Wicked Little Darling

Chapter 10 – Dakota #3

There was a distant trill of a phone ringing, and then a voice.

I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but Reese said, “Hi, another student and myself have accidentally gotten locked in a closet of some sort in the music building. Is there any way someone could come let us out? We’re on the second floor near the men’s bathroom. Yes. Uh-huh. Okay, thank you so much.”

As he spoke, I brought his hand up to my cheek and held it there.

He ended the call, set his phone on the ground, and rested his free hand on his thigh.

Being able to see him and having some light in here chased away any lingering panic.

“Thank you,” I said, staring at him. His eyes searched mine, practically glowing gold in the artificial light. He dropped his gaze to where I was holding his hand against my face, and the darkening flush along his cheekbones made me want to ask him a million questions.

I wanted to press my lips to his cheeks and feel how warm they were.

“You’re welcome,” he said softly. To my surprise, he laughed, although it was less humorous and more baffled. “I really don’t understand you.”

I rubbed my cheek against the softness of his palm. He sucked in a breath and tried to pull his hand away, but I held on tight. “What do you mean?”

“Nothing. Never mind.” He cleared his throat. “They said they’re sending someone.” He gave up trying to take his hand back, and when his fingers started to move in tiny strokes, I closed my eyes.

I hoped the person coming to free us tripped into a bottomless pit.

No, that was mean. I just wanted to stay here forever, just like this.

“Dakota—”

He went quiet, and now I needed to know what he’d been about to say.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing, I just—um…” He exhaled a short, sharp breath.

“Did you really do this to yourself?” His thumb grazed over the part of the scar that ended at my jawline, a gentle, tentative stroke that became bolder when I didn’t move.

He traced the jagged line up my cheek until he got to the bridge of my nose, then back down again.

His touch was featherlight and innocent, but it felt like he was feeling the most intimate parts of me. Parts nobody dared touch before. My body was coiling with heat, my temperature rising, and now I was breathing hard for a different reason.

“No,” I managed to say.

His fingers stopped moving for a few seconds, and his eyes flashed to mine. Then he did what no one besides Val had ever done.

He believed me.

He nodded and asked, “Who did this to you? What happened?”

I shrugged, ignoring the way my heart was pounding and the heaviness in my chest that was making it hard to breathe.

Nobody believed me. Rumors and whispers and exaggerated stories were accepted over my own words, my own experiences, every single time.

Even with Reese, I was pretty sure he’d heard or read things about me, and…

and I’d been so afraid that if only bad things came up when he searched my name, he’d think those rumors existed for a reason.

He’d think I was as crazy as everyone else did.

And what would I do then?

But that was a question I didn’t need to ask anymore; my fear that he already believed all the rumors had just been punted away in less than a second by him.

In that moment, something heavy I’d been carrying for years turned to dust.

“Everett did it.”

Reese’s jaw hardened. “And…that was him the other day? When you—when he—”

He couldn’t seem to finish his sentence, just cut off and let the silence eat the rest of it. His thumb moved over damaged tissue that had healed horribly, tracing a memory that hadn’t healed at all.

“Yeah,” I said. “That was him.”

“Why would he do something like this? Was it an accident?”

“No, it wasn’t an accident. Please stay away from him. I mean it, Reese, he’s not good. He’ll hurt you if—”

I paused, unsure of what to say—which was a first, because I never really thought before I spoke.

Or if I did, it was to calculate the perfect weapon of words that would pull the strongest negative reaction from someone.

It wasn’t to express concern, not unless the person I was expressing it to was Val.

I didn’t want to admit that I liked Reese in a way I didn’t really understand myself because then he would stop touching me. He’d pull away from me for good.

“Just stay away from him. Please.”

He didn’t respond. It was so quiet in here that all I could hear was my own beating heart.

I clutched his hand and squeezed. “Reese. Promise me you’ll stay away from him. I’m serious. He will fucking hurt you.”

I wanted to glue myself to Reese’s side and make sure that could never happen.

“Okay! Jesus, I promise,” he said with a wealth of exasperation. “I don’t understand, why would he—I mean, the article I read said—”

His eyes widened, and he covered his mouth with his hand.

