My Sweet Demise (Demise #1) (27 page)

“I don’t have a condom,” he informs me. “Wait.”

He kisses me once more before getting naked out of bed. When he returns he’s got his condom already on. I open my legs for him and he falls down between them. Grasping himself in his hand, he rubs the head of his penis over my opening enticingly. When I’m ready for him he gently begins to fill me. It hurts at first, a slight sharp sting, but the further in he pushes the better he feels. He moves so he’s top of me, smashing me into the mattress with his body weight. I can’t move anything but my hands. I place them on his back as he stretches my tightness. I dig my nails into his flesh and kiss the side of his face, moaning in his ear as he pulls out suddenly, and then pushes in painstakingly slowly, giving me more of him than he ever has. He groans into my neck and picks up speed.

“I have to pick up Becca.”

He doesn’t respond verbally. He shuts me up with his lips. He kisses me passionately, consuming me as his hips pick up on a perfect intoxicating rhythm. I open my legs wider and he shoves into me with a satisfied gasp I can feel all the way in his chest. I can taste him, feel him, and touch him.

Kent is everywhere.

Something starts to build inside of me; this profound ache that needs release. Kent must know it because he changes pace, circling his hips so he can hit that spot over and over again. I am a moaning mess beneath him, scraping my nails down his back and through his hair, holding onto his arms like he’s going to disappear if I let go of him.

When my end comes it is swift and merciless. I clench around him and go still, my eyes squeezing shut as my orgasm breaks me in half. My wings are ablaze as I tumble toward earth, reaching for the sun. When I come down he’s staring at my face with nothing but dark dirty wonder all over his. He thrusts into me once more before he finds his own orgasm. I reach up and grasp his face as he squeezes his eyes shut and exhales deeply, like he can’t be bothered to breathe.

He opens his eyes and catches his breath. Then he looks down at me with a crooked grin once he composes himself. “Sorry about last night.”

“I’m not.” I can’t stop touching him. I slide my hands over his shoulders and down his back. “I liked having you in my mouth.”

“Rain,” he warns. “Go pick up your sister and stop taking advantage of me.” I laugh in disbelief. He bends down to kiss my cheek, whispering in my ear, “Please don’t let her get in your head. I need this, baby. I need it more than anything. You’re allowed to want me. You’re allowed to try.”

Right now I don’t think anything could change my mind. I look into his eyes and let the darkness swallow me. “So you’re falling for me?”

“I said that?” He smiles timidly.

“You did.” Butterflies swarm in my stomach.

“I think I already fell, Rain.” He frowns. “I fell so damn hard I haven’t been able to get up since. I don’t want to get up.” And then, as if he didn’t just leave me completely bereft of breath, he touches my eye. “You’re so bruised.”

I forgot about my face. “I have to go.”

I run into the bathroom with a towel and pause in front of the mirror. My left eye is rimmed in purple and swollen around my temple. My cheek is red and tender. My bottom lip has a split right down the middle and is raw and raised painfully. Seeing my face makes the effects of Kent’s lips and touch disappear. Pain invades my body. Even my ribs hurt. There isn’t any bruising over them but my side aches as I move into the shower. I wash myself quickly and then get out soaking wet to brush my teeth. In a rush I run back to my room, ignore naked Kent stretched out on my bed, and change quickly into a pair of jeans, a bra, and a white t-shirt.

“No panties? I must remember that.”

I roll my eyes. “Why don’t you write it down?” I grumble, in a hurry to get out of the apartment.

“Be careful. That smart mouth knows what I’m capable of now.”

“This smart mouth also knows what she’s capable of.” I crawl to him on the bed and kiss his mouth deeply. Then I pat his chest. “Gotta go. See you later?”

Before I pull away he grabs my face gently. “You’re falling for me too.”

His statement catches me off guard.

“Say it, Rain. Don’t let me get in the way of this. I always get in my own way.”

Recovering, I nod. “I already fell, Kent. I’ve been waiting for you to catch up.”

“Go pick up your sister.”

The Jacksonville International Airport seems like a million miles away this afternoon. I race there, pulling up outside the terminal three hours late and driving slowly as I look for Becca. When I find her part of me considers driving past her and going home. She is seething. I can sense her anger all the way from inside of my car. When I pull up in front of her she looks up from her phone and rages. She’s sitting on her luggage wearing a black tank top that shows off all of her tattoos and a pair of cute ripped skinny jeans. Her black hair is in a messy bun and her skull earrings catch the sun.

I grin at her.

She glares at me.

I open my door and get out, running to my big sister. The moment she stands I jump and wrap my arms and legs around her. I inhale the smell of her perfume, a familiar combination of fruit and honey.

She hugs me back, her anger subsiding momentarily. “It’s so good to see you, Rain.”

“I know. I missed you big time.” I slide down and land on my feet, beaming at her. “Did you get a new tattoo?” I touch the blood red rose encasing her left arm, the silver thorns wrapping around her elbow. It’s beautiful. “Did you design it?”

“Why are you late?” she demands, in no mood for small talk. She takes her sunglasses off her head and puts them over her hazel eyes.

“I forgot to set my alarm and overslept.” She is in Mom Mode right now. “I’m sorry. Let’s go get something to eat and drink. My treat.”

“Better be your treat. I’m broke until next semester thanks to you.” She grabs her luggage and starts dragging it over to my trunk.

I hurry to unlock it for her. Together she and I lift the massive red and gold suitcase into the back of my car.

“How long are you staying?” I ask, slamming my trunk down.

She looks at me through her shades. “For at least a week. Lucky for you I don’t have any projects due.”

“You make it sound like I don’t want you here.” I frown at her, crossing my arms over my chest.

“You won’t once I get going. Why were you really late picking me up?”

