Page 3 of Piston

She pats my chest a few times and clears her throat. "Yep, so maybe you can leave me alone because, I gotta tell ya, a woman doesn't like being called a tease just because she turned you down. That’s bad enough, but my man here," she pats my chest again, and I swallow my chuckle, "is going to kick your butt for what you've just called me."

The guy's eyes widen comically as he looks me over. Unsurprisingly, he bolts out the door, and I laugh.

I get it; I have muscles where he is thin and tiny, so yeah, I get it.

The girl leaves my side once the guy is gone, and I suddenly feel cold and empty, like I’ve be torn in two.

Huh, strange….

She smiles shyly, and says, "Hey, um, thanks for the save, uh…."

She tilts her head, and I smile again and state, "Elijah."

Fuck, shit, why did I just say that….

Inside, I panic—normally giving women a fake name, not my fucking legal one—while on the outside, I keep myself stoic.

She smiles. "Right, Elijah…. I guess it's best to know my fake partner's name. Um, uh, anyway, thank you."

That said, she turns and walks toward the door, shocking me, and for the first time in my fucking life, I chase after a girl.

Just before she can leave, I grab her hand, causing her to turn to me and frown, but I just smirk. "Didn't you say it's best to know a fake partner's name?"

I can see she doesn’t want to but a smile curls her pretty, full lips. She tips her head, tightens her grip on my hand, then shakes it. I laugh as she says, "Natalie."

I nod. "It's good to meet you, Natalie." She smiles and removes her hand before I continue. "Now, as your savior…." She snorts, crossing her arms over her chest, causing her nice, full tits to lift, which yes, my cock likes, and I state, "Why don't you buy me a drink."

This time, she laughs, dropping her arms and shaking her head, but says, "I guess I can buy you one."

I smirk and tilt my head toward the bar, and she walks ahead. My eyes go to her ass, and I bite my bottom lip.

Yeah, I'm going to fucking tap that tonight….

Without a care in the world, I wrap my arm around her waist when we get to the bar, and flag down Liam, our bartender, causing my brother Acid to look at us. He grins, seeing the woman beside me before placing his attention back on the girl he was with. I accept a beer off the beauty I'm making mine tonight, not realizing how much she'll come to mean to me and how much I’ii fuck things up….

Natalie – Eighteen Years Old

I groan as my alarm sirens and turn over, quickly shutting it off. My hand goes to the left side of my small bed to apologize to my bedmate, only for it to be empty.

My eyes spring open and see the indent in the pillow, the sheets messy but cold.

He’s been gone a while.

“Just so you know, this is a one-and-done, you good with that? Because come morning, I won’t be here when you wake up….”

His words after he pushed me into my room and cupped my cheeks float around in my head.

“Huh, guess he meant before sunrise,” I mumble with a little bit of disappointment I know I shouldn’t feel.

He doesn’t do relationships, he made that clear, and I cannot even think about going there after what Chris, my ex-boyfriend, did. And let’s not bring up my childhood.

I shake the feeling off, then climb out of bed, grabbing my clothes, and ignoring my aching body.

Bringing someone home and having a one-night stand was not part of my to-do list, and wanting him again this morning was not in my plans. I only went to the Huntsmen, our local bar near the school, because Honey, my only actual friend, was celebrating getting an A on a piece honoring Monet, a famous painter from the 1600s.

I wanted to stay in and study, but she begged, mentioning how I should live a little.

I get it, I do concentrate on school a lot. I did in high school, too, and yes, I promised I’d go out more with her now that I’m no longer under my step-mother, Christy’s, thumb, but the year has only just started. We’re freshmen, and I need to start off strong straight out of the gate, especially when I can lose my full scholarship if I fall below a 3.0 GPA.

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