Rome
I pace the shop, waiting for her to show up. I’d called the diner and gotten her schedule from one of the other waitresses because fuck this not knowing. I need to know when she’ll be here fucking with my head.
“You’re losing it, man,” Mike says from under a new Chevy as he inspects the broken axel.
“I’m not losing—” The door to the shop flies open and Courtney fucking Moss prances across the dirty concrete like the princess she is. I stop for a moment to stare, just like every other idiot in this shop. The uniform shirt once again hides her shorts and gives the illusion she’s naked underneath. Her legs are long and tanned and smooth as fuck. My cock aches just thinking about having them wrapped around my waist. Today, she’s left her hair down and it looks less chaotic than normal—almost reminiscent of her high school days. She doesn’t look my way and disappears around the corner.
I stalk after her, ignoring Mike’s laughter behind me. I catch up to her as soon as she makes it into the supply room. When I clear my throat, she jumps and jerks around to regard me. I’m momentarily stunned by how pretty she is. She’s taken the time to do her makeup. It’s not as heavy as she used to wear it, but it’s enough that it accentuates how wide her blue eyes are and seems to make her lips even fuller.
Why can’t I stay away from this bitch?
Why must my dick get hard every goddamned time I see her?
“What’s with the makeup?” I demand, crossing my arms over my chest.
She narrows her eyes at me. “What’s with the attitude?”
I charge over to her. She doesn’t back away like she’s done before. Instead, she holds her ground and stares up at me when our chests bump against each other.
“Hot date later, sheep?”
Her fierce gaze breaks from mine and she drops her eyes to my neck. “No.”
I grip her chin with my finger and thumb before lifting her head so I can see her. “All this for me?” I arch a brow at her.
“No,” she lies. Her nostrils flare and her cheeks blaze crimson.
“You can’t wear shit like that here,” I gripe, my face leaning dangerously close to hers. I vowed to myself I wouldn’t kiss her anymore, but I’m dying to. Fuck, I’m dying to.
“Why not?” she challenges, her voice carrying a bite.
I drag my thumb across her bottom lip and smear the dark lipstick across her cheek. She lets out a groan that is more of a moan than an irritated sound. My cock responds by thickening and pressing against her. I swipe my thumb back the opposite direction, smearing off the other layer of lipstick on her top lip. Her face is messy. Like she’s some fucking clown. And fuck if she still isn’t hot as hell.
“Rome…”
“You’re not allowed to be pretty near me,” I whisper, my nose running along hers. Her breath is coming out in pants. Fuck, I want her mouth.
“What if I want to be pretty around you?”
“Well, you don’t get what you want anymore, remember? It’s about what I want.”
It takes every ounce of self-control I possess to push her away from me when all I want to do is haul her against me. Her brows are crashed together as she stares up at me with a feral glint in her eyes. With or without makeup, she’s still so fucking gorgeous.
“Get to work, sheep.”
Her shoulders hunch and she nods. Guilt claws at my insides, but I ignore it. Nothing I could ever do to her is worse than what she did to Raven. When I think about my sister sexting with Courtney, it infuriates me. It’s enough to bring some goddamned sense back into my head.
I leave without another glance in her direction.
I’m lost in my head as I sketch a new transmission concept that would make more effective use of the engine’s torque and keep the engine operating at not only an appropriate speed, but an optimal one. Ideally speaking. It makes sense in my head, but making my concepts go from mind to paper to reality is a whole other ballgame.
The sink turns on and I follow the sound to see Courtney standing there. She keeps swaying, which has me rising and striding over to her. I’m almost to her when her knees buckle, causing her to fall backward. I grab onto her before she hits the floor, but I stumble and fall on my ass in the process.
“Courtney!” I bark out as I push some hair from her face. The lipstick I’d smeared all over her face earlier has been wiped clean, but she’s white as a sheet. Her eyes are rolled back and her skin feels clammy. I slap her face hard enough to rouse her but not hard enough to hurt. She flutters her lids open and stares up at me in confusion. My palm has settled on her cheek and my thumb is running comforting circles on her sweaty flesh.
“What are we doing?” she croaks.
I smirk. “You tell me. I think you just fainted. What the hell?”
Some color returns to her cheeks as she breaks my eye contact. “I think I waited too long to eat dinner.”
“I can’t have you fainting on the job, sheep. Liabilities and all. I wouldn’t want you suing me for all your money back.”
Her nose scrunches and she huffs. “Can you go five minutes without being a mean-ass bastard?”
The fire in her words has me chuckling. “No, actually, I can’t. It’s a personality trait at this point in my life.”
“Personality flaw,” she corrects with a grumble.
