Valentine (A Standalone Novel) (Bad Boy Romance Book) (5 page)

"You getcha some?" Sam patted my
chest and handed me the keys to his truck.

"Yeah." I took the keys and
walked toward the kitchen. "Come on. I'm ready to get out of here."

"What? We just got here. There's a
lot of beautiful women here tonight." He ran into me as I stopped by the
door to let another horde of girls into the house.

"Yeah, and all they want is your
dick." I glanced over at him and chuckled as he gave me a look.

"And what the fuck is wrong with
that? My dick is officially for sale."

"Not on my watch, buddy. Let's get
you home."

Chapter 5

Val

The music was way too loud at the frat
party, but it always was. I tried to ignore my need to run for the door and go
back to my room for the evening. Between the conversation with my mother, then
my father, and then the car breaking down, I was over it. All of it.

"You look like you need a drink,
beautiful." A blond frat boy I'd never met handed me a glass of something
red and wagged his eyebrows at me. "It might help loosen you up a
little."

"No, thanks." I handed the drink
back to him and reached for the closed beer bottle Amy offered me. Her eyes lit
up when she saw the guy.

"Kade Jones? Wow. I watched you
totally kill it on the field last fall. You're headed for the NFL soon,
right?"

I popped the top on my beer and took a
long drink of it as I ran my eyes over the stud in front of me. He was eye
candy, for sure, but he was looking to score and I was in a relationship. Not
that I would have been interested if I wasn't. One-night stands were for the
needy people in life and I wasn't one of them.

Try
again.

"Yeah. And, you are?" He
extended his hand to Amy, which gained him automatic points with me. Most guys
treated her like she wasn't there.

"Amy, and this is my friend
Valentine, but we just call her Val."

I gave her a look and shook the guys hand
as he gave me a cheeky grin. "Valentine, hmm? That's a pretty interesting
name."

"It's my mother's favorite holiday.
What can I say? She's original." I removed my hand from his and turned to
let my eyes run across the crowd of people. "Where's the rest of the
crew?"

"Katelyn was with Martin out on the
back patio, and Lucinda is on the dance floor in the other room." Amy gave
me a quick glance before turning back to Kade. "You like to dance? Cause
you know Val here loves to…"

"I do." He smiled and reached
out, taking my hand again and moving us into the far too big living room. It
was cleared out to make way for the dance floor. A large strobe light hung from
the center of the room and people jumped with their hands in the air.

"I'm not in the mood-" I started
to protest, but he turned and pulled me against the front of him, wrapping his
hands lightly around my waist.

"I'm not trying to sleep with you,
beautiful. I just wanted to dance. You're not from around here, are you? We're
not all bad guys." He smiled warmly, and I considered the possibility that
a dance was all he wanted, but the thought faded fast.

"I'm from just up the street, and I
know you country boys better than you know yourself." I gave him a tight
smile and relaxed a little. "My boyfriend is the captain of the hockey team
at UMN."

"Oh, I know Paul. He's a pretty
decent hockey player." Kade chuckled and spun me around, helping me to
loosen up even more. He wasn't a bad dancer, at all.

"He's a pretty decent boyfriend,
too." I laughed and took another drink of the beer. A quick memory flashed
across my vision of the guy I'd met on the side of the road. Todd? Tanner?
Tate. Yeah. Tate.

"Just decent, hmm?" The handsome
boy in front of me pulled me closer as the music slowed. "I'm thinking
someone as interesting as yourself shouldn't be tied down. You need to live a
little and date a lot."

"Interesting? You barely know
me." I finished my beer and handed the empty to Amy as she gave me another
one. She should have been dancing with the guy, not me.

"What if I want to get to know
you?" He ran his hand over my lower back, pressing in softly and forcing
me flush against him. The strong muscles of his chest felt good, but one dance
was all I had in me. I wasn't interested in a friendship with anyone that
looked as good as this guy. He was just after one thing, and I wasn't
interested.

