and I were raised together. I know her a fuck load better than you ever will.”

  “You’re the blindest of them all.” Penn pointed at him. “I don’t care how long you’ve known each other. You fucked up.” He laughed low. “You’ll never get her back because she’ll never be the same once I’ve had her.”

  My cheeks turned into flames of hell. I ducked my chin, doing my best to hide. I wanted the club to vanish and Penn to disintegrate into dust.

  Words and curses tangled to spew at him, but he pulled me from the crowd, away from cringe-worthy declarations, away from high school trolls and wannabe boyfriends, and through the nightclub to the fresh air outside.

  I managed a few gulps of oxygen before he yanked me down the alley between the nightclub and a restaurant and slammed me against the brick wall.

  Quicksilver memories of another alley and another man tried to twist my present with my past. Garbled commands, ripped clothing, fists flying in the dark.

  Nameless shot bright into my thoughts.

  His black hoodie, his closed-off answers, his mind-melting kiss.

  And then history had no power as Penn’s lips crashed over mine and he replaced my remembered kiss with a savage one.

  He kissed me and then he kissed me.

  Each swipe of his tongue blasted through my decorum, dragging alive the sexual being who’d never been allowed to evolve.

  His right hand bunched my dress up my leg. My brain tried to split—to focus on the foot traffic only a few feet away and not on the blistering heat of his fingertips on my inner thigh.

  And then nothing else mattered as his touch found my core, pushing against my underwear.

  He didn’t ask permission.

  He didn’t pull back to see if I was okay with this.

  He merely kissed me and fingered me over the lace.

  All I wanted to do was to let go. To trust in the magic he created in my blood and allow him to be as arrogant as he wanted. To take charge.

  But I couldn’t.

  I couldn’t let him get away with what he’d said. His lies. His verbal bashing to people I had to converse with.

  He was far too brash and daredevil for my world.

  His mouth kept working mine, dragging a moan deep from my lungs.

  I had a second before I drowned under his powerful wave and lost myself. A second and then I would be gone, and I couldn’t blame anyone but myself.

  So I bit him.

  My teeth sank into his lip, not holding back as I did the only thing I could to slow things down and breathe.

  He stumbled backward, holding his bottom lip where a bead of blood welled. “Fuck.”

  My ribcage rose and fell. I sucked in gasps, giving in to the slight hysteria he’d caused. I held up a shaky finger. “Don’t touch me.”

  “Touch you? Fuck, I own you.”

  My braid caught like Velcro on the bricks behind me as I shook my head. “No. You don’t.”

  His eyes etched with black. “You said yes, remember?”


  “Yes to a beneficial sexual relationship. Not to damn marriage!”

  “That’s what’s got you afraid? Marriage?” He chuckled “I have no intention of marrying you.”

  I frowned. “Then why lie about it?”

  “Why not?” He shrugged. “Why do other people have to know exactly what we do and who we are? Why do they have to hear our truth when they’re so fucking fake themselves?”

  I hated that he had a point.

  He placed a hand on the brick wall by my head, his body swaying into mine. If he touched me again, I doubted I’d have the willpower to stop him for a second time. My clit still throbbed from his touch, the echoing bands of release a phantom cry in my veins.

  “Stay back.”

  He lowered his head, a tight smile on his lips. “Fine.” Holding his hands up in surrender, he kept his distance but didn’t move away. “What will it take for you to let me touch you again?” His voice dropped to sand and sleet. “Because I really want to touch you again.”

  I shivered, doing my best to keep my thoughts focused and not on the molten heat inside. Having him so close didn’t help. He’d been gorgeous in the club—dappled in strobes and painted in shadows—but out here; out here where the vague lights of apartments and streetlights didn’t dare enter the sanctity of the alley, he was camouflaged in darkness.

  His shoulders strained against the stitches of his suit. His forearms ropey and tanned with his cuffs pushed up. His entire body flexed as he waved a hand with feline grace, hiding the throbbing tension between us, pretending he hadn’t just fired my libido to the point of excruciation.

