Crush: A YA Romance Collection

by Lavinia Leigh

  “I didn’t say anything like that,” I stated as Damien spun us around and put my back against the wall. I felt the heated reminder of our previous kisses as his body pressed against mine and his eyes looked like he was struggling to control himself.

  We were wild and uncontrollable whenever we got this close and it normally ended up with us making out. I could feel my body wanting to react to his proximity, to give in to the temptation that he had just put in front of me. I wanted to see if we were as wild and passionate in a bed as we were with just kissing. I hadn’t had sex since I found out about my father’s engagement, and I wasn’t going to have it with Austin again now that I knew what it felt like just to be under Damien’s sultry gaze.

  “You totally dig me,” he exclaimed suddenly, a smirk curving his lips upward.

  “Was that supposed to be smooth?” I questioned as I lightly blew my breath on his lips like he had done to me at Matt’s house.

  “It wasn’t supposed to be; it was. Now verify the statement so I can kiss you and show you what it’s like to be with a real man,” he growled, letting the lust slip through his lips.

  “Why don’t you admit you like me?” I countered.

  He raised an eyebrow. “What makes you think I do?”

  “Because you get jealous so easily. That’s why you’re so negative about this plan, isn’t it? You want me all to yourself. Just admit it, Damien, and you can have me.” I placed a light kiss onto the corner of his mouth and pulled away before I couldn’t control myself anymore.

  “You knew that when I first met you. That waiter wanted to get into your pants. He was flirting with you so openly, and in front of everyone. He just wanted to make it clear to me that he liked you, but too bad for him I don’t care about that. I wanted you and I was going to have you.”

  “Technically I didn’t know that when I first met you because you kept hitting on Brooke,” I stated matter-of-factly.

  “Actually, I hit on both of you,” he corrected with a smirk lining his lips. “I always feel bad leaving someone out.”

  I rolled my eyes at his words. “Well, aren’t you a gentleman.”

  He nodded, ignoring my obvious sarcasm. “I am.”

  I leaned forward, going up on my tippy toes. Pressing my face into the crook of Damien’s neck, I placed my lips against the warm skin above his collarbone and kissed it softly. The muscles in his arms tensed as I trailed upwards, sucking on his neck here and there, placing fleeting kisses on every inch of skin I could reach. When I heard a slight moan at the back of Damien’s throat, I pulled away, tilting my head up to his ear and whispering, “So is that your way of admitting it?”

  Damien leaned back, looking into my eyes again. “Admitting what?”

  I sighed in annoyance, taking a deep breath before saying, “That you like me.” I knew that he was aware of what I was referring to and was just playing dumb from the sly smile he gave me. When he didn’t say anything, I pulled away and was about to leave the closet when he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back to him. His body pressed against mine once more, one hand placed on my lower back and the other at my waist.

  “I like you, Jade. You’re unpredictable, stubborn as hell, and I feel like I can tell you things about myself and not be judged. I like that about you. Especially because you’re a lot like me. You know how to let loose and have fun, and you don’t take shit from anyone.” He leaned down, leaving our faces only mere centimeters apart. “A little bad publicity never hurt anyone,” he mumbled, finally pressing his lips against mine.

  The kiss was forceful and I could tell that Damien was putting everything he had into it. He leaned down closer to me, using his hands to hold my body against his as our lips molded together. His lips were velvety smooth as they left my mouth and placed light kisses along my jawline before returning to mine.

  Walking backwards, Damien lifted my body, allowing my legs to wrap around his waist tightly. His teeth grazed my bottom lip for a moment until he suddenly bit down softly, pulling on it gently before kissing me again. He didn’t even ask for entrance as his tongue slipped inside my mouth, tangling with mine in sweet agony. His taste was overwhelming, like he had just been chewing a piece of winter-fresh chewing gum.

  I breathed in deeply as his hands gripped my thighs, holding me against the sizable bulge that had grown in his pants. My hands trailed from their position around his neck, upwards until they tangled in his dark hair. I held his mouth against mine as he tried to kiss down my jawline again. I felt Damien’s lips curl upwards into a smirk at my actions, but I didn’t care. All I could think about was his body against mine and how intoxicating his kiss was.

