The Unlucky Ones, page 3
My eyes moved over his words as my brain couldn’t fully comprehend them. The tone was strange. The words even stranger. He never talked to me like this. I blinked a few times, making sure it was actually his name on the text. Reading through again, my insides started to twist themselves together.
Cory: “Shit, you don’t know how bad I wanted to kiss you earlier when you won. All I could think was I want to lick every inch of you. It’s been only hours but feels like forever since I was deep inside you. I can’t wait to hear you scream out my name again, and pound you into the headboard.”
Vomit rose up my throat, spots twinkling in my vision as I tried and failed to take a deep breath, my chest trying to pump oxygen. This must be a wrong number. A joke. Someone took his phone. My fingers tapped at the second message.
Cory: “I know it’s wrong, neither one of us want to hurt Dev…but I can’t stop thinking of you, Jasmine. I can’t stop wanting to rip off your clothes every time I see you. I know you feel the same. Let’s make tonight count. All night. Come to my room when you get this.”
Icy heat flushed up my spine, bile roiling in my stomach. I clutched the sink, head spinning, my legs dipping as I reread his words.
No.
No!
This couldn’t be happening. Not Cory. He wouldn’t do this. My boyfriend of three years. The boy who told me he loved me a couple times a day, kissed me all the time at school. Who everyone said was so whipped he would probably be proposing to me the moment we graduated high school. The one thing I counted on to be faithful. My rock. My friend. He was not the cheating type.
Since my father’s death I’d barely been holding on, keeping everything together. Today, with Mom’s diagnosis, my grip had become tenuous. Now Cory had stomped on my delicate fingers.
I was in free fall.
He was cheating on me. With one of my best friends. His declarations on my phone seared into my brain. He had never pounded me into the headboard. He had never licked every inch of me.
And Jasmine, my friend, who told me how cute we were together, was sleeping with him behind my back. She had taken my spot as captain and my spot as girlfriend. How long was this going on? How long had they been deceiving me?
Tears burned in my eyes, choking my throat, my lungs not getting full gulps of air. Today was our anniversary, and he was in a hotel room with someone else. Kissing someone else. Having sex with someone else.
I could almost hear the crack slicing through my heart. The wall that had been barely keeping me together shattered. Behind the numbness came waves of fury.
The unfairness of life picked at the dam. Anger radiated through every fiber. My father, my sister, my mother, my life, and now the deepest betrayal—my boyfriend cheating on me with one of my best friends. On our anniversary.
Sorrow retreated into the corners, hiding from the fury sizzling through my veins, rallying the tequila in my system into battle. The fight-or-fuck drink.
The reflection in the mirror didn’t even look like me. Wild and savage, the girl there had a desire to rip everything off the walls, to destroy the world that was so cruel and kept kicking her and shredding her heart. My eyes widened, my cheeks flushed, and my ears pounded.
As I gave a wail of rage, I didn’t even hear the door open.
Chapter Three
“Ummm…” A guy’s voice drifted in from behind me as he stepped into the restroom, looking back at the door then at me. “Think one of us is in the wrong bathroom.”
I blinked, frozen by the stranger who gazed back at me, the side of his mouth hitched up in a cocky grin, his gray-blue eyes twinkling, screaming nothing but trouble.
And he was sexy as hell.
The guy shut the door. He held a backpack, his hand inside, and he peered into the few empty stalls, the short garbage can by my feet, then glanced at the tiny opaque window way up at the top of the room. “Shit,” he muttered before glancing back at me, our eyes locking as he really took me in.
“Someone is in the wrong here.” He smirked, pulling his hand out and zipping the bag.
In that instant, every feral instinct in me came alive. Tingles skated through my body, my heart thumping. My gaze tunneling on him. I sensed he was raw and dangerous.
He was everything Skylar would wish for and everything Cory wasn’t. Older by at least five years. Tall, hinting at six-four, with broad shoulders, his corded arms and chest fitted his T-shirt perfectly. He filled out torn jeans and wore worn black combat boots. A light scruff lined his face, his dark-blondish hair sticking out of his black beanie.