I almost wished I could be. Jealousy ran
through me for people that could simply show up to a party, find a good partner
for the night, and get lost in the pleasure of being touched, fucked, and held.
I wasn't that girl, though I wanted to be.

Only
needy people do that.

My internal thoughts were starting to
sound more and more like my mother. It was disturbing on far too many levels to
think too much about.

"You want sex. I'm here to drink,
dance, and laugh with my friends. Sleeping with some random guy isn't going to
happen. Boyfriend. Remember?" I tried to force the logical side of my mind
to close down for a few minutes. I wasn't going to go upstairs with the guy,
but that didn't mean that I needed to come back at him with a rational thought
to shove in his face every time he spoke.

"Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad
news, but your boyfriend headed upstairs about twenty minutes ago with a blonde
who looked like she ate grown men for breakfast." He touched the side of
my face as my heart almost stopped in my chest. "And, I'm not thinking they’re
playing poker up there."

"What?" I pulled away from him
and glanced up toward the stairs. I wasn't head over heels in love with Paul,
but there was no way in hell I was letting him cheat on me. I was a lot of
things, but a fool wasn't one of them.

"Come back down here after you rip
his throat out, and I'll make things better." Kade released me and walked
back into the kitchen.

I moved to the bottom of the stairs as
indecision tore through me. Someone gripped my elbow and pulled a little.
Katelyn.

"Hey. Where have you been? I was
looking all over this fucking place for you. You can't answer your phone?"
She gave me a stern look.

I patted my butt and front pockets.
"Dammit. I must have left it in my car that's getting towed.
Figures."

"Getting towed?" Her face paled.
"Did you get in an accident? Are you hurt?"

Martin moved up beside her and wrapped an
arm around her shoulders. His curly brown hair made him look like a teenage
boy, and his smile made it even worse. He was one of the few good guys left.
They seemed to be a dying breed, or maybe I was just being negative.

"No. The battery failed again, so
some guy pulled over and checked it out for me. Can we talk about this later?
Some guy just told me that Paul went upstairs with someone half an hour
ago." I gripped the banisters and started up the stairs as anger burned
through the center of my chest.

"Oh no," Katelyn mumbled behind
me, but I ignored her.

I needed to let my angst out on someone or
something. It might as well be my cheating-ass boyfriend. Some part of me hoped
that it was anyone but Carolyn Jacobs. It had to be her, and chewing her out
for being a huge slut would only be the beginning of my attack against her –
but then again, to have to put so much emotional energy into something sounded
heinous.

I heard three different couples having sex
or starting to by the time I stopped and listened through the last door in the
hallway. The sound of Paul's grunts sickened me, and I wondered again for the
hundredth time that day why I wasn't enough. Why I wasn't more than enough for
him. For any of them.

"No. You don't get to turn this
around on you. It's about him being a bastard, not you being worthless." I
reached out for the door as the burn of tears gave me pause. I didn't want to
see him with Carolyn, and yet I couldn't walk away. No matter how hard I tried
to convince myself that it had nothing to do with me, the feeling of inadequacy
wouldn't stop crashing against me.

I opened the door and moved in as I took a
quick breath.

Paul had someone pressed to the wall with
his pants down and his ugly white ass showing. His grunting didn't stop, and I
had my answer as to who he was with as she cried out his name.

"Paul. Harder. Fuck me harder."
Carolyn Jacobs.

"Am I interrupting? Cause I can come
back." I lifted my beer to my lips and forced myself to remain calm as
Paul jerked back and pulled up his jeans.

"Oh my God. Val. It's not what it
looks like." He worked on his pants as he walked toward me.

I lifted my hand to stop him. "No? It
looks like your fucking Carolyn against the wall at a party we're supposed to
be at together."

"Because that's exactly what it is.
If you put out more often this kind of stuff-" She'd made the mistake of
stopping in front of me, and I did the only thing I could think to do.

I slapped her. Hard.

She recoiled and let out and angry sound
as I stood there in shock. "Paul, don't let her attack me!"

"Shut up, Carolyn." He kept his
attention on me. "Baby. Seriously. I had too much to drink."

