Chapter 39
OCTOBER 14 – TUESDAY 11:45 AM
N ash
Fuming was not a strong enough word for the insanity taking over my mind.
Princess had slipped under my skin almost as soon as she arrived at Wayward. But having tasted her, knowing how she felt, and hearing the sweet sound of her screaming my name was agony.
She was a witch. That was the only explanation for the thrall she had over me. I’d joked about it with her and teased the guys about her pussy being magic, but…fuck my life. Now, I was the fucking addict, and I couldn’t stand it. Begging, in general, was not in my repertoire, and begging for sex was out of the question.
Ren was smiling and talking to Coach like they were old pals, and he hated everyone. While I should be focusing on my warm-up laps, getting used to this pool, and concentrating on the competition tomorrow, my mind replayed last night.
The reflection of Myles and Ren in the glass had given me a mirrored, ghostly view, but it was enough. I’d almost snatched her away from him when she moaned his fucking name and came on his fingers. I was dangerously close to killing my guys over her.
“Are you nervous about tomorrow,” Alicia asked. I blinked and looked down at her, confused.
We never spoke. In fact, the girls on the team avoided me, and with good reason. I’d fucked most of them at some point and left them just as fast. That was while Vicky and I were together and before Princess arrived and corrupted all of us with her…fucking niceness. Fuck her and her sweet personality, and sexy smirk, and feisty attitude, and that hot little body. Shit….
“You talking to me,” I asked, glaring at her.
She swallowed, and her eyes got rounder. “Um…yeah. I just thought I’d be friendly.”
“I’m not friendly.”
She looked around and licked her lips, and I knew what this was really about. She opened her mouth, but I held up my hand.
“Don’t bother.”
“But...you don’t….”
“I do, and I’m not interested in fucking you. Now, go away and leave me alone,” I growled.
“Wow, she really does have a leash on all your cocks.”
“What the fuck did you just say to me,” I yelled, and the entire pool turned.
I took a menacing step in her direction. The impulse to wrap my hands around her throat and hold her under the water coursed through my veins. The deadly rage simmering in my blood daily wasn’t being caged today.
Alicia backed up, terrified, and with good reason. We were off-property. For all she knew, I could snap her neck and leave her behind without a single consequence. That wasn’t entirely true. We were away with a school event. There would be consequences, but she didn’t need to know that.
“I asked you a fucking question. What the fuck did you just have the nerve to say to me?”
She backed up fast and fell into the pool with a splash as I loomed over her. Coach was on his way over, but he wasn’t stopping me from delivering a message.
Vicky, and her public displays of cuntiness, were rubbing off on everyone. The sheep had gotten way too fucking bold lately. I was squashing that right now.
Alicia surfaced, sputtering and eyes wide as I squatted at the edge of the pool.
“You ever speak to me like that again, and you’ll be taking your last breath. Don’t fuck with me. I know your family, and I know how precious your little brother is to you. But you and they mean nothing to me. I will wipe you all out and sleep soundly. Understand?”
“Nash,” Coach said from right behind me, but my eyes were locked on Alicia’s horrified face.
“Do you fucking understand, Alicia Sutton? Or do I need to get in the pool and help you?”
She shook her head aggressively. “I understand. I won’t say anything like that ever again.”
“Collier,” Coach said, more insistent this time.
Standing, I eyed our entire swim team in the pool. I wasn’t leaving until they had gotten the message.
“If any of you so much as breathes or looks in my direction in a way I don’t like, you will find out why I’m still the King of the school. Do I make myself clear?”
Some spoke, others nodded, but they all responded, girls and guys alike.
“Good.”
“Nash Collier.”
I spun on Coach, feeling absolutely feral, and he shuffled back. If he pushed me….
Ren touched Coach’s arm. “Can I talk to Nash for a minute?”
“Um….” Coach glanced at her and then up at me. My hands were balled into fists, and a part of me wanted him to get in my face. My jaw cracked as I ground my teeth.
“Please,” she said.
Coach hesitated, and I didn’t blame him. My guys inched closer, ready to defuse shit if I lost it completely. I glared at them, but unlike everyone else, they ignored me.
“Okay,” Coach said reluctantly and stepped out of the way.
Princess grabbed my hand, and I tried jerking away. She interlaced our fingers and hung on like a little koala as her nails dug into my hand. It was impossible to get free without hurting her, and fuck…that bite of pain redirected my rage to another part of my body.
Ren pointed at the guys as we walked past.
“Don’t follow us.”
Those assholes stopped right where they were. Princess was a fucking witch who had captured all my pieces. Before her, they would’ve flipped me off and followed anyway. What the hell had she done to us?
She practically dragged me to the far end of the change area before yanking open the storage room door.
“You sure you want to be in a small, lockable space with me right now,” I growled as she flicked on the light and locked us inside.
“You going to hurt me?”
“Define hurt, Princess.”
She set the clipboard she’d been carrying around down and glared at me.
“You know what I mean.”
“Honestly, I don’t. Everything I do ends up hurting you.” She rubbed her face. “You know it’s true.”
“What I know is that you’re out of control and ready to tear someone apart. What’s going on?”
“You know what’s going on,” I said, backing away before I hauled her into my arms. My hands tingled with the memory of her skin.
“Oh my god! Just give me a straight answer.”
Ren stepped into my personal space, and her addictive scent overpowered the strong citrus smell of the cleaners in the room.
Thud, thud, thud.
My heart pounded, and the sound echoed in my head.
“Fine. This is your fault. I’m like this because of you. You’re driving me fucking insane. Do you think I don’t know that you and Liam were fucking with me? You think I didn’t hear you and Myles right behind me last night?” I ran my hand through my hair. “You’re testing my fucking patience.”
