by Amber Rides
How had it only been that long? It felt like a lifetime.
I forced my mind back to the here and now.
“Swearing aside, you could still have told them to stop,” Teekay was saying. “I know each of those girls is a piece of work individually, and together they’re a wall of garbage. I know there were four of them and only one of you, but Maggie…”
“No,” I said firmly.
“No? No, what?”
I met his frustrated stare and said in a soft but firm voice, “Girls like that…They don’t stop just because you ask them to. They want you to fight back.”
“Why the hell would they want that?”
“Because it gives them an excuse to hurt you even more.”
Teekay’s eyes flashed. Again, I braced for a lash-out. Instead, he grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me into a rough embrace. I was too startled to react properly. Instead of wiggling away, my arms came up and found his waist, my hands settling on the small of his back in what felt like an oddly natural pose.
“You are going to tell me how you know that,” Teekay stated, then pulled away again quickly. “Right this second, though, we have to get to my ride. The rain’s about to hit.”
I glanced up. In the distance, grey clouds moved quickly across the sky. Soon, they’d cover what was left of the sun and then make their way to the beach.
Teekay snagged my hand once again, this time in the more platonic, palm-to-palm way. He tugged me up the hill at an urgent pace.
We made it to the parking lot quickly, and just as we reached a slick-looking motorcycle, a lone water droplet struck my forehead.
I looked from the bike to Teekay, worry hitting me as I grasped the fact that the bike was his.
Teekay’s ride was this two-wheeled death machine.
But he seemed utterly unaware of my concern.
He pulled a key from the inside pocket of his board shorts and unlocked a storage unit on the back of the motorcycle. Then he took out a helmet and a stiff leather jacket and waved them in my direction.
I made no move to take either.
“Put on the gear,” Teekay instructed.
“I’m not getting on that thing.”
He took in my expression, irritation clear on his own face. “You’re scared.”
There was no point in lying. He’d already seen me at my weakest.
“Yes.”
Teekay scrutinized the sky. The clouds were even more ominous now than they had been just two minutes earlier. Another raindrop hit my nose, and when Teekay brought his gaze back down, he had a few drops on his face too.
“All right, Maggie. The motorcycle is scary as shit if you’re not used to it. There’s wind and it’s loud and sometimes rocks fly up off the road and smack into that one piece of skin you forgot to cover up.”
My eyes got wider with each word. Was this his idea of encouragement? If so, it needed a heck of a lot of work.
Teekay went on. “Three hundred pounds and all that fucking torque underneath you and you know what makes it okay?”
My mouth was too dry to speak. I didn’t know what torque was and I couldn’t imagine trying to control something that weighed three times as much as I did. As far as I was concerned, nothing would make it okay.
Teekay didn’t wait for an answer anyway. “It’s because I’m in charge. That power, that strength, that speed…They’re nothing but tools. And I’m the one wielding them.”
His voice was a velvet-edged sword, cutting through the air smoothly. Slickly. Dangerously.
The dryness in my mouth extended down to my throat.
Teekay’s eyes radiated excitement. “The rain makes maintaining control that much more precarious. I’m comfortable with that. Are you?”
Something inside of me screamed at me to run, before it was too late. The motorcycle was a metaphor. Get on, and maybe die.
Or stay off, I said to the cowering, terrified inner voice. And feel like maybe you never lived at all.
I sensed a chance for something new. Something the me of three months ago would never have tried.
Maybe not even the me of three minutes ago.
So I breathed in a ragged breath and snatched the helmet from his hands. Teekay didn’t quite manage to cover his self-satisfied smirk as I slipped it onto my head. Or maybe he wasn’t actually trying to cover it. He didn’t seem like that kind of guy who cared if he got caught with his ego on display.
He’s probably proud of it.
I blushed a little at the unkind judgement. But I blushed even more as I realized I cared what Teekay – who’d gone to my school and who didn’t even recognize me – might think if he knew about it. I was glad I had the helmet to cover my embarrassment
“Jacket,” he commanded, and held it open.
“I think it might be too big.” My voice sounded robotic inside the helmet.
“Jacket,” he repeated.
I sighed and slid my arms into the sleeves. The coat refused to stay in place, and even once Teekay zipped the leather shut, one shoulder still kept getting exposed.
“Maybe it’s a tiny bit too big,” he conceded.
A little smile made Teekay’s lips curl up on one side as he turned back to the storage box on the bike and retrieved a pair of jeans from inside.
With no pretense of modesty, he slipped out of his shorts and stood in the parking lot completely naked. My mouth dropped open and I just barely managed to turn away fast enough.
“Are you looking at me?” he teased.
“No,” I squeaked.
Under the helmet, my face flamed again, and I squeezed my eyes shut.
Teekay chuckled. “You can look. If you want.”
And surprisingly, I was tempted. Every part of his body I’d seen so far was perfect. Would the rest of him be so…solid?
I forced my eyes to stay shut. “I’m okay.”
“Are you telling me? Or yourself?” he gibed.
I didn’t answer. After a second, the hushed zip of his jeans carried through the air.
