I’d rationalized what Ri and I had, what we were doing, and I’d put an expiration date on our relationship. One that was necessary—so I didn’t start expecting this thing to last forever—but wasn’t today or tomorrow, or anywhere close to imminent. And, apparently, it was one I could live with.
Leon looked at me, his expression dubious, then lowered his gaze to his phone as it pinged. “You sure about that?”
Flattening my palms on the table for leverage, I pushed up from the chair and cast him a hard glare. “What the fuck do you want, Le? A goddamn marriage proposal? Christ, I’m eighteen, not thirty-five! We’re having sex. We enjoy it. It works for us. So back the fuck off.”
He held both hands aloft, his head bobbing as he conceded, “Okay, I hear ya, don’t get your damn panties all wadded up, princess. Now, sit the fuck down. Danny just texted. He and Jase are on their way here. If I’m fucking relegated to the trailer, might as well make use of it. You in?”
The anger evaporated and the tension that had gathered across my shoulder blades fell away as we slipped back into our normal roles as friends, rather than one asshole and one fucker perched on his moral high ground. Dick.
“No Mack?”
Le grimaced. “Dude’s in a world of pain right now.”
A grin formed. “How is it that a fucker that massive can’t handle his drink?”
“That ain’t the worst of it. Dude’s gonna have to schedule a trip to the nearest STD clinic. Crazy motherfucker hooked up with Ash last night… bareback!”
My brows rose. “The fuck...?”
Le shrugged, grabbing a garbage bag from beneath the counter and holding it open at the edge of the table with one hand. He attempted to swipe all the crap into it with his bent arm. About half scattered either side, landing on the floor. I sniggered. He shot me a scowl.
“Wanna fucking help, man? Standing there like an ornament... make yourself useful.” I bent to retrieve an empty soda can, dropping it into the open bag with a flourish. “Yeah, stupid fucker could barely see straight. Now, there’s a vindictive bitch who’d get herself knocked up on purpose just to ruin someone’s life. Mack’s beyond shitting it.”
I scratched at the scruff on my jaw, a deep frown etched into my forehead. “Damn. This happened at Danny’s place?”
“Yeah. After you’d left. I told him, I said what the fuck, dude? You always suit up before you go into battle, and especially with those hoes. I fuck ‘em, but I bring my own damn protective gear.”
I nodded in agreement. Neither one of us could say we hadn’t gone there with Raya and her groupies, but we weren’t stupid about it. I’d never had sex without a rubber. My brow furrowed. Until Riley. I’d had sex with Riley without a condom. The one and only time. I scrubbed a hand down my face, wiping the memory. Or lack thereof. I still couldn’t remember most of that night. It was the morning after that I’d realized the monumental fuck-up I’d made. Not using protection had been the least of my worries. I’d acted like a fucking animal, and I should have taken better care of her.
“Ren?” My head bounced up, my distracted gaze meeting Le's curious stare.
“Yeah?” I asked.
“You in?”
I palmed my phone, my fingers tensing around it. I wanted to shoot a text off to Riley, not just bail with no word. Scratch that, what I wanted to do was slide back into my bed beside her, spread her thighs and drive into her from behind. But I wouldn’t do either. Letting someone know where you were, waking up beside them and picking up where you left off before you fell asleep together, those were the things couples did. We weren’t a couple. We weren’t going to be. Nothing lasted. Didn’t matter how much you wanted it to. This might not end today, but it would end. It had to end. “Yeah, I’ll stay.”
Ten minutes later, Danny and Jase showed up in Leon’s car, hollering to someone across the park. I craned my neck until I could see out the window behind me. Riley. My throat dried up, my groin tightening instantly. Still clad in short shorts that made her slim tan legs look a mile long, and the loose tank she’d worn yesterday, she was a fucking sight. I wondered if she’d bothered putting the bikini on underneath. I couldn’t suppress a groan as she strutted past the window, stopping with a cocked hip once she reached the guys.
“Fucking save it,” she muttered.
“Yeah, yeah! Wonder where you’re coming from, Wiley Coyote?” Jase laughed.