“I’m going to feed you and then I’ll take you home.” The last thing I want to do is take her to dinner, but even I can only be so much of an asshole. “Get up.”
She slowly sits up and her face turns white again. When she rises to her feet, she wobbles. Quickly, I stand and wrap my arm around her waist. I guide her into the breakroom and she sits at one of the chairs while I rummage in the fridge. I steal one of Mike’s Mountain Dews and hand it to her.
“Drink this while I wash up and lock up the shop,” I order.
Fifteen minutes later, she’s looking much more like herself. We leave the shop and I drive her to a little pizza place I used to love to go to when my family was a real family. I know Courtney is feeling better because she chirps my fucking ear off about stupid shit the whole way there. We manage to snag my favorite booth, a round one in the corner, which puts us sitting close together.
“I haven’t been here in ages,” she says wistfully. She leans across the table to grab the menu showcasing the specials and her knee brushes against mine. Instead of moving it away, she keeps it leaned against me. I should push her away, but I don’t. This is the shit she does to me. Confuses me.
“Last time I was here was before my mom died,” I tell her, my voice gruff.
She turns her head and bats her dark lashes at me, sadness glimmering in her eyes. “Sounds like you miss her terribly.”
I clench my jaw and ignore her. The server shows up to take our order. By the time he leaves, she’s chattering on about some fucking movie I’ve never heard of before. Everything about her grates on my nerves, but the sound of her voice somehow soothes me at the same time. Her mindless jabbering seems to calm me.
“I haven’t been here since before I made the cheerleading squad.” She scrunches her nose and blows an errant hair from her face. “Carbs and all.”
I lift a brow at her. I knew Whitney dictated her all the way down to her diet. It’s one of the things that used to piss me off. Courtney practically wasted away throughout high school. Now, she actually has some curves. Her tits have filled out and she’s got an ass. Carbs look good on this girl.
“I brought you something,” she says suddenly, her tone growing somber. She rummages around in her purse and then produces a picture.
Raven.
My heart hammers inside my chest as I carefully take the picture from her. Bright green eyes stare at me, but she’s not happy. She’s not my sister. Her thoughts are troubled in the picture. So lost. She looks so fucking lost.
“She used to tell me people didn’t know the real her. When I asked to see the real her right that second, she sent me this picture,” she says softly.
I’d seen this face once.
I close my eyes because I can’t fucking think about that time.
I’m about to beg Courtney to take it away when I feel her soft hand on my cheek. She turns my head toward her. When I open my eyes, she’s staring up at me with concern written all over her face. I don’t stop her when she leans forward and brushes a soft kiss on my lips.
She’s a distraction from the pain.
Because right now, I want to toss the picture and devour her perfect mouth.
“I didn’t mean to make you sad. I just wanted you to know her like I did,” she breathes against my mouth.
I lean forward and steal her mouth. I promised myself I wouldn’t kiss her again, but here I am, desperate for her taste. She moans into my mouth, sending currents of need straight to my dick. I break from our kiss and stare at her swollen lips for a long moment before speaking.
“She caught me one day, not long after Mom died.” I close my eyes as I remember seeing the horror on her usually happy face. “I…I…” I trail off and swallow down my emotion. “The razorblades reminded me that I was alive. That I didn’t die when my mom did. The cuts were never meant to destroy, they were just there as a reminder. And they helped. Jesus, they fucking helped.”
“A coping mechanism,” she murmurs, her voice slightly wobbly.
“That’s what I told her when she walked in my room and saw the blood dripping from my forearm. The look on her face…” I close my eyes.
Courtney leans forward and kisses me again, and fuck if it doesn’t make me feel better. Her of all people. Comforting me.
“The look on her face fucking gutted me. I let her tend to my cuts and then she started acting strangely. It was then that I decided I needed some space from my twin or I was going to pull her into my dark hole with me. I sat by myself in the school lunchroom and she took the hint. She bravely faced me with a smile on her face when she said she preferred eating outside anyway. We never spoke about it again. It was better that way. Me doing my moody shit and her being free.”
When I open my eyes, Courtney’s face is troubled. Her plump lips purse together as if she tries to keep words inside her mouth. I don’t think I want to know what those words are. A man can only take so much of a reminder of what an asshole he was to his own flesh and blood.
She clutches my wrist and brings it to her. My breath gets sucked right from my chest when she kisses my scars that are somewhat hidden behind tattoos now. “This is why you wore hoodies all the time,” she murmurs, her lips kissing more and more messy raised lines. “You were hiding them.”
“I was protecting her,” I correct. “I had nothing to hide. It was a part of me. But by having her not have to see them, or anyone else for that matter, it was easier for her to stay happy as she should have always been. I dragged her down that day she discovered them. I never wanted to drag her down again.”