“I don’t care what you know or what you heard. I’m with them, not you. What we do is not your concern,” she said.
“You’re mine,” I said as anger dripped from my tongue. I held out my arm, flashing my Princess tattoo. There was no logical reason for it, just an intense compulsion.
“You can tattoo my name all over your body, but it still doesn’t make me yours. That’s all in your head.”
“Fuck!”
She glared at me, her eyes cold as stone.
“You had me. I gave myself to you. Then you opened a trap door and tossed me away. You threw it all in my face. So don’t stand there acting like I’ve wronged you. I won’t curb how I am with my boyfriends because you can’t deal with the shit you brought on yourself. Either you’re with me and the rest of the guys, or you’re with her. Choose what you want, but stop taking your anger out on everyone around you. You’re better than that, Nash.”
My emotions were all over the place, and I couldn’t decipher any of them other than the white-hot anger burning me up.
“I can’t figure out how to get rid of you.”
“You’re already rid of me. You’re the one who keeps sneaking into my room, hunting me down in the gym and the art room. Or do you mean to kill me?”
“Yes.”
“You want to kill me?”
“Sometimes, it’s all I can think about, Princess. I have fantasies of my hand wrapped around your pretty little throat,” I growled, hoping she’d back the fuck up and lock me in here. I didn’t trust myself to be around anyone right now, and definitely not her.
But of course, Princess did the complete opposite. She grabbed my hand and clasped it around her neck.
“Then do it. You want me gone so badly, do it. You’ll find a reason and a way to kill me at some point. So get on with it. I refuse to hide from you like everyone else. I won’t cower in a corner like you’re hoping. So, kill me. Finish this now, and you’re free of whatever hold you think I have over you.”
Her skin was tantalizingly soft under my fingers as I tried to pull my hand away.
“Have you lost your mind?”
“No.” She pressed in closer, forcing me to step back until I was the one trapped against the wall.
“Back off, Princess.”
“Or what?”
It would be so easy. I’d killed much larger men, and they fought for their lives. Ren stood there watching me, and the thought of her death made me feel sick. Her pulse jumped under my fingers, and I tightened my grip. But her eyes…her beautiful, silver eyes held no fear.
“You’re crazy,” I said to her.
“Maybe.”
My lips crashed down on hers and I lifted her onto the washing machine in the corner.
“Fuck you, Princess. I hate you so much for doing this to me.”
“Good, I can’t stand to be in the same room as you,” she snapped back and wrapped her legs around my waist.
The kiss was a battle. We pawed at one another as our tongues fought for control. A second, a minute, twenty minutes, I had no idea how much time had passed when we finally broke apart, gasping for air.
“I haven’t touched her,” I blurted out. Ren cupped my face, and I closed my eyes. “I haven’t touched her since we broke up, at least not sexually. Threatening to kill her…well, that’s a different story.”
“Why are you doing this? Tell me why you’re marrying her?”
“I can’t. I can’t say anything, but I will soon. Please just…keep me from going crazy.”
“You want to have sex?”
“Well, I don’t want to grab cleaning supplies and start scrubbing. Yes…you said you were mine. So be with me.”
Princess gently pushed me back and hopped off the washing machine. She looked down at my bulging cock.
“That’s quite the issue you have there.”
“Funny.” I reached for her arm, and she stepped away.
“You want me? Break your engagement with Vicky, or tell me what the fuck is going on, Nash. I will not be played by you again. You have a World Cup qualifying race tomorrow. So pull your shit together and get back out to the pool.”
Ren unlocked the door but didn’t walk out. She stopped and turned to face me.
“Don’t fuck this up, Nash, you’re so close to your dream. Millions of swimmers will never get this close. Don’t toss it away over whatever the hell this is.”
The door closed, and I was alone. Stumbling back into the wall, I realized I was shivering.
She was right, but so was I. My body was eating me alive as my need for her clawed at my brain. Concentrating on anything else right now was impossible.
There was only one thing to do. I stomped out of the storage room and straight into a shower. The cold water rained down as I pulled my cock out. The frigid spray hit my back and helped cool my rage as I stroked myself into submission. Ren’s annoyingly sexy mouth and tongue starred in the fantasy running through my head. It didn’t take long before everything pulled tight, and I came in a mad rush, groaning.
“Fuuuuuuccccck.”
“Aren’t you a sorry sight,” Liam said from behind me.
Tucking my dick back into the jammer, I shut off the water and turned around to face him. Liam leaned against the tile with his arms crossed as he stared at me.
“Don’t start with me, Liam. I’m not in the mood.”
He shrugged. “I’m not starting anything. Your father called your phone. I answered and told him you were in the middle of a sprint. He wants you to call him back.”
“Fuck. What the hell does he want?”
“No idea. But he was pissed that I didn’t pull you out of the pool to talk to him.”
“Not surprised. My father hates that I won’t give it up. But it’s good that you refused,” I said. “I think he’s starting to see just how little control he has on us.”
“Agreed. I have to say that I genuinely thought you were going to fuck her in here. I’m glad I didn’t bet on it. I would’ve lost my shirt,” Liam said.
I growled. Swear words like honey were on the tip of my tongue. “Trust me, it wasn’t for a lack of trying.”
“You ever going to tell me what the fuck is going on?”
Staring into his eyes, I knew that Liam would force my hand one way or another.
“Give me until Halloween. I’ll tell you then.”
“Fine, Halloween it is.”
With my cock and Liam dealt with, I left the locker room. It was time to find out what the hell my father wanted, but I would’ve given anything to be locked in the storage room with Princess all over again.