Wiley Coyote. Fuck, she hated that nickname. I’d almost lost a nut in sophomore year for taunting her with it. Learned a valuable lesson that day. The corners of my lips kicked up when her expression darkened, a finger lifting to point right at Jason.
“Don’t!” she warned, clearly in no mood for his bullshit. Because she’d woken up alone? A stab of guilt hit me. Don’t even fucking go there, dickhead. “I was taking out the trash, that okay with you?”
Danny shot her a smirk. “In yesterday’s clothes?”
Why the fuck did that asshole know what she was wearing yesterday? My feet were moving before I could process the intention. Riley shrugged. “What can I say? It’s laundry day. This is all I had.”
Jase scoffed. “Laundry day? What’s that code for... a spin cycle on Reno’s dick?” Smart-mouthed motherfucker. He and Danny slapped each other a high five. Jesus.
I caught Riley’s eye roll as I pushed the door open. Her head swung to me instantly, those bright green eyes growing wide before she swallowed visibly, her throat working, and blanked her features. Turning back to Jason, she flattened her palm and cracked it over the back of his head. “Don’t be disgusting, jerk.”
“Ow!” he muttered, scrubbing his hand over his head with a frown.
The edges of my mouth turned up. Man, she was something else. I looked at her and she fucking broke me. Her sass, her demeanor. That gorgeous goddamn face. All of it. If my balls ached, then my chest ached ten times harder. Shake it the fuck off, man. Clearing my throat loudly, I folded my arms over my chest and eyed Jase and Danny.
“You two gonna stand there pissing about all day, or you gonna come inside so I can kick both of your asses on COD?”
“Oh, he’s delusional today. Must be all the steam from Riley’s laundry screwing with his head, huh, Riley?” Her hand shot out again. Both idiots ducked, weaving out of her range. When they were at a safe distance, Danny turned back with a wink. “You guys aren’t nearly as sly as you think you are.” When he spun around, I was inches away. “Whoa, motherfucker!” he gasped. “Fucking sneak up on people like that!”
“Shut the fuck up, Dan.”
His lips twisted into a smirk, but he mimed shutting the fuck up and shuffled past me as he followed Jase inside. My eyes locked on Riley’s the second the door swung shut behind me. The closed door didn’t fool me into thinking we didn’t have an audience. Her cheeks flushed pink, and the sight was so fucking endearing, my heart pounded and my fingers itched to trace over her warm skin. Fuck. Shut that shit down. This is only fucking… and it’s temporary.
Schooling my features, I offered her a brief nod. One that asked are you good without voicing the words. She nodded, sinking her teeth into that full bottom lip, and my blood heated. I heard a growl rumble in my chest before I’d clocked it had come from me. She heard it. With a sultry smile, she twisted her hands behind her back and began walking away, still facing me. I wanted her. In a bed, a car, over a table. Right here on the grass with the guys and every other nosy fucker watching on. And she knew it.
Eventually she swirled around, granting me a glance of that perfect ass swathed in tight denim, and swung her hips with an exaggerated sway. When her small hand curled around the door handle, she glanced back over her shoulder, her eyes gleaming and the morning sun shining over her still tousled dirty blonde hair.
“Have a good day, Ren.” She smiled before disappearing inside.
Was she kidding? Blue balls. All damn day.
And that’s what I got for leaving her to wake up alone.
Fuck.
I spent
the rest of the afternoon at Le's, talking shit, eating shit, smoking shit. It was unproductive as fuck, but it was the perfect location to stake out Riley’s trailer so I’d know the second her mom left for work in her beat up old banger, the exhaust coughing like a ninety-year-old with fucking emphysema. Made sense, it looked to be around that age. As soon as the clouds of exhaust fumes cleared, I ditched the guys without explanation, and took the ten strides that separated the two homes faster than my ass had ever moved before. I’d fucking defy Usain Bolt to beat my time.
Knuckles rapping on the door, I waited. Riley hadn’t left all afternoon, and I knew that because I’d kept one of my eyes trained on her door for the past ten hours, like a straight-up, certified creeper. I lifted my fist to knock again, but stopped at the sound of music filtering from inside. She couldn’t even fucking hear me. Dropping my hand to the handle instead, I pushed, and it clicked open without resistance. Unlocked! Fucking irresponsible woman! Brows knitted in irritation, my feet made a beeline for the small bedroom at the back, the steady thrum of the bass increasing the closer I got.