  As the kiss deepened, Damien slowly continued to walk us backward until my back was pressed against the shelves behind me. I couldn’t stifle the moan that sounded in my throat as our bodies shifted, causing his hard-on to rub against me tantalizingly. Damien let out a breathy laugh as he detached our lips, leaning us away from the wall for only a moment so that he could unzip the back of my dress and pull the fabric down to my waist.

  The air met my skin, giving me sudden goosebumps that quickly vanished once Damien pressed his body against mine again. Before he had the chance to cover my mouth with his, I reached down and pulled his shirt off as well, knowing that if I didn’t do it now, it probably would never happen since I hated when he broke the kiss. Once his shirt was in a small pile on the floor by our feet, Damien’s warm fingers trailed along my sides, sending shocks of pleasure wherever they made contact. When his fingertips traced the bottom of my bra, tingles spread beneath my skin.

  I tilted my head back, resting it against the shelf and watching Damien through slitted eyes as he smirked at me and leaned forward to place kisses along the top of my chest, following the outline where my skin met the bra. His hands reached behind me, expertly unclipping the clasp. Within the few seconds it took him to undo my bra and move his lips to my collarbone and then back down to my cleavage, it was as if someone had thrown a bucket of cold water on me.

  Before my bra fully slipped down my shoulders, and bared my chest, I pushed Damien away a bit and grabbed onto it. His expression mirrored one of confusion as I untangled my legs from his waist and clipped my bra back on before grabbing his shirt from the floor. I handed it to him, still receiving a confused stare. After I had taken a few deep breaths and managed to get my dress zipped back up, Damien was still staring at me.

  “What?” I questioned, although I knew exactly why he was so confused and looking at me as if I had just grown a third eye. I knew he was wondering why I had stopped; hell, even I was wondering. I had been so into the kiss, yet in my subconscious I knew that Matt and my dad were still in the office talking, and I had been gone for who knows how long now.

  I almost changed my mind, stripped then and there, when my eyes traveled over Damien’s still shirtless body. His chest was perfectly sculpted and his pants had slipped down a bit due to my body weight from a few moments ago. I carefully studied down his stomach, stopping at the beginning of his defined ‘V’. Noticing my eyes, Damien stepped forward, cupping my face in his hands again and pressing his lips against mine for a mere second before pulling away.

  “Nothing,” he stated, a sweet smile curving his mouth upwards. That smile held more innocence than I had ever seen on his face, and I couldn’t help but to return the smile. It was a refreshing take on his usual smirk.

  “I should,” I paused, focusing so much on keeping my eyes on his that I could hardly remember where I was going with that sentence. “Go. I should go,” I repeated, saying it all together.

  Damien bit his lip, nodding. “You should.”

  I pointed at the door, “Yep, okay, here I go.”

  I turned awkwardly, opening the door and peeking outside before slipping out of the closet. Before the door was fully shut, Damien’s words met my ears.

  “You totally dig me.”

  A smile filled my face again, and once the door was closed, I took in two deep breaths
. Pull yourself together, Jade. I readjusted my dress, sighing before I headed back to the office. The urge to pee was now gone.

  I opened the door slowly, making my way back inside only to be met with two pairs of curious eyes. My dad had his eyebrows raised, and Matt had a smile on his face.

  “Well that was a long,” my dad paused, rolling his eyes, “pee,” he finished, using my words from earlier.

  Matt nodded in agreement. “Did you fall in?”

  “Or get lost on the way there?” my dad joined in, smiling at Matt.

  I shrugged my shoulders and took a seat on the couch next to Matt again. “Yeah, something like that.”

  Chapter 17

  The sound of a car pulling into the driveway pierced my ears. The engine groaned and sputtered a bit as it turned off. I heard the familiar sound of the car door slamming and footsteps approaching the door. The doorknob twisted slowly and the door opened, Austin hesitantly stuck his head in through the door, jumping slightly when he saw me.

