Untouchable: (Unstoppable - Book 1) (The Unstoppable Series)

by Danielle Hill

  Liss' eyes widened, a wide grin emerging as she nodded. “I do know! Riley… that’s amazing!” I lowered my gaze, bringing the letter back behind me, noting her smile slip and brows knit. “It is amazing, right? What’s going on? What am I missing?” I could feel her eyes shifting between my mom and me.

  “Nothing,” I assured her. “It’s just... a big decision.”

  Her eyebrows drew together. “What? Riley... there is no decision. I mean, you already made this decision. Didn’t you?” Her head flitted to my mom, who shrugged a little, hands lifting out at her sides. Liss rolled her lips together, schooling her features. “Look, go get dressed before you make us late. We’ll talk later. But now, I want to hear all about Marshall and those hands!” She rubbed her hands together.

  “You really don’t,” I muttered, walking through the bathroom door. But not before I heard...

  And exactly how old is Marshall, Amy?

  A senior in college, he’s got stamina for days. The young ones always do.

  I palmed my forehead.

  My mother, ladies and gentleman.

  “What’s going on?” Liss asked, eyes ahead.

  The breeze tossed her hair around her shoulders as we drove across town. Danny’s parents were among the most well off in the town. Not crazy rich or anything, but he had a big house with a small pool. Spring had definitely sprung. It was the hottest day of the year so far. So, pool party.

  Diverting my attention out the passenger window, I hooked a finger over the lowered glass and shrugged. “Nothing. I just... haven’t decided what I want to do yet.”

  “Because of Reno.” She knew without me saying a word. So, I said nothing. “Ri—”

  “God, I know, Liss,” I said, my tone harsher than I’d intended. My head shook as I pivoted to face her. In a calmer voice, I told her, “I’m thinking maybe I’ll hold off for a couple of years. Then, you know, see how things are. Things should have settled by then. It’s not like I’m not going to school.”

  “And is this what he wants?” I detected the doubt in her voice.

  I turned my head away from it. Maybe I was being an idiot. Maybe I knew I was. It didn’t change how I felt.

  “We haven’t discussed it,” I answered faintly.

  “Riley. This is huge. This is your future. You get that, right?”

  Swivelling round, I placed my palms on my thighs, rubbing over the bare skin. I wished things were easier. Liss had gotten into South Coral University and would be off to Florida come the fall, no question. But my circumstances were different.

  “Things have been so much better between us lately. He’s… he's doing really good. I mean we’re... things are okay. I feel like we’ve just got back on a level footing and what, then I’m gonna up and leave?”

  “It’s still months away,” she pointed out.

  Biting my lip, I nodded slowly. “I know.” Eyes meeting hers, I lifted my shoulders helplessly. “I just... can’t leave. Not yet.”

  Sadness gleamed in her blue gaze. Reaching out, she covered my hand with one of her own. “Just don’t rule anything out, okay? You’ve got some time before you need to decide. Can you think about it? Can you at least promise me that?”

  Squeezing her fingers, I offered her what I hoped was a convincing smile. “Sure.”

  She gave a slight nod. “Great. Now let’s get wasted!”

  My eyes landed on Reno the second I rounded the house. And the next second, I spotted Raya, prancing around less than three feet away from him. Every curvy inch of her spilled out of the bits of floss she was passing off as a bikini. Her long silky black hair flowed over her tanned skin like a freaking waterfall. I ground my teeth. Damn, the girl had a rocking body. I hated that. I also hated that I suddenly felt self-conscious and insecure.

  In private, Reno and I couldn’t keep our hands off each other, but in public, it was another story. I was lucky if he spared me a fleeting glance at school. He never singled me out to speak to me, barely acknowledged my existence. He treated me like anyone else. And I swallowed it down, accepted it as his way of maintaining some distance between us. He still needed to view our arrangement as casual, even if it felt like so much more to me. Even if sometimes, it seemed like he knew it was so much more.