“Let’s go eat,
Rebecca
,” I suggest again, using her full name for proper emphasis.

“Why are you so hungry,
Raina
? Have you been working up an appetite?”

To hide my smile I glare. “Listen, I haven’t seen my big sister in a long time and I miss her. I’d love to go get something to eat and have a few drinks with her. Is that such a bad thing to want?”

“Since when do you drink?”

She’s impossible!
I open her door and wave my hand. “Get in the car, Rebecca.”

Rather pompously and slowly, every movement suggesting she’s doing it because she wants to and not because she has to, she gets into the car. I slam her door shut and walk around front, getting into the driver’s seat. When I pull away we’re trapped. She even locks the doors, probably sensing the similarities between the car and a prison cell. I am locked in the car with Rebecca O’Connor, and I’m absolutely terrified.

“What’s going on?” She takes her sunglasses off and hangs them from the collar on her tank top. “Why do you look like you got into a bar fight?”

I was waiting for her to mention my face. Some part of me had hoped she’d overlook it. “I got into a fight last night.”

She gasps. “A fight? With who?”

I pretend it takes a lot of concentration to switch lanes, subsequently taking a long time to answer her question. “With one of Kent’s sort of exes.”

“You’re fighting women for him now? For that piece of dog shit?”

“Becca! He is not dog shit!”

“No, you’re right. Dog shit has far more of a place in this world. All Kent is to anyone is a sexy body and a dick that gets around. He can’t possibly possess anything more.”

“He’s more than his body, Becca. Everyone’s more than their looks. You’re beautiful. What if people think all you are is a pretty face and your tattoos?”

“They would be wrong,” she states simply, failing to offer a convincing argument. “Kent is nothing. He’s even less around you.”

My heart was breaking in my chest. “Can we talk about something else?”

“I was thinking…” she begins, eyes boring into the side of my face. “School isn’t working out. I’m not getting out of it what I thought it was going to give me and I was thinking about coming back home. We could get an apartment together. You could move out of that rat nest and start living with me again.”

Trying to drive and stare at her in shock at the same time is not a good idea. I narrowly miss a truck and decrease my speed, getting into the slow lane. “Are you on something?”

“I should be asking you the same question,” she shoots back. “What do you think?”

“I think you’re in your second year. You should give it another shot, as much as I’d love to have you back home.”

“I can’t stand it, Rain. There. The truth’s out. Being away from you is hell, the people at school get on my nerves, and I’m not sure I want anything to do with an art degree anymore. I’m already a great artist. What will a degree do for me? It won’t make me better.”

I’m confounded by her accusations and her revelation. “Becca, why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because you’re always so quick to rub my failures in my face. ‘Look, see, you failed, stop taking risks.’ You don’t take any risks. So I’m not going to get an art degree. I can still own a tattoo shop. I have clout. I don’t need school to prove it.”

My head is hurting. “I do not rub your failures in your face. I didn’t know you felt that way.”

“I don’t. That’s the way it is. You can’t stand the idea of risking a choice. You stay in your bubble because you’re terrified one wrong choice is going to make you end up like Mom and Dad. We’re not them, Rain. They are two separate people who had their own issues.”

“We are them!” I snap. “I’m Mom and you’re Dad. You do things that make you happy, without caring those things are bad for you. I let you do those things because I don’t have the balls to say no. Like letting you go to school. I knew you’d change your mind!” I can’t help it. I’m rubbing it in. “Why didn’t you listen to me? You’re going to stop now?”

“We are not them.” She sounds tired. “I am my own person. You are your own person. You need to stop living in fear of them. The things they did don’t have any bearing on our reality. You are a beautiful young woman and need to start acting like it. Go out, have fun, and make bad choices. Except Kent. There are bad choices and then there are choices that are bad. He’s bad.”

“He’s incredible,” I mumble defiantly.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.” I glance at her and fearfully meet her pissed off, blazing hazel eyes. “Nothing, Becca.”

“You’re moving out of there as soon as I find an apartment. How much do you have saved up?”

My stomach sinks. “I’m not moving.” My voice is small. I feel small.

She takes a deep, laborious breath to calm herself down. “So who won the fight?”

I’m thankful for the subject change. “Me.”

She tries not to, but her small laugh escapes her anger. “Right on. That’s my sister.” She raises her hand and I give her a hard high five. “How did Kent feel about you fighting over him?”

“I wasn’t fighting over him. I was defending myself. And he wasn’t happy. He was pissed off.”

“Yeah, right. Men like him love to watch us ruin ourselves over them. Was it worth it? Was a black eye worth Kent Nicholson?”

Hearing his name answered her question. I look her right in the eye as I pull into the restaurant. “Yes.”

She closes hers in disappointment. “Are you sleeping with him?”

I swallow hard and look away.

“Rain!” she explodes. “Please tell me you didn’t give your virginity to Kent Nicholson.”

“I can’t.”

“Oh, Rain.”

“Stop it!” I snap. “Just stop it, Becca. Everything’s fine.”

She reaches over and takes my hand. “Then why are you about to cry?”

“I don’t know what I’m doing, that’s why. I want him more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my entire life.” The revelation is like a punch to my gut. “But I feel like I can’t have him. Deep down I’m terrified Kent doesn’t want me back.”

Becca’s face softens. “He’d be a complete imbecilic fool not to want you. I’m sure there’s another issue.”

“There is,” I reveal bitterly. “He’s still in love with his ex.”

She hisses under her breath. “No?”

I nod vigorously. “He’s been stuck on her for over a year. And I mean stuck, like superglue stuck. Like nothing I do will make him forget her stuck. He even said it.
Not even you, Rain
.” I mimic his voice poorly, and the idea of it is the final shove into hysteria.

“Look what he’s doing to you. You do you realize you’re crying when you’re talking about him, right? You should be smiling.”