So he had looked me up.

I wasn’t sure if I was disappointed or flattered. But if he’d read all those horrible lies about me and still believed me now, that had to mean something, right?

“I wouldn’t believe everything you read. Or hear. A lot of it’s just not true,” I said, staring into his wide eyes and hoping he’d believe me over what he’d read.

He lowered his hand and swallowed, then bit down on his bottom lip before asking, “I don’t understand why he would hurt you like that. Was it an accident?” He shook his head and ran his hand through his hair, looking away from me. “Never mind, sorry, that’s really fucking rude of me to—”

“He did it because he hates me.” Reese’s gaze darted to mine, and his grip on my cheek tightened.

“Because he believes I was adopted to replace his twin who had died a few years earlier. And on top of that, Albert and Evelyn would always talk about how much we looked alike, and he hated that. He still does, but he’s happier now that he’s… made some changes.”

The horrified expression on Reese’s face was a reminder that while this type of behavior from Everett was normal to me—because I was used to it after so many years with him—it really wasn’t normal at all.

“What the fuck?” he rasped, his horror slowly shifting to anger.

“What the fuck? How is he not behind bars? Are you fucking kidding me? Hold on, hold on—” He scooted closer, and he was so lost in his fury that I wasn’t sure he realized just how close he was to me now.

“You’re fucking telling me that everyone thinks you did this to yourself and no one knows it was your brother?

How is that possible? I don’t understand how he could’ve gotten away with something like this.

This is—” His eyes drifted across my scar, and he stroked it gently with his thumb even though his gaze was burning with a ferocity that was…

Honestly, it was really fucking hot.

His anger on my behalf was starting to turn me on, the heat of it slipping under my skin. His accent had gotten so much thicker, and the gold in his eyes was blazing with his vehemence.

Fuck. No one had ever gotten this upset about something that happened to me before. This new feeling, this strange joy at him getting so worked up over me, began filling me up.

I wondered how mad he’d get if I told him everything Everett had ever done to me.

“This is unforgivable,” he growled. I wanted to let him keep going forever, just listen to him raging about the injustice of my treatment for hours. “Dakota, we need to tell everyone it wasn’t you. We need to fix this, I can’t—”

“Reese.” I had to stop him because he was getting himself really worked up.

His breathing was ragged and his face was so red he looked practically feverish.

“It’s okay. It was a long time ago. I tried telling Albert when it first happened, but Everett had already convinced everyone that I’d done it to myself.

It didn’t help that I’d just had a breakdown on stage in front of bunch of people, either. I think he knew that.”

Reese placed his other hand on my cheek, cupping my face. He was up on his knees leaning into me, and holy fucking shit, was he going to kiss me?

“I don’t care if it happened yesterday or twenty fucking years ago, he needs to be held accountable for hurting you like that. It’s not okay that he just got away with it! Fuck your parents, fuck everyone, they can go to hell for not believing you. I’ll fucking kill him—”

“No!” His lips parted at my panicked shout, so I softened my voice and said, “No, you can’t—just don’t go near him, okay? Please? If you see him, turn around and walk the other way.”

But goddammit my heart was swelling at the way he was willing to go to bat for me like that.

What would my life have been like if I’d had someone like Reese on my side throughout the years?

He bit down on his bottom lip, fingers flexing against my cheeks, then seemed to deflate on a heavy sigh. “Is that why you were such an asshole that day? Because you thought he would hurt me?”

He was damn perceptive if he’d already figured that out.

I nodded. “I just—I wanted you to go away. To not be near him. I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that, but—I—fuck, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry, it just came out.”

I rubbed my thumb along the back of his hand and waited for something—anything—from Reese, but he didn’t say a word.

He didn’t pull away from me, either.

Eventually, he spoke so softly I barely heard it. “It’s okay.”

And just like that, the guilt evaporated.

“Why are you scared of Albert?” I asked.

Had he done something? Had he met with Reese? Said something to him? God, I hated my fucking family. Everyone—excluding Val—was the worst kind of scum.

