Page 31 of Puck Block

He throws his beer bottle in the trash and looks at my face for a few seconds too long. “You’re Taytum.”

I shoot him a sideways glance. “How do you–”

“And your brother is the goalie of Bexley U’s hockey team, yeah?”

Here we go.

Disappointment flares, and I want to spin around, look at Ford, and shout from across the party, “Seewhat you two have done!”

My shoulders drop, and I’m about to walk out of the party with my tail tucked in between my legs, but then the guy tsks his tongue and steals my attention. “Don’t look discouraged. Your brother isn’t going to stop me from asking you to dance.”

Disbelief takes me hostage, and the shock must be evident on my face, because his eyebrows knit together with confusion. In an attempt to hide my stupor, words fumble out of my mouth that take us bothby surprise. “I don’t want to dance. I want to go upstairs.”

My subconscious is shaking her head in the back of my mind because I’m about to disappear with a guy I don’t know, but in my defense, I know almost everyone at this party, and they haveall been warned by my brother or Ford that I’m completely off-limits, so the choices aren’t vast by any means.

He quickly grabs me by the wrist and starts to lead me upstairs. I want to look back at Ford in the worst way, but I don’t, because this has nothing to do with him.

“I’m Jasper, by the way.”

I stiffen for a brief second when he tells me his name, but I can’t pinpoint the reason why.I loosen my tense shoulders, letting Jasper pull me to the very last door at the end of the hallway and brush away my nerves. My subconscious is likely trying to trick me into turning my back on Jasper because, deep down, I know I’m on my own by having Ford’s word that he won’t barge in and ruin my night.

That is, if he keeps his word.

“Jasper,” I repeat, still feeling a little dose of familiarity when I repeat his name.

He shuts the door behind us, and before we even share another word, he pushes me up against it and starts touching every part of my body that he can get his hands on. My head hits the wood, and my hair falls down my back when he tugs on the long strands.

My neck is his for the taking, and when his mouth hovers above my racing pulse, I grab onto his torso to steady myself against him.

“Fuck, you’re way hotter than any girl here,” he mutters.

Jasper’s lips move from the hollow part of my collarbone, and he pulls back to stare at me for a second. There’s a strange look in his eyes, and my heart starts to beat faster. I lean forward to kiss him but pause when his hand finds its way to my throat. He isn’t squeezing hard, but it still makes me sputter.

“I’m going to fuck you,” he states, squeezing a little tighter.

I freeze when his other hand starts to pull at my shirt. I grip his wrist and pull because there’s still a very self-consciouspart of me that doesn’t want anyone to see my monitor. “No,” I murmur. “My shirt stays on.”

“The fuck it does.”

My eyebrows knit together, and anger replaces my nerves. “Excuse me?” I bite back.

I’m repeating his name in my head over and over again, like my brain is trying to figure out where the familiarity is coming from in the midst of anger.Jasper, Jasper, Jasper…

He chuckles, and I’ll give it to him–he has a smooth laugh, and his dangerously dark features are enticing, to say the least. But I am not the type of girl who likes to be bossed around. Ford and Emory can attest to that.

Jasper takes my wrists and pulls them up above my head, slamming them onto the door. I’m not sure if he thinks I’m into the little game he’s playing, but he’s about to learn that I trust very few people in my life, and he isn’t one of them.

“I want to see your tits, so I’m going to take your shirt off. You got that, pretty eyes?”

Mypretty eyesflare with his tone, and he chuckles again. My rebuttal cuts through a sarcastic laugh. “No, you’re not, Jaspe–”

I gasp.

I was wrong.

I do know him.

His grip on my wrists tightens when I try to pull them away.

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