“Reno, I told you, don't get involved.” He ignored me. Like I knew he would. Damn. “He's just drunk. He's talking out of his ass.”
“He is an ass,” Liss interjected, and I threw her a look that said seriously, wanna help me out here? She just raised her brows.
“Walk it off, Le. I’m not asking.”
Leon rose as high as he could on legs that could barely hold his weight and snarled up at Reno. What the...? They didn't do this. Leon was a good little sidekick; he didn't rise up.
“Uh, Le,” I started.
“You want to go there again, man?”
I almost gasped when Leon shoved his chest into Reno's. Reno rocked back on his heels, his jaw clenching.
“What? You wanna throw down again, Ren?”
“Christ! Leon, stop,” I said, my eyes bouncing between them.
Reno's eyes darkened, his stance widening as he stared Leon down. This was crazy. “Throw down? I put you on your ass like a bitch. Walk. Away,” he warned, voice eerily calm. “Now.”
Leon held his nerve a while longer, before fixing his eyes on me. Every bit of frustration and rage he couldn't take out on Reno, he aimed directly at me instead. “You fucking happy? This what you wanted?”
“Are you whacked? What the hell are you talking about?” I asked, stunned. I'd never want this; we'd been a dysfunctional little group for as long as I'd lived here, all of us in the same trailer park. The last thing I wanted was any friction or rifts.
“Shut the fuck up, Leon!” Reno's voice rose. That wasn't the norm. He didn’t have to raise his voice usually.
Pushing past Reno, Leon took a stride toward me. “Congratulations. He wants to fuck you, too—”
And then he hit the deck like a sack of potatoes—courtesy of Reno's fist.
My shocked gaze jolted to Reno's, who scowled first at me then down at the best friend he'd just laid out in the mud. “Someone get him home.”
Liss put an arm around my shoulder, and I glanced around, eyes wide with disbelief. Reno walked back to the fire and threw back a mouthful of whatever cheap booze was on offer. Raya stood with her eyes fixed on my face, white-hot fury dancing in them.
Just add it to the list, bitch.
I blew her a kiss before flipping her off and making my way to the alcohol with the grace of a baby giraffe and giving the minimum amount of fucks about that. I needed a longer hemline, less heels, and a boatload of cheap beer. Fucking now!
Before I could get my hands on the beer, though, I found myself inconveniently forced to detour and snatch a handful of Liss' shirt to halt her beeline for Raya.
“Leave it,” I warned, flashing her a stern look.
“What? I was just gonna explain that she needs to keep her dirty, probably STD ridden eyes off my girl.”
“And I love you for it. But let's just leave it for now. I've had all the drama I can take for one night.” She huffed like I'd spoiled her fun, bloodthirsty little animal. “Liss.”
“Fine. I need a drink.”
Puffing my cheeks in a relieved sigh, I motioned to the drinks with an exaggerated flourish and waited for her to shift her ass.
I tried to sip my drink and act like nothing had happened, I really did, but the more I sipped, the more I thought about it. And the less sense it made.
Reno wanted me to think he wanted to fuck me. He did it to fuck with me. It was a control thing. I knew it; he knew it. He knew I knew it. I knew, he knew, I knew, he knew—wait, I couldn't figure out how far I'd gone with this. Screw it. Basically, we both knew he didn't want to go there. Didn't we? I mean, he revelled in assuming he could get me to drop my panties in a heartbeat, but we didn’t even like each other. Sort of. Maybe. God! I didn’t know what to think anymore. But then why did Leon say he did? Aaaaaand, now I was reading way too much into things. And Liss was staring at me as if I was an ignorant asshole.
“Yes!” I blurted.
She scoffed. “Weren't fricking listening, were you?”
I scrunched my nose. “Was the answer no, then?”
“Oh, stuff it!”
I snorted. “You stuff it.”
We both grinned. “Okay.” I stood, giving an exaggerated yawn as I stretched my arms above my head. “I'm done.”
“No way, pussy! You're seventeen tomorrow! You can't leave yet.”
“Tomorrow?”
“It's after midnight.” She shrugged… always with the shrug.
