Chapter 5
OLI
My body tingled from head to toe, and I wanted to die. Or kill that asshole. Ren. It was still a stupid name.
Sucking in a deep breath, I pushed the needle on the speedometer closer to fifty, well past the limit on the bridge to Vert Island, the fancy rich neighborhood Barber had lucked into living in with Quain, his boyfriend.
It made sense that KC lived here, though.
He deserved all the good things in the world.
The idea of turning him into a bet made me physically ill. That’s how I knew Ren was a bad person. If he cared about KC at all—I could understand falling for him at first sight, honestly—he wouldn’t have made him part of the bullshit between us. How had things gotten so unhinged so fast?
The sensation of being out of control hammered at me. My stomach clenched and I pulled over as soon as I was across the bridge, rubbing my gut. The sinking sun was cutting into my eyes and I blinked against the long rays.
Guilt swamped me, and I rested my forehead on the steering wheel while I shivered.
How did I get hard for that awful man? Why did my body betray me? Sure, tattoos were sexy, but being a big fucking dickhead wasn’t charming. It made sense for me to jerk off at night to KC. He was tall and beautiful and always had a friendly smile. But Ren?
Admittedly, I’d never gotten laid. It was possible I could’ve met someone, but I was so hung up on KC. Perhaps that was why it had felt so good when Ren had put pressure on my cock with the firm muscles of his ass?
Was it possible I’d been hard from thinking about KC? That jerk had brought him up. My face burned.
“Stop thinking about it. Stop. Thinking.” My face was hot enough to melt. Ren’s tattooed biceps had bulged as he’d held me still underneath his body. His thighs strained. And I’d had an up-front view of a semi in his pants. It might’ve been from talking about KC, right? I guess we both liked him.
Part of me had wanted Ren to keep going. Grind on my cock. It wouldn’t have taken much for me to bust in my boxers.
And the feeling of being at his mercy? My veins superheated and steel snuck into my shaft. My cock set a record for how fast it got hard and my toes curled.
I tried to force myself to imagine KC doing the same thing—muscling me into a position he wanted—but all I got in my brain was static. KC wouldn’t do anything like that. He was sweet and kind. I couldn’t imagine him doing anything mean during sex. Not like Ren, who would take whatever he wanted.
Take, take, take.
And the brand of Ren’s fingers around my wrists had lit me up like I’d stuck my tongue to a light socket.
Fuck, that hadn’t been about KC.
My hand abandoned the steering wheel and slid down to my crotch as my traitorous cock jerked in my jeans, straining against the fabric. Restrained. Needy. Like I’d been. I rubbed along my swelling shaft with my thumb, then gasped as I remembered Ren’s hazel eyes glaring down at me.
That had been the first time I was underneath a man, and fuck, I’d loved it.
“Oh no,” I whined, but I couldn’t quite stop myself from imagining every detail of what had happened earlier.
I’d been loyal to KC in my head for years, never straying, never losing sight of the man I wanted to be with.
But today . . . on the filthy ground . .
. I was so fucking hard. I squeezed my eyes shut, the memory of Ren’s warm wet tongue on my cheek crackling through me.
My cockhead pulsed and I couldn’t catch my breath.
“Damn it.” I pressed my palm against my dick, teasing myself with the harsh pressure, almost as rough as Ren’s ass had been against my trapped shaft. There was no stopping the way my hips rolled as I thrust against my hand until I was panting.
“Need to stop,” I muttered feverishly, but instead, I ran the heel of my palm over my cockhead, trapping it, then circling.
Ren’s awful, superior, infuriating grin paraded through my mind.
The satisfied expression when he’d tasted my salty tears.
The way he’d tightened his fingers on me.
I cracked my eyes open and spotted the faint shadow of a bruise on my wrist.
He’d marked me. Fuck, he’d left something behind on my body.
“Yes,” I cried out, then tensed, whimpering as my balls emptied a hot load of sticky cum into my boxers.
My thighs quivered as my muscles loosened up after the earthquake was over.
I shivered and glanced down. A few wet spots had seeped through the dark jeans, but they weren’t easy to notice.
At least, they wouldn’t be unless someone was staring at my dick.
Perhaps Ren would notice if he were here.
My stomach churned as I came down from the heaven I’d been floating in for a few minutes—or perhaps I’d resurfaced from hell. That seemed more likely. What the fuck had I been thinking? I bit the tip of my tongue and moaned.
KC had been all I’d thought about while touching my dick for the last couple of years. Why someone else now? Why this weirdness with being restrained? And why with the asshole who was going to try to ruin my life and steal KC?
Gasping, I sat up and scrubbed my face with both hands. It didn’t matter that I was being ridiculous and KC had no idea he was being stolen, I still had to do something to stop it from happening.
“What am I doing?” I mumbled, then ran my hands through my curls. “What the fuck is wrong with me?”
Tap, tap.
“Shit!” I slammed my elbow against the door. “Ouch!” My soul left my body before crashing back in and making me queasy when I glanced to my left and spotted KC out the window.
Was he a hallucination caused by my guilt? No, the confused frown on his face was nothing like the expressions I usually conjured up when I was coming down from the high of my one-handed mambo.
Fumbling, I put down the window. “What are you doing here?” I blurted, then slapped a hand to my cheek. Idiot. I am a complete moron.
