Page 11 of Careless

His expression immediately changes. I know exactly how to get under his skin. He hates when I refer to myself as fat. He always has. I know I’m not what most people would call fat. I got lucky. Also my weight is distributed evenly through my body. I may weigh more than is considered typical, but I don’t look it.

At worst, I’m mid-sized, but even that doesn’t fit societal norms.

His eyes darken with disgust. “You’re not fat, Sorcha.”

Maybe it makes me a bitch, but it makes me feel better pissing him off. Maybe it’s because I want him to care and can’t stand that he acts like he doesn’t.

“Is that why I’m a senior in high school and have never had a boyfriend?”

The asshole laughs so hard. The coffee in the cup he’s holding between his knees is precariously close to splashing over the rim. “You’ve been blacklisted, kid!” He’s barely able to choke out the words. “Guys aren’t allowed to look at you.”

Blacklisted? No guy is allowed to touch me, right?Goddamn it, Finn.

“My brother needs to mind his own business.”

Rian’s laughter slowly fades as he composes himself. When he’s finished, he levels me with his icy gaze. “You think it was Finn who blacklisted you?” It’s more of an observation than a question.

“Who else would it be?”

He studies me for a brief moment, tilts his head in contemplation. Then, as if coming to a decision, he answers me, “It was me. I told everyone to keep their god damn hands off of you.”

I think I’m in shock. That’s the only explanation for what I thought I heard. My entire torso tingles as my fingers tremble at the possibility. WasRian the one who blacklisted me? Why?He always acts as if he can’t stand me. He had to do it as a joke. A cruel joke.

Anger fills me.This fucking bastard. How dare he pull this shit?

I jump out of bed, ignoring the throbbing in my head and my half dressed state. “How dare you, you fucking asshole!” I sneer as I stride toward him. Rage is flowing through my veins and I need to release some of it. That’s when my eye catches on the mug of coffee in his hands and I strike out, flinging it across the room. The brown liquid splashes against the wall and floor and the ceramic cup clatters to the ground. “Why would you do that? You fuck anything that walks and expect me to be in a state of forced celibacy!” I’m practically yelling from my loss of control. My chest is heaving with fury as he slowly stands. He towers over me, but I’m not scared of him. Everyone else in this town might be, but I know him. Under all the muscles, tattoos, and nearly permanent scowl, Rian Walsh is a little boy who craves affection and denies himself out of fear. And this mother fucker prevents me from having any kind of romantic relationship. Why? It makes no sense.

Unless…

I square my shoulders, throw my head back to meet his stony stare and whisper my next words as if they were a dare. “If you wanted to fuck me that bad, Rian, you could’ve just said so.”

Something that sounds suspiciously like a gasp escapes Rian’s lips and his eyes go wide.

Then, there’s no noise at all. Even the high pitch buzz that usually fills the soundless void has forsaken this moment. Our chests heave in simpatico. Mine because of my rage. His? What does he have to be so angry about?

“What. Did. You. Say?” he asks evenly, making each word its own sentence.

What the fuck is his problem?

“I said,” my temper boiling over past the point of no return. I want to burn him with my words, with my presence. So, I step closer, leaving only a sliver of separation. “If you wanted to fuck me Rian, you couldv’e just said so.”

The change is instant and undeniable. There was no refuting that I crossed a line and there’s no going back. Eyes that usually shuffled from sky to ocean are now an unidentifiable hue of black. I’m so preoccupied with the color change that I almost miss his hand as it darts to my neck. The pressure of his fingers wrapping around my throat is hot and possessive.

Desire, I realize, is the name of the color his eyes have turned.

I only have a moment to digest this new situation before he turns us and my back hits hard against the wall. He bends to my level, so close I can taste the coffee on his breath. I bite my bottom lip to hold back the soft moan I don’t want to grant him. In response, his hips press against mine, his hard cock stabbing me through his zipper.

Oh, fuck.

“You listen to me, baby,” he growls as his fingers tighten around my throat. He tilts his head forward, then runs his tongue along the shell of my ear. “If I didn’t tell those assholes at our school to leave you the fuck alone, they’d be pawing at you any chance they got. You’re seriously blind if you don’t see how damn sexy you are.” He buries the hand that isn’t around my neck into my hair, yanking my neck back at a painful angle. I grapple at his wrists, not quite sure if I want him to remove his hands, or to anchor them to me. “And if one of them laid a finger on you, I’d have to kill them.”

I finally let that moan escape from me. Obviously he was lying about killing someone, but there’s something about the way he said it that made it believable. My head swims with need as his fingers trail down my body, lighting my skin on fire. I was surprised that I could still formulate a sentence.

“But, Rian. Why?”

With a smile he must have stolen from the devil, he speaks the words I never knew I wanted him to reveal. “Why? I didn’t make it obvious before, but I think it’s time I do now. You’re mine and nobody fucks my girl but me. When you’re ready, I’ll ruin you with my cock. But, that’ll be okay because my cock is the only one you’ll ever get.”

My head falls back against the wall as his hand sneaks into his boxers I’m wearing and cups my panty-covered cunt in his hand.

---