CHAPTER EIGHT
Blair
Then
A couple of months went by. I’d seen Scott around campus a few times. He was usually by himself, but every now and then I’d see him with a woman. They were always carbon copies of the high-maintenance blonde I’d first seen him with, and I had to wonder what he ever saw in me.
I carefully avoided parties at his frat house.
He’d come by the library a few times, and it was clear he was looking for me. But I’d just been pleasant and then excused myself to work. I made it crystal clear—in a nice way—that he was nothing to me now. Not even a friend.
Instead, I spent those months between the fall and spring dating around. I had a good time. I really did. But I was lying to myself if I said any of the guys I’d been out with since Scott were anywhere near eliciting the feelings in me he had.
I quit dating for a while and focused on my studies and hanging out with friends. Carrie had met an older guy named Thatcher, and I was able to give her the exact same advice about being young and free that she’d given me.
Then, towards the end of freshman year, I’d met a guy named Hunter who I really liked. He was everything Scott wasn’t; the life of the party, loud and exuberant, hilarious, smooth, and up front about everything.
He’d apparently had a class with me, thought I was cute, and found out I worked at the library.
He’d carefully ‘run into’ me there a few times, and eventually that led to getting drinks together.
Then we started dating. Hunter was the first guy I’d slept with since Scott, and it hurt me to realize that he didn’t even come close to comparing.
Even with the distraction of dating Hunter, my grades were perfect. They usually were. I’d always been kind of a perfectionist. I was studying architecture and interior design. I really enjoyed it, but I wasn’t completely sure it was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
One of my professors held a party with some other professors and classes.
He had invited Hunter and me, and I had been surprised.
It had been very fancy and held at a beautiful old mansion on campus that served as an event venue for the university.
Hunter was an architecture major as well, and we went together.
I wore a beautiful dress of Sadie’s that she’d let me borrow, and Hunter looked very handsome in a nice suit.
We’d had a blast, eating appetizers and mingling with other students. We only knew a few. There seemed to be professors and students represented from several different areas and age ranges.
There was smooth jazz playing in the background throughout the party, but no one danced—until Hunter dragged me out on the dance floor. I threw back my head and laughed as he spun and twirled me around the empty floor.
It had given other couples the permission they’d needed, and soon the dance floor was full. I hardly noticed, though, since Hunter held my full attention.
Until I caught Scott’s eye across the room. I’d stumbled, needing Hunter to hold onto me to keep me from falling.
“Whoa,” Hunter laughed. “Am I such a bad dancer that I made you almost fall?”
I was shaken, but I managed to laugh. “No, you’re a great dancer. I’m just clumsy.”
“Let me go get you some more punch,” he said after depositing me at a table and looking at me closely.
I forced a smile. I could feel someone watching me, and I knew it was Scott. I did my best to avoid his eyes. When he went on the dance floor with his date, though, I couldn’t help but watch him.
It was another of those interchangeable women he dated; blonde, beautiful, perfect-looking. My self-esteem had taken a hit from how things had ended with Scott and seeing him with women who were so far from being similar to me didn’t help.
I found myself watching her, noticing as Scott basically ignored her and stared at me over her head. I broke the gaze and waited for Hunter.
He set a glass of punch in front of me and sat down beside me. “Are you okay? You look pale.”
“I’m fine.” I sipped the punch gratefully. “But I might not want to stay much longer.”
“That’s fine,” he said. I looked at him, really taking in his handsome features. He had sandy brown hair, blue eyes, and a tall, lean frame.
And compared to Scott he looked like a little boy playing dress up.
Scott looked like a grown man; in fact, if he’d been a bit older I might have mistaken him for a professor.
“I’ll go get the car,” Hunter said. “You look like you don’t feel well.”
I thanked him gratefully, and he hurried off, telling me he’d text me when he was out front.
As I waited, I tried to lose myself in the atmosphere of the evening. And did everything I could to keep my eyes from veering to Scott. I did a good job.
Until he sat across from me at my table. “Hey.” His soulful eyes looked heated as he took me in from head to toe. I hated it, but my body responded. I felt warm all over. I looked away, uncomfortable. Especially since his date was staring me down.
“Hey, Scott. How are you?” I kept glancing at my phone, hoping Hunter would hurry up.
“Fine, I guess.”
I nodded.
His date flipped her long, cornsilk hair over her shoulder and leveled me with her bright blue eyes. “Who’s this?”
“A friend.”
She nodded, already looking away from me. She clearly thought I was no threat to her. “Excuse me. I’m going to visit the little girl’s room.”
I tried not to make a face. What a way to put it.
Scott didn’t watch her go. Instead, his eyes were on me. “I miss you,” he said softly as soon as she was out of hearing range.
I wanted to tell him I hadn’t thought of him once since we’d stopped seeing each other. But I’d never been great at lying. “I… I’ve missed you, too,” I admitted.
“Will you give me another chance?”
I studied him. He was so handsome, and just being near him did something to my body. The chemistry between us was off the charts. I wondered if I’d ever find that kind of spark with anyone else.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“I haven’t slept with anyone since we were last together,” he blurted out.