  “Damn it, Jade! You scared the hell out of me!” Austin glared at me as he pushed through the door, closing it behind him. “What are you doing here?” The keys in his hands jingled as he hung his lanyard up on the key hook by the door.

  I was currently sitting on the staircase that lead up to the bedrooms in the Montgomery house. I had been here for the last half hour waiting for Austin to come home. I was hoping that Amanda wouldn’t be here because I needed to talk to Austin alone, and I knew that Brooke wouldn’t be here since she was chasing some new guy. Ever since I walked through the front door and sat down, I had been thinking about what I wanted to say to Austin. I had never officially ended our little fling and now, before things got too serious with Damien, I thought that I should talk to him. Now that I was sitting here with him in front of me, waiting on my reason for being here, I didn’t know how to say it to him.

  I mean, what do you say to the guy who took your virginity and then somehow became one of your closest friends? Despite the way that Austin hurt me in the past, and against my better judgment, he became a big part of my life. We bonded over the thing that we both enjoyed the most, and the benefits made us friends. It’s funny because usually the friend’s part comes before the benefits. Just not in this case. I twiddled my thumbs as Austin’s face transformed from a confused expression to one of glee. I tilted my head curiously as he looked me over with an amused look in his eyes.

  “Are you here to…?” he pointed his finger from his chest to mine and back again. “Because if you want to then I’m not going to complain.”

  I raised my eyebrow at him before shaking my head as an answer. “Actually, I came to do the exact opposite of that.”

  “What’s the opposite of sex? Abstinence? Did you come here to give me a promise ring and make a pledge that we abstain from such pleasurable activities?” Austin widened his eyes at me in horror, as if I was threatening to pull out all of his eyelashes with a pair of tweezers.

  I rolled my eyes. “No, I mean I’m here to talk about us.”

  “Oh,” he answered as he turned away from me. Austin headed into the other room leaving me to follow behind him like a lost kitten. “I didn’t know that we were even an us.” He sank down into the couch, eyeing me as I sat next to him.

  “Well, there was an us at one point, right? I just came to end it. I can’t just…” I took a deep breath, suddenly becoming extremely fascinated in the frayed hole in the knee of my jeans. My fingers lightly brushed over the material as I spoke again. “I can’t just keep leading you on like this anymore,” I said as I tentatively raised my eyes to meet his. His eyes were hard to read, but I could see the rigid position of his body. He was growing more uncomfortable by the minute.

  “Leading me on?” he asked as he ran a hand through his hair, messing it up slightly. “You were not leading me on.”

  “I was. I used you for sex even though I could tell that you liked me; like me,” I corrected.

  Austin laughed forcefully as he crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes at me. “Don’t flatter yourself, Jade.”

  “Don’t lie to yourself, Austin,” I countered. “I liked you. I really liked you. Then you used me and acted like I was nothing but your little sister’s annoying best friend.” I didn’t have to tell him when I was referring to. I knew he knew I was talking about how he took my virginity and then treated me like I was invisible. “Then I did what everyone does; I grew up. Suddenly I had your attention again, but I didn’t like you anymore. Well,” I said, biting my lip, “I guess I must have still liked you since we started this relationship. I say that word loosely too, because we both know that a relationship can’t be based off of sex, despite how good it may have been.” I took a deep breath as Austin smiled at my indirect compliment before continuing. “Then you started to like me, and I think out of spite, I just chose to ignore it. You ignored me when I liked you so it was only fair that I did the same.”

  Austin’s eyes never left me the whole time I spoke. As if he was hoping to hear more compliments or a better ending to this conversation. I was just having a hard time finding the right words. I didn’t want to lose him as a friend, but the best way to say it was to just be blunt even though it would hurt his feelings.

  “I’m truly sorry for leading you on. I really do love you, but as a friend. I just can’t see us being anything more.”

