Page 114 of Now and Forever

“Next time, don’t try to cock block. I can make decisions for myself. Go fuck yourself, Drew Cavendish.”

“I have every right to. Spencer is garbage.” Oblivious to the pain he’d just inflicted upon me, he stepped closer into my domain, choking me with his proximity.

“Jackson didn’t seem to mind.” I wanted to push him off, but I couldn’t gather enough strength to fight him.

“Well, maybe he should ’cause that guy doesn’t deserve you. So get mad all you like, but I did the right thing.” His tone grew deeper as he advanced farther onto me.

Much to my utter dismay, I stepped backward until I managed to hit the wall and tried to appear less than unsettled. “You’re being ridiculous! In case it’s escaped your notice, I’m a grown woman. I can do whomever I feel like without needing approval from you or from anyone. Besides, you’re one to talk. If Spencer is garbage, what does that make you? Oh, right, I forgot—”

“A bastard,” he nonchalantly supplied. “I think that’s the word you’re looking for.” “I’m sorry.” I rushed to apologize, but I knew the damage was irreparable. My anger had gotten the best of me. I knew better than to bring up something so rottenly vile from his past.

He had grown up being taunted and labeled by our peers and the people who knew the story of his parents. His father had walked out on him and his mother when he had only been two years old. His mother was from a famous family, so it was hard for the lewd gossip not to spread like fire.

“I shouldn’t have. You know I would never mean to hurt you like that, not even when I can’t see straight from being angry at you.”

“Whatever I do that infuriates you, remember I’m doing it for you, Chloe.” Although his words came out low, I could feel the tension coming off him in waves.

How had I turned into this hateful person? It was a subject my family was adamant to never speak about. In our home, he was always protected and safe. He had grown up knowing no one would bash him for something he had no control over. Yet here I was, and my guilt wouldn’t let me off so easily.

“Drew …” I captured his face in my hands, needing him to see how remorseful I was. “Forgive me. I swear to you—to God—that I never thought or saw you like that. You were always just Drew to me. Please, I’m so sorry.”

It was difficult to gauge what he was thinking at the moment. His eyes were deep-rooted in an inner turmoil.

The silence stretched while those blue eyes flickered about my face, slowly drawing me in, gradually drowning me in their powerful depths. Whenever he remained in deafening silence, I never failed to feel discombobulated. It wasn’t as much the silence as the way his eyes would spark fire. Each time they did so, they ignited something within me, flaring a part of me that I had tirelessly worked to hide.

“Say something.”

“You always look so beautiful when aroused,” he rasped out in such a low tone I could barely catch his words.

Licking my lips, I held my breath as my eyes withdrew from his magnetizing hold, downcast. “I’m … I’m not.” He knew better. He always did. That was probably why he had slept with me that one night—just to end my agony. I had eyes for no one but him … until he had calculatedly broken my heart. That was when I had known I had to use my mind to fight my heart with everything I had until it became nothing but a memory. However, until such a pleasant time happened, there was no choice other than to be unceasingly guarded whenever he was in question.

He tsked. “I remember you and this body all too well. Do us both a favor and spare me the lies.”

“Maybe you should do us both a favor and stop tormenting me,” I retorted.

Just like he had before, he caged my body with his own, placing a hand on each side of my head. His lips barely grazed my forehead, and all I could do was shut my eyes and ride this overwhelming rush of euphoria as it sent my body into a state of spine-tingling tremors.

“What do you suggest I do, Chloe?” he croaked out against my skin. “Why would you wear such a short skirt? A guy can only think of lifting it up and feeling how moist you are for him…or how that skirt will look riding up your stomach while he fucks you raw. So tell me, what do you suggest I do?”

Was he asking permission to do such things to me? I couldn’t be sure. Nothing was making any sense. The only thing that did was how my body was reacting to him. He hadn’t touched me, yet my thong was drenched from the mere sound of his voice and the way he was uttering and delivering his words that oozed sex everywhere.

His labored breathing made me desperate, but I wasn’t quite sure for what exactly.

“Is that what you saw earlier … before you interrupted us?”

He was a mystery I wanted to solve. It was as though he was fighting the same urges I was battling with myself. As much as I liked to believe I would have the capacity to decline his advances, I knew, with a little persuasion, I would eventually give in. He could take me however he desired, even if I knew the consequences would be too great to overcome.

“Let me just say that I wouldn’t be able to watch as you have done with me.”

Oh, my fuck. He knew! Oh, God.

“Anyone would have since you didn’t have the decency to keep things private.” My mind immediately recollected those indecent images, tormenting me as they evoked a wide range of emotions.

Things had shifted from sexual tension to something more unpredictably precarious.

His relaxed stance had changed into one that reminded me of a crouching animal hovering over its prey before it made it its meal.

“Was that how you kept things private, Chloe, by letting him suck on your neck right next to a door where Jackson and I could easily see you?”

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