Annoyance pulsed through me at the fact that this girl seemed hell-bent on winding up dumped in a shallow grave with her throat slit or some shit. I was fully fucking intent on introducing her to a little something known as a sense of self-preservation… until the girl in question waltzed into my eye-line through the six-inch gap in the door. Clothed in nothing except a tiny lace thong, her hair still damp, and sticking to the skin over her shoulders and back. Safe to say the anger melted like ice on a steam grate, replaced by a surge of desire so fucking strong my knees threatened to buckle and my dick sprang to life like a defibrillator had shocked it. Zero to fucking sixty in approximately nought point nought seconds. Actually, fuck that—I’d been sporting a semi since she’d strutted past me in those tight little shorts this morning. Now, it was goddamn painful. I couldn’t resist watching her unobserved. But when she grabbed a matching sleep short and cami set, I made my presence known. No sense letting her get dressed, I’d have her naked again in less than two minutes.
“It’s as if you’re trying to get yourself killed.”
Her head damn near hit the roof of the trailer, her pale hands clutching the material in a death grip against her heaving chest. “What the fucking Jesus is wrong with you!” she demanded, voice shrill, every other word punctured by a labored gulp for air.
Stepping into her space, I felt my lips curve up into a satisfied smirk and twitched a brow. “You should keep your door locked, Ri. It could have been anyone strolling in here finding you in your underwear.” My gaze trailed her body as I closed the distance between us, fire burning through every single part of me.
Her chin tipped, her jaw clenched and her eyes narrowed. She was pissed and trying to convey that fact, but her slim shoulders rose and fell faster with every step I took toward her. And she was still naked except for a scrap of lace, so the effect was lost.
“I wish it had been someone else, you jackass! And quit looking at me like that!” she snapped, her green eyes flashing. But I watched her face flush, and she was still panting like a train.
My head tilted, lips curling as my eyes devoured her. I knew exactly how I was looking at her. I also knew I had zero intention of stopping. Still I murmured, “Like what?”
Once her breathing had calmed enough that she could form a sentence without choking for air, she aimed a mean ass glare right at me along with a slim finger which, incidentally, revealed one perfect creamy breast. It looked fuller than I remembered. My dick fucking throbbed. “You know!” she grated.
“What I know,” I said, as I prowled toward her, slowly erasing the last few inches of distance separating our bodies, “is that you seem to have a willful disregard for your own fucking safety.” My feet stopped when they touched her toes. Her eyes clouded with something besides fury. Something I could definitely work with.
Gaze locked on to her wide eyes, my fingers closed around the fabric fisted in her hands, tugging until her grip loosened, and I tossed them somewhere behind me. My eyes lowered, burning a trail down her body. Her breath hitched, perfect breasts lifting and falling with every accelerated inhale and exhale. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. I bent my head and dipped my tongue to the hollow beneath her throat. At that touch, she jumped me. I was more than fucking ready.
Her hands grasped my shoulders, probably breaking the skin with her nails, and she thrust herself up and onto my body. Fastening her legs around me, she slammed her lips down on mine. Our teeth clashed, and my tongue rushed past her lips. She had my goddamn head spinning within seconds and my shirt over my head in around the same time. A loud groan ripped from me as my palms curved over her taut ass, grabbing handfuls and working it in my grip. She responded with a long, low moan, her teeth biting down on my bottom lip until I tasted the metallic tang of blood. Hauling her right into me, I pulled my head back and watched her eyes roll back into her head. Her wet hair was plastered across her face, and her cheeks were flushed pink. All of her inhibitions gone.
It was times like this that I questioned my logic; when I had her falling apart in my arms, her prickly exterior all mellowed out as she melted for me. I couldn’t keep her, and I damned well knew it, but how the fuck could I go without this? I gave myself a mental fucking shake and told myself that was just my hormones talking. They were in charge right now. Reason fled the building the second I saw her through that door, which was fine, providing I stayed detached. And God knows, I could fuck without feelings. It was the only way I’d ever done it. Before Riley.