She didn't have a care in the world. She lived in a house with an actual roof. It wasn't a McMansion or anything, but her mom had a bed that didn't fold into a couch, and they had a kitchen big enough that the word didn’t require an ette on the end. And I knew for a fact her mom didn't engage her, willingly or otherwise, in late night chats about her latest sexual conquest.
Dropping onto my ass, I looked around. “Party's over. Everyone's leaving.”
I couldn't see Reno. In fact, I hadn't seen him for the last three hours. If I didn't know better, I'd say he was avoiding me. But he'd have to give a shit to bother.
“Arrrgghh!” I growled, falling onto my back. Seriously pissed that my thoughts had gone back there again.
Liss plonked herself down beside me. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“Cool.” She was a goddamn master.
Swivelling to face her, I took in her profile. Cute nose, full mouth. The whole blonde hair, blue-eyed thing. Liss was undeniably hot. Maybe I could switch teams, maybe that would be easier. Yeah, I could play for every team. I'd still want Reno. “Grr.”
“You sound like an angry little kitten,” she singsonged.
“Wanna feel my claws?”
She smirked, still staring up. “Nope. I know someone who does, though.”
I lifted onto my elbows to scowl at her. “If you dare say Leon, I swear I'll maim you.”
She closed her eyes and swayed her head in a weird clumsy motion. “Nuh-uh-uuuh. Rhymes with,” she stopped, her eyes opening and her brows drawing down a little, “... meno.”
I frowned. “You're loaded, and you need to switch to water. Better yet,” I hopped up, rubbing my hands together to shake off the dirt, “stop drinking. Up. Everyone's heading out.”
“We're still here,” she murmured, lowering her lids again.
“Fine... everyone but us is leaving.”
“Don't care.”
Really with this? I parked my hands on my hips and tapped my foot. Seemed a parent-y thing to do, I wouldn't know, my perma-fifteen-year-old would-be caregiver wasn't big on discipline. I supposed I had to be grateful for that. “Get up!”
“Nope.”
“Liss!” I moaned, drawing out her name on a pitiful whine and reaching down to grab her arm. A few groups of stragglers giggled and shouted about fifty yards away, but other than that we were alone. “Come the fuck on, bee-yatch!”
Rustling behind me had me spinning round. “Shit! You scared the crap out of me, Mack!”
He grinned, hands up. Huge, black, and super easy on the eyes. Mackenzie Briggs, a senior like us, and a big softie. He was one of the certified good guys. No question his momma raised him right. Along with Jason Connolly and Daniel Greene, he was one of Ren and Le’s closest friends. “She staying?” He dipped his head with a grin.
I pursed my lips. “Looks like. Hey, can you sit with her a sec? I need to pee.”
He hit the deck. “Sure, I got her.”
“Bushes, bushes, everywhere,” I hummed while I skipped into the thick, avoiding the pathway through the trees that led to a clearing up ahead. Which was where Mack had come from, and probably meant Reno was there. But I didn’t need to think about that right now. I was just the right side of tipsy, the best frame of mind to be in. Nicely buzzed. Not quite coherent enough to think about the shit you couldn’t control but still with it enough to enjoy the mental break. Squatting beside a bush, I quickly peed and righted myself before turning and stumbling around for a bit, quickly realizing I had no idea which way was out. Great.
A hand came
from behind and covered my mouth, smothering my scream.
Eight
Riley
“Just me, Ri.”
The elbow I'd poised, ready to slam into my attacker's ribs, froze, along with the rest of me, at the sound of his hushed words.
“You know, the bottom of your ass has been hanging out of your dress all night?” He murmured low into my ear, his voice gruff enough to grind over every nerve ending in my body. His warm breath floated over my neck and elicited a tingle that danced all the way along my spine.
Gulping, I dragged air in through my nose, his hand still covering my mouth. Mention of my ass drew my attention to the fact that, in this position, mine pressed right into him. And just above that, something of his pressed right into me. My eyes slammed shut.
Shit, this wasn't good.
