Page 87 of The Bad Girl List

“This needs to go.” I fumble at it, trying to tear it off, but it gets stuck around her middle.

“Oh, hell.” Dom tugs at it. “I think Annika may have outdone herself.”

“Hold on.” With one hand, I grab the dangling end and wrap it around my fist. With the other, I cup her ribcage and turn her.

She gets the idea. She laughs softly as her bare feet turn in the dirt.

I grin. “This is better than unwrapping a Christmas present.” I caress her with my free hand as she spins, trailing my fingers lightly over her breasts, her collarbone, her back and her ass. I want to touch every part of her.

The saran wrap quickly unwinds. I toss it aside. The bandage underneath is dark with dried blood and sticks to her hip.

“This isn’t exactly sexy,” she says, looking down at the bandage.

“Everything about you is sexy.” I pull her against me, molding her body to mine as I kiss her. Her hands knot in my hair, then trail down my back and around my hips. She traces the ridges of my abs before running her fingers up the inside of my thighs.

My dick is so hard it’s starting to hurt. I want her so badly I can barely see straight. I lean her back, kissing the base of her throat and sliding my palm over her breast and down to the bandage that sticks to her skin. I tug at it, wanting to see her tattoo.

The bandage comes free with a gentle tug. I drop it to the ground and kiss my way back down her body. I lick her belly button, then nip the taut surface of her stomach before finally making my way over to her hip.

Dancing over her delicate hip bone are four blue butterflies.

The sight of it is like hitting a brick wall in a car going two-hundred miles per hour.

“What the fuck is that?” I jerk back from her as if she’s just burned me.

“Wh–what?” She takes a step back from me, eyes widening.

“What–the fuck–is that?” My heart is pounding, my throat is tight, and suddenly I feel the weight of Elle’s body in my lap as she died on the side of the road. The blue butterflies on her black dress glow in my memory.

“Trevor, what–” She reaches for me.

I step out of reach and turn my back. My heart is beating so fast I can hardly breathe. I can feel Elle’s warm blood on my hands and see the light leave her eyes. I feel the vibration of the storm and taste the lightning in the air.

And those butterflies, those fucking butterflies. What the fuck are they doing on Dom?

I retreat from Dom, taking shelter in the shadows as I struggle to get my breathing under control. I breathe out through my nose, counting down from ten, but only make it to five before Thomas’s voice cuts through the night.

“Guys, I see them! They’re over here!”

It’s like a bucket of cold water being poured over my head. A perfect image of Elle snaps into place and I see her, smiling on the beach in Hawaii as we hold hands in the surf. The echo of her laugh sizzles through me.

“There you are!” Annika trots into our clearing, fully dressed. Her eyebrows lift in amusement as she takes us in. “Did we interrupt something?”

“No.” Dom grabs her clothes from the forest floor, hastily pulling them on. “No, we were just looking for a place to get dressed.”

Annika studies us through narrowed eyes. I can’t even look at Dom. Elle’s laughter rolls through me like an ocean wave. My heart is still trying to beat its way out of my chest.

Thomas and Minnie trot out of the dark. “Hurry up, bro,” he says. “Cops are on their way. We gotta get to the car.”

Somehow, I find my way to my clothes. Dom has turned her back on me, pretending to be interested in something Minnie and Annika are saying, but her shoulders are stiff.

Fuck. I have really fucked things up. But why the fuck did she have blue butterflies tattooed on her? What sort of sick twisted joke is this?

I don’t trust myself to speak. There’s still a part of me sitting on the side of the road with Elle in my lap as the hurricane pounds the earth with tears.

I walk at the front of the group on the way back to Minnie’s Corolla. I keep trying to count down from ten, but I can’t focus well enough to get to zero.

By the time the others catch up with me, I’m standing in front of the passenger door to claim my seat. I can’t be stuffed into the back with Dom again.

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