  “I’m not answering any more of your questions,” I hissed. “Who the hell are you? What do you want from me?”

  Sighing heavily, his lips pouted, blood smeared a little to make him seem part vampire. “You already know what I want.”

  “But who are you?”

  “I’m someone you can be free with.”

  “I don’t know what that means.”

  “It means you don’t need to be afraid of me.”

  I clasped my hands together, seeking comfort from myself. Fighting with a strange man—even one who’d touched and kissed me—in a deserted alley wasn’t exactly encouraged. Once again, Nameless came to mind and I couldn’t stop comparing the two men.

  Nameless had been the hero.

  Penn was the anti-Christ.

  One saving, one damning.

  I knew which one I preferred.

  I stood firm in my heels, locking my limbs from betraying my lie. “I’m not afraid of you.”

  He cocked his head. “Are you sure about that?”

  “I’m not sure about anything anymore.”

  He ran a hand through his hair, disrupting the strands into a mess. “Isn’t that the point?”

  “Stop answering everything with a question.”

  “Fine.” He stood tall, his legs spread with dominion. “You said yes to me. I won’t let you take that back. But I will try to ease your mind.” His face tightened as if this game had higher stakes for him than he let on. “I’ll only say this once, so listen carefully. I will lie to others about us. I will paint a picture that isn’t true. I will curse and hurt and do whatever I damn well want, but you have my word on one thing.”

  My voice carried on a hesitant whisper. “What word?”

  “That I won’t lie to you. What you see from me will be the honest fucking truth. I’ll only hurt you if you want me to hurt you, and I’ll protect you even while I do it. Give me yourself, let me take control, and I promise you, you’ll enjoy it.”

  My heart only heard the word hurt and envisioned images of him abusing me. “Why would I enjoy you hurting me?”

  “The answer to that question will come later. It’s a matter of showing not telling.”

  I paused, sucking in another breath. My world had vanished, and I had no way of returning. Once again I stood at a fork, hidden in a dirty alley. Unlike last time, where I’d had to beg Nameless to help me, Penn had to do all the convincing.

  He shifted in the darkness, dragging my attention back to his height, body, and undeniable command. “Tell me your objections.”

  “My objections?”

  “Your objections to letting me fuck you.”

  My mouth watered but I didn’t swallow. I wouldn’t show any signs of weakness. “I have too many to list.”

  “Try me.” He crossed his arms.

  My eyes wanted to drop to the ground. My fingers wanted to stroke my dress with nerves.

  I did neither of those things. I treated him as I would any bossy manager, negotiating our terms for a successful business deal. “I find you arrogant and rude.”

  Which makes me wet.

  My nose turned up. “I don’t like liars, and I don’t like men who think they can use me.”

  Even though I’m contemplating giving my virginity to you.

  He rubbed his jaw, his gaze dragging over me as if he could hear my silent answers and focused only on those. “I’m arrogant because I’ve earned my success the hard way. I’m rude because I have no time for idiots.” Stepping forward, he hovered over me, pressing me against the wall with sheer will. “You already know I won’t lie to you.”

  His head crept over my personal boundary, his nose nuzzling my ear. “And I promise you, I’ll use you. I’ll use you every morning and night. I’ll use you on your knees. I’ll use you strapped to my bed. But with every use, you’ll beg for another. You’ll beg me, Elle.” He bit my earring, tugging it until a sharp bolt of pain appeared. “That’s what you should be afraid of. Nothing else.”

  I pushed him away, taking a greedy step toward the sidewalk.

  I wasn’t equipped for this. I needed to ease into sex, not be thrown headfirst into debauchery. “I’ve changed my mind. My answer is no.”

  Strong fingers wrapped around my wrist, yanking me back. “Like fuck it is.” He pressed me against the wall face first. His hands clamped on my hips, pulling me back to meet his as he thrust up.

