Chapter Six
It’s times like these I wish I could drive, then I could have met him there.
But no, instead I have to endure the car ride from hell.
I keep my focus out the window, but that doesn’t mean I’m not conscious of every breath this man takes.
If that wasn’t bad enough, his scent seems to have wrapped itself around me and refuses to let go, and I’m about ready to throw myself out the window.
“You gonna ignore me the whole way?”
I look over at him. “I don’t see why not. It seems to have worked well for you over the last couple of months.”
“Ouch. I deserved that.”
“I know.” I turn to look out the window at the bare landscape that seems a little less barren than it did the last time I passed it.
“You see it, too, huh?”
“What, the giant dick stuck to your forehead?” When he doesn’t answer, I look at him and sigh. “I guess that’s just me then.”
“Poppy—”
“I swear to god if you call me that once more, I will cut you.”
“Did you just threaten a police officer?”
“You’re not a police officer to me right now.”
“No. I’m the guy who broke your heart.”
I whip my head around, laughing. “You think you broke my heart? Really. You think I’d give that away so recklessly, and to someone who clearly doesn’t deserve it?”
“Calli—”
“No. I’m angry, Shepard, because you pushed and pushed for me to give you a shot, and the second things got tough, you ran.
News flash, things in my life always get tough.
It’s good you bowed out when you did, because you’d never have survived.
What I feel mostly is disappointment. Perhaps more in myself, though, than you, because I knew better than to believe a word you said. That’s on me.”
“Shit, you really have no problem tearing me to shreds, do you?”
I narrow my eyes at him. “I nearly died, and you walked out on me while I lay in a hospital bed. You put on a uniform and a pretty little badge, and you think that makes you a hero. But you’re nothing but a coward.”
He yanks the wheel, pulling the cruiser to the side of the road before he turns it off. He turns to me, his face flushed with anger, but it has nothing on mine. “Maybe I am a coward, but I never pegged you as a bitch, Calliope.”
“You don’t know anything about me, Sheriff.
You never bothered taking time to even try and get to know me.
Let’s be honest, all you wanted was to get in my pants.
You never hid the fact that you wanted to fuck me.
I think the only reason you didn’t push harder is because of Riggs.
All the feelings and worry? That’s not what you signed up for.
I get it. But why are you pretending to be sorry now? I don’t—”
My words are cut off when he unclips my seatbelt with one hand and yanks me over by the top of my dress with the other.
Before I say anything, his mouth is on mine, seeking—no, demanding—entrance.
For a second or two, my resolve falters.
The cracks he created flood with fire as my body ignites under his touch.
But I’m not that girl. You don’t get to throw me away and reel me back in just because you know how to play my body.
I yank my mouth away from his, that fire now burning behind my eyes, but I refuse to cry. “You still want that fuck, huh? Fine, if it will get you off my back, let’s do it.”
He sits shocked for a second as I unbutton the top of my dress, revealing my bra. I don’t bother to slide it from my shoulders, but as the bra is front-fastening, I flip it open and let my breasts spill free.
“That’s what you want, right? Touch them. Might as well because you’ll never get your hands on them again.”
His eyes flash with anger, but I ignore it and lift my ass so I can slide my G-string down my legs. I ball it up in my hand before I climb over the center console and straddle his lap. His hands instinctively go to my hips as I rise and graze his lips with my nipple.
“Do it. Take what you want,” I whisper, wondering if he will fight or give in.
With a groan of defeat, he opens up and sucks my nipple into his mouth.
Despite my anger, I feel a flood of wetness escape me.
I grind against his hard cock. I’ll stain his pants, and the spiteful part of me likes that idea.
I want him to walk around with my mark on him.
It seems only fair when he left his mark on me.
He switches to the other breast, his hands moving up to yank my dress down farther, clearly not giving a fuck about us getting caught.
I lift back up and unbuckle his pants. Reaching inside, I wrap my hands around his stiff cock and pull it free as he shoves his pants a little lower.
I give it a quick stroke before holding it steady as I line it up.
Then slowly, I slide my way down, taking him all the way inside me.
There’s no hiding how wet I am, and that annoys me enough to set a punishing pace.
Yeah, I’m making a point. But he wanted to paint me as a bitch.