  Standing here now though, in what felt like my grandmother’s swimsuit with my straight hips and newly acquired b cups, I doubted everything. Every word of reassurance I’d uttered to myself. Every promise we’d work it out. I’d told myself I just had to wait for him to come around, be patient, because he was still grieving and had suffered major emotional trauma. And I’d managed to convince myself he would come around at some point. Watching him laugh with his friends now though, their shaded eyes on the busty bimbos putting on a show, I wasn’t so sure anymore. Despite the warm April air and bright rays of sun kissing my pale skin, a chill washed over me, goose bumps breaking out.

  Turning, I made a beeline for the kitchen, snatching up a plastic cup and filling it with beer, before throwing the contents down my throat without tasting it. What the hell was I doing? I was offering myself up on a platter every night, and Reno was out there getting free goddamn lap dances. Obviously, I knew he’d slept with Raya. And the others. I tried not to think about it; I excelled at blocking that nugget of information from my mind. But… did he want to go there again? Would he? My back stiffened. I hadn’t even thought of that before now. Was he ignoring me publicly because he was doing Raya, or someone else, or all of them, behind my back?

  My eyelids drifted closed as a bitter chuckle escaped my lips. It wouldn’t even be behind my back, would it? A snort of air huffed out of me as my fingers drove through my hair. He and I were friends. I hadn’t asked him for more, and he hadn’t offered. My flats slapped against the tile floor as I made my way through the house, barging through the few bodies in my way.

  “Where you running off to, Riley? Liss is looking for you out by the pool,” Danny yelled.

  I waved a hand behind me, calling out, “Need to pee” over my shoulder.

  Bursting into the bathroom, I closed the door behind me, my breaths labored, and spun to rest my forehead against the wood. Fuck, I was so stupid. Spinning to the vanity, I twisted the faucet, cupping my hands under the stream of water and meeting my weary eyes in the framed mirror. I blinked once, twice… then threw the water over my face, dropping my head to let it roll off into the basin, my fingers gripping the edges. I stood with my head hung low as I tried to work through my thoughts.

  The door creaked open behind me and my body swivelled. My heart fluttered at the sight of Reno’s bulky form filling the doorway, his inquisitive gaze pinned on my face. “You okay?”

  “Yeah,” I said quickly, brushing my damp hands together in front of me and wiping them on my jean shorts.

  “Your face is all wet,” he observed, those deep brown eyes scrutinizing me.

  I bunched up my shoulders, passing a hand over my face while studiously avoiding his gaze. “It’s a pool party... thought that was the point.”

  “You haven’t been in the pool,” he pointed out.

  Peering up at him through spiky lashes, I muttered, “Surprised you noticed.”

  “What?” He stepped closer, all bronzed skin, broad shoulders and defined abs. That perfectly mussed ink black hair. He had no right to look this good. With his olive skin tone, he was always tan, but after the minutest exposure to the sun, he stepped up from GQ model to Greek God. I gulped, my throat bone dry and my pulse racing off into a gallop. With all this in my face, he had me at a massive disadvantage.

  Glancing down, I shrugged. “Nothing.”

  His approach unhurried, he stopped in front of me and hooked a thumb and finger under my chin, forcing my eyes up.

  Huffing out a breath, I reluctantly explained myself. “Didn’t realize you’d noticed me. Looked like you were too busy enjoying the show.”

  His head angled back a little and his brow furrowed before realization hit. “Raya?”

 
I dropped my head again. Fingers still on my face, he instantly pulled it back up, lowering his gaze to mine.

  “Look at me, Riley.”

  No, thank you.

  I heard him sigh. “Damn it, Ri,” he muttered. His hands landed on my hips, lifting me off my feet. Before I knew what was happening, my butt met the smooth surface of the counter. I responded with a little yelp, which he silenced by stepping between my thighs and pressing his lips to mine, coaxing them open.

  Every part of me softened. My hands landed on his big shoulders as my lips parted for him without question, without reserve. With our mouths fused together, everything else fell away. He growled low in his throat when I pressed into him, securing his arms around my waist as my hands crawled up his neck, my fingers curling into the damp hair at his nape.

  He pulled back a little, breathing heavily, trapping me in his stare. “You think I even see her?”

  Eyes bouncing between his, I murmured, “What is this, Ren? What are we doing?”

