Marked. Part I: The missing Link (12 page)

“
Cool,” I reply, bobbing my head forward like I have a clue if that's good or not.

I'm way out of my element here.

“Watch this,” Malik smirks, eyes glued to the race.

The cars are racing full speed towards the first turn.

“What the hell!” I cry, digging my nails into Milik's bicep, “Why aren't they slowing down?!”

The two cars ahead of Jay look like they're losing the back end of the car and I dig tighter into his arm. The front of their cars ride the rail, leaving a cloud of smoke behind and I can barely see Jay's car, who is right behind them.

“He's going to crash right into them!” I bury my face into Malik.

“
No he's not.” He nudges me, “Watch. You don't want to miss this.”

Jay's car goes above the other two on the bank of the track, his front riding their backs and his back riding the rail, centimeters from touching it as he passes them. The cars straighten. The other two wobble, but Jay transitions smoothly and he's now in front as they head down a straightaway.

“Holy moly, that was awesome!” I cry, letting go of Malik's arm and jumping with excitement.

“
Jay only rode the bank how you're supposed to when you drift. The other two are still learning.”

“
Jay's car barely had any smoke when he made the turn, but the others had tons. Why?”

“
Jay's not trying to impress anyone. He knows how to move with the road. He's calculated when he drives and instinctively knows how fast and hard to take it.”
I bet he does.

Malik starts laughing hysterically and I turn bright red, realizing I said that last thought out loud.

During the next bend Malik nudges me again.

“
See Spidey?” I nod. “He's prematurely downshifting, thinking he can take the corner in tighter, hoping to exit it with greater speed to get ahead. He's going to damage his engine if he keeps that up. I don't understand why people put money into a car if they aren't going to learn about what they're doing. He should stick to street racing, which he's a badass at.”

I watch Jay's car move with ease, as if drifting is effortless and anybody can do it.

Hector's car is close behind him, but he doesn’t have the same effortless ease as Jay's car seems to have. Both cars drift sideways and Hector is inches from Jay. As the cars straighten out, I cling to Malik again because it looks like Hector is going to hit the end of Jay's car.

He misses it by centimeters and I let out a huge sigh of relief. This shit is intense
!

I can't stop smiling. I'm unbelievably impressed by what I am watching and oddly turned on by it, knowing Jay's the lead car as he maneuvers through the last bank as smoothly as one makes a left turn. He finishes the race with Hector close behind.

Jay gets out of the car and I run to him, throwing myself on him, letting my legs wrap around his waist. I pull his head to me and I kiss him. The instant our lips touch electricity sparks and neither one of us can hold back. Our tongues lace together and we both groan. Jay has his hand on my ass and the other clutching tightly to my head, not letting me go anywhere. His scruff scratches my skin but I love it. No one has ever kissed me like this before, like nothing matters more than being in this moment, kissing me.

Our lips finally part and we rest our foreheads together. Jay has tangled his hand in my hair at the nape of my neck.

“Wow,” I breathe out.

“
Damn, Lily. How am I going to stop myself from doing that again? Your lips are incredible.”

I wrap my arms tighter around his neck and let the force of my lips and tongue let him know I have no intention of letting him stop this, stop us. He doesn't put up a fight and returns my kiss with an assertiveness that makes me feel like he's claiming me. He gives my ass a tight squeeze and our kiss gets deeper and rougher. I have never lost myself in a kiss before, but this one has me unaware of anything else but the two of us. I want him right here, right now, and I don't care who's watching. Jay takes a few steps back so his backside's supporting us against his car, and the hand pulling in my hair slides down so he's cupping the back of my neck and the side of my face. My arms release around his neck and my hands take hold of the sides of his face. The kiss goes from hungry-lust to something deeper. We both seem to be trying to communicate our longing for the other that we've been holding back on in this one kiss.

I faintly become aware of the cheers and vulgar comments.

“
Yo, Jay! Unless you're planning on taking her over the hood of my car, I'd put a stop to your little show,” Malik's standing close enough that it's hard not to be aware of him.

Our mouths break apart and we lock eyes, letting our heavy breathing sink into rhythm.

“That was some first kiss,” Jay pants, breathless, giving me a crooked grin.

I hear the shouts and boos of disapproval that we've stopped and that's when I become embarrassed. Not when I launched myself at him, not when I assaulted him with my mouth. No, I get embarrassed
after
I finish attacking him. Couldn't that have happened before we basically had sex with our mouths? Just thinking of the kiss makes me flush all over.

“
Babe, you've got to let go of my waist.”

I turn bright red and unhook my legs from around Jay's waist. He grins down at me, looking highly amused.

“Enjoy the race?”

I smirk, “It was alright.”

Jay lightly bumps my hips, “Get in the passengers seat. I'm going take you on your first drift ride.”

“
What about the next race?”

“
Yo, Creed!” Jay hollers to a group a few feet away. “I'm going for a run. Keep it clear.” The last sentence was in a typical threatening manner and it makes me internally laugh.

“
You got it man. You staying for the last race?”

Jay looks down at me before answering, “Maybe, not sure.”

He opens the passenger door for me before getting into the driver's seat.

“
Where did you learn to do that?” I gush out, voice full of admiration and pride.

“
By accident. Then I found out what I did was a real thing and I've been hooked ever since.”

“
I'm assuming that I'm not allowed to hear how it happened by accident?”

“
Yup.”

I'm too happy to get upset over another vague answer and I let it go this time.