Well, so be it. I don’t care if I get off, all that matters is that he does—that I squeeze him so tight and drain him so thoroughly, he’ll compare every woman’s pussy to mine.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, Poppy—”
I wrap my hand around his throat and squeeze, moving my face so close I can taste his breath. “Don’t call me that,” I hiss as something in him snaps.
“Fuck it,” he snarls as he wraps my hair around his fist and yanks my head back, exposing my neck.
I don’t stop moving, despite uncertainty creeping into my bones. I ride him like one of those rodeo girls I saw that one time my father took me to one of his cattle shows.
He licks a path up my throat, dragging a shiver from my traitorous body before he scrapes his teeth over my pulse.
“You can pretend you hate me, that you hate this. But I can hear how wet you are, feel how slick this pussy is. If you thought you were gonna put me off, you rolled the wrong fucking dice, baby. I’m gonna send you home to your man full of my cum and with my teeth marks on your throat.
” And before I can protest, he bites down hard.
Yeah, that’s gonna leave a mark.. I detonate around him with a scream, and my pussy clamps him so tightly he has no choice but to follow me over the edge.
He plants himself deep and pours himself into me, this time marking me from the inside out.
The second I can feel my legs, I climb off him. I use the scrap of fabric in my hand to wipe between my legs before I throw it in the glove box.
“A souvenir, huh?” He chuckles, but I don’t answer.
In my bid to teach him a lesson, I taught myself one too.
I’m not built for casual sex, at least not with a man who’s done nothing but play with my feelings.
I wanted to use him, but I’m the one left feeling used, and I have nobody to blame but myself.
I straighten my dress and tuck my boobs back into my bra before clipping it closed. I can hear Shepard tucking himself away, but I don’t look at him, feeling my cheeks flame with embarrassment. I fasten my buttons with shaky hands.
“Calliope?”
“Let’s just get this over with. I don’t want Dawn to stress any more than she already is.” I can feel him staring at me as I buckle my seatbelt, but I keep my focus on the road.
With a sigh, he starts up the cruiser and pulls back onto the road.
The silence between us is even more oppressive than before, but I don’t make any effort to break it.
It feels like it takes hours to get to Dawn’s place.
By the time he pulls up, I’m ready to jump out of my skin, and it’s taking everything I have to keep my power in check as it feeds on my chaotic emotions.
I jump out of the cruiser the second it stops and take a few deep steadying breaths, twirling the ring I’m wearing to keep my hands busy so I don’t start smoothing down my hair and adjusting my dress.
Shepard jumps out and walks around to my side, but instead of letting me move, he spins around and pins me to the cruiser. “This isn’t over between us.”
“It was over the second you left me in that hospital bed.”
“So that’s it? I had one moment where I let my past trauma get to me, and you’re gonna hold it against me forever?”
“It wasn’t one moment, Shepard.” I sigh, looking up at him.
“If you had come to see me the next day or the next week, I’d have understood.
Fuck knows I have my own trauma to deal with.
But you didn’t. You stayed away, and that tells me exactly how much I meant to you.
Trauma or not, I would never have done that to you.
” I swipe at a tear that slips free, angry all over again that he saw it.
He presses his forehead to mine. “I’m sorry.
I’m so fucking sorry, Calliope. I know I left.
I know I fucked up. But I didn’t forget about you, not for a second.
I think about you every second of every day.
I see you every time I close my eyes. I swear I can smell you on my skin.
You’re like this addiction I can’t seem to purge myself of.
I’m drowning in you, baby. I’m sorry I fucked up, but I swear I won’t do it again.
You have to give me a chance to prove it. ”
I sigh, feeling my body slump in response to his words. “I can’t. I don’t trust you. Just…let me be. I was right when I said we’d never work. You should have listened to me.”
He takes a step back, but I don’t miss the determined look in his eye. “You think I’m gonna let you go now I’ve been inside you?”
I snort with laughter, shoving past him as I move to the back of the cruiser and wait for him to grab the crates.
“Funny, because you’re not the only man who has been inside me, but only one slept in my bed last night.
” Direct hit. Though I don’t like the wince or the fact that I caused it, I don’t apologize for it.