  I moaned, long and low. A noise I’d never made before and had no idea where it’d come from.

  “Oh, Elle, you’re a little liar yourself.” He tightened his hold, grinding into me. “Is that what you want? Seduction? Do you need to be seduced to let me inside you?” He bent over me, his lips landing on my shoulder blade. “Because I can do that. I can coax you, or I can force you. I can give you any fucking fantasy you want.”

  His voice darkened to nightmares. “You don’t have to hide with me. You want it rough—” He looped his hand around my nape, crushing my cheek into the brick as his other hand slid down my body and scooped up my dress, up and up until his fingers found my inner thigh and aggressively cupped my core.

  My heart exploded through my ears as intensity I never thought existed came alive beneath his fingers.

  But then he switched.

  The violent hunger in his touch melted into gentle petting. He pulled me away from the brick, hugging me, supporting me while his tongue licked my neck and his fingers feathered so lightly over my clit. “Or do you want it soft?”

  I shuddered in his arms, confused when my body reacted more to anger rather than sweet.

  “I’m attracted to you, Elle. I have been since I saw you. I know you want me too because right now, my hands are on your pussy, and you’re so fucking wet.” With a harsh breath, he pushed aside my panties, running his finger along my bareness.

  He hissed in my ear as my hips rocked involuntarily. “There you go. Stop lying to yourself. That’s the worst crime. Tell me what you want.”

  “I still don’t like you enough to tell you.”

  He was utter temptation.

  Beyond reasoning and comprehension. But he pissed me off as he chuckled low in my ear, taking pleasure in my undoing as he pressed his finger into me.

  I lost the ability to stand. The delicious throaty echo of his laugh sent a coil of desire shooting right into my soul.

  I clenched around
his finger as he sank deeper.

  “Your body likes me enough for your mind and heart.”

  My nerves heightened to a magnitude I couldn’t withstand. His touch. His control. His manipulation—it made him more than human.

  I didn’t stand a chance.

  “Just sex…” I panted as he fingered me.

  “If that’s what you want.”

  “Just lust.”

  “So much fucking lust.” His touch seemed to double in size, dragging heat and sharp, sharp need.

  A single finger.

  It was too much.

  It wasn’t enough.

  But my body, after years of neglect and build-up of countless nights imagining such a thing, surrendered entirely.

  Penn sucked in a breath as I allowed my head to fall back over his shoulder, giving him utter control. He held me against his body, his finger never ceasing.

  “Is that another yes?” He kissed my throat, biting it as his finger thrust upward. “Tell me it’s a fucking yes before I lose my goddamn mind.”

  I nodded.

  And that was it.

  Penn Everett vanished, replaced by a hunter. Spinning me around and shoving me against the wall, he kicked my feet open and drove his finger higher.

  My mind panicked that he would take me here like this. My first time would be against a dirty wall outside a nightclub, but he proved I was right to trust him. That I could give him power even though I’d never like him. That I would always hate him, purely because he wasn’t Nameless and I’d clung to the ridiculous delusion that I’d find him, save him, and find a happily-ever-after.

  Penn was the harbinger of truth in that respect.

  I’d failed Nameless. I would never find him. It was time to accept that and move on.

  Starting with sex.

  “I’m going to make you come.” Penn breathed into my skin. “And then…you’re going home. We’ll save my place for another night.”

  The bands of muscles in my core clenched around his finger as he pressed my clit with his thumb. His free hand grabbed my jaw, holding me prisoner while he kissed me so damn deep.

  With his tongue inside my mouth and his finger matching the same pulse, I let it happen.

  I didn’t hold on.

  He didn’t drag it out.

  I’d always been sensitive—always had a naughty ability to seek pleasure in banal situations. I’d stopped blushing years ago when I crossed my legs in a meeting filled with stuffy businessmen and enjoyed the tingle of desire just from the seam of my underwear. I’d accepted my body and how hotly it ran, simmering sweetly, ready to overflow into climax whenever I wanted.