Page 9 of Hate the Game
My heart hammered painfully as a memory of Charlie doing the same thing played in my head. With Charlie I’d felt like it was a practiced move. I’d still fallen for it, but I could see it was just one step in many steps to getting what he wanted. With Cole it didn’t feel that way and that terrified me.
***Savannah***
After lunch Cole asked if I wanted to take a drive and even though I knew I needed to say no to protect my plan I said yes. I convinced myself it was safe because we had the windows down and the radio blasting. He drove me along the coast and would look over at me every couple of minutes with enough heat to scorch my panties.
When he stopped to get gas after a couple of hours he leaned into the truck and patted the middle seat. “Come over?”
Intelligent Savannah screamed that it was a bad idea. Horny Savannah scooted her ass right over. When Cole got back in, we were thigh to thigh and he didn’t hesitate to put his arm around me. It was more touching than I’d done in months and my body was reacting like he was stroking my clit. I was flushed and breathless and so damn tense that he had to know something was up with me.
“Everything okay?”
We were still in the gas station parking lot and I made the mistake of looking over at Cole. We were so close that turning my head put our faces close together. I let out an accidentalwhistle over how intense the moment felt. Cole grinned and then leaned down to brush his lips over mine.
I sucked in a sharp breath, match struck and ready to burn everything to the ground, but he pulled away. I wanted to demand he explain himself. Why would he give me a ghost of a kiss and then pull away?
“You’re fucking adorable when you’re confused.” And with that he pulled out of the parking lot and kept driving.
We drove around for so long that we both got hungry again. Cole stopped at a food truck and I bought us drinks and a couple of grilled cheeses since he’d paid for lunch. We ate them against the side of the truck, sharing smiles and staring at each other like two fools. It was the most uncomfortable feeling in the world, purely because I didn’t know what to do with myself. I had butterflies. Fucking butterflies.
I bought us each an ice cream cone before we got back in the truck and by the time he drove back to campus and parked we were both a little sticky. Cole had a smear of chocolate on his chin that I was tempted to lick off but I practiced restraint as we walked back to the dorm.
“I’m going to ask again, Sav. What’s with the multiple personalities?” Cole took my hand like it was the most natural thing in the world and laughed when our sticky hands stuck to each other. “I feel like a little kid. I should’ve known better than eating ice cream in the truck.”
I looked away and blew out a quiet sigh. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m always the same, silly.”
He stayed silent until we reached our hall. I’d already unlocked my door when he finally responded. “You’re full of shit, Savannah. I just don’t know why. This bubblegum, braindead thing you’ve been doing is dumb.”
I forced my anger down and tilted my head at him. “I don’t know-”
“Just shut up.” Cole gripped my head in his hands and pulled me in for a hard kiss. It was punishing, the kiss, and I could feel his frustration at me in it. He pressed me into my door and stroked his tongue past my lips. He tasted like vanilla and I grabbed his hair in my fists to keep him close. That taste was addictive.
His mouth moved over mine so perfectly. He mixed light kisses with deep ones and gripped my hair in his own tight fist. Our bodies moved against one another in a way that left nothing to the imagination when it came to what we wanted.
I was completely full steam ahead until I felt his fingertips stroking up my thigh, under my dress. The desire to spread my legs for him snapped me back to reality. I ended the kiss and gently pushed him away. “I have…work. Homework. I have to go…do it.”
I opened my door just enough for me to slip through and then I waved awkwardly before closing and locking my door. I threw myself on my bed and buried my face in my pillow. Screaming into the pillow relieved a little of the stress I was feeling but only a little.
I’d spent the day with and kissed the guy who’d nearly destroyed my brothers. I hadn’t asked a single hard-hitting question. I wasn’t sure I’d askedanyquestions. What was wrong with me? I wasn’t supposed to getthatinvolved. My only time with one of them and it was off the record and only revealed that I was a skank. I screamed into the pillow again and rolled over to pout at the ceiling but I was too close to the edge and fell to the floor with a loudthudand enough pain to make me forget about how much I’d fucked up for at least a few minutes.
There was a knock at my door but I wasn’t checking it. I wasn’t moving. If life wanted me on the ground so bad I’d stay right where it put me.
“You okay, Sav? Did you fall? It sounded like you fell.” As sweet as it was for Cole to check on me, it just left me even more embarrassed.
“I’m fine! Everything’s fine!” I was the living embodiment of that meme with the dog sitting in a burning house, saying that everything is fine. Everything was not fine. I hurt all over, I kissed the guy I was trying to take down, and then there were those fucking butterflies. They were the scariest thing I’d ever felt. I’d only felt a minor version of them with Charlie in the very beginning. They were nothing like the ones Cole had given me that afternoon.
“Are you sure?”
I groaned. “Yes!”
“Would you admit it if you’d hurt yourself?”
I grabbed my shoe and threw it at the door. “Go away!”
“Say please.” Cole was definitely grinning on the other side of my door.
“Go the fuck away, please!” I rolled to my knees and slowly picked myself up off the ground. Everything still hurt. “Wait. Before you go, could I have some ice, please?”
“Either you’re into ice play or you hurt yourself. Which is it?”