My mouth opened a little. “Oh. Okay.” I think he was expecting me to say the same thing. Not only couldn’t I say that, but my face chose that moment to flush a deep red.
“You have,” he said flatly.
“Yeah,” I nodded. “Not that it’s any of your business.”
He sighed. “You’re right it’s not. But that doesn’t mean it drives me any less crazy. Is it the guy you’re with tonight? Have there been a lot?”
I frowned. “For your information, it’s only Hunter.”
“That’s the kid you’re with tonight, huh?” He looked incensed. “I could rip him apart so easily,” he murmured. It was so low, I wasn’t sure I’d heard him correctly.
I was ready for a subject change. “Why did you ever date me?”
“What?” he asked, almost choking on his wine.
“Every woman I’ve ever seen you with looks like Barbie’s twin sister. You clearly have a type. I look nothing like that.”
“You’re ten times as beautiful as any of them are,” he said, his dark eyes dropping to my mouth.
I found that hard to believe. My phone suddenly buzzed. I stood up with relief. “Well, it’s, um, been nice seeing you,” I said awkwardly and started for the exit.
He was suddenly beside me, holding me as if we were dancing. “Please, Blair. These last few months have been hell without you. I want you. I really, really want us to be together.”
I saw his date approaching at a fast clip. She’d spied us from across the room. “Barbie alert,” I said and turned to leave.
“What?” He glanced over his shoulder, then turned back to me.
I was already halfway out the door. I saw his shoulders slump a bit as I left.
I hurried down the stairs and got into Hunter’s car.
I knew I had to break up with him. It wasn’t fair to him that I would always be comparing him to Scott.
***
Fate had a way of intervening in our lives whether we were prepared for it or not.
On the last day of my work study job for the semester, I worked diligently to shelve books. I sighed as the last book cart that had been assigned to me was finally empty.
I was all alone on one of the top, little-used floors of the library. I went and stared out the window at the beautiful quad far down below. Students were hurrying around. A few still had exams left to take, others were already moving out for the summer, and there was a buzz of finality in the air.
My freshman year hadn’t gone exactly as I’d wanted it to, I reflected. I hoped my sophomore year would be better.
“Blair.”
I startled and whipped around. Scott was standing there. “You scared me.”
His eyes bored into mine. “You can’t tell me we weren’t good together,” he said.
Well, he was definitely skipping the pleasantries.
“We were,” I agreed as he walked towards me. He caged me in, my back against the wall, his arms on either side of me.
“Then why won’t you give us another chance?”
I opened my mouth to give some sort of non-answer, but the truth came out instead. “Because you made me feel stupid.”
I watched as if in slow motion as he dropped his mouth to mine, moved his large hands to hold my head gently as he plundered my mouth.
He moaned. “God, I’ve missed this.” He pushed against me.
“I’m already fucking hard. Nobody does that to me but you.
I want to rip your clothes off,” he whispered in my ear.
Then he moved down and sucked my nipple hard, through the fabric of my shirt and bra.
I gasped, arching into him, unable to control my body’s response to him. “Scott,” I breathed.
He dropped to his knees in front of me, flipped my skirt up and began eating me out with relish.
“Sweet Jesus,” I said, clapping a hand over my mouth.
His hands massaged my inner thighs while he ate, licked, and played with me.
My hips bucked against his face, and he gave a sexy little laugh before sucking my clit into his mouth and making me come so hard he had to catch me when my legs gave out.
“Come here,” he said, lifting me up. My legs wrapped around him as he pulled his cock out and thrust it inside me with no warning.
I gasped, my channel wet and ready but also unused to the size of him. It’d been a while. He thrust inside me frantically, and soon we were both coming with a ferocity that was almost scary.
When we finished, we were both gasping for breath. It wasn’t five minutes until he was taking me again, this time bending me over the nearest library table. He fucked me brutally from behind, and I loved every minute of it.
“Oh God,” I cried as his hands gripped my hips hard enough to leave bruises as he rolled his hips and started to move nice and slow.
When he finally came, he pulled me into his arms and kissed me thoroughly. “Be with me. Just us. Exclusive. Please, Blair. I’m begging you.”
Between every other word we were frantically kissing each other. “Yes,” I agreed breathlessly. “Okay.”
He buried his face in the crook of my neck. “Thank God. I missed you so fucking much.” I could feel him getting hard again.
“We should get out of here. I’m technically done for the semester.”
“Come back to my place. I want to spend the next few days in bed with you, baby.”
I nodded, too overcome to speak.
He pulled out of me. “Shit,” he gasped as he looked down.
My eyes followed his, and I realized why I was feeling uncomfortably wet after sex.
His eyes jumped to mine. “I forgot to wear a condom. Please tell me you’re on birth control.”
I winced. “I’m not. It messed with my hormones and made me feel weird.” I clapped a hand to my forehead and groaned. “How could we be so stupid?”
He shook his head, but grinned. “You make me stupid,” he admitted. He pushed two fingers inside me, and I helplessly rode his hand. “I see you and all I can think about is getting my dick inside this tight, beautiful cunt of yours,” he murmured in my ear as he brought me to climax yet again.
“We’ll be fine,” I said with more assurance than I felt. What are the chances I’d get pregnant the first time I had sex without a condom?