“Oh. I’m…not.”

That was convincing.

“You don’t have to be afraid of him.”

Liar.

“I think you’re all better now,” he said in a quivering voice, though his tone was a little abrasive.

“I’m not,” I murmured, drawing my thumb up his palm. He’d stopped tracing my scar, was just letting me hold his hand against my face now. His skin was so damn soft.

Were his lips just as soft? Softer? His mouth was filled with barbed words, and I wanted to kiss him and find out if his lips were just as stinging.

I slowly trailed my fingertips across the back of his hand, down his arm.

Slowly, slowly, slowly.

Seeing what he’d let me do. Testing what was okay with him.

My fingers slid beneath the sleeve of his shirt, and he made a sound in the back of his throat as his entire body shuddered.

I felt it against my right hip and leg and a flood of desire poured through my groin at his reaction to my touch, my cock throbbing and thickening.

Fuck, I wanted to see what else I could get from him.

I wanted every single reaction of his, wanted to trace my tongue—

“What are you doing?” His voice was shaky, breathless, and husky.

“Touching you,” I whispered. “Can I touch you? Please?”

Reese’s eyes burned into mine as I trailed my fingers back down his arm. He glanced at my hand then returned his gaze to mine and licked his lips. They glistened now, a deep dark red, and his teeth scraped against the bottom one. “I…”

“Please, Reese?”

The flush on his cheeks deepened and spread. Fuck me, he was gorgeous.

“I don’t—”

His breath hitched as I slid my other hand down his arm, trailing light fingers over his soft skin. His exhale was shaky, and he leaned closer.

Closer.

His eyes drifted down to my mouth. I wrapped my fingers around his arm and put the slightest pressure on him, tugging him toward me.

“Please?”

He was still staring at my lips, the fingers on my face sliding back to curve around my head. His gaze lifted to mine, searching, searching—

“Fuck it,” he murmured.

I thought my heart might explode from my chest as he leaned in, and—

The doorknob rattled and then a bright light was pouring into the closet, blinding me. Reese jolted and his forehead banged into mine.

“Fuck,” he hissed in pain, rocking back on his heels and touching his forehead.

“How’d you boys get yourselves locked in here? Find another damn place to play your games.”

I blinked up at the man who was scowling down at us. “Well we didn’t mean to get locked in,” I said.

He shook his head, then did something with the doorknob. “You can’t get locked in, you control it from the inside. See? Would be pointless if you could control it from the outside.”

I glanced down to watch him twist the lock open and closed.

Huh.

“I’ll remember that for next time,” I muttered.

Reese gave the maintenance worker a smile. “Thanks. And sorry about that, we thought it was a classroom.”

The maintenance guy gave Reese a look that said he didn’t believe that for a single second, then turned around, flipped a light switch somewhere in the closet, and started rifling through something on one of the shelves.

“Excuse me, I left my bags—”

The man bent down and slid Reese’s bags out in to the hall.

He picked them up, strapped them across his back, and said, “I…”

I stood up, brushing my hands off on my pants as I waited for Reese to gather his thoughts.

“I, um—I’ll see you in the room later?” His eyes were big and full of uncertainty, a beautiful blush staining his cheeks.

I barely restrained myself from pulling him into my arms and kissing those cheeks.

“Yeah,” I said, clearing my throat.

Reese glanced down at my groin, then turned and quickly walked away.

When I looked down, I laughed.

I was obviously hard, and Jesus Christ that was embarrassing. I needed to go cool off.

But I just stood there and watched Reese until he disappeared around the corner.

He had a bleeding heart safely tucked behind a crumbling wall crawling with a thousand thorny vines—I just needed time, determination, and a sharpened blade to get through the thicket.

Or maybe some hedge trimmers.

Actually, a well-placed stick of dynamite would probably do the trick.

That night, Reese started talking in his sleep again. When it escalated to moaning and crying, I carefully slid in next to him and curled myself around him.

He calmed down almost immediately, wrapping his hands around my wrists and holding me tight in an almost painful grip.

I tucked my face into his hair, closed my eyes, and fell asleep breathing in that pretty floral scent.