Page 130 of Collision
I look at him, dumbfounded. “And how do you feel about spending the rest of your days in prison? Because that’s where you’re going to end up, sooner or later, if you don’t chill out.” He snorts, like I’m talking nonsense. I’m seriously starting to lose my patience with him. “Does that make you laugh? You really don’t think something like that could happen to you?”
He rubs his forehead in an irritated fashion. “I think you’re getting heated over nothing.”
“Do you even listen to yourself when you talk?” I get up off his lap.
He sighs, rests his elbows on his knees and looks steadily into my eyes. “If you want to know the truth, I don’t actually give a shit about the consequences, all right?” He leans back, spreading his arms across the back of the sofa.
My eyes widen. “No, that is not all right! Do you think your life is a game? Or the lives of the people around you? Don’t you think about them? About the pain you would cause them if the worst happened?” I yell. One way or another, he always manages to turn me into a crazy person.
“This is why I don’t want any ties. I don’t want to be forced to do the right thing for the sake of someone else.” In the face of my discomfited expression, he continues, “Don’t act so surprised. This is me, Vanessa. Learn to accept it, because I’m not going to change, not even for you. You can take it or leave it.”
“You are truly unbelievable, Thomas!” I dig my hands into my hair, exasperated, and turn my back to him.
“Please explain to me: Why are we fighting right now?” he asks, irritated.
I turn back to face him. “We are not fighting! I am fighting you!”
“And what are you doing that for?”
“I don’t know!” I cross my arms and plant myself in front of him, looking sullen.
He looks at me in bewilderment for a few seconds before bursting into laughter as he shakes his head.
“What the hell are you laughing at?” I snap.
“You went on this whole long rant and you don’t even know why?” He grabs me by the wrist and pulls me back to him. “Do you realize how completely insane you are?” he continues, with a smile on his lips that I struggle not to find attractive. I bend my right knee into the sofa, positioning it in between his legs.
“But I do know why. Because you’re selfish. You take a sick pleasure in hurting the people around you. You don’t care about anyone else, you just want to maintain control over everything,” I tell him in my most condescending tone.
“Accurate description, Clark.” Thomas unbends my crossed arms and takes my hands, intertwining his fingers with mine. “But isn’t that what makes me irresistible?”
“No. It’s what makes you sadistic.”
He grabs my thighs, covered by my skirt, and pushes me back down on top of him. “So why are you wasting your time with a sadist like me?” The tone of his voice has changed, it sounds deeper. Rougher. It makes my head spin.
“Guess I’m a masochist,” I murmur.
“Mhm.” He rubs his nose against mine. “A sadist and a masochist: what a winning combination.” He grins.
“Toxic, more like,” I reply in a whisper.
“Tell me something, Ness.” He uses one knuckle to push a strand of hair behind my shoulder, careful not to touch my sore spot. Then he slides his fingers through my hair and clasps a hank of it in his fist. With his other hand, he touches my lips. “When was the last time I kissed this mouth?”
We’re so close that I can feel his breath on me. Beer and tobacco, it’s a taste that sends all my senses into overdrive. A second ago, I was screaming at him, and now I find myself a heartbeat away from his lips, eager to take them for mine again.
“I don’t know,” I choke out, my breath becoming more and more irregular. Thomas moves his hands, rubbing my thighs in slow movements. He works his fingers under the tight fabric of my skirt. Hewraps his hands around my buttocks and an electric shock sizzles in my lower abdomen. I lick my dry lips and bite down on them. “It’s been a while…”
“Too long…” He brushes my mouth with his own until my lips open for him, until that slight contact becomes a gentle kiss with a slow, deep rhythm. Feeling his lips on mine once again, I feel a flush of heat spread through my abdomen and a thousand emotions completely obscure my reason. This proximity is kindling an overwhelming desire inside me. I throw my arms around his neck and, as I open my lips to welcome him, his tongue collides with mine, yearning, hot, impatient, as if this part of me has always belonged to him. Our kiss transforms into pure fire.
“You have the most inviting mouth I’ve ever seen.” I feel a throbbing in my panties, and the heated feeling between my legs becomes even more intense. In an attempt to relieve it, I begin rubbing myself against his erection, which is steadily growing larger and larger under his sweatpants. Thomas bites my lip roughly and chases the movements of my hips with short, vigorous thrusts of his own. He’s squeezing my ass so hard that it forces a moan of commingled pain and pleasure from me. I can feel him smiling against my lips, and I realize just how much he enjoys exerting this power over me. Feeling my body yield to him. Making me a slave to all his desires. What surprises me most, though, is that I like it too. This is a side of myself that I am only now discovering, and only with Thomas.
“You’ve been flaunting your ass in front of me for two days now, wrapped up in this skirt…” he says breathlessly. His muscular, tattooed chest is completely exposed. The unruly hair, the burning green eyes, the swollen lips… Beautiful. “And for two days, all I’ve thought about is how to get it off you…”
I press my body harder against his as he continues to suck my lower lip. “So what are you waiting for?”
Thomas pulls away from me, leaving me staggered for a few moments. I find myself giving a little moan at the separation. I want those full lips back on my mouth, I want his warmth again. He touches my cheek, resting his forehead on mine. “You’re dangerous…”
“You’re the dangerous one,” I confess as my eyes and my fingers run along his broad shoulders. They slide over his defined biceps, his sides, his tense abdominal muscles leading down to the elastic of his sweatpants. I feel like I could spend hours upon hours exploring every part of his body with my hands and my mouth and never tire of it but, on the contrary, only crave more and more. Thomas urges me to grind my hips back and forth more rapidly. Shivers break out all over my body.
