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

by Taylor Blaine

  We enjoyed the meal without talking, as if the sensation of just eating and enjoying food was foreign to both of us, but extremely welcome. We finished about the same time, wiping our mouths with napkins I hadn’t known we had from a holder in the center of the table.

  I leaned back. “Want some water or something?” I was beyond full, but it was a good feeling when I’d been hungry for a while. Even eating at Stephanie’s hadn’t really been a thing. We’d eaten here and there, but she didn’t understand what it was like to go hungry, and being pregnant she wasn’t feeling well so she didn’t want to eat. I couldn’t tell her I was starving, so we went for the majority of the time without much to eat.

  Jaxon leaned back in his chair, too, kicking his legs out in front of him and crossing his ankles while he watched me.

  I met his gaze, more comfortable than I had been before we laughed. “Without sounding rude… Why are you here?” I studied him, more curious than anything else. He’d all but avoided me at school, like he was embarrassed to be seen with me. What had changed?

  He sighed, reaching up to run his fingers through his thick hair.

  “Let’s move into the living room. These chairs are comfortable only so long.” I had him inside. Might as well get comfortable. Not to mention, I had a feeling we were about to get real with each other and I didn’t want to fall off my chair in shock or something.

  There had to be something upsetting to bring him there to my apartment. Something I wasn’t yet aware of – like the rumor he’d started about us sleeping together. Something not good was about to be revealed. Or had to be?

  What kind of a person was I turning into that I expected the worst when I should be delighting in my circumstances? Sitting there with Jaxon was exactly what I’d been dreaming about for a while, right? Why couldn’t I just enjoy myself?

  We moved as if I was his shadow. I followed him to the futon-style couch and he sank onto the cushion. I sat, too, only I kept my back straight and folded my hands in my lap as I perched on the edge of the seat.

  He studied me, lounging back and letting his arm rest along the back of the couch.

  I cleared my throat. “I’m serious, Jaxon. What are you doing here?”

  He watched me. The dark of his eyes reflecting the light of the TV.

  I reached forward, pressing the power button of the television so it shut off. The minimal light from the streetlights shining through the kitchen window and a hall light down by my bedroom were the only things keeping the darkness at bay.

  The minimal lighting left the room even more intimate feeling and I suddenly felt like I needed all the lights on in the apartment. Except… I wasn’t going to turn them all on when I’d already repeated the question.

  The shadows in the living room seemed to shorten the distance between us.

  “I came because… you aren’t answering my texts and because you ignored me today and then you just disappeared. I would have come earlier, but I had to stop at work. So here, I am. Checking in to make sure you’re alright.” But there was more. I could see it in the way his eyes flicked to my hands, my lips, and back to my eyes.

  I licked my lips, aware of the darkening in his gaze as he watched me. “I can’t find my phone or my purse. I lost them Monday… night.” I couldn’t tell him what happened. He could never know about that. If he did… If he found out that I’d stripped for his brother, he’d never want to see me again. Would I blame him?

  He nodded, then leaned forward, lacing his fingers together as he hung them between his knees. He braced his elbows on his thighs and then looked at me, keeping his voice soft and raspy. “What’s going on between us?”

  I caught my breath. He wanted to talk about whatever was going on between him and me. What did I say? Honestly? I couldn’t figure out what was going on myself. Why would I be able to talk about it with him?

  “I don’t know.” What else did I say?

  He shifted closer, our knees touching and became a focus for the energy between us. “You feel it, though, right?”

  I scoffed. “Are you joking? How can anyone not feel this?” I swear even the walls could feel the attraction between us.

  He didn’t laugh or even smile like I hoped. He nodded and then, holding my gaze, he dropped his voice to a whisper. “What’s going on between you and Braddox?”

  Braddox. He’d brought up his brother. That had to be hard. I’d never fully addressed the situation with his twin only that I was Braddox’s ex. That’s all I’d ever told him. What did I do? Did I lie?

