Chapter 3
WARREN
Two chicks take their shirts off and streak through the crowded living room.
Tits and booze. That’s what the night can be summed up with.
Bringing the cup to my lips, I tip back the remaining beer inside of it and swallow it down.
It helps drown out my thoughts of her… Harper.
My forever, my forbidden, my fucking weakness.
Music blasts through the space, the smell of smoke, cheap beer, and expensive perfume permeate the air.
I squeeze the red solo cup in my hand, the plastic cracking against the pressure.
The place is brimming with people, and yet, I couldn’t feel anymore alone.
Parker, of course, didn’t come with me tonight, being pussy-whipped and all.
My eyes dance over the makeshift dance floor in the center of the room, each chick gyrating her hips a possible candidate for riding my dick. I could have any of them, but none of them are drawing me in.
Cameron and Easton, two of my best friends outside of Parker, flank me, one on each side, one with a chick of their choice plastered to their side.
“The pussy’s good for the taking tonight…
” Cameron snickers in my ear, a shit-eating grin on his face.
All I can do is shrug. Since discovering Harper is at Blackthorn, I’ve had a hard time looking at other chicks, almost like I’m not interested in anyone else but her.
Which is fucking stupid. Harper means nothing to me.
She’s worthless, dirt beneath my feet, she lost her worth the day I found out she betrayed me.
When I found out the kind of girl, she really was.
I should’ve known. I should’ve fucking known. My father had been warning me about girls like her my whole fucking life, reminding me of what happens when you fall for the wrong woman.
“Dude, the cup’s already crushed. You okay?” Easton asks, his hand in the pants of the chick that’s basically humping his leg.
“Fine, just need another beer.” Or five, or a million.
I walk away and into the kitchen, needing something stronger.
Surveying the bottles of liquor, I contemplate what to drink next.
I should just take the bottle of vodka and go outside.
Drown myself in the bottom of it. Briefly, I actually consider it, before pushing the thought away.
Getting blackout drunk isn’t what I need right now.
Instead, I make myself a Captain and Coke and head back out into the living room, ignoring all the other people in the room.
I wish I could shut them all up, block out all the noise.
It makes me sick to my stomach. Coming here was a bad idea.
I should have just stayed home. Ever since Parker decided to make things serious with Willow, it’s been hard for me to feel like myself.
It feels as though I’ve lost my partner in crime, and I guess in a way, I did.
I make it a total of maybe five feet before something creeps up my spine.
Call it a sixth sense, or a gut reaction, but I could feel her, feel something off in the air.
I know she is here. I turn my head, and my eyes find her immediately.
There she stands in the center of the room, surrounded by dozens of people, but she couldn’t stand out anymore if she tried.
For one second, I let myself enjoy the show. Enjoy the way she looks. Delicate, so fucking fragile, she’s like a twig, easily breakable.
She’s dancing in the middle of the room, her body moving to the music like a professional dancer. Her lips are tipped up at the sides, and even though her eyes are closed, I can tell she is happy, her head is tipped back as she becomes one with the music.
Her hips sway, and my eyes are drawn to that region.
Squeezing the plastic in my hands a little harder than I should, I can’t help but stare at her perfectly rounded ass.
Two perfect globes of flesh. I’m mesmerized by her, caught in her web.
The girls I’m used to starve themselves into a size zero until they’re left with no ass and no tits.
Harper is the opposite in every way and the perfect shape. Warm and soft, with gentle curves instead of bony hips. A tiny waist, but with nice heavy breasts, and an ass that is just begging to be grabbed and held on to while I fuck her from behind.
Fuck her? No, you fucking idiot. Keep your cock out of her.
Digging deep, I find the anger that I’ve let fester for years.
I shove the image before me away and chug down my drink in nothing more than a gulp.
I love the heat that coats my insides as the liquor slides down my throat before settling heavy in my stomach.
It makes me feel warm all over but doesn’t reach my frigid heart.
Nah, that’s impenetrable, coated in a thick layer of ice since the day she left.
Time to ruin someone’s night. Letting the mask of hate slip onto my face, I stomp across the wooden floor, each step heavy, and full of determination.
As I step closer, I realize that there is someone else with her.
