Forsaken: A bully romance (An Academy Twin Rivalry Series Book 1)

by Taylor Blaine

I swallowed to moisten my suddenly dry mouth and then the guy moved.

  Not just any guy. Jaxon. Or Braddox.

  Shit, I couldn’t tell and I’d had a handful of shots in the short time I’d been there which only made things even more unclear. He looked like Jaxon, but then so did Braddox. I mean, they were twins.

  I think I muttered something like, “You.” But I couldn’t be sure. Which you?

  He didn’t speak which was more like Jaxon than Braddox, but still didn’t tell me much.

  I swayed and stepped deeper into the room, my bare feet grabbing on the clear glass floor.

  Glass? Wait, what? Momentarily distracted from the Jaxon/Braddox confusion, I stared down at a vision of myself staring back at me. I blinked and waved. Yeah, it was a mirror on the floor.

  I caught movement in front of me and I lifted my eyes, finding Jaxon/Braddox staring at me. My insides turned to molten velvet and I think I reached out to lean on the pole beside me.

  Maybe he was an illusion. Maybe everything in that room was a manifestation of the alcohol in my system. I’d never had alcohol before and certainly never in that amount. I’d probably pass out before too long.

  I was supposed to be dancing. Stephanie and I had signed up for a contest to win ten grand and this guy… Jaxon/Braddox was willing to pay me to do it privately.

  I could do that. I could a private dance to earn some money to help my mom. I’d never needed a job before and I wasn’t sure I had the time, but right then? I was looking for something fast and easy and maybe even fun to take my mind off the twin situation at home.

  The same situation that stared at me from the comfort of a leather-cushioned couch.

  He reached over and flipped a switch, releasing the slow build of music with a definitive beat and a languid, mournful tune.

  I turned, leaning my back on the pole and closing my eyes, letting the music sink into me. I rolled my head back and forth on the pole, side to side, as I matched the rhythm. I might not be able to think clearly, but I could feel and that music was reaching deep into my gut.

  Reaching behind me, I gripped the pole with both hands to steady myself and I breathed in deeply. What if I just gave over to the moment? Gave over to the ambience of the room and the music? What if it didn’t matter which brother was there? I wanted them both and I had to stop denying it – at least with reason and logic fleeing from me.