The car takes off and I become absorbed in watching Jay. He looks carefree and happy. I wish we never had to leave this track and I could always see him looking this way.

“
Here we go!” Jay shouts wickedly as we take the first turn at an unbelievably fast speed. An “oh shit” tumbles out of my mouth. I grab the top assist handle and reach my hand across me to hold on to the door as we move around a curve at a speed I'm sure is going to kill us. I start to close my eyes.

“
Keep them open, it's more of a thrill.”

“
Don't look at me! Are you crazy! Watch the road!”

Jay finds my hysterics hilarious and if I didn't have a death grip on the handles I'd pinch him.

We come out of the bank alive and my heart is pounding at a speed NASCAR would envy.

“
Fuck!” I cry, “That's intense!”

Jay laughs.

As we approach a right corner I watch him countersteer by turning the steering wheel to the left.

“
What are you doing?!”

“
Relax, baby, this is how you drift. It keeps the car from spinning out.”

I knuckle the handles even harder, knowing what to expect this time. I watch Jay's hands go back and forth from the wheel to the stick, his feet at a constant state of movement working the gas and clutch. I haven't once seen him use the brake, which impresses me even more.

The rest of the track my fear disappears and I have a blast. Before he stops the car he spins us around in circles, causing me to scream out in delight.

Jay kills the engine and I beam at him.

“That was amazing! You're amazing! You blow me away, Jay!”

He gives me a shy grin that makes me fall even harder for him.

That was a kind of rush I didn't know existed. As I get out I'm in a weird adrenaline-rush daze. I am forever changed.

Jay strolls over to me and wraps his arms around me, tucking his hands into my back pockets. The same fire from the truck is back in his eyes and this time it arouses an intense hunger deep inside me, a hunger for Jay, a hunger for sex so intense I ache. I've never ached down there before; it leaves me frustrated and needing Jay in a way I've never needed a man before.

“Stop looking at me like that, Lily. That's a dangerous look to give a man.”

“
Take me home, Jay.” He knew what I meant from the expression on my face and the tone of my voice because he sucks in his breath, takes a hand in his, and moves full speed to his truck with me barely able to keep up.

Jay opens my side, thrusts me in, and slams the door. By the time he gets into the driver's seat I can't take it any more and I pounce on him. I throw a leg over to straddle him and we resume our ravenous kiss from before, but this time our hands move everywhere at a frantic pace like they can't decide what to feel or where to touch. My hips have a mind of their own and they rub against the hard bulge in his pants. Jay's lips began to suck and bite my neck as a hand slides under my shirt. His huge hand completely consumes my bare breast, and his rough calloused fingers pinch and tug my nipple. The roughness of Jay's fingers is erotic. It causes my head to roll back and a low, deep moan to come out. Jay moves his other hand up the front of my stomach and my arousal clenches in anticipation for him to touch my other breast. My back arches and I lift my shirt up to rest on my chest. He kisses my belly and my hips keep lightly grinding and working him all on their own. When he takes a nipple in his mouth a noise escapes my mouth I've never heard before. It's a cross between a whimper and an animal-like groan.

Jay brings a hand around my back and forces it to straighten up before going down to my jeans to unzip the front. His hand slides right under my panties and touches the part of me that's ready to explode with my need for him. His fingers stroke and rub expertly and my hips continue to work as if they have a mind of their own. A finger slides inside me and I almost lose it. Another whimper escapes from the back of my throat.

Jay moans loudly and his head falls back on the headrest, “Fuck you're tight.”

Jay tries inserting another finger and I stiffen in pain, causing his arm to tense and halt all movement. His head shoots up and his eyes are big and frightened.

“
Are you a virgin?” His eyes search mine and my stomach drops, “No, wait, you told me that shithead forced himself in you.”

Then he studies me in a way only Jay can – like he can read my mind or see my thoughts. His hands are off my body in a nanosecond and they cover his face as he leans back on the headrest. “Was that your first time?”

“Yes,” I whisper, pulling my shirt down.

“
Fuck,” Jay mumbles into his hands. We stay like this for some time while I watch his over-excited breathing normalize.

Will had had enough waiting, and when he got his promotion – from his dad's firm so it was expected – he thought that I owed him a congratulations present and it should come in the form of my virginity. When I told him I still wasn't ready he took it from me anyway, against my will. He took it despite my cries of protest, despite the tears that flooded down faster than Niagara Falls, despite the fact that it was more than my virginity he was taking – he took the only part left of me he didn't control. Afterward he had told me I was a tease who deserved it for stringing him along for so long; that no man was that patient and I'm lucky he was so good to me and hadn't done it sooner.

Jay lifts his head and takes my face between his hands, forcing me to look at him, “You've had sex one time and it was rape.”

“
I wouldn't really call it rape.”

“
Did you want to?”

“
No,” I answer, my throat tightening up.

“
Did he force you?”

I nod yes because my throat's so tight it hurts and I'm trying to stop my eyes from tearing up.

“Then it was fucking rape. Christ, Lily!” I jump and I thought he was mad at me for how fiercely he yelled and is rubbing his facial scars. “I'm such a dick. Here I am mauling you, first time we kiss and I’m already in your pants. Shit,” he buries his head in my stomach and wraps his arms around me, “I'm so sorry, Lily.”

“
If I remember correctly I attacked you,
twice.
I wanted you, I wanted what you were doing to me.
God I wanted it
.”

He shakes his head on my belly before looking up, “We can't do this. You deserve your next time to be with someone you love, who's going to be here for you.”