23. Wren
WREN
“Is he going to come to every shift?” Ally, one of the new waitresses, stands with her elbows over the bar top.
I follow her line of sight, though I don’t need to. I know who she’s referring to.
Stone.
Only, tonight, it’s all of my housemates. Even Evan is in on it.
It’s like a sick joke they all have—watching my every move, following me around campus, forcing me to go to their stupid practices.
I try to act irritated by it, especially when Stone tries to grab my hand or tugs me close while walking me to my car after each of my classes, but the truth is, I like it.
Kind of.
My stomach flips, and something in my chest bubbles. The heat on my cheeks has nothing to do with the temperature, and I know he notices the way I blush every time he glances at my mouth.
“Hey, refill over here!”
And the blush turns to anger, just like that.
I snap my head in their direction and glare.
Ally slaps her hand over her mouth and mumbles, “Oh, I’ve gotta see this.”
I grab the pitcher of beer and slowly approach their booth. “Excuse me?” I say as sweet as possible. “What was that?”
Stone leans back and rests his arms over the cracked leather. His gaze slips down to my mouth, but it doesn’t matter because my face is already pinched with annoyance. “Were you talking about me over there?”
Ally snorts quietly, but I still hear it.
“Why would we waste our time talking about you?” I smile mischievously. “And if you guys would like a refill, I expect you to use your manners.”
I glance at Evan. “I know for a fact that your mama taught you right.”
He chuckles. “May I please have a refill, Your Highness?”
I roll my eyes playfully. “You may.” I reach forward past Stone and start filling up Evan’s cup.
Goosebumps race to my arm when Stone’s hot breath whooshes against my skin.
It pokes a nerve right between my legs, and I slowly move my arm to the right, missing Evan’s cup on purpose.
Beer falls to Stone’s lap, making it look like he’s pissed himself.
“Fuck, Wren.” His large hand envelops my wrist, pushing it away.
A soft laugh flies from me. Ally stifles a gasp and slaps a hand over her mouth, while my housemates snicker.
“You think you’re funny, do you?” Stone raises an eyebrow, and he’s so hot my mouth waters. His arrogance used to make me see red, but now, tingles race to my fingers in anticipation of what he’ll do to retaliate.
“I am funny,” I counter.
I spin on my heel, and Ally follows. She doesn’t bust out laughing until we are safely tucked behind the bar.
“That was fucking gold.” She’s practically jumping with joy. All bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. “Stone is one of the most popular guys on campus, and no one has attempted to put him in his place. Most of the girls on campus are too nervous to even glance at him. But not you . ”
“That’s because he doesn’t scare me.” I have other scary people to deal with.
“Orrrrrr,” she uses a sing-song voice. “Is it because you two are sleeping together?”
I freeze. “Who said that?”
“Your blushing cheeks any time he is around.” She pauses. “Or the way he watches you like he’s afraid you’re going to slip through his fingers. Or maybe the fact that he comes to every single shift of yours and walks with you around campus. Or—”
“Okay, okay!” I grab a rag and wipe the bar top to give myself something to do. “I get it! Are you following me around too?”
“No. Which is even worse because I still noticed.”
I suck in my lip and glance at their table. Everyone is preoccupied, laughing and chatting, except Stone. He’s staring directly at me like he can read my lips and knows what our conversation is about.
I look at Ally and drag my attention away from him. It feels wrong to do so, but I don’t know why. It just does . “Do you want to go to the game with me tomorrow?”
Her eyebrows rise. “The hockey game?”
I nod, bundling up the damp rag in my hand. I haven’t been to a single hockey game this season—or any of the seasons prior, for that matter—but I know for a fact that Stone is going to demand I go. Might as well beat him to the punch.
“Yeah, sure,” Ally says, seeming to think it over. “Should we head to jock row after too? Or will your big, bad boyfriend lose his mind?”
I shoot her a glare, and she laughs at her joke.
“I’m kidding! I’ll pick you up tomorrow at seven. Just text me your address.”
“‘K.” I smile. “And I have just the thing for us to wear.”
Ally wiggles her eyebrows but scurries off to tend to her tables a second later.
“What was that about?”
I slowly turn and see why she scurried off. Traitor. Stone is leaning over the bar top, and I reach on my tiptoes to see the wet spot on his pants. I laugh under my breath, and he growls.
“We’re your last table, right?”
I peek around him. The guys have left, and the busboy is already putting their empty cups in his tub.
“Yep. Looks like I’m off.”
“I’ll pick you up at the back after you grab your things.”
Stone turns and makes his way through the doors. I furrow my brow but go about my usual business, counting my tips and leaving some for the busboy. I clock out and wave to Ally before turning and heading for the employee entrance.