  I shook my head, more to myself than to his question. “I’m not sure what’s going on. We were a thing for a while, then… we weren’t.” Now… I wasn’t sure about anything anymore.

  “Do you feel like this with him?” Jaxon shifted closer to me, turning more fully to face me and tracing one single solitary fingertip from the lobe of my ear down to my collarbone while holding my eye contact. I pretty much stopped breathing. He held his fingertip there, watching me. “Does he make you feel like that, Olivia?” There was more demand in his voice and I responded to it.

  I swallowed, willing his finger to move further down. “Not like that.” They were different. They made me burn in different ways. Braddox was deliberate, commanding, while Jaxon didn’t have to try at all. He just made parts of me melt with one glance.

  Both were unwaveringly hot which didn’t help things.

  “Have you slept with Braddox?” His gaze didn’t release me as he searched my eyes for answers to questions he couldn’t want to know.

  My lips parted slightly and I shook my head. “No. He wanted to, but I always… I always held off.”

  Something like satisfaction curled his lips. “That’s why he was so upset when he’d heard the rumors. That makes sense.” He dropped his gaze to stare at his fingertip still touching me. When he spoke again, his smile had disappeared and he slowly returned his gaze to mine. “Have you wanted to?”

  Another question I had to decide – lie or be honest? I didn’t want to lie to Jaxon, but I also didn’t want him to think the worst of me. But I couldn’t lie.

  I slowly nodded and replied, “But it’s a different… attraction between the two of you. You’re both so different.” I refused to tell him I’d danced for Braddox. That wasn’t something that needed to be repeated or even discussed. I reached up and wrapped my fingers around Jaxon’s wrist and slid his finger to my mouth. I held it suspended as I kept his eyes prisoner with my gaze. “It’s different. I want to sleep with you, too. The only difference is I’m here with you… right now… not him.”

  Did he understand what exactly that meant? I could have sought Braddox out. I could have gone to his place and screwed his brains out. I could have… but I didn’t.

  Jaxon’s eyes narrowed and he moved to speak, but I pulled his finger into my mouth and sucked on the tip, just enough to get my point across. His gaze dropped to his finger wrapped in my lips and then back up to my face.

  He gave me a couple seconds of challenging him with my eyes before he tore his finger from me and wrapped his fingers behind my head.

  We connected, our lips crushing together like we couldn’t get close enough. He pulled me on top of him as he slid to lie down on the couch, pulling me with him. He ran his hands down my sides to cup my ass in his hands and then trail his fingers back up my back. My clothes left little to the imagination.

  I’m not sure where his tongue ended and mine began.

  My heat was in full force. I reached down to pull my shirt off and he stopped me, shaking his head. He deliberately pushed my hand from my shirt hem and shook his head. “No. I’m not going to push you to do anything you don’t want to do while you’re unsure which of us you want. That isn’t fair to you and it isn’t fair to us.” He brushed the hair from my cheek, his touch like tiny tendrils of electricity tracing down to my insides. His words softened. “Make no mistake, Olivia. I want you. Bad. But I don’t share and I won’t share you.”

  I could feel ho
w much he wanted me as I slid from his lap and let him sit up. I was speechless as I considered what he’d said. He wasn’t willing to push things further than that because he wanted me to be sure.

  Sometimes the gentlemanly side could be damned infuriating and yet… a huge part of me leaned toward him and away from Braddox. Jaxon didn’t want to share me and he didn’t want to be unfair. That’s what worried him. Not how much he wanted to screw me. Not how much his hard-on might hurt if he wasn’t relieved. No, he was more concerned with the overall situation.

  Respect joined the desire in my chest. I could respect that decision.

  “Why don’t we just sit and watch some TV together? We can do that without starting a fire, right?” He winked at me as he scooted closer and put his arm behind my back. He flipped on the remote and then handed it to me. “I’m good with anything but Star Trek.”

  That made me pause and then turn to face him. “What’s wrong with Star Trek?”

