Page 34 of Corrupt Idol

Her rage was ice cold.It didn’t matter that her head was pounding, her mouth was dry, and despite drinking water and coffee, she could still taste tequila on her tongue. The cloudy day matched her dark mood. Jesse woke her at the crack of dawn. He was dressed and ready to go while she was naked, hungover, and dirty. There was a moment of disorientation as she stared at him, a hand wrapped in his shirt as she tried to think.

“A shower will help,” he said as he brushed her hair back from her face.

She grimaced and ran a hand over her aching body. “What?” She had a fuzzy recollection of their drunken fuck. She stiffened. “Did you…?”

“We,” he confirmed as he brushed a kiss over her lips. “Come on, let’s go.”

She erupted from the bed and shoved him. “Damn it, Jesse! How could you?”

“Easily,” he said without a shade of remorse. “Shower, get dressed. We leave in twenty minutes. We have a long day ahead of us.”

He left her standing in the middle of the empty room, staring after him.

She didn’t understand him. He knew she hated him for it, yet he continued to push and use her for sex every chance he got. Was he a sex addict? A sociopath? A rapist who got off on her resistance? One moment he was helpful, generous, caring. The next, he reverted back to the monster, intent on sating himself no matter the cost. Lynne’s impending death didn’t affect his libido. He was as forceful and ravenous as he had been five years ago, maybe even more so.

Why?

She woke Reese and Abel to say her farewells and was pissed when Jesse made an appearance and thanked them for their hospitality. His ability to fool everyone infuriated her. She was incredulous when Abel extended an invitation to Jesse to attend their wedding. She hoped Abel was just being nice and not serious. These wereherfriends, not his. If Abel and Reese hadn’t been drunk and gone upstairs, would he have made a move? Who was she kidding? Even if their rooms were side by side, he dared. What the fuck was wrong with him?

Not one word was said between them as they headed out of Salt Lake City. The only sound in the cab came from the impersonal female on the GPS giving them directions and the radio playing classic country tunes.

She should sleep since she couldn’t have gotten more than a few hours, but she was too angry. Hazy images from last night kept slipping through her mind. He had been gentle with her. He aroused her with petting and sweet kisses before he took her. To her, this was worse than the other times because it was a complete farce. He took advantage of her inebriated state to bend her to his will. Her blood curdled with resentment and shame.

Hours passed. Jesse didn’t seem bothered by the prolonged silence. On the contrary, he acted as if she wasn’t present, which pissed her off even more. He hummed along with the radio and drove hour after hour without complaint. He acted as if road trips weren’t out of the ordinary for him. To her knowledge, this was the first time he had ever done such a thing. Once again, he was showing his adaptability while she scrambled to keep up.

She updated her friends and parents on their progress through text and during their first rest stop, received a voicemail from Planned Parenthood who said the STD test was negative. That was one small piece of good news. Every time they stopped for gas, she used the facilities and took the time to stretch her legs. He didn’t ask her for her credit card to put fuel so she didn’t offer it. She didn’t feel like she owed him anymore. Apparently, he thought her body was his to use whenever he felt like it so if he wanted to pick up the tab for this move, she would let him. She waited until the last possible second before she reluctantly climbed back into the truck with him.

They crossed into Colorado and then New Mexico. By one in the afternoon, she was over it. Traveling on the road had a very similar feel to flying in an airplane. She was dehydrated, exhausted, and felt dirty even though she had done nothing more strenuous than sit for hours. She had seriously underestimated how taxing this move would be financially, emotionally, and physically. She tried to sleep, but it was impossible when every fiber of her being was focused on the devil sitting within touching distance.

He was too close for comfort. The cab had two captain’s chairs with an empty space in between where they had their bags and a small cooler. Directly behind their chairs was a wall. Thankfully, the windshield was massive and gave the illusion of space, but the confines were stifling. He was slightly slouched in his seat, completely relaxed, with one hand on the steering wheel. He was in his customary jeans, white shirt, and boots. It annoyed her that no matter the setting, he looked like he belonged there. Asshole.

She couldn’t take in the landscape, not when memories she thought she smothered rose up to taunt her. Years, she had kept everything bottled up, but he roused everything to a fever pitch. When she moved to Utah, she kept busy with school, partying, men, shopping—anything to keep herself from thinking of the past. Time had done it’s work and made the memories easier to bear, but his reappearance brought them back to the fore. Emotions rocketed around inside of her. She wanted to weep, rage, attack. Instead, she sat there with her hands in her lap, staring straight ahead while everything in her revolted in reaction to his presence.

“You’re lucky you found such good friends in Salt Lake City.”

His voice, so unexpected after hours of silence, made her jump. She shot him a lethal glare before she returned her attention back to the road. She knew she was fortunate. She didn’t need him to tell her that.

“You’ve been busy.”

Something about his deceivingly casual tone made her tense.

“Lots of jobs,” he said as he tapped a finger on the steering wheel.

His attempt at making conversation was fucking lousy.

“Lots of men, too.”

She sucked in a breath, but the sound was drowned out by the white noise of traffic and the truck as it rattled down the interstate.

“Did it work?” he asked.

“Work?” The word left her mouth before she could stop herself.

He glanced at her, but she couldn’t see his eyes since they were covered by dark shades.

“You fucked them to forget about me. Did it work?”

Her mouth dropped open. “You conceited son of a bitch!”

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