Without warning, his free hand snaked around my midriff, his hand splaying across the flat surface. My heart stopped dead in my chest and my eyes swept downward as his fingers crept lower, inch by inch, until they reached the hem of my dress. He kept them there, playing with the material, tracing a finger underneath... driving me insane. Neither of us spoke, our breaths the only audible noise. Releasing my mouth, he trailed his other hand down the column of my neck, moving down until his entire palm skimmed my breast. My breath hitched and my heart took off like a skyrocket. I opened my mouth to say something when I felt his lips at my ear.
“Don't.”
Pressing my lips together, I clamped them shut.
When his hand closed, his sure fingers gently gripping my soft flesh and the pad of his thumb brushing over the sensitive peak, my body sagged back into his chest and my breath became labored.
His mouth brushed against the sensitive skin below my ear, and I clenched my fists tighter, squeezing my thighs to relieve some of the pressure building between them. I was burning up, as if even the blood in my veins was on fire. Every single part of me pulsed, on high alert. This was so far away from anything I'd ever experienced with Leon, and there wasn't even any actual skin on skin contact. My face heated, and I bit my lip.
This was why I didn't do this with Reno. How quickly everything could spiral out of my control.
“Shhh...” he murmured against my skin, his mouth leaving a wet trail from my ear, all the way down the side of my throat. Every cell tingled in his wake. “Just this once, baby.”
I barely registered it, but when I did, my heart lurched and my stomach clenched. The lust he’d evoked gave way to confusion.
“Are you... drunk?”
His nose drifted to my hair, inhaling. What the...? Reno didn't get drunk. He drank, but it never seemed to affect him, and I'd never seen him wasted. He'd never allow himself to be out of control like that.
“Reno!”
“Yeah?” His lips trailed to my jaw, tracing a line of small kisses as he went, making it crazy difficult to keep a handle on my reactions.
“I said—are you drunk?”
His hand suddenly left my breast, gripping the other side of my chin and pulling my head round. “Just enough,” he muttered, before slamming his lips down on mine.
Too stunned by the fact he'd done it, I didn’t think to stop it or react the way I should have. My mind went into overdrive and my body... responded. He spun me round, his hands roughly dragging me into him, molding my curves to every solid inch of his body. I gasped into his mouth, allowing his tongue to sweep in and stake claim.
I burst into a ball of flames. Igniting like a cloth doused in gasoline. It felt like everything I'd imagined and more. And before I knew what I was doing, my hands were in his hair, teeth dragging along his bottom lip, sucking and biting. Our bodies thrust into each other, rubbing and grinding—mine functioning independently from my brain. His hands grabbed my butt cheeks and squeezed hard enough to leave bruises. I couldn't breathe, couldn't think. Everything else ceased to exist. It wasn't until we stumbled backward, my foot snagging on a tree trunk that sent us both hurtling to the ground, that I snapped back to the here and now. My eyes flung open on impact and Reno's face hovered inches from mine, his heavy body on top of me, pinning me to the mud as we both panted like we'd run a marathon. My eyes widened, mouth dropping open as he stared down at me.
What the fucking fuck? What the hell had he done?
Pushing at his chest, I tried to scramble out from under him, but he was slow to react, a look of genuine confusion marring his features.
Oh, that's right, he was drunk off his fucking ass!
Just enough.
The words filtered through my mind seconds before I lifted my hand and slapped him across the face.
“What the fuck!” he roared, jerking to life and sitting back on his knees.
It gave me just enough space to clamber out from underneath him and get to my feet. Planting my hands on my hips, my chest heaving and my mind screaming, I glared down at him.
Just enough!
He'd crossed the line. The one we never crossed. We toed it, skirted it, skimmed it... but we never fucking crossed it!
“What the fuck were you thinking?” I screamed at him, my blood at boiling point. It wouldn’t surprise me if steam billowed from my head, singeing my hair to ash.
He just stared up at me as he worked through whatever crap was going through his mind.
He'd kissed me! Kissed me!
Glowering at him, my head jerking side to side, I muttered, “What did you do?”
Dropping onto his ass, he rubbed his thumb along his chin and held up a hand. “Okay, look... just calm the fuck down.”