The tense moment is broken when the server delivers the pizza. Courtney, unlike the girl I remember from high school, devours the meal. She’s not counting calories or watching carbs, she’s just enjoying the fuck out of each gooey slice she picks up.
“Oh God,” she whispers, her entire body going tense beside me. She stares out into the restaurant, her eyes locked on something.
I follow her gaze to her ex-best friend Whitney. That cunt still walks around like her shit doesn’t stink. I’ve always hated her, long before what went down with Raven. She’s wearing a skintight dress that’s way too short and skanky for a pizza parlor. Her brown hair has been straightened and hangs nearly to her ass. She’s on the arm of an older man, looking every bit the part of a high-dollar whore. As if sensing our attention on her, Whitney turns. When she sees Courtney, her eyes flare with wickedness and she smirks. My natural reaction is to put my arm around Courtney. She shivers when my fingertips run down the side of her arm.
“Shit,” Courtney mutters under her breath. “She’s coming over here.”
Sure enough, Whitney has broken from her old man date and is strutting over to us like she owns this establishment. I glare at her hard enough that she’s too chicken shit to look at me. Instead, her predatory gaze is fixated on her prey. A little sheep she wants to have as an appetizer.
“Well,” Whitney purrs in her syrupy sweet voice she’s perfected, “if it isn’t Courtney the convicted felon. How was prison anyway? Make any girlfriends? You always did prefer women over men.”
Courtney lets out a choked sound.
My body is relaxed, but I’m thrumming with fury beneath the surface. I may be able to fuck with Courtney all goddamned day long, but she is no longer under this bitch’s reign.
“And this,” Whitney says, disdain dripping from her tone as she waves between us. “This is disgusting. She kills your sister and you two are having dinner? I bet you’re fucking too, huh?”
“Stop,” Courtney mutters. There’s no bite, when you’re a sheep.
Whitney arches a brown sculpted brow and scoffs. “Anyway, as I was saying, you’d probably better wrap your dick up with this one. She likes to get fucked up on drugs and sleep with every guy she knows.” She cackles. “Hell, even the ones she doesn’t know.”
“Stop.” Courtney straightens and she’s trembling.
“I don’t know who you think you’re talking to,” Whitney sneers, “but you do not tell me what to do. Someone ought to put you in your place after what you did. This asshole certainly seems to have forgotten you killed his sist—”
“STOP!” Courtney screeches as she flies out of the booth and away from my grip.
There you are, wolf.
But she doesn’t get in Whitney’s face like I expect. No, she fucking attacks. Courtney tackles Whitney and takes her down easily now that she has some weight behind her. The moment they hit the floor, Whitney howls in pain. Courtney has lost her goddamned mind. She claws and screams at Whitney, who desperately tries to swat her away. I let her have her brief moment as I throw down some cash for our bill. Then, I’m out of the booth. Whitney’s date starts to break them up, but I stop him with a menacing glower.
“Don’t fucking think about it.”
He gapes at me in shock. I hook my arm around Courtney’s waist and yank her from her old friend. Whitney doesn’t look at all put together as she lies on the floor, her hair a wild mess and her panties showing now that her dress is pushed up.
“Let me go!” Courtney screams at me as she squirms in my grip.
“Not fucking happening,” I snarl back. I snag her purse from the table and carry her crazy ass out of the restaurant.
“I’m gonna kill her!”
“You’re lucky I saved your ass from doing it too,” I bite back, my words soft but furious. “You have a damn criminal record, sheep. You can’t be doing shit like this unless you want to go back to jail.”
Whitney yells threats at her from behind. She’ll send her back to prison. She’s pressing charges. She’ll tell her lawyer daddy. I ignore all of it as I drag Courtney back to my car.
Loud, ugly sobs rip from her as she gives up her fight. Her body falls limp and makes my job a helluva lot easier. It’s started to rain, and I wonder if dark clouds follow Courtney around everywhere she goes. I don’t release her when we make it back to my car. Instead, I open the front and toss her purse inside.
Her blue eyes find mine and shame flickers in them. I don’t want her to feel bad for taking Whitney down because that bitch deserved it. I do want her to calm the hell down, though. If she’s in jail, I can’t fuck with her. I’m learning I really like fucking with her.
“I’m sorr—”
“Don’t say it,” I bark as I grip her jaw. “Do not fucking say it.”
The rain begins to pelt us. It’s dark because of the clouds, but a streetlamp up the road casts an eerie glow on Courtney’s pretty face. Water rivulets mix with her tears and dance down her red cheeks. The urge to kiss them away overwhelms me.