“Just to let you know, that person isn’t me,” he rumbled.
“Huh?”
“In the wrong bathroom.” His intense gaze pinned me to the spot as if he actually held me down. More heat flushed over my skin, the tequila flipping sides.
I had never had a visceral reaction to someone. Not even remotely. When Cory first kissed me, I felt tiny butterflies but nothing close to this. This guy emanated bad. Trouble. Everything that scared me. I was used to safe. Sweet. Nothing was nice about him. And in this moment, with Cory’s horrible texts fresh in my mind, I liked that this stranger was everything opposite of Cory. Danger oozed out of his pores, dampening the rage and grief inside me.
Desire pricked at my belly, moving down my thighs.
Cory…the guy I was supposed to trust. Love. Betrayed me. He was in a hotel room at this moment, screwing my best friend, while my mother’s mind was beginning to rot away. I wouldn’t be going to college; I wouldn’t be leaving this town. It was as if fabric wrapped around my throat, covering my mouth. Suffocated. Stuck. This town would be my life…
Resentment. Anger. Sadness. They swallowed me up in a gulp.
“Are you all right?” He took a step closer to me, one eyebrow curved in curiosity.
Was I all right? Far from it.
I couldn’t shake images of Cory moaning as Jasmine rode him, her head tossed back as she cried out his name. I wanted the pain to go away. To disappear in pleasure. To drown in my anger and hate, not sadness and hurt.
Forget.
My heart pounded in my chest, but my hazy alcohol brain didn’t let me think, only react. I swiveled around, staring at him.
“You okay?” His every syllable vibrated through me, slight confusion furrowing his eyebrows. Whatever I felt must have been written on my face. The cheeky smile slid off his face, turning to something else.
“No.” I strode up to him, stopping a breath away from his body, tipping my head back to look at him. Cory was my size, so I never felt little or protected. This guy’s frame dwarfed me, making me tremble. The heat from him slammed into me, demanding I get even closer. I placed my hand on his stomach. Rock hard abs rolled underneath my palm. “I’m not.”
“What are you doing?” He tipped his head down, chest moving quicker as he took me in, his tongue sliding over his bottom lip.
I had no idea…but I liked the idea I didn’t feel like me, as if all my anger became determination and purpose. I wanted him. To hurt Cory or take away the grief? I didn’t care.
“Girlfriend?”
“Uh…no.”
“Wife?”
A small burst of laugh came from him. “Definitely not.”
“Good.” My other hand pushed at his T-shirt, displaying his lean, toned torso.
“How old are you?” He tried to grab my wrist, but I easily tugged out of his grip. He didn’t seem especially serious about stopping me.
“Old enough.” Ish. He didn’t need to know I wasn’t quite legal. I stepped closer, shoving his shirt higher. His low-slung jeans displayed a deep V-line and a hint of hair, my heart now tripping over itself. A man’s body. Not a boy’s. My fingers trailed over the lines on his stomach, moving down.
“Are you drunk?” His voice came out in a rough whisper.
I sure was. This was not me. I was not forward like this. But something about him made me feel comfortable and wild at the same time. Probably because I didn’t know what Underoos he used to wear as a child or what he got for Christmas in the third grade. I knew nothing about him.
My gaze caught on the huge bulge swelling his jeans. I had no idea who this girl was who took over my body, but she wanted nothing more than to touch him. Feel him.
“Shit,” he hissed when I tugged at the top button, his hand firmly wrapping around my wrist. “You are hot as hell, but the timing of this really sucks. I’m in a bit of a hurr—” His words halted when my fingers brushed over his waiting hard flesh, his nose flaring.
“Girl, I don’t think you want to do that.” His eyes blazed into mine, full of warning and promise. I stared back at him. “I don’t know what you’re looking for or who you’re trying to punish, but I assure you, I am not the answer.”
“Why is that?”
“I am not the nice guy.”
“Perfect.”
“I am the one who takes.” His eyes moved down my body. “Ruins.”
