Twisted Magic (17 page)

“
I wonder
what she is up to.” I stared off, at a loss.

“Not
sure, however,
I do know Slade has been quite
miserable
without you. Kidd had to force him to hang out with us just tonight.
He says
he only works on music and tries to get you to speak to him.”

I felt bad. I felt awful for ignoring him after hearing Karsen tell me the misery he was going through. “Life has just been tough. I think I feel better though.”

“Care to talk about it?”

I shook my head. “
It’s
nothing. You look
tired. You
sho
uld get some sleep. Maybe you can
hang out at the café tomorrow.” I squeezed her tight and headed inside. Kidd told me
good-bye
and took Karsen back to his
house,
so she could get some beauty rest.

I lock
ed
the door behind me and walked down the hall to Slade’s
bedroom. I
pulled off my sandals
and
dropped them beside the bed thoroughly exhausted. Just as I slipped under his covers he appeared in the doorway in nothing but a
towel, h
is
body wet and glistening. His tatto
os radiant against his tan skin
, h
e was perfect.

He tugged the towel from the hook on the back of his door and toweled himself off. I watched
closely
, enjoying every minute
of it
. Crazed butterflies danced around my stomach as he locked eyes with me
,
a hint of a smile playing on his lips as he looked at me.

Slade moved
toward
the bed,
taking
my chin and holding me in
place. He
placed a kiss on
my lips making my insides melt, a
nd settled in beside me on the bed
tossing the towel to the ground. T
he thought he was beneath the covers naked had my heart racing.

“Your dad seemed upset tonight,” h
e told me
,
pulling me into his arms, his hand in my hair stroking it
inch by inch

“He’s just worried about me,
” I insisted. “He says we don’t talk anymore, but that’s because he’s never around. He’s always with Lynette if he’s not at work.”

Slade studied my bothered expression
,
his fingers
tracing
my jaw line as he listened to every word I said.

“I was worried about so many things all at once, and I just lashed out at him.” I moved
closer,
and he shifted to his back letting me rest
on
my head on his chest. His thunderous heartbeat echoed in my ear. I stroked his bare skin, trailing a single finger along the tattoos on his arm.

“I’m sure he gets that
you’re
going through a lot. He’s you
r
dad. I can tell he cares about you.” He kissed my temple. “Just as much as someone else I know.”

I sighed
,
the
guilt nagging my conscience to confess to my wrongdoings. But I didn’t want the moment to be
ruined, everything
felt right again.

Slade kissed me gently. I reacted for a second and then quickly pulled back. I pressed my head into his forehead letting out a tortured breath of air.

“What’s wrong?” Slade asked for probably the first time ever. He liked to keep things simple. If I didn’t come right out and say
it,
he wouldn’t bring it up.

“Just a lot on my mind,” I squeezed his arm. “Things I want to explain to you because I think you deserve to hear them.”

Slade sat up. He sighed. “I get that
you're
upset about Audrey. And I don’t want you letting this bother you because we took care of it. Nothing happened to anybody that night at the café.
She was toying with you. S
he wanted to see how far you would go. The girl has
issues. She
likes to rile everyone up and sit back and watch the fireworks.”

I swallowed
,
that wasn’t my biggest issue at the moment
, and I didn’t believe Slade’s theory either
.
Audrey had a purpose that day, whether it happened sooner or later, now that was a different story.

“I get why you avoided all of us. I don’t blame you.” He shrugged, leaning in for a kiss. His eyes were
sincere,
and I could tell he meant every word of it. He brushed his lips against the side of my neck. “But if I have to go another second without touching
you,
I’m going to lose it. So can we forget all that happened and live
for
the moment?”

I touched his face. I wasn’t sure it was that easy.
“Remember
I told you I had lunch with someone?”

Slade scanned my eyes a bit confused
at the mention of my lunch date. “Yeah I remember.” That’s all he said, he didn’t give me any idea of his feelings about Hutch spending time
with me

“How does that make you feel?” I pursed my
lips. I
was a coward.

“You’re here with me. Why would I care who you ate lunch with?”

“I guess that’s the difference between you and
me
.” I touched his arm. “I care about that kind of stuff.”

“We care about each other. I like to leave the drama outside of our relationship.” His eyes held mine for a long moment. I weighed my options, I could tell him about the
almost
kiss that meant nothing to me more
than
lust and pent up sexual
frustration,
or I could let it be.

I leaned in accepting his
kiss. Slade's
hands slid around
me,
and his fingers trailed up my spine. I breathed heavy ready to forget and just be with him in every way possible.

His thumb brushed against my
mouth. He
guided my chin
,
sucking at my bottom lip. I moaned against him, giving his tongue the chance to slip in.