“All right,” Teekay announced, amusement still clear in his voice. “It’s safe again.”
I opened my eyes carefully. His lower body was decently covered again. He’d tossed on a sky-blue t-shirt as well, and was now fastening up a pair of heavy boots. When he was done, he stood up and eyed my sandals worriedly.
I looked down too.
My feet were sand-crusted and looked very vulnerable when compared to Teekay’s footgear.
“I wish I had an extra pair of boots for you,” he said, then shrugged and smiled. “But I guess if you’re not smart enough to keep your feet up and away from shit, you’re probably short enough that you won’t have a choice anyway. Up on the bike, darlin’. Ass back against the seat and knees up.”
I did my best to ignore the obvious innuendo in his words and attempted to climb onto the motorcycle without hiking my dress up too high. I slipped twice before Teekay’s warm hands closed on my hips and stabilized me. His fingers lingered for a few extra seconds even after I was up on the seat and when he did let go, I had a sudden rush of disappointment.
But he didn’t stop touching me long enough to let my disappointment flourish.
As soon as I skidded backwards on the bike as far as I could go, Teekay grabbed the bottom of my calf-length dress and slid it up slowly. His eyes followed the movement. He perused the entire length of my legs, ankle to thigh, then licked his lips and smiled that slow half-smile again.
My breath caught in my throat as his thumbs circled against the sensitive skin above my knees. His attention made my legs fall apart, all on their own.
“There you go, Maggie,” he said in a husky voice.
Then he straddled the bike easily and jammed himself right between my legs. The rough fabric of his jeans met the exposed lace of my underwear and I fought to keep from squirming against him.
“Hold on tight,” Teekay ordered.
My arms snaked around his chest tentatively.
“Tighter,” he s
aid.
I squeezed harder, my heart hammering in my chest. I wondered if he could feel it, pounding unevenly against his back. And if he could…What did he think of it?
“You wanna know what just popped into my head, Maggie?” he asked, like he could read my mind.
“What?” I almost-whispered.
“That I have never, ever fucked a girl on the back of this bike. And that I might just like to try it.”
The engine roared to life then, and all the inappropriate thoughts that came along with Teekay’s revelation flew away.
My arms cinched tighter.
My thighs crushed his hips.
I was holding on for dear life.
“Yeah, darlin’,” Teekay called out over the rumble of the bike. “Just. Like. That.”
And we tore out of the parking lot, my body on fire with an indefinable want.
3)
Even in the increasingly dim light, the scenery that whipped by was breathtaking.
We were travelling up the hilltop to the most exclusive part of the little ocean-side town. St-Marie Pierre was mostly seasonal bungalows and cabins, but the side of the mountain just above the town was dotted with the homes that belonged to its wealthier clientele.
The houses were all huge, bordering on mini-mansion status, and all designed by the same builder, who’d crafted them in woodsy colors to blend into their surroundings.
As a small child – before my father died and before I couldn’t stand being near the water – I’d watched them constructing the road and the houses and wondered who could afford the impossibly beautiful accommodations.
But I’d never seen them up close. They weren’t within walking distance of my grandmother’s beach house and I didn’t know anyone who owned one.
Until now.
And climbing higher and higher, I could truly appreciate why someone would be willing to fork over an arm and a leg to buy up here.
The air was fresher, the beach view was astounding, and the whole town twinkled below.
My fingers itched to draw it out. Almost – almost – I begged to Teekay to stop so I could commit all of it, if not to paper, then at least to memory. But it wasn’t in my nature to speak up. And even if it had been, the rain was really starting to come down.
In spite of Teekay’s comment about being comfortable riding in the wetness, his body grew tenser at each sharp curve. Soon, he wasn’t even relaxing at the straighter parts of the road. And I couldn’t look at the scenery anymore either. My vision was blurred by the downpour. I shut my eyes as tightly as I could and buried my face, helmet and all, into Teekay’s back.
I was concentrating so hard on not looking that I didn’t even notice when we came to a stop. It wasn’t until the engine purred once more, then cut out, that I realized we were no longer moving.
Teekay let go of the handlebars and squeezed my knees before he jumped off the bike and faced me. He grabbed my far leg and pulled it around so I was seated in a sideways position, then he yanked the helmet from my head and smoothed back my hair.
“Are you okay?” he wanted to know.
“Fine,” I agreed softly.
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
His expression was dark and my eyes flew to my lap in an automatic, conditioned response.
“I think you’re lying, and I want you to look at me, Maggie.”
Reluctantly, I brought my gaze back up. Teekay stepped away from me and lifted his shirt. I inhaled sharply.
On either side of his chest, right under his sculpted pecs, were five deep, red, moon-shaped indents.
I clenched my hands into fists, unconsciously trying to hide my fingers. I knew if I looked, I’d see that my nails lined up perfectly with the marks on his otherwise flawless skin.
Teekay didn’t let my hands stay closed for long. He stepped toward me again and closed his palms over my fingers, then pried them open gently.
“Maggie,” he said carefully. “I’m sorry.”
He was sorry? My mouth worked wordlessly as I tried to formulate a reply.
