by Holly Renee
He followed suit and bit down on my neck.
“Oh, God.”
His hand sped up, and my legs felt like they were going to give out beneath me.
“You want this?” His breath was harsh against my neck as he ran his nose along the slope.
I nodded my head and chased the feel of his hand with my hips.
“I need your words, princess. Tell me you want it.”
“I want it.” My response rapidly fell from my lips. “I want you.”
He was gone in an instant. The feel of his body behind mine, nothing but a memory, and I almost fell backward in his absence. I had been so lost in him that I had forgotten the force that kept me rooted. I had forgotten everything that didn’t begin and end with his hands.
He moved across the hall, putting distance between us, and if it wasn’t for the storm brewing in his eyes, I would have thought him completely unaffected. His mask perfectly in place.
“You should get back to work.” He jerked his head toward the direction of the restaurant, and I took a step back at the sharp edge to his voice.
I wanted to say something, I needed to, but I couldn’t find my voice. I couldn’t find my voice or my thoughts or the sense I needed to tell him to go to hell. All I could do was stare at the asshole who I had just practically begged to touch me.
He looked calm as hell, like his hands hadn’t just been toying with every damn part of me, and I suddenly hated him more than I ever had before.
Whatever Beck’s problem with me was inconsequential. I didn’t need any of his stupid reasons or unresolved entitlement. I wanted nothing more to do with him.
I steadied my breath, and I took a step away from him with determination not to look back. He had me exactly where he wanted me. He was in my head, and guys like Beck knew exactly what they were doing.
He knew exactly how to play any game he wanted to.
But I refused to play.
I was only here for one school year. A school year where I would put my head down, get my high school diploma, and get as far away from this place as I could.
Get away from these men who thought their money somehow made them untouchable. Get away from it all.
“Josie.” I stopped as soon as my name fell from his lips. Every bit of resolve I just felt disappearing at the sound of his voice. I didn’t dare look back at him because I wasn’t sure what I would do. I wasn’t sure if I could handle looking in those fucking eyes for another second without forgetting who I was.
His footsteps echoed through the empty hall, and I knew he was making his way back to me. I should have left. My feet should have moved, and I should have left him standing there wanting more.
But I couldn’t.
Walking away from Beck Clermont was impossible. He was the bad guy, I knew that, but no part of me seemed to care.
Because I stood there in anticipation of what he would do next, of what he might say.
He pushed some hair from my shoulder, exposing my neck fully to him. “I love that you were willing to beg me.”
Shame shot through every part of me at his words, but he didn’t care. Beck would never care, and I had been an idiot to want any part of him.
He moved past me, not sparing another glance my way, and he disappeared as if he was nothing more than my imagination.
But I wouldn’t give him that advantage again. I would never see Beck for anything other than exactly what he was. He was the villain, ruthless, cruel, and I was nothing more than a game to entertain himself with.
I refused to be taken captive in his game again.
Chapter Ten
Beck
“Who pissed you off tonight?”
I stared up at Olly and took another drag from the joint. I almost never smoked, but I needed it tonight. I needed something to take the edge off before I went fucking crazy.
Before I went back to the country club and fucked the shit out of Josie Vos.
I had thought of nothing else since I walked out that door.
I had been there to do the exact opposite. I didn’t have the power to fire her, not yet at least, but I couldn’t imagine how my father could just waltz around there with a Vos shoved right under his nose.
I understood that he was a businessman, but this didn’t feel like business. It felt like he was laying down and letting Joseph Vos fuck him in any way he wanted.
I wasn’t my father. I refused to let Joseph Vos or his fucking son get away with anything else, and I wanted to take out every bit of my anger on her pretty unmarred skin.
She had been so pliable in my hands tonight. I knew she had wanted me as badly as I wanted her.
Her body admitted it as easily as her mouth had.
Every stroke of my fingers had her body begging for more. I felt powerful with her under my touch. It fueled me and fucked with my head.
The need to use her barely outweighed my need to taste her.
But it had to. I couldn’t lose sight of who she was. No matter how enticing she was, she was a Vos, and nothing else mattered.
“Beck.” I looked at Olly and tried to remember what he had asked me. Had he asked me something?
“Yeah?”
He pulled the joint from my hand and took a long drag before releasing the smoke. “This must be some good shit, huh?”
I nodded and chuckled. I was barely even feeling the weed. I was still too fucked up on her.
“The girls are here.” He nodded to the door, and I watched as Cami and her posse of rich, entitled girls pushed through the party like they owned the damn place.
She looked the same as she always had, and if it had been only a few days earlier, I would have even said she looked beautiful. But that word tasted wrong when it came to her.
Cami wasn’t beautiful.
In looks, God, yes. She was smoking hot, and she knew it. But that was half the problem, Cami’s ego was the only thing that could compete with her insecurities, and she used both to keep her rank in our world. She used both to put people in their place.
And to make sure they stayed there.
