Page 140 of Scrimmage

His grin widens and his nostrils flare. “So it’s not over. The mistake I made the first time, was not laying a claim to you. Yeah, we’ve been to parties and you’ve been at the locker room, but back then you just looked like a groupie. That’s exactly how you wanted it to look, too. I fixed that at the bar. You’ll be my fucking girlfriend whether you like it, or not.”

I laugh nervous and high pitched. There’s a darkness to Koda. It’s what attracted me. This whole thing makes me wet, and the alarm bells are ringing so loudly in my head that whatever sensibilities were left are fucking evacuating. Everything except for one. I like to make things difficult.

“You can just say you want sex, you don’t need to go to all of this trouble.”

“I want more, Ash. If I have to fill you with cum to get it, I will,” he promises. I want to laugh it off, but he’s dead fucking serious.

I try to act like his words haven’t somehow gone straight to my pussy. “I already told you, I don’t take cum as a form of payment. Thanks anyways."

He gives an aggravated growl. “You’re not listening to me.”

“I heard your weird OCPD bullshit. You can’t control me, Ko, and you never will. I know that must be difficult to accept, being walked out on and all, but—”

“It is. I’m fucking thinking about you all of the time. I thought maybe it was the sex, but it’s not." He grabs my chin and forces me to look at him. I’m pretty sure I turn into an actual statue. My mind is full of gibberish. “You have one chance to choose to be my girlfriend.”

“Or what?” I recover, crossing my arms and pulling myself away from his grasp.

“Or I will make it so. You should know by now that my threats aren’t empty.”

“You think I haven’t been threatened before?” I go nose to nose with him on my tip toes and amusement fills those coal black eyes.

“I think it’s probably the only way you know how to communicate that isn’t sex. I’ll play every game you want, baby girl, but they’ll all end the same.”

I want to scream again, but I hold my composure. “I can’t wait to see you crying over avocado toast. Do you need me to show you the door, or should I draw you a map?”

He smirks, and it’s honestly to die for. I’ve been trying not to think about it, but I’ve drawn it a ton in the sketch book he gave me. Time to fucking burn it. He’s been in all of my shit, which isn’t surprising. He’s controlling. The possessive shit makes sense, honestly. Koda doesn’t like to share his toys. I’ve known that since day one, but it’s driving him mad that he might be after I walked away. That’s why he hit Cole. That’s the only reason he’s here and doing this. If he wants to play games, we can fucking do that, but I make the goddamn rules.

Why the hell did I ever let this happen in the first place? He made it seem like a convenience. It felt like I was doing us both a favor. That’s not what this was. He lured me. I’m not even angry about that, but I’m scared. He said he kissed me at that bar to lay a claim to me. How many people saw it? I should want this. Every other woman on the face of the earth would be enamored by Koda. Every woman except for me.

He said he wants more. It reminds me of my greatest fears and my greatest shames. I’ve spent years trying to forget them. Yet, that was all I wanted him to scream at me that morning it all fell apart. They always say not to call yourself a victim, but a survivor. They’re the same fucking thing to me. Attractive men forcing me into shit is my heroin. I’m not a victim. I’m not a survivor. I’m just a fucking idiot, because I can’t wait until Koda starts to play our first game. I’m fucking thrilled by the thought.

I watch him back away. He leaves the stolen book on the counter.

“See you later, Ashland.” It’s ominous. It’s psychotic. It’s stalkerish. It’s fucking sexy.

If I wasn’t trying to look like a competitive brat, I would be panting and jumping him like a bitch in heat. I watch as he disappears down the hall, and the front door shuts behind him. Finally, I release the breath I was holding. His scent still lingers in the air making my mouth water.

“Fuck,” I mutter to myself, slamming my elbows onto the counter and shoving my face into my hands.

I start to think as hard as I can. He thinks he wants to be with me. So I’ll change his fucking mind. The wheels turn and turn as I plan my next sabotage. Koda wants to lay a claim to a slut? Guess we’ll have to show everyone what a big fucking slut I am. It’s easy to piss Koda off. I think he likes to be angry, but embarrassed? That's the only way out of this.

Now that he’s back, I can go the proper way about getting over him.

I pull out my phone and find where he shared my location. The corners of my mouth turn up with malice. I can’t believe I never checked it before. He showed his hand. Koda is conniving, but so am I.

Boys belong on Jupiter, and Koda will be their fucking king.

Chapter Twenty

Ashland

The next day when I leave to go to work there’s a set of keys on the counter with a note.

Take your car back.

We leave the door unlocked all of the time. It’s not a shock he came in here. I expected him to.

A few months ago, I would have at least had the decency to try to reject the car or just walked anyways to prove a point. This time I’m going to fucking fight dirty. I smile to myself and grab the keys. Outside, the sports car is waiting. I snap a picture and send it to Penny. Last time I definitely mistreated it, but this time I’m going to take advantage of it. If it ends up wrapped around a light pole then so fucking be it.

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