Rival Rematch (Rival Roommate #2)

Chapter One - 1. The Fallout

CHAPTER ONE

The Fallout

There was something warm and solid behind me. A hand on my waist. Legs tangled with mine. Something soft brushing the nape of my neck, right on my spine. It happened again, making me shiver. It was a kiss. I was being kissed.

My eyes snapped open, because this was real, not a wet dream, and there was something long and heavy resting against the cleft of my ass —

I whirled around so fast I got vertigo and elbowed the intruder right in the face.

Taylor covered his nose with a hand. “What the fuck, Archie?”

I winced. His voice was too loud, too early. It took me a moment to place us. We were in my bedroom, yellow morning light slipping in between the cracks of my curtains. There were red crescent moon indents on Taylor’s arms.

“What — what are you — ” I couldn’t make words come out properly as I scrambled into a sitting position, pulling the covers with me, leaving Taylor utterly naked, his morning wood rapidly wilting.

I stared. “What the fuck?”

Then I looked down at myself. My naked self. There were various pink marks around my nipples.

“What the fuck?” I repeated, a whisper this time.

Taylor sat up, tipping his face back, fingers pinching his nose.

“Tissue,” he said.

“Huh?”

He wasn’t looking at me. “Tissue,” he snapped.

I turned to my bedside table, where I had a tissue box, and my gaze fell on the collar.

Last night’s memories flooded over me like a tidal wave.

Kneeling on the floor. Lying on the bed.

Taylor’s fingers inside me. Him, fucking me, my legs spread.

There’d been nowhere to hide. We’d looked at each other as he thrust into me.

My stomach clenched, and I couldn’t tell whether it was from nausea or the memory of Taylor King giving me the best orgasm I’d had in my entire life.

I didn’t know it was possible to feel like that.

It hadn’t even just been physical — although the feeling of him inside me had been incredible, the fullness, the relentless pressure over and over…

No, it had been more than that. Maybe it was the way he looked at me.

It had been…spiritual, almost.

And now I was talking nonsense.

I picked up the tissue box and shoved it in Taylor’s direction, not quite ready to look at him in the eye.

“Fucking hell,” he muttered, grabbing a handful of tissues. “First thing in the morning, and —”

“What are you doing in my bed anyway?” I asked, trying to distract both of us from the fact that elbowing him in the face had been a teensy tiny bit over the top.

“Sleeping. Obviously.” His voice was rough and deep.

“You were awake.”

“Hm?”

“You were awake,” I repeated, looking up to meet his eyes. The rest of my sentence died as I took in the glossy red everywhere. “What the hell? Is that blood?”

“Obviously,” he drawled.

Momentarily forgetting about our nakedness, I leaned over, gathering a bunch of tissues and pressing it against his nostrils. “Tip your head forward,” I said, adjusting his chin. “Otherwise it’ll go down your throat and that’s gross.”

“I don’t need your help,” Taylor said, but he didn’t shove me away. Now that I was looking at him properly, I could see that the hair on one side of his head was all flat and crinkled. It was reassuring, somehow, to see he woke up with bed hair. It made him seem more human.

“You were awake,” I murmured, for the third time.

His dark eyes met mine.

“I felt you kissing my neck.”

He didn’t say anything for a long time. “I think you’re imagining things.”

I threw my hands up in the air, but quickly returned to pressing tissues against Taylor’s nose. The bleeding was slowing. “Are you seriously trying to gaslight me right now? I felt it.”

He closed his eyes.

“It’s not a big deal. We agreed you’d have me for the whole night, anyway. Until sunrise —” I cut myself off, turning to look at my window. With my free hand, I shoved the curtains aside, and shrunk back from the sunlight pouring in.

Taylor still had his eyes closed. A muscle ticked in his jaw, once. Then: “I wasn’t kissing your neck.”

“Why are you denying it? We literally fucked last night —”

“We didn’t fuck,” Taylor interrupted, eyes flashing open, “I fucked you and you took it like a little bitch — OW!” he shouted. “Did you just pinch me?”