But very few of them actually knew her. Not really. Not like I did.
But she did let me see her. Every part of her.
I was one of the only ones who knew about her fucked-up affair and how she let Mr. Weston use her whenever he wanted.
It had all become a part of this fucked-up game she seemed to be playing. She let him use her while she used everyone else.
But she hadn’t used Frankie.
Cami stepped in front of me, her smile wide and her eyes a little wild. I was sure that she had been drinking or smoking. She rarely went a day without it, and I wasn’t one to judge her for it.
If there was anyone who demanded excellence for Cami more than she did for herself, it was her parents, and that demand took its toll on her.
So did the fact that the man she loved went back home to his wife every night.
You couldn’t tell unless you knew where to look. Unless you watched as the spark in her eyes slowly faded.
“Beckham.” She leaned down, putting a hand on each of my knees. I should have been affected by her touch; I used to be. But somehow, I couldn’t bring myself to feel anything for it now.
Not after Josie.
“I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever.” She moved her finger back and forth over my knee, but I didn’t move an inch. I just stared into her eyes and waited for her next move. Cami always had her next move planned out in her head.
“I just saw you the other day.” I motioned to Olly, and he passed the joint back as he spoke to one of Cami’s girls. I drew the joint to my lips, and Cami tracked the movement. She licked her lips and my dick jerked. Regardless of where my head was, he hadn’t forgotten her or that mouth of hers.
It knew me better than most of the people at this fucking party.
And it always came back to me when she needed me. She came back whenever he pushed her away.
“It feels like a lifeti
me ago.” She leaned forward and her lips pressed against mine with no preamble. She didn’t wait for permission or even a flicker of want from me, she didn’t need it.
She had never needed it before.
I opened my mouth, letting the smoke gently flow from me, and she breathed it in like she was dying for it.
That was the thing about Cami. She was always dying for something.
Power, admiration, drugs, love. They all amounted to about the same to her.
“I’m really not in the mood, Cami.” I pushed her away from me, and there was a slight moment where I saw the doubt in her eyes, the edge of panic.
I almost never pushed her away. No one did. If Cami wanted it, she got it.
It was as simple as that.
But I wasn’t in the mood for her tonight. I wasn’t in the mood for any of these people.
“You know our senior year is about to start.” She said it so quietly and sweetly that I knew others probably thought she was whispering something dirty in my ear.
All Cami ever whispered was dirt. Dirt on her enemies and her friends, and dirt that helped her keep her secrets safe.
I looked up at her, and I wondered if I looked as bored as I felt. “I’m aware, Cami.”
She smiled at someone who walked past us, but I didn’t glance their way. I cared even less about them than I did her.
“Then don’t forget our arrangement.”
She stared into my eyes, and I wondered what she was going to do when she left this party. I wondered if she would fuck him as soon as no one was wondering where she was. “I haven’t forgotten.”
“Then look like you’re fucking happy to see me.” She leaned forward again, and she pressed her mouth back against mine.
All I could think about was Josie. How soft she was and how sweet she smelled. She was the exact opposite of Cami. Anyone who saw them could tell that within a moment’s notice, but I also knew that Josie wasn’t nearly as sweet as she led everyone to believe.
I stood up, forcing Cami to step back, and I pushed past her without another word. I wasn’t here tonight to make these people look at us. I didn’t give two shits what they thought. I made that very clear last year.
When they all thought it was wise to fucking talk about my sister.
When they thought they fucking had the backbone to whisper her name. I shut that shit down before it could even echo off the walls.
She was the only one I cared about out of all these people. Her and Olly and Carson. They were my family. All of these other people were just noise.
If Cami hadn’t been so good to Frankie, if Frankie didn’t care for her so much, I would have cut her off just like the rest of them.
My phone rang in my pocket, and I glanced down at Frankie’s picture before I quickly answered.
“Hello.”
“Hey, Beck. What are you doing?”
I ran my hand through my hair. I didn’t really want to tell her I was at a party, but I wouldn’t lie to her. “I’m at Josh’s house.”
She knew exactly what that meant. Josh was a party boy, and no one would even be here if it wasn’t for the epic parties he threw constantly.
“Oh. Okay.” She hesitated, and I hated that she did. I hated that any part of her had been diminished. “I’ll let you go.”
“No.” I said it so quickly I had no doubt I shocked her. “What are you doing?”
“I’m just hanging at the house. Me and Mom were watching a movie, but she’s already passed out.”
I laughed because that’s how our mom always was. I don’t think the woman had ever finished a movie if it was after nine o’clock. I had watched my father carry her to their room more nights than I could count. Back when he could still do so.
“You want to do something?” I pulled my keys out of my pocket, and I was already on my way out the door. I would drop anything for her.
I would do anything.
“No. You enjoy the party.”
“I’m already heading to the car. Let’s go for a swim.” It was one of her favorite things in the world to do. It always had been.