"Fuck you." I let the tears I'd
been holding back well up in my eyes. "You two deserve each other, but you
should know that tonight wasn't about her wanting you or being interested in
you. It was about getting me. So, I hope it was good. Being used isn't the best
feeling in the world, but one we share, I guess."

I turned as a sob lifted from the center
of my chest. Bastards. All of them. I hated everyone one of them in the house,
other than Katelyn. My mother and her fucked up sorority could burn in hell for
all I cared.

After stumbling down the stairs, I found
Amy and Lucinda in the kitchen.

Lucinda turned and reached for me with
concern on her face. "Oh my God. What's the matter? You look
horrible."

"Fucking Paul was upstairs screwing
Carolyn Jacobs. I need to get out of here. I'm sorry." I pressed my hand
to my mouth and glanced over my shoulder to find Kade watching me. "Now.
Before I make another mistake that I'm sure to pay for."

"Alright. Katelyn is going home with
Martin. Let's go get a few gallons of ice cream and go back to my place."
Amy wrapped an arm around my shoulders as we walked out of the frat house and
into the freezing cold.

"Why do guys have to be such
animals?" Lucinda opened the door for me before getting in the front seat
with me, though there really wasn't room for all three of us up front.

"It was Carolyn more than Paul. It's
always her." I let out a quick breath and pulled my shirt up to blot my
eyes with it. "She's been after me since our freshman year. Stupid
bitch."

"Then, you need to go after her. Pay
her ass back for all she's done." Lucinda snuggled against my side and
laid her head on my shoulder. "Paul wasn't right for you, anyway. He was
too much of a pussy."

"What? I thought Paul was one of the
good guys." Amy started the car and pulled out onto the main street.
"Obviously, I was wrong."

"It's alright. Really." I closed
my eyes and let my head drop back. I was surprised how quickly my thoughts
returned to Tate. Being with an upper class guy like Paul was what was expected
of me, but he'd been like every other jerk I'd dated over the years – selfish,
greedy, and more concerned about what someone could get him in life than how
they might feel after he ran over them.

"Boys suck." Lucinda turned up
the heater before pressing her chin to my shoulder. "Let's go to a foreign
country and find men who know how to treat a woman."

Amy snort forced my lips to lift in a
smirk. "Is that a fucking joke? Foreigners are the worst about
women."

"Neither of you know what you're
talking about." I glanced between both of them, challenging them to combat
fact.

"You're right." Amy let out a
long sigh as she pulled into a large grocery store. "Let's go get
something that is sure to love on us all night long and never leave our
sides."

"Or our thighs." Lucinda laughed
and opened the door. She slid her arm into mine as we moved quickly toward the
warmth. "Anyway, I see you with a rugged, good-looking guy who's more
focused on matters of the heart. You deserve a good guy, not an asshole."

"I met a guy tonight who fits the
physical description, but I'm pretty sure he was a playboy, too." I let
out a soft sigh as we walked into the grocery store. The warmth engulfed me and
worked to thaw my fingers and the tip of my nose.

"Kade? He's a total player." Amy
grabbed a cart and shook her head. "But I sure as hell would love to have
him play me."

I laughed. "He's a player for sure,
but I'm talking about the guy that stopped to help me when the damn car died.
He was a biker guy with tats and the sexiest lips I've ever seen."

"Oh, nice." Lucinda lifted her
eyebrow at me as she released my arm. "Did you give him your number?"

"No, but I got his." I slid my
hands into my pockets, checking to make sure the card was still there.
"It's nothing, I'm sure. He just wants to change my tire and check the
engine on the car."

"He sounds hot. I'd let him look
under my hood and play with my knobs any day." Lucinda bumped me with her
hip before she walked ahead of us toward the freezer section.

"Hey. You okay? I know that was
hell." Amy pressed her shoulder to mine as we stopped in front of the ice
cream display case.

"Yeah. I really didn't want to date
Paul anymore, but having it happen like this just makes me feel worthless all
over again. I'm numb." I shrugged.