“My fingers must’ve slipped.” I forced myself to loosen my grip on his nose, gratified to see a fresh rush of blood.

That made me sick, didn’t it? Enjoying the sight of bright red blood gushing down his philtrum and gathering on the cupid’s bow of his lips. Whatever. He deserved it. Talking about last night like that…

What had he said, just before I’d fallen asleep? I hadn’t thought much of it at the time, only half conscious, but now it made me frown. The words he’d said, paired with his hands on me this morning, the soft brush of his lips against my neck…

“Taylor.”

He ignored me, pressing a fresh handful of tissues against his face.

“Taylor,” I repeated.

He glared at me. “What?”

“Do you…” I cleared my throat. “Do…do you…um…”

“Spit it out,” he snapped. “Or did you suck my cock so hard last night that your mouth doesn’t work anymore?”

I considered elbowing him in the face a second time. “Last night you said that you didn’t hate me.”

He raised a single brow.

“You said…you said that I was yours.”

Because you’re mine, he’d told me, his arms around me.

“Do you…” I sucked in a deep breath, half afraid to say it because it was so outlandish. But what else was I supposed to ask? “Do you like me or something?”

I wasn’t sure what I was expecting. I didn’t even know what I wanted to happen. It wouldn’t have surprised me if Taylor told me to fuck off or tried to punch me or walked out.

Instead he blinked once, slowly, like a prey animal. His lips spread slowly into a mocking smile. “Are you asking me if I have a crush on you, Archie?” His voice was sugar sweet.

I tried not to flinch. I failed. “I — I just —”

He laughed. “Fuck, you really were a virgin, weren’t you?”

It was like I’d been stabbed in the gut. Why had I told him I was a virgin? He hadn’t been cruel at the time, but I should’ve known it would come back to bite me.

“Do you think that just because someone fucks you, they’re secretly in love with you?

” he asked. “Did you think last night was romantic? Did you think it was romantic when I made you my slave? When I made you wear that collar? When I told you to get on your knees?” He curled his lips, the same lips that had kissed me so passionately last night.

“Did you think it was romantic because I looked you in the eyes?”

I felt my face flame, my cheeks probably as red as the blood smeared on his face.

“Do you think, because I used your body to get off, I’ve got, what, feelings for you?” He scoffed. “How naive can you get?”

This wasn’t fair. I’d only asked a question and now he was demeaning me. Calling me stupid. And maybe I was stupid, because why had I even let my guard down for a second?

I looked down at the bed covers covering my body and sucked in a deep breath to compose myself. “Alright,” I murmured. I looked at the boy who’d taken my virginity. “Can you go now?”

He didn’t react.

“Go now, please.”

Slowly, his mouth edged into a frown.

“Leave my bedroom now,” I repeated, enunciating the words clearly, so there’d be no question of understanding me. “You got what you wanted. Now go.”

His expression changed. “Archie —”

I lost my patience. “Go,” I snapped, standing up, keeping the covers tight around me. I’d never let him see my naked body again. I grabbed a towel. I needed to get out of here. “And don’t drip blood on the floor on your way out.”

I walked out and locked myself in the bathroom. Only once I was in the shower did I sag, resting my forehead against the cool tiles as scalding hot water pounded against my back. It was strange how a single conversation could make me feel so sick.

I tried to pinpoint the reason why. Was I disappointed? No. I didn’t want Taylor to like me. In fact, I pitied the poor person who Taylor would fall in love with — if he’d ever fall in love. He was probably a sociopath who didn’t care about anyone.

No, the tightness in my belly was because of that familiar mix of shame and humiliation and inadequacy. Taylor had bested me, again. He’d tricked me, and I’d been stupid and desperate enough to fall for it.

It had been enchanting for a moment, to be desired, and not just by anyone, but Taylor King, who had everything, who was always above it all.

I shook away the memory of his glazed eyes and flushed cheeks, and scrubbed my skin hard with soap, washing away all the caresses and kisses of the night before.