Valerie, her out of control cousin. A wicked sneer appears on my lips without even trying.
Val sees me first, her eyes turning to the size of dinner plates.
Her happy demeanor slips off her face instantaneously.
That’s right, cower at my feet. She’s never liked me, not when we were kids, and obviously, that hasn’t changed, and I can guarantee that her feelings toward me are not going to get better any time soon. Especially not after tonight.
Valerie nudges Harper’s arm, forcing her to look in my direction, but by the time Harper does, I’m already in front of her.
“I didn’t give you permission to come to this party,” I leer because it’s the most dickish thing that pops into my mind at that second.
She cranes her head back and stares up at me for half a second, before puffing up her chest and placing one hand on her hip.
If I didn’t hate her so much, I would say the move was kind of cute.
“Good thing I don’t need your permission,” Harper sasses, her words slurring slightly. Whatever she had to drink must have given her some liquid courage.
“Talk to me like that again, and I’ll make sure your mouth is put to better use for the rest of the night,” I threaten, already imagining all the things I could do to her and her mouth.
“I don’t know what the hell your problem with me is, but I am done with it already. Go away!” Harper presses a finger to my chest, and a bolt of energy zings through me and straight to my cock. I guess it’s no longer a threat.
Reaching for her, I wrap my fingers around her slender wrist. She tries to pull away, but my hand resembles an iron shackle. One she won’t be breaking so easily. Her angry expression morphs into fear, and I can see her swallow thickly, her lips pressed together in a tight line.
“Let’s go,” I order, but don’t wait for her to move. Instead, I turn and start pulling her toward one of the bathrooms. She doesn’t even try to pull away again, just follows me like a lost puppy. I can’t help but wonder if she wants this. Did she provoke me on purpose?
Inside the room, I close the door behind us, turning the lock for good measure. The music is now muffled, but not drowned out by any means. I let go of her wrist, and she scurries back a little. I smirk. There is nowhere to run to now.
“I warned you, Harper. Warned you more than once.”
She looks up at me, her bottom lip slightly trembling, but her eyes filled with defiance and something else… excitement?
“You can’t do this.”
“Can’t do what?” I take a step toward her, and she takes a step back. I shake my head at her. “You can’t run from me. There is nowhere to go.”
She takes another step back, her thighs bump against the edge of the tub. Ensnared in my trap. She’ll be my next victim, willing or not.
“I’m not having sex with you in here.”
I cock my head to the side and examine her features, “Why? You want me to take you to a nice hotel? I think the bathroom is more fitting for your standards.” Anger returns to her face, and without warning, she slams both of her hands into my chest.
“You’re a fucking asshole. Let me out of here. I’m done playing your games.”
“You think this is a game?” I shove her arms away and grip her by the throat.
I don’t squeeze enough to make it hard for her to breathe, but the threat is there.
“I told you, I’ll put your mouth to better use, and I don’t make idle threats.
You’ll do what I say because I tell you to.
Because if you don’t, the consequences are going to be grave. ”
There’s a defiance in her, it’s like a flower growing through concrete, more determined than ever to live in an environment that it doesn’t belong in.
“I won’t break for you,” she croaks, and all I can do is smile.
“Break? No, baby, you won’t just break, you will fucking shatter.” Releasing her throat, I grab onto one of her shoulders and guide her to the floor, none to gently.
As soon as she reaches the floor, I pop the button on my jeans and slide them down enough free my cock.
At the sight of my fully erect length, her eyes bulge. I wonder if the guy who took her the first time was as big as me? Probably not.
“What happened to you?” Her voice is nothing more than a whisper, but her question sparks a raging forest fire of anger inside of me.
“What happened to me?” I mock. My fingers dig into her shoulders as I hold her in place. She winces, but I ignore her pain. Maybe that’s what she needs to feel the same pain I felt. To feel as used as I did that day when I found out the truth about her.
“Open your mouth,” I order, “and if you bite me… it will be the last thing you do with your mouth.” A low whimper is the only sound that she makes as I bring the mushroom head of my cock to her lips.
My heart stills in my chest, ceasing to exist for one second as I watch it slip into her warm mouth and past her beautiful full lips.