Chapter 12 #3
The car slows, and we turn onto a gravel road with a yellow sign that reads, “Dead End”.
I take a deep breath and try to think of my next move.
It would be smart of me to ask where we’re going or what he’s planning, but I seem to be frozen.
Shock maybe? From the way Hayden and Ryder speak, I have a big fat target on my back.
But why? Those men from the bar seemed so cold and full of malice, but that could have been my anxiety talking.
This is all probably a prank. I’m just waiting for him to yell, “Gotcha!”
“Hay-den?” My voice breaks, and I cough to clear my throat.
“Where are we going?” I ask, looking around at the dark, dead-end road surround us.
He cuts the engine and turns off the lights, leaving us in the kind of darkness that’s blinding.
My heart races and mind spirals at the feeling of being trapped in a horror movie.
“We’re just going to hide out here for a moment.
I sent a text to the boys, they’ll be here soon.
” The boys…Ryder. My heart stutters in my chest just thinking of him.
Seriously, what is wrong with me? The guy clearly doesn’t want me.
I need to get over myself, but most importantly, I need to get back home safe.
“So you’re not trying to kill me and dump me here?” A breathy, humorless laugh leaves my constricted throat.
“What? No. What the hell?” he shakes his head, brows pinched as he glares at me like I’ve grown five heads. “I’m trying to keep you safe. You have no idea what you’re up against.”
What am I up against? Hell, it’s not like anyone is just tossing that information out right now.
It’s all secret coded, half bullshit. Now, I have people following me that I’ve never met or seen, and still nobody will fucking tell me what’s going on.
“Well, I’d like to know!” I yell, and I instantly regret it.
It’s not really his fault. “Nobody will tell me what’s happening,” I say more softly, staring at my fidgeting fingers in my lap.
I shouldn’t have yelled at him. Now I feel like a giant ass.
He sighs heavily, “I’m sorry. I wish I could tell you what you want to know, but Ryder has to do that.” He reaches over, hooks his thumb under my chin, and tilts my head up, forcing me to look at him. “I need you to trust me.”
“Can we please just stop talking about Ryder?” My eyes begin to burn. “He doesn’t give a shit, and stop pretending he does. He’s so confusing and might be the biggest asshole I’ve ever met.” Anger replaces the unease, and I feel it burning my skin, like an inferno.
He cups my cheek, brushing his thumb against my burning skin. “What do you need me to do, sweetheart?”
“I need you to make me forget about him.” Tears prick my eyes, threatening to spill. “I don’t want to want him anymore.” I finish on a whisper, as the first tear slides down my cheek, feeling cold against my too-hot skin.
Hayden leans over the console, unbuckles my seatbelt, and brushes a loose strand of hair behind my ear.
“I can do that.” He says. “Come here.” He taps his jean-clad thighs.
“Oh. I…” Before I can finish that sentence, he grips my waist and pulls me to straddle his hips as if I’m a feather and nothing more. I squeak out at the sudden movement. My head spins as the blood rushes in my ears. My heart pounds so loudly, I just know he can hear it too.
“Yes, you can.” He winks as if knowing what I was thinking.
He wipes the forgotten tear from my cheek with his thumb, then threads his fingers through my hair at the base of my neck, gently tilting my head back.
He trails kisses down my neck to my collarbone, drawing a sharp breath from my parted lips. My skin is way too hot.
“Is this making you forget, Kelsey?” His voice is raspy.
“Yes,” I answer, breathlessly.
His fingers trace up the length of my thighs to the curve of my ass, pushing my skirt up at the same time.
His gentle touch leaves a trail of goosebumps in his wake.
The sudden realization dawns on me of what we’re about to do…
again, and I feel the panic begin to take over.
Taking a deep breath, I shift on his lap, ready to jump back into my seat, but his hands on my hips tighten, keeping me in place.
“No.” His single word command has me swallowing thickly, struggling to rid myself of the anxious knot that’s formed there.
I want to do this, but the guilt of feeling like I’m using him takes over.
I don’t want to hurt Hayden, but at the same time, he said he doesn’t do relationships.
He likes to have whoever, whenever he wants, so would it actually be wrong?
If we both want this. Words of protest catch in my throat, but they’re forgotten when I look back up into those heavy, glossy blue eyes.
“What if this is a…” Mistake. His lips are on mine in the next breath before I can get the word out.
It’s not like we haven’t already crossed this line once before.
My hands fist the front of his shirt, pulling him closer.
His tongue parts my lips, and I get lost in the taste of him—the remaining essence of beer and mint from his gum earlier.
I break the kiss only for a moment to find the hem of my shirt and pull it over my head, tossing it to the floorboard.
My fingers fumble with his waistband, trying to find the button and zipper.
Once I find it, I free his hard cock while he continues kissing my neck and caressing my breasts.
I lean in, my body molding to his. Heat seeps through bare skin, and only then do I realize—his shirt is gone. I don’t remember him taking it off. I must have been too lost in him to notice.
Through my lashes, I let my gaze wander.
Moonlight spills through the window, tracing silver lines over sculpted muscle and inked skin—tattoos winding from his throat down the hard planes of his abdomen.
Every inch of him is dangerously beautiful.
My fingers itch to follow the lines, to memorize the ridges and shadows, but my eyes climb higher instead.