“It’s already eleven.” She rustled around, and I wondered if she was already in bed.
“So? Get ready and grab my shorts. I’ll be there in fifteen.”
“Are you sure?” There was a spark in her voice that told me she was excited, and even though once upon a time, I was a shitty brother who would have taken that sound for granted, I didn’t anymore.
“Yes, Frank. I’d much rather hang with you than these assholes.”
“Okay.” She laughed. “But stop calling me Frank.”
She didn’t mean it. I had been calling her that since we were little, and I was the only one she allowed to do so.
We hung up the phone, and I started climbing into my SUV just as Olly came jogging from the house.
“You leaving?”
“Yeah. I’m going to go hang with Frankie.”
I didn’t know what it was about him and her, but he took last year almost as hard as I did.
“I’ll go with you.” He climbed into the passenger seat before I could tell him differently.
“Where’s Carson?” I started the car and pulled off. Carson rarely left a party unless it was with a girl.
“He was making out with two different girls when I left.”
He wouldn’t be missing us then.
Olly and I barely spoke on the way to my house. He seemed stuck in his own head, and I knew that I was stuck in mine.
Frankie stood outside as we pulled up, and there was a bit of shock in her eyes as she watched Olly climb out.
“Was the party that bad?” She laughed, but she knew as well as I did that Olly didn’t give two shits about that party. He wouldn’t have even been there if it weren’t for me and Carson.
“A complete bore.” He chuckled and tucked his hands in his pockets as he stared at her.
It was weird.
The way the both of them were looking at each other was fucking weird.
“Let’s go.” I linked my arm in hers and led her through the back gate. We passed by our perfectly clean pool, the lights shining brightly beneath the water, and I unlocked the gate at our property’s edge.
The smell of saltwater was so clear and pure, and Frankie and I both took a deep breath as our feet hit the sand. The ocean was black with a sliver of moonlight dancing across the surface.
The water was harsh and deep, and God only knew what hid beneath the surface, but this beach and this water had been an escape for Frankie and me ever since we were old enough to go to the beach alone.
It was our place.
It didn’t matter who else was with us. It belonged to the two of us.
Frankie squished her bare toes in the sand, and I kicked off my tennis shoes and threw them to the side. Olly was standing beside her doing the same, and he was still watching her. I didn’t know what he expected her to do, but he didn’t seem to be able to look away.
I threw on the shorts she brought me before grabbing her hand and walking into the water with her. A year ago, she would have run headfirst into the water without a worry in the world, but that time was gone.
That wasn’t who she was anymore.
She hadn’t been that girl since Lucas fucking Vos.
My hand tightened on hers, and I tried to calm my temper as she looked up at me. I couldn’t think about that asshole without an all-consuming rage.
He had been my friend. I had fucking trusted him.
I trusted him.
And I regretted every moment of it.
If I didn’t know that it would hurt Frankie, I would kill the motherfucker. I had thought about it more times than I could count, but it would hurt her.
I had hurt her already when I had let my rage take control, and nothing mattered to me except not letting her get hurt again.
Not by anyone, but especially not from him. I refused to even allow him to look her way. It killed me that he was going to be in the
same school as us this year. He should have been kicked the hell out. His ass shouldn’t be breathing the same air as her. She should have never had to look at him again, let alone go through the school year like everything was okay. Like nothing ever happened.
She let go of my fingers as the cool water lapped at our knees, and the urge to reach out and put her hand back safely in mine was overwhelming. But she looked so happy out here in the water. Her smile was genuine for the first time in a long time, and she dove into the water as if there was nothing to fear.
Olly jumped too, staying right by her side, and I pushed out into the water until it hit my chest. I stared out over the dark water and tried to think about what the hell I was doing.
My senior year was about to begin, and I should be thinking about college. I had been offered a handful of scholarships on baseball alone, but I didn’t need any of that. My parents would pay for whatever school I wanted, but I only had one choice. The local university was my only option with the way my father’s health was deteriorating. It didn’t matter that he said differently.
It was clear just looking at him.
He would need my help much earlier than any of us thought, and it didn’t matter if this wasn’t what I wanted. It was what I was destined for. Clermont Bay was laid before my feet, and I would be a fool if I didn’t realize the privilege my parents afforded me.
It didn’t mean that I still couldn’t hate it.
It didn’t mean that I couldn’t be thankful and dreadful at the exact same time.
Because I was.
I didn’t know how my dad did what he did every day. He was much stronger than I would ever be, than I could ever amount to.
I could see someone walking down the beach, and I tensed. There was rarely anyone on this beach as they all had private entrances from the homes that took up residence here. Old money. That’s what rested on this long boulevard. If you didn’t have it, you weren’t welcome.
Those weren’t my rules. It was just the way things worked. They had been that way forever.
I watched the figure get closer and closer, and my heart hammered in my chest. The Vos’s home was only a few houses away from ours, even though it felt like there were miles between us.