“Too late.” I laughed without humor. I shoved him back, his spine flattening against the wall. I licked my lips as he watched my mouth. “I need one moment of happiness before life consumes all of me.”
I could feel the shift, the moment he sensed the truth in my declaration. Understanding. We stared at each other, breaths ragged, tension clawing at the air, filling every molecule.
Want.
Need.
“Fuck it.” He growled before his hands roughly grabbed the back of my head, knotting my hair in his fist. “You asked for it,” he mumbled before his mouth slammed into mine, consuming me in one breath.
Desire shot up my thighs and through my stomach. I had kissed two boys in my life, and the first one was more of a peck. I was used to Cory, who never felt wild or that he couldn’t get enough of me. Sometimes I felt when we made out or kissed at my locker, it was only because it was what couples did.
I was not prepared for raw desire to sprout in my veins, a pounding fierceness through my every fiber. His lips moved over mine viciously, far from gentle or sweet. And I loved it. Matching his intensity with my own, I kissed him back as hard.
His teeth tugged at my bottom lip, forcing a sound from my throat I had surely never made. The noise merely incited him more. He growled and grabbing my hips, he flipped us around, ramming my back into the tiled wall, his tongue slipping through my lips.
Holy shit. Logic dissolved as he pressed his body to mine. I could feel every inch of him. Hot. Needing. A deep moan escaped me, my hands moving frantically at his jeans. It scared me how desperate I was for him, to feel him slide inside me. My fingers trembled with intensity as I unbuttoned his pants, the tips of my fingers brushing the tip of him through his boxer-briefs.
He broke our kiss for a moment, groaning at my touch. “Was not expecting this when I stopped.”
“No? A strange woman offering you sex in a bathroom isn’t normal?”
“Oh no. That happens all the time.” His fingers clutched the bottom of my shirt, ripping it over my head.
“Oh.” I shouldn’t have been surprised. For someone as hot as him, it probably happened more than I wanted to know.
“But never by someone like you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Come on, Freckles. You are not this type.” A sexy grin tugged at the side of his mouth, his hands moving down my body. My lids fluttered at his touch.
“Why would you say that?”
“Your cute cotton panties and white bra is one clue.” He skimmed under the wire, pushing underneath the fabric, his hand cupping my breast. My head falling back into the wall with pleasure. “And you’re the type a guy keeps, not fucks in the bathroom.”
His words tickled at my conscience, stirring the part of my brain that might think this was wrong. But I was more afraid he’d stop and decide to be the moral one. The ache between my thighs and the anger blasting through my veins were unwilling to hear “no.”
I unclasped the back of my bra, letting it fall to the floor. My breasts were small, always a source of insecurity, but he gazed at them as if they were perfect.
“Too much talking.” I held my head high.
His steel eyes met mine, and he shook his head before his hands were back on me. He leaned over, his mouth taking in my nipple, flicking it with his tongue. I moaned.
“Oh god.” I tugged off his beanie, raking my nails through his dark blond hair, pulling him in closer. In an instant he had me desperate and needy. I shoved him back, tugging out of my boots and pulling off my jeans, leaving me in my underwear. We didn’t have time; any second someone could step into the bathroom, or Sky could come looking for me.
“Please say you have a condom.” I was on birth control. I’d begun even before Cory and I started having sex, but I still didn’t know this guy. He grabbed the backpack on the floor, clutching something from one of the pockets, and kicked it to the door. It wouldn’t stop anyone from entering, but maybe it would slow them down a bit.
He strolled back to me, desire scorching his eyes. His mouth took mine again, slipping his tongue over my lips, nipping. Jesus. This guy could get me blistering hot in less than a second. Our kisses turned wild and deep, sucking all the oxygen from the room. Tearing off his shirt, we barely parted for a moment before we crashed back together.
Trailing down his hips, I shoved at his jeans, shoving his briefs with it. Boldly, my hand wrapped around his length, my heart fluttering at his size. He was all man. No boy left in him.
A deep growl came from him as his fingers shoved my underwear to the side, sliding into me. Air caught in my lungs, the sensation almost freezing me in place. It felt so good I closed my eyes; my breath staggered. He moved in deeper, adding another finger.