“Stay the night with me,” he murmured against my mouth. I nodded, desire coursing through my veins. I wanted Slade—now.

I dropped down on his
bed. He
grasped each side of my
face,
his kisses
becoming
more demanding as things progressed.

The room was
calm. The
moonlight shined through the lone window as we tangled together beneath the sheets. Slade’s tongue and lips gently teased
mine. My
tongue greeted his happily.

I sat up
,
unable to get enough of him. Slade helped me out of my shirt, sending it sailing across his room into the darkness. I moaned at his fingers as they slipped past my bra toying with my nipples, his fingers
sending
pleasurable shivers through every part of me.

He ran his tongue across my breast, planting kisse
s
on every inch of them. I gripped his upper arms
,
enjoying the feel of his biceps against my fingertips. Slade’s hand traveled down my
waist. I
closed my eyes enjoying the feel of his fingers on my body, every part of it.

He undid the button of my shorts and tugged down the zipper, his hand slipping beneath the waist of my
shorts. I
moaned at the feel of his
hand. He
slipped to my behind taking my shorts off in one swift sensual movement.

He moved between my legs, hovering over me. His
perfect body smiling down on me, he kissed my inner thighs making
me
shiver at his touch.

“Do you want me?” he whispered, planting another kiss, looking up at my tortured expression. It was obvious I wanted him.

He
circled my navel with his tongue
, wo
rking his way across my stomach. H
e kissed and
teasingly
bit at my hipbones.

Slade ran a single finger against my
panties. My
body reacted
instantly. His
fingers slipped past the material and
teased
me. He watched my expression, speeding up and slowing down when I was close to
the edge
. He slipped his fingers inside me, dropping down
beside
me and
pressed
his lip
s
to my neck as he worked his magic. I moved against his finger
s
hungry
for the
release, dying
for it even.

Slade stopped
,
climbing on top, holding me down. We kissed on
ce more before he eased into me. T
he feel of him inside of me was almost
too
much. I bit
his neck.
Slade kissed me again, his teeth pulling at my bottom lip. His hand tugging at my hair and keeping me in place, he quickened his
movement. His
body
worked
faster and
harder. I
cried out, burying my head into his
neck. My
mind erased and my body tingling from the delicious orgasm that invaded me.

Slade
gripped
my thighs
,
losing himself inside of me. “
You’re
fucking amazing.” He said, coming to a slow stop. He planted a kiss
upon
my forehead
,
slowly pulling out of me
and dropping beside me on the bed
. We stared up at the ceiling breathless, totally satisfied and exhausted.

Thick rays of sun beams poured through Slade’s bedroom window waking me from my sleep. I slipped out from under Slade’s forearm and searched the room for my clothes.

He rolled over
almost instantly
. “What are you doing?”

I slipped into my underwear feeling dirty and ready for a shower and a fresh pair of clothes. “I have to go home. I was due for work twenty minutes ago.”

He sat up in bed. “Do you want me to call
Kidd.
He
could drive you.”

I fastened my bra. “Why don’t you have a car?” I had never thought much about this before. But now the question was eating at me, even I had a car now that I was in college and had a reason for one.

“Everywhere you need to go in Cherry is in walking distance.” He shrugged
,
dropping his feet to the floor. He ran a hand through his bed head.

“What if you want to travel further, like to a certain college where a certain girl lives?” I dropped down beside him on the bed and worked my
flip-flops on
carefully. I wanted to say girlfriend, but
honestly,
it felt odd.

“When she invites me then I will see what I can do. I never had a reason for a car. Everything I need is right here.” He hooked an arm around my waist tugging me back down on the bed. I squealed, kissing him. I liked this fun, carefree side of Slade.

“Okay.
You’re
invited.” I smiled up at him. He smirked.

“You didn’t ask me. You just told me I was invited.” He poked, taking us back to the day I had thrown a terrible tantrum over the bonfire. I rolled my eyes.

“I want you to come see me when I go back to
Csu
. It would mean a lot.” I
sighed. It
meant more
than
he knew. I was the only girl at school that had a boyfriend
who
never visited. If I had
known
all it took was asking Slade to come I would have a long time ago. And then the entire school would stop thinking Slade was some
made-
up figment
of my imagination.

Slade pushed my hair from my eyes. “Get to work.”

I sat up
,
watching him slip
on
a pair of black shorts and work a gray t-shirt over his head. He tugged a baseball cap down on his head and lifted the content of his wallet quickly pocketing the entire contents
into
his pocket.

“I think I might just call off.” I stood on shaky legs
nervous to get into another conversation with Slade about us
. “So, I invited you. Could you at least tell me you are going to come?”