  I could do that. I could give over to the alcohol. No one else would know. No one else would care.

  ~~~

  Braddox

  Olivia gripped the pole with her hands behind her lower back, thrusting her breasts out. The peaks straining against the thin cotton material of her dress.

  What if I put a stop to the whole thing? What if I walked out and let her have her fun? But the more I watched her, the more I couldn’t let her go out into that room of ravenous scavengers. She’d be eaten alive. Someone would tarnish the innocence and I’d have to hire a hitman to kill them.

  The confusion in her features faded as she gave over to whatever she was fighting. Her face cleared of all emotion and she kept her eyes closed as she bit her bottom lip and slid herself down the pole with her back arched. She kicked out one leg, hiking her dress high above her knees with the move.

  Her legs were toned from walking and her hips were well-rounded and begging for my hands to grip them.

  Was she dancing for me or for Jaxon?

  Did I care? Was I really going to let those types of thoughts keep me from enjoying the moment? Couldn’t I just ignore my own identity and be whoever she wanted me to be? If it was Jaxon, then fine. I could be Jaxon. I’d get the pleasure of her touch and she’d get the pleasure of mine without knowing it was actually me.

  No. That wouldn’t be enough for me and I knew it. I wouldn’t touch her. I’d just watch. I’d torture us both as she started to gyrate her hips side to side and shimmying her dress down her shoulders.

  The stretchy material gave, slipping down her curves like every line was another high point in a slide before hitting the next one.

  I shifted on my seat, very aware of how she was affecting me. Instead of giving myself a treat, I’d just made myself a prisoner of exquisite torture.

  In five more beats, Olivia kicked her dress across the room. Her peach colored bra and panties barely covered the areas they were supposed to. In fact, the material was more like flesh than anything else and in the dim lighting it was like she stood naked in front of me.

  My hardon stretched my pants and I pushed on my crotch to get it away from the bite of the zipper.

  What could it hurt to sit and watch as she beat out the rhythm to the music with the sway in her hips and the side-to-side wiggle of her breasts? I had no doubt that she was as lost in the evening as I was.

  The room could have been Vegas as it contained whatever stayed there. As it made promises I couldn’t keep and she wouldn’t honor.

  But did I care? I stood from where I’d splayed across the cushions, determined to put a stop to the striptease she was subjecting me to. I couldn’t handle much more without needing some kind of release.

  Olivia slipped a finger under her bra strap, pulling it down her shoulder and slipping the scalloped-lace edge that was already just barely covering her nipple down a little bit more. The mauve of her hard nipple thrust the lace out, exposing more of itself than she probably intended.

  I’d closed the distance between us but she hadn’t opened her eyes as she continued swaying and moving with the pole as her stability.

  I stared at her almost-bare breast and my mouth was dry. Did she have any idea what she was doing to me?

  No, and that made it all the more infuriating.

  She had no idea who I was – which one I was. If she did, then what game was she playing? If I was Jaxon, she would do this for him? If I was me, why would she do this when we were having problems that we obviously needed to talk about?

  My dick didn’t care about the problems. He didn’t care about the mistaken identity. He just wanted something I wasn’t going to take from her. She was drunk. There’s no way I would have sex with her, even if she said yes and knew it was me.

  But that didn’t mean I wouldn’t sneak a touch. I couldn’t help myself. I reached across the few inches between us and slipped the tip of my forefinger and thumb into her bra and gently squeezed the hardened peak.

  She froze and her eyes snapped open. As if her body had a mind of its own, she thrust her breasts closer to my touch, my hand. I rolled her nipple between my fingertips. Our groans mingled. She melted against my touch.

  Maybe just a little bit of play. Not much. I hated to think that she wouldn’t be able to remember what we’d done the next morning.

  She lifted her lips to mine as if she knew exactly what to do with her body. She shifted closer to me, wrapping her arms around my neck and half-jumping to throw her legs around my waist.

  Her naked legs that led up to her barely-there thong.

  Shit.

  With her wrapped around me, I moved back to the couch and lowered myself to the firm cushions. She ended up sitting on my lap with her knees bent up and her feet on the sides of my ass.

  I slid my hand out of her bra and placed both palms flat on her hips, the heat of her skin beneath mine intoxicating and surreal.

  Olivia’s breath had an undertone of bubblegum mixed with the strength of whiskey. She’d been taking shots of whiskey? Her hot factor skyrocketed.

  She licked my lip and my eyes shut of their own accord. Then she muttered against my cheek. “What are you doing here? I don’t… Why? I feel like I’m dreaming.”

  That confession was like cold water splashed directly on my lap. She didn’t even know which one I was. Everything was like a dream. Damn it. She really was drunk.

  I took a deep breath and gently set her to the side and stood. I held up a hand for her to stay where I’d set her and then I made my way to where she’d kicked her dress. The soft material reminded me of her soft skin
and I had to bite my inner cheek to remind myself that just because the room felt like a dream and she was probably more than willing to do whatever I wanted and she wouldn’t’ remember… I would remember. I would know. My pride demanded that she remember whatever I did to her as well.

  Turning the dress right side out, I returned to kneel in front of Olivia who had sat forward and braced her elbows on her knees.

  Without a word, I set her up and pulled the dress on over her head, trailing my fingers down the sides of her arms and tugging the material down to cover her delicious curves. I shook my head with regret, careful not to pull on her hair or hurt anything. I lifted her right hand, sliding it into the sleeve and then did the same with the other.

  Her eyelids grew heavy and I could see the possibility of her passing out closer than not.

  I returned to my feet, slowly pulling her up and tugging her dress further down her legs. “Come on, love.” But she didn’t hear me. She mumbled something and her head lolled to the side, landing against my shoulder.

  She wouldn’t be able to walk.

  Maybe I could just hold her for a bit. Wait until she’d sobered up before taking her outside. There was no way she was going home with Stephanie. There was no way I was leaving her there either.

  I sank onto the couch again, this time cradling Olivia in my arms as I leaned against the silvery-gray cushions. Just holding her felt right. I couldn’t let Jaxon know how she made me feel. He couldn’t know there was no other aspect of my life where I cared half as much about anything like I did about Olivia.

  He couldn’t find out. If he did, she’d become his sole target. The only thing he’d go after would be her.

  If I lost her because she didn’t want me, that’d be one thing. But if I lost her because she wanted Jaxon more… I don’t know if I could come back from that.

