Page 23 of Flagrant Foul
And fuck me, why were his nipples so hard and so pink?
Scratch all that. None of it mattered. The real question, the only question that mattered, was why was I looking? My eyes were glued to the mesh. To the crystals. To the pale-pink nipples on Teddy’s chest.
I tore them off him.
For what good it did, I yanked his top down and smoothed it as much as I could. “What are you thinking? Are you crazy? What are you doing in a place like that? How the hell did you even get in?”
He gave me a similar look to the one he’d given the man who’d groped him on the dancefloor, and his head twitched as he spoke. “Um, it’s called a fake ID, Sev. I know you’ve heard of them because I was in Nate’s bedroom when the two of you took the photos you used to getyourfakes made.” He cocked his head and placed a single finger on his chin. “And let’s see… How old were you then? Hmm…oh yeah, that’s right. You were eighteen. You did shit like this all the time, why can’t I?”
I was aghast. Astonished that he’d think the two things were related. “That wascompletelydifferent. It was in no way the same thing.”
He dropped his hand from his face and raised his chin in challenge. “How do you figure that?”
Pools of mercury shimmered around him. The glow from the streetlight etched contours into the side of his face that hadn’t been there before. Or if they had, I’d never noticed.
Not like this.
A jaw muscle tensed. Pale-blue eyes narrowed. A perfect pair of lips bowed.
The air around me slowly rotated.
My taste buds almost exploded.
“’Cause, Nate and I weren’t this pretty,” I said before I had time to censor myself.
He laughed again, and that time I was sure the sound was angelic. His eyes softened, acid robbed of its harshness, and a slight tremor shook his bottom lip. “You think I’m pretty?”
Before I had time to respond, his hands locked around my neck and he pressed himself onto his toes. Despite the warning, I didn’t move. I couldn’t. I couldn’t remember how my arms or legs worked. He moved closer, eyes dropping shut, head tilting to the side.
I didn’t move.
I’d love to say that I had no idea what he was doing, that he took me by surprise. That what happened was so unexpected, I had no idea what he’d been thinking or planning.
I did though.
I knew.
And I still didn’t move.
His lips met mine with only the slightest of hesitation. They were soft and warm and sweet. The bolt of lightning they delivered was anything but. It was instant. Deadly. A buildup of static electricity caused friction between clouds and air. A sudden release of energy. A bright flash of light. It pushed me back with enough force to land me on my ass, and jerked me forward at exactly the same time.
The shock was severe enough that I remembered my body and how my limbs worked. I pulled away sharply and heard myself say something like, “No…Teddy…you’re drunk. No.”
He stepped back, flinching like he’d been slapped.
11
Teddy “T-Dog” O’Reilly
“Iamlivinginhell,” I wail as soon as the elevator doors close and the small, metal cubicle begins its ascent. “I mean it, Mae. I’m living in my own private, personalized version of hell.”
Mae squeezes her lips together, hunts in her bag, and hands me a mint.
“Does this contain a sedative?” I ask hopefully.
She shakes her head apologetically.
I unwrap it and pop it into my mouth anyway.