  “It’d be easier to list what’s right with it.” He grinned and crossed his ankle over his knee.

  I raised my hands like I was done. “Okay, we can’t be friends. I love me some Picard.” I grinned and he reached out, laughing, taking one of my hands in his.

  “Is that we are, Ramirez? Are you putting me in the friend zone?” His eyes grew husky and wanton as he pulled me closer to him.

  My breathing quickened again and damn him for taking me on a rollercoaster ride. “Are you going to screw with me?”

  He blinked. “Not right now. I told you that. If you choose me, then I’ll make sure you can’t think about anything but me.” He’d misunderstood what I’d asked, but I couldn’t correct him. He didn’t know that turning me on and then abruptly stopping was as disconcerting to a girl as it was to a guy.

  As tempting as it was right then in that moment, I had to stick to my decision that I wasn’t sure. Not yet. I shrugged and put an inch between us. “Unless you’re going to give me what I want, you need to keep a little bit of distance. I can’t help wanting you and you’re not willing to help me with that.”

  He side-smiled then kissed my temple and gave me some space. “Even when you do choose me, I’m not going to screw your brains out right off the bat. There’s more here than sex.” He lifted my hand and kissed my palm, having no idea just how much he was melting my resolve to not pick one or the other just yet.

  He had no idea how much I needed to hear that I wasn’t just sex. That I wasn’t just money. That I was so much more.

  We settled into the cushions, our shoulders barely brushing.

  I’d be fine with him as a friend when my only other option right then was as an enemy. I didn’t’ want that. If I could make him a friend with benefits, then that’d be even better.

  But something inside me promised I wouldn’t be happy with just that from the delicious Jaxon. No… Once I crossed that line with him, I would want all of it or nothing at all.

  What he wanted would be my biggest concern.

  Chapter 18

  Olivia

  Jaxon left some time after ten, cautioning me to keep the doors locked and windows closed. He shut the blinds on the slider door without saying anything else and disappeared into the darkness.

  I slept pretty well that night for being as horny as I was.

  I still couldn’t believe Jaxon hadn’t pushed me for more. Wasn’t that what teen boys were known for? Sex no matter what. Except… there was something different about these O’Donnell brothers. That was probably why I was having such a hard time figuring out what to do with them.

  At school the next day, I slid into the desk that had somehow become mine and wrinkled my nose at the folded piece of paper sitting there with my name on it. Unfolding the note, I glanced around. There were only a couple people in the room and most of them girls.

  Glancing down at the note, I clenched my jaw, but said and did nothing else.

  I’m going to bend you over and ride you like the whore you are. You won’t be expecting it. I’m going to make you bleed.

  Jaxon walked in right at that moment and I raised my eyes to his face, but didn’t see him through the blinding rage burning through me. Of course, I didn’t think it was him. He would never do that kind of a thing.

  But his rumor hadn’t helped with my reputation. Not that I blamed him. For whatever reason, he didn’t want me there. Now, though, maybe his mind had changed? I couldn’t be certain. It’s not like I could just ask him.

  Once he sat, I got up and tossed the note into the trashcan by the door, then reclaimed my seat without looking at him. I didn’t need to act like we’d agreed to be friends or that we’d made out at my place or even that we’d almost fallen asleep watching TV together.

  For some reason that felt separate from the life we had at school. At West Shores, Braddox laid claim to me and everyone knew. But at East Shores… it was like no one could know about Jaxon and me. If he was embarrassed about me, that didn’t sit well.

  Plus, I wasn’t sure how to act around him either. We’d agreed to be friends which was hard to explain to a school of people who thought we’d slept together and I’d insulted by saying he couldn’t get it up.

  I mean… what kind of friends did that?

  We orbited around each other in each class before lunch. When he took a right outside of our last class’s door and headed toward the cafeteria, I took an immediate left. I needed to get away from him, breathe a little bit.

  It was hard as hell wanting him as much as I did and not being able to do anything because he didn’t share.

