Page 109 of Behind the Bars

“Of course, if you’d like. I’ll sleep on thecouch.”

“Orrr,” she sang, tracing her finger along my chest. “You can sleep withme.”

I chuckled, shaking my head. “You’redrunk.”

“Yes, but rumor has it that I’m much more flexible when I’mdrunk.”

Oh,God.

She was beyonddrunk.

“If you heard what you just said and were sober, you’d probably be ten shades of red. C-come on, let’s get you tobed.”

Her eyes were heavy, and she pulled on my shirt. “No, let’s do it here,” she begged, pleading for me to take her right then and there. Her hands wandered down to my crotch, and I eased them back uphigher.

“Jasmine.” I grimaced. “You’redrunk.”

“Please, Eli. Please…I want you,” she whispered, slowly starting to unbutton my shirt. “Don’t you want to feel me, taste me, haveme?”

God,yes.

My body reacted to every touch she gave me, craving her in every imaginable way. There were so many nights I’d imagined what it would be like to be on top of her, beneath her, behind her, inside… Jasmine was everything I’d ever dreamed of, physically, mentally, and emotionally. She was the one I wanted at the beginning of each day and at the end of each night, but she wasn’tready.

“Come on, Elliott,” she said softly against my ear. “Please?”

I took abreath.

No.

She wasn’t in her right frame of mind. She couldn’t truthfully express what she needed. She was only there offering me the physical when I needed the total package. I needed Jasmine—mind, body, andspirit.

I needed her to be fully aware of what she wasdoing.

Otherwise, the sex would be just like all the other men she’d been with in the past—hollow.

“We can’t,” I told her as her lips grazed my neck. My eyes rolled to the back of my head, and my skin crawled as she touched me. “Jazz,don’t.”

“Just…please,Eli…”

“No.” I finally forced myself away from her. I shot myself across the room and shook off the effects of the drug she’d forced into my being. “Wecan’t.”

“Why?” she asked, clearly embarrassed, though she tried to hide it with a fake confidence. “I know you wantme.”

“Ido.”

“Then why won’t you sleep with me?” she questioned. “Why won’t you fuckme?”

“Because I care aboutyou.”

Her eyes glassed over and she shook her head. She then said the most heartbreaking thing I’d ever heard in my life. “People don’t care about me, Elliott. People just take pieces of me and then throw the restaway.”

In that moment, I witnessed the storm behind hereyes.

How long had it beenthere?

How long had it been building in herheart?

She lied about being happy because it was easier than acknowledging how sad she’d become. Some days it was better to lie than to face the darkesttruths.

---