KC chuckled, a warm sound that soothed my soul like nothing else.
A couple of small lines crinkled near his eyes, nothing big, but they made him even sexier than usual.
“Coach canceled practice because too many people are down with the flu. He told everyone who wasn’t sick to run six miles.
” He tugged at a strap on his gray tank top with his thumb, and my brain short-circuited as I finally noticed all of him.
The thin fabric was plastered to his sculpted pecs and abs with sweat.
His nipples were hard pebbles sticking out, begging me to touch them.
Bite them. Tug the shirt aside and suck them.
And hell, I could count the ridges on his abdomen.
“Uh . . . .”
He hunkered down next to the Subaru, which brought that sexy cologne with just a hint of sweat smell into the cab.
I gripped the steering wheel like a lifeline.
His eyes were blue, which I’d known, but I’d never been this close.
There were tiny flecks of amber scattered in the irises.
How was it possible for him to be even fucking hotter than I’d already realized?
“There are freckles on your shoulders.” I was going to sew my lips shut. How did that escape? Why? Come on, brain.
His eyebrows shot up and he snorted in amusement.
My face made an attempt at bursting into flames.
“It happens when I get some sun. At least I didn’t burn.” Absently, he ran a hand across a few of his freckles. I wished I could do the same thing.
“Uh huh.” I hate myself. Speak actual words. “They’re nice.” Wrong words.
He opened his mouth, then seemed to change his mind and grinned. “Were you going to see Barber? He wasn’t home yet when I left for my run, but he might be by now.” The smile that could make anyone swoon was back in full force.
“No, I was on my way to see you.”
“Really?” His eyes gleamed with curiosity as he tilted his head. “How come?”
The word vomit was on the tip of my tongue when I choked on it. If I told him about Ren being a terrible jerk, he would want to know what had happened. And how I knew about him. Anyone would, right?
He’d want to know how I’d met him.
How would I explain any of that? Plus, I wasn’t exactly innocent in this situation. What if I told KC what Ren had done, but Ren told KC what I had done? The bet I’d made? What if Ren convinced KC I was the bad guy?
My heart pounded so hard I could almost taste it.
“Ummm. My car! It—There was this sound? And a clunk? And a shimmy. You work on cars, right?” I said in a rush, wishing I could find a nice ditch alongside the road and die in it. Why hadn’t I thought out any of this stupid shit before I raced here to see KC?
I had no idea what I’d thought I was going to do, but this wasn’t it.
“A shimmy?” He frowned at my car like it had sworn at him.
“That could be a lot of things and none of them are good or safe. Why don’t we take your car to my house?
I’ll drive you home, and if I can’t sweet talk the car to the garage where I work, I’ll get the guys to tow it there for free. Save you some cash.”
His smile really was something when he was flashing it, and I honestly wanted to melt into a happy puddle.
“Uh, uh huh. Okay.” I massaged the back of my neck.
“Let me drive?” He raised one of those solid shoulders. Fuck, perhaps if I did swoon, he’d let me rest my head on it.
“Sure.”
He stood and opened the car door for me, and I stumbled around to the other side.
My face became a guilty sun as the drying cum in my boxers tugged on my pubic hair.
Yet, gross as it was, there was something sexy about being near him after I’d come, the evidence still plastered to my body.
I squirmed in the passenger side of my own car like some sort of criminal.
KC laughed as he adjusted the seat before he could even sit down. “You’re a little shorter than me.”
“I don’t mind. I mean, yeah.” I don’t mind? He’s going to think I have the IQ of a turnip.
He laughed and his eyebrows flew up as he got settled and buckled. “Okay, let’s see what she does for me.” His big hands were confident as he maneuvered the wheel.
Sweat broke out on my body. Perhaps I could imagine him holding me down.
I draped my hands over my lap. For the love of fuck, I had to stop thinking thoughts.
KC drove carefully toward his house, and I bit the inside of my cheek as my Subaru proceeded to function perfectly.
She could’ve at least been on my side and given up a sputter or two, but since I didn’t actually have the cash to fix a major problem, it was probably for the best that she made me look like a liar. I was one, after all.
“I can’t believe it didn’t do anything!” My nervous laughter had me wincing internally as he pulled my car into his driveway.
“It could be a speed thing. It’s okay. I’ll take it out and put it through its paces. Me and Scar will figure it out.” He rested a hand on my shoulder and gave it a friendly squeeze that had heat rushing to the tips of my ears and left me tongue-tied.
“Mm. Uh, th-thanks.”
“Sure! Let me grab my keys, and I’ll give you a ride home.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that.” I flailed in his direction, and he caught my hand. I almost swallowed my tongue when he rubbed his thumb along my knuckles, obviously trying to calm me down.
“It’s no problem. Really.” With a last, comforting grin, he hopped out of my car and left me staring at his perfect ass bouncing in his shiny blue running shorts.
My dick twitched, and I winced at the sensation of flaking cum in my boxers. I wasn’t sure when or how, but I was going to fucking murder Ren.
Slowly.
Excruciatingly.
Groaning, I got out of my car. At the last second, I grabbed my sketchbook from the back seat. I couldn’t leave that behind, especially since I needed to practice as much as possible. But I had to get home and take a shower first.