Page 35 of Wicked Ends
His knee pressed against mine under the table. Heat washed through my body, burning me up inside.
“You seriously want us to…” Desire crashed into me. “I know you’re popular, everyone says so. You’re not hard up—so whyforce someone to sleep with you? I’m sure half a dozen beautiful hockey fans would do whatever you asked them to.”
“Jealous, beautiful? Maybe I’m bored of women dropping to their knees for me… maybe I want a little fight.” He raised a rakish eyebrow at me.
“That’s…” Even drunk, I knew better than to say what I really thought.
That’s hot, God help me.
“That’s fucked up,” I managed instead.
He laughed and shrugged. “That’s me, beautiful. I don’t pretend to be anything else. Take it or leave it… but I think you’re going to take it.” He shifted forward in his seat, his voice lowering to a whisper. “Every single drop. And moreover, you’re going to beg for it. Now, tell me where you’re staying, before your friend gets back.”
His knee pushed between mine, forcing me to open my legs wider. God, I was wet. I could feel my panties clinging to my pussy. Just his filthy words and proximity were doing it for me. And God help me if it didn’t feel good to be wanted by a man like Marcus. A guy who could have anyone. It was heady, addictive. It made me forget myself, and I liked that a lot. But still…
“What? No way. I’m not enabling this madness,” I said. “If you’re going to drive me insane and ruin my life, at the very least, you should work for it.”
Marcus chuckled. His hand snaked under the table and cupped my knee, rubbing soft circles with his thumb.
“Assigning me homework, Professor? Or is it a test?” he asked.
Kenna appeared in the distance, walking in our direction, glass of water in hand.
Marcus followed my gaze and stood. “Understood.” His voice was playful and determined.
I had a feeling I’d sealed my fate, but there was no time to argue with Kenna about to reach us. He stepped away, but not before bending down to murmur in my ear.
“And FYI, Ari… that wasn’t a no. I’ll see you later.”
“Who was that?” Kenna sat and pushed the glass of water toward me. She had just missed catching Marcus’ face, thank God.
“Just some guy,” I said.
Kenna smiled. “I can’t leave you alone for five minutes without you getting hit on.”
“Hardly. I’m living out of a motel with zero water pressure and have put on twenty pounds in a year. It’s not my best look.” I sighed. “And honestly, it’s fine. It’s better this way.”
“Are you telling me that guy wasn’t hitting on you?” Kenna turned to check out the window. “Who was he? A hockey player?”
“He was asking for directions,” I mumbled, sobering up quickly from the adrenaline of nearly being caught talking to Marcus.
“Yeah, right.” Kenna gave me a disbelieving eyebrow raise.
“I’m serious. I have some kind of built-in man repellent these days. It works like a charm.”
She wrinkled her nose. “What? You’ve been dating, though, right?”
“My last boyfriend was a few years ago. My brother and his friends were experts at running them off.” I shuddered; I couldn’t help it. “It made it hard to date.”
Kenna grew more serious. She knew some about why I’d shown up out of the blue with fake documents, and that my brother was right in the thick of it. I’d never given her the details, though. I never wanted to. The memory of the last time I’d seen my brother crashed into me with a sickening thud. His heavy weight pinning me to the floor, and his hands circling my neck. Then the smell of blood, thick and warm in the cool night.
I shook my head and tried to dislodge that particularly shitty memory.
Kenna watched me drink water. “It’ll get better, you know. You’re starting again here. It’s all going to be different.”
I nodded. I’d thought so, too, before I’d slept with Marcus the weekend before starting at HHU. If only he’d drop it, then I could really have a fresh start.
Well, then, just sleep with him one more time,a little voice in my head whispered.He wants a fight… that’s why he’s interested… don’t give him one.I didn’t trust that voice. Surely the solution to my problem couldn’t be sleeping with a veritable sex god again… life just wasn’t that great. No, it had to be my lust sneakily trying to convince me to live out my darkest desires with a man who set my blood on fire. It was a crazy idea… right?