The hall is dark, except for a single light casting a dim glow over the bathroom door. I pull my purse up on my shoulder and suck in a screeching scream when the door flies open, and a familiar hand grabs onto my upper arm, pulling me into the bathroom.
Stone’s palm is against my mouth, so my scream sounds muffled. He shakes his head at the same time his fingers skim down to my chin, holding my face close to his. “You need to be carrying Mace. I could have been anyone grabbing you.”
I gulp because he’s right, but there’s a very unlikely chance I’ll admit it out loud. “Who could grab me with you constantly lurking in the shadows to protect me?”
“Protect you?” he whispers. “This isn’t me protecting you.”
The porcelain sink cuts into my lower back when Stone presses into me.
“This is payback.”
His wink seals the deal, because I’m putty in his hands. My tongue darts out, and with the way his eyes glimmer beneath the dull bathroom light, I know he likes it.
“What were you and your little friend talking about?”
My fingers slip against the porcelain as I reach back and steady myself on the sink. I tilt my chin and give Stone access to his favorite spot. His teeth graze my thrumming pulse, and the beating increases.
“Hmm. None of your business,” I tease.
Suddenly, I’m flipped around and staring at us in the dingy mirror. My head flies backward with Stone’s finger hooked beneath my hair tie. My hair cascades down my shoulders, and I gasp in pleasure when he drops the black elastic in the sink.
“Everything about you is my business, baby.”
“Stone,” I say, stuck between excitement and annoyance.
“Wren,” he replies, placing a kiss against my neck. “Tell me what you two were whispering about? Telling her how good I am in bed?”
His smile is a faint touch against my skin. I breathe out through my nose and have a hard time sucking the air back in. “I told her you were terrible in bed.”
I smile at his sarcastic laugh, but the hard nudge against my backside drowns out the noise.
I’ve never been one to mess around anywhere other than a bedroom with the door locked, but after he took me in the rink, I think it might be the biggest turn-on of all.
“Do you think I’ll be as terrible in this disgusting employee bathroom as I am in the bedroom? ”
Let’s find out.
I push back against him, enjoying his grunt. His hands fly to my waist, and he pushes me forward. I shiver at the dominance he yields and almost turn around and fall to my knees to show him that I’m at his mercy. I would never do such a thing, but I want to.
The way his hand caresses the curve of my butt has me meeting his eye. He smirks at the sound of my jeans zipper, and I throw my head back at the air grazing my skin.
“Tell me what you two were talking about, or I’ll pay you back far more than I plan to.”
What does that mean?
A whimper creeps up my throat when his thumb brushes my clit. Fuck him.
“I asked her…” I grip the sink harder. “To go to the hockey game with me tomorrow.”
Stone’s hand stops moving, and he steps away, putting space between us. “What?”
“I… I asked if she wanted to watch the game with me tomorrow. In the stands.”
His swallow is loud enough for me to hear. “You’re coming to my game?”
“I figured you guys would play better if you didn’t have to worry about me being alone at home.”
“Fuck, Wren.”
My panties fly down my legs, and Stone’s hand splays out on my back. My ribs ache from the sink cutting into the bone, but the bite of pain only lasts a second when he fills me.
“That’s too much for me to handle.”
I reach up to my shoulder and grip his hand that keeps me steady.
He pumps into me slowly, hissing between every breath and pulling pleasure out of me like it’s his favorite pastime.
I don’t even think he stopped to put a condom on, and it feels too good for me to make him do it now, just like when we were in the rink and I was afraid someone was going to see us.
“You feel so good, and knowing you did something so I could play better is a fucking turn-on,” he murmurs against my skin before biting onto my earlobe.
Sprinkles of pleasure race to my blood, and I whimper.
“That’s a good girl, already squeezing my cock.”
Fuck me.
I burst at the seams when he tilts my hips and slides in fast to hit the spot that I need. His mouth captures mine, and we both stop kissing as soon as my orgasm peaks.
“Fuck, your pussy is milking me, Sticks.”
He leaves me empty as he pulls back and twists me around, hurriedly pulling up my jeans and spilling himself all over the front of them. My brows furrow at the act, and when he lets out a breath and calms his rising lungs, he sends me the cockiest look I have ever seen.
“Payback, remember?” His gaze falls to my pants that are now wet and sticky.
I’m too blind by the pleasure sweeping through my body to realize what he’s referring to. Without so much as a flinch, I allow him to take my hand and press it to the mess he left against the denim. “Now you look like you’ve pissed yourself too.”
My lips part, and he places a quick kiss to them before putting himself back together and opening the door. Cool air rushes in, and the fog on the mirror quickly disappears as he pulls me, leaving my hair tie in the sink as a little memento to what we’d just done.
I don’t have to show Stone that I’m at his mercy.
He already knows.