“I hate her,” she murmurs, her bottom lip wobbling wildly.
“As much as I hate you?” I challenge.
Her eyes flare and she stiffens. “You don’t hate me. Not like you want to.”
“Oh, sheep, but I do.”
She slides her palms up my now-soaked shirt to my neck. My grip on her face falls away as she leans closer. Her hot breath intoxicates me. Confuses me. Speaks straight to my dick. My dick understands the language and perks up as if it’s listening.
“I don’t believe you,” she whispers, her voice carrying a taunting lilt to it.
I spear my fingers through her wet hair and angle her head up so I can stare down at her while I push my erection against her stomach. She makes me crazy. Mentally fucking insane.
“Believe it.”
“You want me.” She licks her lips.
My eyes follow the movement and my mouth waters. Fuck, how I want her. I inhale her when I lean in impossibly close. Our lips brush against each other. I can pull away right now if I want to. But then she’s moaning with such need that I’m suddenly not interested in self-control.
I do want her.
This wolf in sheep’s clothing.
And I want her naked. I want to show her who she really is.
My mouth crashes against hers as I own her with a kiss. The sheep doesn’t want to be owned, though, because she claws at my neck, desperate to bring me closer to her. Her legs hook around my waist and my body moves of its own accord. I press her into the side of my car, bucking my hips as I rub my need against her. She whimpers and moans, driving the feral part of me even wilder.
“Fuck,” I groan as I grip her soaked tit through her shirt and nip at her bottom lip. “I need to fuck you.”
She pulls away to stare at me, heat flickering in her eyes. “So do it.” Her head falls back and the rain really begins to fall. I suck on her soaked neck for a minute, but then I’m doing the unthinkable. My fingers yank at her button and zipper on her shorts. Her body is drenched from the rain, so it takes some wiggling from her and some jerking from me to send her shorts and panties to her ankles. I jerk the door open and guide her half-naked body inside the car.
“On your knees,” I instruct as I fumble with my belt.
She obeys and offers her perfect round ass to me as if it’s mine to use and abuse. Fuck me. The rain splatters her silky flesh and I’m dying to put my dick inside her. Right now, all that matters is fulfilling this mad need I have for her. I push my jeans and boxers down my thighs before gripping my aching cock.
“Please,” she begs. “Rome, please.”
My name on her lips is a fantasy finally come to life. I’m thrust back into twelfth grade dreaming about the bubbly blond cheerleader. She’s no longer a thought I jerk off to. She’s a reality. Hot, sexy-as-fuck, and real. In the backseat of my car, offering her sweet cunt to me like it’s an after-dinner mint.
I grab her fleshy hip with one hand and guide my throbbing dick between her thighs. The tip of my cock slides against her slippery heat, eliciting a groan from each of us. She doesn’t protest when I push into her tight opening. Her cunt grips me so hard, I swear I could come barely lodged inside of her.
“Beg for it,” I bellow, my hand cracking against her ass cheek.
“Please, Rome,” she yells over her shoulder. “I need you.”
I grab onto her hips and thrust hard inside her. Unapologetically. She lets out a scream and I lose it. I lose my fucking mind. One of my fists finds her hair and I tangle my fingers in it. I fuck her hard, maybe even painfully so, as I drink in her cries. She’s not trying to get away—in fact, she’s enjoying the brutality of it. That has me going blind with lust. The rain is slowing my game, so I crawl into the car behind her and pin her to the cushions. I claw at her shirt and her hair as I fuck away every stupid fantasy I had with her. Of course the real thing would be better than I could have ever imagined and that only pisses me off more.
“I hate you.” I seethe. My dick would laugh if it could. My dick fucking loves her.
“I know,” she sobs. “Oh, God.”
She reaches a hand back and fingers my hair as I fuck her like a madman. The simple touch—the simple caress has me coming a lot sooner than I expect. My dick throbs out its release as I yank out of her, spurting cum along the crack of her ass. I fall against her, my nose buried in her soaked hair. Neither of us says a word. I’m uncomfortable as shit. I can’t even come to terms with what we’ve just done. And yet, I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to break this moment because for one second in my godforsaken life, I’m content.
I nuzzle her with my nose until I find her ear. My lips brush against it and I press a soft kiss to it. I’m not sure she deserves it, but in this moment, the one that isn’t my reality, I gift it to her. Fuck, how I want to gift her many more.
When she reaches back again and her fingertips stroke my cheek, I’m snapped back to the present. I jerk away from her and out of the car so I don’t do anything stupid like hold her. Quickly, I put my dick back in my pants and steal one greedy glance at her pale ass that glistens with my motherfucking seed.
“Time to go home, sheep.”