Calm down? Calm down? He had no idea what he'd done. He was a fucking hard trigger for me, he just didn't know it. He was my downward spiral, my... my... my weakness. He was....
Shock slammed into me with the force only a life-altering realization could, and I doubled over, hands on my knees.
Goddamn!
I couldn't even say how long I'd been in love with Maddox Renner. Only that I was. And he'd just pried open the lid on Pandora’s box.
“Riley?”
I looked up at him through a veil of tears.
“Jesus, Riley? What…” His voice faded to nothing.
I couldn't. I couldn't love somebody who was incapable of loving me back.
She didn't know it, but my mom wasn't a sex addict. She didn’t even know how lost and broken she was. Searching without even knowing what for. She had an old shoebox with four rubber bands around it. She didn't know I'd opened it, but inside were the remains of the heart some selfish guy had taken, drained, crushed, and handed back to her like an unwanted gift. Along with her self-respect.
She wouldn't say it, but she'd genuinely loved my father. Even at fifteen. If the tattered diary she'd poured her heart and soul into was anything to go by. She’d stopped writing in it a couple of months before I was born. I’d never asked her about it but that, and the small collection of photos she clearly cherished, painted a damning picture. She'd loved him most of her life. And it hadn't mattered to him one bit. He'd still used her, took from her, the way all men like him use women. Then when he'd had his fill, he'd walked away, leaving her empty of everything. Except me.
She never really found her way back. So she just searched every dick she could find, looking for love, or a connection, or… something. She made the best of the highs, but I'd been there for the lows. Days when darkness seemed to smother her, when she got lost in the past and memories sucked her under like quicksand. Daylight always crept in. She got up. She got on. She'd paint her face, pop one of her pills, and pretend like something wasn’t missing, like she didn't allow men to use her body in a quest to fill some void. Christ, the woman danced in a club for a job, and not just for the pay. She needed to feel wanted. And she'd take it any way she could get it. But she'd learned to make her face up without a mirror, because she couldn't bear the sight of her reflection.
Reno's face appeared in front of mine, his hands softly gripping my upper arms.
He was a guy like him.
Without looking at him, I murmured, “Don't touch me.”
Sober as a judge now, his demeanour calm and controlled, he let go of me.
“Stop freaking out, Ri. We both knew this would happen, we've been circling each other for years. Leon changed nothing. Never did. He was a distraction, a shit one at that, and you know it. He just held off the inevitable.”
Inevitable what? Fuck, screw, bang? And then what? He’d leave and take all the important parts of me with him.
“No,” I said. “I can't.” Shaking myself loose, I bolted.
I heard him shouting my name and ignored it.
Out of everyone, it couldn't be him. He'd break me down to bare bones.
And I'd let him.
Nine
Riley
Thanksgiving was one of the rare occasions my mom cooked. And by cooked, I meant nuked some frozen turkey and canned veg, and made up some powdered potatoes. The cranberry sauce came from a jar left over from last year. It was probably fine to eat.
We sat on the couch with plates in our laps, watching the parade. Normally, Mom would invite Mrs. Weston to join us, but we’d had a wet spell when November hit and she'd taken a fall on soggy leaves taking out her trash. Now she was in Claremont General, her leg in a cast.
I shifted my attention from the screen and looked at my mom. My heart squeezed. Her smile rounded her cheeks and the slightest of crinkles formed at the corners of her eyes. She'd tried. I knew she'd tried. She’d just had no business having a baby at fifteen. And she’d had no business giving her heart away so carelessly, or so young. It was reckless, and I wasn't going down that road. Ever.
I'd successfully avoided, ignored, or dodged Reno for over three weeks now. He'd tried speaking to me the day after the kiss. I'd told him to shove it and never talk to me again. At lunch, Raya perched herself on his thigh as usual and finger fed him fries, shooting daggers at me in between. He let her. If that wasn't the slap in the face I desperately needed, then I didn't know what was. Of course, I didn't love him. It was the heat of the moment. And even if I did harbor some feelings, well, I'd just damned well refuse to. I'd pretend he didn't exist until it didn't matter that he did. People did it all the time.
Untouchable: (Unstoppable - Book 1) (The Unstoppable Series) Page 4