  Austin’s eyes were hard, unreadable. His face was expressionless. I just wanted him to say something, anything. Even if he was going to tell me to get out and not come back, even though he knew I would the second Brooke was home and beg him to take me back as a friend. I hadn’t realized how big of a part of my life he was until I sat here, basically trying to break up with him. I heard him let out a drawn out sigh before he spoke, but hope rose in me that there was a friendship to salvage.

  “I forgive you, as long as you forgive me. I was an asshole to you. I was younger and I was just excited to do anything more than kiss a girl. That doesn’t excuse it though.” He leaned forward, wrapping me into a tight hug. I was stiff at first since I was caught off guard, but I slowly melted into the hug, hugging him back. “I’m sorry,” he whispered into my hair.

  After we leaned back, he offered me a half smile. “I guess we live and we learn, huh? Mistakes make us stronger.”

  I frowned at his word choice. He had just called me a mistake after I complimented his sexual talent. What kind of person does that? “Mistakes?”

  “A perfect mistake,” he answered smartly. “Besides, I have a souvenir from our screwed up relationship to make it worth the heartache.”

  “And what is that?” I sighed, furrowing my eyebrows.

  Austin smirked slightly as he answered. “Your virginity. I was the one who taught you everything you know.”

  I punched his shoulder lightly. “Shut up.”

  Austin laughed. Then suddenly his face turned serious. “I can’t help but think that Damien played some role in this.”

  I opened my mouth, to tell him it was true, but instead decided to lie to cover up my fake relationship. “Actually it’s not him,” I mumbled.

  Austin lifted his eyebrows in shock. “What? Then who the hell is it?”

  “It’s Matt Hurst.”

  He furrowed his eyebrows and opened his mouth slightly in shock. “Well, that took a different turn. I didn’t even think you knew him that well.”

  “We got to know each other in P.E,” I lied smoothly, hoping to avoid any misconception.

  “Oh yeah? Did he run your laps for you? I know you will do anything to avoid running,” Austin teased with a smirk.

  “No, but now I wish he had so I wouldn’t have had to run those two miles for the fitness test.”

  It was silent for a moment after I spoke, before Austin sighed loudly. “I can honestly say that it will take me a while not to get annoyed when I hear his name, but I’ll be okay. You won’t be that hard to get over.”

  I smiled. “Wow, you really know how to make
a girl feel special,” I said sarcastically.

  “What do you want me to say? I’m happy that you’re happy and all that bullshit?”

  I nodded my head. “That’d be nice!”

  “Well too bad. I’m not nice.”

  A scowl made its way onto my lips. I was going to say something witty in response to his statement, but I was cut off by the sound of the doorbell ringing. We both exchanged a curious glance, wondering who could be here and ringing the doorbell. Anyone who knew this family personally knew that when someone was home it was okay to just walk in. You didn’t need to stick to formalities and ring the doorbell, you walked in, burped, and said hey as you walked by.

  “It’s your house,” I stated as he motioned for me to get the door.

  “Fine.” He groaned as he stood up and walked away, flinging the door open a few seconds later. “Uh, hello. Can I help you with something?” he asked curiously as I saw a small head of brown hair trying to peek around Austin’s muscular body.

  “I’m looking for Jade,” a girl’s voice responded.

  “Well, she isn’t here, but if you’d like to come by another time I can arrange that,” Austin stated. I could practically hear the smirk on his lips. It was his way of trying to make the girls fall for him. Too bad it didn’t really work; most of the time it was either creepy or too cheesy. Neither was a trait a girl wanted in a boyfriend, but that didn’t stop him from trying.

  “Why, because you would want to see my angelic face again?” the voice questioned in a sarcastic tone as if she had heard it all before.

  “How did you know I was going to say that?”

  “Because my brother hits on girls with that line all the time. He finally smarted up and went for someone who actually fits him. Which is why I would like to talk to Jade and not to her old boyfriend,” she retorted. I glanced over Austin’s shoulder to see Alyssa smiling as if she had just won a boxing match with Mike Tyson and had taken his championship belt. While Austin looked like he had just been slapped in the face, I wondered if Alyssa knew that she had just gained his full attention by taking him on like that.