  I didn’t want to do it… be the needy girl who had to ask where is this going? but I couldn’t help myself. I was about to shape my entire future based on this, on the promise of us. I needed to at least believe that I wasn’t just one in a rotation of girls.

  He sighed, his hands slid to rub over my upper thighs, giving them a gentle squeeze. “We’re spending time together. Having fun. Okay?”

  My teeth snagged my lower lip, biting down anxiously. His answer did nothing to ease my concerns. “Are we... having fun... with other people?”

  His fingers dug into my flesh and his eyes flashed. “No.”

  “No?”

  Using his grip on my legs, he dragged my body into his and ground his hips into me, eliciting a soft cry from my lips. His hands glided over my skin, sure fingertips sweeping beneath the fabric of my shorts. His stare drilled into me. “I’m not fucking anyone else, Ri, and you damn sure better not be.”

  A hint of a smile pulled at my mouth as I wriggled closer. “So… exclusive friends?”

  Narrowed eyes assessed me, right before his big palms seized each of my butt cheeks and he hauled me up off the vanity like I weighed nothing, settling me flush against his body. My legs folded around his waist like they belonged there. “You’re wearing too many clothes for a pool party,” he drawled.

  “Yeah, maybe. I’m just not sure I want to get wet though.” His eyes lit on fire. I clapped my hand over my mouth, stifling a giggle.

  Sexy smirk firmly in place, he asked hoarsely, “Anything I can do to change your mind?”

  “I’m sure you’ll think of something.”

  He did. And he didn’t totally ignore me after he’d ravished my body in Danny’s bathroom either. It felt like a step in the right direction.

  It felt like I was making the right choice.

  Thirty-Five

  Reno

  Early morning sunlight filtered through the thin drapes, hitting the back of my closed lids. Prizing them open, I immediately blinked against the stream of light. My gaze fell to the crumpled bed sheets and the golden-haired goddamn angel tangled up in them. Pushing up on my hands, I let my eyes wander over her face, lifting a hand to brush her hair aside. Tiny freckles dotted the bridge of her nose and her long lashes rested along the crest of her cheeks. Fuck, she was beautiful.

  I forced my body from the bed, intent on diverting my attention, but my defiant eyes refused to leave Riley’s face. A slow exhale flowed past my lips. She’d stayed over again. Warning sounds triggered. I was letting this develop into more than friendship, more than sex. She was steadily creeping back in. Part of me couldn’t fucking understand why that was a problem anymore. But I wasn’t about to let myself forget.

  A few months ago, I’d been in love with this girl. Then everything had gone to shit, ripping my life to shreds. What I’d felt for her then hadn’t just disappeared; it had always been there. But I’d changed. I wasn’t about to lay everything on the line for something so fickle as love. Life had taught me how goddamn easy it was for someone to love you one minute and be gone the next. My mom had made her choice willingly; she’d abandoned us. That stung. More than I’d ever let myself acknowledge, and it hurt more now that I had no fucking one left. Brett and Owen hadn’t chosen to leave, but they still weren’t here, were they? And it still hurt like a bitch.

  Tearing my gaze away, I threw on the discarded clothes littering the bedroom floor and strode from the room. Grabbing a bottle of Gatorade from the fridge, I took three big gulps as my eyes surveyed the space around me. There was nowhere to hide from the memories in here. The place was too small. I couldn’t look at the fridge and not see the door held open, Brett reaching in for another beer, a tinge of guilt in his eyes as he assured me it was his last one. He’d never owed me one damn explanation. Never owed me anything. Never stopped him, though. The sectional still bore mine and O's ass prints from the days we’d sat gaming for hours on end. O demanding a rematch every time I kicked his ass. If I cast my mind back real hard, I could see my mother standing by the counter, wrestling with a can opener, and Brett coming behind her, taking it from her hands with a tender kiss to her cheek.

