Page 25 of Stray
With a devilish smile, he said, “That was a lot more fun than I thought it would be.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
STRAY
Codie scrambled to her feet, jerking her pants up. Her expression quickly changed from one of absolute euphoria to red hot fury. “I can’t believe you pulled a fucking gun on me. What’s wrong with you? Is that thing loaded?”
Yeah, I knew that would get a reaction from her. Which was exactly why I did it. There was no point in doing this shit halfway. We were both here to have fun, weren’t we?
I held up the semi-automatic for her to see. Popping the mag out, I showed her that it was indeed loaded. There was also a bullet in the chamber.
“Of course it’s loaded,” I said, rolling my eyes at her ridiculousness. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
Her jaw dropped. She stared at me the way a horror movie victim stared at the killer once they realized their time was up. I wasn’t sure why she was so upset. This was exactly what she’d asked for.
“You really are crazy. You could’ve killed me. Do you even care about that?” Codie’s voice shook. Only now that the pleasure rush had subsided did she realize how much danger she’d truly been in.
“I wasn’t going to kill you. But for a while there you thought that I might. Your pussy was soaked for me, sweet thing.Don’t pretend you didn’t love it.” I tucked the gun into the waistband of my pants, covering it with my shirt.
Her hand was a blur. She smacked me across the face so hard the sound echoed in the trees around us. Goddamn that hurt. My face still throbbed from the fight the other night.
“I never said that I wanted you to pull a gun on me. That was not what I shared with you. You’re taking this too far, Stray.” She shoved past me, pushing through the trees and back onto the path.
I followed behind her, having no trouble keeping up. Shoving my hands into my pockets, I ambled along next to her while she furiously stormed back toward the gazebo. “There are no rules here, Codie. You might be used to getting what you want in life but I am not a puppet on strings for you to pull. You said you wanted danger, and you got it.”
“That’s not what I meant. I never wanted a gun held to my head. It’s too much. What if something happened and you accidentally pulled the trigger? Would you even care if you blew my brains out?” Her voice rose to a near shout. Luckily, we were the only people around.
I let her speed walk along the path for a few minutes before responding. She needed to get it out of her system. I kept expecting her to break into a run. Of course, then I would have to chase her. She seemed to know that.
“There’s a safety on the trigger,” I explained. “I have to press it completely for it to fire. I barely touched it. I swear. You’re overreacting. I gave you exactly what you wanted, Codie.”
She whirled around to face me then, pointing a finger in my face. “You did no such thing. I never asked to be blackmailed. I never wanted to do any of this with you.”
I raised both hands in surrender, trying not to laugh in her face. She was hot as hell when all fired up like this. I was temptedto fuck her again, right here on the path where anyone may come along.
“Is that why you came out here tonight? Is that why you keep finding ways to get my attention? Stop acting like you’re not playing your own game here. I’m not an idiot, Codie. I see exactly what you’re doing. Just like I knew what you were doing with Danny at the party. You’re manipulative as hell, and you know it.” I was starting to get angry myself now. Codie’s insistence that she was the innocent party here was starting to piss me off.
She continued to furiously storm down the path. We were several blocks from her apartment. I’d followed her the entire way here. Several minutes passed without either of us saying a word. The tension continued to rise.
I honestly didn’t know how to handle a situation like this. Somehow, I’d gotten in over my head with this chick. She drove me crazy like nobody ever had. I both wanted to choke the life out of her and fuck her senseless.
Finally, she snapped, “Go away, Stray. I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”
Being dismissed like I was garbage triggered me. I flashed back to the way my dad used to talk to me when he drank too much. The fucking asshole had been drunk more often than not. If he had a bad day, the entire family became his verbal, and sometimes physical, punching bag. He and I hadn’t spoken in years. I could take a lot of crap from people, but I would not be treated like trash.
“Do you think you’re better than me, Codie?” I asked, fighting to keep my tone calm and even. “Is that why you pull this manipulative shit? Is it fun for you to make me crazy?”
She cast a scathing glance my way. “You’re the one who came after me, remember? I shot you down over and over. You wouldn’t take no for an answer, so you found a way to force meto do your bidding. You’re fucking blackmailing me, Stray. Can you blame me for finding a way to take my power back?”
Goddamn, this woman was going to drive me all the way to the psych ward. I shoved a hand through my hair, gripping a handful and pulling tight. “Take your power back? What kind of wild bullshit is that? You’re the one with the fucked up kink. All I’ve done is exactly what you wanted. You fucking love it, and you can’t even admit it.”
Codie’s face reddened. She pressed her lips tight together, shaking her head as she continued to speed walk toward home. “You’re impossible. And you wonder why I never gave you a chance. I knew that I would only be a conquest to you. Aren’t you satisfied yet? You fucked me. You got what you wanted.”
I forced myself to take several slow, deep breaths. Losing my shit and shouting at her wouldn’t help anything. That’s not how I wanted this night to end.
“You were never just a conquest to me,” I insisted. “I understand why you might feel that way. Do you honestly think I would put this much effort into a chick I only wanted to fuck and forget?”
Even I had to admit that I’d put more time and effort into Codie than any woman I’d ever known. There was something about her that drew me. I wanted to be in her vicinity. Just laying eyes on her made me feel better.
