by Jenika Snow
And just like that, I do.
My pussy muscles clench around him, and he bucks against me harder.
“Yeah, that’s it, baby. Fuck, I’m going to come,” he grunts out. He groans harshly again.
I am going to come again.
“I’m coming again,” I cry out as the pleasure crashes through me.
“So good,” he says.
My inner muscles clamp down hard, and we both moan. He starts fucking me faster, harder. I arch my back and let the pleasure consume me. His big body goes rigid, and this deep sound leaves him when he buries himself inside me.
It is long seconds before his body finally relaxes, and he rests his full weight on me. We are both sweaty, our skin pressed together erotically.
I could stay like this forever.
But all too soon he rolls off me. Thankfully he pulls me close to his body.
“I care about you so much, Skylar.”
My heart beats harder in my chest.
We are face to face. He leans down and kisses me. I want this to last. I want Adrian in my life.
He holds me tighter. “You’re mine. Always.”
Chapter 18
Adrian
Skylar feels perfect in my arms. I knew she would, and damn, I’ve already fallen head over heels for her.
“How are you?” I ask. I don’t want her to be in any kind of pain. I’ve already hurt her, and I want to make her feel so much better now.
“I feel fantastic.” She smiles, and I see how flushed her cheeks are.
“You’re so beautiful.”
“Thank you,” she whispers. She touches my cheek, and just the feel of her flesh against mine makes me so fucking hard.
“I’ll always want you,” I say honestly.
“I feel great. Is it strange that I feel like myself? Is that even right?” She sounds confused, but there is pleasure in her voice, too. “I’ve waited so long for this moment, and I’m glad I experienced it with you.” A beat of silence passes between us. “Were you being serious when you said I now belonged to you?” She bites her lip, and I groan. She looks so damn sexy.
“You don’t have any clue how much I want you right now,” I say. I’m not going to fuck her again, not right now at least.
She kisses me with a passion that takes my breath away. Cupping her cheeks, I stare into her eyes, and I can’t help the question that keeps popping up into my head, and so I ask her.
“Why are Holden and Alex so protective of you?” I ask.
“Alex is my brother, and Holden is his best friend.”
“Yeah, I get a level of protection, believe me I do. Both of them go into serious protective mode. I don’t have a problem with it. Honestly, I was just curious if there was something I didn’t know about.”
She looks somewhere past my shoulder. “Why do they think you’re a bad guy?” she asks.
“Okay. How about I share with you first, and then you share with me?”
She nods.
I am quiet for a long while. “I grew up in a trailer park. It wasn’t a good place. My parents, I don’t even know why they kept me around. I was a thorn in their side, and if they could, they’d have gotten rid of me at the first opportunity.” I think about my past, about how I’ll never be that person again. “I was that kid who always wore clothes that were too short, and dirty, because my parents couldn’t afford anything else for me. They didn’t care. My bathing usually consisted of sneaking into the community pool near where I lived to clean myself off.” Shame fills me at admitting this to her. But I want Skylar to know about me, because I meant what I said about keeping her as mine.
“Oh my God.”
“Let’s just say I was called a lot of names by the time I hit high school. For the most part, I took it. Why not? According to everyone, and even my parents, I was trash.”
“That’s so awful.”
“My mom brought home random guys, and I didn’t understand until I was older that she slept with them for money. And my dad, well he was an abusive drunk more times than not, but he didn’t care that his wife was fucking these guys right in their bed.”
“I take it something changed?”
“Yeah. I got into a fight at school. I just snapped, and before I knew what was happening, I was in the principal’s office. I thought I was in serious trouble—not that I cared—but the coach from the soccer team was there. He thought I had potential, and he paid for me to train and be on the team. I’d never thought of doing soccer, but it came naturally, and I found it helped me get out a lot of frustrations I had.”
“Was that a happy ever after?”
I smile. “No. Not even close. It wasn’t long after that I started getting in more fights, and then found a way to be in the underground circuit and make money off of it.” I think about how raw those fights were, how I’d felt powerful … free. “I built up a reputation and it passed through high school. I fought my way out of that hell hole, and this is who I am now.”
“How do my brother and Holden know about this?”
“My reputation followed me here, and it doesn’t help that I got into a couple of serious fights my first year.” I shrug. “But they’d also seen me in the underground circuit a few times. I was known as being brutal, and putting opponents in the hospital was what I loved best.” Taking hold of her hand, I kiss her knuckles. “Now, your turn.”
She sighs. “You know I was a virgin, right?”
I nod, feeling pride that I was her first, and I’d be her last.
“Well, a couple of years ago, when I was fifteen, I was at a party with my brother. I’d begged him to bring me along. Well, he got drunk, I’d wandered off, and I found myself in a bad situation.”
I feel my body tighten at her words. Right now I don’t like where this conversation is going. Already, I know something bad happened.
“I was so stupid. I had friends at school and stuff, but I never really fit in. I don’t know how I can really describe what I did, or what I went through. I wanted to be open, like Alex and Holden. I wanted to have people like me and not think of me as the closed off nerdy girl.” She exhales.