  What the hell did that mean? He didn’t share? I wasn’t asking him to share me.

  I pushed out of the doors to the courtyard and strode to the furthest table from the building, the one I’d spent my first morning at East Shores.

  I climbed on the table and sat down, leaning back and bracing my hands behind me. I took a deep breath, soaking up the fact that I wasn’t surrounded by anyone else, that I’d somehow been able to get Jaxon off my back, and maybe, just maybe, could survive the next three months before graduation with my pride intact.

  I had no false beliefs that I was welcomed or fit in at East Shores Academy, but at least I’d been able to make it through my classes without anything other than a note.

  The note had bothered me. Pretty much I’d been told I was going to be raped. Threatened essentially.

  My first instinct was to laugh. Anyone who tried to rape someone from behind was a damn coward. Add to that a note threatening it? We were talking about full on cowardly bastard. There was no other way to say it.

  “You get prettier and prettier, Liv. Every time I see you.” The familiar rasp made me hold my breath before I opened my eyes.

  Turning my head to the side, I slowly smiled at Braddox, standing there in his long leather jacket and cream-colored sweater. It couldn’t be Jaxon since I’d just seen him walk toward the cafeteria dressed in his dark blue jeans and t-shirt. Braddox exuded money, something I’d taken for granted not that long ago.

  I smiled, soaking in his charm like he radiated it just for me. “Brax.” That’s all I was saying. I couldn’t get into it with him right there at East Shores. He’d be jumped if anyone saw him there as it was. I didn’t need to add to things by making out with him.

  He glanced around the courtyard, seeing it was empty just like I had. Inclining his head, he kept his voice low. “Why’d you sneak out, Liv?” There were more than questions in his eyes as I recognized hurt that I would just run.

  Shaking my head, I sat forward and rested my folded arms on my thighs. “I have my reasons, Braddox. What are you doing here? East Shores isn’t exactly your scene.”

  He stepped closer to me, pulling my purse from a large side pocket on his jacket.

  My eyes widened and I climbed from the table to stand in front of him. I searched his face as he set my purse in my hands. In silence, I pulled my phone out of the inside pocket and shook my head. “You had it? I had no idea.”

 
; “Well, it was in the backseat. I would have brought it by sooner, but I had no idea where you were. Your mom…” He shook his head. “Anyway. I wasn’t sure you were home. I took a chance you’d be at school.” He smiled, tucking his hands into his pockets and keeping two feet between us.

  He’d mentioned my mom. What about her? Plus, what did I say? Did I apologize for sneaking out? I didn’t want to be there with him right then. I didn’t want to talk about anything between us. At least with Jaxon, I could be honest. If I broached the subject with Braddox, he’d just lose his shit from jealousy. I liked him being jealous honestly. He’d never acted like that with me before. But at the same time, I didn’t want to deal with any sullen demands.

  Plus, he’d slept with a ton of other girls since we’d broken up. I wasn’t sure I wanted to deal with that backlash, if we got back together. Everyone about went ballistic when they thought I’d slept with Jaxon, and Braddox and I weren’t together. Could anyone say double-standard?

  I couldn’t imagine what they’d do, if we got back together. I was now from East Shores, he was West.

  There was no going back from that.

  “When I left, I ran into my mom. Do you know where she’s at or what’s going on?” I had to call Braddox out in plain demands. He had a way of dancing around what I really wanted to know.

  He gave me a weird look I couldn’t define. “Do you… Actually, I’ll let her tell you.”

  I blinked at him. Was he seriously not telling me about my mom? He couldn’t just spill everything right then? I couldn’t figure it out. What was going on that I had to be in the dark until she got back?

  What wasn’t he saying?

  Mom wasn’t at the O’Donnell household because she and Braddox’s dad were together. For some reason that bugged me more than if they were just screwing for money. If she was with Mr. O’Donnell, then that would make me and Braddox like step-siblings.

  Not only Braddox, but Jaxon, too.

  None of that worked for me.