They climb until I’m caught in that piercing blue stare, and suddenly, I feel far too exposed.
He grips my ass and lifts me effortlessly. For a second, I think he’s putting me back in my seat, but he only situates me further back to give himself better access to himself. I watch, mesmerized, as his hand wraps around his silky smooth shaft and strokes himself slowly. Deliberately.
Heat coils low in my stomach as I watch him.
I can’t look away. Biting my bottom lip, my mouth waters as I ache for a taste of him.
The need builds until I can’t sit still, wiggling on his lap as I become impatient.
Rising onto my knees, I move closer, positioning myself over his thick head.
He groans, and the sound vibrates my hand that rests on his chest. The tip of his cock presses against my entrance, but I don’t fully sit.
Instead, I grind against him, feeling as his bulbous head rubs my clit.
Moaning softly, he doesn’t let me play much longer.
He grabs my hips and shoves me down. I scream out at the overwhelming fullness. The burn. It hurts so good.
“That’s it, baby.” His praise does something to me; it makes me want to please him more just to hear him say it over and over again. His thrusts quicken, and I rock my hips to match his pace, making him go deeper. Groaning deeper when he hits that sweet spot that has me seeing stars.
“Damn, baby.” He growls. His hand leaves my hip to rub circles on my clit. The motion has my breath quickening and pushes me closer to the edge.
A sudden flash of light washes over the car, and my heart stutters in my chest, but I’m too far gone.
Too close to the edge to care. Hayden’s hand tightens on my hip, his circling speeds up as he drives into me one final time.
A low, broken grunt tears from his throat, and the sensation snaps inside of me.
Like a rubber band that reached its limits.
Pleasure crashes over us in the same breath.
My cries fill the moonlit cab as my pussy clenches around him/ The world around us dissolves into an all-consuming white heat.
For a moment, nothing exists except the pulsing of his cock inside of me.
I try to catch my breath, my body slumps against his as I recover from my post-orgasm high, “Hayden?”
“Yeah?”
“What was that light?” My eyes squint as I peer out the window at the dark, empty woods. I see nothing but darkness and silhouettes of trees highlighted by moonlight.
Hayden goes rigid beneath me. “What light?”
My brows knit together. Had I imagined it? I’ve heard orgasms can do strange things to the body, so maybe I hallucinated it, but this felt too…real.
I shake my head. “It was like headlights shining through at us, but as quickly as it came, it was gone.”
My gaze sweeps the dark forest around us, “But I don’t see anything…
” Unease prickles up my spine, raising the fine hairs on my neck.
I reach for my shirt in the passenger seat, suddenly aware of how exposed I am.
My fingers barely brush the fabric when a deafening crack explodes against the driver’s side window.
Glass shatters around us all at once.
I duck down, arms flying over my head as shards rain down. An ear-piercing scream tears from my throat—at least I think it does. I can’t hear anything except the violent crash of shattering windows and the pounding of my racing heart in my ears.
Hayden leans over me, one arm braced on the wheel as he turns the key in the ignition. The engine roars to life, and gravel flies as he guns it down the dirt road.
“Fuck!” He screams, slamming his fists into the wheel.
I flinch at his outburst. He’s pissed.
Getting to my shaky knees, and climb over to the passenger seat. Glass crunches beneath my heels, and I kick what I can of it into the floorboard before sitting. I force myself to breathe as the world around me becomes nothing but a blur. Inhale. Hold. Exhale. I repeat until my heart slows.
My senses return, and that’s when I feel it. The sticky warmth that runs down my skin. There’s so much of it I can’t tell where it begins or ends. My fingers tremble as they brush against it. I hold my wet fingers under the moonlight, and the silver glow shines over the darkness coating them.
Blood.
“Kelsey, are you okay?” His voice cuts through the ringing in my ears.
I can’t move. I can’t speak. My mouth opens and closes, but nothing comes out.
“Kelsey, look at me.”
I do as he says, slowly turning my head to face him.
“You’re ok, baby. You’re safe.” He says, but my body—my mind—tells me otherwise.
I’m shaking uncontrollably. I’ve been in dangerous situations before, but never like this.
Whoever this is wants me dead. I have no choice but to trust Hayden in this moment.
If I want to get home, I have to do what he says.
“Who w-was that?” My voice shakes as my teeth clatter. I glance around the Ferrari to find that every window is busted out. If they wanted to kill us, they would have while they had the advantage. This was meant as a warning.
“I don’t know.” He’s lying. “I made a mistake bringing you here. We’re going to Ryder’s.”
No. The word is on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t seem to say it. If these guys found us here, then they would find me at home, too. I know I can’t risk that, but I still say, “I want to go home. I need to go home.” Ryder’s is probably the safest, but it’s the last place I want to be.
“You don’t understand, Kelsey.” I watch his throat bob as he works on a swallow. “You can’t go home.”
“But…”
Hayden cups both of my cheeks, forcing me to hold his gaze.
“They will kill your parents, and then…” He sighs, shaking his head.
“You’d be begging them to kill you, Kels.
The things they would do…” His eyes squeeze shut, almost as if it pains him to say this, “There are worse things in life than death.”
The tears come fast, and I don’t fight them. His thumb swipes across my cheek, then his lips press against my forehead. When he pulls away to grip the wheel, I shiver at the loss of his warmth, and my body begins to tremble again.