I am more than aware of her previous crush on Holden. I’m not jealous. She is in my arms, and that is where she is going to stay. I don’t share, and I never will.
“I’ve never been so bold, and I liked the way he’d kissed me, told me I was pretty. Things escalated, and if a couple hadn’t stumbled in and interrupted I know he would have…” She pauses, her eyes wide, her fear clear. “I know he would have raped me.”
I want blood. I want to find that fucker and take him out for putting fear in Skylar.
“He ended up getting into a DUI a year later, and last I heard he moved out of state with his parents. That was four years ago. I’ve moved on, or tried to, but sometimes that fear, that suffocating feeling, tries to claim me.” She looks in my eyes. “That night I first met you, that’s what happened. All those memories rushed back with that guy pinning me. You were there, though, and for the first time in my life I felt like I could breathe, like you brought me back.” She closes her eyes. “But how I feel… I feel so ashamed of my past.”
“Hey, why do you feel like that?” I ask.
“Because it’s what we all know we should watch out for. I really thought I was smarter than putting myself in that situation.” She shakes her head. “My brother and Holden see me as being weak, I guess, as needing them to take care of me. I can’t blame them, not with how closed off I allowed myself to be.”
“It’s not your fault. Nothing was your fault.” I kiss the top of her head, trying to offer her comfort. This isn’t her fault, and it was that asshole who hurt her. “Thank you so much for trusting me with this.”
“And thank you for trusting me. This has been the best moment of my life.”
“Mine as well.” Dropping a kiss to her lips, I know we are supposed to be together.
Chapter 19
Adrian
I am glad I’ve spoke
n to Skylar, that we’ve bared each other’s pasts, opened up, been honest with each other. I want her to be in my life, not just as a passing thing, but as a forever thing. I love her, am so head over heels for her that just thinking about her has my chest aching something fierce.
And she hasn’t condemned me, hasn’t looked down upon me, or judged me. She’s just accepted what I said and given me her support.
I focus on that, the warmth, the happiness that is spreading through me.
“Hey, bro, focus.” Cal, one of the guys I train with, says from behind the red punching bag I’ve just been going at. “You got this goofy as fuck smile on your face. You should be thinking about knocking the head off an asshole in the ring.”
“Maybe that’s why I was smiling,” I respond.
Cal shakes his head. “Nah, that look was one that was all sappy and shit. Focus, man.”
Cal is right, but pushing Skylar out of my head, even just for right now, even just to train, feels abhorrent. But I move all good and pleasant thoughts that Skylar brings out in me to the back of my head and start slamming my fist into the scarred, worn bag. I think about Holden. The asshole might be protecting Skylar, thinking she has something to be afraid of when it comes to me, but that pisses me the fuck off.
I think about the guys I’ll fuck up tonight, the ones who will fall at my feet as I take them down.
I slam my fist into the bag, over and over again. My bones and muscles ache and are on fire, my sweat pouring off of me like water sliding from a swimmer. I take a step back, breathing hard, my lungs expanding to max capacity until they burn.
“That’s what I’m talking about, man,” Cal says and slaps the bag a few times.
“I gotta shower.” Really I just want to talk to Skylar. I’ve been at the gym since five this morning. It’s already noon, and all I can think about is her.
I have it bad for her. So fucking bad.
Once in the shower room I go to my locker, grab my towel, and dry my face and chest off. I grab my phone and send her a text.
Let me take you out tonight. Someplace quiet, where we can just talk, if that’s all you want to do. Or I can take you to get something to eat. I do need to make sure my woman is fed.
It only took a second for her to reply.
Skylar: Anywhere with you will be perfect. I’d prefer quiet though.
So would I. Even if we just sit there and don’t say one word, that will be a perfect night for me. Because having Skylar by my side is pure bliss in all shapes and forms.
Skylar
Later that night
I stare up at the stars, the hood of the car beneath me still warm as it cools down from our trip here. The lake is right in front of us, the water having a calming effect in me. The warmth I feel from Adrian’s body, his strength, his feelings for me, bring me just as much solace as this atmosphere.
“What are you thinking about?” he asks, and I watch as a shooting star runs through the sky, as if it had been trying to escape something. “Nothing,” I reply, being honest. I wasn’t actually thinking of anything. I was feeling, letting everything around me seep into my very marrow. “I’m just basking in the calm and comfort that settles into me when I’m with you.” I turn my head and look at him. He’s already watching me. “And that’s the truth. When I’m with you, whether it’s in a crowded room, or when we’re out here in the middle of nowhere, I can’t help but relax. It always feels like it’s just the two of us.”
He reaches across and cups my cheek. “I feel the same way.” He leans forward and kisses me. It isn’t one filled with heat, or sexual in any sense. But it is still one that has everything in me coming alive.
I stare up at the sky again. He’s taken me to a little lake that is just on the outskirts of the city. Although the bustle of the Columbus city life is not that far from us, right now, and in this spot, it feels like the whole world is ours alone.