  ~~~

  Olivia

  I could feel the alcohol starting to wear off as the heat from arms around me seared through the hazy fog. Snippets of what I’d done came to me and I blinked to get my vision focused. I looked up, finding Jaxon/Braddox staring down at me as I lay in his arms. Gasping I jerked upright on his lap. I was sitting on his damn lap! I wasn’t even sure which one he was.

  Holy hell. I’d stripped for him. I’d been wrapped around his waist.

  My eyes widened and I glanced down at my body, finding clothes. Wait. I blinked and looked at him again. “My clothes… I…” If I hadn’t stripped for him then there was no point in telling him I thought I had. He would probably ask me to. I cleared my throat. “What time is it?” Or better yet, where were we?

  I’d gotten to the strip club with Stephanie. Somehow we’d gotten separated. I hoped she was okay. How had I ended up with the O’Donnell in a private room?

  I moved off his lap, trying to ignore the part of him that clearly said he wanted me. I swallowed, the images of us kissing and me sitting on his lap almost naked burned in my mind. If that was a dream, why in the hell had I woken up?

  “It’s almost midnight. You’ve been out a while.” Even the way he spoke was hard to differentiate between the twins. Whatever. I still had alcohol in my system. I couldn’t be expected to know everyone.

  I pressed my fingers to my temple and stood unsteadily. “I need to find Steph.” I looked around, rubbing my lips together before looking at him directly. “Um, I’m not sure what happened…” Please, say you didn’t redress me. Please, say I passed out or something but not after stripping.

  His answering grin left my nerves aflutter and suggested that what I imagined happen was actually reality.

  I took a deep breath and shook my head. “I hope that doesn’t mean what I think it means.”

  He stood, moving close against my back, his heat warming me in spots I was better off ignoring. He reached up, brushing the hair from my neck and resting his warm lips on my skin just above the simple collar of my dress. “I guess it comes down to what you think happened.” The soft whisper made me clench my teeth and tighten muscles in my lower body.

  I couldn’t speak. What if I said something I couldn’t follow up? What if I told him I wanted to jump him right there?

  I moved toward the door, grateful when his hand came up to rest on my lower back as he guided me from the room.

  I walked ahead of him and glanced back when we reached the stairs. “I can get home. Thanks.” I wasn’t his responsibility. Whether he was Braddox or Jaxon, it wasn’t appropriate for me to be alone with either of them. Not in light of the circumstances around us.

  He arched an eyebrow, his masculine features unrelenting. “I’m making sure you get home.” And that was it. He wouldn’t brook an argument and I was still too fuzzy to fight it.

  Music bumped and banged and he led me through a waning crowd of men and women. A blonde with a plastic tiara and half her clothes missing stood in a crowd of men who ogled her as she beamed at them. She must have won.

  Where had Stephanie gone?

  The bouncer approached and jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Your friend was underage. We sent her on her way. I’m sure you’re old enough, right?” He eyed me with suspicion before glancing at the O’Donnell twin behind me.

  After a second, the bouncer moved and I peeked at the hot guy behind me. “Is it okay if I get a ride?” I hated asking. He’d already told me he was making sure I was getting out of there, but I had to make sure he knew I needed a ride home. I didn’t have any money or a car to get home.

  “Of course. My car’s right outside.” He continued following me and I stopped in the foyer to get my sandals.