“Open your eyes, Freckles,” he demanded, his voice making every nerve in me quake. “I want those eyes on me.”
My lashes fluttered open, and I stared at him. His thumb found my clit as his fingers pumped harder into me, parting my lips in a gasp.
“Now. Please.” My legs shook, feeling my spine burning. Did I just plead? I had never begged for sex. Ever.
He smirked, sliding his fingers from me, wrapping his mouth around them, sucking. He groaned in pleasure
“You taste so good. Too bad we don’t have more time.” He stepped into me, his erection scorching my hip. I wanted this so bad, my body actually hurt. With one arm, he grabbed my ass, picked me up, and I wrapped my legs around him. In a blink, he rolled the condom over his cock, shoved my underwear to the side, his tip sliding through my wetness. My teeth sawed into my bottom lip as he continued to tease me more.
“Please.”
“Say it.” His thumb found me again, twisting pleasure so intense through me, a sharp gasp pierced the air. My hips bucked against him. “If you want it dirty in the bathroom with a stranger, you need to ask for it.” He dragged his fingers through me again. “If you’re gonna live out the fantasy of being a bad girl, be it.”
The way he had me rocking and wiggling against him, I would have said anything, but I knew what he wanted.
“Fuck me,” I whispered hoarsely in his ear. “Hard.”
In a blink, he crashed me back against the wall, his blue eyes burning thick with desire. “Damn, you don’t know what you asked for.”
My brain barely registered his words before he slid inside, slamming to the hilt. Air squeezed from my lungs, my muscles locking up as his huge size filled my body, trying quickly to adjust.
“Fuck.” His grip on my hips tightened, the pain spiking more bliss down my nerves. “You feel so damn good.”
I had never felt so full as I did while he moved out and thrust back in.
“Oh god.” My toes curled with the onslaught of pleasure. He pumped faster and faster and then pushed upward, hitting a spot forcing a cry from my body, my hips buckling wildly against his, in search for more. The outside world disappeared; all I could feel was the bliss searing me. It made me desperate and greedy. “Harder. Don’t ever stop.”
“Jesus, Freckles. The way you talk, I will gladly fuck you forever.”
As if it were his mission to pleasure me, he drove in so deep, tears leaked from my eyes, but I only wanted more. I didn’t think I had ever made much noise having sex, but loud cries propelled from me, feeling they came from some other girl.
“Believe me, I love hearing you.” He grunted, regripping my hips, going even deeper. “But do you want the diners to as well?”
I almost didn’t give a shit. But I clamped down on the curve of his neck, muffling my screams.
“Fuck.” He roared as my teeth dug in. He pressed me harder against the wall with his body, seeming to forget what he’d warned me of, his hips moving in a faster rhythm against mine.
The burning inside me moved up and sizzled my brain and nerves. “Oh god.” I chased the orgasm more desperately than air. Sadly, Skylar wasn’t far off. I enjoyed sex with Cory, but my climaxes were quick and lackluster. I had honestly wondered if something was wrong with me or that was actually supposed to be the great thing people talked about.
This wasn’t even on the same planet as the sex I’d had with Cory. My breath was clipped, my legs squeezing his hips as I felt myself start to clench around him.
A string of swear words hissed from him as he pounded me harder with so much intensity, I stopped breathing, my lips parting in a silent scream. I exploded, my vision blurring as my body spasmed around him. He grunted deeply, thrusting in so deep, I gasped. His dick throbbed inside me, stirring another orgasm through me. I heard him roar, but I was already far from earth, lost in utter bliss.
Slowly I sank back down, panting, sucking in gulps of oxygen. Every muscle and bone were putty, sagging with gratification.
His body was heavy on mine against the wall, as though he could no longer hold himself up. Our breaths mixed as we both sank back to earth. His eyes met mine. Still inside me, we both stayed silent staring at each other.
Reality seeped in with every exhale, weighing me down to earth and to all the things I wanted to run away from.