  I shook myself from the reverie. Memories might provide comfort to other people. For me, they served as reminders that life could seem perfectly fucking fine, but we were never more than one bad decision, one twist of fate away from total destruction. I didn’t even know if my mother knew about Owen. How fucked up was that? A mother not being aware her son had died. And if she had found out, she hadn’t fucking made an effort to get in touch; hadn’t attended the funeral or sent her condolences. Bitterness coiled in my gut, and I grit my teeth. Nothing was permanent. No point pretending otherwise. Leon’s mom had coerced me into seeing a grief counselor, and apparently my reaction was a natural one. Whatever. I didn’t need a shrink to tell me it was pure fucking lunacy to put myself in that position again.

  Letting Riley all the way in was the equivalent of laying on a guillotine, waiting for the blade to drop. And it would. It always did. The problem with this kind of guillotine, though? It didn’t fucking kill you. No, it took chunks, hacked away piece by piece, until all it left behind was blinding pain. Loving Riley and then losing her would decimate me. Like stepping on an IED and surviving, everything except my beating heart blown to smithereens. And when it came down to it, I’d probably rather be dead.

  Stalking from the trailer, desperate to put some distance between me and my supposed casual hook up, I stopped outside Leon’s door and thumped a clenched fist against it. Once, twice... ten times.

  “Wake up, motherfucker.” A groan from inside, followed by a thud and muffled curse, twisted my lips into a half smirk. When his dishevelled ass opened the door, bleary, bloodshot eyes, hair sticking up every fucking which way, I grimaced. “You look like shit.”

  “Well, I might not if people would let me fucking sleep,” he muttered, stumbling away.

  “Doubt that'd make a difference,” I quipped, dropping down to straddle a seat at the same table that his upper body was now half laying over, face planted into the wooden surface and his arms covering his head.

  “You’re fucking pleasant this morning,” he grumbled, voice muffled. “No fucking idea why. Thought for sure you must have got some last night.”

  “Don’t start,” I warned, levelling a scowl at his bent head. I wasn’t getting into this with him again. His head lifted, chin settling onto the littered table top as his inquisitive gaze focused on my face. “What?” I bit out, in no fucking mood. I had my own head laying into me about Riley, I damn sure didn’t need his input on top.

  “You two still just messing around?”

  My jaw tightened. “It was none of your fucking business last time you asked and it’s none of your fucking business now.”

  His brows raised slowly. “She’s a friend, Ren, always has been. If you’re just going to fuck her over, I’m not okay with that, man.” My fists clenched; he clocked my reaction. “Look,” he said, raising
up from his sprawled position and laying one arm casually over the back of his chair. “What you’ve gone through, Ren? Fucking horrendous, shittiest hand of fucking cards ever dealt. And I’ve got your back, whenever, whatever. But Riley? She looks at you like you hung the fucking moon… always has. Even when I didn’t want to see it. Even when she didn’t want to see it. She deserves better than being a convenient fuck buddy, man. And you damn well know it.”

  I couldn’t argue with him. She deserved better. I might still love her. Fuck that… I knew I did. But I had no intention of giving her anything besides sex, and even then, she was getting too close. I could go back now, walk in there and end it. Except the thought of it—of not touching her, kissing her, or sinking into her warm heat again, of not burying my face in her hair and breathing her in as she slept in my bed, limbs tangled with mine—bothered me. Like really fucking bothered me. Twisted up my insides until I could hardly fucking breathe, until my stomach wanted to heave, and my damn chest felt like it might cave in. My breaths came faster as my mind grappled to figure out a way to keep her in my life a while longer.

  If we were both happy with things as they were, then what the fuck was the problem? She seemed happy. I was okay, for now. I just needed to remember to keep it casual: no more sleeping over, limit it to a few nights a week. And keep my damn heart out of it. I could do that. The pressure behind my ribs eased. Keeping it casual was better for both of us, anyway. We were young. Nobody wanted to tie themselves down at seventeen. She had her whole life ahead of her and she was damn smart. She would leave for college in a few months. No matter what either of us felt now, it wouldn’t last. People broke off and went in different directions. How was this different from what every other teenager on the planet did?

  “We’re both good with how things are. I'm not fucking her around, Le, I’m not sleeping with anyone else. We’re happy to keep things light.” My tone brooked no argument.