  I fell into step beside him, moving off the porch and then onto the gravel. We walked in silence amongst the cars in the parking lot. The front of a dark classic car made my heart pound. Jaxon. Jaxon had come for me.

  Then the entirety of the car came into view. No. It was Braddox’s Nova. Braddox had come for me. I paused, staring at Braddox as he stopped beside the passenger side door and waited for me.

  His amusement faded and he tilted his head. “You just figured out which one of us I am.”

  I nodded, unable to lie. I took a deep breath. “I wasn’t sure.”

  “Would you have danced for me, if you’d known?” His eyes didn’t release me and for a split second I considered lying. I considered denying that I’d even danced for him.

  But I had. I knew I had. I could still feel my body’s reaction to him.

  I moved to the front panel of the car and paused there, watching him as if the answers to the world’s puzzles were in the angles of his face. I didn’t answer his question. Choosing silence instead.

  He closed the door and moved to me, reaching down and grabbing me by the waist. He lifted me, sitting me on the front part of his car with my feet dangling by the front tire. The back part of my sandal slid from my foot.

  He pressed his body between my legs and left his hands on the hood of the car by my thighs.

  “I need to know. Would you have kissed me like that, if you’d known? Either way.” He searched my face. Could he tell that I didn’t know? “Just tell me.” His husky whisper told me things I hadn’t realized I wanted to know.

  How did I answer that? I hadn’t known which one he was and I still had acted like I had. I still had reveled in his touch and in the moment.

  If the answer was no, I would hurt his feelings. If the answer was yes, I would hurt Jaxon’s.

  I silently searched Braddox’s gaze, seeking in their depths the answer that I couldn’t find in myself.

  I reached up, letting my body decide for me, and threaded my fingers through his hair. I tugged him closer, my eyes falling shut as I angled my head to the side and pressed my lips to his. It didn’t take much for our embrace to intensify.

  There was something almost freeing in the fact that we sat in that parking lot and made out, my butt cooled by the metal of his car. We were free of the expectations of West Shores or of ourselves.

  Our kiss was exploratory, honest, and rich. The heat
grew, mounting until when we pulled back, I was panting.

  “I knew right then.” I’d known and I’d kissed him. That had to mean something.

  I wasn’t sure what, but it had to mean something.

  Chapter 14

  Olivia

  Driving back to Shores in Braddox’s car, I feigned sleep. I leaned my head on the door and folded my arms. What else was I going to do after making out with him on the hood of his car? He wanted to talk. I wasn’t interested. Not yet. Not when I was so confused about what I wanted.

  After a few miles of silence, I almost jerked upright when Braddox placed a warm jacket on me.

  Keeping my eyes closed, I tried not to focus on the vanilla car freshener Braddox kept in the Nova, or the fact that he’d stirred things inside me I’d sworn weren’t possible.

  Since I’d left West Shores, my life had altered in such a way, I wasn’t sure I was coming back from it.

  My dad had died. I’d gone from rich to poor. And now, I was seeing Braddox as someone completely different than I’d known him to be. He could be kind, vulnerable, and generous. I wasn’t sure how, but he’d kept me safe from the dancing and getting kicked out without a ride home.

  He was gentle in his arrogance and the dichotomy made me hotter for him than the arrogance alone.

  Don’t get me wrong. His cockiness left me hot in more than one way, but that’s all I’d seen in all the time we’d dated.

  Him showing me his softer side, his more romantic side, took my controlled responses to him away. There was no plan with him now. He’d dissolved my resistance. How could I fight him when he made me want him so unrestricted?

  After a torturous amount of time driving, he pulled into his driveway.

  I sat up, no longer faking that I was asleep. “I need to get to my place.” I glanced in alarm toward him.

  Braddox shook his head. “No, it’s almost two in the morning. You can stay here and I’ll get you back to your place in the morning. Obviously, we’re going to miss school. You and I have a lot to talk about.” Promises in his eyes told me reassured me I didn’t want to be there for that talk.