He looked pissed off. And even though I was sure it was at himself rather than at me, I still flinched away from the intensity in his eyes.
Not that I could really get away. He was so close I could see each fleck of amber in his eyes and count the freckles on his nose – eighteen of them. In addition to that, he still held my hands in his tight grip and his waist was pressed into my knees.
I inhaled, hoping to give myself a little clarity. Instead, I drew in Teekay’s scent. The rain on his skin. Light sweat. And that same, subtle fragrance that was just him.
And I could feel him too. The fierceness he exuded seeped from his body to mine, making my pulse trip wildly and making my thoughts tumble over each other incoherently.
“You told me you were scared,” Teekay stated. “I should’ve respected that.”
“It’s okay,” I managed to mumble.
“No. It’s not. I’m an asshole, plain and simple. I made you get on because I thought you were fucking around, making a big deal of nothing. Playing a game. Like girls do.” His mouth was hazardously close to mine, and as he spoke, his breath caressed my lips. “And it’s not true, is it?”
“What isn’t?”
“You weren’t playing a game.”
“No.”
“Because you’re not much like other girls.”
The nearness of his lips made it impossible to focus and it got that much worse again as he released my hands and put his palms on my thighs.
“I’m not sure,” I said, barely able to remember what he’d asked me.
“How old are you?” he asked.
“Seventeen. Eighteen, I mean.”
“That’ll fly well in court,” he muttered.
“What?”
“Which is it?”
“Eighteen. I had my birthday three months ago. I just…I can’t seem to remember that it happened.”
I didn’t mention that the reason I kept forgetting was that within days of my eighteenth birthday, my grandmother died and I didn’t want to remember it. Not at all.
Teekay’s hands crept up a little further.
“Maggie…do you want to kiss me?”
The query shouldn’t have caught me off guard, but it did anyway. And my mouth watered – actually watered – as his question sunk in. My heart threatened to explode and I was very grateful I was already sitting down, because my knees began to shake.
What would happen if I said yes? I honestly wasn’t sure I’d be able to control myself.
A memory – unwanted and buried just below the surface – rose to the front of my mind.
It was one year ago and I’d accepted an invitation to sleepover at a girl’s house.
It was stupid of me to go. I should’ve known it was a setup. After all, how many times had any of the girls in my school asked me to go anywhere?
But the girl in question had seemed to be warming up to me. She’d even sat beside me for five minutes at lunch one day and let me listen to a playlist on her MP3 player.
So I’d taken a chance. I’d let myself hope.
When I got to the party, there were boys there. That alone should’ve been enough to send me running.
Still…I’d stayed. I’d talked to him. To James, who appeared to be a bit like me – quiet and nervous and not all that comfortable. One thing led to another and I had said yes.
And I’d never been able to take that yes back.
Even after I found out James was really Jimmy “the Skunk” Monroe, a small time drug dealer and big time jerk.
Even after the whole party burst in on us.
Even after I found the photographs stapled to every telephone pole between my grandmother’s house and the high school.
That particular yes was stuck with me forever.
One of Teekay’s hands left my lap so it could cup my cheek, bringing me back to the present. A scant inch remained between his mouth and mine.
�
��Do you want to?” he asked again.
Just say no, I urged myself.
Except I couldn’t quite bring myself to lie.
“I don’t know,” I said instead.
Teekay made a frustrated noise in the back of his throat.
“Are you ever sure about anything?” he growled. “I’m going to ask you again. Just one more time.”
He released my face and put both hands on my waist. I stifled a gasp.
Oh.
“Do. You. Want. To kiss me?”
“No.”
Teekay drew back, surprise evident on his face.
“Seriously?” he sounded utterly disbelieving.
“Just…”
“Just what?”
“I’m not ready.”
“Yet?” he pushed.
“I don’t even know you,” I pointed out.
“And you don’t find me attractive?”
I colored. “That’s not what I said.”
He took my hands and pulled them up over my head. He held them there with one of his own hands and used the other to make a trail along my cold, wet cheek.
“Last chance,” he told me.
“No.” I tried to make my voice firm.
“You’re going to change your mind,” he warned. “And when you do…I’m going to make you beg on your hands and knees. And I’m sure it won’t be for a just a kiss.”
I wasn’t sure if it was a threat or a promise, and truthfully, I didn’t care. I almost begged right then and there.
I made myself take a breath and pretended it didn’t shudder as it came in. It was no longer just my knees that were quaking. It was all of me.
Teekay finally released me. At least physically. His heated gaze still held me for several seconds more.
“All right,” he said. “Inside. Before we both fucking freeze.”
He didn’t take my hand as he led me to the front door. I don’t even know why I expected him to. And I wouldn’t admit that I felt so let down by the fact that he didn’t. In a moment, it didn’t even matter – my disappointment became secondary to my awe as we stepped into the house.
The entryway was jaw dropping. Like something out of a movie. The ceiling was cathedral high and the side walls were glass. An impossibly huge, crystal chandelier hung over the centerpiece of the room – a trickling, marble fountain.