We stay like that, both staring at the sky, our hands interlocked, his thumb brushing the back of my hand. We don’t say anything, don’t even move for so long I could have fallen asleep.
“I love you,” Adrian says, and I feel my heart stop. He rises up so he is sitting now, and I follow suit.
He loves me?
“I’m not telling you to freak you out, but because I can’t not tell you. I have to let you know how important you are to me.” He cups my cheek again, and moves his thumb right under my eye. His movements are slow, soft. “I love you so much my heart hurts. You accept me for who I am. No judgment or accusation has ever come from you, especially after I told you about my past.”
I shake my head. “How could I ever judge you? I have my own problems.” He continues to gently stroke me, and I feel my throat tighten. “I love you too.” The smile he gives me has this warm feeling washing over me. It is something profound, real, and has everything to do with this being right.
Being with Adrian is right.
Now I just have to let Alex and Holden know this is what I want, so they won’t screw this up. That would hurt more than anything else in the world.
Chapter 20
Holden
I’m pissed off.
I’m frustrated.
I’m infuriated.
Staring across the party, I notice that Skylar is yet again missing. I’m even more annoyed that Alex doesn’t seem to care. It’s his damn sister, and he doesn’t show any sign of being worried that his sister for the past month has been avoiding us. Not only has she been avoiding us, but I’m sure she’s with that short fused dick, Adrian.
Sipping at my beer, I watch as Alex is making a total shit of himself, and I’m just losing my temper. Watching them all mess around, I finally see the party that Skylar sees. She hates parties, and I can see why. Everyone is drunk, fighting, or groping each other.
“Hey, you. You look ready to kill someone.”
I look down to see Skylar’s roommate, Cara? Charlie?
“It’s Claire,” she says, clearly seeing I’m having trouble remembering her name.
“Sorry,” I mutter. My head is currently stuck on my own shit, and I’m getting drunk. I scrub a hand over my hair. “I’m kind of buzzed. Don’t take it personally.”
She shrugs.
“Do you happen to know where she is?” Why I blurted that out I have no clue. I feel like it’s an asshole thing to say, seeing as she came up to talk.
“Sky? She’s … not here.”
“You know where she is?”
Claire places a hand on her hip and sighs. “You know where she is, and you’re not going to like it, so why are you asking me?”
“She’s with Adrian again?” I take another sip from my beer, finishing half of it in one swallow.
“Yeah, and just a warning, it’s serious. She really likes him, Holden, and she knows about his past as well. Probably more so than you.”
“I’m just looking out for her.”
“You’re being anal and crazy about it. She’s a big girl and knows what she wants.”
“You should try and protect her from him, too.”
She shakes her head. “I’m her friend, not her parent. She’s trying to get away from the stifling environment that you guys have put her through. Adrian. He offers her something better, something that makes her feel alive. I can see it when I look into her face when she talks about him.” Claire sighs and glances around the room. “This is so not my scene.” She glares at me for a second, then shakes her head. “You’re a lost cause, I think.”
Before I can say anything, Claire is heading out of the party, and so I do what any normal guy would do, right? I follow her. “I’m sorry, okay?” I follow her outside, and I catch her hand, stopping her. “I’m really not an asshole. At least not all the time.” I hold onto her arm, and she stares at me. “Forgive me? I’m just drunk, and worried, and I know I need to back the fuck off. I just have always looked after her, and this feels out of control for me, okay?”
“I don’t need to forgive you, Holden.�
� She pulls out of my grasp, and I watch her as she walks a few feet away. I can’t do it. I can’t let her storm away like that. I am an asshole, and my issues have nothing to do with her.
Rushing toward her, I shove my hands into my jeans, not sure what to say, but knowing I don’t want her to feel like shit because of me. “Can I walk you to your dorm?”
“Don’t worry about it. You don’t even need to stay here with me. I’m happy to walk alone.”
“Nah, I’m not letting you walk alone, not when it’s late and there are assholes who’ll try and fuck with you.”
She chuckles. “You really don’t need to worry about me. I’m sorry that I can’t control Skylar but you know, you really need to allow her to spread her wings, and you know, do her own thing.”
I know what she is saying but it is hard for me to allow that. I remember that asshole who attacked her, and lured her away. Ever since I saw that, I’ve felt protective of her. Skylar has asked me to never say anything, and I don’t know what the hell to do. Adrian isn’t a good guy. I am. In the first couple of days of her arriving at the college, I had honestly thought we could have taken it to the next step, could have been together. It just felt like the thing to do seeing as we’ve known each other for so long, and we’ve always been a facet in each other’s lives.
“I know.”
“I’m sorry,” she says.
“You don’t need to apologize to me. Honestly, you’re being brutally honest, and I can handle that.” No, I can’t but I can pretend, right?
“You’re a really bad liar. I mean the worst. Skylar’s just trying to get by, you know. She’s trying to live her life while you guys are trying to keep her close.”
I sigh. That seems to be the deal with me just recently. I’m constantly sighing, and it pisses me off. I’ve become the kind of pussy that is now moaning about all that kind of shit. “You must think I’m lame.”