So, as I lowered her to the edge of the bed, carefully spreading her thighs and slipping her panties over her legs, I battled every trace of emotion swelling in my chest, choking me from the inside. As I looked down at her, lowering my arm to dip a finger between her folds and confirm she was ready, I pretended I didn’t see my hand tremble. I clenched my jaw against the pretty words I wanted to whisper to her, damn near biting off my tongue.
When my brain demanded I avoid her gaze as I shucked my pants and lined myself up with her, my eyes had other ideas, straying to meet a smoldering green gaze that punched a hole right through me. I instructed myself to ignore it, to thrust into her hard and fast, focus only on getting us both off, but my body had a mind of its own, pushing into her achingly slowly, inch by agonizing goddamn inch, and feeling it everywhere. With my face hovering just above hers, my greedy eyes relished in watching every emotion that played out across her expressive face as I filled her. And despite every fucking voice screaming at me that it was the dumbest thing I could do, I lowered my lips to hers and kissed her softly as I started moving inside of her body. I wasn’t fucking her right now. And I goddamn knew it.
I was screwing everything up. Confusing the hell out of a situation that was already twenty shades of fucked up. Probably giving the girl beneath me ideas she shouldn’t be having. But as my hands tangled in her hair and her body rose to meet mine, I couldn’t find it in me to give a fuck. I couldn’t find it in me to fuck her like I didn’t love her. Because I did.
I’d have to deal with the consequences of tonight later. I’d have to erase it all from my head and pretend like fuck that it didn’t happen. Right now, I just wanted to fucking love her.
I breathed into her, and every bit of shit storming my head evaporated like a fine mist.
Later. I could live with later.
Thirty-Six
Riley
“It’s your eighteenth, Liss, you have to celebrate.”
“Yeah, Alissa.” Leon’s head appeared between both of ours, his pouty lips dropping a wet kiss onto Liss' cheek before snapping back quickly when she rounded on him, her eyes flashing and her left fist flying. Her other hand swiped furiously at the damp patch on her cheek.
“What have I told you about those disgusting lips, jerk stain!” Liss seethed, still scrubbing at her skin as her face contorted with unadulterated disgust.
Leon, at a relatively safe distance from my best
friend, swung his grinning face in my direction. “Hey, Ri!” He wagged his brows, snagging a fry from my plate as he dumped his ass onto the seat beside me. “I spoke to Momma Bear couple of nights ago...” He broke off with his brows raised, as if I should know where the hell this conversation was going.
I shrugged, pursing my lips. “And...?”
“She told me you got in. Atlanta. We were shooting the shit the other night while she finished her joint, right after that sexy ass friend of hers dropped her home—man, that woman is fucking fine, and she wants me, I can tell—”
“Le,” I muttered with a subtle shake of my head as his gaze glazed over.
“Oh, right, fuck, I’ve got a vivid imagination.”
“I’ll bet,” I scoffed, fighting a grin.
He winked. “So, anyway, yeah, your mom said you got in.”
I sighed as my shoulders drooped. The fewer people who knew about that, the better. Sure, it was my life, my decision and all that jazz, but every additional person who knew about it, was another person who would one hundred percent disapprove of my choices. And I hated seeing that disappointment in their eyes. Plus, the last thing I wanted was for Reno to find out. We were finally getting somewhere. I could feel him letting his guard down, little by little. It was tentative, but something shifted over the weekend. I felt it. I know he felt it, too. Sure, he woke and threw on his armor, like he could box up his feelings and pretend they didn’t exist. So, he still needed more time. I wanted nothing to spook him. Which meant I needed to keep this development on the down low, preferably until forever, but if not, then at least until we'd packed some solid ground beneath our feet. Problem with that, Le was no vault. The guy couldn’t keep a secret if his life depended on it. So, damage control. Give the guy nothing to work with.
“Uh, yeah. I’m still figuring a lot of stuff out.”
Leon looked me over, his face clear of any obvious emotion, which was unnerving. Normally I could read him like a book. Then he bobbed his head, thoughtful. Even more unsettling. “Yeah, she mentioned that.”
Untouchable: (Unstoppable - Book 1) (The Unstoppable Series) Page 21